Happy Halloween...

Tonight Garet and I were invited to a Halloween party! I am excited - we haven't gotten all dressed up for Halloween since we lived on St. John. We finally finished our costumes last night - I won't tell what we're being yet though!

For the party tonight we have to bring a pumpkin (to carve) and a treat. I enjoy cooking and baking, but I enjoy cooking and baking new and fun recipes more! So I looked all over to find something fun and halloweenie. I finally decided to make "witch fingers" and here they are:

Aren't they funny?! I think they turned out pretty good! They were really easy to make - the nails are almonds, and the blood (under the nails) is just gel food coloring. After these were finished Garet said they needed something more. Like more blood. He suggested that I put some blood (food coloring) at the bottom of the fingers. Well we got a little carried away...

how gross! :)

Hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween!

Sitting by the fire...

This morning when I left the house to come to work it was 35 degrees outside! I have said before that I am a BIG fan of warm weather, so this was not fun for me! I am okay with it starting to get cool but when it is FREEZING I just want to stay inside and wait for spring! Last night it got pretty cold out, so Garet got a fire going. I really love having a wood burning fireplace! And I love to sit in front of it and get really hot... last year we found out that Suzi and I would be competing over the same seat!

She won last night :) But only because I was making a Halloween treat for a party tomorrow night! I will post pictures of that tomorrow.

A Portrait...

I don't think I have put these pictures on here yet.
Back when we went to Charlotte, I got this portrait of Suzi...

Isn't that funny?! One of my mom's friends drew it from a picture my mom had of Suzi. It's pretty good, although I still don't know where I would hang it! Suzi wouldn't hardly sit still long enough to get her picture taken with it, so we had a few bloopers...

Weekend Recap...

Garet had to work this weekend, well he actually got to go camping but he did it for work. He left Saturday morning and was gone until this afternoon, so it was just us girls this weekend. We had a nice, productive time too :)




First project: drapes. We had drapes hung in our living room over our double doors that go outside. The drapes matched the walls - so basically the bone wall color that the house came with. Since we painted, the new color made the drapes look a little yellow, and kinda dirty (at least that was my opinion). So I decided to get white drapes. They didn't have any for as tall as I needed them, so I had to redo the curtain rod to move it down some so I could use the new drapes. This meant that I had to spackle where the curtain rods used to be, then repaint over it, and THEN rehang the curtain rods. I am very obsessive when it comes to measuring and making sure things are even and the correct length. So imagine my surprise when after I did ALL this work I hang the curtains and they are still about an inch too short!! I don't know how that happened - so I had to cut and sew, and anyway they work and look great now! and I love them! But I didn't get a picture, sorry.

Next project: pictures. I decided to work on the picture wall I had mentioned I wanted to put in our dining room. My mother-in-law gave us a letter "B", which was gold, I painted it black and then just worked the frames around it. I wasn't planning on actually having it finished, but the more I tried to figure out how to make it look, the more I just wanted to hang it and stop thinking about it! So I just did it, here is a picture




I was trying to decide if I wanted to do black and white pictures, or color. I can't decide, but I think I am going to do color. I love black and whites, but there is just something about color pictures that I think adds something. Plus, with such a blank wall, I think color pictures might add a little pop to the wall.

Another project: Halloween. I needed to work on our Halloween costume. Since last time I mentioned our costume, we have changed our minds, and are now going to be something different. I will tell you what it is next weekend.

Suzi and I took advantage of the wonderful weather today and played outside. There was not a cloud in the sky! It was beautiful!


We had a good girls weekend, but it sure is nice when Garet gets home! He had fun too - their camp was a Halloween theme, so I think some of the kids got scared. It's funny - Suzi knows "mommy" and "daddy" so anytime Garet is coming home I say, "There's Daddy" or "Daddy's home" and she knows exactly what I mean. This is her waiting for daddy:


I even got a crock pot cookin' for dinner tonight. Yummy! And now, I am going to join my husband and watch the World Series.

Weekend painting...

On Friday after work, I stopped and picked up 3 paint samples. When I got home I put it on 3 different walls in our living and dining rooms. They are all shades of gray/blue. We decided to leave it that way and see what we thought that night and the next day.
Saturday, we decided that we liked the one all the way to the left the best (it's called Winters Day). The middle one I was afraid would be too bright, and the one on the right I thought would be too dark - it was called "Gray Gray" so it was for sure gray! Still hesitant, we decided to just paint one wall and see how we felt about it. So we painted one of our dining room wall (the easiest to paint, and the shortest wall!)
We loved it! Especially against the white doors and molding. Although, in some lights it looks a little more blue than I would like, BUT I think with any gray it is going to look more blue depending on if it is in the shade, or sun. While Garet was on the second coat, we thought - why are we just doing one wall? Let's just DO IT and paint the whole room! We already had all the paint out and brushes and ladder, etc. We liked the color, and you really can't picture a room in a color until it actually is in that color! Plus if you absoultely hate it, it can be changed. So at about 3:30 on Sunday we started taking everything off the walls and rearranging furniture. Oh, by the way, we had to finish it Sunday because with Garet's work schedule he would be getting home late on Monday and Tuesday - and I can't reach the ceiling on the tall wall (I'm kinda short like that.) So here is Garet taking things off the wall
If you look closely in the picture above you can see Suzi sitting outside. Poor dog, I really don't think she understands that she is a dog (that maybe my fault actually......) Anyway, she seriously sat like this the WHOLE time we painted! Most dogs run around, enjoy their freedom, chase a bird or something, not our Suzi - she just sat by the door.

We finished painting everything Sunday night - and yesterday we got everything put back. I am happy about it, but it is a lot more blue that I had thought I wanted. I guess we'll live with it for a while and see if it grows on us. Here it is:


You can tell in these pictures how the walls look different colors depending on the light. In the last one (our dining room) the wall without the window tends to always look less blue than the others.

Oh - also on that wall in our dining room - I am going to have to put something on that wall. We did have a big ole picture, that I hated, but we needed something to fill the area. I told Garet that I am NOT putting that picture back on our wall - which he is fine with as long as I have something else to go there. I really want to do a picture wall right here - I just have to figure out how :)

Strawberries...

Oh, no...........
Guess what we have at work today...
Yep, and they are GOOD! I already know I am putting in some extra time working out this afternoon :) But they are so worth it!

I will have to post tomorrow on our weekend, and our new paint color!!

Suzi toys and the weekend...

Does anyone remember this post? It was last month on Suzi's birthday - she got this cool toy and was OBSESSED with it! Here is a picture when she first got it:

I was worried that it wouldn't last a day - I think Suzi's game is that she tries to figure out how fast she can destroy a toy! Well, to my surprise it lasted longer than that! It lasted a whole month! Slowly she tore the strips apart until she was left with this:

By this point I obviously had to throw it away! :)

On another note, the weekend is here again! I have decided that I am going to pick a paint color for our living/dining room! I have a couple colors that I have in mind, I am just going to get samples so I can see how it looks on the wall. I am very much a neutral girl - I like the walls neutral so I can add color in other places (flowers, candles, pillows...). My husband, on the other hand, is tired of neutral walls! I convinced him to let me paint our bedroom a tan color, but I think I am going to have to break down and find a color to do the rest of the house. Right now our walls are the bone color that they paint all new houses. So I am looking into grays and blues. A subtle gray/blue though!

Crafty...

I just wish I knew what it was like to truly be crafty. You all see how excited I get when I think I did something crafty :) I like to blame it on not having enough time, but I found some cute things that really do look easy! That's not to say I will get around to doing any of them, but how cute are these for fall?

yeah, this one is probably tough, but it's pretty

I really like these!

haha... the last one is a joke - that is for sure NOT easy, but how pretty do those pumpkins look? I tend to just buy already done decorations rather than make my own, but sometimes that ends up being a lot more expensive! I haven't really accumulated many decorations yet. I figure I will wait until after the holidays then rack up on the sales!

Fly by weekend...

Garet and I had a really good weekend. I am always SO excited on Fridays, but then by Sunday it seems like the weekend went by way too fast!

Saturday we hung around the house most of the morning. I love getting up and knowing that there isn't anywhere that I need to be! We ran a few errands, then Suzi had a playdate with our neighbors dog, Riley. They are so funny together. It is neat to see the different personalities that dogs have. You could tell that Riley really wanted to play with Suzi, so he would sit next to her ball. When Suzi would come over, he pretended not to see her - then she would put her paw on his back and he would jump up and they would start running around the backyard. Oh how carefree to be a pup! Saturday night we went over to a friends house to watch the Auburn game. Garet and have have still yet to commit to a team. I talked about it earlier, how when you live here you MUST be either for Alabama or Auburn. Most of our friends are Auburn, so we tend to pull more for them. It was nice getting together and hanging out, even though their team lost.

After church on Sunday Garet and I went to watch our team play! We wore the colors, we were pumped! We got to Buffulo Wild Wings, and actually met a fellow Panther's fan!

But we lost too.... sad.

Oh - and I don't know if I've mentioned but I bought a second painting to match the first one that I hung in our living room. I got confirmation that it was shipped over a week ago! So I called to see what the heck was up with them, and turns out it is lost!?! So they are shipping another one. I am supposed to be getting it tomorrow, so we'll see. I am really excited to get it though - we need something to cover our big blank wall in the living room!

So, all is well in the Beane house! We have a Halloween party to go to so we are trying to put together a costume. I won't tell what it is, but I will say It is all Garet's idea!!

T.G.I.F...

IT'S FRIDAY! Yay! And we don't really have weekend plans! Yay! I am looking forward to having nothing to do (can you tell?) It hasn't been a bad week, just long, and it is BEAUTIFUL outside, so I really don't want to be in here working!

So, it must be a good time for people to be getting puppies - a friend of mine from Charlotte just got a cute little pup. Some of our good friends here got a Lab puppy, you can see him here, he is SO super cute! Then my brother got a pup, her name is Macy. She is a boxer - he sent a few pictures of her, here's one:

I can remember when our Suzi was just a pup. She turned 3 last month, and you tend to forget the tough puppy training days and just remember the cute, floppy, puppy part :) When we got Suzi, the owners didn't know who her daddy was - the mom was a Doberman, and from Suzi's coloring they assumed that she had Boxer in her. But now that she is grown we think she has some German Shepard, and who knows what else! I actually found a couple of pictures of her as a pup in my old email account:

This was at our house in Wilmington, N.C. Suzi's first day home.

So cute! But I am so glad the potty training, crying at night days are over! :)

Catch up...

I haven't blogged in a while, so I will just play catch up! Things have been going well for Garet and me, we have just been BUSY! Let's see what's been going on:

- I am in two bible studies, one every Thursday night and one every other Tuesday. The one on Tuesday's is a women's bible study and we are going through the book, The Power of a Praying Wife. It is a wonderful book! It is nice to get together with the girls too. Thursday we are working our way through the book of Romans.

- This past Thursday we met for bible study, but ended up watching the Vice President Debate. I have never been much into politics, but it is hard not to get caught up in it these days!

- Friday we went to dinner and a movie with our Sunday School class. We saw the movie Fireproof. Wow! That was a great movie - I definitely recommend it! There were so many sniffles in the theater!

- On Saturday, Garet and I went shoe shopping! I realized that I was in NEED of some boots! (yes I said need, not want!) I am pretty obsessed with Shoe Carnival - they always have buy one get one 1/2 off! So obviously I have to get two! And their shoes are good prices anyway - and I am all about a good deal! Then we went to buy a good vacuum. We could probably make a whole 'nother puppy with all the hair Suzi sheds off - so we were in need of a really good vacuum. When we got home with it, I used our old vacuum in the living room. Then used the new vacuum to go over what I just did and it picked up soooo much more hair!!! Gross! So then I had to do the whole house! Oh and after all of that we went up to Monte Sano Mountain and hiked.

- Yesterday, after church, I decided to switch out our closets and put up all the summer stuff and break out all of the fall/winter stuff. Even though it has been reaching almost 90 degrees lately... Anywho I got all of that finished while Garet converted part of our garage into a gym (he just has some free weights and a bar and stuff). I went out to the backyard to read some, I was peaceful, and not bothering anyone, when all of the sudden --- my wonderful husband attacks me with a watergun!!!! Oh it was on! We were soaked by the time our guns were out of water! It was a nice break - and I needed the cooling off!

- Last night I made some Chocolate Cinnamon Bars. um... yum. yeah they were as good as they sound.

- At work we are trying to get everything in order for the Parade of Homes that is starting this weekend. We have over 100 houses signed up to be in it, and we have our Showcase Home that is opening this Friday - it is really nice!

- I ordered another painting for our living room and I just got confirmation that it has been shipped! So after that is hung we should be able to paint! I can't wait!

So that is it in a nutshell - Have you noticed how much I like to use the links? Just for fun, here is another one - I think this blog is too funny!

Happy Monday!

The Fish Rodeo...

On Saturday I helped Garet with the "Fish Rodeo". I know what you are thinking, and I had no clue what it was either! Garet had to be there at 4 in the morning, yep 4:00 AM. I told him I would volunteer to help out, so I didn't have to be there until about 7:45. (If I haven't mentioned before, Garet is a District Executive for the Boy Scouts, so that is what this was all about.) He was working the whole time. I was put in charge of one of the stations - the boys had to label and draw a fish. It was SOO cute! There were so many little kids in their scout uniforms! It was adorable! The kids just fished and got judged on the biggest, smallest, ugliest, etc. The weather was perfect, and they grilled hot dogs for everyone for lunch. Have I mentioned how cute all of these kids were!!! They were so excited when they had a fish. It was a lot of fun, but we were exhausted by the time we got home!

Oh, and I just heard that the Panther's won!! WOO HOO! Go Carolina!

Walking...

Garet, Suzi, and I love going on walks! We have been trying to go on one everyday when we get home from work. Since it is cooling off it has been wonderful weather for a walk! Suzi knows what it means too... if you say "walk" around her she gets SO excited! Anyway, yesterday we went down the street a little ways to a nature preserve. There is a nice little trail that we went for a walk on.

This is our view the entire walk :)

Garet and Suzi - look how pretty the trees are!

Fall...

Look what I did -
I was feeling a little Martha Stewartish, and I made a fall wreath. I know it isn't "officially" fall yet (I think it starts tomorrow), but I was just in the mood to get it started this weekend. I went out and bought some fall flowers and candles to put around the house. I have been wanting to start hanging wreaths, but with the little space we have between our front door and storm door I didn't know if I would be able to. Garet had the bright idea to make our own. I thought he was out of his mind, but really it wasn't too hard. I am definitely a summer girl, but I am actually ready for the cooler weather to get here!

Weekend at the barn...

One of my kinda part-time jobs is to house/horse sit for this couple when they go out of town on the weekends. They have 3 horses, 1 pony, 1 donkey, 1 dog, cats, fish, and birds. I go out stay at their house and take care of all of them. I love it! We found out early on that their dog, Rex, doesn't like our little princess, Suzi. Because of this Garet is never able to stay out there with me because he has to take care of Suzi at home - lucky for us we are blessed with wonderful friends that babysat Suzi. Thanks Taylor and Amanda!! Suzi had a great time and from their report, was a good dog! (whew, I was a little nervous about it!)

Anyway - I took a lot of pictures while I was out there, mainly just of the horses :) you can click here if you want to see those. Garet came out and I put him to work on Saturday - he got to muck stalls, get hay, brush down the horses, fill water buckets, and many other fun barn stuff! I think he had a good time!

The weather was BEAUTIFUL on Saturday! Sunday it was pretty gross, it rained most of the day. It is really nice being out there because it is so relaxing! They have a great piece of land, there is even a creek that runs along the back edge of the property. I just love hanging out with the horses! Here is a picture of Traveler - he is the one that I normally ride when I'm out there.

Even though it is work, I really enjoy it. I can just sit and watch all the animals doing their thing for hours! But it is nice to get back home! When I got home Sunday Garet had rented a movie so we got to hang out on the couch and eat popcorn and watch a movie on the rainy Sunday night. It was great!

Sun Times...

When we lived on St. John there was a free magazine that started called "St. John Sun Times". It came out weekly and just gives updates and things to do, etc. It was neat to see what they put on the cover - it was always something clever. Well for the 2nd half of our honeymoon, Garet and I went back to St. John. The big "to do" on the island at that time was that there was a wild Puma on the loose. While we were hanging out with some friends the photographer for the Sun Times came around and asked me if I wanted to be on the cover? Duh! Yeah I did! :)

She assembled a few of us girls around one of our friends, Andy. The lady told Andy that he could do whatever he wanted to because his face was going to be covered up to look like a Puma! We had to leave island before that issue came out and I never saw it! My dear sweet husband has used his magic powers (and St. John connections) to find a picture of the cover for me! I was so surprised! Here is what it looks like:

Can you see me?? Here is a closer picture, I'm on the left...

Haha!! I just thought that was soo sweet that Garet tracked it down! I was obsessed with trying to find it after we got back to the states after our honeymoon. I tried to get my friends that were on island to mail it, and finally I gave up. Now here it is over 2 years later!

On another note - I will have to blog tomorrow about our weekend! I got to horsesit (yes I said horse) and Suzi had a puppysitter (thanks Owens!!!)

My [furry] baby...

Guess who's birthday is today???

Suzi turns 3 today! When Garet and I got home yesterday afternoon, we discovered a gift for Suzi on our front porch. It was a present from Riley! (our neighbors dog) How cute is that?! As you can see from the pictures, she LOVES it! She even slept with it last night.

Panthers...

So even though we don't live in North Carolina anymore - we still have to represent the Carolina Panthers! Here we are on our way to watch the game...
This afternoon was the first game of the season. We had to go out to watch it, because they don't broadcast those games on cable (unless Carolina is playing Tennessee or something). It is so odd to be here where no one knows what you are talking about when you say that your team is the Panthers. Everyone here is either Alabama or Auburn - and you must be one of those. Garet and I are still undecided :) But that is seriously the first thing people ask you here, "Alabama or Auburn?" Anyway, it was great to watch the game - and they won!! GO PANTHERS!

New stuff...

Last week sometime, Garet and I got a new picture for our living room. I love it! I tried to take a picture so you could see it in our whole living room. I should have gotten it close up, but you can still see it. Eventually we want to get a recliner to go under it.
We also got this cross -

Laptops...

So... here we are one night on the couch...

I just have to say, normally I don't get on the computer much at home - but for some reason this night I did. So, Garet got his work computer and sat down beside me. I just had to get a picture! =)