rug placement?

we just revamped the master bedroom (nothing major, just new ceiling fan, hardwood floors, cool new eurosham pillows, etc.). and one of the new additions to the room is this new awesome sisal rug:


so, any of you with a decorating sense out there---i need your help and opinions. what is the best way to place an area rug in the bedroom? do you put the whole bed on it?

do you center it in the room?

photo courtesy of karen sesler design

or do you put half of the bed on it?

is there a "right" way?
...or should you even put a rug at all?

anyone out there in blogville care to share with me your opinion? (pretty please?)

sweet coincidence

two weeks ago, i wrote this post on the blog and used the verse from psalms, "I will lift up mine eyes unto these hills..."

today, i sat with my sweet grandmama looking through old photos and found this one. these are my great grandparents, george and nelle. they were vacationing at one of their friend's homes in highlands, nc just weeks before he passed away.

read the sign above them.

i heart pumpkins

one of my favorite things about fall...pumpkins. last year I was all about my polka dotted pumpkins...this year, i think it's going to be all about painted silhouettes. i started with this cool crow. i found the idea for the picture online and just free-handed it.


then i added an old CZ stud for his eye and some small ones as accents around the words. NOTE: i PROMISE they're CZ's people...please don't come find my house and steal my punkin' cause you think you're getting real diamonds! you'll be sadly disappointed!

here's a closer up:


i'm going to try to do about 3 more, but have to go get more pumpkins first.

while we're on pumpkins, i made a batch of my favorite fall pumpkin muffins this morning. SO easy.

Easiest Pumpkin Muffins Ever... EVER.

1 15 oz can of pumpkin
1 box spice cake mix

Mix all ingredients (all TWO!) well . Pour into greased muffin tin and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Dust with granulated or powdered sugar if you like.

psalm 121

"I will lift up mine eyes unto these hills..." ~Psalms 121

a snapshot of saturday's sunset over the mountains--the colors were like cotton candy and the mountains were indigo blue.

storm's a brewin'

you know the saying "it's the calm before the storm?" well, that's what i've felt like this whole past week. as many of you know, the busy season for my job kicks into high gear oct-dec and i'm pretty much balls to the wall--surviving on hot pockets and living out of my car. this year it seems like it's been the so-called "busy season" all year long, which don't get me wrong---it's great to have a job (especially one that i love) and it's really great to have lots of business. but it comes with sacrifices, the biggest being very little time with family and friends.

so i'm formally issuing a pre-apology now to all of my friends and relatives who follow the blog.

it's highly unlikely that i'll be able to talk on the phone for long periods of time until after New Year's. sorry.

the whooshing you'll hear in the background is me burning up the highway, trying to multi-task on speaker phone. sorry.

no, i probably won't be able to meet up for dinner or go out and see a movie* sorry.

yes, i'll likely be staring off into the mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving, but just bear with me. i'm worn slap out. sorry.

yes, all of your Christmas presents will be in gift bags because i admit whole-heartedly that i don't have time for fancy wrappin'. sorry.

yes, i understand that when you say, "are you okay? you look tired!" it translates to "girl, get your act together and brush your hair! you look like crap!" sorry.

i suppose i should stop writing the blog and go make about 70 casseroles to freeze so that jeff won't go hungry. on second thought, nah...he can eat hot pockets, too. sorry, sweetie!

so here's to this year's calm before the storm--may it pass quickly!

*exception: new moon, of course!

it's raining, it's pouring

what a great, lazy day! yes, it poured rain all night long and all day today, but it was just a great, do-nothin'-and-not-feel-guilty-'bout-it day around our house. we slept in late and did near nothing. i'm not exaggerating, people. here's the breakdown:

here's where i spent the majority (ok, ALL) of my day, watching superbad, fast times at ridgemont high, football, and then did a crossword or two...(doesn't it look cozy?!)


the only time i even went outside was to take out the dogs, and poor maggie hated it!


i kept the coffee pot on all day! i had some great new beans i bought and my favorite elvis mug, so i was quite content.


i did get around to taking a shower (no photo documentary of that, sorry folks!) and jeff eventually migrated from the bed to the couch to watch (surprise!) more tv.


i did manage to make a good Sunday dinner, although the crockpot did the majority of the work.

and so now it's still steadily raining outside and my plans are to now crawl right back under the covers and snuggle up with edward cullen. i (*gasp*) still haven't finished the twilight series. i have eclipse and breaking dawn to go. so i figure i may as well get going on that now since i feel like i'm living in Forks anyway...

martha moments: happy berry crisp

we are fortunate enough to live right down the road from the happy berry, a berry farm that is just the coolest little place. it's fun to decide that you want to bake a blackberry cobbler or a blueberry pie and just be able to walk down there and pick whatever you need. i am trying to buy more local food, not only to support the local farmers here, but because of the sheer fulfillment of knowing how fresh and good it really is.

jeff and i went down to the farm wednesday and picked almost 5 lbs of plump, juicy, sweet blueberries. we would pick a handful and gobble them up just as soon as we picked em! needless to say, we had to contribute to the "sin bucket." it says if you eat so many off the bush that you feel guilty about it, you might feel led to contribute to the sin bucket. so we did. :-)

i made a blueberry crisp that was out of this world....so i thought i'd post the recipe for everyone. this recipe epitomizes summer! and if you live anywhere near the SC upstate, make sure to swing by the happy berry. i promise you'll be glad you did!

Happy Berry Crisp

Ingredients

• 6 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed and lightly dried
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/4 cup sugar
• Pinch salt

Topping Mixture:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 stick room temperature unsalted butter, cubed
• Whipped cream or ice cream, for topping

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Toss blueberries, cornstarch, sugar and a pinch of salt together in a bowl.

Combine flour, oats, brown and white sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and pecans in a bowl. Add butter and pinch into chunks. Mix until it looks crumbly.

Add the blueberries into a 2-quart baking dish. Top evenly with the crumb mixture. Bake for 40 minutes. Serve with ice cream and/or whipped cream.

i heart FREE.

okay, so it's short notice, but i must share with you that you can get a FREE 8x8 20 page photo book from Shutterfly through midnight tomorrow, 6/24.

these are the best. i have tried to do a book for all of our vacations and they just look so good and professional.

The promo code is : GETMYBOOK

you can thank me later! :-)

as if i needed incentive to camp more...

i love to go camping. i mean LOVE. so much that i'm in talks with the hubs to get some kind of camper...maybe. but on the flipside we are a couple of the handful of people out there who still like to camp in a tent. one of the best vacations we've ever taken was when we camped our way up the entire blue ridge parkway and then the shenandoah valley. it was a-ma-zing. i would just like to have some sort of kitchen area, hence the talks about campers.

anyhoo.

just in case you like camping, too, you might be interested in this link. seems that the national park service is offering fee free camping during certain times of the summer. what's not to love?

(besides the mosquitoes and unfathomable southern humidity right now...)


FEE FREE SUMMER PARKS

please pray for this family

to my loyal blog friends and to those of you who just drop into my blog every now and again, please pray for my friend leah and her husband, shawn. they lost their precious one year old, asher, tuesday to a sudden brain aneurysm. leah is one of my dear friends from winthrop that i have kept in touch with, and my heart is just broken.

she has created a beautiful website in memory of their sweet asher. i am sad that i never got to meet him, but felt like i "knew" him through the pics leah would send and the things she would write about him. i ask that you pray for peace for this precious family in the days ahead.

www.robertasherfinley.com