Divine Design with KathyLlew

So I have a few more pics to share...

As you know, I have been working on decorating(with the help of wonderful Betty Stegall) the second bedroom of my house (along with the living room, dining room, bathrooms, master, and kitchen -haha!) since I bought the place almost two years ago!! I am happy to announce that the second bedroom is officially a bedroom now, and not simply my dumping ground!!

I thought you would like to see a "before pic"...please notice two furry friends on the far left...

And the "after pic"...with again, the furry friend center right...some things never change!!

It's been fun to decorate something from the bare essentials and feel like it's really me...And don't worry, I have had plenty of lip from Momma Lola about the brown lamp shade and I'm happy to pronounce that it stays (poor light and all)!!

There are a few more accessories to purchase, along with a ceiling fan and rug, but I am loving the results!!

Now, for all or you with more exciting news than me (i.e. new members of the family), let's get to posting! I know you guys have cuter pictures than those of my beds!

Love to all,

Cousin K

Cousin K and Justin visit CO!

Hi family! We've had a fabulous past two weeks, from Kathy and Justin's visit to an unbelievable week in St. John. I'll start with our time in Colorado and then post again with our vacation details...

We took Kathy on a whirlwind tour of Boulder to convince her to come out here. I hope it worked for selfish reasons! Here we are on top of the student center at Justin's alma mater, CU. The Flatirons make for pretty impressive views around town, but this may be one of my favorites.
A trip up the canyon to Boulder Falls is only a short drive away. It was partially frozen this time of year, which I've never seen before, but was still coming down (see video below). We were all smiles!
She's ready to go! Kathy has already perfected her stance and we haven't even left Boulder.
Look how steep!!! Actually, I just didn't turn it sideways. :) It was a bit cloudy which obscured the view from the top of Keystone, but the snow made for a nice cushion. Kathy wouldn't know though, because she never fell. Ever.

Here she is getting off the ski lift for her first time. I've never seen anyone master this not-so-graceful-art so quickly! In fact, I still fall...regularly.

Merry Christmas...in March!

Hello to All! Hope this post finds you all doing well... I wanted to write because I am long overdue in posting some fun pictures from our adventures in Colorado with Alexis and John!

To recap, my Christmas present from Justin was a trip out to Colorado to visit Alexis and John and learn to ski for the first time!

We started out on a Friday night with a direct flight from Memphis to Denver (with a Corky's BBQ sandwich in our bellies before takeoff). We were greeted by two wonderfully familiar faces and were excited for our Colorado adventure to begin. Instead of hitting the mountain first thing Saturday morning, we spent the day sight-seeing around Boulder...making several stops at some of the fine Boulder drinking establishments. The weather was perfect...75 degrees and sunny. We went over to Colorado University, Boulder Falls, and Pearl Street...all I can say is...fantastic Margaritas!

Early Sunday morning, we got up, looked out the window, and what do you know...but there was a blanket of white pillowy snow covering everything...and more falling quickly from the sky. And I thought Memphis had strange weather!! Nevertheless, we got dressed and headed to Keystone for my first skiing endeavor...it was AWESOME!! Thanks to Alexis, Justin, and Mrs. Lohman, I was prepared for the 16 degree weather and snowstorm ahead of us!!

John drove us-in the snow-out to the mountain with a stop for breakfast on the way. We geared up and quickly learned that I was too late for ski school that day. So it was up to Justin, Alexis and John to give me my first skiing lesson...they did a great job and I ended my first day with only a few bruises despite my all-out body-flailing-snow -plowing-cussword-saying attempts at stopping in skis. Whew!

This is the view from atop Keystone Mountain...it's about 3.5 miles down and I am proud to say I skiied down the entire mountain my first day (it took a little short of an hour - a long time for skiing). After 3 days of skiing and a whole bottle of Advil, Justin and I trekked back to Boulder to have another look at where he spent four years in college. We met back up with Alexis for a sushi dinner (yum), followed by cheesecake and coffee at the Cheesecake Factory (a fav of Justin's).

We flew back to Memphis on Wednesday night, saying goodbye to the snow...only to be showered with snow in Memphis two days later.

I thought it made my house look cute... However, it didn't last long...I think Steve Montgomery in Church said it best when he said..."that was the best kind of snow, it falls and sticks and looks pretty, but in 24 hours it has melted and gone away."

Thanks again to Alexis and John for letting us come and crash at their new house in Boulder...it is so cute!!

More pics to come from Kristina's Memphis Baby Celebration!!

Love, Cousin K

Katie Wows Memphis!!

Charles, Cobbie and Katie

Daddy's girl!

Thanks Alexis for starting this Family Blog. This is my first attempt at posting. Can't wait to see how it turns out. I have a lot of work to do in getting the pictures and text to match!! Lola

What is Charles doing to this beautiful baby!!

Katie , 2 months old, wows everyone she meets during her first visit to Memphis. The highlight of her visit is meeting her Great-Grandmother!!

Me in Monterey

Hi everyone! It has been a whirlwind past couple of weeks. I'm so glad that the flu loosened its hold on me (although I'm sad it has Mom now!). I needed the steam as I headed to Monterey for a store opening. Here is a look back at my trip...
Beautiful flight over the Rockies. It was hard to think of the beach with all that lovely snow!

There was a ribbon cutting to officially mark the opening. We had our most successful first week ever, but--wow--was it a mad house.
So I took some time to check out the Pacific. Here I am outside the aquarium. There were otters swimming all around the rocks, playing with the seaweed and being their adorable selves.

Inside, I saw all kinds of amazing swimmers. These jellyfish with seaweed-ish feet (not the biologically correct description) were so neat. I loved the "jellyfish as art" exhibit the most. Unfortunately, I had a meeting to get to, so I ran through the whole thing. Fortunately, I had about fifteen minutes to spare at the end...

...so I sat and watched this for awhile...

...and then went back for more jellies. It was such fun, although it certainly put Linda, Squirt, Beowulf, Mayweather, and Grublet to shame.

Speaking of fun, I can't wait for Kathy and Justin to arrive tomorrow! We'll document the visit well, except the part where Kathy falls on her first day skiing. Love to you all.

Lex

Katie Cobb's Sip and Be-Seen

Hey Everyone, I just wanted to post a few pics from Katie Cobb's Sip and See!! I will send all the pics out in an email from Snapfish...so be on the lookout for that soon!

You can see she gets her good looks and dazzling personality from her favorite Aunt Kathy! Haha!

Love to all...

Cousin K

One year older...

Hi Ijams family! I just wanted to send my thanks for all of your well wishes on my birthday. I had a wonderful day...opened presents (weee!), went to a fabulous French restaurant for dinner, went to the theater for a movie screening, and felt generally good and spoiled.

John has a tradition where he always lists reasons why my new age is so great (I actually rhyme with great now!). Some of my favorites for this year included:
*It takes 28 years for Saturn to orbit the sun. I am only 1 year old on Saturn!
*28 is considered the second perfect number in math and the fourth magic number in physics.
*There are usually 28 days in my birthday month, but not this year.
* I have 28 teeth since my wisdom teeth were removed.
*Calendars follow a 28 year cycle, so this year has the same calendar as my birth year. I was born on a Tuesday.
*28 is the sum of the first five prime numbers.

Wohoo! This is going to be another wonderful year...

Love to all, Lex