Girls' Weekend

Friday, Molly and I headed to Birmingham to meet Kristi for a girls' weekend...we had a wonderful time!!
After arriving, seeing Kristi's cute apartment and visiting for a while, we headed to The Cheesecake Factory for a delicious and fun dinner. The weather was beautiful all weekend, and we were able to enjoy it by dining on the heated patio -- although at one point the heated patio felt a little more like a sauna!! We enjoyed a piece of their 30th anniversary cheesecake for dessert- delicious!!

After dinner, we enjoyed browsing Pottery Barn Kids for nursery linens for Molly then headed back to Kristi's for a fun late-night talk!

We started Saturday off at Sephora having our make-up done which was lots of fun...

We then shopped some more at the Summit which is always fun and enjoyed a late but delicious lunch at P. F. Chang's. After resting a bit, we went to Sips 'n Strokes...

where we were taught to paint a painting...



A work in progress...
After painting according to instructions, I had to take just a little creative license and add a bit more red and many more poppies to my painting...
Although I don't think that we are master artists yet, our paintings all turned out pretty good, and we definitely enjoyed the experience; we had the best time!

After we enjoyed the breakfast Kristi baked for us, Molly and I headed back to Mississippi, but we certainly enjoyed our visit with Kristi and our fun-filled girls' weekend!

More Snow...

Yesterday, snow was forcasted north of us. I woke up early and turned on the news which reported beautiful snow falling. I looked outside and all was clear. However, after Charles left for school, he gave me a call and told me to look outside. I was so glad that he did!
I went outside and watched snow flakes falling...In just an hour, our yard had turned from all clear to blanketed with snow...

Even though the snow stopped quickly, it was still beautiful!

Unfortunately, even though our county's schools were closed, my office and Charles' school was not (we were both hoping for a snow day!!), but thankfully, the driveway and roads were all clear...

Exciting Day

This morning as I was having breakfast and watching the pre-Inaugural coverage on the Today show, I happened to look outside and saw this... really big snow flurries! Even though they have now dwindled to just spitting snow, it was still a very exciting way to begin the day!

Two Performances...

in two days!
Last night Charles and I braved the cold -- 16 degrees -- and enjoyed a performance of The Drowsy Chaperon at the Orpheum.
Today, I attended a CLE (continuing legal education class) where I enjoyed a performance by John Grisham as the Boston Strangler! The CLE was terrific, and his performance was even better...Charles met me afterward, and we enjoyed a delicious dinner at Como Steak House.
It's still really cold here, and, unfortunately, we have no snow to go along with the cold - although we do have a little stream of ice right beyond our curb on the street. I'm thinking that it is the perfect evening for hot chocolate!

Day in the Delta

Friday, Mama and I had a fun girls' day with a trip to the Delta. After a few adventures in getting out of Batesville, we had a nice drive to the Delta! We first stopped in Mound Bayou for a visit to Peter's Pottery, but to our disappointment, it was still closed for the holidays. We then drove to Merigold for a visit to McCarty's, but it is closed for the whole month of January. Thankfully though we were told that if we could wait for a few minutes while they got things straightened up, we could come on in. We felt bad about them having to open up for us, but we were told that they do it all the time in January, and after driving all that way and really wanting to buy some pottery pieces - Mama had Christmas money to spend, we didn't put up much resistance and were talked into waiting. We felt a little better after another car drove up and waited to go in too. We had the best time looking around because they had a lot of pieces on display. I found a great bowl and oval serving tray and a wind chime...
Mama bought a wind chime too, but she sent it home with me. She also decided to bring home two hanging planters which we both just love every time we go to McCarty's. When we got back to her house, I couldn't wait to hang them; they look so good on either side of her swing!
We then drove to Cleveland for a delicious lunch at A la Carte, and we then had a good time looking through several of the shops on Cleveland's main street downtown. After a nice drive back to Batesville, we stopped by Talk of the Town where I picked up another vase, and then we looked through a couple of other shops.
I just love all of the pieces I brought home...

It was such a fun day and so nice to spend time with Mama!

This weekend several of Charles and my friends were in our area. We were able to meet up with some for dinner Friday night, and then today, Matt, Mary Ann and Nathan drove up for a little shopping and dinner. We had so much fun! Nathan has grown so much and is such a big boy; he is just "talking" up a storm! He was so cute with Toula too! He kept looking and pointing at her through the gate to her area, so he and I went in for him to get a closer look at her. Toula isn't too sure of any of our guests at first and especially not children, so she jumped into her home as usual. Well, Nathan wanted to put his hand in her home, so I reached in and petted Toula, and then he reached in and almost touched her. I was able to take his hand and let him pet her which he liked. He liked it so much, he tried crawling into her home which was too funny!! Us playing with Toula together worked out really well for me because Nathan let me hold him throughout the evening which I really enjoyed!

Goodbye 2008...

Today Mama came up and took Charles and me out for lunch. What a great way to spend the last lunch of 2008!
We are now getting ready to celebrate New Year's Eve - actually, getting ready to watch the ball drop in Times Square...This has been a wonderful year for Charles and me. Hopefully, 2009 will be even better!
We hope you all have a great New Year's Eve and a Happy New Year!!

Tuesday Evening Fun

Molly and I usually meet on Tuesday nights for a little girls only time -- first with tennis and after the winter weather moved in, for hot chocolate at a local coffee shop. With the hustle and bustle of the holidays we've missed several Tuesdays, but last night we resumed them. We had so much fun catching up and talking about our Christmases.
Molly was so sweet; she brought me a Christmas present - a cute little Origins sleep mask... Molly says that she has one, and her little boy Brady calls it her mouse. When she needs to take a nap, he'll tell her: "Mama, go get your mouse." How cute is that!! Thanks Molly for my mouse!