50th Birthday Celebration

Wow! I can't believe I am 50 years old!

It actually happened about a month ago, but this weekend was the fun celebration. My best friend from high school, Tina, flew in from Dallas, TX and we celebrated our big events together.

Kate and I picked her up at the airport on Thursday evening and began our fantastic weekend with dinner at St. Louis Bread Co! Yum!! When we got into Farmington we stopped and rented 6 movies so we would be ready for the weekend. We went home and watched "Last Chance Harvey" and went to bed - we aren't what we use to be!!

On Saturday we braved the heat with a 'Winery Day'. First stop was lunch at Vance Vineyards in Fredericktown. We enjoyed appetizers - stuffed portobello mushrooms, crab cakes, and toasted ravioli. For lunch I had a grilled pork loin sandwich, Kate had a club sandwich, Tina had a chicken club sandwich and Jake had shrimp fettucini - Everything was delish!!

Next stop was The Cave Winery - a place I have always wanted to go! It was a bit of a drive but very beautiful! We traveled down narrow roads and gravel roads, paved roads and more gravel roads! But we finally made it! After tasting and deciding on a wine, we purchased a bottle along with some wonderful chocolates and then rode a shuttle down to 'the cave'.

We were so excited to enjoy our wine in this nice cool cave - What a neat experience this was going to be!

Well!! It wasn't long (maybe 1-2 minutes) before we were getting dripped on. Oh well, we thought, we can handle some drips for the experience - you know ambiance and all! Then Kate says to Jake, "Is that a snake?" Tina and I bolted out of our chairs! Needless to say we removed ourselves from the 'nice cool cave'! Forget about ambiance and the experience!!

Me and Tina, my BFF from high school relaxing inside the nice cool cave!

This picture was taken before we heard the word "snake"!

This picture was taken at the entrance to The Cave (after we heard the word "snake")

So after the snake incident and picture taking we left the cave - Back into the 100 degree heat - Unfortunately the nice shuttle did not show up to take us back up the hill and we had to walk. But all in all I am still glad we went to The Cave Winery!

Last stop was Sand Creek Winery - the newest one in our area. Again it was a beautiful drive and again we were on pavement and then gravel.

At Sand Creek we enjoyed cheese and crackers and homemade potato chips with homemade dip!

Kate and Jake

Aren't they cute!?!

Levi, Jordan (my nephew), and Tommy & Cole (2 of Levi's high school friends) joined us at Sand Creek.

Jordan, Levi, Tommy and Cole.

After getting home we watched a movie - "Fool's Gold" - we enjoyed that one. We tried to watch "Surfer Dude" but it was really bad. Later Tina had to have her 'white castle' fix. Kate and I had Sonic - no belly bombers for us!!

On Saturday we decided to get some sun and hit the pool at Kate's apartment. Unfortunately, Kate got a little too much sun! After sun bathing we had to have Hunt's Burgers (it's a Farmington thing). Then we did a little shopping at the shops around town. I actually purchased 3 plaques to match the 1 Kate gave me for Mother's Day - they are for my up and coming Dining Room!

Saturday night was movie and popcorn night! We watched "The Bridges of Madison County" - an old movie we had both seen, but we still cried! We had to make a taco bell run at about 1:00 in the morning! Tacos were one of our favorite late night snacks back in the day!

Sunday came too soon!! After enjoying lunch at Ruby Tuesday's we did a little shopping and then it was time for Tina to go to the airport and catch her flight.

I had a blast celebrating my 50th birthday with my life friend!!

I thank God for her - she has always been such a blessing in my life!! I pray we can celebrate many more birthdays together!

Summer 2009 Project

Rose Corner - This was originally full of weeds and old plants and was held in place with landscaping timbers. Now it is beautiful with an older rose bush and 3 new knock out rose bushes! Can't wait to see how this will look next summer!

Summer 2009 Project

This is the Butterfly Garden. I had a large pine tree in this corner of the yard that died. After cutting it down this area looked barren and yucky due to an old clothes line pole and the trunk of the tree along with pine needles, etc. So using my mom's bird bath as the focal point this butterfly garden was brought to life. I really like it!

Summer 2009 Project

Back Yard Landscaping - This area was all grown up with unhealthy lilac bushes and other things that I have no idea what they were!! But now it has hostas and azaleas. Hopefully, they will bloom next summer.

I was very hesitant to get rid of the lilacs because it took me back to my childhool. My grandma had a beautiful lilac bush at the corner of her yard. So we took one that seemed to be the healthiest and replanted it in another area. I am excited to watch it grow!

Hello Again!

It has been a very long time since I posted anything. This summer I have once again taken on some projects - painting, landscaping, cleaning out things, etc. So far I have got the painting and landscaping finished!

I am converting my present living room (which very seldom gets used) into a dining room. My ever expanding family cannot fit around the small kitchen table so I decided it was time to invest in a nice size dining room table and the only place to put it is in what is presently the living room. So the first step was to paint. Step 2 is to get an overhead light installed (I haven't got that done yet - but I have purchased it). Step 3 will be to purchase the dining room table (I have a picture of it hanging on my fridge for motivation).

The landscaping project actually began last summer with the front yard (you saw pics of the front yard at the beginning of this post) and this summer I did the back yard. As with any project it leads to more and now I am thinking about the side of my house.

Oh the woes of home ownership! It just never ends - I do believe I could stay busy year round coming up with things to do around the house.