What I would wear on the red carpet

I didn't actually watch the Academy Awards, but I drooled over the pictures of the stars on the red carpet. I love looking at the gowns worn and what different fashion sites say about each of them. Although I don't always agree with what is said, but I still enjoy it. So, I chose my personal best and worst dressed of the night.

I especially loved Amy Adams and her gorgeous gown and jewels. The whole look is fabulous! And I am not a big Amy Adams fan. I actually think she is a mediocre actress, but she sure hit the nail on the head at the Oscars!

My pick for worst dressed is Melissa Leo (who?). What is this atrocity that she is wearing? I think I saw those doilies on sale at Wal-Mart for half off after Valentine's Day!

So I know I'm totally not a fashionista. But I got to thinking...what would I wear if I was going to walk the red carpet? So, I searched....and searched....and searched some more. Okay, it wasn't that bad. I actually didn't find much that I loved. I definitely don't want to look like a prom bomb and there were way too many of those! I finally decided on this gorgeous gray number from Nordstrom. Yeah...and just pretend with me like I have the body to pull that off...

I also need some amazing shoes to go with the dress. I chose these strappy Jimmy Choos. They are only $950.00. That's not bad, right?

Of course, with my luck, Jennifer Garner would also choose that dress and I would be stuck in a "Who wore it better" scuffle. Yeah, I know who would be on the losing end of that one. Have you seen Jennifer Garner?

The weather has been fantastic!

The only bad thing about having awesome weather is that I forget to blog or don't feel like blogging. I'm way too busy walking to the park or library with my sweet girl or getting some much needed exercise! I think we have been outside every day for the last couple of weeks and we are loving it! We are either playing basketball, taking a family walk, or going to the park! Mondays are Russ' day off (though he doesn't take it all of the time) so we took CJ up to the library. She loves going to the library!

She's in there somewhere...

Sunday Morning

Little Helping Hands

Back in December I did a post that had this picture in it:

That is my little Chloe Jo helping me dust. Yes, she is dusting a door which I normally don't do (am I supposed to?), but she is helping none the less. Since then, I have let her help me do many different things around the house and she loves it! And I love it!

She is very good about cleaning up her room whenever I tell her to. The only time I ever have a problem with her not doing it is when it is time to go to bed and I've let her stay up too late. She can go into major meltdown mode sometimes. She always puts everything back in the right places, too. Ya know, certain things go into each bin on her shelf, certain things go into her toy box and then certain other things go into the bottom drawer of her dresser. I made it a little complicated which is why I'm so impressed.

Every morning, she helps me make the beds. She tries really hard to help me put the sheets and blankets on the bed, but isn't quite tall enough/strong enough/coordinated enough to do that, but she always hands me the pillows.

One of her favorite things is helping me empty the trash. She loves to go into the bathroom and get the small trash can out of there and bring it to me in the kitchen. I don't even have to ask her to do that! If she sees me get the trash can by the desk, she automatically gets the trash out of the bathroom.

She also loves to help me do laundry. One day I was getting the washer ready to put a load in and here comes Chloe Jo (again without being asked) with the pile of whites that was in my bedroom. I guess she watches me very closely when I do laundry because there were three piles of it in my room and she brought all of the whites and none of the colors or jeans. She is a smart little miss thang.

When the laundry is finished in the dryer, she loves to help me get it out and put it in the laundry basket and then she loves to "help" me fold and put everything away. This is partly frustrating for me because her folding is really more like wadding and when she picks the clothes up to put them away, they always come unfolded or partly unfolded. But, I never scold her because she is trying oh-so-hard to help me.

In January she started helping me set the table for dinner.

I am pretty OCD when it comes to setting the table. I want the knife (with blade pointing toward the plate) on the left side of the plate with the spoon beside it and the fork on the right side of the plate on top of the napkin. Chloe Jo is following in my OCD footsteps and puts everything in the right places (though not nearly as neatly as I do it)! And, um, just ignore the sewing machine. That is it's new home. We just don't have a lot of space. Oh, and ignore the tile. It is totally stained and needs replaced but our landlord will never do it.

About two weeks ago, Chloe Jo also started helping me empty the dishwasher. At first I wasn't so sure about this because dishes are breakable, but I gave her a chance and she really does great with it! I take anything that can hurt her (like knives, blades, etc.) out first and then she can hand me the rest of the dishes to put away. She thinks she is big stuff when she does this!

The Pringles cans are for a project I'm working on for Bible class if you are wondering.

I love how much Chloe Jo loves to help and I'm amazed at how much she can do and does do without being asked. She really is great kid!

I'm not flattered.

For the last week, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous here. So gorgeous that Chloe Jo and I have been going to the park almost every day. After church services today, I left CJ at home with Daddy and I went to the park to walk. A while after I got there, a silver truck and a black SUV pulled up. They happened to pull in on the side of the park that I was walking on at that particular moment. A teenage guy gets out of the silver truck and walks over to the SUV. The driver of the SUV (also a teenager) stands up through the sunroof (like a jack-in-the-box)! And this is what happened:

Mr. Popgoestheweasel: "Hey there..." (yeah, like Joey from Friends)

Me (looked around to make sure he was talking to me): "Uh, hey." and I kept on walking.

Mr. Popgoestheweasel: "Yeah, that isn't rude."

Okay Mr. Popgoestheweasel: First of all, I'm almost 30 years old. It's a little Creepy McCreeperson of you to try to flirt with me in the park. Second, the completely flat bill on your hat is oh-so-not-cool. Third, the rap about the KKK you have playing in your car is completely inappropriate. All in all, I'm not flattered by your paltry attempt at flirting. Mmmkay?

Valentine's Day!

Since we went to Savannah to celebrate Valentine's Day, Russ and I didn't get each other gifts or cards but we did go ahead a pick up a couple of things for Chloe Jo (because we can't resist spoiling her). She was so excited to have a present!

CJ was so excited about her Elmo pajamas that she wanted to put them on right then even though she was already wearing an Elmo outfit and Elmo panties!

She also loved the little heart book!

Chloe Jo and Mommy

Chloe Jo then gave Daddy the card she made for him. CJ and I had so much fun making these cards and I think everyone loved them!

Daddy was going in for the hug here!

CJ and Daddy

We hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day! We sure did!

It's a beautiful day to ride a trike!

While picking up some necessities (like clearance Valentine's Day craft items) at Wal-Mart yesterday, I found a clearance Radio Flyer Trike. I've been wanting to buy Chloe Jo a trike for a while now and have been searching the internet for the ideal trike. I knew I wanted one that would grow with her for a few years and one that had parental steering handles. Every time I've been to Wal-Mart in the last month, I go to the toys and look at the trikes just to see if they have anything different or any on sale. So yesterday I found this great trike for $39.00! I was more excited about the trike than CJ! I put it together during her nap and when Daddy got home from the office, we went to try it out.

She loved it! She only peddaled that one little bit at the beginning, but I was impressed she did that much. The clicking noise is the coast feature.

She was so excited! She didn't want to get off for anything.

She especially loved riding her new trike to the park. One of us usually stays with her at the play area of the park while the other one walks the perimeter for exercise. Today, she wasn't having that. She wanted to ride her trike while we walked!

I do believe this trike will give her (and me!) hours of fun!

I'm predictable

Our morning routine goes like this:

1. go potty - I clap for her, she claps for me

2. eat breakfast

3. make beds

4. I do my daily Bible reading while she plays

This morning, I was making my bed and CJ brought me my Bible, daily reading chart and a pen.

I guess she's good with the routine.

The Waving Girl

In 1887, Florence Martus and her lover, a sailor, said goodbye to each other. The sailor promised to come back and Florence promised to wave for him.

Florence Martus lived with her brother, a lighthouse keeper, on Elba Island located in the Savannah River near the Atlantic Ocean. For 44 years, Florence waved at each ship that came by. She waved with a handkerchief by day and a lantern by night waiting for her lover to return. During those 44 years, she never missed waving to a single ship. Her lover never came back and she passed away in 1943.

Her statue stands in Morrell Park on the historic riverfront of Savannah and her story lives on.

Savannah, GA for Valentine's Day Weekend

Since moving to this part of the country, I've had a list of places I want to see. On the top of that list was Savannah, Georgia. Russ, being the awesome hubby that he is, started planning a Valentine's weekend trip to Savannah back in November. We've never taken a big, extravagant vacation, so a weekend away is something we really loo forward to. Savannah did not disappoint!

We left Friday afternoon and arrived in Savannah around 5:30 p.m. Ichabod, our GPS, directed us to our hotel which was in a large field and apparently invisible. After driving around for a while, we finally came across a hotel that was not invisible. We checked in, took our overnight bags in and went to eat. Since this was a special occasion, we went to my favorite restaurant, Red Lobster. Yum! We've never taken Chloe Jo to Red Lobster (probably because we've only been once since she was born...) and she loved it! She helped me eat my Maple Glazed Shrimp and Salmon. Mmmm. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

We had passed a mall on the way to dinner, so after we finished our meals, we headed over to the mall to walk around for a while. We were there for about an hour and decided to go rest up for our big day on Saturday. Unfortunately, our hotel was in the area of the airport and the planes were sooooo loud! If it wasn't hard enough to sleep with planes flying overhead, there was a bar across the parking lot and several of the bar patrons decided to have a monster truck rally at 2:00 a.m. that lasted for an hour and a half. I hate loud, obnoxious trucks in the daytime. I despise them with the fire of 1,000 suns in the wee hours of the morning. Needless to say, I didn't sleep well at all. Russ slept like a baby.

After our awesome continental breakfast that consisted of frosted cornflakes, we headed to the historical district of Savannah. Russ bought tickets to take a tour on a trolley and it did not disappoint! There were 15 stops and we were able to get on and get off whenever we wanted. Plus, the drivers kept up a running commentary about the history so we were able to learn all about Savannah! Plus, it just so happened to be Georgia Day!

We ended up getting off the trolley several times to explore the area. We especially loved River St. which runs parallel to *you aren't going to believe this* the Savannah River. It was a beautiful day to take a walk down by the river! One of the first things we saw upon approaching the river was this tugboat.

There was a lady down by the river making these roses out of palmetto tree leaves.

She let us take this one for any donation, but if we wanted a larger rose with a cross then she required a $7.00 "donation." Seriously.

I loved the architecture of old town Savannah. It reminded me a lot of Europe. This is another view of River Street.

I loved this bridge. Have I ever mentioned that I am obsessed with taking pictures of bridges? The river acts as a border between Georgia and South Carolina. South Carolina is on the right. Georgia is on the left.

There were so many statues and memorials everywhere in this part of the city. I think we could have spent all day just reading the plaques and looking at them. This one is a World War II memorial that I found very interesting.

These are some of the flags that were at the memorial. I'm also obsessed with taking pictures of flags. I love them!

There were several transportation opportunities including horse and buggy, buses, trolleys and pedicabs. I would have loved to ride a buggy, but we couldn't do everything. Maybe next time.

This is Savannah City Hall. The dome is just gorgeous!

My favorite building was the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. Amazing!

Of course, there were many very old homes everywhere. The character of these old parts of cities is just wonderful. I told Russ when we are chosen to be on House Hunters, we are going to buy a vacation home in Savannah!

Around lunch time we got off the trolley to find some grub. We ended up going to a trendy little place across the street from the Savannah School of Art and Design where people were on laptops while eating falafel.

We both ordered a breakfast wrap and it was yummy!

On our way to the restaurant, we had passed a posh little bakery called Kerry O'Connor Cake Design. We decided to go back there to get a cupcake for desert. It was divine.

After refueling, we got back on a trolley. While on River Street, we were able to see this enormous container ship! I was floored by how huge this thing was! The Savannah River is the 2nd largest U.S. port for the Atlantic Ocean. New York City is the first. Savannah is able to take in 98% of the world's container ships.

Sorry about the picture quality. I was taking them through the plastic window of the trolley.

One of the neatest memorials to me was this one of the Olympic Flame. Savannah hosted the Yachting Events during the 1996 Olympics that were held in Atlanta, GA. This is the site of the flame that was in Savannah.

The trolley took us by several famous sites including Paula Deen's restaurant. We didn't go in because I wasn't in the mood to eat a stick of butter. It also took us by the docks for these tugboats. Paula's husband works there.

Savannah is an amazing city. It is definitely one of our favorites right now. I can't wait to go back and be able to go to more of the museums. There are several museums dedicated to people like James Oglethorpe who was the founder of Georgia, Juliette Gordon Low who founded the Girl Scouts of America and John Wesley who founded the Methodist church. There is so much history in Savannah. I don't think we could ever learn everything.

On the way back home, we were lucky to be able to cross the bridge that I had taken a picture of earlier. We didn't cross it on the way there.

So neat. I love bridges and I love Savannah, GA.

We are hoping to go explore Charleston, South Carolina next!