Big Day!

Too busy to blog the big reveal just yet...

Someone turned THREE today! How time flies!

My daughter Meagan is the best mom in the whole world! Here are mother and daughter in a wedding recently...

Meagan lets Leila run around in princess dresses, and flower girl dresses, and Easter dresses, whenever she wants... no hanging them in the closet until they are outgrown... they get full use! What a sweet, relaxed mom she is. Wish I would've been that relaxed!!!

...and even though Meagan is a wife and mother now, she still makes time to have fun with her little sister. Here they are getting ready to go see the Jonas Brothers...they are quite a pair!

Leila's Dad Craig is a keeper too! So sweet!

Sometimes it's hard work being a princess!!!

So Happy Birthday Leila...I love you!

~ Gigi!

A Mystery

Here are some shots my lovely and talented daughter took of a project I've been working on. This is just to whet your appetite, the big reveal will come soon. I think for a 15 year old, with a simple point and shoot digital camera she just got, she has quite an eye. I am going to encourage her to pursue photography as a hobby. You never know where it might lead. I'm very proud of her. She is in one of the photos, but for the life of me I can't figure out what that face she's making is all about :)

I hope you enjoy. I will reveal this, and another project I'm still working on in a few days.

~Teri~

Just Watch!

This is the craziest post, but I feel us women have to stick together... when something is good, we must share!

If you have trouble with your hair, and like smooth styles, run, don't walk to your phone, computer, or Target and get this thing... it's great.

Forgot to mention, there are NO styling products in my hair whatsoever... no mousse, gel, smoothing creme, hairspray, anything. I washed it this morning, blew it dry and ran out the door.

The whole time I was doing my hair, I was thinking of my blog friends and family! Hope you enjoy this minimercial!

Love ya,

~Teri

P.S. I cannot divulge what I paid... Scott will be watching!

So Random...

Okay... we are FREEZING here in Florida. It's really out of control. It's been like this since New Years. It's making me be in a bad mood. Tomorrow's high is in the low 50's. Our regular temps this time of year are in the 70's. Please don't write me and make me feel guilty if your area of the country is much worse off. I get it... I'm not asking you to feel sorry for me... but I'm STILL COLD!!!

What's a beach girl to do with these unseasonably cold temps?

Well, there are a few things...

First, I keep my most favorite thing in the world all plugged in and ready to go...

That's a Keurig Coffee Maker. It's great for Starbucks- like coffee at home. My personal favorite? Paul Newman Extra Bold. It's just so.... yum!

Secondly...

To add insult to injury of the cold weather, hubby left on a business trip to Phoenix this morning.... and yes, it's in the 70's there... but there was a cool surprise for me when I clicked on my TV at 5:30am when he kissed me goodbye.

I've told you all how much I love my TIVO. I hardly ever watch real-time TV anymore. About once a month, I go through my TIVO selection of movies on TCM, and choose a few to record. They show up at random... I never know what's coming.

Well... this morning, I hit the JACKPOT. Three absolute favs were all sitting there in my queue, just waiting for me!! I can't wait to snuggle down tonight, and just veg out after everyone is fed and in bed.

I love my husband and everything... but if he were home, he would insist on hour-by-hour Olympics. That's cool and all, but may I just say, I'm glad they only come around every 2 years... of course I would rather have him home, but, if one must be alone, having all these great movies softens the loneliness just a little.

Are you just dying to know what the three movies are???? I'm so excited I barely know what to choose first!!!

Casablanca (1942)

Little Women (1949)

The Parent Trap (1961...the original, of course!)

Can you even stand it?????????

It seriously doesn't take much to make me extremely happy!!!

It's the little things :)

~Teri

A Special Valentines Day

Valentines Day is upon us, and I couldn't let it go by without a quick post. I want to tell you about the most special Valentines Day ever...

It was 1985. My husband, daughter and I were living in Oklahoma away from friends and family. We had moved there for the promise of a better job and higher pay, and once we got there, the "boss" reneged on the deal.

We were so young and naive,

but we did learn something... "put it in writing."

We were struggling financially, the cold wind blew constantly, and our tiny apartment would not get warm. If it hadn't been for my new daughter Meagan, I would've cried everyday.. but she brought such joy to my life... I knew I would make it.

As Valentines Day approached, I knew it would be without gifts and fanfare. How depressing... then, the most miraculous thing happened... my dear sweet grandmother sent me a crisp, new ten dollar bill in the mail. She wrote... "Do something special for Meagan and Scott with this money." I took off to Walmart with money in clinched fist. Now you may be thinking... "What can a person do with $10?" You'd be surprised!!! I was beyond excited.

I searched the aisles with Meagan in tow. I bought some red plates, some $1 candy baskets for each of us, a Happy Valentines Day banner, some cards, and a German Chocolate cake mix and icing... Scott's favorite!

When Scott came home that evening, he was so surprised! I decorated the hand-me-down table with cards, a toy, red candles, and the cake. I had dressed Meagan and I in red. The finishing touch was a box of candy Scott brought me. We had such fun that evening. We felt like a million dollars.

This started a Valentines Day party tradition that continued until Meagan got married and left home 20 years later. I tried to carry on the tradition, but it just wasn't the same. We do different things now, but nothing will ever top

February 14, 1985!!!

Hope your Valentines Day is happy and full of love.

Sending hugs and kisses your way!

~Teri

Blog Award

I've been totally under the weather for the past few days, so I am really behind on blogging and blog reading, but much to my surprise, I checked my blog today, and received a blog award... so happy!!!!

Thank you so much Jenny! Hop on over and check out Jenny's blog...

Pleasant Places

It's full of fun travel stories, and travel information. Really detailed, if you are planning a trip to Paris or London, this is a great place to stop by. I admire her nerve to travel overseas with little ones in tow, but I know they are making great memories!

Bonus... she's from my home state of Texas!

So head on over to Jenny's blog, and I'll be posting again whenever I catch up on EVERYTHING!!!!!!!

~Teri

Paris in Real Time

Since I'm on a diet all month, naturally, all I'm thinking about is FOOD.

I thought I would post two videos of our favorite lunch in Paris this year.

In this first video, I was trying to show the street scene. This is a street 2 blocks off St. Germain. I never was able to film what was in those boxes literally touching the back of my head, but it was a raw seafood stand. The boxes were full of crushed ice and all kinds of sea creatures... octopus, sea urchins, shrimp, oysters, etc.

Due to the smell of raw fish, we opted for steak... which is risky business in Paris... they are not known for their steak. But it was fantastique!

This next video is self explanatory. I know it seems crazy to film a meal, but this was such a perfect afternoon, that we wanted to capture it.

Those french fries... oh how do you say, "died and went to heaven" in french? The steak looks questionable, but it had such flavor. It was very thin, but perfectly cooked. The salad... how do they make lettuce, one tomato, and walnuts taste SO GOOD? The dressing? I could've taken a bath in it!

A few days later, we decided to go back and eat the exact same meal again. Problem? You wouldn't think so! We hopped the metro, got off at St. Germain, and began searching all the side streets. We must have walked 10 miles up and down and in and out of streets and alleys, until finally we gave up. It was so frustrating. One street looked especially familiar, but our restaurant was gone! Could they possibly pack up and move a restaurant overnight???

We were so sad. We really wanted to eat there again. That evening, I got a brilliant idea... we took out the camera, and studied the street scene I filmed while at the restaurant. We finally noticed the name of the restaurant printed on the awning across the way. We googled that restaurant, wrote down the address, and went there the next day... and

VOILA...

there was our restaurant right across the way! We were only one tiny turn away from it the day before. We were quite proud of our sleuthing abilities.

We have learned over and over again, that if you like something in Paris, write it down. We always think we will remember, but we don't. The streets make no sense, and after awhile, they all begin to run together in your head. I've said it before and I'll say it again, most of the cool stuff in Paris, we find quite by accident.

Bon Appetit and have a wonderful weekend!

~Teri

Keepin' It Real

Okay... a lot of you have left the most lovely comments about Scott and I sketching at the Louvre. It was fun, dreamy, romantic, etc... but I never want to leave the impression that that's normal for us.

It's just not! We are a totally normal couple with faults and flaws and every once in a while we can't stand the sight of each other... hope we aren't the only ones!!!

I will admit fully that Paris changed us. We treat each other so much better now, and our outlook on life has changed 180 degrees, but we still have our moments. I've decided to share one such moment with you here... a moment in Paris where we didn't... dare I say?... get along...

I will NOT tell you what we were fighting about, but I was upset with Scott. We were in our Montematre apartment, at the TOP OF A GIANT HILL, and it was ten o'clock at night. I was starving, and of course there was nothing in the apartment to eat. I told Scott all I wanted was some potato chips. Mind you, on the hill in Montematre, at night, there are restaurants open, but that's it! There are NO grocery stores, NO convenience stores, and trust me, if there were, they are NOT loaded with junk food in any form.

Scott told me NO WAY was he going out to search for potato chips on a cold night in Paris. I whined... I know...it's ugly... but I was CRAVING salt. So while I laid in the nice warm bed, he got up, got dressed, and took off... and I didn't even feel guilty!!!

He was gone at least 45 minutes. He had to go DOWN the hill and walk and walk. Nothing was open. He finally found a crepe window, and then had to walk UP the hill. When he got back, he handed me a COLD cheese crepe. I knew I should be happy, thankful even, but it was so NOT what I wanted.

I started CRYING... does anyone besides Scott think I need intervention????

So... the next day, I still wanted some chips. Seriously, I love Paris and all that, but sometimes you just want something junky to eat. I didn't mention to Scott that I still wanted them, but I had my eyes open. Finally, at a metro stop, there was a tiny place to buy cigarettes and gum... then... I spied it...

A can of Pringles!!! Scott started laughing and went to buy them. Once we did the exchange rate, that one can of Pringles costs $7.50!!!!!!!!

Here I am... the absolute MOST immature person in the world, eating my chips...

and bonus... the chips didn't even taste normal. They weren't salty enough, and they had a weird after taste.

I learned that day, that if I see a package of chips, and I'm even thinking I might want some, get them! I might not see them again for a long time.

Here I am... sitting along one of the lakes at Versailles... do you see what I'm eating??????

The moral of the story is... a person can act like an immature baby on either side of the globe!!

Just keepin' it real...

~Teri

P.S. Disclaimer... this post makes me sound like a psycho. I am perfectly well adjusted, not a whiner, and I usually go with the flow pretty well...usually :)