Adventures in Babysitting

If you follow me on twitter or are my friend on facebook, you probably noticed a lot of cuteness going on! Well, my sister's babysitter was out of town on vacation, and, since I'm a teacher and off on summer vacation, she asked me to watch Olivia.

Of course, I said yes!! It was a total no brainer. Spend time with a cute kid? Duh!

I just wanted to post some pictures of all the things we did last week. I'm sure you've seen 'em all by now, but, I wanted to get back into the habit of blogging so I'm starting here! She's a cutie patootie, in my humble opinion, but I might be a little biased since we're related!

 

{she put on her rainboots and watched the world outside as it rained}

 {Olivia and I}

{please excuse my nasty cough and severely ugly face at the end}

{chillin' in Olive Garden waiting for our lunch}

 

{she found a pair of my reading glasses}

 

{munching on some oreos}

 {she refused to let me leave nearly every day}

 {my sister and the little one}

 

{playing with her new toy at McD's}

 

{gettin' her drink on}

 

{eating popcorn with a spoon}

 

{"cleaning" the house}

My sister blogs all about her adventures with Liv if you want to check it out! {Liv.Laugh.Love.} And, how can you say no to such a sweet girl!

A Tourist

{warning :: picture heavy post}

Last week, I become a tourist in my own town.

The inlaws came for a visit and wanted to do some touristy things around town.

So, on Friday, we went to The Grand Ole Opry and did the backstage tour. I'd never done it before, and I've lived in the Nashville area since I was 7! I'm not a big country music fan, but I did enjoy getting to go backstage and on stage! I mostly loved going on stage; it's my favorite place to be in the whole world!! {That's another post for another day though.}

After our tour backstage, we went to The Opryland Hotel. This is a place I've been numerous times. The inlaws have visited too, but they saw it right before the Flood of 2010. So, we ventured over there for drinks and dinner. We ate at the Jack Daniel's restaurant, which was soooooo delicious! I had the ham sliders. I can still taste the cheddar biscuits. YUM!!!

Then, on Saturday, we visited The Hermitage, which is the home of President Andrew Jackson. I'd visited here before and "performed" here too. When I was in 4th grade, the school that I attended {and teach at now} partners with the historic home to let the kids be Junior Docents. We got to dress up in period clothes and stand by an appointed spot on the tour. We then told the visitors all about the spot they were at. I think I told people all about the slave quarters. I remember it being a lot of fun!

 

After visiting The Hermitage, we headed over to my parents' place to hang out at the pool. It was a perfect day to chill and enjoy drinks. We had all planned on going downtown but didn't feel like fighting all the CMA Fest traffic. Instead, we hung out at the pool for the rest of the day.

We didn't do much on Sunday. The boys went golfing, and the girls hung out at the house. {My MIL had homework to do.}

It was a great weekend, and I really enjoyed being a tourist in my own town. Do you do that with your friends and family? I'm always reluctant to at first, but I always enjoy it in the end!

Shoe-la-la

It's been forEVER since I've written anything!
My life kind of got out of hand.
School was a little overwhelming.
Then, my house became a hoarder's dream.
It was embarrassing.
So, I cleaned it!
In the process of cleaning, I found out that I have a problem.
A...shoe problem!

This is just one "pile"of shoes that I own.
Here are the rest.

 {I have one shoe hanger for my closet door}

{I have another shoe hanger in my closet .}

{And, then, there's the floor!!!}

I always thought that a girl couldn't have too many shoes. I also figured that I didn't have that many shoes. Apparently, I was seriously wrong! I haven't managed to go through them all and count them, but...it's a lot! I'm thinking that I might need to part with some that I haven't worn in awhile. There are just so many memories attached to them!

Do you have as many shoes as I do? How do you organize them?

One Year of Love

Today marks the one year anniversary of my marriage! Had I thought ahead, I would have pre-written this post...but I didn't. So, this'll be a short and sweet "Congrats to Us" post, and I'll write a longer one detailing all the fun we had in our first year of married bliss!!!

Our First Married Christmas Card

I think this year is the year for photo cards, and I love it! My parents did one...which I have yet to receive. My sister did one...which I have yet to receive too. But, Mr. GrapeJuice and I did one too! It looks fantastic, if I do say so myself! I can't wait for all our relatives to get one.