Happy Shopping...

I've been trying to stay busy lately...and unfortunately, that means I've been spending money (my hubby would NOT be proud). I need to get back on track and stop spending money on things that I really DON'T need. But since I've already fallen for a few temptations, I might as well share my purchases...right?

I love Etsy...but what else is new?!?! I also like looking through the suggested favorite shops that they give you periodically. I ALWAYS seem to find shops that I love and then add them to my favorites. Here are two items that I  purchased recently...I just couldn't resist the cuteness!!!

These door hangers are so CUTE! AND very cheap....they are $15 each and are approximately 24 inches in diameter. I ordered one in red and green and asked her to do a different pattern instead of the zebra print. I can't wait to see what she comes up with! They came from an Etsy store called Dilly Dallie. She has a ton of cute things....handpainted glasses, wreaths, and adorable buckets that could be used for Easter or Halloween. Check it out!!

This deco mesh pumpkin wreath was a MUST! It came from Custom Wreath Designs and I canNOT wait to hang it on our door this season. This Etsy store has a TON of cute wreaths...from sports to holidays to just about ANYTHING. I'm eyeing one of her Christmas wreaths for our front door too. Oh wait...I said I was going to try to be good...oops :)

Happy Shopping!!!

Firecracker...

This spring my mom brought me a Firecracker Crepe Myrtle tree from her yard. We planted it, even though it looked pretty pitiful, and hoped it would grow.

To my surprise, when I walked into the backyard this week it had beautiful blooms all over it!!!

I can't wait to trim it back this winter and watch how big it gets next spring. I am hoping it will brighten up this entire space along our fenceline.

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My Willow House Online Party ends on Sunday!! If you'd like to place an order, visit THIS LINK for details :)

Irene...

We are getting ready to exprience our first hurricane of the season this week. But luckily, after watching this video, I am hopeful that Irene will continue to stay to the east and not hit Florida.

Hurricane Irene heads toward Bahamas and US: MyFoxORLANDO.com

Praying for those people that live in the Bahamas and any others effected by Hurrican Irene.

Back to School...

I can't believe another summer has come and gone. Where does the time go? I will be starting my 16th year in education this school year. WOW!!!

So like I do every school year, I did a little back to school shopping.

I didn't get a lot of things this year, but made sure that  I stopped by Charming Charlie's to ensure I was well-assessorized :)

Here are a few of the things I picked up...

I need to take the steamer or the iron to this dress ASAP. But I just love the color.

I couldn't find a necklace to go with this dress, but I think this bracelet matched perfectly and I have some simple pearl earrings to match.

Now that I'm looking at this picture of this dress, it doesn't look all that flattering hanging up, but when you put it on, it's precious :)

 And the necklace??? LOVE!!!

I don't think I even own anything red, but this dress was just so simple and cute, so I decided to splurge.

And the necklace was just a bonus!

This dress is probably my favorite...the collar is SO different.

And this necklace was definitely a STEAL!!

Looking forward to a fabulous new school year!

WHOOOO Do You Love???

I can always find GREAT deals at our local Home Goods. It never ceases to amaze me when I walk in and see all the goodies they have in that place.

I was tickled pink when I went in Home Goods this past weekend and saw that they have ALL their Halloween decor out. Halloween is by far, one of my favorite holidays...a very NEAR second to Christmas.

And then I saw him...and I HAD to have him...

This little spooky owl just stole my heart...

Isn't he just perfect in every way?

 (Please ignore the flowers in the background.)

I canNOT wait to set him on our mantel this year for Halloween.

WHOOOO do you love? I'm loving this owl :)

New Addition to Our Front Porch...

I was browsing blogs about a month ago and landed on the Dream Custom Artwork blog. She has the cutest handpainted designs and I probably sat for a good HOUR looking through all her posts.

I wanted a little something to hang on our front door, so I gave her some ideas and colors that would work best for us. This is what she came up with...

Simple and just perfect for our front door :)

Please don't forget about my Willow House Online Party...visit THIS LINK for more details.

Don't Forget...

Please don't forget about my Willow House Online Party!!!

You can read more about it HERE...I am getting my LONG list together of all the items that I can't live without :)

Prayers For All...

I have had several people email me recently asking for prayer. And we all know what happens "whenever two or three gathered in His name," so I thought I would share the prayer requests here with all of you.

Most of you remember my friend and co-worker that I posted about HERE. She recently received more bad news. Here is the latest:

Tiffany had another seizure and was taken to the hospital. An MRI discovered fluid on her brain. She had a shunt put in last week. This shunt was suppose to drain the fluid in her brain and put that fluid into her stomach. She was faced with a very difficult decision...

Option 1: Not to have the surgery. If she chose this option, she would not be able to go back to North Dakota for her niece's wedding and she would most likely go into a coma within a week or two and die.

Option 2: Have the surgery. She would have the opportunity to go back to North Dakota but now the cancer in her brain will go to her stomach and how long she is with us will be in God's hands.

Tiffany REALLY wanted to go back to North Dakota and attend her niece's wedding, so she chose this option. Unfortunately, the shunt did not relieve the terrible headaches she was having and she is continuing to fight this battle every day.

Tiffany is very tired but she is living out her goal and is in North Dakota at this time.

Another friend of a friend sent me this prayer request:

A 46 year old mother of three and dentist here in my town began having numbness in her arm and then experienced uncontrollable shaking just after returning from a mission trip in Nicaraugua.  An MRI showed that there is a lesion on her brain and she has been admitted to Mayo.  They are doing a spinal tap today, but feel somewhat secure in a diagnoses of MS pre-spinal tap.  They are also testing for Lyme Disease, as well as several other possibilities.

Can you please take time to say a special prayer for these two women? If you feel led to lift them up in prayer, please leave a comment letting these families know where you are praying for them. AND if you have a prayer request, please leave it here too so we can say prayers for ALL.

Halloween Cards...

I never thought in a million years that my digital cards would take off as much as they did. I posted about them HERE and then decided to go ahead and create an Etsy store to sell them. I have stayed pretty busy over the past few weeks creating cards for birthday parties, showers, and birth announcements!!

One of my FAVORITE holidays is Halloween! I found some adorable Halloween graphics and decided to get started early on Halloween cards. Here are a few that I've come up with so far...

 

If you are interested in seeing more of my designs, you can visit my Etsy store HERE!

Willow House Online Party!!!

I had posted a few days ago about my search for new Christmas Stockings. I got quite a few replies and decided to purchase our new stockings from Willow House, I just LOVED these stockings!

One of the replies to my post was from Lauren. She is a Willow House rep and even sent me a catalog. Lauren offered to let me host an online party for all of you that might be interested in some of their products. And believe me, there are a TON of items that I would DIE for in their catalog!!! Here are just a few that I am eyeing right now...

I'm thinking of getting these stocking hangers for Christmas to match our stockings :)

I LOVE all of their party buckets. I'm not sure if I like this one or...

This one the best!!

These candlesticks would look fabulous on our mantel...

 And I can ALWAYS use a flatware caddy for our pool parties!!

And I think these dishes would be perfect for Thanksgiving dinner and/or to serve hot chili during football season!

I will be hosting a Willow House online party through August 29th. Just follow THIS LINK and start shopping. When you check out, please select Lianna Knight as the hostess!!!

Thanks and happy shopping!!!

Mad at Myself...

Yesterday David and I had an engagement party that we had planned to attend. He wanted to go about two hours early so he could help set up for the party. So we decided to take both of our cars...mainly so I could come late and leave when I was ready.

On my way to the party, I realized that I didn't really know exactly where the party was going to be held. I had the invitation with me and decided to plug the address into my GPS. I pulled out my GPS and plugged it in. It has been a long time since I used my GPS, so I thought I would drive a few miles and let it charge up a bit and then turn it on. I looked down for less than a second to turn my GPS on, then looked up and realized that I was VERY close, well TOO close to the cement wall. I tried to steer away from it, but hit the wall with the back of my car. My main concern was that I didn't want to over compensate and go into the other lane of traffic.

I was SO mad at myself. I knew better than to mess with my GPS when I was driving. The longer I kept driving the more upset I got...the thought that kept playing over and over in my head is that my car will be paid off in less than 3 months and NOW I'm going to have a huge dent in the side of my car :(

My curiousity was getting the best of me and I couldn't wait until I got to the party to take a look at the damage I had done to my car. So I pulled over on a side road and walked around my car to take a look at the damage. I stood there for a second in awe...I didn't see ANYTHING! What?!? How could this be? I KNOW for a fact that I hit that wall. Then my eyes trickled down to my tire and this is what I saw...

Evidently I hit the rim of my tire..and I hit it SEVERAL times. I stood there in shock...and thanked God for this minor damage. I honestly thought I was going to have the BIGGEST and UGLIEST dent in my car. Not to mention how grateful I was that this little fender bender wasn't as dangerous as it very well could have been.

Now move ahead to this morning...David is working at the marina today and I had planned to get a little school shopping done. I need a few dresses and sweaters for school...which starts tomorrow. I take the garbage out and decided to take a quick look at my rim and this is what I saw...

 A big FLAT tire!!! Looks like I won't be doing any shopping today and I won't be going ANYWHERE for that matter :(

I'm still so mad at myself for this stupid mistake...lesson learned.

License Plate...

I have always gotten a kick out of personalized license plates...for that matter, I had one myself (well two). When I got my first car, my parents got me a personalized plate that read "LIANNA."

I thought I was so cool!

After I graduated college, I bought a car and got a personalized plate for it too. It read "KWEEN"...yes, it was my family nickname, The Queen :)

I don't have a personalized plate now, but it seems that everywhere I go, I can always spot at least one during my drive.

On Monday, I was driving to work and spotted this one...

Can you read it? It says "MYHOOPTY."

I laughed so hard I nearly wet my pants!!!

Go Jags Go!

The hubby went to the Jacksonville Jaguars scrimmage game tonight. He sent me this picture...

I can't believe how big Mikey has gotten. This made me remember this pic I took of Uncle D and Mikey a few years ago...

 

Go Jags Go!

Stocking Search...

I am in search of some new Christmas Stockings for this year. Here are a few that I am in love with...

These came from Ballard Designs, BUT I'm not excited about paying over $100 for ONE stocking :(

I found these on Pinterest, but the pin didn't give credit to the source. So I have no idea where these came from.

http://www.bambinipronto.com/

Can you help me out and let me know where I can get some reasonably priced stockings that look similar to these?

Pinning Fall...

I'm sure most of you have joined the craze of Pinterest by now...and I am ADDICTED!!!

After browsing the pics for hours, I created a board for one of my favorite holidays, Halloween (and Fall). Looking at all the beautiful orange, brown, and golden colors make me ready for Fall.

http://www.apunchofcolordesign.com/

http://www.marthastewart.com/

http://www.asweetsurvival.blogspot.com/


I can't wait for some cooler weather and pretty colors!!

A Week with My Parents...

My parents have been in town for the past week...hence why you haven't seen a post from me in a while :)

We had such a good time and stayed BUSY BUSY BUSY! I need to get better at taking pictures though, it seems as if I only took two or three the entire time they were here this visit.

We spent a lot of our time just hanging out, eating, and working on our nursery. If you want to see pics of what we've done, you can follow THIS LINK to check out the pics.

We did have dinner at one of my favorite places, Bonefish.

The food is ALWAYS yummy...and the Bang Bang Shrimp??? Need I say more???

We also went to Hanna Park this past weekend too. It is a campsite/beach that is in our area.

 It was fun to go camping with my parents...although I don't really consider it camping when you stay in a 40 foot RV  :)

My parents will be heading back to Texas today and I'm SO sad to see them go. BUT, I know they will be back before I know it!!!