What I love about Tuscaloosa

When I heard about Centsational Girl's link party about
 "Favorite things in your town",
 I knew I had to join in.

"What do you love about your town?"

And I do LOVE my town.

Here's just a few of the reasons:

1. My Family is in Tuscaloosa. Almost all of my family. Love that my children are growing up near their grandparents/aunts/uncles.

LOVE.
It also doesn't hurt that I have lots and lots of wonderful friends here.
Also LOVE.

2. I love this place-

The Bama Theatre, Downtown Tuscaloosa

Not only was this the first place I started performing, (at age 7 with Tuscaloosa Children's Theatre) but it was also the location of my engagement,

and also where I directed my first show professionally. Two of my kiddos also made their stage debuts here, and no, I didn't push them unwillingly onto the stage. No Toddlers and Tiaras here. They were way too young to protest.

Ha.

Special, special place.

3. I love that Tuscaloosa has a true 'downtown', which is where the Bama is located. Lots of good eatin' and shopping, and generally cool looking buildings there. Chuck's is downtown, just a block from the Theatre, and so many other places I could mention. I could definitely fill a post with the unique shops and restaraunts that are located there. Our downtown is a jewel I tell ya.

4. Our town is resilient:

Beaten, but not broken.

So inspiring to see how our town came together after the tornado.

So moving to see neighbor helping neighbor.

So many giving their time and resources to help others.

Resilient.

Tuscaloosa will rebuild,

and be better than before.

I have no doubt.

Our church will be among those rebuilding.

When and where, only God knows,

but He is faithful, and so we will trust Him to lead us.

To read more about my church, click HERE

5. And this list would, of course, have to include this:

Alabama Football.

While we don't attend many of the games, this is such a huge part of my town. The blood here truly does run crimson, and even if you're not a big football fan,  you can't escape it.

It's huge, folks.

ENORMOUS.

All of Tuscaloosa buzzes on gamedays.

Trust me.

6. Other gawgeous places I must include:

photo by Erin Schmidt Photography

Downtown Northport.

Did I mention that my town's so cool, it has TWO downtowns?

Because it does.

photo by Erin Schmidt Photography

Also, take note of how I'm showing you cool places in my hood and shamelessly throwing myself into the mix at the same time.

photo by Erin Schmidt photography

See how gawgeous my town is?

SO many perfect spots to shoot pics of yourself in a wedding dress.

OR,

to take pics of your family...

Below is my fam in Capitol Park, which is located close to the other downtown-

(all photos by Erin Schmidt Photography)

yes, MM was fresh from the womb which is why she looks crazy tiny.

Also why I look so crazy swollen.

See what I mean about all of the "perfect spots to take pics you'll want to keep forever" places in Tuscaloosa?

There's a plethora, folks.

A plethora.

Our town also boasts lakes and rivers if what you crave is a little fun in the sun, and there's also a new amphitheatre which has already hosted TONS of huge talent. (To see a schedule of who'll be performing in the next few months,

click HERE.)

 Midtown Village is packed with store after store of pure goodness- Old Navy, Barnes & Noble, Cold Water Creek, Ann Taylor Loft, New York & Co, Charming Charlie, Best Buy, Ulta....

I could go on and on.

And did I mention that while you're there, you can pop into Starbucks for a white chocolate mocha? Or perhaps you'd like a few cupcakes from Gigi's. Maybe some Mexican food from Iguana, or some Japanese fare from Kobe.

Whatever you're craving,

we gots it here in t-town.

So, can you see why I loves my town?

These are just a few of my favorite things about the place I live.

So glad Kate is hosting this linky, and so glad I'm getting to share a bit of my city with you.

What do you love about your town?

Printables and Pick Your Plum

Happy Tuesday to you friends!

No (daylight) pics of the playroom yet, but I wanted to share a few goodies with you this morning...

First off,

I had a couple of questions about the printable Oliver was holding in his

 'first day of school' pics. They were a free gift from the How Does She? site HERE (just use 'welcome' as your password) Everything from Pre-school to {gulp} 12th grade are included in the set.

Here's hoping my kiddos will still pose for their aging mamma when they're in 12th grade. Surely they'll be used to it by then...

right?

Love the fact that our kitchen progress is also documented in O's 'First day of 1st grade' pics.

********

Another juicy tidbit for ya is the Deal a day site, Pick Your Plum.

I think I've mentioned them here before, but if you're into crafting of any sort, or if you like personalized stamps on the cheap, or if you enjoy home decor pieces at rock bottom prices, or if you like to give unique gifts, then this site is for you. Just check out some of the goodies I've scored recently-

I'm sure most of you have heard of Divine Twine and have seen some of the yumminess you can do with it (there are entire Pinterest boards dedicated to it). However, at $15 a pop, it seems a bit impractical. Enter Pick Your Plum...

The above pic was a deal a few days ago: 180 yards of 4 different colors of twine for...

$4.90.

Yup.

Did you hear that?

And if 180 yards just doesn't sound like enough, you can always purchase multiple sets. (I did) How cute is that twine going to look on Christmas/Birthday/Shower gifts? Or even tied onto gift tags?

Love it.

And here was yesterday's deal:

15 wooden spools to store that lovely twine on if you so choose for a mere $3.50.How lovely would these be in a glass hurricane as decor in a craft room?

For those of you lucky enough to have a craft room.

No, I'm not bitter, why do you ask?

I kid.

So...

sign up for daily e-mails from Pick Your Plum to see what they're featuring each day. Who knows, it could be something you've wanted for a while but didn't want to spend a lotta moolah on and they'll have it for 83% off or something crazy like that.

Just maybe.

weekend recap

Howdy friends!
I'm back with a quick look at how we spent parts of our weekend.

Happy Birthday Elizabeth!

The kids and I went to my cousin's daughter's 4th birthday party on Saturday morning. The theme was Candyland and the decor + food was pure awesomeness.

Just check out the food table and this cake-

made by my Aunt C.

Looks just like the board game and the picture it was inspired by on Pinterest.

Source: 3.bp.blogspot.com via Mary on Pinterest

The birthday girl blowing out her #4 candle

Baby girl devoured every bit of that chocolate covered oreo in her hand. Well, all but the 40% of it that ended up on her face + hands.

The kids ran off lots of their sugary energy in the gym at my cousin's church-

See?

After a full morning of playtime + cake, I brought the kiddos home, put the girls to bed, and Oliver and I started tackling

this...

heinous, ghastly, scream-inducing mess of a playroom.

more ghastliness...

(sheesh-a-mundo)

Our biggest problem, besides the awful mess of it ALL, are the books that end up everywhere.

EVERYWHERE, I tell you!!!

The little basket I bought to keep board books in on the coffee table wasn't cutting it anymore.

The books were multiplying.

(Like rabbits, if you will)

So...

I worked on a solution to solve the book issue that I'll share tomorrow.

The rest of the mess, however?

Well that took LOTS of bending down and picking up and repeating...

(OY)

Of course, my workspace wasn't the tidiest of spots either.

Workin on it...

Sunday night, my friend Christa came over with these, ummm,

pretty pillows.

Wait,

did I say pretty?

Sorry.

I meant pretty ugly.

(sorry Christa)

They're made of a velour-ish material and she herself admitted that she never planned on using them again,

however,

they were COVERS, which means they had perfectly good pillow forms inside.

She had also purchased some gawgeous fabric from fabric.com and was hoping to get 4 pillows out of it, but it was a bit pricey so she only purchased 1 yard.

(wah-WAH...)

Not enough fabric for 4 19 x 19 pillows UNLESS we used some other material for the back.

Enter pretty ugly pillows again.

Once we removed the pillow forms, we realized that the OTHER side of the fabric wasn't half bad. Instead of being ALL velour-ish,

only the leaf shapes were velour-ish.

Make sense?

So we started ripping seams.

And ripping,

and ripping,

and ripping.

And after a bit of ironing and pinning and stitching,

(There's me doin the stitching. {grin} Thanks Christa for snapping my pic!)

We had 4 lovely pillows that looked like this on the back:

and this on the front:

Didn't I tell you they was gawgeous??

I, of course, had to try them out on my own sofa first, but check out how great they look in Christa's turquoise living room on her sofa:

Don't they just make the wall color POP?

LOVE how fabulous they turned out.

She has more fabric to add some accent pillows, so we'll be stitchin' again soon.

Until then,

I'm off to finish wading through our mess of a playroom.

Anyone else feeling like tossing 90% of their kids toys, or is it just me?

hmmm??

Happy Monday!

Hello Friends!

I hope all of you had a wonderful weekend-

I'll be back this afternoon with a full weekend recap, but until then,

I wanted to share a quick peek at a project I worked on last night with my friend Christa-

The fabulous fabric is from fabric.com, but there's a surprise when you turn them around...

Until later,

hope you all have a wonderful Monday morning!

Insta-Friday

Happy Friday friends!

I unplugged yesterday and stayed completely offline, except for the occassional tweet. Didn't even check e-mail. While it's not something I do often, it was nice to spend a day completely with my family.

Do you ever spend a day 'unplugged'?

Today I'm linking up with Jeanett again over at Life Rearranged for

Insta- Friday.

Love me some Instagram.

My son is a reader.

He reads all.the.time. and I love it.

Totally loving the fact that he can read me (and his seesters) a bedtime story.

MM loves books too, but with her limited vocabuloary it's a bit tough to make it through an entire book...

It's HOT here folks.

Anyone else as ready for Fall as I am?

Speaking of Fall, just looky what was in my mailbox a couple days ago.

LOVE the inspiration this catalog provides.

Also love me some babes straight from the bath.

You know what else I love about a bath?

Washing dishes.

Wait,

no...no I don't.

Ready to NOT have to wash dishes in the bathtub.

Thank you hubs, for doing this yesterday.

Sometimes the wee one wakes up super early, and sometimes the daddy takes her for a stroll outside so as not to wake the other wee ones in the house.

Thanks again, daddy.

Guess what we've owned for the past 6 years and never used?

A Mickey Mouse waffle maker.

Pulled it out yesterday (and dusted it off) and man were they yummy.

My children are studious.

Okay, so they're just playing games, but still...

E scored some new shoes last night courtesy of Mal Mal.

After Nicole blogged about them HERE, I was in love.

Aren't they fantastic?

This little girl thought they were SO fantastic she didn't want to take them off last night. She's also reading my new Better Homes and Gardens.

Again, she's studious.

And...

for a BIG announcement-

Just looky what was installed on Wednesday!

I'll have full body shots next week in my kitchen post, but lemme tell ya,

they are gawgeousss!

Happy Friday friends!!!