19 Years and Counting

This year marked the 19th year that we've made our way to Orange Beach for our annual family beach trip. It has slowly evolved into lovingly being called "The Griswold Family Beach Trip"--the older we've gotten, the more Gris we've become. We embrace it ;)

 It's not too bad having to wait for dinner when this is the view--Shipp's Harbor

 Feeding the fish at Shipp's Harbor

Guys, this sushi roll was so...unique. We HAD to get one for the table when we saw it. 

Redneck Roll: filet mignon, shrimp, chipotle cream cheese, green onion, tomato salsa, and horseradish sauce. 

I always love and look forward to this trip. 

A week to relax, take in the beautiful sunsets, spend as much time on the beach as possible, eat wonderful food, drink fun drinks, play card/board games, and have absolutely no schedule to follow at all. What could be better?

 The ever competitive game of Spades

 Can you really have too many pictures of the beach? I personally don't think you can.

Each year it's gotten more and more fun as we've grown as a family. 

It's so neat to think back to bringing our friends with us when we were 11, 7, and 5 years old to now  being 30, 26, and 24 and having our husbands and wife with us as our family has grown. 

Looking back, I can't help but to be so thankful for 19 years of time spent with my family. I realize what a gift this has been and I am so thankful for these fun memories we've been able to make together.  We are so thankful for The Edwards and them allowing us to stay in their beautiful condo and share as part of the foundation for this fun tradition we've upheld and cherished. 

 This was GOOD--like, really good. 

This year we loved: 

Shipp's Harbor Grill (we ate here 3 times--whoops!) It's best to go there for lunch for there's not as long of a wait. But, if you go to get sushi like we did--you have to wait until at least 3:00. Their sushi is GREAT! Smoked Tuna dip is to die for as are their steaks. Who am I kidding? It's all amazingly delicious.

Our crab legs from Blalock's--we started this tradition for my birthday (we are usually at the beach the week of my birthday for as long as I can remember--it was a bit earlier this year)--we found this gem, Blalock's, where you can get it fresh and steamed while you wait. It's phenomenal and has become quite the tradition. Possibly my favorite one, being the "foodie" that I am. 

Original Oyster House--this place is good but what I love about it are the desserts. Guys, all I can say is Peanut Butter Chocolate Pie--amazing. Their key lime pie is awesome as well. And yes, we did get a 3rd dessert and their bread pudding is top notch. You'll want to go here for lunch as well--the wait at night is, whewwwwwww. They do have cute shops you can walk around in while you wait though that makes time go by a bit faster. They also have a great Pina Colada. 

I promise y'all that we did more than eat all week. Not much more, but we did do more than that!

Here's to another year of a successful "Griswold Family Beach Trip"!

Stitches

654.

That's approximately how many hours I've spent cross stitching over the past year. 

Today officially marks one year that I picked up cross stitching as a hobby. 

I took an interest in it after seeing this beautiful piece that my cousin made for a Christmas gift. 

I remember thinking to myself "what an awesome, unique gift". 

I like to give meaningful, special gifts to people. 

I started researching the tools I would need, the best way to get started, things of that nature. 

I decided to reach out to people through social media to see if anyone had any tips on the best way to begin and lo and behold I had a ton of people give me tips, tell me stores to go to and even offer their old materials to me that they are no longer using. 

Sweet Mrs. Carol Noelle took the time to invite me to her house, let me look through some of her pattern books and choose some of them to take home with me to get started with. I remember walking away that afternoon so grateful for the time she took to sit with me, give me pointers, show me how to get started and share with me her beautiful work that she's done over the years as well. That was a great afternoon! Mrs. Carol is actually who I got the patterns for the letter I've ended up making for people all this time. She had me over just in time to get these supplies before we went on our annual family beach trip. 

I spent the following week practicing at the beach, asking my Mom for tips & pointers,  and figuring it all out. My first stitch was this tiny little angel with a heart. 

Jason actually uses it as a book mark now! 

When I got home I took on the more (what I thought then) daunting task of one of the most beautiful letter patterns I had ever seen. I love the instant gratification that comes along with cross stitching as you are working. The piece comes alive before your eyes and I oftentimes find myself thinking "man, I really love the way this is turning out". 

You can tell from the picture I was just starting out for I didn't even center it in my hoop! 

Since then I've had many other women in the church provide me with their materials that they no longer use and their tips/tricks to cross stitching. This is information and time that I've been so thankful for--thank you again Mrs. Robin, Mrs. Jeanette, and Mrs. Pat--you ladies have helped make this possible for me :)

Many months after I started stitching I decided to post on the internet and see if there was any interest from people to purchase these "floral letters". The response was so positive and I made the decision to take on the task. Since September I've had an ongoing list of letters to make for people. 

As of today, I've completed 26 letters and I am so happy to know that these will be displayed in the homes of these people for years to come. I've had many people tell me they plan to pass it on to other family members years down the road, etc. and that's exactly what I envisioned when I decided to start making these for other people. 

These are just a few of the letter's I've completed since then for different people/families.

People choose their own color schemes and some choose their own frame while with others I will find the frame for them. Although cross stitching is very time intensive (takes me over 24 hours for one letter--over the course of about 9-14 days) I really enjoy it and find it relaxing.

So, Happy 1 Year Anniversary to my favorite hobby and here's to another year and the remaining 12 letters on my list of "upcoming orders" with hopefully many more to come!

Facelift for the 422

Out of all of the house projects we've done--this one has been my favorite thus far. 

I think it's due to the fact that it changed the entire look of the house...for the better. 

I love color and I love neat, different things. 

I've been wanting to change the color of our shutters for a while now. 

The brown was just, so plain to me. 

 My flower beds look great in these two pictures. These were from a year ago when My Mom and Jason's Mom helped me "beautify" my flower beds. Read about that day: here. 

This past week, I finally made the time to get it done. 

That was after sweet, Mrs. Emily Lehr, helped me find the perfect color that would best compliment the house and be a true improvement. 

I spent about 2-3 weeks with 3 different colored shutters while we found the perfect one. 

I know my neighbors were happy to see the tri-colored shutters become more uniformed!

During my "trial" phase--my tri-colored shutters with my still brown door.

Mom and I burned up, killed our backs, and got so tired of painting...but we got it done!

FYI, painting shutters, is a big.ole.pain. (in case you didn't already know that).

Each of those little slats is like, a mean little, too skinny for your paint brush, punishment.

In case you REALLY love the color and want to use it for one of your own home improvement projects, the color we ended up using was a Sherwin Williams color from their Earth Elements line called "Cool Vista"

We didn't prime the shutters (although we probably should have) and it took us 2 coats (3 on some of them that were being stubborn). 

I knew I would love the color change, but I don't think I could have anticipated just how much I would love it. I am SO pleased with how it all turned out and the door being painted really made it and brought it all together. I LOVE it!

I am giddy each time I pull in the driveway these days.