#1 Grandfather Award

I know everybody loves their Pa-Pa...but my Pa-Pa is officially the best! I often call him on my way home from school in the afternoons, and it's come to my attention that my sweet, innocent, Wednesday night supper lovin', 90-year-old grandfather has been watching The Bachelor on Monday nights just so he'll have something to talk to me about. Aside from being horribly embarrased that my Pa-Pa now knows I watch such trash tv, all I can think is "awww Pa-Pa is the best!!!!!" #1 Grandfather Award for sure! And in case anyone was wondering, although he personally liked Chantal because his bride was a brunette too, he knew Emily would win because you could tell Brad liked her the most. I guess you really should keep in mind that old sorority rule, "don't do anything you wouldn't want your grandparents to know about!"...including watching reality tv!!

A Special Love Song just for ME

As I was driving home from school today, I heard on old familiar voice come across the PrimeCountry radio waves. My dear friend Reba was singing a love song that somehow I had never heard before. And trust me, I know my Reba. The very first concert I ever went to was Reba with, at the time, little known Faith Hill as an opening act. In my book, The Nights The Light Went Out in Georgia and Fancy are two of the greatest songs of all time. But still, this song, on air today, I had never heard. And as I listened to the lyrics, I couldn't help but think it was my first love singing straight to me. No, not Reba, but a deeper love and part of my very soul. The Southland itself wrote a lyrical poem just for me.

Whoever's in New England by Reba McEntire (however, in my situation, the lyrics are more appropriately "whatever's in New England" and have been adjusted accordingly)

You spend an awful lot of time in Massachusetts (I know, it is an AWFUL lot, I'm sorry!)Seems Like every other week you've got a meeting waiting there
Business must be booming or could something else
Be moving in the air up there

You say that its important for our future (It's true Southland, it is important, please understand)An executive on his way up has got to play the part
Each time duty calls you got to give it all
You've got with all your heart

When whatever's in New England is through with you
And Boston finds better things to do
You know its not too late 'cause you'll always have a place to come back to
When whatever's in New England's through with you

I hear the winter time up north can last forever (Yes, yes it can my dear Southland)And I've been told its beautiful to see this time of year
They say the snow can blind you till the world you left behind
Just disappears I hear

I've packed your bags and left them in the hallway
But before you leave again theres just one thing you outta know
When the icy winds blow through you remember that its me
Who feels the cold most of all

When whatever's in New England is through with you
And Boston finds better things to do
You know its not too late 'cause you'll always have a place to come back to
When whatever's in New England's through with you

I love you too Southland!! I'm sorry Jarred's schooling made me leave you! When whatever's in New England's finished with Jarred, I'll be racing back home to you!!

Puerto Rican Paradise

Jarred's job as a Ph.D. student researcher has many perks. One of which is free trips to conferences all over the world where he can present a little of this work for an hour or so...and then enjoy the rest of his trip in the sun. It's quite the glorious set up, and we feel very blessed to have the opportunity to travel for such a discounted price. In the fall Jarred wound up in Cancun, Mexico for a week at a conference without me, as I stayed back in Boston to teach. He made sure to call me from the beach to let me know that the resort was,  "significantly nicer than our honeymoon." Well, NEVER again my friend, never again. When the opportunity for a similar trip to Puerto Rico came up, I made sure to ask off work and take advantage of the  cheap trip to Jarred's homeland. And I must say, it's a wonderful, wonderful place. It tropical, it's warm, they know English, and they take U.S. Dollars, who could ask for more? Here's a rundown of our trip:

First, the official scientist business...kind of like the elementary school science fair, only bigger words.

Now it's nothing but fun! Let me introduce you to Hector, the towel elephant, and my mini Puerto Rican flag that I waved continuously as we explored the island.

Our first stop of the journey was Old San Juan. Gorgeous!!!

The next day we splashed around the pool a bit and then rented a car to go Kayaking at a bioluminescent bay. Literally the water glows like a light saber when you move through it. Unfortunatly it was dark and quite wet, so I wasn't able to take my nice camera and get pics. Here some of the pool though!

My pool heels. The picture really doesn't do them justice. I was totally diva style!!

A few shots from the area where we went kayaking:

The next day was perhaps one of the most fun. As we were swimming in the pool the day before, we saw an advertisement on the tv at the pool's swim up bar for the Puerto Rico Open PGA Tour event being held about 30 mins from the hotel. We still had our car from the bio bay so we decided to go for it. We're both big golf fans and our hometown friend Ben Martin was in the field. In the morning we followed Stewart Cink, Angel Cabrera, and John Daly and in the afternoon we cheered up Ben. I'm not going to lie, hearing the announcer say "From Greenwood, South Carolina...BEN MARTIN!!!" was pretty awesome. We made sure to give him a big shout!! Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed during the tournament (which of course made me furious), but here's a few pics from driving in and out of the Trump International Golf Club.

That afternoon after our golf adventure, I caught the Clemson game from the pool. PERFECT!

Overall, we had an amazing trip, and feel so, so blessed to have had the opportunity. My vitamin D levels have been restored and now I'm ready to tackle a few more weeks of winter up in Boston. Well, until Masters week that is!! 3 1/2 weeks until my golf paradise! 

More pictures are to come on Facebook...

The Spring Collection

We've had one 60 degree day here in Boston, and it was enough to persuade me to start working on my Spring Collection for my darling niece. It's not much, but here's what my little sweetie will be outfitted in so far...ready for Easter and ready for Mother's Day!

And a little Carolina pride just for fun...



The Treasure of all Treasures

In life there are moments. Moments when you laugh, moments when you cry, and moments when you are stopped dead in your tracks in the middle of Party City. For me that moment came this weekend when I found the treasure of all treasures, and the perfect accessory for my car console...a gorgeous, over-the-top glitter microphone!

Add a bow and YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! Over the years I've used many things for make-shift microphones, but never again will I find myself scrapping for something to sing into when a Mariah hit comes on.

I'm ready to hit the high notes with Martina and bring the soul to Boyz II Men.

It absolutely made my weekend and dare I say the weekend of everyone I passed on the road...because they were in for a show!!

Celtics Game...VIP Style!

Let's face it, most of my posts are for the ladies. Sewing this, embroidering that...BORING!!! (For the boys that is). Well gentlemen, this post's for you! On early SuperBowl Sunday afternoon, Jarred and I had the pleasure of rolling VIP Style to the Celtics vs. Magic game courtesy of his boss, and ultimate beast, Jim. Every year he gets Celtics tickets for the whole lab, and this year he decided to step it up a bit and rent out an entire suite for us. Chu-ching!! I say "us"...the lab of about 20ish plus 3 lucky lottery ticket spouses. Jim had enough tickets for everyone in lab, and then they had the option of entering their name into a drawing for an extra ticket to bring that special someone. Sweet Jarred talked his way into swaying some extra names in my favor. Several of his friends who didn't actually have someone else to bring put their names in the hat for me. Hooray! It caused a little controversy in the lab, but hey...my man does what he has to do. In the end, Jarred's actual name was picked and I got to come. Yay! Here's some pics:

We got there early so we could enjoy the extra perks of premium ticket holders...aka watching warm-ups courtside!! I can now report firsthand that Dwight Howard's shoulders...really are the size of bowling bowls. He is absolutely not human.

Patrick Ewing, a monster!

JJ Redick...with whom Jarred shared a love/hate relationship at Duke for several years. And I must say, he was much bigger in person than I expected him to be. At Duke, he always seemed so small! Jarred also informed me, for anyone interested, that JJ's warm-up routine is exactly the same as it was in college. 



Free tshirts for all! Thanks Jim!

There's a Boston sports museum around the club level floors. One artifact was a NHL penalty box. Which, of course, I had to sit in.

View from the club level.

Thanks Jim, we had a blast!

Calling all Moms and Coffee Drinkers!

As the snow continues to pile up outside my door, I fill the hours trapped inside by scanning the internet for new things to embroider. My goal is to find fun things that a) look cool, b) can be made consistently well and c) aren't too crazy hard to hoop. It's a quest that is much harder than it seems. Some things I find would be awesome to embroider, but end up being a disaster to line up or hoop. But this time, I've hit the jackpot. Travel Mugs and Sippy Cups with *embroiderable* paper inserts. So fun! And the possibilities for designs and colors are practically endless! Here's what I've made so far:

It's hard to capture them in one snap shot since the writing wraps around the cups, but you get the idea. Cute and personalized sippy cups so the day care workers and church nursery volunteers don't get them mixed up. So far I've found the sippy cups with blue, green, pink, and white tops in these two sizes (5oz and 10oz). They are said to be "Spill proof," but being that I don't have a toddler...I can't be so sure of that. Playtex also sells a sippy cup with a straw that you can put an insert into, but they are about $15...which is a little too pricey for me to be buying and trying just for fun. But if anyone wants me to make a sippy cup insert for their playtex cup, I can do that too. Here's what they look like:

My sister swears by this kind. There are so many possibilities for the embroidery insert, it just makes me want to squeal!

Now on to the grown-up edition, travel mugs! There are several different styles that can be made for different price points. Some have a stainless steel portion of the mug and are therefore a little higher quality, and some are just regular plastic for warm liquid. It's rather tragic that I don't drink coffee, because I'm loving these mugs!!!

Mug with stainless steel:

Without Stainless:

This one was made for Jarred's lab when they had their way-after-Christmas yankee swap game. I tried to make the writing a little boyish since most likely a boy would get it...and I must say, it takes away from the overall attractiveness of the mug...but you gotta do what you gotta do. The actual insert background is gorgeous. 

And in honor of my glory days in college:

Pi or Die!

Ahhh good times. If you'd like your very own sippy cup or travel mug, give me a shout. They are fun and easy to make. The colors and design possibilities are endless! Hip Hip Hooray!

Prices are in the $6-$15 range.

* I'm pretty sure "embroiderable" isn't a real word...but it's sounds so legit!