a little bit of goings on round here

ive been a bit absent lately. you know, sometimes life gets in the way of good blogging… but sometimes good blogging can get in the way of life too. so in my defense, i have been busy doing things… not being lazy and just not blogging… here is what i have been up to…

lets start with halloween weekend



dad, aunt kay and me

here we have my dad and aunt kay with me at a local pub called enoch’s. they came in for the weekend to help us do some stuff around the house and in the yard. remember the post on this door? well we finally got it sanded, painted and attached to the bed. i have pictures somewhere… forgive me because i don’t know where that somewhere is. as you will see.. it’s been a long couple of months.



new chapter halloween party

here we have a picture from our new chapter halloween party! new chapter is the name of the bible study group we lead on tuesday nights. it started out as a college aged ministry but has evolved to include lots of folks in our church who just kind of dont fit anywhere else. dont you just love halloween parties? we have a witch, an escaped convice who managed to run through the woods without tearing up her tights, sookie stackhouse, a soccer referee, ms. fly like a g6 and a whoopie cushion. what a variety! this is an annual thing and it is something that my husband and i really enjoy doing every year because this is how we met most of our friends before we moved here. always fun! 🙂

jordy, abby and kade

that sunday night at umyf (united methodist youth fellowship for those wondering) we split the youth up into groups and gave them each three rolls of toilet paper and a box of aluminum foil and told them to make a costume. we had some really good creations (wonder woman in the middle here and a beauty queen on the right) and some not so creative ones (a police officer on the right – all they made was a badge and a flashlight out of aluminum).

now for november…

mccall and her sign in table

the first weekend in november was my sister-in-law’s first wedding shower which i was a hostess at. i teamed up with a couple of friends to buy her a living stone which is the large tile in the center of the picture with their names and wedding date on it. in east texas, where they live, getting a living stone for any event is sort of the thing to do. they are made by a girl i went to high school with and they are absolutely beautiful and can be custom done to say anything you want. her website is http://www.thelivingstone.com/ and i really think you should check it out.

i honestly don’t remember the second weekend in november. my memory has completely wiped it out. so to keep it colorful… here is a picture of me rooting for the oklahoma state cowboys. go pokes! 🙂



sorry if it hurts your neck 🙂

the third weekend in november we had another shower for the bride and groom. honestly i was so busy planning and hosting the darn thing that i forgot i didnt have time ok i just forgot to take pictures. but for a visual it was a football/northwestern state university themed shower. everything was purple and orange and we played flag football after the meal. it was really a lot of fun.

then was thanksgiving and yall. i am not going to lie. we went to my in-laws house and i did not get out of my pajamas for 4 whole entire days. it was bliss. needless to say… i did not want any pictures documenting that.

that brings us to december.

the first weekend i went home and helped the lovely sister in law make centerpieces. we used about 100 mason jars and all sorts of different shiny fillings. each table got three jars and a mirror. they were simple, beautiful and really really cheap. in fact, we went garage saleing and got something like 15 jars for $2.25. for realz.

we also tied tags on all the ornaments for favors.



brudda and sista in law

the weekend of the 18th was the actual wedding. it was fast and pretty and i am not sorry it is over. 🙂 i love my brother and sister in law but my wedding was enough to plan. im glad i don’t have to plan any more any time soon 🙂



me and the bride-to-be

this picture represents quite a bit in the hawthorne household. when i went to my first prom as a freshman and my mom was taking a zillion pictures i got sick of smiling and made this lovely face. it was her favorite picture of me besides the one of me in the slutty santa outfit i had done at hollywood portraits but i will spare you the gory details there. i took this picture many times in many dresses and finally in my wedding dress. when sister in law had her bridals done, in memory of mom, she couldnt resist and took one too. so of course i had to have one of us together. i forsee a three-sectioned picture frame in my near future. 🙂



me and my pransome hince

hubs and i got a few good dances in. we love to dance together 🙂

and now into january we go.



my aunt kay and my mom

my aunt is probably going to shoot me for putting this picture on here. i have been cleaning out and decluttering in honor of the new year. i found this picture of my mom and aunt kay in the process. they were sisters from another lifetime. they went to nursing school together. they both drank sweet tea and smoked cigarettes. they were both left handed. they shared a soul. it was an amazing experience to grow up with them. but this picture represents their friendship to me. it was so simple and pure that just for them to be together was enough.

getting ready for my trip to spain!

i have never been outside of the united states except to visit mexico and go to st. lucia on our honeymoon. this spring, thanks to my daddy, i will be visiting europe for the first time and i am THRILLED to say the least. (sorry for yelling at you but it is that exciting to me!) i will be flying into madrid to see my friend liz who lives and works in segovia teaching english to young children. we will also visit scotland while i am there. squeeeee!

sweet potato soup

i live in north east louisiana.  around here, the sweet potato plant is king. you can get the freshest, most delicious sweet potatoes in the world. mine come from oak grove (the one in the north, not the south) and still have dirt on them when they get to my house. literally my inlaws must pick them before they come visit. they are amazing. in an effort to use them all i came up with sweet potato soup. in my rush to make it of course (once again) i forgot to take pictures. but let me just tell you how delicious and creamy it was. this post is already pretty lengthy so i will post the recipe tomorrow in a separate one. the best part is….

sweet potato pancakes and bacon

i used the leftover soup to make pancakes the next night. divine.

so that is a wrap up of what ive been doing lately when i haven’t been blogging.

what have you been doing?