Donna Randall's Blog

Monday, August 9, 2010

Atlanta Aquarium

When we were in Georgia, one of the things I REALLY wanted to do was to visit the Atlanta Aquarium. It was AMAZING!!! Taking pictures was a challenge because you can't exactly get fish to pose for the camera, but I think I got a few good pictures.

These jellyfish were all tangled up together.

I wonder who is going to win....

Yes that is a SHARK in the tank. It's a whale shark and it's the size of a small bus!

Big fish. The divers said they are actually more afraid of these fish than all of the sharks in the tank. Apparently, they are very territorial. (Like they are the only girl in the family or something.)

This is the underside of a sting ray.. cool huh? I told him to say cheese, but I am not sure he could hear me through the 2 feet of glass.

You know I had to get fish and chips for lunch! Jonathan called me a murderer because we ate right in front of a fish tank.

I pet the shark! It was really slimy!

I was more nervous about touching the sting ray than the shark, but since little children were doing it, I thought I would take the chance.

If you are ever in Atlanta, I HIGHLY recommend going to the Atlanta Aquarium. It was breath taking! (and soon they will have dolphins too!) Be sure to go EARLY in the day because it gets PACKED!

Kentucky!

Jonathan and I don't LOVE Idaho. We have DREAMED of moving to Kentucky for some time now, and we thought that it might be a good idea to check out the state before we up and move there. Why Kentucky? A few years ago, Jonathan and I got got out a gardening map. We had a LONG winter in Idaho and were SICK AND TIRED of all the snow and NO gardening season. We knew that we didn't want to live in Idaho forever, but as far as where we moved next, the sky is the limit! While looking at the gardening map, we said that we should both pick a state we wanted to live in and then we would say them at the same time. Then we would try and find something in the middle of the two. We both said Kentucky. After laughing for a LONG time, we really started to think about it. After visiting, we KNOW that is where we want to be! Don't worry our Idaho friends... we have a while before Jonathan finishes school, but as soon as he does... we are out of here!

We thought it might be a good idea to check out some houses in KY. In reality, we REALLY like to dream! Jonathan found this one.. the location is perfect... but we just need to talk them down on the price... A LOT. The streets around it were lined with parks and it over looked the Ohio river. ::sigh:: I heart this house. I know it needs TONS of work, but I am a Randall now! (You can click on the house and see the listing... but if you buy this house before me, know that I am going to move in with you.)

Kentucky is horse country! We had to stop by Churchill Downs and check it out. I can't wait to go to a real race someday!

While driving around, we found this "house" in the middle of the road. Kind of random, but I guess you wouldn't have to worry about too many house guests!

While in Kentucky, I FORCED Jonathan to stop at some antique shops. (He would tell you we stopped at ALL of them, but you know better than that!) I LOVE looking at all the old stuff and thinking about the history behind it all. I found one store just off main street and told Jonathan I HAD to stretch my legs... and my evil plan worked! I found this AMAZING set of Noritake dishes for only $19! Service for 8!!! I had to talk my hubby into it, but I LOVE it! I can't wait to have a dinner party with it!

I had WAY too much fun shopping, and only got to bring back a few treasures, but I will always think about our trip when I use my Kentucky treasures!

It was a VERY long trip, but I loved almost every minute of it! Other than spending WAY too much time in the car, I loved visiting with our families, seeing so much of the country and spending quality time with my sweet hubby.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

What I have been up to

I love to blogstalk. I don't know if that is a real word, but it's what I do. My husband blogstalks differently than I do. For example, he LOVES this blog. I however, like to blogstalk people who are crafty and give me tutorials about how to copy them. The sad part is that I spend WAY too much time stalking, and not enough time doing.

About a month ago, I found a blog post about making camera strap covers. While I had seen a few of these before, this one caught my attention. It might have been the ruffles, but I knew I wanted to make it. I even went as far as to buy the fabric. Everyday that fabric would look at me from the TO-DO pile. (I know it's against all the laws of nature, but that pile NEVER shrinks!) Ever since getting my camera (last THANKSGIVING) I have wanted to make a cover (or four). FINALLY, last night I did it. There are a million things I should have been doing instead. (If you come to my house, please IGNORE all the weeds.) But now, when I look at my TO-DO pile, the fabric is no longer staring back at me. (only the fabric I bought 2 months ago to make some throw pillows.)

It's hard to take a picture of your camera let alone your new camera strap. Smart Donna would have taken a picture before I put it on the camera, but then again for some reason, I never seem to listen to smart Donna.

I love the ruffle all down the middle. I like the colors too. (even though my camera is black and the fabric has a brown background.) Good luck getting to the bottom of your TO-DO pile!

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Oh Lady.

Often times my sweet husband will say, "I want Lady's life." I am not sure if this moment was one of them, but for some reason I can picture my JoJo, sleeping with his head in a pizza box and also being totally content.

Simple Pleasures of Summer

The simple pleasures of Summer. While watering my flowers, this HUGE butterfly decided to join me. She stuck around for about 15 minutes; long enough for me to grab my camera and take a few pictures of her. This is the part of summer that I love. I LOVE my new camera. The only editing I did was some cropping. LOVE IT!

Fourth Of July Invitations

I LOVE to celebrate the 4th of July! The first summer we lived in our house, we tried to have a 4th of July Party and well after much planning and LOTS of food.... nobody came. I am sure it is because most people around here have LOTS of family around. For some crazy reason, I thought that this year would be different. So far, not so good. I have handed out some invitations, but so far, nobody has RSVP'ed. Sad day. Oh well. At least I had fun making the invitations! Here is a tutorial if you would like to make some for your next 4th of July Party.

For each invitation, you will need 7 Popsicle sticks. I kind of like the "not-so-perfect" ones. (They add character.) For each flag, you will need to paint 4 red sticks and 3 white ones.

Divide your sticks up so that you can paint all of the red ones at the same time and all of the white ones at the same time. (I didn't worry about painting the sides. I like the rustic look... or maybe I am just lazy.)

Once your sticks are dry, arrange them in groups of 7 with 4 red and 3 white in each group. Be sure to alternate the colors. Then separate the top 4 sticks and using a foam brush, paint the left hand side of 4 of the sticks with blue paint. It helps to keep them together and paint them all at once to keep a strait line.

Make "flags" with all of your sticks. Remember that they don't have to be perfect. That's part of the fun!

Using a silver paint pen, draw some stars on each flag. I liked to alternate 3 stars on one line and 4 on the other, but there really isn't room for all 50!