There's These Two Boys....

I told you a couple weeks ago about this one....well, kind of. New customer (now a repeat customer..those are my favorites!) Helen Keisling, ordered this one for herself. The best gifts are the ones you give yourself..most of the time.

She had this quote and wanted to be able to display pictures of her sons on the canvas.

Seeing as how I just happen to know two little boys myself...this one was easy to fill in.

I'm sure it will be just as precious with pictures of her own boys!

Annnnd...then there's me when I got to work Tuesday morning after a quick run into Walmart to get the Eric Church cd. Yes, I do still buy cd's. RARELY do I download. I don't know, I just enjoy having a valid hard copy in my hand of an artists' blood, sweat & tears. I'm sure they'll be obsolete at some point, but for now, I buy cd's. 

Annnnd then, there's Amanda. She likes to dress up when we go to lunch. HA! 

Actually, today is her birthday & a bunch of us from work went to El Tap. Yummmmm!! 

Happy Birthday Amanda!!

"You're Only a Day Awaaaaaay"

Well folks, tomorrow is the glorious day I've been waiting for since March 24, 2009. (That was the last album release date...I know this because I saw him in concert that night!)

Eric Church's new album, "Chief" hits stores and the web TOMORROW!!!!!!!!

I saw on Facebook a friend of mine said it was like "freakin Christmas." Ha. Agreed.

Here are just a few pics from times I've seen him, which are getting to be too many to count!

This was album release night of "Carolina" at the Cannery Ballroom. Amazing!

These three are from a Chattanooga show, broken foot and all...still rocked it out!

And in Chattanooga again...only at a MUCH larger scale and farther away from the stage.

I just can't sit still!!! It's going to be pretty awesome. And I sure hope none of my co-workers mind me blasting this new album ALL day tomorrow!

Let's Play You're in Jail & The Green Stuff in Riley's Hair

Riley has this little "game" if you will that he plays with me. He will come up to me and whisper, "Eurca, (prononuced Urrrr-kah) can we play you're in jail?" Or "Eurca, can we play your in jail and me tie you up?"

He asks this no less than 157 times every time I see him.

We have NO clue where he got this from. And he ONLY asks me. He never mentions playing jail or tying anyone else up but me. Flattering, eh?

Typically I say tell him no followed by some random excuse for why I don't want to play jail or be tied up. Or I'll ask him, "What are you going to tie me up with?" Last night's response, "Nothing........(long awkward pause with him darting his eyes around)..........but maybe my bear rope." "What's a bear rope?" "I don't know."

Or one night during church, "Eurca, can you take that necklace off so I can tie you up with it?" "No." "Why?" "Because it's very expensive." "Oh....well, you should've told me that!"

The kid's a hoot and a half.

 

So the deal we made a few weeks ago was "I'll let you tie me up if you let me put gel in your hair." "Ok, put we have to play 2 times." "Deal."

He remembers EVERYTHING that EVER happens.....EVER.

Last night, "Eurca, can you put that green stuff in my hair?" "What??" "That green stuff in the bathroom." "OH!! that hair gel..yeah, let's go!"

 

Then we played "You're in jail."

As promised last week, my Eric Church song pick of the week is “Carolina”. Click here to listen. The countdown continues…4 days!

 

Happy HOT Friday Y’all!

German Wedding...(at least I think it's German)

Just as I finished up the Philippines wedding order....I get an email with a bunch of gibberish that's supposedly German. So, we'll go with that....German, right?

New customer, Helen Keisling, ordered this for her cousin wedding. His soon-to-be wife is German and this wording was on the invitation...

Now, I don't know a lick of German..never claimed to. A shock to most of you, I'm sure. Ha. But apparently, this means something like "Happiness is love, he who loves is happy." Or something like that. German, right? Google translated it like this:  "Luck is love is love nothing else who can happily" - so obviously, it's one of those words are in the wrong places kind of language.

Basically, I still don't know exactly what this piece says that I painted. Probably not the best practice to follow, but hey.

All that being said, I welcome any readers to offer up their translations of this. Leave a comment & let me know! It'd be informative to know what I painted. But, German, right?

Thanks for the first German order Mrs. Helen!! She's got another order coming up soon, so check back in for that one later on.

What I'm Loving & A Sneak Peakers!

Hope everyone's enjoying this crazy HOT weather we're having.

Just another Southern Summer Barefoot Blue Jean Night. : ) LOVE that song right now!

 I'm loving my job still. I get asked this alot, and yes, I truly do love what I do. CRMC is growing leaps and bounds and offers exceptional patient care. In fact, just today, we opened our doors to an Open House to show off our new Electrophysiology Lab (man, I hope I spelled that right). This is a HUGE deal for our hospital, our region & our state. We have one of the nation's leading physicians in this field and we're very excited about the services this new department will bring to our community.

 I'm loving Saturday already! Kayla & I are having a girls day to get ready for her wedding shower on Sunday!! Also excited about that day!

I'm loving blog design shopping. Stay tuned for that! I'll be rolling out a completely new blog in the coming weeks (possibly next couple of months depending on how soon the people get mine done). It's very exciting times!

I love that today is Krispy Kreme's Birthday! Had alot of friends share their comments on my Facebook wall today! Krispy Kreme has been my "birthday" cake for the last few years and it won't be this year because I KNOW I won't be in Nashville on that day like I have been. It makes my heart sad, but I still love them!

Tell me your mouth isn't watering right now!!!!

 I love that we're less than two weeks away from Eric Church's new album release!!! EEEEEEKKKKK!!!! I truly believe this one will sky rocket his career. Just glad I've been following him for several years now and not just now joining the bandwagon. I'm not a big fan of bandwagon followers. So...I think this week, next week and the week of the release I'll link up a Youtube video to one of my faves! This week's pick, the classic, "These Boots"...Enjoy!

And finally....a sneak peak for Ms. Helen!!! I can't wait to see this one all finished up! It still has a way to go so this is TRULY a sneak peak!!

 Happy Wednesday!!

International Flair & A Good Deal

Ok, I'm not much of a promoter for any brand or product unless I am just teenage girl head over heels IN LOVE with it. I am giggly in love with Snapfish! I'm not sure why. Probably because they have awesome deals and randomly send me emails to remind me. Not the irritating emails like some other brands that shall rename nameless but GOOD emails. Ones that catch my attention and make me open them instead of just deleting them without giving them a second look. WAY TO GO SNAPFISH MARKETING DEPARTMENT!! JOB WELL DONE!
For instance 99 prints for $0.99!!!!! Can you really beat that?!?! Um...I don't think so. I'd welcome you to show me differently in which case I will gladly retract my over the top praise of Snapfish.

Guess we know what I'll be doing tonight! Uploading and ordering 99 photos. And other stuff too, but this will certainly be a highlight! WOOT!

 NEVER did I imagine the day when I would get an order that would find its home in another country and certainly not on the other side of the world!!! Low and behold......it happened! I was BESIDE myself!

New customer, Cheri McCormick (soon to be grandma to Carter David from an earlier post) ordered this for her niece as a wedding gift. The couple met in the Philippines, will marry there and make their home there.

So the next time you decide to go half way across the world, look up the Lopinas in a phone book and go visit! And for goodness sake puuuuhhhhhhhhleeeeeeease send me a picture.

Show Us Your Life Fridays - Side Dish Recipes!!

Today on Kelly's Korner for SUYL it's Side Dish Recipes! I love to cook and bake, but it's not so easy cooking for one. So I pretty much pump myself up for a certain meal or dish a week in advance that way I'm absolutely craving it making it worth my while to eat on it for a week or until it's gone.

But when it comes time to make a dish to take to a family or church dinner, I never have to worry about leftovers. Because IF I come home with any, I can take it to work the next day and those men take care of it. Sometimes, they even wash my dish and bring it back to me sparkly clean. : ) I heart those men.

Since it's Summer, this is a GREAT opportunity to share a recipe you can make with some garden veggies that should be starting to come in. My personal favorite in the Summer...sqaush. Mmmmm...mmmmm!

My cousin Elizabeth made this last Summer and it was so delicious I made her fork over the recipe. Hence, I am totally giving her credit for this one!

Squash Casserole
4 c sliced yellow sqash
35 Ritz crackers crushed
1 c shredded Cheddar cheese
2 eggs beaten
3/4 c milk
1/4c butter, melted
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper
2 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 400. Cook squash until tender & drain well. Mix crackers & cheese. Stir half into squash. In a small bowl, mix eggs & milk. Add to squash mixture. Stir in melted butter, salt & pepper. Spread into a greased 13x9 baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining cracker / cheese mixture and dot with 2 tbsp butter. Bake approximately 25 minutes.

 While we're talking about food...I went grocery shopping after work. I've decided I have 3 types of grocery buying strategies. 1. The ones when I'm out of EVERYTHING. 2. The ones when I need to buy just to make certain dishes for family or church meals or if I'm having company over. 3. The ones when I just need to buy little things for lunches and breakfasts. Today was a #3 kind of day.

As I was standing in the checkout looking in my cart, I thought..wow, it looks like I'm a pregnant woman with out of control dairy cravings. String cheese, cottage cheese, Laughing Cow cheese, and don't forget the Cheese Whiz (that's for a recipe...NOT for lunch or breakfast..eeww). And a couple other items. But the cheese purchases today were almost out of control!

And proof that I am still painting my little heart away..... 

 I can't say who ordered this one because it was a Secret Sister gift. And well, that would pretty much disrupt the whole "Secret" portion of the program, now wouldn't it?

 Happy Friday Y'all!

What I'm Loving...

I LOVE this past looong weekend I had; a "stay-cation" if you will. 

 Here's the Cliff Notes version....

1. I spent two days at the lake with some cousins who I also consider very dear friends of mine. Jared & Ann Marie won the award for most dismounts from the tube in under ten minutes. Thanks to the Brady family for their boat usage and boat driving skills. The weather was perfect, the water was warm...Jared said it best, "it's been the perfect Tennessee Summer weekend." Amen.

2. Little Patriots Parade on the 4th, sponsored by a local D.A.R. chapter. So cute to see these little ones decked out in red, white & blue and their various rides. This was Riley, Colin & Ben's (Emilee's son) first year to participate!

3. I don't have pictures from the annual Chaffin 4th of July cookout, so this is as close as I got.

At least it's one of me and Em together..just imagine we're in her parents' backyard instead of on the corner at the Square.

4. After the parade Monday morning, we spent a good chunk of the day at my aunt & uncle's pool with the boys. Colin likes to get out and "relax" in "his chair". What a joker.

5. Back to the cousins....and our traditional 4th of July feast, games & fireworks. Love these girls!!

HAPPY BELATED 4th of JULY!!!

 (P.S...thanks to various Facebook peeps for letting me steal borrow your pics. I have some of my own, but haven't had time to download them yet. You girls are ON IT!)

 Lovin' Summer,