Ft. Myers Vaca :: Don't forget your Sunscreen

The sun finally came out on Sunday and Coach gave me "the sun is out so if you want your toes in the sand you better take yourself to the beach before it rains" talk.. well you don't have to tell me twice!! And he was NOT kidding about those rain clouds.. one second the sun is out and the next second it's coming a monsoon. 

On my way to the beach... no one was in danger.. I was stopped at a light.

I often wonder how people cannot love the beach.. it is seriously my heaven on Earth.

After a couple of hours, I was seriously feeling toasted. I packed up my bag and chair and headed back to the house. 

Y'all. 

I. Got. Fried.

F-R-I-E-D. 

Fried. 

I am soooo upset. 

I always always always have sunscreen on and I guess I was just a little too excited about being at the beach and NEVER put anything on!

I have been KICKING myself!!!

 And if you guys saw what kind of ridiculousness lines I had going on you would probably laugh. I even went to Target today to try and find a one piece but no such luck. I have been applying aloe since yesterday and even got desperate today with vinegar to try and take the sting out. Gotta love some home remedies. 

Bottom line. This Florida sun ain't no joke.

Coach had three games to make up this day and you can read about those games here. 

They were played at Terry Park, which is actually the "old-old Red Sox Facility" as Coach put it. According to him, legends like Ty Cobb and The Great Bambino have walked this field. 

How cool is THAT??!

Ft. Myers Perfect Game World Series + Beach Vacation

For the last couple of years, I have wanted to pack my bag and ride along with Coach to Ft. Myers or Jupiter for his tournaments. I MEAN THE BEACH IS ALWAYS CALLING MY NAME! This just happened to be my year because WE officially arrived in Ft. Myers Friday late afternoon.

After having dinner with one of Shane's college roommates a few weeks ago, we found out his cousin has a condo here.... and GUESS WHAT?? .. She so graciously is allowing us to camp out here for F-R-E-E. What a blessing and we are SO thankful! This place is truly beautiful. Condo tour post on its way.

It was about a 10 hour drive and honestly wasn't too bad. One of Coach's players rode down with us as well, so after getting into the condo, we took about another 15 minute drive to the beach and dropped him off with another family.

Bridge to the beach.

This is our view off the back porch and our first sunset. Like I said, absolutely gorgeous. 

We got settled in a bit and made our way to Pinchers to get our bellies full. It was delish.. I got my favorite.. grilled Mahi Mahi with green beans. Coach wants to go back another night.

Day 2... 

My Aunt taught me back in the day the first thing you do is get your grocery shopping out of the way! If there is still daylight you make your way to the beach the shopping can wait til its dark.. if not, you get your hiney to the store and get that ova with. It was pretty cloudy, with a huge black cloud even hovering over the pool, so Brad and I made our way to Publix. $300 later and a quick trip to Target for me we were back to the condo. Coach made his way back from his games and we all took a loooooong walk around the neighborhood.

The walk was nice and beautiful.. we found the club house and just on the other side of it was the marina.

Of course, the boys were able to see some fishies too...

These lizards are everywhere.. Brad even caught himself up on a snake at one point. Yikes.

We found this area off the marina. 

Need I say I love where the sand meets the water.

Found me some pretty shells too!

These pictures don't do the course justice...

These houses are beeeaaauuuutiful....

And the sunset on the course was breathtaking.

Too bad the picture quality isn't that great.

Perfect Game World Series

Team Elite is back in Ft. Myers for the PG World Series... the top 20 teams from all over the country competing and let me tell you it has been intense. Looking at all the team's numbers last night, it's still anyone's game and Coach was anxious to get out there this morning and get started again.

I made it to the 5:30ish game yesterday, there are a ton of lightening/rain delays due to the crazy weather around here, to see them win 6-1 against NorCal Baseball. There were some great hits and great plays by TE which also means there were a few haters in the stands. I'm pretty sure it was a good thing I had to leave for a class because my blood pressure was making its way out of the roof. DO NOT like to hear people talking smack about my husband.

On top of that, they weren't keeping score on the score board, and Mr Perfect Game Scorekeeper was SUCH a people person with a wonderful personality, let me tell you. If you hate your job, you should probably find another one. 

Their last game wasn't so pretty, getting beat 8-0 by Florida Burn. TE had three games to get in yesterday due to bad weather on Saturday. They lost 6-3 in their first game, taking them 4 hours to play because of lightening in the area. We have had some unexpected events take place.. In the first game, our lead off batter got hit in the head, on the first pitch giving him a concussion and yesterday another player got hit right between the eyes from a bad baseball hop off the ground. Good news they are both doing well!

I'm anxious for Coach and all the players today! 

Good luck to all you boys and lets get another W on the board!

Makeup, Rollers, & Big Hair

Saturday I had the opportunity to do hair and makeup for a photoshoot... my first one ever! 

Remember Abby who took our 1 Year Anniversary pictures? Well, she contacted me awhile back to see if I was available for this shoot..which these girls would be able to add these photos to their pageant portfolios. I have no idea about pageant lingo so please forgive me if that is not correctly stated.

Anyways, both girls got a couple of different looks and both were super awesome clients!

I didn't get a lot of pictures of this pretty lady because I had already started hair and makeup.

This last photo was when Brooklyne was nicely telling me that "this is taking too long!" Bahahaha! Her patience with me was great for being 3 years old.

By this time she was O.V.A. it I believe. This was her third look. I wish I could've heard her conversation with Abby right here!

Can't wait to see the final images of these sweet girls! I got a little glimpse of a few on Abby's camera and they were BREATHTAKING! 

Definitely something I wouldn't mind doing again!

5 on Friday

Missed a few Fridays and I am GLAD to be back!! 

1.

Y'all know I love my puppies so I am NOT going to miss out on any photo ops with them.

Anytime I get the water hose going Mara is not too far behind. It's the lab coming out in her.

2.

We definitely have some cool things going on around the farm but one of my favorites are these baby birds. I watched the Mama and Daddy bird build a nest one afternoon right outside our front door and not too long after she had laid these eggs. I checked Wednesday and sure enough they had hatched. I would love to know what kind of birds they are so if you have any idea please feel free to share.

3.

O. M. G.

We have ANOTHER coyote hanging out around the house... only this time he likes to hang out in the back yard eating apples!

I went to leave the house Wednesday morning for some errands and there he was... about in the same place as this one was. He seems to be very young tho.. As soon as he saw me he started jumping and running around like a puppy would.

Wednesday late afternoon, I just happened to look out the window, and there he was hanging out in the back yard!

Call me crazy but I grabbed my camera, changed the lens, and snuck out the front door for some pictures to show Coach later on.

I saw him again this morning just hanging out but by the time Coach got out of bed he was gone. 

Have you ever heard a pack of coyotes at night? It will make the hair stand up on the back of your neck.

4.

I love me some Spark! 

They have come out with a couple of flavors in these awesome stick packs. I have tried Green Apple- straight up tasted like a jolly rancher- and loving some pomegranate COULD.NOT.WAIT. to see this package at my front door.

DE.LIC.OUS.

5.

This devotional hit home for me the other day. 

I need to live in the present and not be anxious about what the next day or the next day or two months from now holds. Tomorrow has troubles of its own and I need to lean unto Him and have more TRUST in Him. He is going to take care of Me and my needs and knows exactly what I need already. He is my refuge and strength.  

DO NOT WORRY ABOUT TOMORROW!

This is not a suggestion, but a command. I divided time into days and nights, so that you would have manageable portions of life to handle. My grace is sufficient for you, but its sufficiency is for only one day at a time. when you worry about the future, you heap day upon day of troubles onto your flimsy frame. You stagger under this heavy load, which I never intended you to carry.

Throw off this oppressive burden with one quick thrust of trust. Anxious thoughts meander about and crisscross in your brain, but trusting Me brings you directly into My Presence. As you thus affirm your faith, shackles of worry fall off instantly. Enjoy My Presence continually by trusting Me at all times.

Matthew 6:34; 2 Corinthians 12:9; Psalm 62:8

DIY Tinted Mason Jars

So I mentioned in this post about some crafty items for the church festival and that I would be treating you guys to a tutorial. 

Love some mason jars and have talked to Amber several times about the tinted ones that I had been seeing around. 

Enter a trip to Michael's.

YOU WILL NEED::

Americana Gloss Enamels

Liquitex Glazing Medium

mason jars

glitter (color of your choice)

Mod Podge Gloss

I started off with the smaller mason jars just because it was my first time at this and I wouldn't be wasting too many if I messed them up.

You need to mix about 3/4 gloss paint to a 1/4 glazing medium. 

(I would also recommend mixing it together first in something else. See where there streak is on the side? I had to scrape that off so the paint would be an even color on the jar.)

I then swirled the jar slowly making sure the entire inside was covered. 

 I then flipped the jars over to let the excess paint run out. You can check them every so often and move them around so there won't be a ton of excess built up around the lip. 

THE WAY THE PAINT IS ON THE JAR IS HOW THE PAINT WILL BE AFTER YOU BAKE IT.

Turn the jars back over after about an hour or until the paint does not run back to the bottom of the jar after flipping it upright.

I followed the instructions on the back of the Americana Gloss bottle::

LET THE JARS DRY FOR 4 DAYS

BAKE 30 MINUTES AT 275* IN NON-PREHEATED OVEN

COOL WITH OVEN DOOR OPEN

And there you have your finished, tinted mason jar. 

Do not eat/drink out of these.

I also got a little creative with Mod Podge and glitter.

Again I recommend mixing the Mod Podge and glitter together in another cup and then pour into mason jar.

Swirl until all mason jar is covered.

See how the glitter is pretty thick in one place?

You can add as much or little glitter as you want depending on how sparkly you want it to be. 

Turn those upside down as well.

Once the excess was out, these pretties went to the back porch and dried pretty quickly in the heat.

I didn't want to spend a fortune buying every color soooo I recommend to get yo mix on!

What does pink and blue make?

Purple.

After everything dried and baked, I added a few finishing touches. 

As you can see, there was twine, buttons, ribbon, charms, puff paint, and wire.

One of the girls from work bought the mason jar on the left for her daughter's shabby chic themed 2 year birthday party. The pictures from her party were SO adorable and it went right along with the decor. 

I definitely see these working as art brush holders, even make up brushes, pens/pencils, and so forth.