A Broken and Bitten Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  I had a fabulous week being thankful for my family in Florida despite a broken big toe and a spider bite by a brown recluse.  Those are posts within themselves.

But for a quick visual, my toe was a lovely shade of purple and lavender and I was given a giant hard shell boot to sport. As for my hand, it swelled up like a balloon and took on shades of pinks and reds.  And yes, both were beyond painful.  I vow to never rent this particular beach house again...it is cursed.

But for some reason, both injuries took a back seat to the joy of being with my family.  I know it was in large part due to that precious 2 year old nephew of mine who had me in stitches the entire week.  I miss him already!

If you were to ask my girls their favorite memory from the week, it would most certainly be this turkey cake they made with Grandma.  There is something about Grandmas and kitchens that elicit the happiest memories.

I could not get enough of these two boys together.  Brecken was in awe of Jack and Jack was loving every minute of it.

My lovely Grandma and my precious Lucy.  This picture oozes love.

The best part of Florida is getting to seeing both sides of the family.  We love our Grammy!

Aunt Bailee!'

Throughout the week we ate many dinners out, shopped, went to the beach, and even saw Frozen 2.  But through it all, the best part was just being together.

 Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Honorary Okies

One may not think of Oklahoma when you say "girl's trip", but I'm here to change your perception.

Let's rewind, say back in June sometime when this whole idea came to fruition.  Just a couple girls sitting around checking out concert dates and then wildly picking Old Dominion {one of my fave country bands} in November in Tulsa.

You may ask why Tulsa.  And the answer is simple, Blake Shelton lives just a few miles south in a tiny town called Tishomingo.  We could see our favorite band and then make the drive down in hopes of bumping into Blake.  Seemed logical enough, right?

Well fast forward a few months, say like October.  And guess the irony?  I got news that Blake was coming to my town for a one night charity show the same night I was going to Tishomingo! Stab to the heart.

After great debate, we decided to move forward with our girl's trip plans and make the very best of it.
We would have no idea how AMAZING making the best of it actually could be.

Hold on to your hat {cowboy hat} that is, this is going to be epic!

There is no denying that for a city, Tulsa Oklahoma is a bit of a ghost town.  However, we did have some fabulous eats and very cush hotel.  And as nice as all that is we were really just there for the music and girl time.

So are you ready for the music?  We had VIP tickets to the concert {I swear if it's in your budget, it is the way to go!!}.  We attended a private showing of Old Dominion before the actual concert.  How is this for close and personal?  My night could have complete right there but the concert just kept getting better.

We saw Ryan Hurd {from the floor} and he was great!

He even tossed us his playlist when he finished up!

Scotty McCreery {American Idol, anyone?}

And of course, Od Dominion.  They were incredible and I'm pretty sure they recognized us from the earlier evening's event.

Look at this sweet catch...right to my hand!

After that night, we were pretty sure not much could top it.  But Like I said, hold on to your hat, there is more to come.

Would anyone like to hop in for an escorted limo ride to Tishomingo, Oklahoma?  I can't even make this stuff up people.

So I may have tweaked the mileage earlier.  It was a good two hour drive and by the time we arrived to Blake's town it was evening.  Perfect timing for shopping, dinner, dancing, and drinking.

Ole Red was itchin' to have a little fun and so were we!

After we loaded up with souvenirs and checked out Ole Red it got interesting.  Over at The Dog House we managed to find all kinds of locals who knew Blake or had stories about him.  Before long we had friends willing to introduce us to Dorothy, Blake Shelton's mama!

Right next door to Ole Red is a little shop, called JunkStars, that just happens to be owned by Dorothy and her best friend.  Now, by the time we rolled into town this shop was closed.  However, with our new friends in high places we managed to get in after hours and they brought  Dorothy on over to meet us! What?!?!

Hello Dorothy!  I'm your son's biggest fan....but not in the psycho way...at least I think.

The best part was hearing Blake, Miranda, and Gwen stories all the while shopping a rack of Blake's real clothes.  It seems Blake is moving ranches and his mama just so happened to clean out his closet a week before.  

Now if you think that is unbelievable {because I kind of still do} wait until you hear that Dorothy and the gang invited us over to her downtown loft.  Basically it's her house for when she doesn't want drive back to the ranch late night.

Ummm, yes, this really happened.  And out of respect for the family and friends, we didn't think it was appropriate to take pictures inside the house.  But...I did catch this beauty in the bathroom.  I am convinced this thing is from Blake's childhood.  Can we say...down to Earth folks?

The house was full of family pictures, Blake's trophies, and The Voice posters everywhere.  Kind of amazing!  Actually, really amazing.

So although we didn't bump into Blake, we just so happened to bump into the next best thing.  I'm not sure this girl's trip can ever be topped.  

And who said Oklahoma was fly over state?

Memory Lane

My mom has been wanting to take the kids to Cincinnati, where she grew up, for quite a while now.  In a Grandma sort of way, she wanted to take them around where she grew up, where my Grandparents came from and basically just show the three little ones off to family.  After not being able to make it work over the summer, we landed on this past weekend. Which just so happened to be Maggie's birthday! 

So we spent the weekend traveling down Memory Lane and celebrating Maggie's 10th with family. 

We stayed downtown on the river and since it was Maggie's big day, we let her make the first choice of the morning.  And that's how we landed at the downtown skating rink just a few blocks up from our hotel.

Although it was certainly cold enough to be snowing, this was the only snowball we came up with, but it sure did bring a smile to the birthday girl's face.

On our way to what would be the  "Memory Lane" part of our day, we made a quick surprise stop for Maggie.  10 is a biggie you know!

Fitting for the day, Maggie chose an ice skate charm for her bracelet.  I love that we have this special piece of jewelry from her trip to NYC.  It's so fun to add memories to it and I'm sure she will never forget ice skating on her 10th birthday in her Grandma's home city.

Now it was time to get that history tour we came for.

Our first stop was Chetbert Drive.  I've been hearing this street name since I was a tiny tot myself.  Apparently, my mom has some great childhood memories from this street.  This is the house my grandparents starting raising their children in.  She lived here through elementary school until they moved to Kentucky Lake, which is where all of my childhood memories are from.

The best part of seeing all of this was still having my Grandma {GG} there to bounce around with us.

Another word I always heard growing up was ....Graeters.  According to my mom and Grandparents this was the best ice cream in the world.  The little shop was just up the road from Grandma's first house and we  all got to hear about Grandma and her siblings walking there to get treats many years ago.

So, of course, this was our next stop.

From there we made our way to my Grandpa's house.  He was one of 9 children and according to old tales, this house was a biggie back in the day.  They had an upstairs and downstairs maid and a swimming pool, which apparently was unheard of.

But of all, the most exciting for the kiddos was the stop at GG's orphanage.  I can't begin to tell you how many stories I heard about this place growing up.  And I can't tell you how many times I would beg my Grandma to tell them to me again and agin.

She truly had a fascinating childhood and I feel so blessed that she is mine.

After a day of traveling down Memory Lane, we met up with all of our extended family for a banquet dinner at The Montgomery Inn.  If you haven't figured out from this hilarious picture, they are known for their BBQ.  We had a beautiful view of the river and steamboats, and yes, a yummy upscale BBQ dinner.

My mom's sweet cousin surprised Maggie with a birthday cake.  This is the first "family" birthday celebration where Maggie had 30 of her relatives singing to her.  My sweetie was blushing all over.

But, the treat of getting to play waitress and pass out cookies and cake was by far the best present of the day.

I have to say this might have just been one of the grandest "family" birthday celebrations we have ever had.  Happy Birthday sweet Maggie from you adoring family!  I hoped you enjoyed learning all about where you came from!

A Luxurious Tenth

What?! What?! Maggie is turning double digits! That makes two in the double digit category for me.  Time is flying.

So what did this precious 10 year old girl of mine want to do to celebrate her birthday? Well, she simply requested to "spend the night in a luxury hotel with silk pajamas".  Done girl! Some might say that I'm creating a monster,  but I consider it creating a protege.  

Okay, kind of kidding.  This is not the norm for us and certainly not the norm for my eldest daughter.  But as you may have deciphered, birthdays are uber important to me.  For me, it's the day these little ones entered the world and changed mine forever.  I can't imagine a better reason to go all out and make them feel loved.  And as long as they will let me, I will be right there by their sides celebrating for years to come.

Maggie chose two friends {which was not an easy task} and we made our way downtown to check into a "luxury hotel" for the evening.  It was time to celebrate my Magpie!

Once we got all checked in to our room the girls wasted no time in changing into their silks and checking out their favor baskets.  Maggie helped with all the preparations for the party and wanted a black and rose gold color scheme.  We found Five Below, H&M, and Amazon to be extremely helpful.

The girls baskets were filled with all sorts of beauty & hair supplies in Maggie's color scheme.

Since the girls were under age for any hotel spa services, I found a mobile service that came directly to our room and performed a mini spa session on the girls.

It's time to get our spa on!

The girls had manis and pedis...

Facial services...

And by far their favorite, a mini massage...

Do they look relaxed and beautified, or what?

Maggie's other "simple" request was room service.  Nothing like having spaghetti and chicken fingers in the comfort of your bed.

And just when I thought these beauties were relaxed and ready for bed, they had more in mind.  The indoor pool was calling their names.  I can't lie, I knew it would be.

Post swimming, we came back to the room for a special birthday dessert for Maggie.  More room service, more eating in bed, and this time a little Happy Birthday tune to go with it.

Okay, now it's time for some beauty sleep.  The girls had no problem snuggling in and falling fast asleep in minutes.  I think the trick was those silk pjs.

The next morning we enjoyed a lovely breakfast in the hotel restaurant while still in pjs. I can't begin to tell you the sweet comments and compliments from all of the hotel guests.  Something about cute little girls in pjs seems to melt everyone.  Slumber party!

We took one more swim, packed up, and then took all these luxurious beauties home.  Back to reality.  But, at least we have the silk pjs to dream in.

Happy Birthday to my darling double digit baby girl!  I adore you and all your "simple" requests!  Always be you girl!