The Morning in NoDa, Part I

I met up with some girlfriends at Amelie's in Noda this morning. This place is beautiful, inviting and delicious! I had to give you a little taste of what you may be missing. If only photographs could capture the scrumptious smell of the place.

The Morning in NoDa, Part II

We wouldn't be girls if we didn't throw in some shopping after getting our bellies' full and our coffee quota. We headed to our friend Cindy's shop, The Boulevard at NoDa for more eye candy. If you like to support local artists and business-owners or you just love beautiful things, you must check it out. They have everything from jewelry and clothing to pet supplies and original art pieces.

Happy, Happy

Doesn't this image just make you happy? I would love to walk into this room!

Found via Oh Happy Day

Clutter Control

Sometimes I feel like my mental and physical clutter is overwhelming!! I just can't get a handle on all the "stuff" around my house. This past week I have read several interesting blog posts that have helped me think differently about clutter. I thought I would share.

On the Unclutterer blog, this post

A very thoughtful article about children's toys here (found via the little green notebook blog)

A poster cataloging all of your belongings, that would make you think twice about what's really important in your home (found on The Violet Hours blog)

Matilda Jane

If your life involves little girls and a touch of whimsy, then you have to check out Matilda Jane clothes. I went to a trunk show today and could of bought one of everything for my lil' darlins...they were all adorable!

Love Week

It's Love Week at our church. This means that we have committed to volunteering 5,000 hours this week in the city of Charlotte. The latest count is 2,516 hours in the past two days. How awesome to be half way there! Tomorrow the husband and I are headed to Crisis Assistance Ministry to help sort clothes for those in need. It feels good to be a tiny part of something so big and generous. If Charlotte is your home, feel free to come out and show some love, just click here.

Spreading Love

This weekend we were out and about and wanted to spread a little joy. I printed out these cute cards, colored them and set out to increase smiles around the city. We left them in unsuspecting places and loved the thought of making someone's day a little bit brighter. (I have to tell you, while I was taking picture #3 in a restaurant bathroom stall, I forgot to lock the door and a lady walked in while I was taking the photo with my iphone. Needless to say, she probably thought I was a fruitcake. O.K., sometimes, I am...)

Valentine's Playlist

Just in case you need some love songs to slow dance to this weekend. Here are some of my favorites.

By Your Side -Sade

Such Great Heights- Iron & Wine

A Sunday Kind of Love- Etta James

I've Been Loving You Too Long- Otis Redding

Anyone Else But You- The Moldy Peaches

Question- Old 97's

Romeo and Juliet- Indigo Girls

Hallelujah- Jeff Buckley

Arms of a Woman- Amos Lee

Make You Feel My Love- written by Bob Dylan, performed by Adele

Fallen Slowly- Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova

A Song For You- Donny Hathaway

Landed- Ben Folds

Whatever It Is- Zac Brown Band

Maybe one day...

midget on a skateboard, originally uploaded by Bill Stickers -c.

If you ask my husband one thing that I really want that he refuses to buy me, he will instantly say a skateboard. I always get the same response: "you're crazy, you're too old, you'll kill yourself". Maybe all that is true, but I still want a skateboard. I'm sure my dreamy images of one day being able to "drop in" a "half pipe" are a bit unrealistic, but a girl's gotta' dream. Valentine's Day is coming up...I'm not going to give up hope just yet.

Meatless Monday

I feel like we are all becoming more conscious about the food we are putting in our body; not only for health reasons, but environmental ones. Not too long ago I read Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food and I am currently reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Both books are eye-opening and have really made me think twice about what I am feeding my family. We have a mighty long way to go to even be considered 'healthy eaters', but we did start Meatless Monday today. It is our way of making a deliberate choice to better our bodies and help the planet. Just think how far recycling has come....removing meat from our diet one day a week can also make a huge impact and it's really not that big of a sacrifice. A little something to think about.

An Ordinary Day

It's wonderful when an ordinary day turns into an extraordinary day just because you come upon a certain someone. Yesterday, I went to Barnes and Nobles to get coffee and catch up on some magazines (i.e. "me time")...I ordered my coffee and was greeted by the nicest man. Let me preface this by saying that I like older men, I think they are cute. But this one was not only cute, he was beyond nice and the love of his job simply made my day. Isn't it contagious when people love what they are doing? Perhaps we notice it more because we want that for ourselves. I'm not good with names, but thank you Mr. B & N barista man for making my Thursday so much more memorable!

Creature Comforts Giveaway

Creature Comforts is having a giveaway for the camera that I want so badly! My polaroid is basically defunct now because it's so darn hard to find film, so I think I need this nifty one to replace it. And it's so bright and white, I love it!

Today I Am Thankful For...

• A quick jaunt to the gym
• A warm house....brrrr, it's cold outside
• finally watching 'Julie & Julia' (Redbox isn't that economical when it takes you 5 days to watch a movie)
• listening to the twinsies talk about what they're getting each other for their birthday
• Bunco tonight with the girls
• what's cooking tonight for dinner
• snuggling with my little cricket (Twinsie A, she's the big-time snuggler)