Spring Fever

I think I'll decorate for Easter this weekend. What about you?

I wanna make this. I'm in love.

image from The Bottom of the Ironing Basket

Girl's Best Friend

Last night was one of the sweetest moments we have had with our black Labrador retriever, Cole.

He is such a sweet, loving, gentle dog (when he's inside).

When he is outside he is not a good leash walker, but we love him anyway.

It's ok. We blame ourselves. We didn't teach him that lesson properly.

Ok, back to his sweetness.

Cole is not usually allowed on the furniture. In fact, he is usually only allowed on his bed when he is inside.

We, however, made an exception last night. It was really cold outside. He was in the living room lying on his bed. The fire in the fireplace was roaring. Judd and I were snuggled up watching the Olympics together. I was getting sleepy and had my head resting in Judd's lap.

I think Cole wanted in on all of the snuggling because he stretched in the long and beautiful way that labs do and then tip-toed over to us. (He cracks us up when he does this. He thinks we won't notice him if we can't hear him. Never mind that he is a large 100 lb black animal who could be spotted from a mile away). Aww, bless his heart.

He quickly put his cold nose in my face which was at his eye level. I gave him a quick pat thinking his daddy was going to send him back to his bed at any moment.

Instead, much to my amazement, Judd motioned for him to join us on the sofa. He looked at me for confirmation. Then he looked at his daddy one more time to make sure it was ok. He swiftly climbed up to an empty spot in front of me on the sofa. You don't have to ask him twice.

Cole and I were kind of spooning I guess. He was sleepy and so was I. He put his big soft head down on Judd's leg right next to my face. We slept there on Judd with our faces touching whisker to nose and our bodies keeping each other warm for a little over an hour. We were both so comfortable. Judd's strong arm was draped over both of us. It was such a sweet moment.

I wish I had a picture to show you.

Having a pet who is so much a part of your family makes you sometimes forget that he is actually an animal at all. I told Judd after we had gotten up that was the closest I have ever slept to an animal before. He nudged up to me like I was his real doggy mother.

Gosh, I love that dog. He is such a loving creature. Labs are the best!

Wedding Bells

Here is what happens when both of your brothers get married in the same month.

Yes, I said that right.

My brother, Bryan, and his fiance, Laura, are getting married on May 7th. Judd and I are both attendants.

Below is the best picture of the four of us that I could find. I'll have to work on that. Judd and I are on the far left. Laura and Bryan are on the far right. Our precious cousins, Monica, Zack, and Eric are in the middle.

Judd's brother, Colby, and his fiance, Brenna, are getting married on May 22nd. Judd is the Best Man and I am the Matron-of-Honor for theirs.

Below is a picture of the Langham brothers. Colby and Brenna are on the left. We are on the right, although, I'm sure you had already figured that out.

Here is our upcoming calendar so far. 1 shower isn't even included yet because we are waiting on date confirmations. Eeek.

March 10th-Colby’s Birthday
March 27th-Brenna's Bridal Tea
April 2nd-Laura’s Lingerie Shower
April 4th-Easter
April 10th-Brenna and Colby’s Couples Shower
April 17th-Brenna's Church/Family Shower
April 22-25-Colby’s Bachelor Party
April 23-25-Brenna’s Lingerie Shower and Bachelorette Party
May 1st-Laura’s Bridesmaids’ Luncheon/Laura’s Bachelorette Party
May 6th-Bryan and Laura’s Rehearsal and Dinner
May 7th-Bryan and Laura’s Wedding
May 9th-Mother’s Day
May 14th-Our 5th Anniversary!!!
May 21st-Brenna’s Bridesmaids’ Luncheon/Brenna and Colby’s Rehearsal and Dinner
May 22nd-Brenna and Colby’s Wedding/Abby's Mom and Dad's Anniversary


Did I mention that Brenna and Colby live about 4 hours away from us in my husband's hometown?

Whew....It is going to be a fun and busy spring.

Somehow we'll have to find a way to balance all of the festivities as well as work and school.

It'll all be worth it to see our brother's beaming on their special days.

Happy Fat Tuesday!!!!!!

We hope you are all having a fantastic Fat Tuesday. We certainly are because of our sweet and thoughtful friend, Tripp.

Below is a picture of Tripp as First Knight on the 2005 Mardi Gras court with his beautiful and dear friend, the First Lady in Waiting.

We didn't go down to Mobile for the Mardi Gras festivities this year. We did, however, decorate our house for carnival. We were in the spirit of things I guess.

This is a picture of us last year before the Mystics of Time ball.

Tripp knew that we were celebrating our own mini Mardi Gras with just the two of us up here in Birmingham. I came home from work the other day to find Judd grinning from ear to ear.

Here is Judd and Tripp at the Crewe of Columbus parade last year.

He said we received a surprise in the mail. I had no idea what it could have been. We weren't expecting anything.

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Below is Tripp and me after the parade with our throws on.

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Well guess what...Tripp mailed us the most delicious king cake from Atlanta Bread Company in Mobile, AL. It is our favorite! Tripp's family introduced them to us a few years ago. We love their king cakes. If you haven't had one you need to. YUMMY!!!!



Tripp doesn't know this but I had almost ordered one a few weeks ago because I was craving king cake. He somehow must have known just what I needed. :)

Thanks Tripp!!!! You made our Mardi Gras fun and delicious! The only thing that would have made it better was sharing it with you.


Judd hid the baby Jesus for me twice. He found it the first time and had to re-hide it for me. Ha. What a sweetheart. :)


Happy Mardi Gras and Happy Fat Tuesday!!!!!!

It's great to have special friends isn't it?

You can watch a video about the Atlanta Bread Company's king cakes by clicking HERE. We prefer the cakes with cream cheese filling and no raisens.



To order a king cake online click HERE. I think that the Mobile branch is the only one that sells king cakes but they ship them all year long.

RH Garden

Just a little FYI that Restoration Hardware is now offering RH Garden.

It will be premiering February 25.

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You can go here to request your copy of the catalog.

Place your place card vote...

Southern women host great showers. It's just a part of our genetic make up to have this skill. Well...I mean...I hope it is a part of MY genetic make up because....

I am hosting the bridesmaids' luncheon for my sweet future sister-in-law, Brenna, in May. This will be the first shower/luncheon I have hosted by myself.

I am planning to have it on the front porch at the cabin over looking the pond or inside the cabin if the whether does not cooperate.

Brenna's wedding colors are truffle brown, cream, and green. I will incorporate those colors into the tablescapes. We have a few family-made quilts that could be used on the seating and tables.


Right now I am planning to use my cream colored Italian Countryside everyday china by Mikasa. I thought about using fine china but I only have 12 place settings of it and that would not be enough. I could do a mix and match of china patterns but I don't necessarily love that idea.

I have 24 place settings of my everyday. It is also in one of her wedding colors (cream). And I think because it is casual it's more appropriate for a farm luncheon. Am I wrong? What do y'all think?

I am thinking white table cloths with a burlap runner or burlap overlay would look nice.


The menu will feature chicken salad, fruit salad, croissants, cup cakes or one regular cake, mojito lemonade or pink lemonade (I think mojito lemonade would be cute because of her color scheme.), sweet tea, and water. Do you have any other food suggestions?

I am not sure about what to do for place cards. I have found a few images of ideas I like. Which do you prefer? Cast your vote in the comment section. There are nine choices.

1. a mix of spring flowers in a vase the girls could take home

2. a vase the girls could take home filled with a hydrangea

3. a terra cotta pot with name on a leaf

4. a simple bud vase place card holder

5. A mason jar filled with bath salts the girls could take home

6. a galvanized or terra cotta pot filled with herbs and a name tucked in

7. a simple pear or green apple with a name tied around the stem

8. fabric dressing the backs of chairs with the name as an embellishment

9. a bag of candy at each place setting with a name on the ribbon or bag itself

What is your favorite? I can't decide. Feel free to leave a comment with your vote.

Cabin Part III - Bathroom

My handy brother-in-law, Colby, is still working away on our family's cabin at the farm. You can read about the progress here and here. The next big undertaking will be adding a bathroom. We can't wait to get down there to help.

The cabin is literally a one room dwelling at the moment. Adding a bathroom would be a major upgrade. And it couldn't have come any sooner if you ask me.

Other than my mother-in-law the majority of people who went out there in the pre-bathroom days were men and boys. Well...that is until Brenna and I came along. Now, I think everybody sees that this is a project that will make all of our experiences at the farm better if you know what I mean.

Siebel's, a local cabin store, has lavatories like the ones photographed below. I think they are perfect for our cabin. Also, I love the sconces flanking each side of the mirrors. They look fantastic.

Erika, a blogger who I enjoy following at Urban Grace Interiors, recently did a post on architect Bill Ingram's cottage and lake house featured in Cottage Living. I had been looking for inspirational bathroom photos for a while and when I saw her post I knew I wanted to use some of Bill's concepts.

Bill tastefully covered a typical fiberglass shower by hanging a beautiful cotton fabric by bead chains from the ceiling. This is a wonderful way to conceal an ordinary and unsighlty shower stall. You can read more about Bill's lake house here.


This bathroom features a feed trough as a tub. How clever. It certainly screams farm.

Note the antler towel "racks." Too cute.

All of these seem like good ideas. Who knows what the bathroom will end up looking like. At least we can draw inspiration from these photos.

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Do you have any ideas or images for a farm bathroom?

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PS: I wrote about my grandmother's kitchen remodel; however, because I had originally saved it as a draft it is showing up below our "Who Dat" post.

Who Dat?

Are you familiar with the term "Who Dat?" I have to admit that until I met Judd I had never heard that phrase before. Having grown up in the deep coastal south and being a huge sports fan in general Judd has always had a special place in his heart for the New Orleans Saints. The Saints are the team of his childhood. To say he likes the Saints would be an understatement.


He, as well as the rest of the Who Dat Nation, are on cloud nine this year. The Saints are 14-3 this season. Currently they are playing in the NFC Championship game against the Minnesota Vikings.


I had to make a post about this because I just walked into our living room and found Judd and Cole (and Cole's baby) wearing Mardi Gras beads....and yes, Judd was holding his "lucky" football like a small child. Too funny! They were both intently watching.



On that note, I thought I would tie in some of our Mardi Gras decorations into this post. After Christmas I just couldn't stand to take our decorations down without having something else to put up.

As I mentioned last year we went down to Mobile, AL to experience Carnival with our friends the Atkins family. Over the years we have collected quite a few beads, masks, dubloons, and rolls of serpentine. I put them out around our house. We are truly supporting the saints this year huh? I think we are the only house in our Birmingham neighborhood with Mardi Gras decorations.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!!!!

(This one's for you Jamie!!!!) Wink!

Grandmother's Kitchen Remodel Extravaganza - Part II

Mom and I used our Martin Luther King Jr. holiday to go and help my 85 year old grandmother put her kitchen back together. As previously mentioned, Grandmother is in the middle of a kitchen renovation. The workers are not completely finished but here is the way we left it as of one week ago.

Here's Grandmother to welcome you all inside.

(She'd be mortified if she knew I put this picture up. She was standing in her garage to meet us when we drove up. I think she's adorable. Don't you?)

The workers have been using this space as a workshop. Pardon the mess.

She chose all of the materials by herself because we live a few hours away and couldn't be there to help. I think overall she did a pretty good job. The floor is not necessarily a choice I would have made, however, it is very textured and she said she chose it because she knew she would not fall on it. I don't blame her. After all, this is her kitchen and it should be the way she wants it. It took her 85 years to get the kitchen she's always dreamed of. She deserves to have it just the way she wants it.

Amazingly the rope design cabinets she described to me over the phone were the exact ones I found for my previous post to use as an example of what I thought she had chosen. Isn't a Google images search just amazing?

She chose these 1" tiles as her back splash. I think she made a good choice there.

The granite I had picked out for the other post is remarkably similar to the laminate below from VT Industries. I believe this color is butter rum.

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Grandmother never got a chance to view my previous post because during the renovation her Internet was down. I think it's kind of funny she and I chose so many similar things.

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Another good choice Grandmother. (I think you did a great job. I know I couldn't redesign my kitchen alone. Kudos to you!)

Here is her floor tile choice. It seemed a little busy at first, but to be honest, once I was in the room for a while it grew on me. Plus, I love the fact that it is a no slip surface.

The handy and kind men who worked on her kitchen scrapped her popcorn ceiling, added crown molding, these two accent lights over the sink, and took down the ceiling fan.

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They really were so sweet to her. They recognized that she was without a cook space for weeks and when they stopped to pick up some breakfast they would bring her a biscuit each morning too.

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Don't you just love southern gentlemen?

They also added regular pot lights. This is a major improvement in her kitchen!

I just thought this was cute. Grandmother re-did her bathrooms about two years ago. Judd and I bought her a bathroom set when the rooms were complete. She thought the soap dispenser from the set was pretty and put it next to her new sink.

She also had her refrigerator moved all of the way across the room. It is in a much better spot now. It's amazing how much more functional her kitchen is now. This move really opened up her breakfast nook too.

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I don't have any pictures of the breakfast nook side of the room yet. The men were working over there as I was taking these pictures. I'll do a new post on the entire finished project next time we go over there.

Here's a better view.

She has also ordered a new dishwasher. Obviously this one's got to go.

I am really happy for Grandmother to have such a nice space.

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I can't think of anyone who deserves it more. She is a wonderful, beautiful, talented, kind, intelligent, and loving woman.

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She is my role model.

Oh yeah, she also had her 1990's blue carpet taken up in her great room. She chose a laminate wood floor.

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I LOVE it!

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It makes the biggest difference. It fills this room and goes all of the way down the hall. She is also having it put in her bedroom.

And because I attempted to describe her great room ceiling before without much luck, here is a picture. I want to take down those ceiling fans next and replace them with a chandelier or two. What do you think?

Here's a pic of the whole great room. Again, pardon the mess. Things are still under construction. And this shot was taken right before we packed up to go home. I spy some Vera Bradley and a pillow. Gah, I should've put that in the car first. :)