Biker Babe

I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that this costume had absolutely nothing to do with Halloween.

When we recently visited Indiana, Brad and I met my dad and brother for lunch one day at Culver's (Yum!). Turns out my dad has become quite the Biker stud (on his Geezer Glide, haha), and he couldn't resist dressing his little girl up in all of his mo-mo-gear (leather coat and gloves, do-rag, and aviator shades), even though every bit of it was way too big for me.

I do believe I'd make quite the Biker Babe! Well, at least that's what my daddy told me...

Now let's see if my real Halloween costume can top this... Hope you all have a spooky Halloween and have a lot of fun dressing up in really great costumes!

The art of Subtlety

City driving has the ability to bring the road rage out in anyone. I can definitely relate to these not-so-subtle sentiments.

The funny thing is, I ended up passing this guy on the right because he was going so slow. Guess he didn't get his own message.

Dog Food Confusion

You know how Chester likes to crawl inside his dog food bag, right? Well, he doesn't seem to quite understand that he can't also fit inside one of the smaller bags.



Doesn't he look like a giant dog?

We were in a hurry, and just grabbed a small bag this time, even though we normally buy the biggest bulk-sized bag possible. Since he seemed to be in the mood to crawl into a bag of dog food, I threw down the empty one for him to play in. (I'm just that kind of loving mama who likes to please her sweet pup.)



That's more like it.

However, it didn't take very long of him licking crumbs to realize which bag had the better reward, and he went right back to squeezing his little head into the smaller one. He's no dumby, that dog of mine. He's smarter than he looks.



To each his own.

Chester is so, incredibly weird. But I totally love him and wouldn't have it any other way.

Old is all in the perspective

Happy birthday, Em!!

Love you so super much! You're the most beautiful 30-year-old person, I know! Hope you have a great one! You most definitely deserve it. Here's to another awesome, blessed year. :)

(I can't believe my best friend is 30! What in the round world?? Turns out that the older I get, the older "old" gets... Luckily, having older friends always helps to keep me feeling young! Muwahahaha.)

Speak Now

Today is like my Christmas in October! Taylor Swift's third album, Speak Now, is finally released!! I've been anticipating this new installment to my TSwift collection almost more anxiously than I anticipate Disney's Vault opening!



Isn't she beauuuutiful??

I was thiiiiis close to buying it the minute it came out, (you know how I love my midnight releases) but I discovered that Target was releasing a Deluxe Edition that included a second CD with some extra acoustic versions of her songs as well as some additional new songs and some video footage! Of course, I have to have the best of the best when it comes to my best friend. To my intense sadness, Target doesn't open their doors until 8:00 in the morning... Which simply means that I left work a mere 15 minutes after I arrived this morning so I could swiftly (see what I did there?) acquire my new prized possession!



I was barely strong enough to resist the T-shirt temptation.

The Target employees must have already noticed a Swizzle rush, or they could just recognize a lady on a mission, because as soon as I walked in, they directed me straight to the Taylor display, and I made a beeline to my new fave CD. I heard a couple of them chuckling amongst themselves as I took a self portrait of my excitement, and they discussed how they can "already see the crowd comin' in!" Whew. Good thing I beat the rest of them!



The dress is red rather than purple on Target's Deluxe Edition.

It's fair to say that I absolutely love this album and every song on it. I've spent all day listening to the entire CD on repeat, reading the lyrics and committing them to memory, not to mention decrypting the hidden messages she puts in the booklet within the lyrics of each song by having a series of letters capitalized throughout, spelling something unique to the story. She's so clever.

Oh, how I love Taylor! Honestly, we're the best of friends (and she doesn't even know it). I'm so happy today. What a happy, Taylor-filled Monday!

With Beauty and the Beast coming out, AND Speak Now, October has been a release month designed just for me! I believe it's the little things in life that make the biggest smiles... ♥

Fall Foliage

While we were up in Indiana, I couldn't help but marvel at God's beautiful artwork. It seems like He demonstrates Autumn in an even more obvious way in the Midwest than He does in the South.

Here in Nashville, we definitely still get the changing seasons with falling leaves, but I don't think we get transitioning trees quite this vibrant. What a blessing to witness; a treasure to behold.

God is so good.

Rare Commodity

Where I grew up, it was understood that the only acceptable salad dressing was Mullen's French. Everybody (who was anybody) agreed that it's unique flavor and texture, as well as its over all deliciousness made it the clear dressing of choice. (It's so unlike any other old, run-of-the-mill French dressing. More like a tangy, French vinaigrette of sorts. You'll just have to try it. Seriously.)

I didn't realize that it was rare until we moved to Indiana during my high school years, and the only grocery store that carried it was the local County Market, which only had a small supply at that. (Really, people didn't even know what they were missing.) Regardless of the special trip it took to acquire the goodness, Mullen's French remained a staple in our household for all of our salad topping needs. Imagine my sadness when Brad and I moved down South and Mullen's deliciousness was nowhere to be found.

For the last eight years, I've had an open commerce with the North going to supply my favorite dressing. In most instances, a parent of ours would bring a shipload down with them whenever they visited that would sustain me until our next fair trade. Sadly, I depleted my resources over a month ago, ahead of schedule.

When Brad and I visited Indiana this past weekend, I had to visit County Market and purchase a stock pile of the classic dressing, myself. (Since Brad doesn't like it, {pshh} I think three bottles should last me a couple of  months...) I can't wait to make a tasty chef salad, complete with ham, turkey, bacon, carrots, hard-boiled eggs, green bell peppers, grape tomatoes, lots of cheese, and croutons, then top it all off with my very favorite salad dressing of all time, Mullen's French. Mmmm... I'm hungry just thinkin about it.

What regional item do you love that you have to "import" to your home?

Finally Friday

I am so glad that it's finally Friday. You have no idea. This has been the longest.week.ever.

First of all, today was the tax deadline for those people who filed extensions on their taxes back in April, which means that this week has been a mini-April 15th here at the office. It's been crazy (on a smaller scale, but definitely still crazy.) Thankfully, it's all over. I'm so ready for the weekend.

But most of all, I'm ready for the weekend, because I get to see my husband! He has been out West with some friends all week hiking, backpacking, and climbing mountains in South Dakota and Wyoming. Yeah, seriously. (If I'm lucky, I'll be able to talk him into doing a guest post on the blog so he can tell us all about it and show off some of those awesome pictures he's been taking from the tops of mountains!)

He left last Saturday morning before I woke up, so for all intents and purposes, he's been gone since Friday. Which means it's officially been a week since I've seen him at all. No good. And I've barely been able to communicate with him since the West seems to be lacking in cell reception. (Lame.) They're on their way back right now, but since the drive roadtrip is so long, I won't get to see him until tomorrow. I know he's having a great time with the guys and has loved the experience, but I cannot wait to hug him!!

Furthermore, I'm so pumped for this weekend, because we're going out of town! Actually, Brad won't even be back in town before he goes out of town. Chester and I are meeting his posse in Louisville, where they'll hand him off to me. He'll switch clans and join us as we finish our trip to Indiana to visit family. Best of all, we're staying until Tuesday! I get a four day weekend! Holla! This is one week I can definitely say TGIF!

Hope you guys have a great weekend! Any awesome plans?

Wolf Sighting

The boys are obsessed with wolves for some reason. It's all a big joke around here. Who knows? I simply do not get the infatuation. I do, however, understand the significance of wolf presence in their lives. (Weird.)

I was sitting behind this wolf lover in traffic for forever on my way home from work one day. And in honor of my love for my husband and his weird friends, as soon as I realized what that beautiful window decal was, I grabbed my camera and captured the moment. (We literally were not moving, so don't worry.) I couldn't let this stellar wolf sighting go unshared. Not only was it a wolf head, but it was a wolf head in the middle of a dream catcher! On the back of a car. In real life! Epic.

This one's for you, boys.

Lil' Louis

Seriously, this is so stinking adorable.

Watching an innocent little boy singing about how wonderful the world is, just makes my heart happy. Sometimes, life really is that simple. Thanks for the sweet reminder, Lance (aka Lil' Louis).

Okay, that's all. :)

Sheldon Search Party

It had been weeks since Brad or I had seen any glimpse of Sheldon. Last we knew, he was enjoying his stay with Charles and Emily. But we had gone out of town for a weekend, and were sure that he would turn up somewhere in Mehaffey territory while we were out.

But to our surprise, we never came across his new location. Brad and I secretly searched for him around our house multiple times. We performed extensive laps around our entire lot looking for the little critter. Eventually, after we had searched everywhere (i.e. deep inside bushes, in the grill, in the garden hose holder, etc.) for like the hundredth time, we issued a Missing Sheldon Report and gathered the Crew together to form an official search party.

However, everybody else just snickered amongst themselves. They were absolutely no help at all. While stifling giggles, they kept saying, "We can see him from here." This was the view. Do you see him???

Yeah. Me neither. They laughed and laughed. We were already mortified that we had to stoop so low as to ask for help locating our mascot (oh the shame!), and there they go, making fun of us straight to our faces. Hmph. Some friends.

They would give no hint other than, "We're looking at him right now." As soon as I whipped around to follow their gazes, each of them whistled, turning their eyes in various directions. Man, not quick-sneaky enough to catch them! Emily admitted, "Every morning, I look out the window to check and see if he's still okay." Boy, thanks for the help. I'm seriously straining my eyes to find him, and you can just glance out your window and spot him in a second, huh? How very nice for you...

And then I noticed a little something out of place... Oh, you've got to be kidding me! 

You guys seriously expected us to find him there!? Very sneaky, Hill Ridge Crew. Very sneaky, indeed. At least we had the decency to "hide" him somewhere completely obvious!

Consider the ante officially upped. It's so on like Donky Kong.

Cookie Monster

First things first: Take a look at Chester's handsome new attire for the recently cooler weather.

Isn't he so snazzy? I was plannin on doing a post just to show off his GQness, but it has been trumped by an unexpected turn of events. However, since he's wearing the supa sexy sweater in the other pictures, I felt it necessary to introduce his wardrobe first. Mission: Accomplished. Now, moving on...

Yesterday, Brad texted me while I was at work saying, "So somebody left cookies on our porch. Think they are safe to eat?" Hmm.. that's a mystery.. No note or message or card or anything. We debated for a bit of the likelihood of a murderer lacing them with anthrax and placing them into our unsuspecting path. (Not unlike when Hermione instructed Harry and Ron to leave two sleeping-potion-filled cakes in easy places for Malfoy's dumb friends Crabbe and Goyle to find, before hiding them in a closet and plucking out a few of their hairs to add to the trio's polyjuice potion in The Chamber of Secrets. Yeah, that's for all my HP friends out there. You know who you are! Anyway, I digress...)

It didn't take much investigating to learn that Emily had left them as a thank you for watching their cat while they go out of town. (Seriously, did they not learn their lesson the last time??) So, after trusting their poisonlessness, Brad brought the container of cookies upstairs with him and "taste-tested" one.

Anyway, that's all just to set up the background for the incident.

Brad and I met right after work and were out of the house until late in the evening. When we got home around 9:30, we immediately noticed that Chester was "actin' a fool." He always greets us with excited, puppy joy, but this was crazy. He was tearing through the house at lightning speed, barely paying us any attention. After a couple minutes, he ran upstairs without us, and stayed up there for quite a while. Well, this was not the welcome we are used to. He always jumps and kisses all over us, and he seldom goes to the opposite floor of the house by himself. We anxiously anticipated what toy he was going to bring down to us, because we were laughing at how much energy he had and assumed that he wanted to play fetch or something.

After a little bit, he ran back down the stairs (so fast that he skipped the bottom three steps, and landed on his face before acting like nothing happened and sprinting twice around the dining room table), but he had no toy with him. Weird. What was he doing up there? He licked the last three drops out of his never-empty water dish and dashed back up stairs. By this time, Brad and I were just laughing out loud and talking about the amount of Loco he had gone. While we put away our groceries and Walmart items, we discussed what could possibly be drawing our sweet puppy upstairs, away from us, and how maybe he's getting older and growing more independent. *tear*

Then Brad went upstairs for the evening. Then he saw it. Then he understood. Then he yelled down at me, "MINDY LYNN!!" Then I ran up the stairs.

Then I saw it. 

Then I understood.

Then it all made so much sense.

That little brat was going psychotic, because he was on a freakin' sugar high! He ate a dozen (minus one) cookies straight out of the container! He never gets any people food, whatsoever (except that one time), and here he goes having all these sweets at once! No wonder he was running around like a banshee. No wonder he was upstairs without us for such long periods of time. No wonder his water bowl was uncharacteristically dry as a bone. No wonder his breath smelled unmistakingly like cookies!! No wonder he seemed so happy and proud of himself. Seriously, he's a brat. A big, bratty, brat.

{Ahem. That's what Brad gets for leaving them on the couch without the lid sealed tightly. I'm jussayin...}

But even with this recent bout of orneriness, he's still the sweetest little pup ever. I mean, did you see him in that adorable sweater?? C'mon...

Regardless, I do believe he owes Emily one giant "Thank You!" for the fresh batch of homemade cookies. I'll make him paw a thank you note. (After all, we want to train our children to be gracious.)

Sweet Date

Brad and I had a super sweet date last night, consisting of big mugs filled with hot chocolate, a classic fairytale, and lots of couch cuddling; all very sweet things. It was wonderful.

It's no surprise that I love Beauty and the Beast and couldn't wait for it's long-awaited release from The Vault. So having a romantic cuddlefest with my hubs to watch my fave Disney love story asap was a given. The weather-induced beverage of choice was just icing on the date-cake.

The re-watching of the enchanted Tale as Old as Time reminded me of why I love it so much in the first place! While I remembered all the main points (the fact that I love Belle most of all, that Chip is so stinking adorable, the oh-so-Broadway "Be Our Guest" number, the incredible ballroom scene, etc, etc.), I had forgotten so many of the other great parts of this movie! Like this song that made me grin super big the whole time! Bonjour!

And this scene and song that contains so much aww-factor I can hardly stand it! (Isn't she sooo pretty??)

I caught myself giggling over and over again at all the little parts that are aimed toward children (Belle's dad sliding out from under his invention with those big goggley glasses enlarging his eyes, the pig snorting along with Lefou after he falls into the mud, the Beast's first "makeover" that makes him look like a poodle, any interaction between Lumiere and Cogsworth, etc, etc.), and I was thankful that I have a husband who found all the childish snickering endearing rather than embarrassing.

According to my calculations: Beauty and the Beast + Hot Chocolate / Cold Breeze Through An Open Window * Loving Hubby = Sweetest Date Night In, Ever.

(Okay, so I've never been considered a math whiz by anybody, but that equation looks pretty legit to me.)

If you haven't watched Beauty and the Beast in a long time (or *gasp* ever!), please run out and get it immediately! Also, if you haven't inaugurated the new season with a marshmallow topped mug of hot cocoa, please add it to the top of your priority list. Thank you.

Special Delivery

There was a surprise package waiting on our porch when I got home the other day. The stork must have stopped by for a little visit, because he stealthily delivered to us the newest addition to our gnome family: Titan Timmy!

While his origins are a mystery (although I heavily suspect my dad), his presence at our home is very welcome! Especially, during this football season! (Okay, well, Brad's not all that too excited, really, but he sweetly humors me out of love.)

Titan Timmy hasn't quite decided where he wants to officially stake his claim, yet, but I have a sneaky suspicion it'll be somewhere with a good view of the TV, so he can watch his Titans play each week. I have a sense he'll be pretty loyal to the home team like that. I'll just let him decide where he feels most comfortable. After all, I like giving my gnomes options and choices, so they feel more independent and unsmothered.

Oh, I can so see this gnome business getting way out of hand. But I totally love it!!

Be Our Guest

Can you hear the doors to Disney's vault creeking as they open up to release Beauty and the Beast? It's such a lovely sound!

Since I preorderd mine from Disney's Movie Club (you're lookin' at a VIP member, right here), mine is awaiting my embrace at home in my mailbox. But I wanted to share some of Belle's magic with you all. Click on the picture below to print a coupon for $10 off your purchase of the combo pack. Can't get much better than that!

Hope you enjoy the Tale as Old as Time!

*Edit* Turns out you have to be a member of the club to print the coupon. But I can send it to 5 friends. So if you want the coupon, let me know and I'll email it to you directly. Sorry about that.

Welcome, October

October means that you can officially decorate for fall! Yahooo!! Look what Brad surprised me with, to help ring in the new season:

I love mums, so this was such a great surprise! He purchased these while I was at work, yesterday, and had them sitting on our front porch to welcome me home. They literally welcomed me with that nice little sign! (Haha, get it?)

The fall decorations are out in full-force around our pad. Got the wreath on the door, the cornucopia on the mantle, our glowing pumpkins on the bench (btw, I loooooove my new shelf and bench! Totally perfect for that spot!), the "Give Thanks" plaque above the doorway (which I hung all by myself, thankyouverymuch), and a little homemade centerpiece for our coffee table, comprising of a pumpkin-shaped cage filled with pumpkin spice potpourri, some raffia, and baby pumpkins and gourds. I love every bit of it.

Our house officially looks and smells like fall, AND the weather is finally awesome (in the 70's). Wooty Woot! I couldn't be happier.

Are you loving this weather as much as I am? Have you whipped out your seasonal decor, yet?