The Fam

On Friday my cousin and his fiancee came into town from New York. They bunked at our house and were able to visit The Entire Family over the long weekend. (But never long enough, right?)We share the most adorable grandma in the whole entire world. I would challenge anyone on that fact!

My local sistercousin and I met his fiancee several years ago at his brother's wedding, and we loved her instantly. Now, with her own wedding looming just over half a year away, she is giving me the opportunity to create their wedding invitations, and I am so excited for both of them!
We loved getting to know her better, catching up with him, and making new memories (okay, and forgetting some of those memories) together!Family resemblance? Oui? Non?It is going to be a friggin' sweet wedding, y'alls. Congratulations, you two!

Friday Fashion: More home decor!

I hate to make this statement, because I'm pretty sure I'm going to jinx myself, but our home renovations are really starting to come together. I've been busy spackling and sanding all of the trim that has been re-nailed throughout the downstairs, my F-I-L and B-I-L have been putting up our beautiful blinds and only have three windows left to complete, and this weekend I think we've conned some extra help into coming over. Perhaps we will have the tile in the master bath/closet complete and our cabinets attached to the wall! Of course, as usual, we homeowners will be suspiciously absent, at least on Saturday, due to a wedding.

In the spirit of actually possibly maybe just maybe moving into our damn house, I bring you assorted, interesting wonderfulness from j-me.com. This site has some seriously cool home accessories! (Note: This is a UK company, so I will include the pricing in U.S. dollars as advertised).


This Nest Shoe Rack (wall-mounted for $115 and freestanding for $147) looks so sleek and still utilitarian! I would probably have to get fifteen of these puppies to hold all of my shoes, but turning my footwear into an architectural piece of artwork? Priceless.This simple Magazine Rack retails for $39.00 and would look absolutely adorable in our half bath! Let's ignore the fact that I don't subscribe to any magazines...but don't worry...Husband has that covered, but I won't tell you with what publication *winks at better half*.


These Candle Holders (thumb up and thumb down for $15.50 each) positively scream my husband's name. Should I ditch the elegant crystal candle holders I received at my bridal shower and our authentic wooden African candle holders that we purchased at a charity auction and go with these instead?
These are called "Frame Hooks," and I am assuming they are to hang coats on, but I suppose you could hang about anything here. How about a set for bathrobes or towels? For $8.00 each, they're not a bad buy and you can customize them with any picture you desire!

Finally, I am totally in love with this Wave Coat Rack for $77.50. There's even a small space at the bottom for one to store keys or sunglasses! This. Is. Cool. Me. Want. Now.

As a reminder, this Sunday is Father's Day, so go get a card for your father and grandfather right now or I will paddle your hiney! One of the many reasons I love my dad is his cinematic taste. My gifts to him this Father's Day? Clint Eastwood's Gran Tourino (I think he invented new racial slurs just for this movie!) and The Tale of Despereaux (uhm...adorable). My dad loves hard-ass characters and animated mice equally. My biggest concern? That he has already bought The Tale of Despereaux for himself...love you, Daddy!

The biggest sigh of relief...

My blog has been rather bereft of posts lately because my dad was admitted to the hospital this past Monday, and nothing else seemed quite as important to me. He has been dealing with terrible, clenching back pain since the end of January, and three emergency room visits and countless pain medication prescriptions later, they finally admitted him for testing. They discovered he had a staph infection (probably the same one he had earlier in February). He had been taking a great amount of pain medication for the back pain, as well as ibuprofen, and that might have kept his fever down, tricking doctors. During his testing this week, they discovered a mass on his spine, and he was sent for a biopsy. The word "mass" is terrifying in its ambiguity. All I could think about this past week was the dreaded "c-word," the He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named of all of my conversations. Thankfully (if there be any thanks in this situation), the biopsy revealed that it is a mass of infection, more staph, which has probably been causing his back pain. They are giving him heavy duty antibiotics and pain medicine "stronger than morphine" (I didn't realize there was such a thing...is it crystal meth?). I'm not excited about his diagnosis, but it should be treatable and help him back to his old self someday, hopefully sooner rather than later, because he has suffered so much recently. He will be in the hospital a few more days and will go home with an IV, but he has definitely been where he needs to be (plus, that new hospital is like the Hilton, seriously, have you been in that place? I kept looking around for the pool and weight room...).

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.