I have a Heron Problem

Apparently I have a huge addiction these days. I posted earlier about the Audubon print that I was having framed. I got it yesterday and it turned out so beautiful. I can't wait to hang it!

Please excuse the horrible iPhone picture!

I had it matted in a deep navy and the frame is a rich chocolate brown with gold accents. The frame colors match a round mirror that I have that will be going in my bedroom, so I think it will compliment it nicely.

We are moving to another office and I was asked to find some art to purchase to put in some of the various offices. I went over to the new office yesterday to see how the gradual move was progressing. Our official move day is Friday. My office is looking like a hot mess at the moment and still missing a few pieces of furniture.This picture doesn't do it justice because my office is quite large with three windows across the front, which I am excited about because I am going to put up a bird feeder right outside so I can do some bird watching. Ha!

But in my search to find some prints to hang in my office, I came across these:

I told you I have a huge heron problem! However, I tried to get away from my beloved birds to search for a few other prints for the other offices. I found some landscape paintings of St. Marks and the lighthouse, a few paintings of the Tallahassee Capital and Governor's Mansion and a few tiger pictures, since that is the "mascot" of our product that we manufacture. So I spent most of my day shopping online, which I won't complain about.

Funny thing about what I came across while looking for artwork. I went online to Kirkland's to see what kind of art they had and I came across this chest:

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Does anyone else recognize this knock off? The moment I saw it, I was like - hey that's like the one at Pottery Barn!


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The one at Kirkland's was only like $280 if I remember correctly. The one from Pottery Barn will set you back $700 big ones. So, if you like the look, then save yourself $420 and go grab the one from Kirkland's!

Now that I have admitted to my heron problem, I guess I will get back to work.

Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Monday morning! It's rainy and dreary here this morning. It has pretty much been like that all weekend, which kind of put a bummer on my weekend. I traveled up to Savannah to cash in my Valentine's Day present from the sweet boyfriend. My present was a massage at one of the best spa's in Savannah - The Savannah Day Spa. Go check out the gorgeousness that is this spa. It is located in a beautiful old home close to the Juliet Gordon Low house. So that kind of made it bad, because walking in and out of the spa, we were bombarded with Girl Scouts selling cookies! I only took one picture while we were there and as you can see, its not a good one.

I wish I had taken more photos because the architecture inside the spa was gorgeous. All of the ornate woodwork was simply beautiful. I believe I have turned David into a massage monster. He has decided that he likes being pampered. Which works out good for me because he won't go unless I am there with him :) so that's awesome. We were in need of a massage after the stress of taking Moxley, David's golden retriever to the vet earlier that morning. It was like Hotel California there. We could check out, but never leave. It. Took. Forever. So we were good and stressed come massage time.

Other than a trip to the vet and a massage, we basically just hung around the house because the weather was so dreary. Which was ok. I cooked and cleaned a bit for him. And pampered Mr. Mox a lot. In fact, after I left to come home on Sunday, David sent me this picture of Moxley.

He had positioned himself by the door waiting on me to come back. He was quite bummed out that I had left. He's a sweet puppy. No dachshund- but close. He definetely thinks he is a lap dog like a dachshund but at 88 pounds, it's quite difficult to enjoy. Ha!

So that's about all I've got for my weekend wrap up. I did get a present from David that I am enjoying this morning.

David finally remembered to give me a coffee mug he picked up on a business trip to South Florida a little while back. My friend John Michael has always called me Smashley, so I guess David thought this was fitting for me. Plus, I am a Florida girl, which you can't beat :). This weekend David will be journeying down to Thomasville to escort me to a benefit for the American Cancer Society in Tallahassee, so that should be fun. It has a cowboy theme, so I guess I need to start thinking about an outfit choice. We are also moving our office to another location this week, so please pray for me that my sanity will remain intact while we transition everything over there. I am dreading this with a passion!

I Love Technology

"Yes, I love technology. But not as much as you, you see. Yes, I love technology. Always and forever."

There's really not too much to this post, other than I just wanted an excuse to go all "Kip" on you guys this morning!

Here is a glimpse about how I spend most nights. Since David lives 4+ hours away, we have to use FaceTime if we want to "see" each other during the week. I guess we could do it old school and just talk on the phone, but that's not as much fun. My only complaint would be that I have to actually pay attention to him. No secretly watching Dance Moms while talking to him (and yes I just admitted to watching that). My other complaint would be that no matter what angle you hold the phone, you still look like a major dufus! But since David and I both agree that we are major dorks, we are ok with this. Case in point, the photo above.

Technology can be a wonderful thing. I think about my friends whose husbands/brothers are over seas in the service and have to use Skype to talk to their loved ones. My friend recently had a baby and her brother was able to see the baby at the hospital via Skype. I love that moments like that are possible through something as simple as a phone or computer. I think about my mother and when she got married. She was married at the age of 18 and moved with my father 3.5 hours away from her family and friends. They moved to the farm where the closest neighbor was a 70+ year old couple about a half a mile from their house. She only went to town like once a week and could only call home long-distance every two weeks, maybe once a week, if she was lucky. Fast forward 30 something years and now we have smart phones where you can constantly text or send photos/videos to each other. Where you can FaceTime each other and see each other face to face. It's amazing to me how much technology has advanced. I think back to growing up. If you had a bag phone in high school, you were majorly high-tech. Don't even get me started on how cool Zack Morris was with his sweet mobile phone a-la Saved by the Bell style. I think I got my first cell phone my first year of college, which was roughly around 2000-2001 or so. Granted, I am kinda glad that we didn't have cell phones back then like we do now. Can you imagine your parents being able to pinpoint your exact location when you were in high school? I shudder to think about it (hahaha, love you mom!). Anyways, I realize that I am going on and on about cell phones. What has happened to me? So I am stopping now and continuing with the real reason I wanted to do this post. And that was just to post Napoleon Dynamite videos :-)




And of course I love to make this quote to David when we have been chatting it up. I'm trying to get him to grow a mustache and get some sweet Kip glasses. Ha!



Love is like a dove. Flying up to heaven above. Yes I love technology. Always and forever. Always and forever.

Audubon Prints

My sweet mother got me a beautiful James Audubon (reproduction of course!!) print to go in my bedroom. This is the watercolor that was published in Audubon's book Birds of America.
This is what my reproduction looks like:

It is currently getting framed, so I will have to show you the finished product once I get it back. And that should be around the end of the week, hopefully!

All of his prints are so beautiful. Gracefully depicting beautiful birds in their habitats.



He later went on to do mammals as well. But I particularly love his bird drawings.

I think a man's office/trophy room/man cave would look great with a few Audubon prints hanging in there. Especially if you live in hunting/plantation country like I do.

What man wouldn't love a gorgeous turkey or quail or duck hanging in his office? I think several of these prints hanging up on a gallery wall would look really good.

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Looking at all of these prints also got me thinking about one of my favorite Spode patterns - Woodlands. I love these plates and I WILL own some one day. Even if just to hang up for display.

I love the bird set of plates, but my favorite has to be the hunting dogs.

Mainly because they feature two dogs that I grew up with. The Springer Spaniel and the German Shorthair Pointer. We always had these two dogs around.

So that's my post about all things of nature and how beautiful God's creations are. Think that's why I love the Audubon prints (and the Spode china) so much because it just captures such beautiful creatures.

Fat Tuesday

Today in honor of Fat Tuesday, I decided to go with a nice chocolate iced donut from Dunkin Donuts when I stopped to grab my morning cup of coffee for the drive into work.

Doesn't that just look delicious? Because it really, really was. I haven't had a donut in ages!

Mardi Gras is very interesting. I'm not Catholic - or French - but I find the traditions very interesting. Fat Tuesday is the last day of the Carnival season. It is the day before Ash Wednesday (which is tomorrow) and the beginning of Lent. Fat Tuesday was usually a day to eat all the eggs, dairy, and fat before the abstinence season of Lent begins. So today in honor, of Fat Tuesday, I have done my part in feasting on some deliciousness of some donuts.

Happy Monday

Good morning! It's President's Day and unfortunately, my office doesn't get off for this holiday. So, I am at work. In honor of all of my brethren who have to be at work today, I wanted to do something fun and not too serious. On the way to work this morning Pearl Jam's Yellow Ledbetter came on and it made me smile. So in honor of just-because-I-find-it-funny here's a little pick me up for your Monday morning.



Hope you all had a great weekend. I know I did. Friday night, I got together with my girlfriends to celebrate my friend's wedding. None of us get to attend, because it's in Italy. Darn! That's one wedding I really wish I was going to! And of course, David came to town, so I got to see him, so that's always a good weekend.

Happy Monday, ya'll!

I Should Be Studied...

Hope you all had a fabulous Valentine's Day. I had a great one. First this weekend, spending some time with my Valentine, David and then yesterday spending some time with my other "valentine" my cousin Stacey. If you want the scoop on why I should be studied, check out her post about it on her blog. Let's just say, I wanted to make her day special. And coming from me it was "special" bless my heart. Ha! I even made Stacey a special card. You can check it out here. And for reference, she is my cousin but I like to joke around with her about the fact that we live together, so I call her my domestic partner. :-)

Happy Wednesday!