The Blueridge Parkway.

Ray & Jeri (Pop & Nana) are visiting from Florida, so we decided to drive up to the Blueridge Parkway to do some leaf peeping yesterday.


Although the leaves have just started changing, it was a pretty drive.


This is one of our favorite spots to visit ... I actually drove yesterday. Mike had to work, so I did the driving. Oh my gosh ... I've never driven on the mountain roads before.


Pop and Nana with a lookout of the Shanendoah Valley behind them ...


On the way home, we stopped at one of our favorite places to get apple cider in Charlottesville


I'm obsessed with these white pumpkins ... I just ♥ them!


Here we find Griffin in the apple packing area of the cider house


And here he is being goofy around the gourds


Me and my sweet boy ...


Isn't this white pumpkin gorgeous??? I should have gotten it!

We had a great time ...

Griffin and I wanted to take a moment to say hello to our new friend Lynne. We are glad you stopped by our blog.

Happy Birthday Joy!

Today is my sweet sister Joy's birthday ...

Happy Birthday To You Joy!


(This is my sister Joy with her daughters Harley & Stephanie)

My sister-in-law Bonnie is having a fun "Name That Halloween Witch Contest" on her blog ... Click HERE for more information!

And ... I have some fun new paper piecings listed on Ebay! I have listed some of my popular pieces ... as well as lots of new ones!

To find my paper piecings click HERE!











We are having a GREAT time while Pop & Nana are here ... I'll share some pictures of our visit soon.

Another Give-A-Way ~ Martha Stewart Owl Punch

Yes ... it's time for ANOTHER give-a-way!

If you are a frequent reader of my blog you KNOW how much I ♥ this Martha Stewart Paper Craft Punch!


Well ... I actually bought two of them ... one for me and one to share.

To enter for the give-a-way all you have to do is leave a comment on THIS post.

Tell me why you want it.

I will then put everyone's name in a hat and draw a winning name.

Comment entries will be accepted Sunday, October 19th through Sunday, October 26th. The winning name will be announced right here on my blog on Monday, October 27th!

Good Luck & Have Fun!

Happy Birthday Cecile!!

Today is my fantastic friend Cecile's 41st Birthday!

Happy Birthday Cecile!


I love this picture of you and your Momma so I lifed it from your blog!

Ladies (And Boys) That Lunch.

Griffin and I met our friends Cindy and Matthew at Red Robin yesterday for lunch ...


Although Griffin was not on his best behavior, it was nice to get together.

We will have to do it again ... and soon!

This Little Light.

Yesterday I was sitting at the computer and all of a sudden I heard a sweet voice singing "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine ... This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine ... let it shine, let it shine, let it shine".

It stopped me in my tracks ... I stopped to listen ... I ran into the dining room where Mike was working and I said LISTEN.

Griffin was singing this song ... a song he learned in pre-school.

It just made my heart smile.


I had to share a picture of Griffin's fabulous fashion statment. When he gets home from school I always have him change into "play clothes" because when he's outside he gets pretty dirty. I let him choose what he wanted to wear yesterday. And this was the result. LOL ... pretty trendy do you think?


And this is a picture of our little "light" in action.

Today is going to be a GREAT day!

Griffin and I will be meeting our friend Cindy and her baby boy Matthew for lunch. Can't wait. It's sweet because our sweet boys share the same birthday, February 7th ... but three years apart.

Then later in the day, Pop and Nana will be arriving. Can't wait for them to get here!

This past week I haven't had much of a chance to visit many of my favorite blogs. I love visiting blogs and leaving comments ... I will be back very soon to get caught up on everyone!

Happy Weekend!

Fall ... From My Window

The leaves were beginning to change when we were in Ohio ...

But on our way home is when we saw some really amazing fall colors as we drove through Pennsylvania.

I have this "thing" about fall leaves and barns ... so I thought I would share a few of my favorite pictures I took as we were driving down the interstate in the car.


Isn't this absolutely beautiful ... fall foliage & a barn??


Some people say "God paints the earth in flowers" ... well, this time of year "He paints the earth with fall foliage"


This was a beautiful view ... the colors are muted because we are looking through the car window


Isn't this farm/barn wonderful? I want to live there!


Fall ... aaahhhhh ... MY time of year!


And another beautiful farm ...


Griffin LOVED watching these windmills ... they were all over the place. He called them "windows".

It was a beautiful drive ... I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Happy 40th Birthday Colleen!!

Today is my fabulous friend Colleen's 40th Birthday ...

Happy Birthday Colleen!!

I've just added some fun new paper piecings to my Ebay listings!






This is a sampling of some of the new items listed ...

I've also added some popular paper piecings from the past as well.

If interested in seeing some cute, fall inspired paper piecings click HERE!

The Cleveland Zoo.

Okay, so I'm ready to share pictures of our trip to the Cleveland Metropark Zoo ... but first ... I have to tell you ... I went to an Archiver's!!!


I have always wanted to go to one of these stores however I've never had the opportunity until I went to Cleveland. If you have never heard of Archiver's, it is an amazing scrapbooking store with over 40 locations! They have some really wonderful items ... I found some cool things (like owl brads!) that I've never seen before. If you would like to see pictures of the store then click here!


And look what I found while we were away ... a Martha Stewart Owl Paper Punch! Oh my goodness ... I wasn't expecting to find it, I didn't even know it existed. But, I have to tell you ... it was absolutely one of the highlights of my trip!

If interested in some punched pieces from this cute punch ... I have them in my Ebay Store ... you can click here for more information.

And now on to our trip to the zoo ...


I love this picture of Griffin in front of the words made from plants ... it reads Cleveland 2008 if you can't make it out.


And the sign welcoming us to the zoo ...


Oh my goodness ... what is that WILD animal standing there? Is it a monkey? A parrot? Why noooooo ... it's a Griffin!


Of course I had to share pictures of the giraffes, seeing as it is my favorite animal


And Griffin and I love flamingos too ...

We had a really nice time at the zoo ...

But going back to the hotel was a little scary for me. Our hotel was about 30 minutes away from the zoo, so I put the address in my handy little GPS and off we went. We got there just fine ... but on the way back to the hotel, it sent me a back a completely different way. I am the first to admit I am NOT good with directions or maps, that's why I rely on my GPS (which Mike says is not a good thing and I agree now). I knew something was wrong when all of a sudden the huge buildings in downtown Cleveland were staring me in the face and the huge football stadium was right in front of us. The GPS had me turning here and turning there, finally landing me in an area that I was totally scared to be in. It was a pretty rough looking area (that I had to drive in for 8 miles!). Apparently the road I was on was supposedly 4 lanes (2 lanes each way), but there was only a middle line painted and to me it looked like there was room for only one lane on each side. Buses were passing me in a lane that really didn't exist in my mind! I was scared ... really scared. My friend Heidi called me on the telephone when I first started on this scary 8 mile adventure and she was sweet enough to "hold my hand" over the phone while I made it through. Honestly folks ... this was one of the scariest moments of my life.

Heidi ... thank you for being there for me when I needed you!

And The Winner Is ...

Today is the day!

The drawing for the "Owl Give-A-Way" ...

I would like to thank every single person that entered. I enjoyed reading the things that bring you joy. They were pretty wonderful!


This morning I printed out all of the names that entered, plus all of the extra entries for the referrals ...

Griffin chose the winning name and it is ...

Jennifer from New Jersey!

If you can please email me your mailing address I will get this out to you as soon as possible!

We're Back ...

We are back from our adventure ... we were gone for an entire week ... and guess where we went?

Cleveland, Ohio!! Well, we were actually in Beachwood ... and it was a great trip. I have pictures to share and I will do that in just a few days.

I just wanted to pop in this morning to say hello ... and to remind you this is the LAST day to register for the "Owl Give-A-Way". I will be drawing the winner's name tomorrow (Monday the 13th!). So be sure to come back to see if you win!

Something else I wanted to share ...

My wonderful blogging friend Cecile has started a new blog where she is offering her wonderful, handmade paper piecings and layouts


This is one of Cecile's amazing original layouts

You must check them out!

Click HERE to see her new Scrappin' Cecile's Creations!

I hope ya'll have a happy Sunday ... Mike is flying his final long distance solo today and Griffin and I have to go grocery shopping.