SCARLETT

This past weekend was the most fun I’ve had in a long time. Just quality time spent with my sisters, their families, my family, and a new boat--courtesy of my older sister and her husband. It was a long start getting there, with my three children and her one. Packing a picnic for the boat, packing a pack-n-play for the babe, toys for the girls, and everything that goes with the smallest people (which is the MOST stuff).

Once we finally hit the road to get to the boat landing we realized we forgot (dun dun dun)... TOWELS. The most basic of basics. And we are practically in the middle of nowhere. Luckily, we happened to pass a dollar store close to the boat landing. Lo and behold, there were no beach towels in the store. We ended up buying bath towels. They work too.

All of that to say, what I actually wanted to blog about ( I apparently write how my mother tells stories, a bunch of unnecessary details). It was later that night, when everyone had gone to bed or gone home, and my older sister and I were sitting quietly downstairs, sipping red wine and watching Outlander (I’m trying to get her addicted to it), that we got on the topic of “ Redheads.”  

My father had red hair (he has passed away) and my older sister is a natural redhead. She mentioned that when she was pregnant she hoped that her baby didn’t come out with red hair. I realize that there are a lot of other things that are more important than hair color, that is not what I’m discussing. She said that people were cruel and mean to her growing up. She didn’t want her baby to have the same sort of experiences. And when he came out, she breathed a sigh of relief that his hair is blonde.

With all that being said, my middle is a redhead. And she LOVES it. During my pregnancy with her, I had originally had another name in mind (which is now her little sisters name), but I just FELT deep within that she was Scarlett. I also might have literally seen red at times while pregnant with her...talk about some serious rage. When Scarlett came out with red hair, my heart dropped (a teeny tiny bit). I didn’t want her to have the same experiences and hatred of her hair color that my sister had.

On with the discussion: But one thing we did discuss was how much our world has changed within the last 30 years. My sister said when she was growing up, red hair was something people made fun of. How many red headed teenage actress can you think of in the 80’s and 90’s, that wasn’t the “ugly” one (minus Julia Roberts)? How many jokes can you think of that are derogatory towards “gingers” ?  

This all might be regional too?

But I do feel like social media and the internet(with all its bad), also comes some good. Globalization. We love to look and read about other cultures, where having red hair isn’t so different. Thank you, Ireland and Scotland and Nordic countries!

At naptime today, Scarlett and I read, “There Was a Wee Lassie Who Swallowed A Midgie” She pointed to the little girl on the cover and said that was her. Over her short little life, my husband and I have made it a point to point out every beautiful, smart, funny, talented, kind, redhead that we see to her. People are always stopping and making time to talk to Scarlett about her hair, saying the kindest things. If God could give anyone red hair, I’m so blessed he chose to give it to her. She has the heart of lion. She is determined to marry a prince. The oldest soul you’ve ever met but also one of the BRIGHTEST. People are attracted instantly to her.

Some of our favorites (whether they be fictional or non) have red hair: Jamie Fraser, Sansa Stark, Queen Elizabeth, Mary Queen of Scots, Julia Roberts, Prince Harry, Ed Sheeran (who I was convinced I was going to meet on the streets on Scotland. Why? Because I wanted to), Anne of Green Gables, Merida, Anna of Arendelle, and Ariel (ps. Thank you, Disney!) AND HOW COULD I FORGET SCARLETT'S FAVORITE BOOK CHARACTER, FANCY NANCY?! She is literally Scarlett in every.single.way

And just for old time sake! Her hair took forever to grow in but boy, do I love her and her hair!

Photo by: Megan Martin Photography

M I A

It’s been over two months. TWO WHOLE MONTHS. I’ve pretty much been avoiding writing. I don’t even know why? At first it was because I had an ear infection, like a child(on and off for a month), and then it was because I was lazy and didn’t feel like pulling out this 7 year old laptop that takes 20 years to start up. So that’s that.

What’s new? I now have a 5 year old and we held her 5th birthday on Cinco de Mayo because my husband was going to be out-of-town on her actual birthday.  Two dance recitals were performed away. My middle has a flair for theatrics and I’ve never been (but I was just as proud of her big sister when she was 3) so proud of someone so tiny dancing to, “A Dream Is a Wish.” She knew EVERY. SINGLE. STEP. When it was my oldest turn, she performed it with such grace AND those facials, the facials! EN POINTE! My oldest also graduated pre-school. Next year she will attend a language immersion program, learning French, for kindergarten.

The Baby: (who isn’t actually a baby anymore) USED THE POTTY FOR THE FIRST TIME! I wasn’t even in there! The middle was going to the bathroom on the “big” potty and she called out that the baby had used the princess potty. Just like that. Like it was no big deal. Not like the hundreds of times I’ve put her on the potty and she started screaming. She’s also learned how to pee in the grass. It’s Summer and I don’t care anymore.

I’ve started a public Instagram account, (just in case anyone is actually reading this blog) writeandpeak. It’s more pictures of my home life, decor, travels, Cooper, and less about my children-for safety reasons and because there are some serious creeps in this world. I felt really really weird starting a blog and sharing these pictures because A. I’m not a professional photographer B. I’m not a professional blogger or writer  C. Nothing is stylized by a professional D. Who actually cares? E. What would others think?

But honestly, I just like the pictures. I realize I’m a stay-at-home-mom, who doesn’t travel that often (or brush my hair or get out of gym clothes). I’m a tad OCD, weekend wine drinker, every night tea drinker and chocolate eater, and my life isn’t all that exciting, but I LOVE pretty things and flowers, so that’s what you’ll get on my Instagram.

Upcoming post will be: Cinco De Mayo Party pictures, Lake house florals, NEW OBSESSION around my house, to include my Mother’s Day painting by Art By Natalie Taylor, and my upcoming trip to Williamsburg, VA. (Now I have to do more post, unless I decide to go back an edit this last section)

MIA* one time I texted my friend that she was "MIA" and she responded back with, "who is Mia?" I just got a good laugh at something that happened ten years ago...

Aiden

What if Carrie had married Aiden? How many BIG loves do we get in life? What if you don’t marry your soulmate? Do soulmates exist? What if your soulmate dies?

Yesterday was the 5th anniversary of my father’s passing. It got me thinking about soulmates. My parents had dated since they were in the 7th grade. 7th GRADE! They broke up in during college for a brief time and shortly after they got back together, my dad proposed to my mom. At my father’s visitation, we decided to celebrate his life and our life with him, instead of just grieving his death. My mom had notes that my father wrote her, even during middle school. One was the classic, check yes or no. That described my dad, classic. But what comes after the BIG love? The classic?

It took my mom 4 years to begin dating again. And once she found someone that fit and for her to call her boyfriend (who is also a widower), she made sure to tell him that she wasn’t looking for her soulmate again...she had that, she was looking for a companion. That doesn't mean you don't fall in love. You just love differently.

How many marry the companion? Was that what Aiden was? Carrie’s companion. Re-watching the show, Aiden seems pretty perfect, yet not perfect for Carrie. He isn’t Big.

Fairy Garden

The older I get, the older my soul becomes. My latest obsession is gardening. I think it began to take root a couple of years ago when we bought our first home. At the time it was more maintaining what was already there and potting flowers. When we purchased our second home, there was little to none landscaping in the backyard. Horribly ugly sight to sit outside and look at the back of our house. Last summer I planted two rose trees, two azalea trees, five hydrangeas underneath the trees, and six azaleas. I thought that was a lot. This year, I’ve gone crazy. My mild obsession transformed (but so has our backyard). I was going to plant a living hedge using cherry or common laurel, but that seems to be harder to find in the south. I know that there are other things I could use, but I just had my heart set on that. I was also going to do another bed on the side of our garage. The problem is, it is in almost complete shade, all day long. I’ve spent countless hours researching, watching, reading about plants the past two months. Going to nurseries and price comparing, feeling the texture, charting the sun in my yard ( who am I?), looking at our soil, the drainage, etc. 

Turns out, I scraped most of those plans (for now) and went and made a fairy garden bed over the weekend. Only using about 57 plants (only). But, it is GORGEOUS!


The first thing I did was get a garden fence and enclose my backyard and also the area that the fairy garden bed is located. I bought it off of Wayfair and spent around $250 total to enclose everything. Much cheaper than a fence. 

I’d been saving our cardboard boxes for a while now to make the beds. It’s supposed to kill the grass underneath, it’s recycling, and the worms love it. We laid the boxes down and covered it with soil, organic compost, top soil. First mistake was not watering the cardboard down before we covered it. 

The next day, (after I once again bought more plants), we began placing things. I’ve been watching Monty Don’s show on Netflix, and he always says this stage you’re just putting paint on the canvas, not too spend too much time overthinking. We placed and played with the arrangement of the flowers until we found what worked. 

Then it was time to dig (with the help of my husband). Since I didn’t wet the cardboard to begin with, once we moved the dirt for the hole, I used the hose to water that specific spot. The cardboard came up fairly easy. Our soil however, is basically clay. Awful stuff.


List of plants used:


Burning Bush

Delphinium

Creeping Jenny

Foxglove

Phlox “Thrift”

Hydrangea

Salvia

Dusty Miller

Hostas

Dahlia

Silver Mound

Irish Moss


I’ve also read to keep the number of different types of plants you use down (like 7 to 10) and then to repeat. Also, helps if you use colors that are close on the color wheel, or contrasting. I picked shades of pinks, blues, and purples. I added texture using the Irish Moss, Silver Mound, Creeping Jenny, and Dusty Miller. I also tried to make sure everything used in the garden was soft so once it spreads to cover some of the ground, the girls have a soft place to sit. They can feel and learn. I wanted to bring a touch of an English garden to the South. The girls had so much fun helping to pick out the plants and their own fairies. Since the pictures, I’ve added fairy lights to the fencing. It just makes it a little more whimsical .

Snippets and Bits

Snippets of life lately, bits and pieces of this and that.

{finally}Spring arrived, just today...

buds and blooms carefully spared through a long winter, with frosts' relentless fury.

Bunnies abound on tables and porches and beds throughout the house {inside and out}.

New pieces in the house and new placement for old. 

An ever approaching birthday for my {not so baby} baby. 

Thankful for the promise of life that spring renews each and every year. 

Fawn and Sage Swaddle 

Scotland: Day 6: Edinburgh

Scotland: Day 6: The beloved capital, Edinburgh. What a town steeped richly in literature, architecture, history, royalty, & witchery! ⇢ "Old town" along the Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle to see Scotland's 👑 jewels. Onward ⇢ Highlight: 'the elephant house' {where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter}, along to Greyfriars Kirkyard {where she also got Tom Riddle's name!!}, Victoria Street AKA Diagon Alley and then we held an OWL! I'm pretty much at Hogwarts⚡️

Edinburgh has become a heart home. I could have spent a whole week in just this city! If you’re traveling to Scotland, PLEASE allow yourself more than two days here! And especially if you’re traveling in August, check out The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Sadly, we arrived in Edinburgh days after the festivities had come to an end.

We began our morning in “Old Town” to Edinburgh Castle to admire Scotland’s Crown Jewels.

Then we ventured out on our own and getting lost… we did happen to find a quaint boutique (tucked among the touristy shops, hidden away) in which I bought the girls mini wooden carved highland cows, tweed tartan bracelets, and little bears with tweed dresses. We also bought them books along the way. Upon stumbling into this boutique we happen to pass by a man holding an owl. He asked the crowd who would like to hold it ( and me getting off a high from the highland coo’s) volunteered ( it wasn’t free). It was wonderful and heavy! Something about the nature in Scotland just speaks to me and funny enough Golden Retrievers were first bred in Scotland. 

I was determined to get to Greyfriars Kirkyard in order to see where J.K. Rowling was inspired for Tom Riddle’s name and so many others in her Harry Potter series. And not just Rowling’s inspiration but also many others. One of my favorite stories they told at the kirk was that Charles Dickens looked at the grave of what he thought said, Ebenezer Lennox Scroogie, a “mean man” but what it actually said was a “meal man.”

We walked along Victoria Street and I realized how easily the imagination could wander into mistakenly transforming this into Diagon Alley. This city has a bewitching ability to run away with your mind and steal your heart. We stopped at a nice restaurant for a bite to eat but once we sat down we realized that this wasn’t where we wanted to spend our last lunch in Scotland. So before we could order we excused ourselves to find an authentic Scottish pub. BEST DECISION. Great fish and chips and beer. 

Later that afternoon we boarded The Royal Yacht Britannia. I love watching The Crown, and after walking around the Britannia I could see how a ship like this could be a sort of second home. However, once again my (strep) throat was killing me and being in such small quarters wasn’t happening. I wandered as long as I could before I made my way to open fresh air. 

This was our last actual full day in Scotland. The next morning, as we boarded the plane and tears swelled up in my eyes while we took off. I’ve traveled to other countries and always have been ready to return home.  However, this trip was too short and I felt like I was leaving a piece of my soul behind. 

When planning your vacation make sure you account for travel days (days that won’t actually be spent in the place). This might be a "duh" point, but it wasn't something I thought of. The next time, I’d like to go for at least 8 days.


Until I see you again, bonnie bonnie Scotland...

Gus am faic mi thu a-rithist, bonnie bonnie Alba

Day 5: DUNDEE: ST. ANDREWS: PERTH: EDINBURGH 

Day 4: ISLE OF SKYE: CULLODEN MOOR: PITLOCHRY: DUNDEE

Day 3: GLASGOW: FORT WILLIAM: GLENFINNAN: ISLE OF SKYE

Day 3: PART 1: Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond

Day 2: GLASGOW, GLENGOYNE, STIRLING & BANNOCKBURN

Day 1: Glasgow

Cheers to 30 Years!

This past weekend was spent SURPRISING my husband for his 30th birthday!

Friday started off a little rough. Bad days all around. My baby started with a runny nose and not quite feeling herself (which now has turned into another rash and another trip to the allergist). I spent the morning packing the four girls and golden boy’s stuff to take for the weekend. I planned a surprise party at the in-laws house. My husband called and said he might have to work Saturday night (of course this would be the one weekend). Luck on our side, he didn’t have to and off we went!


Saturday, I gave him the “day off.” He spent the morning hiking with his dad, brother, and two brother-in-laws, in Paris Mountain, Greenville. And then they went to the brewery, Birds Fly South, and next to Willy Taco’s-Feed & Seed.

Meanwhile, I decided to finally tell the girls what we were really doing! I made sure not to tell them before, because I knew that they’d get too excited and let it slip. Honestly, I’m surprised I didn’t! Most of the party prep I had shipped to the in-laws before, but I still needed to pick up a few things.

Total Wine for liquor and beer: Whiskey, Bourbon, Brandy, Scotch 

The Whiskey & Cigar Bar

Henry’s Smokehouse: BBQ

Publix: Flowers, fill the GIANT balloons I ordered from Amazon, last minute chips, buns, veggies, cookies, pretzels, drinks, and ice

My mother-in-law made her mac-n-cheese, and slaw (which taste nothing like slaw and was amazing), and some sweet tea.

24 Hour Slaw

3 lbs. Chopped Cabbage

1 Large Onion

1 Green Bell Pepper and 1 Red Bell Pepper Chopped

Combine slaw ingredients in a large bowl. When vinegar mixture has completely cooled, add to slaw, mix well and refrigerate for 24 hours. 

BRING TO A BOIL:

1 3/4 C Sugar

2 C Water

2 C Apple Cider Vingar

2 t Salt

2 t white (or yellow) mustard seed

1 t celery seed

Let mixture completely cool before pouring over slaw! 

You might want to do this step first because it takes a while to cool down!

Enjoy!

Make ahead and then put in fridge!

I had a cake made by Cakes to Dye For ( I also used her for the Puppy Paw-ty cake). It was a chocolate cake, with layers alternating layers of cake and brownie, with a cookie dough filling. OH MY GOSH. Talk about amazing. I think she named it, “Death by Chocolate”. I wanted it to be all of my husbands favorite things. I also had her make cupcakes, chocolate chip with a chocolate buttercream icing. 

So the boys had a boys day, my MIL and older sister and children bought and set up, and my little sister was on boy duty when they got home to make sure they arrived at the party on time. Well the boys had a lot of funnnn....and then decided to go get more beer and have some more fun... then to lounge in the shower for a bit. I had everyone come to the party between 5 and 5:30 and 6 pm rolls around and still no boys. I had told my husband that we had reservations at 6 pm and that he’d need to swing by his MIL to pick me up, since I dropped them off so that they could babysit the girls. Finally at 6:15 they all show up! I think the alcohol helped add to the confusion or at least helped him not to care as much that they were late and that none of the plans really made sense for the day! But he was surprised and that’s what counts!