A Little Treat

 Alyssa went to New York for vacation last week.  I gave her some money and asked her to go into the new New York Laduree and bring us home some Laduree macaroons.

 If you've never had a macaroon, the are delicious.  Crisp at first and then soft and yummy.  They come in different flavors.  I love the chocolate and pistachio.  The salted carmel and coffee flavors were a big hit.  

They are about an inch and a half wide.  Just a bite or two.

Just to keep it real, I gave her $75.00 thinking she would be able to bring back a wide variety of tasty treats.  I was shocked when she handed me this tiny box.  Twenty-four tiny cookies, $3.00 each.  They were gone before you could blink an eye!

Blessed With LOVE!

The girls and I on Mother's Day

I am feeling quite blessed this Mother's Day.  My girls were left up to their own devices and planned a beautiful brunch at Alyssa's house for me.

 They made delicious waffles, fresh fruit, bacon, and Champagne Bellini's.

 They set a beautiful table.  I am very impressed with the tablescaping skills.  The apple does not fall far from the tree!

A lot of planning, care, effort and love went into this Mother's Day Brunch and I am so grateful.

It was a gorgeous day and I felt so LOVED!!!

Scottsdale and Machine Guns

 On Wednesday, we flew out to Scottsdale, Arizona, land of the Saguaro cactus.  It is a beautiful, peaceful resort. We saw a huge, well fed coyote one morning, lots of bunnies and birds.

 On Thursday, we attended a black-tie gala where the Handsome Husband received an award.  He looked so handsome in his tux AND I tied his bow-tie.  Pretty proud of myself.  We don't have a picture together because in previous years, they had a professional photographer that took beautiful couple pictures, so we were counting on that.  As it turned out, they had a photographer that just came around to your table and took your picture - oh well. I had a navy blue beaded lace dress, silver shoes and wrap.

HH and I shooting Tommy Guns!  HH wanted to shoot them from the hip like in the old gangster movies, but it wasn't allowed.


On Friday, we went to the Scottsdale Gun Club and shot 4 different machine guns and three pistols.  I have to say, it was SO MUCH FUN!!!  I loved shooting the machine guns the most.

Shooting the S.A.W.

This was the first machine gun I shot and I was scared there was going to be a huge recoil that would hurt my shoulder, but there wasn't.  It was easy.  I was caught off guard,though, 

by the smell of the gunpowder that just about filled your nose. 

There were three pistols we shot: M&P 9 mm, .40 and .45.

This is my target from the M4.  Not too shabby.

My favorite was the M4 machine gun.  It is what our troops are currently shooting in Afghanistan.

We had time to lay by the pool and enjoy the beautiful scenery.  We got facials and massages.  I loved it.  It was a great weekend at the Four Seasons in Scottsdale.   Thanks Willis!!!

Million Dollar Quartet

You have to go see this!

It is the story of a day in 1956 at Sun Records.  Sam Phillips had just signed Jerry Lee Lewis and he was playing piano for Carl Perkins at a recording session when Elvis and Johnny Cash come in for a visit.  It is quite an interesting story and there is a lot of FABULOUS rock 'n' roll.  I never really liked Jerry Lee Lewis, but after this, I really admire his piano playing.  The songs the guys sing take you back to your childhood and you can't help but dance in your seat!  

This was the last time these guys were ever all together in the same place playing music.  Shortly after this, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins signed with Columbia records and a year earlier, Sam Phillips had sold Elvis' contract to RCA to save his company from going under.  He had just signed Roy Orbison too.  RCA tried to get Sam to come to work for them and work with Elvis again, but he wanted to keep his business and work with the guys he signed.  

 This is the real picture from that day.

It is really in black and white, but I liked the color!

Don't miss this, it is so wonderful!

Stagecoach

 The girls leave today for a long anticipated event called Stagecoach.  It's a three day concert event featuring country music in the desert.  Alyssa and Greg bought Katie and Delaney tickets for Christmas.  Because Alyssa was at work during the buying process, I sat by the computer for two hours with 4 windows open trying to get the tickets for her, in the end she got three.  It has become an annual sister event!

Love those girls!!!

Proud to be an American!

Transferring Video to DVD

 My friend Marie bought this Roxio system and transferred all her videos to DVD.  What an inspiration!  My family has been harassing me to do this for years.  It became quite the sore subject.  I didn't know where to begin and it was going to be really expensive to transfer them all.  It was overwhelming.  Then Marie told me how easy it was with this Roxio software.  She bought a VCR and the software and began to transfer all her tapes - then she was done - Viola!  Easy Peasy.  So last week I borrowed all her stuff.  I set it up - super easy.  I began the transfer process - super easy, but time consuming.

This is the task I have before me.  So far I have 4 hours transferred to disc.  Some of it is totally boring, so of it is hilarious.  I wish I would have sat down and watched these videos a long time ago.  I could have got some "what not to do" tips on videoing.  I'm going to tell you right up front that we are horrible videographers.  I'm the worst.  Here are some of my problems and things you should avoid.

1. Make sure your subject is in the center of the screen, or here's an idea, you can see their face. (I have so many frames where my kids are way off to the side  and I'm looking at furniture or their head is cut off!

2.  Make sure you turn the video camera off.  Seriously, I have minutes of footage with nothing but the ground or the side of my body.

3.  When on vacation, don't spend so much time just getting the scenery and none of the family.  This is   some of the most boring footage.  I live for that 3 seconds that I see a shot of my kids.  Who cares about the scenery if no ones in it.  I might as well be watching TV.

4.  During sports, zoom in on your child.  Who cares about the big picture later, I was searching desperately to find my kid in that far away, big picture shot.  

5.  Let everyone be in the scene.  When Delaney was learning to walk, I kept trying to get the other girls out of the shot and focus on her.  I should have just let them be.  

I have several more hours of transferring to do and while I love looking at my family, I hate seeing and hearing myself.  

This system is really easy to set up and use.  I'm doing just a direct transfer, but if you are creative, you can use your imovie (I have a Mac) to edit.  I'm just not there yet.  

Pinterest

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I love pinterest.  It helps you save pics that inspire you without having to cut out pics and store them. I pinned this photo of a bathroom for the chandelier.  I would love to have a chandelier in my bedroom, but the Handsome Husband is loath to give up the ceiling fan, seriously!  Everyday 3 or more people repin this pin.  One day, I had 31 repins.  This is definitely the most repined pin I've ever chosen on Pinterest. 

This is my own backyard that I decorated for a family dinner two years ago for Memorial Day.  It is personally my most repined pin, especially now that the holiday is upon us.  

I often refer to Pinterest for inspiration and go back to it over and over to find ideas I have saved and want to use.  It has almost replaced magazines for me, so I guess you could say it saves me money!