The Best Vacation With Kids

We decided to take the trip to Atlantis for our Spring Break this year. John Connor is an avid fisherman. He loves anything to do with the ocean. The aquarium style vacation at Atlantis is his DREAM come true! He watched video after video on YouTube and Netflix. He was prepared. 

We were amazed at the water and grounds. The view from our room was perfect. We watched the sunset almost everyday from this spot! 

Lots of great bonding time, too. The kids swam with dolphins. They had a great experience going under water with them and then, of course, the finale was getting to be pushed by a dolphin through the water! I love seeing their faces in these pictures. So many cute expressions....

 The rope bridge was our favorite!

Snorkeling was fun, but FREEZING! We had the underwater Go-Pro. I need to get those videos together. I would highly recommend this trip for your family. Our kids are 13 and 11 and we decided it was our best vacation EVER!

If you are in need of a vacation planner, I highly recommend Main Street Memories. They have a lot of experience and know just how to make your vacation easy!

It Snowed in Alabama!

I am humbled by the beauty of this house everyday. 

I couldn't wait for the kids to get out of school. I sat in the den watching the snow fall, waiting on the schools to say they were getting out early. I never got the call. I made an executive decision to go get them at 2:30. Wouldn't you know, it quit snowing. After we went home to get warm clothes, we headed over to John Connor's best friend, Reynold's house. He has a hill! On the way over, we noticed the snow was melting minute by minute. The sun was actually peeking through the clouds! We haven't seen the sun in a week!!! There was a little stress that we had missed it. 

As you can see, it wasn't a lot of snow, but it was enough to play in, make snowballs and have fun!

 Someone is going to be in trouble with that snowball!

 Sorry, Marie! WATCH OUT!!

She can handle those boys!

I love that girl's smile! Isn't it electric?

 These two are always laughing!

So thankful for best friends and snow days! 

A Letter to Myself in 2012

Dear Lucy,

The year started off amazing, working full-time at Telegraph Branding. You really loved this job since you love to be creative and think outside the box. That is what they needed from you! It was a good fit. The end of January brought the best trip to California with two of your best friends, Ashlee and Marisa.  Starting in San Francisco and staying at Jennye's apartment, the three of you saw everything! Jennye was the best hostess. Dinner every night, shopping and site seeing all day long. I wish we could go through all the fun that was had. Three days later you were on your way to LA. There was a half marathon to run! You met up with that cute B Disney Planner Smith. Seriously, is that her middle name? She planned this portion of the trip and, as usual, did a stand up job.

March came with plans of Spring Break and Summer Vacation. This ran into problems with the el-job-o. You had already used half of your vacation for the year and it wasn't even April. You decided the family was more important than the job. Taking Southern Accents with you gave you that little extra spending money. Emma tried out for the OMMS Cheer Squad and made it! Wow, that was some stress for everyone.

Emma was in full force with her Tumbling and Trampoline Season: a meet a month, 3 practices a week. That is a full time job! John Connor was playing flag football. A really good move for him. He needed to build a little confidence playing football. He had lots of fun running and catching balls and don't forget the touchdowns!

School got out and we traveled back and forth to the beach. Summer seems to be a blur with something going on every day! Cheer camp and football camp, fishing trips and dreams of scuba diving. Yolo board riding as the Gliding Monkeys at Sandestin, building sandcastles, bungee trampoline flipping and french fry eating at Hartell's were just a few of the summer activities!

School starting back always gets everyone back on schedule. It's such a relief to have school everyday, cheer practice, football practice, workouts at the gym, pilates and bootcamp. What would you do without a schedule? Emma going to school the first day in her cheer uniform was such a special moment. It gave you the sense of what she worked for and how she has become a leader at her school. A very proud mom moment! John Connor worked hard on the football field. He had a new coach and had to show him how hard he could work. He improved so much from last year. He did make a touchdown at the Thompson game. You loved how he looked over at you and Connor on the sideline first. Kids love to see the pride on our faces.

Fall also brought lots of changes for work. Southern Accents no longer needed you to do the social media and marketing. It was a shock and very hard to take. A month later, they changed their minds. It is still being tweaked, which gave you the opportunity to find yourself and build your own popularity.  You realized you had the ability to create your own brand. Lucysinspired came to fruition, meaning, it became something. It had been out there for a while without a purpose. Now that you had all these ideas floating around and no one taking advantage of them, you realized you could use your knowledge for your own brand. You now have a jewelry line that became very popular in December and this blog has become something you think about daily. There is a lot to look forward to in 2013.

Looking forward to seeing what becomes of it!

Lucy

New Years Eve: Bringing in 2013 in Style

Happy New Year!

It's all in the details

The magicians. Ashlee (left) is the amazing designer and Lori (right) is the amazing photographer!

 Last minute touches

Food

Drinks

Details

Party girls

 Fireworks!!

I want to thank my good friends, Ashlee and Lori for allowing me to show you their fun New Year's Eve party. It looks like it was all girls, but I think the men must have been out back around the fire, not inside with all the pretties! Ashlee has such an attention to detail. I'm so glad she is letting me show it off! Lori knows exactly how to capture the atmosphere. It makes me want to jump right into the pictures. One funny detail is that this party started at 4:00pm on New Year's Eve and was over by 9:00pm. Life of mom's with small kids! I love that they went all out and didn't even stay up to see the ball drop, not even over New York City! I wish I could pick one favorite detail. She left nothing untouched. I have a feeling you are going to see a lot more of Ashlee's creativity on my blog...at least I hope so!   Happy 2013!

Pecan Pie is so Photogenic

I love to look at a pecan pie. I don't even eat it. It's delicious, don't get me wrong. I just usually choose the chocolate item on the table! Uncle Buff gave us this one for Christmas. I love that. Uncle Buff brings pecan pies on Christmas Eve for gifts. We aren't home very much on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. We ate it this morning after we rung in the New Year 2013! 

Pecan Pie + Champagne =  great way to ring in the new year!

It truly is photogenic, don't you think? Pecan Pie always looks good in photographs. I took this picture on Sunday afternoon. Sat it down on the floor in the kitchen by the door and snapped this with my phone. I'm trying FatMumSlim's Photo A Day Challenge {again} this month. Today's prompt was Today. This Pecan Pie is how I started today and the new year. I felt it should be honored. 

Just a journal entry with no rhyme or reason....just my thoughts of today.

I love this time of year. Seriously, a New Year, it's like a bunch of Mondays! I love to reflect on the memories of last year. I LOVE to plan a new year! It's like starting over. What do you want to do with your life? What did you want to do last year that you did or did not do? It's not too late, people! Quit worrying about what might have been. Do it today! Or tomorrow! Or next week! Just don't wait too long. I don't like to give myself goals I can't complete. I have a hard time starting projects unless I have someone to push me....or fund the project!

I do love to decorate. My style has been a little uncommon for a while. It's finally THE thing to do. Texture, natural color, lots of hard pieces and very masculine for some. We built our "dream home" back in 2007 and it was all heart pine flooring, beams as posts with old paint still on it, a brick wall as the focal point in the main rooms. I used an old concrete trough for a sink in the powder room and lots of granite. There was tongue and groove breadboard 3/4 up the walls in the back foyer and keeping room, where we had a stone fireplace with a salvaged beam as the fireplace. You can pretty much see those pieces in a lot of homes now. I love it still. I hope it continues for a long time. All of our crown molding was pine wood stained dark.

We live at Hansel and Gretel now. It's exactly the same. Rock fireplace, heart pine flooring, beams as mantels, and beautiful wood all over the house. This house was built in 1964. Well, the original part of the house all with reclaimed and salvaged architectural pieces. It was a two story with spiral staircase in the middle. A built in bed for the master suite and one more bedroom for the 2 kids. Downstairs was the den, kitchen, bath and laundry room. I need to ask, but I think it was about 1200 square feet. They came by today. The man that built this house and his kids. I was so giddy. I couldn't wait to meet them. They brought pictures and a camera. Everyone had their phones out to video the stories from Pappy. I think I love him. He can do anything. He kept asking if I had questions. I couldn't think of one. The stories were flowing like faucets. I couldn't keep up! There's the part about Pappy building the original part of the house all by himself....literally, or the stones for the fireplace that came from a speak easy on old 280. How about Momma....she like to throw things out the door. The tv they had? had to be small enough for her to pick up and throw. Seriously, they said that....and she did! There was a M-I-L door. Didn't know this, but it's a door without a place to step outside....so, you would kinda fall if you tried to go out! She just threw things out this door! The door is still here and we have a deck to walk out on...thank goodness!! OH, the wallpaper! I really wish I could see it behind all the paint. Roosters, big roosters were on the walls in the kitchen! How fantastic is that? Baby girl took lots and lots of photos. Middle sis had lots of stories....there's one about a snake and I'm trying to forget that one! Big brother had lots of stories and kept asking if he was telling it right...I think he embellishes a little. $50 an acre or $500 an acre.....that's close, right?

It was a perfect day. They were so glad to be here and I was just as glad. Connor even said he liked the house more knowing all the stories. I can't wait to see the photos and the videos of stories. We might cook up something good out of this magical house. I hope so! I didn't take one picture or write down one thing...I was afraid I would miss it...and now, I'm teary.

Now you know why I'm rambling :) Thanks for reading...if you made it this far!

One Little Word 2013 - ENJOY

I know it's so sad when Christmas is over. We prepare for it in our homes, with our kids, in the classroom, and thinking about what to buy each person is pretty stressful! Not to mention all that money that is spent! It's over. 

Today is the day after. I have a fire going with all the wrapping paper and am trying to put away all of our treasures! We are a very blessed family. My husband and I both come from "broken homes". It's amazing how when you embrace your life, it is wonderful! It has been a very long time since I've thought of my life being from a "broken home". We celebrate holidays for weeks. Seriously, it's awesome! We have created new traditions and I love being with everyone! We don't hang out at home. We aren't the hosts for Christmas dinner. That is a good thing, right? We left our house yesterday at 9:30am and got home at 9:30pm last night. We got to see two sides of the family. Connor's Dad's family and my Dad's family. A lot of people, a lot of presents, a LOT of food! I didn't take many pictures and I was sad at the time. Now, I know that without the camera in front of my face, I got to ENJOY every moment. 

We are blessed that we have so many moments. I want that to be a part of my 2013. I want to ENJOY this wonderful life I have been given every single day. I want to be with the ones I love and ENJOY our moments together. I have lots of plans for 2013. Not really resolutions, just plans. I have had so much fun with my blog and lucy lockets. I hope to grow both of them this year. But, I will try to slow down enough to ENJOY all of it. That does NOT mean I will not take photos. I will have my camera with me always and document our lives. Do you have one little word for 2013? Read a little more about it on Ali's blog and let me know if you are going to participate! 

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas and will plan a beautiful 2013.