If my shutters were hair they would be sideburns.

It's true. My house had sideburns.

 

Brian insisted that he never noticed them, but they drove me crazy. I mean...not only are sideburns uncool on a house...but they are so four decades ago.

I finally put my foot down and insisted on a trim. Well obviously we couldn't trim them, but we did do a total shave and transplant. Thanks to Architectural Depot we were able to get new shutters for the whole house that actually fit the windows.

Here's the new do...

If I'm going to continue with the annoying hair metaphors I must tell you that now that we replaced the shutters the house needs a new dye job. Yep. Those places that were once hidden by sideburns are now a different color than the surrounding paint.

Isn't that the way it goes. One project leads to another in a never ending cycle.

Little Swimmer

My little fish is all over the pool this summer. Thanks to swim lessons with Miss Miranda and Miss Tiffany, Cole can swim the whole length of the pool - 40 feet!

I love his long eyelashes and cute, little, freckled nose... 

Diving down for dive sticks...

Tijuana Flats: Accept all kinds of people, even those that use mild sauce!

You can find me at Tjuana Flats on Monday or Wednesday when it's military discount days. Or on Tuesday or Thursday because I'm craving it. Or after church on Sunday. Any excuse...I'm there.

I love their black bean enchiladas with red sauce..delish! With a side of their homemade guac...watch out! Their chips are crispy and seasoned...you definitely can't stop at just one.

The best part is that their customer service is over the top. Seriously...they rock.

Cole likes their food also, but what he really likes is that a tattoo comes with the kids meal. He is all about that. And I'm all about it too because it means he is always agreeable to going!

So if you are looking for a fast, friendly meal that will leave you wanting more...check them out asap!

And if you need more reasons, here are just a few items from their manifesto:

• There is no problem a burrito can’t solve
• Crushed ice can take you to your happy place
• Next time, order a chimichanga just because it’s fun to say
• Predictable is too normal, normal is too predictable
• Lighten up or leave
• Get in touch with your inner weirdness
• Accept all kinds of people, even those that use mild sauce
• Embrace the strange & unexplained, if at first you don’t understand it, maybe you never will
• Don’t be a stranger, just be stranger
• A pair of tacos is always a winning hand
• Give heat a chance
• Sometimes cheezy is good
• It only burns for a little while
• We’ll clean up the mess, so get messy
• Try the hot bar even if it’s on a dare
• Don’t stare at the murals too hard, you might get sucked in 

I must confess, I've always struggled to accept that some people choose to use mild sauce. I mean..what's wrong with them?? I'm not calling anyone out, but Dara and Randy Barwick should feel very welcome dining at Tijuana Flats. 

 

And much to my dismay, I've somehow managed to acquire a reflux problem or an ulcer or something. I'm really not supposed to eat anything that tastes good...like hot stuff, tomatoes, onions, or garlic. Lately I have had to order my enchiladas with NO sauce. I seriously hang my head in shame when I order...like I'm one of "those" people. But just as they claim, the folks at Tijana Flats quietly process my order and my shame is only half as bad thanks to their politeness. 

 

I'm off to take my Prilosec...    :)

 

Splish, Splash...Pool Makeover by Bright Blue Pools

I think everyone who grows up in the deep south has fond summer memories that include high temps and cool waters. When I was 4 or 5 I took swimming lessons from Mrs. Platt (?). From that day forward I spent most of my summers begging for pool time. My cousins Lyndra and Gene and I logged many hours of Marco Polo in the pool at Fernside. If you ever swam there you might shiver thinking of the spring water that filled the pool. My earliest memory of a scent/smell is of the strong smell of pine needles around that pool. Years later my friend Sherri, and I pedaled our bikes up to the Barwick pool more times than I can count. Because my birthday is in August, many of my birthday parties were pool parties.

All my life I begged for a pool. Guess when my mama broke down and got one? You got it...not until the thought of grandchildren came along!  ha

Because we move around so much we have purchased seven homes in the 18 years that we have been married. No matter how hard I searched and no matter how much I wanted one, I was never able to find the right house with a pool until we got to number seven. You can imagine how excited I was to  move here last year and have my very own pool...finally!

But our pool had problems. Black algae flourished on the walls, and we spent a small fortune on algaecide which really just made the problem a little less disgusting. Then a crazy storm came along in March and separated the deck and our coping. We did lots of searching for someone to repair our pool and finally settled on Curtis Nelson of Bright Blue Pools (Destin, Fort Walton Beach, Navarre, Mary Esther...basically Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Bay, and Walton Counties).

Our pool was a MESS, but this is what it looks like now:

(Restoring our deck is next so ignore the ugliness of the boards around the pool.)

Curtis and his crew did such a wonderful job. I really can't brag on them enough. They arrived promptly each morning, were professional and worked HARD. Curtis was either working along with them or checking in frequently. They worked hard to be sure we were happy with the results. They truly went above and beyond what we expected.

This is what our steps looked like before...ick.

This is what the coping looked like after the storm...

After they cleaned the pool, they went to work removing the coping...

Then they put new tiles in...

Next they made a "mold" for the new coping...

Pouring the new coping...

This is what it looked like before they coated it with cool decking (I don't think cool decking is exactly what they used, but something like that.)

Check out those clean, new steps and the coping!

Steps before the pool was refilled...

And finally...filling the pool!

Thanks so much Curtis and crew. We appreciate all of your hard work and love our sparkly, new pool!

Synergy Organic Juice Bar & Cafe: Satisfying the Inner Hippie

Being a vegetarian in the heart of the south is not easy. It's frowned upon. And if you also happen to like healthy food? Whoa! That's pretty much a major character flaw. Needless to say, it can be hard to find something to eat at restaurants.

A 2013 Public Policy Polling survey found 13% of Americans identify as vegetarian.  A 2012 Gallup poll found 5% of Americans identify as vegetarian. A 2008 Harris Interactive poll found that 10% of adults largely follow a vegetarian-inclined diet.

I'm not sure which statistic is true.  Whatever it is, I'm sure that 99% of those vegetarians live outside of the deep south.

Which leads me to Synergy Organic Juice Bar and Cafe in downtown Fort Walton Beach. It's a little piece of paradise if you ask me. They do serve meat dishes, but they also have a vegetarian option for any of them. Their tempeh is great. You can even get a BBQ sandwich....yeaaaaah.

I had this yummy black bean burger for lunch today...

So if you are looking for a delicious and nutritious meal on the Emerald Coast head on down to Synergy - you will love it. It definitely satisfies the inner food hippie in me.

Apparently my inner hippie stops at food because based on this test I'm only 3% hippie. No real surprise there. What's your hippie rating?

The Salty Sailfish

I'm terrible at naming things. If I had a dog I would probably just name him Spot.

Confession: We had to ask our facebook friends to help us name our child. (Thanks, Ariel.)  :)

So when I needed to name my house I turned to my mama. She calls me when she needs left-brained help. I call her when I need right-brained help because I'm not even sure I have any gray matter over there.

If you've seen my house you  might be wondering why I wanted to name it since it's no mansion. And if you live here  you're probably wondering as well because people don't name their beach houses here. (I guess because we are not allowed to rent them on this sweet, little, crazy island.) But whatever. I think every beach house should have a name.

With that said let me introduce you to...

This photo is just a picture that the artist snapped and sent to me. I'm going to have it made into a sign and put it up somewhere. Project #547 for a rainy day.

If you were going to name your house, what would it be?

This happened.

My day was kinda crazy. I went on this marathon shopping trip to Dollar Tree, Home Depot, Sam's, and Wal-Mart. With my four year old. If that can't make you crazy I don't know what can.

While I was in Wal-Mart I saw this mama give her 10-ish year old daughter "the look" and loudly snarl, "DON'T ruin my trip to Wal-Mart!"  I understood the snarl. But did that woman really expect something wonderful to come from a trip to Wal-Mart? Crazy.

Then I had a photo session tonight. And the family...crazy.  I'm kidding. Totally kidding. They were rather perfect, actually.

I was getting a shot of the siblings, and the dad was standing just behind me. The kids started laughing like something was up, and I thought maybe he was giving me bunny ears or something to crack them up. Whatever it takes, right? But then the daughter gasped.

At that point I had to turn around and see what was going on. Lo and behold there was a gorilla on the beach!

It appeared to be a friendly gorilla, so we went on with the photo session.

After the session I wandered down the beach to check out the gorilla. It turns out the gorilla is eight years old and named Samantha. She was quite hungry for some bananas, but I couldn't help her out with that.

 Then I heard people saying we had just missed the flame tricks. This guy was nice enough to do them again so a little crowd of us could see what we missed.

As I was clicking away I noticed a blur in the background, and realized it was THE GORILLA. Two things I didn't expect to see on the beach tonight...all in one frame. That happened!

Bathroom: Before & After

One of the best things about Pinterest is finding projects for you husband to do. Because every guy needs a few more things on his to do list, right?

I wish we could do a complete overhaul on our room and bathroom to create more closet space, but that is not really in the cards right now. We did take the carpet and vinyl out of the bathroom and put in tile. This is the before pic...

Brian also replaced the faucets, made some shelves and put a pretty border around the mirror to break it up some. After all, I can only handle so much refection at 6:00 a.m.  We are not really sure what to do with the lights since they are now not spaced evenly, but I guess we will figure that out one of these days.

You can't really see it well in the photo, but on the left wall under the picture we put up a piece of wood with pegs all along it for hanging towels, swimsuits, etc.  I'm loving that!

Now if I'm keeping it real...this mess of a closet is what you would see if you were to turn around. Whoever invented sliding closet doors should be locked up in a tiny jail cell with other people who invent awful things...like that hard, sealed plastic packaging that is impossible to open without coming close to losing a finger. Or the person who invented those stickers that make it impossible to open a DVD.

So anyway, these doors just won't stay on track, so they have been leaning up against the wall for about  10 months.

I was all excited when I found this solution on Pinterest (below) and thought I would do (or have Brian do) something similar minus the barn-like hinges. But apparently we can't do this because we don't have the right kind of door jambs or something.

So...what to do. What to do? I'm tired of these leaning doors in my way people so please give me some ideas.   :)

Life with a Wild Thing

When I was pregnant with Cole and found out we were going to have a boy I prayed that he would be "all boy." A little boy splashing through puddles, digging in the dirt, and riding tractors is what I envisioned.

I'm pretty sure God said, "Sure thing!" and double dipped Cole in the boy bucket. Then I think He chuckled and dipped him a third time.

On plenty of occasions I have had someone say to me, "You've got yourself a B.O.Y.!"

Of course when I was dreaming of what my boy would be like, I didn't really foresee the filthy walls, the mountain of crumbs that pile up under my table nightly, or the unique places he can find to relieve himself when using the bathroom seems way too boring. But I loooove my boy and wouldn't change a thing about him.

Tuesday morning I grabbed my little, wild thing and we set off for our first kayaking trip together in the sound. We paddled, we watched the ducks waddle along the bank, and we talked about currents.

My boy was so calm, and I was so thankful that he had not tipped us over in one of his bursts of energy that he normally has about every 10.5 seconds.

I asked, "Cole, how do you like kayaking?"

He paused for a moment and said, "Well...Mama...How do you make this thing pop a wheelie?"

That's my boy.

No Pain, No Gain!

We spend a good bit of time in our front yard fighting pirates, kicking balls, and making our way to the hammock. Being that our front yard consists entirely of sand - this translates into at least 547 pounds of sand being carried inside each week. Since sweeping is not my favorite activity I thought I should make a walkway to go around the yard. My neighbor has a walkway that she made with a mold, and she was sweet enough to let me borrow it.

I was up bright and early Saturday morning and determined to use every last bag of concrete that Brian was able to load into his truck. I had hired someone to mix batches of concrete while I filled the mold/rinsed/repeated. If you know me, you know that once I make up my mind to do something I want it done yesterday. I worked hard. Although I did wear gloves, the tips would break and concrete got under my nails. Because I didn't want to stop working, by the end of the day I had dried concrete solidly embedded under my nails and in my nail beds. And if you have worked with concrete (I had not) then you know that concrete burns your skin if left on there. Painful.

After five hours of work we had made 38 2'x2' molds.

My neighbor has tons of fun things embedded in her stones, so I decided to do that also. She gave me some things to get started with - I told you she's sweet. I also found a metal "4" that I decided to use since Cole just turned four. I added other things like an old measuring spoon from a set that my mama used forever and then gave to me, a lens cap, a fish hook, etc.

I also wrote our names and the name of the woman who owned the house and lived in it for almost all of the years since it was built in the 70s.

The bad news is that I still need more work done, and the guy who was helping me yesterday did not show up today. No surprise there because his fingers were at least as bad as mine. Maybe he will come back eventually!

If you decide you would like a cute, little walkway - here is a link to the mold. And be sure to get some heavy duty gloves and wash your hands OFTEN! 

And most importantly - if you need help with it - please don't call me. I'm pretty sure I will be busy washing my hair that day.

Girl Power

Back in March we had a bad storm one morning. After hearing a lot of crashing noises I looked out our back window and saw some outdoor shelves lift up and fly down our stairs into the pool gate. The meteorologists called what happened a microburst. I would have sworn we had some kind of small tornado. When it was over our pool deck was separated from the pool in many areas. Some frames (from bee hives) that Brian had on the ground were up on our second story deck. We also had major roof damage with shingles littering our yard and street.

Which leads us to...a new roof. I woke up this morning and sent Brian a message that said, "Call Africa and tell them to come get the herd of elephants off our roof." The roofers were up and at it before 7:00. When I walked outside I have to admit I was a little shocked to see a girl on the roof. I know, I know...girls can do these jobs. I once had a tough job myself when I owned a decorative concrete business. But I still smiled and thought: Girl Power!  :)
 
So here's superwoman up on the highest part of our roof gettin' it done...

I'll leave you with this...sorry.

Did you hear the joke about the roof?
Awww, never mind... It's over your head!

Yo Ho, Cole is Four!

Yo ho mateys! Cole turned four and we had a swashbucklin' good time at his party. This post is going to be photo overload because I love all these kiddos.

I'll also share some of the details in case anyone wants to know where things came from. I found these cute bottle invitations at Oriental Trading, and they were cheaper than printed invitations. Score! They came with sand, a cardboard eye patch, skeleton ring, labels for the outside of the bottles, and the invitation.

I wasn't so crazy about the invitation that came with the bottles, so I made my own and printed them. I used some graphics that I got from seller JazzyPatterns at etsy for the invitation (and other party elements.) The blocked off part is our address.

I didn't make much for the party, but I had this corn hole game that I had been wanting to make a design for. I had some pirate fabric, got some corn from my daddy, and whipped up some bags. Well...the game looked cute, but it didn't really work that well. I had the posters printed at Sam's photo lab as large prints, and the bags didn't slide across them well. It didn't really matter because the kids were really too interested in the pirate ship to play corn hole.

We had one heck of a pirate ship. It was a stroke of luck that we got to use this! To make a long story short, some photo clients told me about Bob and Lydia's ship, I chatted with them some, and we were soon making plans for them to bring it to the party.

Bob and Lydia worked HARD to get this all set up for the children. They are two of the smartest, kindest, and most interesting people I have met in a long time. If you would like to get in touch with them, shoot me an email and I will get their contact information to you.

Here is the ship all set up - complete with a fierce skeleton, rats, and a beaver walking the plank!

If you know Cole, you know that he is not speechless often. But let me tell you - when he came around the corner and saw this ship he didn't even have words for a while. It was so funny.

Lucy and Grayson boarded the ship for some fun...

See...I told you there was a beaver walking the plank. And did I mention there was TREASURE on board?

Cole and Kyndle had no trouble steering this mighty pirate ship...

Nor did Mason! What a crew! They enjoyed the ship so much.

One of Cole's sweet babysitter's agreed to be the head pirate for the party and lead the kids on a hunt for pirate treasure.


Pirate Dakota told the kids about the treasure, asked to see their meanest pirate faces, got them to talk like a pirate (Arrrr!), and taught them the secret pirate handshake - high tide, low tide, cannon ball! (High Clap, Low Clap, Fist Bump)

Next, the kids were all given pirate  names! If you happen to need some names, here you go:

BOY NAMES

Rowdy Red Beans, Captain Toothache, Two Toes Tommy, One Ear Eddie, Squiffy Stormchaser, Buccaneer Bart, Sam the Swashbuckler, Peg Leg Jack, Spike the Sea Wolf, Robby Redbeard, Hook Hand Harry, Stinky Boot Bob, Big Jamaica John

GIRL NAMES

Gunpowder Gertie, Shipwreck Sally, One Stump Sue, Bonny Barnacle, Blue-Eyed Bess,

Landlubber Lucy, Boisterous Bess, Kelly the Kidd, Cannon Ball Carla, Greedy Grace of the Sea, Calypso Clara

Henry cracked me up with his Stinky Boot Bob name!

The little pirates had to do three things in order to find the treasure.

#1  

It’s time to walk the plank if ye dare,

If ye make it across there will be prizes to share.

Creep down the stairs and into the backyard,

Line up at the plank – it won’t be too hard.

Don’t be ‘fraid of the gators – walk on by,

When you get to the end – you’ll get a bandana, an earring, and a patch for ya eye.

Everyone made it across the plank and was rewarded with their pirate accessories!

You can find the bandanas and earrings at Oriental Trading. The eye patches came with the swords, and I'll post a link to those later. 

#2

It’s time to move on, we can’t be late,

Our next clue will take us through the secret fence gate.

We must be very quiet, keep a finger on your lip,

Our job is to sneak up on a bad pirate ship.

We’ll blast it with cannonballs, you won’t be bored,

If you can hit the ship, you’ll earn a real pirate sword! 

The pirates blasted the ship (which I painted one day on some extra plywood I found under the house). Here's my tip for water balloons...don't buy nice, thick balloons. They don't burst!  :)  The swords came from Oriental Trading and had eye patches with them.

Go William! (A.K.A. One Ear Eddie)

All pirates got a quick briefing in sword handling:

Now that you’ve earned your swords you have to know the rules of the sea,

You must promise right now to keep your swords low when fighting…down by your knee.

If we see your swords swing up near someone’s face…

We’ll take your sword away and you’ll be a pirate disgrace.

 
 More fierce pirates...

We were soon moving on to:

#3

 Before we look for treasure there is one more thing we must do…

Every pirate needs a battle scar and a pirate tattoo!

Are you ready? Are you brave? Do you dare?

There’s treasure to be found, so hurry… line up behind a chair!

The kids all got tattoos. Just in case you don't know...tough pirates use salty sea water to apply their tattoos.

They also got battle scars. All you need to make battle scars is red lip liner, black eyeliner, red lipstick, and a rough sponge. Draw a jagged red line first. Then made black "stitches" through the red line.  Last, apply some red lipstick to the sponge and dab it around the scar.

Cole's DeeDee was our professional scar maker.

 Love, love, love these sweet and fun kids! ARRRRR!!!

And last, the pirates were ready to go find their treasure:

Alright little pirates, you’re getting hot,

There’s treasure to find and X marks the spot.

If you listen very carefully and do as you’re told,

You’ll find a chest full of jewels and coins of gold.

 Line up behind this flag - we’ll sneak down the road

We’ll chant and we’ll sing – it’s the pirate code.

 

 The kids lined up behind Pirate Dakota and they all marched down the road chanting together:

We are pirates! Get out of our way!We want treasure! Give us your silver!Give us your gold! ARRR!!

We ended up in a little, sliver of park where Pirate Dakota told the little ones this story:

A very long time ago, a pirate’s ship landed just out there where you see the water. The pirate was tired after a long journey so he came here to rest. He didn’t leave his treasure on the boat. He brought it with him so no one would steal it.Guess what happened?  He fell asleep!He woke up when he heard a canon firing…boom!He saw that someone was trying to sink his ship, so he ran back to his ship as fast as he could and sailed away before his ship was destroyed. And guess what? He was in such a hurry he forgot to take his treasure with him! It’s still here!Do you think you can find it? If you were a pirate, where would you go to rest?

 
And under the park bench...treasure was found! Whitley's expression is priceless!

I loved that One Ear Eddie was marching around with his name. Braeden shows off his treasure..

By the time we got back to the house the pirates were all hungry. I didn't make any fancy pirate food. It was hotdogs, sandwiches, and chips. They had worked up an appetite and chowed down as pirates do.

Cole has a best buddy at the Publix bakery (He calls her sweet potato, and she gives him TWO cookies when we visit) so it was a must that she make the cake for him. 

Cole made out like a pirate for sure when present time rolled around.

I didn't mention earlier that the pirate ship had working water cannons!  The photo below shows Cole working the control to shoot the water while Grayson and Zack splashed around and enjoyed a cool down.

It was a great day. I'm so thankful for our sweet family and friends that joined us and made it so special!

If anyone wants to snag any of the party photos of you kids (there are lots more than are shown here) your can find them here:
http://jillhiggins.shootproof.com/event/588024