Thirty-One's Fall Goodies

Last week was the fall premier for the new line of Thirty-One products. I thought I would share some sneak peaks of what to expect from Fall/Winter 2017. The catalog goes live August 1st. Here are 12 snippets of some of my favorites.

They have been asked for a couple years to bring in more purple. Well, they did it this year that's for sure.

I thought of Ms. Debbie at Breathing in Grace when I saw all this. Especially the new icon of tennis shoes that is on the striped bag in the bottom right of the picture.

I especially love all the pouches with the purple.

They have incorporated some new shade of greenish blue. It looks one color on my phone and a different on my computer so I'm not sure what it is. The one on the right is called peacock pebble and the one on the left in the greenish is called dotty weave.

Lots of new wallet colors and patterns to choose from. And if you look closely, they now have a zip top laptop sleeve. That is going on my wish list for sure.

They are bringing out some browns and some blue that blends very well with it. I love the blue floral pattern.

Tons of gray this year which goes with just about everything. Notice the little owl on the front of the small carrier on the bottom left? That's one of the new icons that you can customize the color. My granddaughter, Alexis, is owl crazy. She has seen the icon and wants something with the owl on it. We can look at the new book when she comes over next week so she can see what she wants.

Some red and black stayed in from the last catalog. The plaid pattern was extremely popular. All of those products go good with some of the new grays as well.

I am loving the Moose pattern. Isn't it adorable?

In addition to the wonderful bags and accessories, they are still offering some beautiful jewelry.

That have added navy pillow to their line of pillows that you personalize to make it your own. There are a lot of choices.

And they are kicking it up a notch by adding more items for the men and boys in your life. Lots of solid grays and black as well as new camo patterns. They even have a new icon that is deer antler. They are carrying over the HERO line of icons for EMT's, Police, and Firemen.

It's going to be a great season!

The never ending project....

Do you have that one room that always seems to be a "work in progress". Well, if you follow my blog you will see I have a billion ideas on how to do my home office. I have even followed through at times and shared the finished project with joy. Only to look at it a month or two later and realize it is still not what I wanted. Having said that, let me tell you I am at it again. 

I am happy with my some of the organizing parts I have done and those will not change...at least not much. My challenge is the two separations of office/craft areas. To be more specific my office desk and craft table. My desk needs replaced. I even tried moving it into the living room but when I do my Thirty-One work, all my papers are still in the office. That's not working. So I want to put my desk back in the office/craft room. But it is really too small for what I want in a desk. So I started looking at options. According to Pinterest, you can create your own with a couple of file cabinets or drawer units and a piece of counter top.

While this is very clean and very lovely and has lots of room. It's not very cost efficient. So I will continue to search for the perfect desk. In the meantime, I am also not very happy with my folding table I use for a craft table. I toyed with the idea of sprucing it up with a "skirt" around it. But that seems like to much work. Especially to get the look they have here.

Although, the skirt on this one is nice and would cover up those unsightly legs on the table. I have cabinets and shelves and stands that I use in that room for my office files and craft supplies, so I just want a big desk top for my computer, printer and a filing tray, pen holder, stapler and a lamp. Drawers are not required. This might work good for converting a table into a desk. And the 4' table I have would be the perfect size for a desk.

On a side note, I saw this in my Pinterest search for offices. I think it is adorable. 

Back to the desk dilemma. So If I do use the table I have for a desk, I still need a table for my crafts. So I was thinking just to get a second table like the one I have. Use one for a desk and one for crafts. The one for crafts, I could actually paint the legs like they did here to dress it up a little. I honestly think this is kind of cute. And talk about easy. The table is only around $24 at Sam's and Walmart which is way cheaper than a desk.

A final option is to check out tables like I have only in color. Walmart carries a 6' in different colors. I love the red. That would up the look of the plain white table. But I need a 4' not a 6'. I will keep looking.

Decisions. Decisions. I think pay day will require a trip to Walmart or Sam's.

What a lovely piece of jewelry....

I had a wonderful day at the zoo yesterday with the grandbabies. We are heading out to play miniature golf today (which some call putt-putt and some call goofy golf.) I got some good pics but I am saving them for my Friday Fotos post. I did want to share something with you today. Some beautiful jewelry that has been popping up in my recommendations on Facebook and Pinterest. I love sea turtles and thought this was adorable.

Shells, turtles and dolphins .... all the wonderful things of the ocean and beach.

I really, really want to find where I saw this. I wouldn't mind ordering it before I go to the beach.

Thirty-One is coming out with a new charm bracelet and the charms hook between the beads so they aren't sliding everywhere. I just love this.  

You pick your own charms and it comes in silver or gold with the white little beads. I want this horseshoe charm.....

.....And one with my initial....

...and one with my birthstone.

I think I need to visit Etsy to see what kind of beach jewelry or charms they have. 

Good morning Monday

It's rare for me to have Monday and Tuesday as my days off. I love the idea of Monday not being, well, blah Monday. It's going to be fun. I'm taking the three younger grandchildren to the zoo today. My faves are the gorillas, elephants, giraffes and most important is the lions. My number one wish is for them to be close enough to get a good photo. Which usually never happens.

Speaking of photos, I actually had a photo taken of me yesterday to mark the fact that I actually wore a dress to church for the first time in I don't know when. I have a hard time finding dresses to fit so I just wear slacks and nice tops. Well, I broke out the little black dress simply because I was to lazy to put on two pieces of clothing if one would do the trick. Decided to document the occasion because it doesn't happen very often.

Thursday night I watched the fall premier of the new Thirty-One Fall/Winter 2017 line of products. My heart skipped a beat when I found out they are bringing back my favorite purse ever....The Retro Metro Bag. Back when I first started selling, I bought one every time a new catalog came out so I own 5. Over the years, I have sold patterns and products I have grown tired of, but I have never ever parted with a Retro Metro. When they discontinued them, I was sad since I love this bag. Well the new one is out and I can't wait. They have four patterns, but this is the one I want.

I never thought any more about it until Sunday morning sitting in church. I guess I'm not the only one who loves the bag. Diana, Shelby and myself were sitting together and when we stood up to sing, I happened to glance down at our purses....we were ALL carrying a Retro Metro Bag.  

I saw something recently online that you could order and saved a photo but forgot to save where I saw it. I'll have to go back and search. But this would come in handy when I travel to the beach so Sherrie and I can both charge our phones if needed.

Last summer, I needed a new non-stick pan and couldn't decide what to get. Someone suggested Gotham Steel and I had no idea what she was talking about. Apparently it is amazing titanium/ceramic. But you had to order it and shipping was outrageous so I just bought a cheap generic non-stick from Walmart. As I was looking for a toaster oven at Walmart the other day, I saw this on the end of the aisle....GOTHAM STEEL. Guess who is adding one of these skillets to her Christmas list.

Y'all would be so proud of me. I went to Shoney's to eat lunch the other day. I love having their sundae for my dessert. But instead, I thought the jello and fruit looked a lot better that day. So I passed up ice cream for fruit. WHAT????!!!! First a dress to church now fruit instead of ice cream? What's going on with the universe because things are kinda strange around here.

A few weeks ago, my memory in Facebook popped up from several years back and I had posted that I had gotten .15 cents off per gallon of gas with my Food City card. I had a picture of the pump and said "Woo Hoo! I just got gas for $3.78 a gallon." My how times have changed. That was after Katrina and the oil shortage stories were running rampant. Well, I used my card the other day and got it for $1.84. Wow. Big difference.

Well, time to get ready for the grandchildren to arrive. Have a great day!

Sunday's Songs

Something new to try...

I have been seeing these toaster biscuits in the freezer section at my local store for months. Finally bit the bullet and bought a box to try. Best way to try them was to make an old fashioned favorite Mom used to make for us.

I mixed some dark Karo corn syrup with some softened butter in a small dish.

It doesn't look so great from the camera, but I assure you it is like a gooey caramel gravy.

I fixed one of the biscuits just to see how they were.

After I toasted it, I sliced it open on my plate.

And poured the syrup/butter mixture over it.

The results:  Hmm. Not really sure. I did love the flavor of a good ol' southern biscuit. The inside was a little fluffy, but being so thin it was hard to expect any fluffiness. I did get the outer edge just a tad crispy, but not much at all. 

Flavor about an 8 - 9 on a scale of 1 - 10. Texture about a 7 since there was no fluffiness. Not my favorite biscuit ever but I did eat every bite of it. Of course it's hard not to when it is covered with such delicious goodness.

Would I eat them again? Yes, I'm going to make a small batch of gravy and try the next one I eat. Would I buy them again? Probably not. You can buy a bag of Grands for around the same price as 8 of these and just take out what you need. They were $2.89 for eight biscuits. But on the flip side, if I'm in a hurry and just want a biscuit really quick, I would probably keep a box on hand. So do I give these a thumbs up or thumbs down? I'd say it's probably the wibbly wobbly hand gesture for so-so.

Friday Foto Friends

Many years of laughter....

Many years of love....

And a card on our 20th anniversary that had a book mark in it. Allen said these words caught his heart and he knew he could never say it to me as well as this does.

I have kept this in my bible for 15 years and now it hangs on my refrigerator. I was blessed to have had that one great love and it will live in my heart forever. He was, is and always will be my soul mate and the love of my life.