This month I am partcipating in the Instagram February Photo A Day challenge by FatMumslim and I’m having a blast.

1.  Day 7: Button

The Mississippi button is from our wedding.  We made them and handed them out at our wedding as favors.  I made the S + B button sometime before the wedding.  I bought the I heart Country Music button at last year’s Cotton District Arts Festival.  The black and white button is from Ming Donkey, one of my favorite local musicians.  I’m not sure where I got the Rilo Kiley button but I love that band!

2.  Day 2: Hands

I’m so pregnant these days!

3.  Day 5: 10 a.m.

Olive even looks cute early in the morning.  Well, early for Sunday morning.

4.  Day 9:  Front Door

I love my front door but my front porch needs some help lately.  I really need to plant something in the wooden planter for sure.  The red planter actually contains rosemary and tulip bulbs that are starting to emerge.  I can’t wait for them to bloom.

5.  Day 2:  Words

This print is an Ashley G print from Etsy.  I love her stuff.

Oh and all of these photos were taken with Instagram (iphone app).  If you are on Instagram follow me @SelenaFaye

1.  This morning I had to take Zoe to the vet because her little heart has been racing causing her to breath really heavy and this morning she would not eat.  This is the 2nd time we have taken her to the vet for this same problem.  Hopefully this time they will figure out what is causing it.  Bless her little heart.

2.  I finally decided to get my hair cut and it is now the shortest it has ever been.  I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about it.

3.  One of our new favorite places to eat is Bann Thai in Columbus, Mississippi.  This is their Hot & Sour Shrimp soup and it is the best.

4.  Ben and I found this tiny little gecko in our bedroom.  Two nights later, Ben found another tiny gecko in our house.  We couldn’t be more delighted that there are tiny geckos hatching at our house, but I really wish they were not inside.

5.  I saw these giant grasshoppers outside of my office building and had to take a picture. Not because they are doing it but because I have never seen grasshoppers this big in my entire life.

1.  Ben had a gig last night at The State Theater (which is actually named something else now) in Starkville, Mississippi.  It was a good time.

2.  We harvested our first watermelon yesterday!  We have two more that are almost ready, which is also really exciting.

3.  Another pic of one of our little house geckos.  They love to hang out on this window and catch bugs that are attracted to the light.  It is a lot of fun watching them stalk and eat bugs.  No judgement please, Mississippi summers are made for lazy gecko watching.

4.  Zoe loves laying on Ben while he drives.  She was born to ride.

5.  This is my friend Gabe playing pool at Dave’s Dark Horse Tavern in Starkville, Mississippi.  My friends are into pool lately.  I love how 1970s this photo looks.

Even with all of the rust and decay, the old bridge is a lot cooler than the new one.

Columbus has even added a 1.25 mile walking trail, benches and pavilions to Riverside Park.

View of the Tombigbee River from the old river bridge

Ivy growing on the trusses of the bridge

After leaving The Riverwalk, we decided to try the  new Thai place in Columbus, Bann Thai.   Do yourself a favor and try it out.  I had hot and sour soup and pad thai.  Both were amazing.

Two of my friends (Nikki Ballard and Cory Waldrop) and I are going to have a booth at this year’s Prairie Arts Festival on September 4th.  I am so excited.  Never in a million years would I have ever thought I would be selling homemade items, much less at the PAF.  The PAF is kind of a big deal.  I have gone to the PAF about ten times over the years and I look forward to it every year.  One of the reasons I love living in Mississippi is that most little towns have some type of annual festival and West Point’s PAF is one of the best I have seen.

Mark your calendar or planner or blackberry or iphone or however you keep up with important dates and come see our booth.  You will not be disappointed.  See my items and Cory’s items on Etsy.

I can understand why Mississippi chose the Magnolia as it’s state flower.  They are so beautiful.   This one is blooming outside of my window at work.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Look at these pretty head pieces.  I can’t decide which one is my favorite.

Photography by Josh Hailey Studio

Also the fact that her  photography was shot by the ever so talented Josh Hailey makes me like her even more.  Not only is Josh one of the most fun people to be around, he is such a talented photographer.

Photography by Josh Hailey Studio

Photography by Josh Hailey Studio

If you like what you see, check out her Etsy Store here.  Oh and don’t forget to spend more than a few minutes browsing Josh Hailey Studio.

On December 17th a study released in the journal Science revealed that a person’s view of their own happiness closely correlates to studies objectively measuring each states’ quality of life based on factors such as temperature, sunshine, crime, cost of living, etc.  Read the whole article here.

With that being said, it makes me happy to report that Mississippi has ranked in the top ten for something other than childhood obesity or teen pregnancy.  I find it funny that New York is last.  I also find it interesting that 6 of the top ten states are in the South.  Go team!

1.  Louisiana

2.  Hawaii

3.  Florida

4.  Tennessee

5.  Arizona

6.  Mississippi

7.  Montana

8.  South Carolina

9.  Alabama

10.  Maine

My White Pumpkin

This is how I did it, well this is how John, Nikki and I did it:

1. I placed the pumpkin on an old towel and found a pencil and a permanent marker to draw his face.  I was told this is not the first step and that I should cut the stem first but I didn’t want to do it that way.
2. Next, I drew the face on my white pumpkin with the permanent marker because I thought it would be easy and didn’t need the pencil.  I failed.  So with Nikki laughing at me, I turned the pumpkin around and started over.
3. I began cutting around the stem with the largest knife I could find, because it made sense to me that I needed the largest knife in my kitchen.  Under the advice of my friends I (a.) started using a smaller serrated knife and (b.) faced the blade away from my face. (Side note: White pumpkins smell like cantaloupes when you cut them.)
   

   Use a serrated knife to carefully cut around the pumpkin stalk.

4. Next I began to pull on the stalk.  Nothing happened even though I thought I was pulling really hard.  Nikki took the knife away from me and ran the knife around the stalk to make sure it was cut all the way through.
5. Nikki was right.
   

   The orange triangles are from the first face i tried to draw.

6. Next, I used a spoon and pulled out all of the pulp and seeds.  The seeds I set aside because we plan on toasting them tonight.  The pulp went to the compost bin.  Our worms got a Halloween treat too.
   

   Now he needs a face.

7. I finally cut his face.  This took way longer than it should have until John told me that Turby had mentioned that a pairing knife would work better.  He didn’t tell me himself because he had already offered some advice to which i replied “I don’t want to do it that way.”  Sometimes I make things harder than they are supposed to be.
   

   My Jack-O-Lantern is smiling or maybe yelling.

8. After his face was cut, I added a soy candle which was leftover from my recent wedding.  The soy candle I used is supposed to burn for 12 hours, which cuts down on the amount of candles I will use to amuse the trick-or-treaters and the amount of chemicals the candle will release while burning.
   

   I added a soy candle which can burn up to 12 hours.