A weekend full of sewing & monogramming!

This past weekend was the first weekend I had actually been at home since the beginning of May, so as your probably know my "to do" list was long but I managed to squeeze in some monogramming and I sewed my first baby romper (pictures to come later b/c I haven't given the gift to my friend yet). Here though are couple of things that I monogrammed on Sunday. A friend of mine had me monogram a little girl's dress and then I was given a beach bag and towel so I monogrammed an "R" on it. I rarely monogram things for myself so it was fun to do something for me for a change!

Happy Graduation Rebekah!

Our friend's daughter, Rebekah, graduated from High School this year and I racked my brain on what to get her. I have monogrammed several things for her so I knew that she loved monograms. A couple of weeks ago while in a store in downtown Opelika I saw where they had taken those monogram car decals and put it on a lamp. It was so cute! I knew this was the gift for Rebekah so I asked the clerk about it and of course they were doing the decals anymore, so I went to Etsy and bought it online from a vendor for a total of $7.00 and I got the lamp from target. I think that it turned out to be a fun gift and of course she loved it. It will be a great addition to her dorm room.

So Happy Graduation to Rebekah!!!!

A weekend in Demopolis, AL

This past weekend Chris and I took a road trip to Demopolis, AL where he grew up. His parents put in a pool a few years ago so it is the highlight of our summer and pretty much all we do when we go to visit is to lounge by the pool and eat. It is so relaxing. This past weekend was no exception. I was out by the pool by 10 am, Chris's cousins (Fran, Marcy, and Lolly) , my in-laws (Larry and Judy) and my sister-in-law, Sommer all hung out by the pool pretty much all day. We grilled out hamburgers and hotdogs and of course we had to stay in the pool most of the time because it was so hot! After a day of laying out in the sun, we all met up for Chris's Aunt Ann's birthday party (Larry and Judy didn't get to come because of a wedding). We ate at the Red Barn, one of the only restaurants in Demopolis and a frequent for the Ross family. Above you will see a picture of the whole clan ( Chris and I are in the back). It is always fun to be with family and I am fortunate enough to actually enjoy being around my in-laws!! Just love em'!!

My Journey to Minneapolis, MN!

So it's been a while since I have written in my blog and for good reason, I spent most of last week in Minneapolis, MN. My co-worker/friend, Deborah, and fly up for a conference for work. We left on Saturday and landed safely back in Atlanta on Wednesday. On Saturday afternoon, we ate dinner at one of the local places, Sallie's Pub, and then spent the evening walking around the University of Minnesota campus. Above is the view of the Minneapolis skyline from a bridge on campus. Here are a couple of shots of campus.

On Sunday, we had lunch at the Purple Onion Cafe and explored more of campus and a place called "Dinkytown". It's the happening place for the college students. We also visited the U of M Arboretum....it was amazing....so much better than AU's arboretum. I didn't take any pics sorry but take my word for it, it was beautiful.

On Monday, we took an Urban Agriculture tour so we got to see some community gardens, they are everywhere up there, then in the evening Deborah and I took a cab to Nicolett Mall, in downtown Minneapolis. If you didn't know this Target is headquartered there, they had a two story target in downtown....we went it and it was big but not as clean as ours.

Tuesday, I was hoping to go paddle boating in Lake Calhoun but it rained pretty much all afternoon, so we ended up getting a yummy chocolate malt in Dinkytown and we explored the tunnels. Let me tell you about that, on the U of M campus it is called the Golpher Way.... basically it is an underground tunnel system connecting building to one another so the students and staff don't have to get out in the bitter cold....pretty neat! In downtown they had "skyways" connecting building to one another for the same reason.

As an AU football fan our trip would not be complete without seeing the U of M stadium. They are just finishing up construction on it. All in all I had a great time. It was a fun get-away. I am sure that was lots I didn't see but of course I had a conference to go to so that took up most of my time.

A Cabin in the Woods

Last Wednesday evening, I drove up to Pine Mountain, GA. Chris had a work retreat at the Mountain Top Inn and we got a cabin all to ourselves. On Thursday, I spent the day by the pool all by myself, I mean nobody was out there so it was a little weird but nice, I had a good book (The Painted Veil) and my ipod shuffle handy. Chris came out and visited me during his breaks. When I wasn't by the pool, I spent my time outside on one of the two porches, my favorite was the front porch swing. On Friday morning, when Chris got done with his retreat he unfortunately had to go to work the rest of the day so I was left to roam around the downtown shops. Didn't really find anything but it was fun roaming around by myself, it was a first for me.

So that was my adventure last week, being the spouse on a work retreat and having to entertain myself not as scary as I thought it was going to be.