If I could turn back time...

I would go back to around 4:00 this Sunday afternoon.

I had one of those "Kairos" moments. My Georgia mom told me about these moments one time. Here's what it is:

It's a greek word meaning: "a time in between", a moment of undetermined period of time in which "something" special happens (definition from wikipedia)

My definition: It is one of those moments, where you realize, there is no place you'd rather be. Nothing could happen to make the moment more than it is. In that moment, all is right between you and God and you experience a real, honest to goodness peace.

I woke up this morning. Exhausted. A long week of VBS (Surge) and losing a friend to cancer had taken it's toll. My husband was going to be speaking in church and I thought, after church...we'll come home and crash. That's when Paul reminded me we had plans after church.

Plans??? What PLANS?

I just wanted to sleep.

A dear sweet family in our church, the Carmichaels had invited us over for an afternoon cookout. There were other families going that had just been on a recent trip to Israel. Sort of an "Israel reunion". I decided, okay, we'll go, but only for a bit, then we're going home to crash.

Pulling into the loooong driveway that leads up to their beautiful country home, something started happening inside me. Like, I was getting a little giddy. There were bails of hay, so fresh we could smell them when we rolled the window down. The boys started jumping up and down..."we're going to a farm!" We were greeted by Owen Cole who was climbing a plum tree and leaned out to say "hey guys!" Wesley picked up a plum from the field, fed a little to the dog ("Gunner"), and then took a bite himself. Hmmm.

We had an incredible outdoor lunch, right underneath a huge oak tree. The wind was blowing enough so it wasn't hot. The boys played on the ropes and pushed each other on the swing. The perfect boy environment. Good thing too..there were 11 boys there total. And they're all blonde. They look like cousins! Will got stung by a wasp. It was traumatic for a few minutes, but then he realized it was his "FIRST BEE STING" and he was a little proud of himself.

Then the moment...
The dads took the boys down to the ropes and climbing wall and us gals, young and old, sat around under that big oak and talked. Nothing especially important. Just chit chat about picking apples and blackberries. I loved listening to the "southern" in their voices. So soothing. For a moment I looked up at the sky, heard the wind blowing through the trees, the boys in the distance laughing and screaming with delight, birds singing, and women laughing. It just hit me. There's no where I'd rather be right now. It fed my soul. I wanted it to last and last.

I looked over at my friend Chris and told her about the moment I was having. She GOT IT TOO! In fact, she teared up and we both laughed and cried at the same time.

Thank you God for those moments. They are truly a gift. I'll put it in my pocket like a little treasure and carry it with me. And, pull it out every now and then, especially when I think the day's gonna be exhausting and I just wanna throw in the towel. You never know what God has in store for a day. And I thank Him for each moment I'm given.

These are the lovely southern "belles" that made my day. Thank you gals!



All 11 boys!


I love how Wesley is crossing his arms. He's protesting.

Pinkle Twinkle and Father/Son Look Alike Contest

This is me and my sweet friend Amy. We haven't had some girl time together in QUITE a while. So Friday night we hit the town for some Pinkle Twinkle time.

What is Pinkle Twinkle, you may ask?

Paul and I had decided a while back that every now and then he would watch the boys and give me some time. Of course I had to come up with a name for it....just for calendar purposes. :) You know when you go to write it on the calendar, it's gotta be easy to write. What is it with me and names? I just love a good name for something.

It may be a disorder.

Friday night I officially initiated Amy into Pinkle Twinkle time. Amy just adopted a newborn baby boy named Collin. He's a SCHWEET-HEART. And she also has a little girl named Anna-Kate, also ADORABLE and super smart.

We found these matching PINK hoodies at American Eagle and wore them around. Yes, we were dressed alike. But we were confident and having a blast. We shopped and tried on clothes that are only meant for 17 yr. olds. So funny! We went to Aspen for an Oh SO FABULOUS dinner. And dessert....



Creme Brulee and Hot Fudge Brownie Sundae. YUM!



We finished off the night at Barnes N Noble, where Amy got me a book she said I HAD to read called "The Shack". I'm gonna start tomorrow at naptime. We'll keep ya posted on the book...


Father/Son Look Alike Contest


The contest was this morning at the Avenues. I got up and ironed everyone's shirts. (Wesley matched too, but I think he would've hurt their chances since he doesn't look as much like Paul). They had to do a father/son walk. They zoomed like airplanes and Paul and Will blew kisses to the judges. Just going the extra mile boys.



These were the finalists. The dad and daughter next to Paul and Will looked alike, but what I really want you to notice is the Pike nursery people. These people went ALL out. Man, competition was tough. They had shovels and matching hats and sunglasses...but in the end, drumroll please...Paul and Will walked away the GRAND PRIZE CHAMPIONS!!! Here's what they won:

Paul - a $50 gift card to Joseph A. Banks
Will - a WEBKINZ (he chose a snake, and named it Stripes)





Here's Paul shopping. Man, that gift card didn't last long. He blew that puppy in one shot. :)



Paul, leaving Jos. A Banks, very satisfied with his purchase. He got a shirt. That's about all $50 will get you in there. Thanks for being a good sport about the picture babe!


Okay friends, still waiting for those cabinet, drawer and closet makeover pictures. Spit-spot. (aka, Mary Poppins)

This is CATASTROPHIC!

All of my Willow Tree angels sit on a shelf in my kitchen. We've all bumped into it at one time or another, but always managed to catch a falling angel with our foot or we'll claw around like a kitten until we finally grab it before it hits the ground. Well, this time we weren't so lucky.

We have 4 casualties.

"Springtime" is broken off at the waist, "Friendship" - the cat's ear broke off, "Hope" lost his right hand and the mother and baby one... almost too terrible to look at. I've gotta go get some strong super glue. These are so special to me, all from different people for different things. Good memories. I gotta get these guys on the mend!

Then, I'm moving them to a different, safer spot!

Baby Bird, Backpacks, and Father's Day

There is a little bird's nest on the column of our front porch. A little baby bird was sitting in the nest and me and the boys would watch him all day. Well, I noticed the bird wasn't moving. I thought it had died. So, I asked Paul to kindly remove the little bird so nothing else would get it. He got a chair and nudged the nest and LO and BEHOLD...the bird's ALIVE!



He flopped, out of the nest. Trying to fly, he ran into our rocking chair. It was pitiful. Paul ran inside to get a towel to pick him up with and put him back. (I ran to get my camera) Paul put him back in the nest, where he was too tired to try to flop out again. I felt horrible that I disturbed him. Poor little thing.



Lesson: Birds sleep.

They're very still when they sleep.

They're not dead, so leave 'em alone.



A Fresh Hope
A friend of mine's little girl, Waverly has started a charity for children called A Fresh Hope. She fills backpacks with school supplies, toiletries and goodies for children in need. You really need to check out her site at Afreshhope.com. This little girl is 10 years old and has a HUGE heart. Her parents had a cookout Friday night and the kids stuffed backpacks.

I'm so proud of you Wave!






Father's Day!


Paul is very simple when it comes to celebrating anything for himself. He loves to chill. His favorite restaurant is Cracker Barrel. So Saturday night that's where we were! The boys and Paul all had pancakes and breakfast food. Paul - The Old Timer's Breakfast. Me - grilled chicken with green beans, mashed potatoes with BROWN gravy (if you don't specify, they put white sawmill gravy on your potatoes, not a fan of the white stuff). We went outside and rocked on the chairs for a bit. We rented a ridiculously horrible movie called FLAKES. It's a Blockbuster Exclusive. Save yourself $4.95 and don't rent it.

Sunday morning, we all went to church together. I mean, we rode in the same car. Paul helped me drop off the boys in Praiseland and we sat together in church. That was a treat. Went to Moe's after church and came home and went to the pool and watched Tiger Woods go into a tie breaker. Simple, but great.

Finished!

BEFORE

AFTER!





Well, what I thought would take one afternoon took two. I just finished! See all those empty hangers? Mmmm-hmmm. Got rid of all of it! Some things went up to winter storage. Some to the Warehouse of Hope and some to sell on ebay. My dad put these shelves in on his last visit, so I hope you see this dad and it makes you proud!!! I re-organized my shoes and put my tops back in color order. (Thanks to my friend Mindi for showing me how much neater it looks!)


Who needs 10 pairs of summer pj's? I thought I did. But now I'm down to 5. I made plenty of space so that keeping it neat and tidy shouldn't be so difficult. And the purses...OH, the purses. I got rid of 4 and cleaned out the rest. And let me tell you, I found some treasures!!! Here's just a few things I found:

My favorite silver earrings with "A" on them

My tweezers

68 cents - finder's keepers! :)

$25 Gift card to Chili's - cha-ching!

VS mints

Pens/Pencils and one eyeliner

And 2 books of stamps!



So during this process, I was motivated. Now, I'm going to tackle the kitchen drawers and my pantry. I'm going to tackle them ALL! No closet or cabinet is safe! (I'll be checking my fabric softener dispenser too Donna!:)

Here's my challenge to you...

Pick one cabinet, drawer, sock bin, toy basket, etc. Clean it out and send a before and after picture and I'll post it for you. Let's get organized! Email to angelarichardson@mac.com.

I'm so excited for Paul to come home and see this. He'll actually be able to get to HIS closet now without having to STEP OVER my stuff! Embarrassing!

I'm coming out of the closet, about my closet!

If I were to take a picture of any other room in my house right now, it would look neat and orderly. I make my bed every morning, and try to keep the kitchen free of clutter. But this is the skeleton in my "closet". The "crumbs in my butter" if you will. I am really resisting the urge to just delete this post all together. But I feel like if I air my "dirty laundry" I will feel a burden lifted. This is my closet. I have winter and summer clothes colliding in here and it's created the PERFECT STORM! I have a bucket of clothes I want to sell on ebay and clothes I haven't worn in years. They're going...buh-bye! I wish I could have the Closet Innovations people come and do this for me, but I created the mess, I gotta clean it up! Consider this my BEFORE picture. I'm gonna tackle this bad boy today during nap time and I'll post an AFTER picture tomorrow.

Hydrangea Festival here we COME!

Whew busy weekend. Quick recap. Saturday morning I woke up and remembered that it was the day of the first annual Douglasville Hydrangea Festival (featured in last month's Southern Living). I asked Paul, kind of spur of the moment, if it was okay if I just went by myself and did the tour of homes. He said YES! I was ECSTATIC! He had some time with the boys while I headed off to Douglasville and see these hydrangea's in bloom! One of the homes on tour was also in Southern Living. It was breath taking. I took a few pictures before I realized it was a no-no. Ooops. I'm not huge into gardening, but I still appreciated all the hard work that goes into keeping one so immaculate. A sweet lady (named Pam) came up to me and asked me if I wanted to walk around with her. We walked and talked about flowers and fun places to eat, etc. I made a new friend! I think we are going to have tea this week at Le Jardin Blanc and play Croquet! Yes, I said CROQUET! You have to wear all white when you play. Girls, anybody know how to play? I need a crash course quick!!! I will make sure I have my camera handy that day. :)

Came home, quick shower and change and headed to the church for Judy Ann Bloye's (our Pastor Brian's mom) wedding. She married Paul Wright. A sweet man in our church who also lost his spouse not too long ago. Paul (my husband) felt so honored to perform their ceremony. They are now Mr. and Mrs. Paul Wright. They are honeymooning this week in Jamaica! I'm very happy for them.

This is me and my friend Chris at the wedding. Can you spot the real tan versus the fake one? Hmmm, it's really hard isn't it! Do you think all the SPARKLES on my skin gives me away? I bought a new bronzer, (I ran out of my fabulous Arbonne powder bronzer) and this stuff is like pixie dust. However I didn't realize that until I was at the wedding, I was glancing down at my toes (with "I'm Indi-a Mood for Love" painted on them) and I saw this shimmer. Yes, to be clear I dusted my arms and legs and shoulders and face....everything with this stuff. This picture doesn't really capture just how "DAZZLING" I really was. I'm givin' up, throwin' in the towel, I'm not meant to be tan! :)


It's almost midnight as I'm typing this and I'm B-E-A-T! Good fun filled weekend though!

Your Summer Polish Consultant is HERE!

Those of you that know me know that I'm a huge fan of nail polish and even more so of their NAMES! That's right. I'm more likely to purchase a bottle of OPI polish over Sally Hansen or any of the other brands. OPI has the best names. (and colors, and it lasts a good while too) Some of my favorites include:
D.C. Cherry Blossom
Bogota Blackberry (great for fall, and my all time favorite polish)
Shootout at the O.K. Corral
Kiss on the chic
Suzi Loves Sydney (great for fall)
Berry Much In Love
I'm Not really a waitress
Catherine the Grape (good for toes in winter)

But here's my #1 favorite, for toes for summer. Get ready, drumroll please......

I'M INDI-A MOOD FOR LOVE!

I got my toes done right before vacation and this was the color I chose at the salon. I got so many compliments on this color! Maybe my toes distracted people from my hideous spray tan! :) I came home on a mission...to find this polish. I found it today at our mall. I was THRILLED they had it in stock. Most places have gone up on OPI polish. They're usually around $8 a bottle. But, it's worth it! I've even checked the website several times to see if they were hiring for people to name the colors. That would be a blast for me.

Our family vacation recap

Floaties? Check. Sunscreen? Check. Snacks? Check. Noise maker for nigh-night? Check. Movies for the car? Check. Full tank? Check. Ready to go!!!

The boys had been looking forward to this beach trip for a while. Paul was in Israel the week before, so we were all missing him and really ready for some family r&r. We went to Panama City Beach Florida. Some really sweet and generous friends let us use their condo for a week! It was beautiful. The water was so blue and clear and the waves were RIGHTEOUS! :)

It's about a 6 hr. drive down there. When we arrived Sunday night, the boys bolted out of the car and headed straight for the beach. We didn't even go up to the room first. One of my favorite moments - as Will was running down to the ocean, he screamed with his arms up in the air..."I LOVE OUR LIFE!". As a mom, that made my day.

We had a "swashbuckling" good time on the pirate cruise. The boys got to sword fight, mop the deck, shoot a cannon and we even saw dolphins. Wesley got attached to one of the pirates named Hammerhead. Let me tell ya, this guy was scary looking and Wesley couldn't stay away from him. So much for "don't talk to strangers". If your kid would go up to this guy...? But, no fear, Hammerhead was a teddy bear at heart. Wesley asked him to be held and I saw Wesley look in his eyes and say..."I just love you Hammerhead." Oh, dear. It was cute though.

Paul rented a pontoon boat one day and took us OUT TO SEA! Just our family and the open water! Paul was hitting huge waves in our PONTOON boat. We got soaked a couple of times. You know how a ski boat will go up and down, hitting the water...our pontoon didn't stop us. I think Wes may have been a little sea sick, or just scared. He warmed up to it just as we were heading back in. Will stood on the front of the boat, and yes, he shouted..."I'm the KING OF THE WORLD!"

The elevator, oh, the elevator. My boys would have played on that ALL day. They would argue over who gets to hit the button. One night, really late, we were waiting for the elevator and we noticed a TON of people waiting with us. They had all obviously had a little too much to drink. One lady kept trying to be SPIDER MAN for Wesley. It was really hilarious and freaky at the same time. When it opened, we tried to get on quickly, and every single person crammed in with us. It was HOT! And way too full. When it closed and started going up, one lady was jumping up and down. It made the elevator STOP - in between floors. The boys were S-C-A-R-E-D! An elderly man in back, said "Please just let me get off! All you people are crazy and are going to break this thing and I'm not going down with you!" Well, I was with the old man. Let's get off and walk up! Thankfully, after starting and stopping 5 more times, we were able to get out of there. We found another elevator. That really wasn't a highlight of the trip or anything. But I had to share.

Paul took Will to see the Narnia movie Prince Caspian. I stayed back at the condo while Wes took a nap and watched P.S. I Love You....and cried. I also had my first Five Guys burger on this trip. That was fabulous! Such a treat.

It was a week full of crab hunting, eating, swimming, watching movies. Just perfect. God really blessed us with a great time together. I put together a slideshow of pic's from our trip below...

Check out my Slide Show!