Keep 'Em Coming

And the hits just keep on coming.....

June 3rd my sweet Grandmother, Mema as we called her, passed away at the age of 91.  

It was 6 months and 3 days after my wonderful Grandfather, Daddad, passed at the age of 92.

We loved our sweet Grandparents.  They lived very long happy lives.  They spent their 71 years together spreading God's word across the South.  

They were adoring grandparents that always loved their grandchildren and as the only granddaughters we especially felt the adoration of our sweet grandparents.  We were cuddled, our hair was braided, they cooked with us, picked "tommy tomatoes" in the garden, and were showered with gifts and most importantly love.

In December when my Daddad passed we began to clean out their home.  This time we went back through everything to get ready for an estate sale.  This time it was more my grandmother's things that we were going through.  As a daughter I've always identified with my mother due to the fact I look like her clone, and love art just like her.  But going through my Mema's things I discovered that I may have inherited more from her than I originally thought.  She had a love for fashion, jewelry, beautiful dinnerware and throwing parties.  As we went through her things I found many vintage clothing that I have an updated version of or antique jewelry that is so very similar to jewelry we've bought lately.  I always knew she loved entertaining and it wasn't until a sweet friend pointed out that I was well on my way to having as many sets of dishes as she did seeing that 5 1/2 years into our marriage I have  

5 sets of dishes (6 if you count the everyday dishes I've already replaced)....

Below are just a few of the beautiful pieces of the crystal, carnival glass and depression glass that I was able to bring home.

I feel so blessed to have known these grandparents.  They were amazing people who lived beautiful lives for Christ and have now obtained their crowns with our Lord in Heaven.

- Granddaughter of Herschel and Reba Patton

lp

Lemonade

"When life hands you lemons you make lemonade."

I've heard this over and over before.  I've developed a taste for lemonade.  And I'm good with that.

After a several month hiatus I'm back.  Life got crazy and life is still crazy.  

Trials keep coming but I from my understanding that's a good thing.  

We're finding our way through this crazy life with these crazy trials and keeping our eyes on the prize.

It's pretty easy when your life is shared with a guy like this....

I can't even begin to go into what I've learned over the last few months, one day I might write about some of it, but lets just say I think I've learned some hard lessons in the last 5 months and I'm still learning to deal with those lessons.  

I do know one thing for sure no matter where our path leads we're blessed.  

Blessed beyond belief, blessed and thankful.

"I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 3:14

- lp

5 years

5 years ago (yesterday) we got married.

It seems unbelievable to me that it has been 5 years already.  Where does time go?

I always thought that getting married so close to Christmas was risky and there have been years where we haven't been able to celebrate as much as we'd like because of all the activities that comes along with the Holidays.  This year the last few weeks have been crazy and not with fun Holiday Cheer.  Let's just say that 2011 is a welcome change and I'm praying for good news to accompany the new year!  So celebrating our anniversary in the middle of all the unpleasant craziness this year has been a REALLY bright light to look forward to, not that I don't always look forward to it but it was a day where there was no bad news that day and we were able to celebrate in a small way and I spent it with my love, MK.

Life

Sometimes life gets in the ways.

Sometimes life throws you curve balls.

Sometimes life makes you stop and think.

(My sweet Dadad, who passed last Tuesday at the age of 93)

In the last week I've experienced all of those feelings and tons more that I don't even know how to put into words.  Specifically, I feel that the curve balls have been beaning me right in the forehead.  

In all the curve balls, and life getting in the way I have become more and more thankful for my family and the wonderful, sweet friends that God has blessed me with.  I have been overwhelmed by the love and support that Matt and I have felt.

Here are a few pictures of why we feel blessed.

Cousins.  My cousins can make me so happy even at the graveside of my Dadad.

Friends.  My Freiji is the sweetest and makes me happy everyday.

(sorry Meg the roomie pic was NOT acceptable - but you make me happy everyday too).

Family History.  I like that this is where we come from.

- lp

Follow up to New Look & My Dad

A little while ago I wrote a post about MY Dad and mentioned an article that was about him and his work preaching the gospel here in Tampa.  The article was included in the December Edition.  There are two links to the story:

1. A Conversation Version

2. The full article PDF, he is on page 21 of the file.

I'm so proud of my Dad!

Also check it...I got a photo cred!

In other news here is another Target Holiday Commercial for your daily dose of laughter.  These commercials just kill me and make my day better!  Hope it does the same for you!

- proud daughter lp

Target

I don't usually participate in Black Friday shopping.  I find the crowds make me angry more than anything.

 

This Target commercial makes me laugh so hard EVERY time I see it!

Hope it brightens your day!

 

Target 2-Day Sale Commercial

- lp

Artichokes, Gorgonzola, Giada & Fresh Herbs

Do you like artichokes?  And no I don't mean artichokes in spinach artichoke dip at Chili's or artichoke hearts in a salad...I mean like real fresh artichokes.  I'm trying more and more to eat in season and luckily as always Publix promotes in season veggies with good sales.  So according to this website there is a small crop of artichokes in October.  So I researched some artichoke recipes.

The first recipe I have tried is by Giada De Laurentis, it is Baked Artichokes with Gorgonzola and Herbs. I halved the recipe since there are only two of us.  I also assumed it wouldn't  be that filling however it was quite filling and would work best probably as an appetizer.  I can't say that this is the healthiest of recipes however, I did use fat free Gorgonzola which wasn't quite as gooey as full fat Gorgonzola would be but none the less quite tasty.  It was really easy to make and we really enjoyed it.  

Eating it was an adventure in itself.  MK and I debated on which was the best way to eat it.  If you're not familiar with artichokes the "meat" of the artichoke is at the base of the leaf.  If you scrap your teeth along the leaf you get the tasty "meat."  We decided that if you pile the cheese on top of the individual leaf by dipping or whatever method and then scrap the meat and cheese off it is delicious!

Hope you try it and enjoy!

On this adventurous culinary night we also spotted a culprit that LOVES to leave large gifts of a nasty consistency on my car.  Take a look at this Sand Hill Crane (which are my fav birds)just chilling on my car.

We chased it to a Honda Accord next door and saw the aforementioned nasty gift left on the Accord that we thankfully avoided the next morning.

- lp de laurentis