Dear Florida,

Dear Sister Kelly's House in the Florida Keys:

I love you.

I have such fond memories of our time together.

Where has the time gone?

When will I see you again?

I miss your warm days, and your balmy nights.

Your strange ways.

Do you miss me?

Yo Kelly!

I miss you too.

Holly

xxx-ooo

It's Never Lonely

You ever get the feeling you're being watched?

That wherever you go

And whatever you do

Someone is watching over you?

Or that someone needs a breath mint?

Holly

xxx-ooo

Making Me Smile

Things that are making me smile today.

My new Journey Girl necklace from Becky

at FarmGirl Paints.

I love this girl.

I love her stories.

I love her heart.

And yes, I love her Etsy Shop.

My new delicious smelling candle

that Kris, Genn and Erika got me

that I may or may not have tried to lick.

And this wonderful pillow mist.

Says it will help me to relax and think clearly.

Well, I'm very relaxed.

This beautiful painting of a Chickadee

that I found in my mailbox when I got back

from California.

Laurie told me that Chickadees need to be in pairs.

I had only bought one.

She was so right!

A jar full of peanut M&M's because my husband

knows me and keeps them comin'.

Sharing a birthday weekend with this kid.

Happy Birthday Katie!

Holly

xxx-ooo

The Beauty of Listening

I was so blessed to be able to attend

Blog Sugar 2011.

Blog Sugar is a Faith Centered Blogging Conference.

Put over 180 women who love the Lord in one room,

add cupcakes, flowers, flavored coffee, a photo booth

and plenty of time to mingle and you've got

yourself a seriously crazy, out of control, good time.

The women I met and listened to were amazing.

I was inspired

and lifted up

 by the words that were spoken out of love

and experience.

It truly blessed my soul.

And I left feeling lighter

and happier than I have in years.

I came away with another view of this whole blogging thing.

I've always thought this blog was all about me.

Maybe it's not.

Maybe it's more about listening to my heart,

about what needs to be written.

About what stories I should be telling.

About what others might need from me.

I don't know.

But I'm listening now.

Blog Sugar helped to raise money for a charity called
"Love 146".

Love 146 fights against child sex slavery.
2 children are sold every 60 seconds.

Listen to that.

Two children are sold into sex slavery
every :60 seconds.

Please take a moment to watch this video.
It spoke to me
in a way that nothing has in quite some time.
And made me ask myself this question...

"Can I really be the same person after watching this?"
Can you?

Holly

xxx-ooo

California, I Miss you Bucketloads.

It quite possibly could be

the best mini vacation I've ever taken.

I drove to Corona California

to meet up with Tammy, Kris, Genn, Erika, Deb and Linda.

Tammy and i found this waiting for us in the hotel

when we got there.

A basket full of goodies and left for us

by Kris, Erika and Genn.

Almond Champagne.

Chocolate covered almonds.

Soaps.

Shampoos.

Homemade dishcloths.

A wonderful blogging book.

It was a wonderful welcome.

Tammy and I stayed at the hotel together.

We are polar opposites.

Here is our room the morning after we woke up.

I make my bed.

Tammy....not so much.

But I love her to pieces.

Our first night there we were

invited to dinner with the entire Grover Family.

We were so glad to see that everyone was there

including kids and husbands.

Only Drew (Kris' son) was missing.

(Catch ya next time Drew!)

The weather was perfect and we sat outside.

Holly and Kris

Erika, Genn and Tammy.

I decided that meeting fellow bloggers is like

meeting people from a reality TV show where you watch

every single episode.

I knew so much about each of these women

before I even got my arms around them.

For me,

it was love at first sight.

It was like finding family.

It was like realizing you have sisters

that you never knew you had.

And I fell in love with them over the most amazing

 cheese ball in history.

I cried a little when Kris took it away.

But then they brought

out more food.

Love Potion #9 Pizza

Gorgonzola with Cranberries.

Nuff Said.

The kids were just too darn cute.

Nothing says Welcome like a kid with a chicken.

There was so much chatter and food

that Genn popped her zipper

and her loving husband was more than happy

to give her a hand.

After eating we went inside to...
what else?
Eat some more.
Kris made a wonderful chocolate cake
and they had birthday presents for me.

I may or may not have tried to
eat my smelly good candle.

I love these women.
Each and every one.

And not just because they know how to
make an awesome Cheeseball.

Holly
xxx-ooo

Getting Old Ain't So Bad

My birthday is on Sunday.

Feel free to send me presents.

I like presents.

Or maybe you can each do a You Tube

video of yourselves singing

Happy Birthday to me.

That would be awesome!!

I will be 46.

!!46!!

I'm too immature to be that old!

It's just not possible.

1 Year Old

Please note the Dumbo Cake

and the look of extreme jealousy on my sister's face.

3 Years Old

I think someone must have gotten

me up from my nap too early.

4 Years Old

Deliriously happy with my doll and the green shag rug.

I think that jumper is back in style.

5 Years Old

Have mastered the art of wearing a party dress with hair in

a chignon while partying in our garage.

6 Years Old

Rocking that side pony tail,

the knee socks and the huge lacy collar.

46 Years Old

It just keeps getting better and better.

I'll be heading to California on Saturday morning

and I'm not going to be checking in

so I'll catch up with everyone next week.

Have a great weekend!

Holly

xxx-ooo

Doctors, Soup and Cake

I've been fighting this weird sinus thing

for the past couple months.

I thought it was just allergies at first.

And I've been fighting it with OTC meds.

I just don't like going to the doctor.

Then about two weeks ago it just got worse.

At night, I couldn't breathe.

And I couldn't sleep.

But still I didn't want to go to the doctor.

I tried just about everything out there.

And then I just couldn't stand it anymore.

I had big plans for this weekend and

I wanted to feel good.

So I went to the doctor.

Antibiotics

Steroids

Inhaler

Nasal Spray

Antihistamine

He said that my sinuses were so

swollen that he couldn't see anything and

had to do an xray of my head.

Is that weird?

Do people that have colds get their heads xrayed normally?

I think not.

He kind of yelled at me and said

that if a sinus infection is not treated

it can go to the brain.

Whatever.

Like I'm using that.

Chill out Doctor.

Thank God I didn't have an actual emergency.

So, I will be finished with all my meds

by Saturday which is awesome

because I'm going to be hanging out

with my Blog Buddies all weekend.

So then this morning I knew I needed soup.

Spicy Cheesy Chicken Soup.

It's truly delicious.

And chock full of veggies and chicken

and cheesiness

and spices that open my sinuses.

You can find the recipe here.

And her picture is so much prettier that I'll post it here.

So yummy and worth the effort!

Now, let's move on to cake.

Because everyone loves cake.

My husband has been craving my pumpkin cake

but I just haven't felt up to making a cake from

scratch lately.

When I was at the grocery today,

I saw something new in the baking aisle.

I figured I'd give it a try.

Duncan Hines Apple Caramel Cake.

I figured even I could find the time

and energy to make a boxed cake.

After mixing the batter and pouring it in a pan

you randomly spread some

caramel apple sauce on top

and bake.

I can tell you that it looks and smells really good.

Next time I would use a smaller pan than a 9x13.

It was a little thinner than I like.

I would love to tell you that it was delicious.

While it smelled great

I was unable to taste it because

I burnt my tongue

on my soup.

Because I am an extremely impatient soup eater.

Now off to do laundry

and dishes

and probably clean up the yard a little.

Holly

xxx-ooo

Care To Join Us?

Here's a question for ya.

How bad does a girl

that lives in the desert

need a pair of flowered rain boots?

She needs them pretty darned bad

at this price.

I figure I can wear them once a year

when we go peach picking.

Also, we went out last weekend to look

at some of these.

We sold our RV a while back

and we are in need of large tent.

I've been in the mood to go glamping.

I've been camping,

it's ok.

I actually have a lot of fun but

I'm ready for something a little different.

A little cozier.

You've heard of glamping, right?

source

Glamorous Camping.

I could do this.

For days on end.

source

This weekend BlogSugar.

Next weekend.

Glamping.

Anyone care to join us?

Holly

xxx-ooo

Saturday Happenings

Summer is playing a trick on me.

It wants me to think it's gone

but it's not.

We're supposed to be back up in

the triple digits all next week.

That's okay.

I'm enjoying a glimpse of fall right now.

The air is cool in the mornings.

The stores are selling sweaters and boots.

I see yellow and orange decor.

I'm pretending that I don't know it's all a trick.

Today I made PW's pot roast.

That Ree!

She never lets me down.

My husband loved this.

He gets a double dose of mashed potatoes with his.

Because I like him today.

And have you met this guy?

Well, he's a big fat liar.

He sits there all cute and tells you

that he will be 4 servings.

That he will last you through Tuesday.

He will not.

I repeat, he will not last but two days.

I'm going to forgive him though because

of his high deliciosity factor.

All other ice creams are dead to me now.

Have a great weekend.

Holly

xxx-ooo