Good Morning from the Redneck Riviera!

 I slept through the big event, but woke up in time to see the Royal Carriage enter Westminster Abbey.

Watching this replayed right now on E ~The Royal Wedding Channel (This channel cracks me up, but yet I still have not changed the channel.)

Despite the excitement of today I have nothing but prayers for the people of Alabama and the surrounding states. The devastation they have seen is horrific.  We traveled through this really beautiful state on our way down here. Green and lush is all we saw. Birmingham was where we stopped overnight and to think this city was trampled is unimaginable.  Please keep the people of this area in your prayers.

We were luckily not affected by the horrible tornado outbreak in the south  We did drive through all of these cities so it is amazing to think that this happened. So terrible for all the people in these cities.

The weather in Destin has been perfect though.

I have to say this part of Florida is known as

The Redneck Riviera.

If being a redneck means being warm, sunny, and eating oysters at the Crab Shack with good friends, then The Redneck Riviera has been good to us.

More to come later today...... ~JR

My husband has a thing for......

My husband has a thing for Sophia Vergara...like pretty much most men this past year.  I think I have a thing for her too....not like that...but I think she is gorgeous and absolutely hilarious.  As a Latina woman (I know my sister is laughing at that...but we are half Mexican!) I think that she uses her look in such a great way. Her comedy is very Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz morphed into one ridiculously stunning chicka!  Modern Family is the one show on TV that my husband and I never watch without each other.  It's just the rule in our house. It's good couples therapy.  My man has some Phil Dunphy characteristics. :} 

Here is a quote from Phil, but could easily have come out my man's mouth.

"I'm a cool dad, that's my thang. I'm hip, I surf the web, I text. LOL: laugh out loud, OMG: oh my god,
WTF: why the face?"  


 Check out Sophia's  new Diet Pepsi commercial...my favorite is her Lucille Ball look at the end of the ad....

Ivory

Ivory is everywhere.....

Splendid and Hazel

ease into Spring here at Next Door

I think ivory is on my mind...

hence the sandy pics

213 with soft and subtle Ivory

Kind of like the soft and subtle sandy shores of the panhandle of Florida



Hazel does it again....love!

Destin on the Brain! 7 days to go before I park it right here!



~JR

Bring it on



Mmmmmmmm!

Color has arrived and these are some of my favorites!

I bought these three....

*Green top ~ Bobi

*Cropped Denim ~ Citizens of Humanity

  *Champagne top ~ Ya Los Angeles

I still want these 3, but I have some will power, plus I should really hang tight...there are so many more things arriving!

Stop on in for pete's sake!

(yes, Pete...that was for you!)

~JR

Baby Shower for baby #5

Last night I went to a baby shower for my friend Mona. 

We all arrived together bearing gifts.

 Mona is pregnant with her 5 baby, a boy. This really was the best baby shower I have been to in awhile.

First of all, my girlfriends that I coffee with a few times a month were all there...so it made it a night out with the chicks I love to hang with. Second,it was on a Friday night, and Third, I was handed a Vodka Tonic within 3 minutes of arriving! Basically a house party with a good reason.

We talked about baby names for Mona's baby. The big laugh last night was that Mona's in-laws thought they should name the baby after Mona and her husband Jeff.
Jeff + Mona = Jonah
Love the name, but the concept really cracks me up.  Mona has some really cute names picked out, like Matteo or Maximus (Max). A few weeks to go and we'll see what they do.

Mona was given spa gift certificates, aromatherapy candles, lotions, baby clothes, and vodka.  I love 5th baby showers. Funny thing is, there were two other gals there with 5 kiddos, one being my sister. :) The other, Debbie, she has 3 little girls and ended up pregnant with twins. God bless that woman, she ran rallied to come out last night. She has an 8, 6, 4, and 6 month old twins.  Hearing about her life made my life seem easy this morning with only 3.

We had a great time and didn't get home until Midnight.  Being a mom of a 6, 9 and an 11 yr old has it's perks.  There are no more first time baby showers and no babies to get up with in the middle of the night. Amen!

But, this never tires of being exactly where I want to be. These photos were taken close to 6 years ago....they are bigger now, more self sufficient, but dang, they were cutie patooties!

~JR

You're Invited

Time to head out with your girlfriends

for some wine and appetizers.

Come and view the new Spring and Summer lines from Next Door. We have teamed up with Tadpoles of Delafield for a fashion show of the latest styles for ladies and kids.

Our fun and unique location for this exciting event is the     Children's Play Gallery.

Check out their website here.  There is no fee to attend and

you get to leave with a goodie bag of coupons for our stores and other local digs! For real? Why not come!

It is Cinco de Mayo so make it a night!

RSVP here at my blog or

email me at

chambersstreetblog@gmail.com

Did you ever?

Did you ever get so mad that you screamed at your family?

Did you ever leave the dinner table because you were so frustrated?

 Did you ever feel like crying over it?

Did you ever wonder why you were even so darn irritated to begin with?

Did you ever think, hmm, I better relax?

Tomorrow will be a better day.

~JR

A lot happened in the 90's

Ahh the 90's. Did you ever think that it would seem like the good old days?  I wore scrunchies,  I sported the "Rachel" haircut,  and I got my first cell phone (Dec. 1999).


My life pretty much evolved during this decade. I graduated from high school and college, got married, bought our first house, and had our first daughter, all during the 90's.


The world was an interesting place during this deacde. The Gulf War, the Bosnia peace keeping mission, President Clinton's public affair, Waco cult creepiness, the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma, Princess Diane dies in a car crash, and Columbine. All this along with the internet, grunge, rollerblades, Titanic, Forest Gump, Seinfeld, Friends, the Hubble Space Craft launches into space and Napster causes a stir.


Tonight my daughter told me that she has been assigned a music project, her decade is the 90's. She has to choose a song from the decade, write a report and dance to it...no joke. Luckily they are partnered up with a friend.
Our whole family spent an hour after dinner around the computer watching 90's videos. My girls were mesmerized...they loved George Michael (Faith), Madonna (Vogue), and Michael Jackson (Black and White). I even went back to 1987 to show them the Dirty Dancing final dance with Jennifer Gray and Patrick Swayze. Seriously, I had a tear in my eye watching that dance....I love it. Is that weird? I kind of think it is.
The 90's have way too much music to try to describe it in 10 songs. Although while hanging with my kids tonight I came across many tunes with lots of life left in them.


I made a "mix tape" for you, my lovely readers. (All 5 of you) :}



Madonna (our girls have all danced in our kitchen to this tune)



The Pretenders (Chrissie Hynde can sing on my IPod anytime) 





Maria Carey (This diva is still all that)






Vanilla Ice (aka Robert Van Winkle, do you do kitchens? Can I get a qoute?)




C & C Music Factory (This is serious club music, bring it!)



Sugar Ray (This guy had his mug all over MTV and VH-1, is he still singing?)



The Heights (This was a show, kind of like 90210 and Melrose. That skinny guy was so darn cute and skinny...)



Alanis Morissette (She is a bitter woman, but I do like her tunes)



Will Smith (Enough said, 36 days until Miami.)



Janet Jackson (Love this song....butis this when janet had a rib removed to slim down? Or wait was that Hope on Days of Our Lives? who knows...)



****************************BONUS**********************

Taylor Dayne (Danni, this one is for you...Rock on 1990!)




~JR