Spring, it's heavenly!

It's official, it's spring! And here in the deep south it's already feeling like the dog days of summer. I definitely am NOT looking forward to the 100+ degree temps but I can't lie, I'm loving the weather now.

Josh and I planted an organic garden recently and it's taking off! I'm looking forward to having some fresh veggies in the near future. If you want to stay chemical free look into companion planting, we set up our garden like this and have had ZERO pests in our garden! It's amazing and we have chemical free produce to munch on all season.

Try companion planting for a chemical free and pest free organic garden

We have also enjoyed trying new types of gardening like for example growing pineapples, potatoes and tomatoes from their actual fruit. The tomatoes were actually an accident, they started coming up in our compost from an old tomato!

Left: Pinapple plant, Right: Sweet Potato, Bottom: Tomatoes from compost

Some other oddities around the Wright lake house is none other than LIZARDS. These guys are everywhere down here and I have to admit it took me a while to get used to them hopping around. The great thing is that I have hardly any bugs, which is amazing especially since we live on a huge lake.

These guys stay full and keep the creepy crawly bugs and mosquitoes off of me. I have grown to love them for that reason alone :) Even the ugly one is kinda cute when he sits on the mushroom and listens to the gnome's stories...

 

It's so nice to see everything in bloom, it rejuvenates my soul. I think I have come to realize that heaven in my mind is being surrounded by none other than plants, animals and pretty furniture. Random? Well, it is my heaven not yours :)

Plants...

My little herb garden

These bulbs were from my grandmother, she got them in Mexico

Sunflowers are about to pop..the birds love them!

I heart Hostas.

Our little front patio where we sit and look out over the lake

Animals...

 

Emma and Blue (aka the "kids"). I love how Blue (and his dirty nose) is sleeping standing up. Hard life!

These two go at it every morning on my dock..I have no idea what they are fighting about!

Pretty furniture...

My neighbor recently did a trade with me..I got these two circa 1930's beauties! Above is the bar cabinet

Circa 1930's china curio..gorgeous! Try trading with a friend, you'll be surprised what they want to get rid of!

See how I wrapped all of that up nicely? :) What is your idea of heaven? What would it include?

-Rach

Big Painting + Catching up

Let me officially apologize for my lack of posts lately. I know, I know, you're busy too. But for some reason I feel like I have this huge obligation to entertain you and at times, I fail horribly.

I'm going to start posting less due to the overwhelming amount of work I have on me at the moment. Currently, I'm working a full time job plus assisting in a few additional projects and making sure I stay up on my commissioned pieces. All while trying to have a life. Oh, and my best friend is getting married in less than 6 months and I have all those fun MOH duties. I'm not saying all of this to get sympathy BUT a little bit of understanding might help ;)On a positive note, I finished a HUGE painting that finally made it's way to NYC last week..Pics are above. It was quite the challenge to work on a 5 ft unstretched canvas! I'll post pics when they have it stretched and up on the wall...

Now let me be random for a moment. Do you remember trying to locate the most odd items for your wedding? I found myself searching for a photo shoot location this week for my bride which must have the following: A pretty park, a cute cafe window and a Barnes & Noble ALL within walking distance. I remember at one point in my wedding frenzy when I had to stop and laugh because I was searching for the following: Two vintage Coke bottles, a wedding topper with a couple who had dark hair, bobby pins with pearls on the end and lime green Bubba Kegs..6 to be exact.

Sorry for the random rant, it's just one of those days ;)

Two cute things

Etsy.com

Gothic Steampunk ring- Is it weird that I find this little dragon so cute?

A monster costume for your lil monster. I admit, I just wanted to post this because I wanted to giggle at this little booger all day.

It's my one year blogiversary!

Today is officially my one year blogiversary. I want to take a moment to thank all of you from the depths of my heart for all of the love and support you have given me over the past year...

It's no secret that it's been one of the best years of my life. I married the most amazing man ever and it was he who pushed me to stand proud and share more about myself with the world. Starting this blog taught me that it's okay to feel vulnerable and that you're not growing unless you're a little uncomfortable. I have managed to meet some of the most amazing people from all over the world that I know will be long-lasting relationships. Blogging has become part of my daily life and I feel like something is missing in my week when I don't do a post. Thank you all, especially the ones who have been there from the very beginning, as my little blog was a mere 3 posts with 2 followers. I appreciate all of you more than you will ever know and thank you so much for every comment, every email and every shout out that you never had to give.

-Rachel

Is it just me?

Is it just me or is this time of the year abnormally busy for most? I can barely keep up with the multitude of projects and things that I have my hands in right now. I sort of feel like this actually...

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? I've decided that I'm actually going to take a day to relax this weekend, unwind and set all things aside. My apologies for the lack of posts this week- it's just been one of those weeks!

Two of these things don't belong...

Let me just preface this by saying: I forgot my brain at home today.

It was pouring rain when I stopped by my parent's house to pay them a visit during my lunch break today. Because I didn't want to get my awesome new leather BCBG heels soaked, I took them off and dashed tippy-toed down their driveway to the front door ( we ladies do crazy things for our shoes, right?). I thought I had left the heels in my car but had actually run in the house with them tucked in my arms. And this was finally realized when I got back to work with NO shoes.

So for the rest of the day I humbly walked around the office with muddy New Balance sneakers that had been left in my trunk from God only knows when. This girl = pure business woman special.

P.S. This is hell my lovely office where I live 40+ hours each week. Now you see why I started my fun lil blog? :)

P.S.S. This barely beats the time I wore two different shoes to the office. Barely.

A MUST read {For all my ladies}

Let me be honest..I'm not a big book reader. There's something about getting lost in a book that I don't like. That being, I'm a bit of an extremist and I tend to take things too far ( I'm just being honest). You present me with a fictional character and I will psychoanalyze the author about WHY they did this..or WHY they did that- I want to sit down a FICTIONAL character and discuss their FICTIONAL life issues with them. It's a little-no- a lot extreme, but dammit it's the truth!

One book that I can't for the LIFE of me get tired of is Gifts from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. It makes me think..clearly. It makes me realize that I'm not the only woman in America who feels pressure, a book which makes sense of the circus act we women do in our every day lives. We're tough and we work hard to balance everything that pulls at us everyday, let's give ourselves some credit!

If you haven't read this book then run to your nearest bookstore and get it immediately. No matter what situation you're in, where you are in your life, you'll appreciate what it has to offer. That's the best way I can describe it.

Happy Friday my lovely ladies! :)

Found around the web

Via Mariell Amelie

Happy Tuesday! For today's posts I wanted to share with you some neat stuff I've found around the web. Enjoy!

How cool is this?!

Meet my hilarious bro-in-law. Seriously, he keeps me in tears.

Now this is graffiti you wish would show up on the side of your building.

Photographer + Model? I think I have a new crush (I also LOVE her tattoos!)

Wanted: Rolled Denim Shorts

AltamiraNYC

Lately I've been wanting a cute pair of rolled denim cut-offs–and when I say cute I'm talking, good 'ole mid-thigh, NOT coochie cutters. And yes, I just said coochie cutters in my blog post because there's just no other term that can describe them and you know it. Maybe I could have said a denim diaper because half the time that's what most gals end up looking like they're wearing...

Anyhoo.

Have you seen a cute pair lately? If so, where did ya get 'em?

Alabama Tornadoes {pics via our lake condo}

Note: If you're a new reader just know that I try to not talk about serious topics because, honestly, this blog is my safe haven from all the yucky news of the world. But since the news is happening all around me I can't help but to not post about this. I'll be back to our regularly scheduled fun and inspiring topics tomorrow :)

Unless you've been living under a rock lately, you've heard that we (Alabama) got hit with an epic amount of tornadoes on April 27 (see exactly how many on this map). In fact, the government has just recently declared Alabama a category one natural disaster, which is in the same category as Katrina and 9/11.

It was a very scary night. The tornado siren went off just as we were finishing up  Modern Family and we very quickly (yet calmly) jumped into action. We were watching the radar from our computers, candles lit throughout the house, trying to keep the pups calm, staying near the hallway where we had brought in and flipped over wrought iron outdoor chairs to protect our heads. There wasn't a minute where the sky was actually dark even though it was nighttime. It looked as if there was a giant strobe light on outside and it just felt extremely eerie. Luckily, the tornado we were bracing for hit just north of us and we just had hail and wind damage.

Once place out of many that wasn't spared was Lake Martin, where our lake condo is located. Luckily, the damage wasn't that bad to our property but the pics above are a few that my mom snapped this past weekend of what used to be houses a few slough's down from ours. The tornado ended up being an EF-4 that was 44 miles long and 1/2 mile wide.

On a more humorous note, the guy sitting in what used to be his room (last pic) yelled down to mom  "Want a house? It's a bit of a fixer-upper but a few coats of paint could do wonders!"  Gotta love his optimism. So there you have it. My super serious post. Please PLEASE donate if you can. Our poor little state is shattered beyond belief :(

To Donate:  Visit www.alredcross.org and click on the “donate now” link on the homepage

Text $10: Text “REDCROSS” to 90999 to donate $10 straight from your phone. A response will include two options for donations, either to Japan or to the southern spring storms.

It's too pretty outside to blog

I must apologize, dear readers, for my lack of concentration this week. I have had the worst case of spring fever with this unusually warm weather; I feel as if I am emerging from a cocoon!

It will turn cold/rainy/terrible once again and I will be able to fully concentrate on my daily posts. I love you all– But for now, I MUST get outside!

Happy Birthday Cézanne

I was lucky enough to get to study a semester abroad in Spain during my sophomore year in college. It was there in Madrid where I fell in love with French artists Paul Cézanne's Portrait of a Peasant.

Maybe it was all of the still life paintings my high school art teacher made me paint to practice the craft, but I will forever be in awe of this great modern master's extreme patience to sit and create them. It is said that he began turning his attention to still life paintings of fruit because he wanted to create something "solid and durable, like the art of the museums". What's even more interesting is how his fruit paintings don't fully resemble the realistic items, some say, because they had simply rot before he finished painting them. I love that he just kept on painting, it really adds such character.

Check out Google's 'doodle' honoring his 172 birthday today ( this simply means to go to http://www.google.com/, Mom :)

Hey, guess what? It's midweek! Happy hump day y'all!

Closet Inspiration

Last night, I decided that I am completely over my closet. Do you ever get like that? Where you walk up to it and that same 1994 sweater that you have tried to get rid of for over a decade just keeps hitting you in the face? And you desprately want to throw a match to it all but can't because you are at the mercy of these ugly pieces of fabric that cover your body everyday?

Ahem. Excuse me. I almost lost it there...

With that in mind, I thought I'd give you a little closet inspiration. Happy Friday! ;)

Meet Nicole.

Nicole Moss Grillet is my bff.  I wanted to take a moment to share with you just one of the reasons why I love this gal {   this much   }.

You see,  many moons ago two [odd] art students figured out a genius way to procrastinate during college classes.Their Photoshop class was quite tedious and they had pretty much learned it on their own anyway, so they began to entertain themselves by crafting each other's faces onto random people's bodies. Over time, the images that they would send to each other ended would end up morphing into how they expressed their day-to-day emotions. From anger to encouragement, there was a photo for every feeling.  "I'm mad at her. Hey, I know!? I'll stick her face on ___'s body so I can laugh at her." 

Below is a portion of our odd collection that I would like to share with you for a laugh. I hope you enjoy these silly images and the story behind each of them.

My bad day became instantly better when I found this lovely image of myself as Wynonna Judd waiting in my inbox. Because nothing makes you feel quite as good as being Wynonna Judd.

This was my birthday present to Nicole last year. She has a thing for creepy wedding photos where the couples look like they're having an  out of body experience. ( By the way her hubby Dan, in fact, does not have a mullet. It was merely added in for overall trashy effect).

To much shock and surprise, I found this lovely pic hanging out in my Facebook photos one day.

Nicole loves Oprah. I thought meeting her would make her day extra special.

Nicole refers to me as Sarah Palin when I do my glasses/updo combo. Again, she posted this little number on Facebook much to my surprise.

Nicole wanted a new hairstyle. I gave her just the inspiration for the job.


Now for the inevitable question: What strange/awesome things do you and your friends do to give each other a laugh?

It's Snowing!

It just started to snow here and I'm soo ecstatic! I hope everyone who's traveling isn't stuck with delays, we have a few friends who are spending the night in the airport tonight :( If you are at home and lucky enough to get a few inches will you make a snow angel for me?

My new watch necklace.

Urban Outfitters

A must for my New Year's Eve outfit, no?

Josh likes to call me Flavor Flav every time I wear it. But as for me, I just call it dang cute. Tell me, when would be a better time to wear one than on the one night you're frantically watching the clock? I shall wear my Flavor Flav necklace and wear it proud.

Our Christmas Card:

War Eagle



Rolling Toomer's Corner


Our team (Auburn Tigers) just won the SEC Championship! Hopefully this will be not be the last rolling of Toomer's Corner we get to have. On to the national championship ye olde Tigers!

So many of my friends think it's hilarious how crazy my family is over Auburn football. I guess you could say it runs deep in our blood. My grandpa played for Auburn right before he was drafted for the Army during the Vietnam War. I can't help but to sport the orange and blue!

Need More Daylight

According to the handly little chart over at astro.edu, I get a whole 10.5 hours of daylight right now. I'm officially starting to get SAD ( literally..Seasonal Affective Disorder). I can't take this whole driving to work in the dark- coming home in the dark cycle. And it just started. Yuck.

Today = Bad News.

Today was not a very good day. It's been rough. I just found out that my brother, a 1st Lieutenant in the Marines, will more than likely not be home for Thanksgiving and his having his deployment moved back. Our whole family had planned on heading to his base at Cherry Point, NC and enjoying the holidays with him. My sis-in-law is so ready to see him she can't stand it. God bless our men in uniform...I can't wait for him to be back home! I'm leaving you with this video to watch in hopes for that day ( P.S. Grab a tissue..it's a happy cry though!):



Welcome Home:  >>Click On Link To Watch Video