Sofa Choices

I said I would get back to the sofa issue so here we go....

I love all things Pottery Barn! Have I said that yet? I can't tell you how much, it's a sick obsession. So, their couches were, of course, the ONLY couches I would consider. (Spoiler Alert - we did not choose a PB couch - GASP!) These were the choices...

 The Charleston

The PB Basic

I did a lot of research on these two couches. I even saw the Charleston at the PB outlet in Memphis. It was not a good deal! See what I mean here. The PB Basic was compared in a lot of reviews to the Ikea version of the same exact couch. I had no idea there was a knock off so I had to see it if it was too good to be true. Sure enough....same couch!

Behold the EKTORP Sofa...

Beige colored version

I read a slew of mixed advice on these couches. Some say white couches are terrible and look dingy in months... Some say these slipcovered couches are easy breasy bc you can just wash out the wine stains and puke stains and dog pee... Some said these couches are so hard to put back together after washing the covers... While others thought they were well worth the money. The opinions that I really worried about were people saying that the couches frames were sagging in the middle after only a couple years. And that is the last thing I want - a saggy couch. Enough things will be saggy eventually in life, might as well not be my couch.

So today my husband and I decided to check out a local store in Memphis called Sensational Sofas. We were so impressed by the knowledge the two friendly ladies shared with us about couches and design and really all sorts of life lessons. We were probably there well over an hour talking about the quality of couches today, what would work in our new house, what style we liked. I had so much fun. We also fell in LOVE with one of their newest styles and I think we will proably order before we leave town for the season. I CANNOT wait to see them in person. I took pictures of the couch material (big pillow) the accent chair (top fabric) and 2 of the sofa pillows (bottom fabric.) The sofa pillows were a tough choice to make. Feel free to give input!

With Red Striped Pillows



With Blue Striped Pillows (Matches our painting)

With Black Houndstooth

And with my favorite choice the tan stripes...

What do you think??

The House

We recently purchased a new home and I'm really excited to share the spaces that I am going to decorate over the next year. We are practically going to need to furnish and decorate the whole place. That will most likely be a long project, but here is the "before" of our new home.

The community looks like this, although this isn't our particular house.

 The dining room.

 The kitchen.

 The living room (previous owner's furniture.)

 Master Bedroom (again not our furniture.)

 Master Bathroom

 Guest Bedroom

Guest Bathroom

 Living Room 

The Patio (Not our home, but I forgot to take a picture of ours. :-( )

And the pool.

I am so excited to have my first place to decorate and make all homey and what not. I also cannot wait to cook in my new kitchen. This blog is going to get exciting! I can feel it ya'll!

PB Shopping

I may or may not have a reason to be shopping for a new sofa, but that's another story. I've been addicted to Pottery Barn everything really since the Mr and I were looking for a house. Unfortunately, the PB prices aren't exactly "first time homebuyer" friendly.

I have found a great alternative to the PB store in the Lenox mall, which is the PB Outlet store in Dawsonville, Ga. A mere 45 minutes away to save on practically anything you can get at the regular store. Enter problems...

My husband found this chair...

Which is priced at the store for $1499.00. He saw it randomly in the outlet store with a price tag of 599.99. SOLD!

This brings me to some tips about PB Outlet shopping:

1. No need to buy from the store anymore since most everything is cheaper at the outlet...Duh!
2. Not everything at the outlet is a good deal! For instance, I saw a rug at the regular store for $250. I saw the same rug at the outlet except that it said it was $200 on sale from $450. Ok, so that may seem confusing bc it's a better price right? But, here is the problem...
3. Most of the Outlet stores merchandise didn't sell in the regular store, so they sent it to the outlet store and mark it a tad bit cheaper. This might seem still confusing bc I get it, it's cheaper. But look at #4 for the best deal!
4. The PB outlet stores receive all of the "catalog returns" and usually mark them half off or more for a quick sale. This mean that rug probably would have come to the outlet store and sold for $100 - 150!
5. If the outlet store carries more than 1 of the item you think is "cheaper," its usually not as cheap as it could be if it were a "catalog return."
6. These "catalog returns" are SUPER hard to find because I've heard "little ebay ladies" come when the shipping truck gets there and snag all the good deals then turn around and sell them on ebay. Those little b#$^$#@$!
7. The store in Atlanta gets their shipments on Monday and Tuesday morning. So IF you get their early (say 8am) and IF you wear protective gear you might be able to compete with the "little ebay ladies" for AMAZING deals. How amazing you ask??

I've been salivating over this chandelier since we bought our new house (whoops cats out of the bag).

In the store this chandelier retailed for $399.00. It recently went on sale for $299. Then I saw it in the PB outlet Memphis for $279.00. Not that much difference right? Plus they were carrying more in the back. This week, however, I went back and saw it again and it was a "catalog return." I snagged this GORGEOUS chandelier for around $60! And that my friends is how to get PB on a "first time homebuyer's" budget.

Ok I'll get back to the sofa in my next post. I received all of this "inside" information from a nice man at one of the outlet stores and had to share it with you all! Happy shopping!

Ahi Tuna - Memphis Style

My husband really was really craving our favorite ahi tuna recipe,  and although I was a little weary about the tuna selection in landlocked Memphis, I bit the bullet and we found fresh tuna at the Fresh Market. How convenient! Right off the boat? Maybe not, but it looked so good!

We usually split the recipe in half unless we are expecting company, but even for half of the recipe we needed the zest of 1 lime. Easy right? Yes, if you are in Atlanta, with ALL of your kitchen tools that would be REAL easy! Unfortunately, I did not bring a zester to Memphis so my clever husband suggested I use a .... butter knife. So being the sweet, gracious, husband-pleasing wife that I am ... I obliged.

Took me about 20 minutes to get the zest of 1/2 a lime and my hubbs said, "That's good enough."  You're welcome sweetheart! He finished the rest of the ingredients and my hands were too soar to take a "completed picture." However, I did photograph the yummy cajun tilapia we later made. It makes my mouth water just looking at it.



I think that was tilapia? Anyways, have you ever had to improvise on a tool as convenient as a zester??

Puppy Shoot

Hershey has found his love and I was there to capture the first sweet moments! Happy Sunday everyone!!

A Very Special Nephew

Happy Birthday to my very sweet and big - hearted nephew, Luke! (on the right). He has always been such a sweet boy to his brothers and sisters and a big help to his mama. He can bring a smile to any one's face with his bright expressions and the colorful stories he tells us. Luke,  you are growing up so fast! I wish we could live closer to see all of your new adventures. You are such a blessing to me and your family! I hope you grow up to accomplish all of your dreams; you are a very inspiring young man. I love you very much! Happy 8th Birthday!!

Aunt Jessie

Tough Times...

(James 1:2-4 ) Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.




After being on the DL (disabled list) most of last year, I was positive he couldn't get hurt again. But, sure enough my husband went from looking like this...

To this the night after a horrific collision in the outfield...

I moved to Memphis in April to be with my husband for this season. On the first road trip (6 games into the season), I was out with some of my friends for tacos and a movie when I got a phone call from one of the other wives. She was panicked! She said that Shane had been in an accident and was in bad condition, but didn't know anything else. The trainer had called her, but didn't give much information. He just said that Shane had run into another outfielder. I was actually super calm about it all at first. I figured he most likely had a concussion, but wouldn't believe it could be any worst. After talking to the trainer myself, I found it was much much worse than what I thought...

Shane was admitted to the ICU w several facial fractures, a broken hand, and unstable heart rate. I was able to talk to the trauma doctor at about midnight (4-5 hours after the accident). She told me he was being kept in the ICU because his heart rate was falling really low (20 beats per minute at one point). She said she would call me if anything came up. They put him on a morphine drip to control the pain. 

One of his teammates came to the hospital to check on him and was able to describe to me the injuries. He said that Shane's face looked like it was dented in and that he had been bleeding near his his eye. He tried to put the phone up to Shane so I could at least hear his voice, but Shane was unable to talk.

I flew to Des Moines the next day to be by his side. He ended up braking the zygomatic bone in his face which at the time meant it was sitting on his mandible. He wasn't able to open his mouth hardly at all. His hand was also throbbing and was later we were extremely disappointed to find out that his broken hand would keep him out of baseball for the next 2+ months. The knuckle was broken the same way a ping pong ball looks when it's dented.

We spent the next day and a half in the hospital waiting for him to be stable enough to leave ICU and later be discharged to fly back to Memphis.

This is video of the crash...  CLICK HERE

We flew back to Memphis and met with two specialist to schedule surgeries that would stabilize his hand and pull the depressed bones in his face up. These surgeons do not work together so the surgeries ended up being two days in a row. Each surgery required an awake intubation (so they could get the tubes down his throat). Two plates in his face, and three pin screws in his hand later and he was on the road for a long recovery...

A rare smile before the first surgery.

The surgeon used the incision to the left to pull the bone in his face back up and right below his eye to put a plate above his eyebrow.

He wore this club cast after surgery for the first two weeks.

After two weeks he was switched to a splint. This is the scar.

Luckily, I can now say that he is doing much better! He has just a couple more weeks of rehab before he can return to swinging a bat. We are so thankful it wasn't another season- ending injury. God works in very mysterious way. I truly believe that! Along this road we have learned a lot about patience, being content, and looking to Him to show what to do next. We are so thankful for the friends and family and for all of the prayers that helped us through this difficult time!