We enjoyed a litle get-a-way

to Gatlinburg this past weekend for our niece's wedding -

I've not seen her post any photos yet, so I'll wait a bit for that ...

It rained off and on throughout the time we were there - 

but it was still as beautiful as always. 

We had a great time visiting and catching up a bit with family and little ones - 

 And walking up the parkway - 

We love staying across from the aquarium where

we hear their music each time we step out of the hotel -

We saw different ones at breakfast, and had meals with others - 

The wedding was at a beautiful log chapel out in Townsend...

Complete with a creek [river - ?] flowing behind it.

[You can see from our photo that when it wasn't raining 

the sun was CRAZY bright - lol.]

And the reception was just across the way at another great setting 

with pretty gardens and decor  surrounding it - 

Since everyone lives in different directions we don't get to see our GREAT nephews very often [these plus two others that really REALLY didn't like to have a camera in their face] - and y'all know - they grow up way too fast! 

On my shelf -

I've been hearing about GoodReads for a while now...

But y'all know I'm always late to the [internets] party...

Recently I joined up and am loving having a fun little app to keep up with the books I've read. [In the past, I've had a little tab in my planner and kept a list there...]

But, let me tell you -- this is SO MUCH easier - 

And if you read on Kindle, it links and records it all for you.

My goal for this year was to read 30 books - 

I LOVE to read, but I have a problem of getting so absorbed in a book that 

I. Cannot. Put. It. Down.

So, I've learned that I need to pre-plan some reading time.

I mean, it's not good to start a book the night before an early travel day 

and then be up until 3 a.m. reading... I'm just sayin'. 

So, I'm being more intentional about my reading this year, 

and I'm loving setting aside time to read.

 This is just a small stack of books I'm reading - 

you can see others on my list over on Goodreads - 

 

Remember this photo

I shared on instagram a few days ago?

 Here's the real life version:

We have the cushions from the camper stacked on the table and some of the other stuff we've gathered for it on the hearth... and then there's Emma's toys on the ottoman... 

REAL LIFE.

I've been reading several things about how we tend to judge our lives by the pinterest perfect photos out on the internets... 

And I've recently completed a Bible Study called The Comparison Trap [by Sandra Stanley] that addresses some of these issues 

[Thanks Beth @ UnskinnyBoppy for pulling us all together!]

It got me to thinking about a Sunday School lesson we had long ago 

[long before the internets...] 

We talked about how [so] many people live their lives with a mask on - a perfect little church-going mask... a competent worker mask... the perfect parent mask... etc. 

And life is just not like that. 

Life is real.

Life is hard.

And life can sometimes be not so pretty...

I loved that Sunday school group we were in because our leaders  

taught us -- allowed us --- ENCOURAGED us --

 to be real. 

We could come into class and share [without judgement] how we yelled at our kids to get their shoes on... or whatever on the way to church...[cause, don't you know, satan has a heydey with us when we're trying to do what God wants us to do -- ]

And I learned that life is so much better when we are just ourselves... 

[Some of our best friends today are from that young-married Sunday School Class...]

Who are we living our life to please? 

 Here's something to ponder - 

"Obviously, I"m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God.

If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ's servant." [Galatians 1:10]

So - let's be real... but that doesn't mean we shouldn't put our best foot forward.

[No one wants to see ALL the ugly in our lives - lol.]

I'll close by showing a spot I've found to enjoy

 the little flag quilt [that Haley made] {{and I LOVE!}} all year long... 

This little shelf above our table just brings me a bit of happiness 

each time I walk into the kitchen...

Annnnnnd the table stays basically clean, so this is a mostly real life photo - 

although... the stars are still hanging there from Christmas - ha.

Who remembers Micky Dolenz?

From The Monkees --

------photo of Monkees book------------

They were the first concert I ever attended - 

with my sister and a neighbor friend - 

and our parents... 

in Memphis

when I was 8 years old.

Here's a link that tells a little about the 1967 tour -

 So there's that.

I think it's cool that I still have my concert book [above.]

When we heard that Micky was doing a solo show 

at The City Winery in Nashville,

 Sister scooped us up some tickets... 

And we knew we were supposed to be close to the stage, but were SO surprised to see that we were TOUCHING it. Seriously, my bag sat on the stage in front of a speaker all night!

And [another surprise!] it was not too loud to enjoy!

 It was fun to hear sister and those around us talking about how they loved them in the past - and how they all new this ws his sister, Cocoa, singing with him... 

[It was cool to see their family photos on the screens as they sang too --] 

 [And I love picmonkey btw, that helped me edit these photos - 

bc they ALL have that purple tint, SOC...]

 

 So, he did a great show.

He sang a lot of old favorites - that I remembered most of the words to - 

[Again, thanks to sister who played them over- and -over and -over again in the room we shared while growing up together. ]

 

I think the best part of the evening for me was looking over at sister and seeing how much she seemed to be enjoying it. It was such a fun night together! 

This is us with Rod Stewart [not really] whom we were actively avoiding, 

but still had to take a selfie with - lol.

Check out The City Winery next time you're in Nashville - 

It's a great venue!

So y'all know we're crazy, right?

Ha.

 Here's the deal - we went on a little treasure hunt recently... 

[My sweetheart can find THE BEST treasures...]

 ...like wild blackberries.

Oh. My.

I bet it's been 30 years since I've had these tiny delicious berries!

I think I could've eaten a quart of them!

We'd driven a ways from home and had already made  

the deal of the day 

when we started talking about another treasure 

we'd been on the look-out for for a few years...

The next thing I know, 

he's disappearing into the woods with three guys I don't know... 

And then out they come with another treasure...

Something he's been looking around for for a while...

A tailgate off of a 1964 Ford Truck. 

YES.

You see, his daddy worked for Ford, so it's extra special to him...

 We'll probably preserve it, rust and all, and make it the back of a bench....

I think it's pretty cool.

[And I think he does too.]

 But here's the deal of the day - 

Lottie 2.0

Which will be referred to as Lottie Scotty from now on... 

Isn't she a beauty?

When we bought the hi-lander that we flipped a few weeks ago, 

 we found that we really liked the higher ceilings and extra windows... 

So when he found this one with the windows across the top / front

I knew we had to at least go and look at it. 

Oh. My. 

It's wonderful to have that extra light 

from windows that are so tall no one can see in... 

And THAT DOOR.

I love it.

There are lots of good things about this camper - we have the original paper work - the original manual - the original everything, really. She's a 1971 Scotty Hi-lander, and has the curved wall that I love. [Look at that original light!!]

There's a little work needed, but she's basically camp-able right now. 

In fact, I'm trying to talk him into pulling her up the hill 

in our yard and camping out for a weekend...

I can't wait to share more about her face lift in the coming weeks!!

So yes, we know we're crazy too... 

But we love life...

and a good deal...

what can I say...

Yay!

I **finally** got the labels put on the albums for my "new" scrapbook organization!

I've been working on it for a few years... lol.

I've basically taken most every [chronological] album apart and 

reorganized into these topics so photos / pages will be easier to find. 

[It's much easier for me to think of WHO is in the photo, 

than the YEAR it was taken - ha.]

 But, alas, there's a few chronological pages that I can't separate because I was kinda poor when I started scrapbooking and adhered the photos directly to the page 

[instead of a stand alone page like I'm able to do now...]

 I'm pretty frustrated with it all so I've left those chronological for now...

Time will tell if I make color copies or re-do some of those pages...

But for now I've got a couple of stacks of layouts

from the past two years that need to be divided 

and put into their appropriate albums. 

You know... there's always something to do, right?

How do you organize your pages?

Happy

 Fourth of July!!

We plan to have a relaxing weekend at home...

What about you?

So. I love ths stuff.

That is all.

I first used it a few weeks back when I wrestled a suitcase and ended up with a scrape and big bad bruise -- not only did it protect the scrape - but it kept the bruising to a minimum. 

Fast forward to last weekend when I was using a mega hot glue gun to put a lining in one of my vintage cases and accidentally stuck my finger into a crazy HOT glob 'o glue then slung it off onto my other hand only to realize that 

I'd melted the skin off BOTH my finger and my hand... 

I know. OUCH. 

After a day of neosporin, this liquid skin not only covered it and protected it, 

but actually promoted skin growth.

So, here I am a week later with NEW SKIN 

[the raw is completely gone!

Yippee.

[And no photos to share, bc, 

hey, no one really wants to see THAT - lol.]

I love that my sweetheart

is such a good shopper!

Y'all know that we bought our little Lottie Scottie a few months back... 

and we've [well, I should probably say, HE'S, been working on a lot of 

'behind the scenes' things to get her ready to go!
 
So when he saw this scotty highlander for sale 
at a ridiculously low price 
 he grabbed it up so we could get some parts from it -   
 
It was a little rougher than we thought... 
and it was an adventure getting it home! 

 It was also A MESS inside - 
complete with critters!! 

 Ha. 
My husband, the snake wrangler!
YES. 
But we worked hard and got it cleaned out;
'harvested' the things we needed / wanted...
It was worth the drive [and adventure!] to get it - 
[and we were able to catch a meal with the youngest too!] 

Two weeks later he flipped it for a profit - 
He's truly good at that!
We just hope it made it to it's new home! 
[Notice the ropes holding everything in place...lol]
It  will be restored to a beautiful vintage camper one day!
[Just not by us -]

I made

THE BEST tomato pie the other day - 

And it's one of the simplest things to make, really.

I'm sure I've shared my 'recipe' before...

Take a frozen pie shell and layer fresh basil leaves all over the bottom. 

Add sliced tomatoes on top of that.

Then mix together  3/4 cup [or so] of mayo 

[y'all know I'm a Blue Plate girl!] 

with some grated parmesan cheese

[I prefer the course/ shaved texture, but used the powdery stuff I had left in a jar in  the fridge... ]

Bake at 350* until done.

Delicious!

[Always.]

[Truly.]