Scattered Pictures...

Kacy was singing with Bonnie Raitt’s “Something to Talk About” on December 12^th—over at The Piggy Lounge. As I type this, I’m singing “The Way We Were.” With Barbra. In my mind, only. (I need to purchase that song STAT—from iTunes.) Because TLC and I are already reminiscing about December! It was kind of a cRaZy month. It started with her being extremely sick—causing us to cancel an annual “Girls’ Only Christmas Shopping Trip” with Sunny and Nelly. We’ve been doing these get-togethers/celebrations for about thirteen years. We’ve only missed a couple. 2011 goes down as a miss. Kinda/sorta. STAY TUNED for our Substitution Sunday!

(Warning: there will be some random Christmas pictures in this post. Pictures that have nothing to do with anything. I just like them. You know this about me by now.)

Random Picture #1:  A Christmas wreath on the bench Hubby made
11 years ago for our front pasture.

The second weekend we had a blast with January, her Precious Angel Daughter, her Mom, Lillie, and her Aunt Robbie. We all met in Granbury, Texas, on that Saturday. We had a FUN lunch at Hank’s On the Square. They have, in TLC’s and my opinion, the BEST ALL-TIME GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICHES. On Earth. They use three cheeses, green apple slices, tomatoes and a delicious bread. Their fries are Divine. With a capital D. They have lots of other good eats and it’s decorated in a casually charming way.

From there we strolled the Square (only Precious Angel, who turned one the next weekend, got to be in an actual stroller... Lucky Girl), visiting a few of TLC’s and my favourite stores: St. Helen’s (one of the greatest all-time any and everywhere gift stores); The Pan Handle (a fantastic gourmet “cooking” store—one of My Hubby’s favourites); Houston Street Mercantile (a quilt store—if you heart all things quilty—you’d adore this sweet spot); and Almost Heaven (the perfect description of where you feel you are when you’re in this marvelous gift shop).

Sweet Angel and January

A trip to Granbury is not complete without a Mocha Granita, with or without whipped topping (TLC and I prefer without), from The Coffee Grinder. Trust us. We’ve had granitas all over the country and we have never found any that compare to the scrumptiousness of these.

Lillie and Robbie concur:

GRANITAS ROCK!

Then we caravaned the back country roads to my home. Lillie and Robbie were going to bunk in our Barn apartment. Precious Angel (who, by the way, was a DOLL the entire time!), January and TLC would be staying in our home.

My Sweet Hubby fixed us a wonderful dinner that evening. We laughed, told stories, cut up and had a rather LARGE time. When they left the next day, The Leightons and Hubby agreed it would be in our Top Five Favourite-est-All-Time Weekends!

The next Saturday, TLC came back, yet again, to help me prepare for our Substitution Sunday with Sunny and Nelly. After lunch (Sunny brought a homemade, positively unbelievable red velvet cheesecake—OMGosh), we exchanged Christmas gifts. We wanted y’all to see how we’ve (and by “we’ve” I mean me and Sunny) stayed exactly the same as we were three years ago. Is it not almost miraculous? (Sorry, Sunny and I have promised each other not to share our anti-aging secrets.) It’s like time is virtually standing still for us, right? Yes. That's exactly what it's like. In our dreams. Sheesh. The four of us always smile when we see the first picture. We thought it’d be fun to recreate that now famous pose (okay—famous to the four of us, only). Yes, I need a new hairstyle. I get it. Kit tries. What can I say?

Chefette TLC checking on the lunch casserole, 

while TBBB looks on (praying for something scrumptious to fall on the floor).

Circa 2008
from left: Sunny, Nelly,
TLC and ELC

Christmas 2011
(Guess who Sunny and Nelly
gave the owl pillow to?)

 Hmmm, these festive flower pots (Sunny and Nelly's gifts from us) look familiar.

Oh, could it be because they're from the delightful DixieBelle Gifts?

Yes, indeed!

TLC and I were going to round out another perfect weekend with a Fab Five visit and lunch on Monday—The Fab Five being us (hopefully y’all don’t think it’s rude to call ourselves Fabulous—we’re really referring to the three CGs) and The Crouch Girls. As fate would have it, bad weather came up that morning, causing us to re-think The Plan. High winds. Rain (not enough—believe me—in the big picture that is The Texas Drought) that was coming down hard and was often a bit scary. General Yuckiness. The TV weather forecasters were predicting it would get worse that afternoon. Around the time TLC, Lee, Anna and Clara would need to head back to their homes. Lee would have an hour-long drive. TLC a two-hour drive. It was tough, but I made the sad decision to cancel. What a hugely heartbreaking disappointment. However, since I can multi-task with the best of them, I'm typing this post and working on a "re-schedule" date for us and the CGs, all at the exact same moment! 

Friends are the Icing on Life’s Cupcakes, right? (You know what the sprinkles are? TLC’s BABY! Had to get that in.)

Random Picture #2:  Can you spot the mistletoe?
(Yes, that's a parking meter. Don't ask.)

Random Picture #3:  Look at the cute sweater Hubby's Ambassador "Club"

sent to keep his Maker's Mark nice and warm and toasty this past holiday season!
Clever. What a hoot!

“…smiles we gave to one another. . . for The Way We Were…”