Incurable romantic that I am, I have always loved the heart!  I love the shape, the word, the meaning, the responsibility, how it looks and how it feels!  I love it all!

I have collected hearts for as long as I can remember.  As I went through the house taking pictures of some of my favorites, I realized how many of them were gifts.  And I realized how many of them have great sentimental value.  Some are useful, some are decorative and lots of them I wear!

I hope my hearts make your heart smile!

I was with my husband, my brother and his wife when we found the turquoise heart ring…..there were two.  My brother twisted off and bought his wife one without hesitating!  I was a little green around the edges! 

We were newly married and my husband told me we couldn’t afford it.  I wasn’t one bit happy about it.  But I was a new wife and I had all that “obey” stuff rattling around in my head so I was on my best behavior, but I have to tell you, I lusted for that ring! 

Then a few months later he surprised me with it for my birthday!  He rocks and I heart my heart ring!

Wanna see my Valentine?  Okay!  Here he is with his favorite lemon cake!  Funny, it tastes just that much better when I bake it in the shape of a heart!  It’s made with the zest of 20+ lemons and if you’ve ever zested that many lemons then you know it has to come from the heart!  My sweet Bruce!

I actually have another Valentine!  Sister the kitty-kat!  The day I took pictures for this post she was napping on the back of her chair.  Mr. Sunshine was just making his entrance in the window and she loves his touch on her little furry back!

My favorite heart is the one that beats inside me, the one God gave me. 

Sometimes I lay in the quiet of the morning and listen to the whisper of my heart.  I am amazed at all that it does, physically and emotionally.  The capacity that it has to withstand just a single day.  The ups and downs.  The highs and lows.  From rest to exercise.  From grief to joy.

Each day that God allows my heart to beat is another day I have to seek His perfect plan for my life.  It’s another opportunity to glorify Him in all that I do.  Another day to live in wonder of His grace.  And for that, I am thankful for my little beating heart!

Happy heart day to those you love and those who love you!

Came home the other day to find this giant box leaning against the front door!  I just love it when I forget about stuff I ordered! 

I’ll give you a hint…..it’s one of my favorite categories…..

not-the-size-it’s-suppose-to-be!

Yup, knowing me, that could be pretty much anything!  Another hint?  Well, here are a few pictures I took last summer of my niece, Meg, goofing around with its “mate”!

I wanted to show you these pictures so you could get some perspective on the size of the spoon, but once I started I couldn’t stop!  Meg is so darn adorable, thought I’d capitalize on this opportunity to show her off!

Oh yeah, and if you came to the SweetTalk Party last August then you’ll remember the spoon sprawling across the old farm table filled with tags….gosh that was cute!

Now back to the box…..what goes with a spoon?  A fork, of course!  I bought the spoon at Pier 1 last summer.  I had no idea that it had a matching fork until I walked in the Pier 1 in DC!  Well, I had to have it and they were happy to ship it!  Wanna see how cute it is?

Can you stand it? ( The church pew is 6ft.)  Not sure what I’m going to do with them…..thought about leaving them just where they are…..but I can already see the look on my husband’s face!  He’s going to be so thrilled just owning these gems and then if I leave them on the pew….well….although he’s come to expect these things from me, that might just be pushing it!

I think he’s still wondering when I’m going to finish stripping the pew!  It’s only been like that for 15 years!  I found it in Canton in the days before I discovered I don’t do projects!  I started stripping layers and layers of paint off of it til I got bored!  Now it’s my “as is” church pew and I’m at peace with it!

I’m a little bit worried that I have a fork and spoon “thing”!  This is my third not-the-size-it’s-suppose-to-be set…hmmm.  But then there’s the giant pair of scissors I found at Pottery Barn Kids!  Currently in the middle of the dining room table…..

One of my favs is the giant tennis racket that hangs next to the frig in the kitchen!  I bought it from Crazy Joe in the fields in Warrenton a few years ago!  I call him “crazy” and yet I’m the one that bought the tennis racket!

Don’t you just love it?  Well I can see that I have a whole other post to write on this subject!  I’m surrounded by things in my house that are not-the-size-it’s-suppose-to-be!

You know about the March give-away, right?  You win, you choose…six tags!  Leave a comment so I can add your name to the bowl!

The Saturday that Mo and I were in DC it snowed like crazy!  We loved it!  The nation’s capitol covered in snow was quite beautiful!

The only downside was that it severely hampered our ability to pass time doing our favorite thing…shop!  But, we managed!  We went to the National Portrait Gallery and the Spy Museum!  Yes, the Spy Museum….it was Mo’s idea….well that and it’s across the street from the National Portrait Gallery!

Although the Spy Museum required way too much reading we got some serious laughs from our “spy identities” and it proved to be well worth the price of admission!

Here are some pictures from our snow day!

For starters, the view from my hotel room….looks pretty serious, huh?

Cute Marcie…prepared!  Nanook, a-no-no…..don’t be a naughty eskimo…..and don’t eat the yellow snow!  Hey, it’s a Frank Zappa song…do you know it?

What is it with big cities?  Everyone wears black!  Not me!  They teased me to no end about this scarf on my head….honestly…..am I the funniest looking one in this picture?  WAIT, don’t answer that!

Happy to be inside the warm National Portrait Gallery I did my best Statue of Liberty imitation!  Seriously need to work on keeping my elbow locked!

Back out in the snow, my toes were toasty, but my Uggs were not all that thrilled!

A little snow never hurt anyone and a little hot chocolate never hurt anyone!  The perfect end to a very fun day!

The next day the streets were clear and we were back in business!

…..because it’s waiting for you!  It’s all about the March give-away!  March is my birthday month and I’m handing control over to you!

I’m a control-freak kinda girl so giving it up doesn’t come easy!  But I’m entering the last year in my forties loudly!

YOU WIN…..YOU CHOOSE! 

Six tags!  Postcards, Gift Tags, Custom Tags or any combination!  It’s all up to you!

Start leaving comments on my blog post right now!  Every time you do that, I’ll enter your name for a shot at winning!

Yeah and I’m not picking just one winner!  Not sure how many just yet, but definitely more than one!

You’re signed up for the SweetTalk Newsletter, right?   No?   WHAAAAAT?  If you were then you would already know the skinny…..grrr……

Yeah and you’d also know who the SweetTalk Pal is this month!  She’s my twin…..pretty sure we were separated at birth!  Curious?  Sign-up now and I’ll send a copy to your email inbox pronto!

The deadline is March 1st!  Bright and early on March 2nd I’m picking the winners!  Best start making a list of your six favorite words cuz I sure hope you win!

You throw the word “decorate” around in my family and we can’t get in a car or on a plane fast enough!  My sister has waited lots of years to hear her daughter’s words “Will you come decorate my apartment?”  Every mother’s dream, right?! 

Oh and then I got to share in that dream!  Tellin’ ya…I’m getting a lot of mileage outta this lucky thing! 

We had Marcie’s place to ourselves and we rolled up our sleeves and got busy!  Here are a few “before” pics!

As you can see, we had our work cut out for us!  Now for the “after”!

Isn’t this canning table cute?  It’s one of Marcie’s favorite things!  *grin*

Now looking back the other direction, from the wing chairs, into the dining space and kitchen…..

Satisfied with the living and dining spaces, we moved on to the bedroom!

Hmmm…looks like I passed along my love of hearts!

Her nightstand with some of her favorite family pictures and a vintage “M” linen!!

Getting into this apartment was a leap of faith and an answer to prayer and so the reminder above her nightstand…”The Lord Will Provide” 

Marcie loves peacock feathers and all their beautiful colors!  We hung this metal urn with the feathers so that she can see it the minute she walks in her room!

She needed a little extra storage so we found this dresser with cute wicker basket drawers at Pier 1 along with the wall hanging….metal plates all joined together and light as a feather!

A shopping trip to Target netted a new chocolate brown and white shower curtain, green bath mat and towels….and a few 1000 other necessities!

We got some new “bling” hooks for the shower curtain!  You’ll have to trust that the white towels with green and brown stripes tied everything together….at this point they were spinning away in the washer!

Now for a few close-up pics of some of our favorite details!

A jar full of her grandmother’s lipsticks…very sentimental!

There you have it!  Believe it or not, we finished about 90% of this in four short hours!  We loved it cuz it blew a hole wide open in our weekend!

We headed up to Marcie’s work to meet some of her co-workers and see her office!

I heart you more!

Some place along the way we concluded that we’re BIG FANS of our own work….goodness!  Thanks, Marcie, that was a blast!  btw…isn’t she beautiful?

Stay tuned for pictures from our snow day in DC!  And for the SweetTalk give-away announcement!

p.s. just in case you’re wondering….I steered clear of the hammer and nails!

Seems I’ve been a bit lucky lately!  I don’t really believe in “luck”…..I believe in God’s perfect plan for my life, but I like the word “lucky” and so I use it to describe happy things that happen to me unexpectedly!

Last week I received word from Terri that I won her Valentine give-away!  That’s lucky for sure!  Well, today the box arrived and you won’t even believe all the goodies inside!  How did she know that I love all things pink and Dutch and tulip and vintage and sweet? 

Don’t worry…..that precious apron will never see the inside of my kitchen! 

I can’t wait to get my paws on all the goodies in that jar and bag!  Thanks so much Terri, that was fun!

As luck would have it, my luck continued on Thursday as I headed to DC!  The day before I left, I received an email from Marcie saying “Pack for SNOW!”  Whaaaaat?  I’m a Texas girl!  My winter wardrobe is my summer wardrobe with a sweater on top!

That’s okay, I just packed everything I owned that was remotely warm!

So it goes without saying, for obvious reasons, I’m always worried about the weight of my suitcase!  But I managed to get it down the stairs by myself so I felt like I was in pretty good shape…..

When I checked in at the airport my bag weighed 49.5 pounds!  Talk about lucky!  Feeling pretty good about things I boarded the always oversold flight from Austin to Dallas.  Guess what?  One empty seat…..on my row!  Nice!

The luck could of easily run out at that point and I would have been completely satisfied!  But there was still luck to be had!

Just as Mo and I boarded our flight to DC the flight attendant was putting cookies in the oven to bake!  We joked with her about bringing us one in coach…..yeah, like that was gonna happen…..when this really nice (and nice looking!) guy in front of me turns around and says “You can have mine!”  Mo chimed in that she wanted one too and the joke continued as he made a mental note about where we would be seated!

Of course, we immediately forgot about it and certainly had no expectation that he would actually bring cookies to us, but that’s exactly what happened!  About half way through the flight, he leaves his comfy first class seat and delivers two freshly baked warm cookies!

I’m tellin’ ya, stuff like this restores my faith in humanity!  That was simply a really nice thing to do!  Scrambling for some way to say “thanks” we dug through the SweetTalk order of tags I had brought to Mo and found the “woohoo” tag!  We wrote a quick note on the back, signed it and asked the flight attendant to deliver!

We didn’t see our friend again, but within a very short time I had an email from him letting me know that he checked out the SweetTalk website and would keep my info handy for his future in words!

We spent the rest of the weekend plotting how to set him up with all Marcie’s single friends!  Stay tuned!

I probably should have bought a lottery ticket, but content, I was not about to push my lucky week!

Gosh.  So many posts to write…..so little time!  Next post I’ll show you some before and after pictures of Marcie’s apartment!  Let’s just say…..she called in the experts and we delivered!

Oh and then there’s the SweetTalk give-away…..details soon!

Today I’m headed for DC to see my niece, Marcie!  I’ll hook up with her mom (my sister) in Dallas.  Marcie has moved into a new apartment and actually invited us to come decorate!

Can you believe it?  My sister asked me if I thought this means she likes “old stuff” now!  Nah, it’s just an offer she knows we won’t refuse!

She’s willing to pay the price of having her apartment at the mercy of her mom and me in order for us to come for a visit!  I’m sure there will be a rule or two, but when she leaves for work Friday morning all bets are off!

The best part is that I get to put on my “aunt hat”!  I have two nieces and three nephews and I adore them all!  I have worked tirelessly since each of them was born for them to adore me in return!  So far so good!

When you look up “aunt” in the Janet-Dictionary it says: spoil ‘em rotten!  I take that very seriously!

This is Marcie and me at Thanksgiving last year!  I can hardly wait to get there!  It will be a fun time with lots of laughs!  Wonder if I should take my hammer and nails? Uh-oh…..

I’m tellin’ ya, I hardly slept a wink last night!  It was just like the night before Christmas!  My gift?  Why picking two winners today in the SweetTalk Valentine give-away!

Over 50 names in the bowl!  And not just any bowl for my SweetTalk Pals!  A beautiful Ironstone Compote…only the best for the BEST PALS a girl could ask for!

Thanks to everyone for your comments!  I tell ya, I started down this road in blogland wondering who-in-the-world would ever read my blog and why!  I still don’t have answers to those questions but I’m blogging on!  Never short on something to say, you have come to read my little words and I so appreciate each and every one of you!

Enough with the chatter!  The two lucky ducks are……….

Bobbie is new to my blog and I’m so glad she stopped by!  Sneaking in with a comment just yesterday!  See, ya never know!  And that Debbie with all her trash talk!  She has been a fan, a pal and a precious friend for lots of years!  I hope you girlies enjoy your SweetTalk Valentine tags!

GOSH!  That was so darn fun!  Buckle up cuz I’m doing it again….WAIT….I’m doing a give-away every month this year!  But the next one is gonna be the bomb!  Stay tuned, in February I’ll give you the skinny on the March give-away! 

March is my birthday month and I’m entering my last year in my forties with a bang!  I’ll give you just a tiny little hint…..I’m giving up control!  And that’s no small task for a control-freak like me!

Sign up for the SweetTalk newsletter and you’ll be the first to know!

I took a WordPress class back in the Fall.  Ricci Neer taught the class and God love the heart of anyone who has the patience to teach me anything on the computer!  I am computer challenged to say the least! 

And don’t even get me started on technology and this generation gap I live in!  Anytime I need something done with technology in my world, I’m guilty of grabbing the nearest kid!

After that class we became Facebook friends!  Like so many of us, Ricci wears lots of different hats….wife, mom and business owner, oh and LIFE!

With her permission, I want to share with you what she recently posted on Facebook.  I thought it was so great and it was truly an inspiration to me and thought it might be to you as well…..

My affirmation for the day.

So today started (and ended) differently than I had planned.

Last night, I had an excited expectancy to get back to work today.  I was going to go into the office, host blogging club this morning and get a multitude of items crossed off my list during the day.

As I prepared to leave, I had a few precious moments that popped up between a family member and myself.  I took it…..

During my drive to the office, I called a blogging club member…and we spoke for an hour.

My timing was perfect,  as another blogging club member arrived as late as I.

My bff called to catch up – and we met for late lunch.  Turns out, both of us have been on a similar journey during our time apart.  Our connection and conversation today were perfect.

I arrived back at the office, sorted through mail and began to think about my day.  I could see it from a natural perspective…or I could see it from a higher perspective.  It really was a perfect day.

As I took time to reflect back on the events of the day, I began to write things that were true for me.  I powered up the computer to share with you the things I wrote.

May they inspire you…..

Today, I did what was right for me.

I spent time with the right people.

I said the right things.

I choose not to second-guess myself.

I have favor with others.

There is Divine order in my life.

I am intelligent, intuitive and competent.

I delightfully walk in the ways of God.

His Word is a lamp unto my feet.

In all my ways, I acknowledge Him.

I am the head and not the tail.

I do all things with ease, comfort and grace.

Others are drawn to me.

I impart physical wisdom.

I am on the path that is right for me.

God loves me, and I love Him.

WOW!  I get chills every time I read it!  I love that Ricci embraced the day that God gave her! 

She founded a company called Rock Star Media (www.RockStarMediaLLC.com)!  How cute is that?  And she truly is a rock star!

Only a few days left until the SweetTalk Valentine Package give-away!  Be sure to leave a comment so I can enter your name for a chance to win!  I can’t wait to draw TWO names!  I am soooooo excited!

I have such admiration (or maybe it’s jealousy) for all my friends who frequent thrift stores!  They are always showing off the best finds!  I would most likely pass on a priceless something or other cuz it didn’t fit in my ”look”!

I recently donated a few boxes of stuff-I-don’t-need-anymore stuff at a thrift store and decided to throw caution to the wind and stop in for a browse!  I was there, what the heck! 

It’s a big store and approaching the shopping experience without a single ounce of optimism I passed up the shopping carts….

As fate would have it, I ended up at the very back of the store with no shopping cart and too much to carry!  Being far too lazy to make a trip back to the front, I simply picked out a wicker basket….that I didn’t want….to carry my items! 

I figure I’ll just donate it back the next time I take a box!  Boy, my logic…..

So here’s my problem with thrift stores…..do I really think the things I find are good or do I think the things I find are good BECAUSE they are cheap?  I begin to question my own judgement!

And these little plastic fans are a perfect example!  Are they good or have I completely lost it?  I know exactly what attracted me to them…..multiples!  I love lots of anything!

This is the rest of my haul!  That clay angel is cute, not old, but cute!  She’ll probably find her way to my space at Antique Queen’s in Rockdale.  Love the restaurant server!  The clipboard is fun and know I have a thing or two to clip to it!  The two creamers are good, especially the one to the left, I’m always looking for those!

That’s it!  I probably won’t go back for another year….don’t wanna press my luck!