"StayCation 2010"

Still in Shock!!!!

Still dreaming of a tropical vacation.

So as you may or may not know, our trip to Mexico two weeks ago got canceled due to Hurricane Paula being predicted to hit the day we were scheduled to fly out! Oh the HORROR!!!! We were trying to find somewhere to travel to at the last minute, but the airfares were astronomical and everyone had been to all the places within driving distances. So in lieu of a terrible situation and a tough last minute discussion we ended up have a "Staycation". Our dear friend Paige had already driven up from S. Georgia and I was already in the ATL so we made the best of our city! On our first day we hit up J. Christopher's for breakfast where I had the best eggs Benedict! We spent the afternoon strolling around the Forum doing a little shopping and that night we went and did Sips-N-Strokes over in Dunwoody. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is an art studio where they have an instructor teach you how to paint a cool picture from start to finish. You also can bring any kind of beverage you wish....we chose bring a bottle of wine to enhance the experience and drown our sorrows of not being in Rivera Maya. I kid, I kid! Some people even bring a slew of appetizers. I was surprised that our whole class was packed out on a Wednesday night! It's the new thing here....
Paige really wanted to paint an Otter cause she LOVES them, but they didn't have one available so we did the "Funky Chicken" instead.

Assume the positing to paint Ladies:


All ready to get the show on the road:
A Blank Canvas...

Step One: Make the EGG body outline.....cause we all know that the egg comes first or is it the chicken??

Added some background color, gave it some feathers and a Tiara and Bada Bing:

Group Shot:

Staycation: Day 2~
Amanda and I went our hair dresser to get a little primping done! Let me tell you it was WAYYYYYYYY over due on my part! I hadn't had a hair cut in like 6 months! So I really needed a new look because I feel like when I have long hair that I have no style cut into it. Since I have been growing my hair long, I have also been growing my bangs out. Well so long, long bangs... HELLO short bangs......

That night we met up with the girl and headed to a FABULOUS dinner at the Atlanta Fish Market. Amy(Paige's sister) come down from Athens and McCall both join us in celebration of "Stacation 2010". Katie, Paige and Amy all have a dear friend who is one of the managers at the fish market, so he treated us very special by sending over some delicious appetizers and a decadent desert plate! It really took away our blues~



After dinner picture in front of the Jelly Fish Tank~

We ended the night with some salsa dancing at one club and then headed to another bar to get more of our kind of music. It was quite an eventful night! The rest of "staycation" was spent seeing movies (Life as we know it...SOOOO GOOD & Secretariat), cook-out with friends, sleeping late, shopping and then back to reality! SOOO sad that Mexico was a BUST, but God really had other plan in mind and I truly believe it was a divine intervention. So now we are saving our money we got back and planning a trip to hopefully CABO!!!!!

Festive Fall Decor

Once October rolls around every year I get soooooo excited to pull out all the fall decorations. All the warm colors just make me beam. I wanted to spruce up our fall decorations this year and give it a more grown up feel. Since I was little we have always decorated for Halloween but over the years it has gradually tapered off to just fall decor. Don't get me wrong I still love all the cute Halloween decorations out there, but we don't have any little kids in the house so I kept them to a minimum. Plus using the same color scheme that we already have it was just easier to incorporate things here and there and didn't have to buy to much. So here is what I did on the Mantel. It is the focal point in the room and just played it up.
*Bella wanted in on the photo fun. She is who I would ask if they liked it while working...hehehe.

I had these awesome orange feathers left over from Abby's birthday party that I needed to use again so why not bring some drama to the mantel. I have been collecting Flue-De-Lis candle stick for a project I want to do in my room, but haven't had the time to get around to doing it so I added some height up there and stuck the small wooden pumpkins on top.


Now the opposite end I needed some height on that side too. So while I was at Wal-mart the other night I stumbled down the Christmas isles to see what they had already gotten in and they had fall color decor so I snatched up these pretty ornaments to add some sparkle. I wanted to put them in candle sticks, but they wouldn't fit so I found this picture hanger that we had gotten as a gift or something, who knows where it came from. But it worked perfect to give some VA-VA-Voom.

Here are some other touches of fall in the house:
(loving the green countertops{insert sarcasm})


Taking it back to the old school with the little black witches that my mom made a longgggg time ago. It just wouldn't be the same to know throw back to the old days

Now heading outside I wanted to do something to with the black wrought iron tall lantern the we already had, so I spray painted the smaller one black (it was silver and rust). Tada~

Me being on a budge now, I did a lot of spray painting to things I could find or get at the dollar spot or GW. I really love how it turned out.


Happy Weekend friends! Planning on soaking up this unbelievable weather. I really want to hit up the Country Living Fair at Stone Mountain. It's the first annual one in the GA so I really want to see what it's all about.