One inch at a time

Over the weekend I snapped a shot of myself to record the progress I'm having with my hair growing out. Now if you look at this photo one might say, "but it doesn't look long at all."

And you would be right. Right? Wrong!! {lol} My hair has finally reached a length wear I can actually put it back with a whole heck of a lot help from bobby pins, that forms something that resembles a messy chic up-do. I know?!?! Can you stand it? I nearly fell over in my chair. That is I would have if I was sitting in one.

 So here's the question of the day and please {seriously, please} chime in with your thoughts and experiences...It's been two months since my last trim. Do I let it keep growing or go get another trim. Does the 6 week rule apply when you are trying to grow hair out. I'm leaning towards not, unless I get some really convincing arguments, since my trim will probably cut off everything that grew out since my last one.

Listening to: Fun. Some Nights

xO- Etheline

A fresh start...in the middle

If you know me even the tiniest of bits you will know that I prefer the cooler weather. As you can imagine August in Georgia...not my favorite thing to experience. So when we woke up this morning and I was on the back deck looking for Richie's shoe for church {don't ask...lol} I was shocked when the words, "Whoa it's cold out," left my mouth totally on their own. Royal raced outside to see if I was pulling his leg. Low and behold I wasn't. Thermometer read 63 degrees.

{insert angelic choir here}

We immediately shut off the air condition and have had windows and porch doors open along with our attic fan which has sent the loveliest of breezes through our home. Even with the degrees rising as the day has gone on the humidity that ruins our summer days has disappeared. It really is the only explanation.  I am in no way complaining. It's spectacular. 

After church we came home and I was feeling a little annoyed at how messy my house was. Not tornado style, but there was a few things out of place in each room which is just enough to make you wanna scream. Know what I mean? Well I set to it and started straightening and to my surprise with the help of my children playing on the deck and Pandora I knocked the clutter out quickly.  

{Please excuse the horrible dead tree. I'm not sure what is going on with it}

With the breeze swirling through our house I sat down at my table for what feels like for the first {real} time on our new home.  Like I'm finally settled. It's an odd feeling really, but the memory of it's familiarity is welcomed. 

I hope now to have the blog up and running a little bit more regularly now. I hope you will stop by and comment. I love comments and new friends. Old ones too; tremendously:)

xO-Etheline

Stay tuned for more photogs of the house:)

Words to Live By

Have you read  How to Win Friends and Influence People ?? It' filled with little nuggets of wisdom like this one... 

{via}

One thing I love about reading is that you can come across passages that really can change your life; if you let them. That if it hadn't been written it never would have had the chance to make your life better. It's amazing. This particular quote really stuck out to me because sometimes I struggle with making friends, yet it's in my nature to be somewhat of a social butterfly. Quite the conflicting conundrum. I've always thought maybe I have to strong of a personality and people get tired of me. I wasn't sure what the deal was. When I read this I decided to take a harsh look at myself in the mirror. I thought, maybe I'm to focused on myself and not with others well being. This was not a good mirror staring session, but facing realities about yourself that may not be flattering never is. The good is coming out on the other side of the rabbit hole. To realize how to fix the problem and move forward in faith to fix it. My new goal for this month is to make 2 new friends. To help them grow and be able to share their same interests. Off I go-- today is day 1.

Have you read this book? Have you put similar ideas into practice? Tell me about-- Tell me I'm not a lost cause..lol

xO- Etheline

a recipe for making lemonade

I need to be blunt for a moment. Can you bare with me a sec??

This past week I thought I found something in my body that would forever alter the course of my life. Dramatic I know, but there you have it. I spent most of the morning in tears and not focusing on the worst case scenario, but focusing on if indeed the worst case WAS the scenario. Imagining all the things I would miss out on. I was sobbing because the thought of even try to begin to say goodbye my children and husband overwhelmed me with a grief and sorrow I never knew I was capable of experiencing.

Now before I continue I should say that after further examination it turned out to be nothing. Weird internal organ positioning --which caused a cameo of the hypochondriac version of myself.  I should clarify that when your grandmother died the same age you are now of breast cancer, your red flags are always at half-mast.

This crazy turn of events led to another fun character trait I occasionally let out of the box {smidge extreme}. I decided to put pen to paper and actually whip out my bucket list that has been accruing in my brain for the past few years.

Have you ever made a bucket list? I feel like I’m ahead of the curve since I’m only 26 and have a while before I’m 87, since I decided that’s when I’ll be happy to head for heaven. If you haven’t made a bucket; what are you waiting for? Start out small, what’s the one thing at the top of your list you will be doing in your life?? These things don’t have to be extreme my friends, I just know how we can become very comfortable in our everyday routines and get stuck in the mind frame of “Oh, I can do it tomorrow.” But it was the wise Benjamin Franklin who said one of my favorite quotes, “Never leave that for tomorrow what you can do today.”   

Etheline’a Bucket List: {in no particular order}

1. GREAT Dave Matthew seats
2.

{via}

3. Take the kids to see the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade

4. Read the BBC Top 100 books

5. Narrate and audio book

6. Spend 3 months straight surfing

7. Run a marathon {half, full, quarter…lol}

8. Celebrate my 65^th wedding anniversary with Royal

9. Become fluent in Italian--plus

{via}

10. Become fluent in Swedish

11.Bake my way through my favorite baking cookbook

12. Live in Philadelphia  

13. Season tickets to Phillies game and go to every home game

14. Road trip and attend a baseball game at every park in the US

15. Camping for New Years in Maine to be the first person to celebrate new years

16. See Redwood National Park

17. Go to the ice hotel in Sweden

18. See the aurora borealis
19. take route 66 and 

{via}

20. Go to an Olympics

21. Attend the Kentucky derby and wear a massive hat

22. Go to finals of the tennis grand slams

23. meet an A List celebrity {Martin Sheen, Rachel McAdam, Julia Roberts, ect}

24.Attend a taping of BBC Top Gear
25.

{via}

 26. Take a pottery class

27. Live on a sail boat for a month

28. Live in Central/South America

29. Go to a butterfly garden

30. See the Taj Mahal

31. Cover my hands with Henna

32. Walk the El Camino de Santiago with Royal

33. Motorcycle through Vietnam when the kids are older

34. Publish a book
35.  Be a mother that my children love and respect/
 

{via}

36. Go bungee jumping

37. Read the Book of Mormon in a month

38. Become a certified sharpshooter

39. See Phantom of the Opera on Broadway

40.

41.

42.

43.

44.

45.

46.

47.

48.

49.

50.

Self Medicating: {the right way}

This is a carton of Tropicana Orange Juice:

This is how many cartons of Tropicana Orange Juice I've drank in the last 4 days:

Now I'm {pretty much} all better.

Moral of the story::

Pump yourself full of vitamin C and go to sleep at 7:30pm right after your kids go to bed and soon you will be like new.

xO-Cat