Themed Thursday - Shoes, glorious shoes

It's Thursday! Almost Friday! It's time for Themed Thursday, a fun new event hosted by KD at Southern Whimsey. Visit her amazing blog at http://southernwhimsy.blogspot.com/to see a list of this week's participants. The theme for this week is "shoes"

You may remember this picture of my daughter's infamous shoe collection from a previous post. Imelda (oops, Cait) had just moved into her first apartment after living in a teeny tiny dorm for two years. The biggest selling point for her was the closet, which is HUGE. She was so excited to have a place for all of her shoes that she unpacked them first! As you can see, she loves colorful fun shoes. My favorite is the first pair (click and enlarge if you want) They are pink leopard print! When she was in high school they were required to wear black dresses for concerts. For jazz band, they were allowed to wear anything as long as it was black. But that silly director forget to mention a dress code for shoes, so Cait wore these! I wish you could have seen his face! But the audience loved them.
This is MY pitiful collection of shoes. I actually have more, but how many pair of flip flops and tennis shoes do you need to see? I work for a vet, so tennies are an absolute must. When I get home, I'm generally barefoot (my DH will tell you my hillbilly is showing lol), but I can't walk barefoot on the hot concrete, so I wear flip flops. I resent cold weather when I have to wear closed shoes! We had a party to go to and I really didn't want to wear heels as I knew I would be on my feet all night. I realized that I really wanted some fun shoes, so Sis and I went shopping. And I got . . .
These! Aren't they adorable! And they are comfortable too. DH payed me the ultimate compliment when I wore them - "hey, you look like a comfortable Cait". Made my night!
Now make sure you hop on over to KD's place and see what everyone has come up with for this week! I'm sure it will be fun.

Three, three, three posts in one!

Wednesday is a busy day here in blogland! First I'll start with What's on your Wall

Wednesday, hosted by Barb at Grits and Glamour. Barb started this fun event to showcase what we have hanging on our walls - a true indication of a personality, I think. Make sure to visit Barb @ http://gritsglamour.blogspot.com/ to see all of this weeks posts!
This was a Christmas gift from my darling daughter Cait 2 years ago. Bless her heart, she was a freshman in college with no money to speak of. She raided our photo files on all of our computers and came up with this gorgeous collage of some of my favorite pictures from family vacations at the beach. She then sweet talked Daddy into printing it on canvas and stretching it for me.
Needless to say, this is one of my most cherished gifts. She really put alot of thought and work into this. If you look closely, you will probably recognize alot of the shots from previous posts and my sidebar (and yes funny Mr. Crab is there too!) She really captured the feeling of our family time together. I told you I have the best daughter in the world, right?
Hope you enjoyed seeing what's on my wall. Don't forget to check Barb's blog to see who else is sharing their wall decor with us this week!


It's time for another edition of Wordless Wednesday, graciously hosted by Dixie at French Lique, Texas. Where is French Lique you ask? Just hop on over to http://frenchlique.blogspot.com/ to find out! Visit Miss Dixie to find a list of this weeks participants in Wordless Wednesday - the word for this week is "books". Enjoy!






And since it's Wednesday, that means it's time for Outdoor Wednesday, hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer. Make sure to visit Susan at http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/ to see a list of this week's participants and visit all of their outdoor spaces.

Several years ago, our little town approved plans for a large outdoor shopping center to be built on property that had been a family owned ranch for over a hundred years. Most of the "old timers", including myself, were not too thrilled with the idea. We have worked very hard in Georgetown to retain our small town charm, and many people have worked tirelessly to ensure that our downtown square remains vital and busy! The developers promised that this would not be a "cookie cutter" project, and that they would retain natural areas, trails and outdoor space for public use. They also made arrangements to place signage in the center directing people to visit the square and historic courthouse. They also arrange for shuttle buses to the downtown square during festivals and fairs. I am pleased to say that they lived up to their promises. Below are just a few of the areas that can be enjoyed by people shopping at Wolfe Ranch.



A view of the hills surrounding the shopping center.
This is one of the many patio areas in this development where you can relax (or send hubby when he starts driving you nuts!)
View of the fountain area from one of our favorite restaurants. When the weather is pleasant, there is nothing nicer than sitting on the patio with a cool drink and watching an amazing sunset.

Hope you enjoyed this little tour. It's nice when a large development can complement a small town rather than overrun it!

Valentines Day Swap - my little show and tell

Recently, Claire aka Belle from Life of a Southern Belle hosted a Valentines Day swap at her blog. I'm very new to blogging, and this was the first time I had participated in a swap. I'm so glad I did! Belle was my swap partner as well as the hostess. She did a fabulous job of keeping everyone communicating and it went flawlessly! I came home from a particularly bad day at work and this little goodie was waiting on my doorstep! (Please excuse the christmas tag address blocks, my marker decided to make a run for it!) Oh boy, what could we have here?
This is the sweet letter that was waiting for me on the top of the goodies.
Oh just look at all these goodies! There is wonderful Rose room spray, the cutest little hand towel, an adorable wooden heart and picture frame . . . . . but wait, there's more!
See that little purple "tub" - that is filled with the most fabulous body cream - very subtle lavender scent and it is wonderfully creamy and smooth. See that bag of chocolates - mine, all mine haha. She also included a copy of one of her favorite magazines, Southern Lady. I'd not seen this before, and it is a beautiful publication full of gorgeous homes, decorating ideas and recipes - more on that later. And just look at that cute little valentine plate - perfect for . . .
Displaying those wonderful chocolate kisses on my counter - that way they are always close at hand!
Remember I mentioned the great recipes in this magazine? I tried a chili recipe and it was a BIG HIT! And don't forget, we are in Texas, where chili is an art form. This had the most wonderful smokey chipotle chili base, and it was great. It was 35 degrees when I got up that morning, so I thought it would be a great day for chili (and green chili corn muffins - yum). Of course by the time I got home from work it was 70 degrees, but I went ahead and made it anyway. No one seemed to mind!

Thanks Claire for all of the beautiful gifts. You really outdid yourself, and this was a really fun way to get to know you. Visit Belle at http://sbelle-lifeofasouthernbelle.blogspot.com/ when you get a chance and get to know this great gal! She has such a fun blog, filled with humor, warmth and fun! If you want a good laugh, read her posts about Little Miss Priss! And if you want to know how great kids can be, read anything about her precious children! Hope you enjoyed my little show and tell, it was lots of fun!