i really want this

I need this garden hose. Must have it.

by Cynthia Rowley currently at Target for $10 - run, don't walk

OK, I don't have photos of Lottie Sue for you today (please don't send emails) but will have some shortly.

Leaving you with a story I heard today that really cracked me up: $360B.

personal bests all around & harlan loves la-la-la-la

This past weekend we drove up to Louisville for a visit! Mike and Megan, being the athletes they are, ran the Louisville Derby Half Marathon and Phillip, being the athlete he is as well, ran the full marathon (he did experience a major cramp towards the end but that did not stop him). Here are a few photos from that morning. It was COLD.

Mike and Megan after the race - both had their personal best

Proof it was cold

OK, Mike is in these photos. He is pretty much in the center of both in black shorts and a white shirt.

Speed Racer

Tommy made a sign for Megan (notice a tiny Mike in the background of the poster).

Goooooooooooooo Megan!

Megan is about to cross the finish line

Lottie Sue was well behaved but looked really bored the entire time. I think she would have rather been at home playing with her Elmo.

Ho hum

Things perked up once she saw the mylar blanket.

Oh you shiny beautiful thing, I love you

LS giving me the stink eye

Da Apples

Like I mentioned, Phillip ran the full marathon and this is his wife and kiddies (Allison with Louis and Beatrice). They were there to cheer him on.

Allison hands out the posters

Bea says GO DADDY GO!

This is Weezer with her sign

And I only have one good photo of Harlan, I wish I had more. He would call Lottie Sue "La-La-La-La" and he is all about giving hugs. It's awesome.

Cheeeeeeeeeese!

And now I have a scanned photo for you. This is a photo of Grandma, you might know her as Matt's maternal grandmother. This photo was taken before she was married.

One classy lady

OK, I can hear that LS is awake from her slumber. Over and out.

page 65 & we are bona fide FARMERS

OK, this will be the last time I talk about the chair. The issue of Natural Home that features our chair is on the newsstand right now. The article is titled "Reduce, Reuse, Rethink" and our chair is one a few projects featured. I ran out and bought every copy at our local Barnes & Noble. Our photos are in the photo gallery link online (before and after) but not in the body of the text. Go there if you are interested but you've seen them before on our blog so it won't be that exciting. With today being Earth Day and all, I'm feeling somewhat smart with this little project.

page 65

And in bigger news, let me show you our garden. We are now officially farmers! Matt did such an awesome job, it went in on Sunday and Lottie Sue and I have watered it for two straight days. All of the plants are so small and cute, it's going to fun watching them grow into mature adults. Again, feeling smart on Earth Day.

Here is the back of the car with some of the plants

And here is Lottie Sue in back of the car, she was very interested in the flowers

Let the work begin...

Matt worked his behind off - Best Husband Award!

And here is a shot of the finished product...

We are growing tomatoes (three different types), red peppers, cucumbers, onions, banana peppers, jalapeño peppers and squash

We also have a ton of herbs we're growing separately (chives, cilantro, oregano, thyme, mint, basil, lavender and a few others). We'll use them up no doubt, we're big fans of basil and cilantro.

Oh yeah, Lottie Sue watched/supervised Matt do the work. Here are a few shots.

You guessed it, playing peek-a-boo - as usual

She loves being outside

And here are a few random photos. Lottie Sue and I went to the park one lovely afternoon. I put her in the swing and it took her a while to warm up to it.

The obvious caption: Just a swangin'

And here are two photos of Lottie Sue in her stroller, chillin.

Green is my colour

And let me share a photo of my cousin Melinda here with her two girls, Claire and Jane. They live in South Carolina and both girls just had birthdays. Jane (on the left) just turned 10 and Claire turned 6 - um, how can this happen? Jane has been growing her hair out for Locks of Love and just had 13 inches cut off. Way to go Jane - what a great thing to do! And I hear she's sporting a very cute bob, Melinda is going to send photos and I'll post. Melinda is in training for her second triathlon - yes, you heard me right. She's a machine! Good luck!

Jane, Melinda and Claire after a snow this year

OK, signing off for now. Posting more soon!

look into my eyes, literally.

I had my yearly eye check-up last week and my doctor has this special contraption that can peer into your eyeball to check the health of your eye. Anywho, he emailed the photos to me (and gave me his cell phone number if I had any questions, hmmm - obviously he did not see the ring on my finger but I can't help it that I got it going on). How cool are these photos, it's like my eye houses a super nova - or something like that.

righty

lefty

And here are some photos of the trip we took to San Francisco over Labor Day in 2001. We went to San Fran and Napa with the Apples and the Carsons. This is the trip that Matt proposed to me (at Alcatraz, he's hilarious), and these photos are taken that day. A week after we got home 9/11 happened and I remember going from being on cloud nine to being just so sad. But I digress...

Becce looks very urban while I'm on a safari

Becce and Mike at Fisherman's Warf

And of course a Giant Photo (we take them wherever we go) - it's Mikezilla again at Coit Tower

Oh gosh, then I found these photos. I was in San Antonio (let me say that I LOVE that city, it's such a neat place) for a Time Warner Client Event a few years ago. I gave them money to sponsor a cheese plate/table, you know - all different types of cheese arranged in a pretty way for people to chow down on. But this is what they did, it cracked me up.

If memory serves this cost me $1500...and no one could eat it

Alright, signing out. Matt planted a GARDEN for me today!!! I've been wanting to grow some vegetables ever since we moved back. It's awesome and of course I took photos. I'll post them for your pleasure next - and I have new photos of Lottie Sue. I'll try to to it tomorrow afternoon. Ciao!

mcnickigoodness is here, get you some & a peek-a-boo overload

I am SO excited, one of my favorite people (in the whole entire world), Kat, created a blog! I can't tell you how it warms my heart when a friend decides to blog (let me take this moment to urge you to start your blog if you've been thinking about it). Now I get to read about things in the McNicholas Casa on a regular basis, let the hilarity ensue! Aside from being entertaining in general, Kat and hubby PJ are remodeling their historic home and the "before & afters" will be awesome (there are some up already). I'm linking them on our blog but please take a moment to check out McNicki Goodness every now and then...you won't be disappointed.

This is Lottie Sue's new favorite blog

Alrighty, let me give you your LS fix. Lottie Sue has been teething and one of the toppers finally broke through. You can barely see it in this photo, so now we're waiting on the other one to drop. She's figured out that she can make noise with them if she bites down real fast over and over again, so she basically does that all day. Well, that and peek-a-boo.

Teeth count: three down with one more on its way

I took lots of photos of the wee babe this afternoon. You'll notice lots of photos of her with her arms up over her head, that is her version of peek-a-boo.

She can see you but you can't see her

Laughing after I yelled PEEEEEEEEEK-A-BOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

OK, ready to play again?

Then we moved into the study and I somehow changed the setting on the flash. These are a little overexposed but I'm posting them anyway.

Waving "hi"

And then of course, peek-a-boo

And here are some additional PABs...she's just so cute - I must post.

This baby is the best, she was made happy

Lottie Sue is the name, Peek-A-Boo-n' is my game

Playing with her imaginary friend I suppose

And then I was able to scan in a few old photos. I like to look at the background in these, it's fun to see what we had back in the day.

Looks like I am reading something to Becce here, and that wallpaper is something else (also notice the miniature ironing board in the back behind Becce - I'm getting one of those for LS)

Here we are again in front of the fireplace, I think we are 5 and 8 maybe

Becce striking a pose on Grandma's stoop

Michelle and Matt, circa 1988 - very stylish, these two

I've started reading again, I was unable to read even a magazine for a while but now I'm in the groove with things and have read three books the past two months. That's BIG news...anywho, I thought I'd share what I've read in case you need a book suggestion.

big thumbs up

thumbs up

thumbs up

Signing off - oh yeah, this is what happens when you let Lottie feed herself. She actually did a great job, just a messy one.

PPPPSSSTghetti, I hearts it

Tonight we are having a Mexican stir fry meal (not your typical stir fry we know) - um, we REALLY need to go to the grocery store.