This crazy busy life

It's shameful, I've totally neglected my blog and blog friends lately. :( The last couple of weeks have been a world wind. First we had the Kenny Chesney make-up concert (it ROCKED!! He played for over 3 hours!...more on that later), my cousin's out of town wedding, my parents in town, my grandma and aunt in town, my inlaws in town, a summer cold and a found stray dog. Whew. I'm beat.

I had a great time seeing my grandma! She lives in Indiana and hates to fly, so we don't get to visit very often. She and one of my aunts flew down for my cousin's wedding. The wedding was about 3 hours away, so afterward, grandma and aunt came back to my house with my parents and spent the night. We had a lot of fun visiting!

Isn't my grandma cute?!



It was nice to spend time with the parents, too. Unfortunately, hubs couldn't make it to the wedding. He was on the road with out of town gigs.



Last weekend, while walking our dogs, my hubs found a little tiny scruffy poodle or bichon (or one of those types of breeds) running around the road, nearly getting hit by a few cars in the morning school traffic. He ran back to the house, told me to get my shoes on, and off we went. We were finally able to catch her. She had no collar, no tags and is not microchipped. Ugh! Cripes! I always find the dogs with no obvious sign of a home. Though she's definitely someone's pet. Though she's dirty from being outside, she's been groomed recently (short nails and hair) and is housebroken. I think she's been someone's little lap dog. She only has one tooth, and because she looks like a little blue-hair lady who forgot to put her teeth in, I've nicknamed her Hazel. She's sweet as can be, but she obviously is missing her family. She paces the house and cries. We've put up signs in the neighborhood and I've posted to several "lost and found" pet websites, but nothing. I'm hoping someone we know may want her, or hopefully a rescue friend can help (because I've definitely helped a lot of folks over the years...I may need to call in a favor!).



We had a round of storms the other night with some crazy lightning. I tried to get a couple of pictures, but it was difficult to get the lightning. Here's a couple before and during. You'll probably have to click on the pictures to really be able to see the lightning. The sky looks creepy over the house across the street!







I've been working on a couple of projects that I intend on showing you in a couple of days. One is a before/after and the other is a project using antique glass flower frogs.

Hubs and I went down to the square yesterday morning for coffee/tea and strolling. While down there, we passed one of the art galleries and found out they are having a watercolor class coming up soon. I am thinking of signing up for it. Anyone ever do watercolor? Is it enjoyable? I usually do "funky" type art, but I'm itching for something to do and think this may be nice.

Also, my beloved flat iron died a horrible death the other day, and I am needing to buy a new one, quick! I got the Solia last time because not only did it get better reviews than the Chi, but when you purchased the pink one, a portion of the $ went to breast cancer research, and I'm all about that. However, I'm wondering if I should go for the Chi this time, just to see if it works. The Solia was AWESOME. It worked wonderfully for over 2 years. I used it nearly every day. My stylist has the Chi, and it really does wonders on my hair too, but I've read the Chi shorts out and breaks down after a year for a lot of people. Opinions?

Also, if you've stopped by and left comments on my last few blog posts, I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to get back to you and comment on your blog. As you can see, things have been nuts and I'm trying to get back into my blog groove. I really appreciate you stopping by and visiting! Thank you! {much love}

Thank you

To all of the men and women who have and are currently serving. I pray for your safety and quick return every day.

Chalkboard paint project (thrift store rehab)

I scrambled to get my project done for Chrissie's Chalkboard Paint Party. And I do mean scrambled. Our weather has been really ugly lately, so I haven't been able to get outside to paint.

I had found this really blah plaque at the Goodwill.



It was simply a matter of peeling off the paper that was glued to the front, sanding off all the sticky residue and painting.



Eh, I'm not too thrilled with how it turned out. It looked much better in my mind's eye. That seems to happen a lot! I'll probably rehab this rehab eventually.



If you want to join the party, visit Chrissie's blog and see what cute projects all of these other creative gals have come up with. Mine really pales in comparison. I just don't have the knack for this one. But I had fun!

Chalkboard Paint Party

Chrissie is having a party today! My project isn't finished yet, so I'll have to link up with it tomorrow. However, please go over and show everyone your creations using chalkboard paint!

Happy Friday!

Caption this....

Thought this might be fun! Think of a caption for this photo and leave it in my comments. :) I love seeing everyone's sense of humor!

{Super soaked} at Kenny Chesney concert, but fun! *edited to add photos

You have to hear how this went!

Holy moly, Saturday was unbelievable! My two girlfriends and I went to the KC concert in Frisco, TX. The venue is an outdoor soccer stadium. The weather was absolutely insane! I swear it was like a monsoon! Rain, thunder, lightning. But everyone was having such a good time!

I went two years ago and we had torrential rain as well, but no lightning. Last year, it was sunny and warm. This year...hurricane like weather. ;)

We sat in the rain and lightning, dressed in our tres chic ponchos, for about 4 hours. We saw Lady Antebellum (they rocked!...seriously, for a fairly new band, they were awesome live) and Miranda Lambert. She was excellent. Unfortunately, Sugarland canceled due to laryngitis.

Kenny got through about 5 songs and left the stage because of the lightning. All evening folks were using huge squeegies to clear the water off the stage. Then, over the loud speaker, the announcer said "we'll be back in 30 days for a reduced price ticket." What? Bummer!

Honestly, I can understand the safety issues because of the amount of electrical equipment they have up there. And an official statement said the integrity of the stage was threatened. However, if the show had gone on, everyone would have stayed. Despite the awful weather, it was still a blast.

Then today, on KC's website and on local stations (he himself called in)...we were told he'll be back in 2 weeks and everyone who had a ticket gets in free. Yay, I think it's awesome he's doing that, because he doesn't have to. It's the right thing to do by his fans, and I'm so glad he's doing it!

I just wonder how they'll work it out...the rain was so bad, many people's tickets were reduced to piles of wet mush. Fortunately, we still have ours. My friend had thrown hers away, but I dug in my trash and found it. Ha! The show will be general admission. That kind of stinks, because I know some folks paid big bucks for good seats, but I guess that's really the only way to do it logistically.

Here are a couple of pictures I found from the radio station website. KC was awesome...he came out and sang in the rain. Love that he was out there just like us. What a cool guy.

Look at that rain!





Yeah, I guess we're pretty crazy to stay out there, but it was fun! We were living in the moment and having a party. Loved it!

Here's a short clip from the last song he performed before running off stage. You'll see it lightning several times, and when it does, you can see how hard it was raining. But nobody cared! :)

Found on youtube:



Here's a really good one before the rain started up again..new single "Out Last Night". (from youtube)



And another! (from youtube)



I am so stoked that he's coming back to do right by us! Yay!

Here's a few of my pics. I didn't take my good camera because of the rain, so pics aren't great.

Before the show...



"Beer tent" a.k.a. waxed paper from pretzel used to cover beer so it wouldn't get filled with rain water. Genius, don't you think? ;)



Totally soaked to the bone!



Concert banner (it's tradition for me to get a pic of it every year)



KC

Weekend garage sale scores and being drenched at an outdoor concert

This weekend I only hit one sale, but it was a big one. One of the schmancy neighborhoods in town was having their semi-annual garage sale. The prices were pretty decent, too. The neighborhood's lady's association puts it on every year. Each person selling rents a parking spot in a church's parking lot, so the sale is sort of flea market style. It costs $1 to shop (the money goes to charity).

The sale started at 8am. I got there around 8:15 and all of the parking lots were full. Police were directing traffic to a nearby school. Yes, that's how insane this was!

On to the loot...(bad pics, but you'll get the idea)...

Wooden tray for $1. In fact, as I was carrying it around to other booths, several ladies commented that they wished they'd seen it. :)



A plate/picture frame easel for $1. And I just bought one the night before at Michael's for $8. Doh! But I use these all over the house, so it will be put to good use. Also a little green metal "vase." I don't care for the flowers in it. Those will come out. But I really like the little vase. It's so sweet.



Plate stand. You can tell it used to be black and someone spray painted it white. I bet she's a blogger. ;) $3. I may paint it black again. We'll see. I will definitely be taking off those Christmas berries though.



A metal plant trellis for $1. Yay! It's not as big as I was needing for my jasmine plant, but I'll work it in somewhere else in the garden.



Metal (and very heavy) birdbath for $3. I am planning on using it inside, maybe in the bathroom with soaps in it.



A wood/grapevine doo-hickey. I think it will look cute on my fence outside, perhaps with some vines growing on it. $1.



And finally, a really cute pink corduroy American Eagle jacket for $1.



There were so many really cute things out there, lots of decor, furniture, clothes, baby stuff, everything. But I'm trying to only buy things that I know I'll have a specific purpose for in the house/yard.

Join the fun on the Southern Hospitality blog! We're sharing our garage sale finds!

And in the next couple of days, I'll have to tell you the story about Saturday night's outdoor Kenny Chesney concert in which we all sat in the rain and lightening for over 4 hours. Then partway through the show, it was canceled. Will post pics, too!