Just Because...

I realized that I haven't posted a picture of Faith Anne in awhile and wanted to be sure you knew she was still alive!  This picture makes me laugh because she looks so serious, like she is really concentrating on something, maybe on trying to be good!

Wishing you a Terrific Tuesday!

~M and Faith Anne~

Wednesday's Simple Joys

Look at my Faith Anne and her sweet smile!

Doesn't she look so joyful in this picture?!?

Wishing you the Simple Joy of a Sweet Smile~

~M and Faith Anne~

Through A Dog's Eyes

Do you want to feel all Warm and Fuzzy??

Come On.  I know you do.

WATCH THIS...

Click here to get more information on this wonderful organization and go here to see the film Through A Dog's Eyes in full.

And have tissue handy.

And hug your dog extra tonight.

Wishing you a Warm and Fuzzy Weekend~

~M and Faith Anne~

Wednesday's Simple Joys

Faith Anne

After a rough couple of days at work....

She is my joy today.

I just love my sweet sweet girl.

Wishing you the simple joy of 

a sweet puppy after a hard days work~

~M~

Nap Time

Wishing you Restful Weekend~

~M and Faith Anne~

Personality Differences

Faith Anne, Hope Eigh, and Dazi Mae got to spend lots of time together over the holidays.

And they loved their time together.

And I was reminded of how different their personalities are.

This first picture shows Dazi Mae (at right) and Faith Anne's (at left) reactions at first hearing the word "treat."

And the Second Picture.

The Second Picture shows what happened about 1/2 millisecond later.

Faith Anne just takes after her Momma and makes sure that she enjoys the very little things in life!

Wishing you sheer excitement at the word "treat"~

~M~

Don't Be Fooled!

These two may look sad and like they are very mistreated...

But don't be Fooled.

They are Rotten.

Spoiled Rotten.

Do you notice that extra tag on Faith Anne with the little pink rhinestones?

Hope Eigh has one too.

Do you see what it says?

"My Nana & Poppy Love Me"

Do you understand what my sister and I are up against

when/if my parents have "human grandchildren"?

I think we are in big trouble.

Wishing you a "Nana and Poppy"

that love and spoil rotten~

~M and Faith Anne~

Wedneday's Simple Joys

Oh how I wish computers were

"scratch and sniff!"

I have three Tea Olive bushes beside my front porch...

And oh my, the wonderful aroma that greets me when they are in bloom!!

Amazing! Amazing! Amazing!

(and to make it even better...they are very low maintainence. I haven't done a thing to them-except cut off blooms to put in mason jars :)!-in over three years...and they are still alive and kickin'...pretty cool eh?)

May I also suggest...

This is a really simple way to bring joy to a neighbor.

Go out to your yard, find a shrub with blooms, some flowers, anything, and cut a few blooms.

(people, if I have living beautiful plants in my yard...

all of you do too :))

Put them in a mason jar or old can.

Take them to someone you love.

It is simple.

And brings joy.

And if you do it on a Wednesday...you will be providing a "Wednesday's Simple Joy" for someone...ring a bell?!?

And as a bonus...

Just because she is so stinkin' cute....

A picture of Faith Anne....

Wishing you the simple joy of a Tea Olive in a Mason Jar

(and a cute Faith Anne too!)~

~M~

Monday Memories

Happy is Back!

I know. You are wondering, "What does that mean?! Did Happy ever leave?"

Well sort of. Happy is a bear that my sweet family gave me when I went to college.

(Remember my post on change....)

It was not just any bear though....

On the afternoon of August 24th, 2002 (God, I am getting old), the summer before I left for college, I came home to find a tiny box tied with a pretty yellow ribbon (yellow is my favorite color). Inside were three recorders, one with a message from my Daddy, one with a message from my Momma and one with a message from my baby sister.

I think I cried. Okay...I know I cried :)! And then, I think I looked a little puzzled.

My Momma explained that the tiny recorders were from Build a Bear and that we were all leaving that very minute to go "build a bear" together.

And that is just what we did. We picked out a bear and then we built it.

Can I tell you how wonderful it was? My sweet family each put a tiny heart in my bear in addition to their tiny recorders. They even made a wish, kissed the heart and as I recall, a little dance was involved. We stuffed the bear and fluffed the bear.

Then it was time to name it. I could think of no better name than "Happy." When I think of Home that is the first word that comes to mind "Happy." So that's what I named it. I even have a birth certificate for my sweet Happy.

Now, I know you are also wondering why "Happy is Back. Where did Happy ever go?"

Well, poor Happy. Happy survived four years of college. By my fourth year, I had pressed the recorders so much that they stopped working, all of them, completely. But I still loved my Happy; Coke stains, tears, trips home, trips back to college, and finally a move here, to the little red cottage, Happy had been through a lot with me. Somehow, Happy wound up on a top shelf in my closet and that's where Happy sat for about three years.

Until recently, I rediscovered my bear that had been through so much with me.

A bath, a few stitches, and a new pretty red ribbon later...and...

Happy is Back!

(If only we could convince sweet Faith Anne not to love Happy so much...:)!!)

Wishing you a Marvelous Monday Memory,

~M~

Rain Rain, Went Away!

After nearly an entire week of this....

And yes, even more of this....

Faith Anne and I looked out of our kitchen window today...

and found the most AMAZING THING....

THE SUN!!!!
(and on Sunday...how appropriate)

We rejoiced! And went outside! And enjoyed...

Our Flowers...at least the ones we haven't killed yet!

And we basked in the sun! And Faith Anne posed for this picture...



I think the sign suits her well...don't you?

And as we were going inside we saw the most amazing sunshine rays...

and we noticed something in the upper right hand corner...so we zoomed in...and

saw the most beautiful spider web...

Don't you agree that it is a beautiful spider web?

Then we came in a took a nap.

What did you do today?

Wishing you a Sunny Sunday!~

~M and Faith Anne~

Doggy Daughters!

My Faith Anne turned three today!!! I cannot believe it!

Faith Anne

December 2006

Nana and Poppy's Home
(yes, Faith Anne does call my parents Nana and Poppy)

Isn't she soooo super cute!?!

I wish I could explain how much she has enriched my life...

but that would be impossible so you will just have to take my word for it!

Faith Anne

August 2009

Her Home

And because her sister-cousin (sister because they are supposedly litter mates and cousin because my sister is Hope Eigh's Mom), Hope Eigh, shares the same birthday and entered my life at the same time....here a before and now picture of her.

And just because she is just as cute as Hope Eigh and Faith Anne....

I give you Dazi Mae!

(Nana and Poppy's "Doggy Daughter" aka Hope Eigh and Faith Ann's Aunt)

Happy Birthday Faith Anne and Hope Eigh!!!

Thank You Dazi Mae for being such a wonderful Aunt!

Wishing you the joy of "doggy daughters"~

~M~

Market on Main

Faith Anne and I made it to the downtown Market this morning...

Even if we were 45 minutes later than we had planned to be.

At the end, we ended up with treats for Faith Anne
and little jars of homemade corncob jelly, honeysuckle jelly, fig preserves and peach jam for me.

See...

Not to shabby for our first market and $11 eh?

Wishing you fresh doggy & people treats!

~M and Faith Anne~

By the way...

For another perspective of the market...

Click here for pictures my friend Lindsey took a few weeks ago.
she is an AWESOME photographer...
www.lindentreephotography.blogspot.com is her photography website.
Not to mention has a very cute family...remember these kids that I mentioned in this post...
She is the lucky mommy!!!

Flicks on the Bricks

In case, you haven't already figured it out,
I live in
"Small Town America."

I LOVE IT, for many reasons, but mostly because of the people and quaintness of cute little towns.

Read on for a small example of this...

The Chamber and Downtown Development Association are hosting

"Flicks on the Bricks" (hence the title of the post :)).

Every Friday night in August, they will show a movie outside in the fountain area, right smack in the middle of
"super cute downtown."

(And did I mention...it is completely free?!?)

Friday August 7th: Madagascar 2
Friday August 14th: Fly Me to the Moon
Friday August 21st: Game Plan
Friday August 28th: High School Musical 3

They have done this before, but Faith Anne and I have always had other plans.

Tonight we had nothing to do so I packed up a quilt, snacks for both of us, and lucky for all of you...a camera!

We had a delightful time and Faith Anne was soooo well behaved!!

(She even let me take my co-worker's son to get an ice cream cone while she stayed with his mom...and yes she might have gotten an ice cream too :))

(That is another reason to love "Small Town America!" You never know when you will run into a friend!)

I think we will head back next week.


There was the $1 popcorn with sodas for 50 cents provided by the Amazing Surgermeyer's Sweet Shop and Ice Cream Parlor. Come on people...does it get any better than that?!?!?

Faith Anne and I enjoying the show...

The view of the fun...See all the people?!?!

Thanks to the Chamber and Downtown Development Association for making this happen!

Super Cute!
Tons of Fun!
And it didn't cost me a dime!

(well, except the ice cream cone for a sweet little boy and Faith Anne's half scoop)

Off to bed...getting up early in the morning for the
"Market on Main"
(another reason my sweet downtown is super cute!)

Check back late afternoon on Saturday for pics from the market!

And whether big city or small town

I am
Wishing you love for the place you live-
~M~

Family Fun Weekend!

The Kirkland Family (Kirkland is my mother's maiden name) has decided that every first weekend in August will be family fun weekend! This past weekend was the first one ever and boy was it fun!!

It all started Friday with baking a Paula Deen Gooey Butter Cake with my Momma...mmmmmm...YUMMY!!!

Yes, my mother does need wine when baking with me...after all, I can be difficult. And yes, that is ONE POUND of CONFECTIONARY SUGAR....don't even get me started with how much butter is in this thing!!!

Before and after it came out of the oven....it was FABULOUS....maybe I will make one to take to the office this week!

Baking is hard work and it can make a girl hungry! So, Momma, Daddy, Hannah and I met up with some more of the Kirkland clan for a FABULOUS seafood dinner at Butler's Mill. (I couldn't find a website...but click here for the white page listing.) If you are ever in Graham, AL...go here! AMAZING restaurant. Be sure to call ahead for their hours...

The only thing better than the food...was the company and have I mentioned how much my family likes to laugh!!! See below for pics of laughter and the beauty around Butler's Mill.

After a good night of rest we all met up at Tanner State Park and spent the day laughing, eating, and relaxing. According to my Aunt Jan, we do all of these really well, especially the relaxing part. I think I agree with her!

All the furry members of the family that made it..except Puff Mutts...he was inside.

L to R: Hamilton, Dazi Mae, Faith Anne, and Hope Eigh

Momma, Daddy, Hannah, the puppies, and I all decided to take a walk around the lake...

while the boys played mini golf...

L to R: Jeremy, Robert, Josh, Aaron, and Matthew

(It ended in Matthew's head being shaved)

And thanks to these cooks...

L to R: PawPaw, Ginny, and Daddy

We had some amazing food!!

I could have posted hundreds more pictures, but frankly this post is getting long! We all had a great time and below is a picture of the crew that made it to Family Fun Day!!!

(Mr. Mitchell, Ms. Paulette, and Ms. Doris also came but left before the group picture...we sure did enjoy them though!!)

BR L to R: Momma, Daddy, Uncle Micky, Uncle Richard, Aunt Jan, Uncle Dick

MR L to R: Cody, Ginny, Nanny, PawPaw, Aunt Beth

FR L to R: Me, Jeremy, Drew, Aaron, Matthew, Josh, Hannah, and Robert

Wishing you fun family times-

M.