Fall Mantel Design

I was talking with friends yesterday and mentioned something about my blog and they were like, " you have a blog"? and I was like...yeah, it has been a while, huh? maybe I will do the mantle post that I took pictures for a WHIIIIILE back! I mean, I used to get so into the link parties and decorating for the holidays, etc...

I used to do posts like this http://pickledblu.blogspot.com/2010/12/its-beginning-to-look-lot-like.html

and even if I was busy or running low on creativity and time, I would at least do something like this

http://pickledblu.blogspot.com/2011/09/its-fall-yall.html

anywho, just to let you guys know that I am still alive and kickin' it. ( I know the phrase is alive and kicking- this is my own personal version. "Alive and kickin' it" is like cold kickin' it live, which is completely different and much cooler than the original version).
Here is what my mantel looks like these days!!!

The 5 year ago me, would have been struggling to let this play session go more than about 20 minutes before we cleaned it up. Now I am all like, that is tooo cute! Let's keep it all week!

I am embracing my new life ya'll...it is a defense mechanism to try and keep the crazy at bay!

Rock the Vote

Lately, all I can seem to muster in the way of photography are phone pictures.

Oh well, they are pictures, right?

A list:

1) Does it make me sound old that I say I rocked the vote on Super Tuesday?

2) I got a little teary when I think about how excited I was to go vote in my first presidential election at 18 with mom. I miss her.

3) Big D's bday is coming up. I asked Jack what we should get him for his birthday and he said "paint". "We can go to the paint store and get him some...he is running out".

I guess there has been a little too much painting going on at our house lately?

4) Does it make me a bad person because even though I wanted a neutral in the nursery, I am making Bid D paint over the Softer Tan in Balanced Beige?

It really is going to make a HUGE difference ( to me anyway).

The Softer Tan has WAAAY too much yellow.

Jack is getting so big!!!

My belly is getting SOOOO big!

That's all folks!

Happy Valentine's Day- Eating at Home

I have a Valentine's present for you all...it is a website that I found on Pinterest. If you have already received this gift then I am sorry for the repeat and also,

WHY HAVE YOU NEVER GIVEN THIS TO ME???

HA!

Just Kidding.

Kind of...

Anyway, I am always complaining to Big D that I wish we cooked and ate better meals at home, but lets face it, cooking is only half the battle. To REALLY achieve this night after night you have to plan ahead, shop, and actually have the good food on hand!

Well lookie at what I stumbled across on Pinterest....

http://eatathomecooks.com/weekly-menus

Yes. It is what you think. Menus AND the grocery lists to support them.

I can print one of these babies out, go shopping, follow the easy to read recipes and be all set for good dinners for a week.

I should note, that I think this is for the entrees only. On antoher note, some nights you "double your efforts" and freeze something extra for later- LOVE THAT!

Will my family LOVE every meal on the list?

No- of course not, but hey, who am I to complain?

I mean really, what do you want for free? Your change back?

I think we can work throught that.

AND I am willing to bet that we MIGHT even find some new favorites.

I think I am going to give this a try!

What do you think?

Working Moms

I am linking up today to SUYL at Kelly's Korner today for "working moms" day.
I want to start by saying exactly what Kelly said...we are ALL working! I have taken days off before just to play "stay at home mom", and let me say, they were NOT vacation days! I admit, they do feel more fullfilling to me than my day job, but still work NO DOUBT! My stay at home mom friends always say they do not see how I do it all. But I know that the quiet moments that I have to myself in my car on the way to work, at my desk, lunch outings, etc...are things that they would consider luxuries! The grass is always greener, right?

I am a designer for a New Homes Construction Company and I love my job. The only downside to it is it is not exactly flexible...it is a Monday through Friday gig 8-5 and in metro Atlanta, you have to tack an hour to the beginning and end of that day for commuting. That is the part that is hard. By the time I get home, it is dinner time, then bath time, then bedtime. Really. That is it. That is all we do on weeknights. Blu goes to bed at 8pm, so there is no time for error! I also run an ETSY shop called the Pickle Tree that I LOVE! It is a real creative outlet for me, but attached to that are the rigors of deadlines and shopping for supplies and keeping the books...this usually takes place on Saturday mornings or...you guessed it...after 8pm!

In case you have not guessed, I don't exactly have a lot of free time. But I am not writing this post to complain or look for sympathy. I love my life and I am blessed with an amazing husband, and beautiful 3 1/2 year old son, and now another little boy on the way!

I am just writing to connect with other working moms who I know will understand the unique set of trials, guilts, and stresses that go along with trying to be in too many places all at the same time!
So who are you? Wanna be friends? Let's rap!

Oh.....and TGIF!!!!!

I love Harry Potter

and I just LOVED watching this!!

Christmas is COMING!!!

 The holidays are in full swing at the Pickle Tree

Where I Like to Shop

Truth?

I don't shop a lot mainly because I am super busy ( who isn't, right?) but also because my darling mother-in-law ( and father-in-law) buy me TONS of adorable clothes!

They shop mostly at Kohls and Belk. ( We all miss Parisians like crazy cakes!!!!)

I love the new J-Lo line at Kohl's!

I am a southern girl through and through and I bleed orange and blue, so when fall rolls around, I love to find sophistocated ways to wear my orange and blue!

I am also a boots girl and I have my eye on this type of maxi skirt for the winter to throw on with some boots....comfortable AND ready for the office- MY FAVORITE!

In the end, I will probably just grab things off of the 75% off rack at Target. That is really how I roll these days. I pop in to buy towels or shipping supplies for The Pickle Tree and swing through the women's clearance!
But hey- a girl can dream, right?

Kelly's Korner SUYL is all about where people like to shop so go check out the others! They are bound to have some cool ideas!



God Bless America

 This is my view each morning on my way to work....

 Well, the field is. It does not always have 3000 flags on it.

 But it did all last week in honor of the anniversary of 9/11.

 I could never take a photograph to do it justice. It is absolutely breathtaking.

Flags....as far as the eye can see...it is so beautiful.

It can never make up for all of the beautiful lives that were shattered on that terrifying day 10 years ago.

I do think it is a beautiful gesture of rememberance. A symbol of resiliance of the American people.

God Bless America.

And God Bless the families that were forever changed on that day.

Pajama Day

This story has nothing to do with the pictures.... I need some more pics of my sweet boy lately!

For now, please enjoy the pictures of The Pickle Tree's new long-all!

 So today is pajama day at Blu's school.  I LOVE little events like that! It is so cute and fun.

 When daddy went to dress him in his jammies this morning, Blu flipped out.

 I could not believe it.

 He wanted NO part of wearing jammies out of the house.

Go figure....he doesn't want to wear his jammies all day AND he fights his naps.

I am beginning to wonder if he is even my child.....

;)

Blogs I Love

found this on etsy a while back in one of my favorite shops nellidesign- cute!

I have some blogs listed in the sidebar that I always read...I have tons more design blogs that I read, as well.

Of COURSE I love Kelly's Korner! I am sure that I need not say all the reasons because since you are here, you MUST know and love her like I do. She is so down to earth and fun!

There are a couple of blogs that I absolutely LOVE and get excited when I see a new post!

I am going to join in over at SUYL today and tell you a little bit about them.

The first one is Fly Through Our Window. I found this blog about...oh I don't know...2-3 years ago through a friend's blog. That friend has pretty much stopped blogging, but not Darby! Darby is the author of Fly Through Our Window and I love to read her stuff for a lot of reasons. I think mainly because I can relate to her. Isn't that what we all love about blogs? She is an Auburn girl like me and her adorable son that she calls Rover is my sons age, so I just LOVE to hear what he is up to. Makes me feel like I am on track with my boy! She is so talented, resourceful, and she sews a little too which is my thing....Another thing that I just adore about her blog is her pictures. I just like her photography style I guess. I always like what she captures!

When I started reading Darby's blog, I was led to her twin sister Erica's blog, Urban Grace. Erika is an Interior Designer. I could look at her designs all day. I just LOVE her style. She takes some pretty mean photos too and her daughter is just a little doll baby. She travels for work and reports on her findings. SHe alwasy includes lots of pretty pictures I LOVE that. I don't get out much anymore, so that is super cool! Erika is an Auburn girl too, and that always scores points with me. When I see a picture of her daughter with her Auburn hat on, and it makes me feel right at home.     

                       For many years, I have been reading Boomama and Bigmama. I love their writing style and they ALWAYS make me laugh my head off! They have the funniest stories and they hook up to some of the coolest links. Bigmama does fashion Friday and it always motivates me to try to get out of my "mom clothes" slump! Boomama just does random links and I never know if they are going to make me cry my eyes out or laugh out loud!

There are a few more in the sidebar, and I have even more in my favorites and even more that I follow, but these were just a few that I wanted to mention!

I can't wait to learn more about all of YOUR favorite bloggers!

                       

When I Grow Up

Here is Boy Blu with his "Uncle Brad". Some of our friends went camping last Satuday night. They anchored their boat at the campsite and we went out to meet them on Sunday.

When Blu realized that all his buddies were on shore...well, he just started swimming!

 He swam a LOOOONG way and Uncle Brad met him and walked him up to camp!

 He is getting so stinking big.

Yesterday morning in the car he said, "momma, I need to ask you something". For those of you that do not know my Blu, he speaks VERY plain for a 3 year old. I said, OK, what?

Out of nowhere, he just said to me, "where do you work"?

I told him the name of my company and that really did not help him. I finally said, "I build houses. I mean, I HELP build houses".

When the builder needs the brick, I pick the color,

when he needs the paint, I pick the color,

when he wants the cabinets, I pick the color.

I was trying to keep it simple, people!

So this morning, as he is waving at Dan pulling down the street, he said,

"mommy, where is daddy going?" I said, " he is going to work". Blu said, "Oh, where does daddy work"?

I said, daddy builds buildings. Blu asked, "like the warehouse"?

*that is where we store our boat*

I said, "yes".

he said, " I want to build my house. But you I will have to pack my toys"!

How cute!

Then he said..."momma, when I grow up, I want to come to work with you".

Melt. My. Heart.

It would be even more precious if we weren't in a housing crisis!

Lawd...I hope this economy changes before Blu grows up!

Upcycled Concert "T"

My sister handed me a shirt last time I was in Alabama and said, "turn this into a pillow".

I said OK.

I could make pillows in my sleep.

I did not think much more about it until I needed a project to use up my bobbin thread because I needed to switch out my bobbin thread to black and when I thought black, I thought of the T-shirt and so I grabbed it and got started.

My mind works in mysterious ways.

WHEN it is working at all that is, so I think my mind was on vacation when I got started on this because I really did not take very good pictures.

Truth be told, I did not get overly involved, because I really did not have a vision of HOW STINKING CUTE it would turn out!

 So as you can see( or really you can't actually see, work with me here) I cut the top and bottom off of the shirt. Essentially leaving the main artwork of the T-shirt with some blank black canvas on each side of the art. I then cut the bottom of the T-shirt into 4 long strips.

I baste stitched(some would call this a gathering stitch) down the middle of the strips on a VERY low tension setting. Once this is done, you can pull the bobbin thread on each end, and it "gathers" the ruffle for you. I was taught this method by and old pal of mine way back when (shout out to Tami Stanford) and I think of her every time I do it! It makes it so easy.

 Then, I pinned the ruffles in place and ran a stitch down the center over my gathering stitch to secure it. Some would say that you should remove the original basting stitch at this point, but the ruffles were so tight that I could not get to it.

 I backed it with some coordinating fabric that I had, that I knew my sister liked. I love the way the green matched the "Poison" logo. I suppose that I COULD have used the back of the T-shirt for the backing, but I wanted to add some structure and the stretchy knit of a T-shirt would have been less than ideal for the sham style back that I chose.

(AKA...I cut the top off the art on the back of the shirt by mistake) 

I wanted her to be able to get the insert out easily for washing.

I would like to take a moment to point out that I could hardly go to sleep that night because "Every Rose Has It's Thorn" and "Talk Dirty To Me" lyrics kept running through my head!

But it was totally worth it because I LOVE the way it turned out!

I am already eye-ing some beloved T-shirts that might need to be upcycled.

What a great way to showcase some favorite T's that you no longer wear.

Oh...and BONUS, I never counted on loving the way the T-shirt ruffles feel. GREAT texture!


***Once I saw how cute this turned out, I just KNEW that I had to share it on Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style***

Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You?

My mom absolutely LOVED Stevie Nicks. I don't think love is even a strong enough word for it! Once, back in 2001, or 2002??? ( I lose track) she, my sister and myself went to Chastain Park Amphitheater  to see her. It was a MAGICAL evening. First of all, if you are familiar with Chastain Park, you know that it is such an intimate cool venue for live music. We spent the afternoon leisurely primping around the house getting ready. We were drinking wine, blaring music, putting on make up...we even put glitter tattoos on our faces. We were having a ball! We put on our long flowing Stevie Nicks dresses and lace up platform boots, and set out for the show.
IT. WAS. HOT.
I remember, we found our seats and were anxiously awaiting Stevie as we frantically fanned and tried not to sweat. All of a sudden it got gray and VERY dark. Did I mention that Chastain is an OUTDOOR amphitheater? Well, the wind picked up, and the thunder started rolling in. We were pretty upset, we thought that surely we would get rained out or at least rained on which would not have been much fun in our long flowy dresses, lace up platform boots and glitter tatoos...
Stevie hit the stage, and just like that, the thunder stopped, but the cool breeze kept on blowing throughout the ENTIRE show. It was PERFECT! Mom was certain that Stevie had somehow arranged the weather just so in order to make the tempueratures a little more bearable. Maybe mom was right?
That night, The Edge of Seventeen could NOT have gotten any better! The guitar lead in to the soong went on and on and on...building our suspense until we could hardly stand it! We were all smiles and dancing.....
We ended the night like a couple of teenagers...driving through Krystal's for some "gut bombs". Then we got home to find we had locked ourselves out and had to throw stones at the window just to get someone to let us in......ahhh, to be young again!

...fast forward many years, and here I am. Left on this earth with no mom.

Funeral's come fast. There are so many things to consider. Things that you don't dare think about until you have to. When it came time to select music, it was pretty simple. We all knew that there had to be some Stevie in that Chapel! Even mom's old girlfriend's from work inquired if we were going to play Stevie.
Mom always told us stories about what all of the Stevie songs meant. It was important to her. The one that we chose to play at the funeral is near and dear to my heart. It was written by Stevie Nicks for Joe Walsh. I found a great write up that explains it perfectly in case you are interested it is in the post below the video.
Mom's cousin, held service for us at the funeral. I am so glad. He listened to the music before he planned the service, and he perfectly tied the message into the song. How, no one can write our funeral for us. We write our funeral with our lives. Mom wrote a beautiful life for herself. Full of joys, sorrows, and plenty of grankids to carry on her legacy! We miss her terribly.
I wrote something for mom and I spoke those words at her funeral. Maybe one day, I will share them here, but for now...please enjoy this beautiful song.





This song was written as a tribute to Joe Walsh of the Eagles. In the liner notes of her TimeSpace album, Stevie explained:
"I guess in a very few rare cases, some people find someone that they fall in love with the very first time they see them... from across the room, from a million miles away. Some people call it love at first sight, and of course, I never believed in that until that night I walked into a party after a gig at the hotel, and from across the room, without my glasses, I saw this man and I walked straight to him. He held out his hands to me, and I walked straight into them. I remember thinking, I can never be far from this person again... he is my soul. He seemed to be in a lot of pain, though hid it well. But finally, a few days later, (we were in Denver), he rented a jeep and drove me up into the snow covered hills of Colorado... for about 2 hours. He wouldn't tell me where we were going, but he did tell me a story of a little daughter that he had lost. To Joe, she was much more than a child. She was three and a half, and she could relate to him.


I guess I had been complaining about a lot of things going on on the road, and he decided to make me aware of how unimportant my problems were if they were compared to worse sorrows. So he told me that he had taken his little girl to this magic park whenever he could, and the only thing she EVER complained about was that she was too little to reach up to the drinking fountain. As we drove up to this beautiful park, (it was snowing a little bit), he came around to open my door and help me down, and when I looked up, I saw the park... his baby's park, and I burst into tears saying, 'You built a drinking fountain here for her, didn't you?' I was right, under a huge beautiful hanging tree, was a tiny silver drinking fountain. I left Joe to get to it, and on it, it said, dedicated to HER and all the others who were too small to get a drink.


So he wrote a song for her, and I wrote a song for him... 'This is your song, ' I said to the people, but it was Joe's song. Thank you, Joe, for the most committed song I ever wrote. But more than that, thank you for inspiring me in so may ways. Nothing in my life ever seems as dark anymore, since we took that drive.

Pretty Little Things

 My sister makes jewelry...

 you know the stuff...

 all that cool hand stamped metal.

 She is pretty freaking talented.

 She did a show at "Soul Spa" at Saint Luke's this past weekend.

 She was a hit!

 You should go "like" her on facebook.

 Or go love on her at her etsy shop!

 With Christmas just around the corner....

 You will be glad you did!