Kudos! (Like Oprah and Gayle, only better!)

It seems like just yesterday, my friend Cortney and I were lost in the Arkansas hills looking for the next Holiday Inn Express on our week-long tour across the Natural State while working for a non-profit organization. Both with little or no sense of direction, it is surprising we didn't end up at the bottom of a ravine somewhere.

Cortney is one of my all-time favorite travel buddies. One fantastic trip -- and I use that term loosely -- two hours after we left, Cortney discovered she had forgotten her purse, and we had to call and express mail it to the hotel. The trip back was just as fun. If I am not mistaken, I believe we listened to the book on tape of Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom -- sobbing uncontrollably. Good times.

Cortney and I decorating for a special event. I'm sure it is evident that we couldn't find a ladder.


Cortney is a great sidekick. Always dressed to the nines, she is always game for an "emergency" trip to the salon after I firmly decide to chop six inches off the length of my hair or lunch luxuriously at a tea room in Midtown Memphis. (Ah, high tea. Sigh.) And....she is the only other gal my age who can rival my love of antiques, entertaining, and essentially making the word a more beautiful place.



Well, good news, Cortney has recently started her own blog, Chipper Chickie. Take a gander.....

More kudos goes to my delightful neurotic parents. After years of blood, sweat, and tears working on more than an acre of flowerbeds, sweeping lawns and thousands of stairs, momma and daddy's yard is featured in this month's DeSoto Magazine. Check out the article online.

Of course, they were much more excited that their dog, McKenzie, was pictured twice in the spread. She is SO photogenic!

Growing up, I was expected to weed, mow, water, and plant tiny little bedding plants in their MONSTROUS garden. Luckily, I now have my own home that has minimal flowerbeds and don't have to slave away in the boiling Mississippi sun every weekend.

However, they still do -- like 20 hours a week. Talk about dedication!

Way to go, momma and daddy! I'm so proud.