Coach's Low Country!!

We have a local celebrity! Our very own Coach aka Joe Crosby is going to be on QVC! Anyone that has come to visit us in the warmer months has had the pleasure of enjoying some boil from T-60...this is that spice! Coach is going to be on this thursday (4/2) from 3-5 pm. Check it out!!!

Digiland...

I recently made a big change with regards to my digiland commitments. Earlier this year I had been feeling like God wanted me to step away from this responsibility. I kept praying about it because after so many years of wanting to be on creative teams, surely He wouldn't want me to walk away. So I kept praying about it over the last month. I finally gave in and sent in my notice to the designers. I am sad but at the same time I'm excited to just be creative on my own terms (not that their terms were very strict, really). The reality of it is I have so many products already in my office and on my computer that there isn't a need to keep downloading kits to use only once or twice. My goal over the next few months will be to make things using things I already have on hand, either physically or on my hard drive. I will be sad to not to be quite as active in the forums but at the same time I'm excited to have a little more time away from the laptop (my boys are excited about that part too!)...especially with summer coming. We all know Jameson & I have a daily date with the pool around these parts!

And just as I am walking away I had the honor of having a layout showcased in the After5 ad last week...check it out here. Speaking of After5, check out this product spotlight for Cafe J. Janelle has offered up a 30% off coupon (good until 4/18) for anything in her shop at After5. Be sure to take a peek!

You will still be seeing me around The Hybrid Chick blog. I have a tutorial there in April. And in May I'll have a project featured in the DST Insider. So I won't totally be falling away from digiland!

Treasures!

Lately I have been focused on the word treasures. The first treasure this week came on Sunday night when our life group went out for a fun evening. We went bowling...and even James had a good time! We all took pictures of the fun rental shoes!

Then on Monday morning while Jameson & I were driving the little man was jabbering away to me. What he said was so cute. (Lately he has been telling stories about things that he has basically has completely imagined up. I've heard it is a phase and I'm trying to capture as many of these stories as possible.) Okay back to the story that came out this week. He was telling me about how God was trying to turn him into a robot. Now that alone is pretty cool that he pulls God into a regular conversation. The really neat twist was that he said that he called for Jesus to help protect him so that God wouldn't turn him into a robot.

In the back of my head I've been looking for a vintage, velvet chair to use for photos. I didn't really think I would be able to find one, that was what I was looking for and in my budget. But oh boy did God have another plan in place for this fun treasure. So later in the day on Monday as we were heading to have dinner to celebrate Julia & Rocco's birthdays, I found a true treasure! There was a trailer in front of a furniture store with the exact chair that I had seen in my minds eye...and the best part it was only $15! It is so fun! I can't wait to place it in just the right spot. I did pull it out and got this shot with the 4 kiddos together!

Today we got to spend some treasured time with my dear friend Sarah and her kiddos. Oh that little Mallory loves ME! She can even say my name and reaches for me as soon as she sees me. It feels so good to feel that kind of unconditional love! We headed to a really fun park together.

And the treasures continued this evening, I was reminded what kind of toddler Jameson was about 2 years ago. He used to get up around 11-12 almost every single night. He would come out of his bed, walk to the top of the steps and cry. Not sure why but he was almost every.single.night. So in the last week he has done it again. Tonight I heard him get up and walk to the top of the steps...check. Crying...check. Then I heard something I'd never heard before...pee hitting the wall. Oh yes he had walked out to the top of the steps and thought it was the bathroom. I yelled stop, which he did, luckily! I ran up there and carried him to the bathroom, he finished going potty and then went back to bed. Oh boy, life is fun sometimes! I guess I know what I get to do first thing in the morning (I know I should have done it tonight but I just couldn't bring myself to turn on the lights and wake up James). I'm off to bed now!

"They will summon peoples to the mountain and there offer sacrifices of righteousness; they will feast on the abundance of the seas, on the treasures hidden in the sand." Deuteronomy 33:19

Local golf outing!

For anyone that is looking for a way to golf and help out the community at the same time...please considered participating in this golf outing. Our neighbor, Jay Ratliff is organizing it to benefit the local youth center. Give Jay a call for details on how you can sponsor a hole (I think there are 2 left now) or golf.

New furniture!

We did it!!! James & I have been on the hunt for new furniture for the living room but just hadn't found exactly what we wanted. He wanted a black couch, I wasn't so sure of how that dark. A few weeks ago we found ourselves in Ikea looking at what we thought was the perfect couch for us...right color (I'd come to agree with James in the last few months), great size, shape, etc. Pretty much everything except the price tag (isn't that always how it goes?). We walked away that snowy day with a pamphlet and that was it. We each checked it out a few times after online but nothing more. Fast forward to today...Jeannie (our friend from church - the awesome painter!), invited me & Jameson to go to Ikea with her to get a few things she needed for work. So the plan was that we really weren't buying anything. Well that was until we found out that the awesome couch we'd just seen 3 weeks ago had been discontinued and was on sale. This was at the beginning of our adventure through Ikea. The last section of the store (self-serve) was where the discounted furniture was located. I spotted it right away and was so excited to see that the one they had was black. I tried to calmly check it out (it was the floor model). There was a spot where the seem had come apart. I found a clerk and asked if they would mark it off any additional. She let me know that she wanted it gone so she would see what she could do to reduce the price. Then I also found out that they still had one of the awesome matching recliner. I called James again (he was in meetings). Okay what price can you do for the couch and the recliner. She got the couch down to a great price and they weren't moving much on the recliner. We started toward the registers with just the 3 pieces to the couch. As we moved up in line the clerk asked again if I didn't want the recliner. I said that we did want it but not at that price. She marked off an extra $200. So we this awesome, dreamy couch and recliner for well under 50% off. Now the real test came up...was it all really going to fit into Jeannie's avalanche (she had made quite a few purchases too)? I never seem to remember that the beds aren't like a 'typical' truck. Thanks to the two awesome helpers at Ikea...it all fit. Lucky for us Paul keep tethers in the truck or we never would have made it. It was a tense ride north as I kept checking the mirrors to be sure that nothing was tumbling off the back of the tale gate. We made it home and Jeannie & I got it all unloaded in the driveway and she headed home. James pulled in a few minutes later and met the new furniture...right in the middle of the driveway! James and our neighbor Ed moved the old furniture to the dining room and then moved the new set up the steps and into the house. Then James had to run back to work for a bit so I started moving things all around. I pretty much had figured out how I wanted it but it did take a bit longer to do it with only a 3 year old to help push, pull, etc. For the first time in a long time our living room all matches!!!! And an added bonus, the chairs James ordered earlier this year are in the dinette which we're calling the wii-room. It is now comfy to play the wii at our house!

After we had it all set I was cleaning the leather with polish. Jameson found that it was a great sliding zone. We had to have a discussion about indoor behavior!

The Hybrid Chick!

There is an exciting new blog on the net! You MUST go check it out!

Hybrid layouts!

My latest obsession...hybrid layouts! For anyone that isn't sure what that means, it is the combination of paper items with some digital pieces to it. I do a little creating on the computer, print it out and then assemble the page with at least one piece of 12x12 cardstock and sometimes some other IRL (in real life) elements. I'm having so much fun with it. I've challenged myself not to spend any money on the things I'm creating. What that means is that I'm only printing what I can do here at home, using pictures I already have printed and

not buying any more cardstock, embellishments or patterned paper...at least for a little while! I did tell James that I might need to buy some adhesive if I ran out because that is a necessity! So far I'm doing pretty good. I think I've created almost 8 pages with my new 'theory'! I also wanted to let you all know that I hosted the Sugarplum blog yesterday. Check out the fun Easter banner I made for Caroline! I hope you're having a wonderful week!

I almost forgot...here is a picture from our green dinner last night. Green jello, green pizza (Jameson was almost afraid to eat it) and lots of green veggies (cucs, green peppers & lettuce). We had a fun day being green!