Corgi Friday and Mardi Gras

Happy Corgi Friday everyone! 

This is my mother-in-law holding Annie and one of our barn cats, named Anubis.  As you can see...the cat is none too impressed with what's going on.  But this is a very rare moment caught on camera when both dog and cat are getting along.  The other 99% of the time, Annie is tackling any cat she can get near. 

In other corgi news...

I have had several friends send me so many cute corgi pictures and funnies lately that I couldn't help but share them with you!  Thank y'all so much for sharing these with me!

My friend Sharlee, who also has a corgi, sent me this link today.  It is a compilation of cute, smiling corgi photos doing various activities.  You can't help but laugh out loud! 

40 Things That Make Corgis Happy

Hope y'all have a great weekend!  Much of my family is celebrating Mardi Gras starting this weekend (including me!)!  Tonight, I made some jambalaya to start the celebration!  Do any of you celebrate Mardi Gras?  I'd love to hear about your celebrations! 

Crawfish, shrimp, corn, and potato boil at our Mardi Gras Party in 2011.

Thanks for joining me down the dirt roads!  Laissez les bons temps rouler (pronounced: Lay say lay bohn tohn roo lay)!  That's French for 'Let the good times roll'!

Cheers,
Whitney

P.S. Dylan and I just came in from taking Annie outside before bed time and we discovered that we trapped a skunk in one of our live traps...I foresee a very stinky day tomorrow.  Peee-ewww!!

My Brooch Bouquet

A recent trend in weddings has been for brides to carry a bouquet made of brooches.  And a certain celebrity wedding this last spring made me want to carry one in my own wedding!

Blake Shelton & Miranda Lambert wedding photo
Image from *here*

For Miranda's bridal shower, each guest was asked to bring a brooch and then a designer put together all of the brooches into a bouquet.  Miranda's bouquet was put together by TheRitzyRose.

Miranda and her brooch bouquet.
Image from *here*

So after I saw the photos of Blake's and Miranda's wedding that was styled by the fabulous Junk Gypsies, I was completely taken by the brooch bouquet along with everything else.  But after I did some research on the internet on brooch bouquets, I found out how expensive it was to purchase one and trashed the idea of having one for my own wedding.  But little did I know...my mother was MAKING me a bouquet out of brooches that I had collected, as well as brooches and jewelry of my mother's, grandmothers', and great-grandmothers'! 

Dylan & I on our wedding day.

My brooch bouquet

I'm so LUCKY to have such a craft savvy mother who is also a queen of junk! I have many blog posts planned to show you all of the incredible things my mom has done to what many would consider pieces of junk!  My big bro, Rock, (yes, that's his real name...and if you know him, you know that the name fits him perfectly) and my papa also helped my momma make the bouquet. It was quite an undertaking to twist the stiff wire to make the stems for each brooch pieces. I know my momma was happy to have some strong men help her with that!  My papa is also quite the handyman and builds quite a few things that my momma is working on.  In their house it's not the 'Honey-Do list'; it's the 'HGTV list'! 

The thing that I love most about my brooch bouquet is the story and the history behind each of the pieces in the bouquet.  The turquoise flower is one that my dad picked out for me, because as you know...I love turquoise! The cow pin is one that my mother-in-law had placed on a bow of a gift she had given me for my birthday.  The watch was my paternal grandmother's and my mom set the time to 11:11, which is said to be the time that angels use to let us know that they are there with us.  The angel pin is my mom's that she was given from her nursing students. 

The blue brooch above is actually an earring of my maternal grandmother's from the 40s or 50s.  It's a clip on earring with these horrid spikes that latch into your skin!  I can't imagine the pain that the women went through to look beautiful! 

The other thing about brooch bouquets is that you get to keep the bouquet forever.  You don't have to dry the flowers or worse, throw away your beautiful bouquet!  These bouquets are a beautiful reminder of your wedding day, as well as the memories that each piece of the bouquet has. 

My mom also created a 'wedding shrine' which included my brooch bouquet, as well as our ceremony program, wedding pie topper, wheat boutonnieres, crystal pie/cake stand that was my grandmother's, and a few other odds and ends from our wedding.  The 'shrine' is in a 3 foot tall by a foot deep plexi glass case.  You can also see a photo of me as a youngin' on the shelf on the left side.  I think I was about 9 when the photo was taken.  I was camping out for a friend's birthday party and my friend's mom had brought along dress up clothes so we had a fashion show on the prairie!  I took on the role as a pioneer bride! 

My beautiful momma and I on my wedding day.

I must say...I clean up pretty good!  Well actually I didn't do my own makeup or my hair...I owe that all to my wonderful hair dresser and friend, Nikki!  Every other day of the year, my hair is in a pony tail, no makeup on, and I'm usually covered in dirt!  But that is the life of a farmer and rancher and I love every second of it! 

What about you?  Are you planning a wedding? Or reminiscing of your own wedding?  I'd love to hear about your wedding plans or memories! 

Thanks for joining me down the dirt roads tonight.  Dream big and Carpe' Diem!

Cheers,

Whitney

Live Forever

For those of you that know me know that I love Texas & Red Dirt (named for Oklahoma's red soil) music.  This music has a way of getting into your bones and stirring your soul.  Texas & Red Dirt music is country, rock, bluegrass, twangy, smooth, gritty, poetic, story-filled, soulful, and 100% awesome.  It is especially good when you're driving down the back roads with the windows down, the tunes cranked up, and cab full of your most favorite people! 

Montana's Backroads
*image from here*

Lately, I have been on a Billy Joe Shaver kick.  His life is the epitome of a country song.  Even two months before he was born, Billy Joe Shaver's life was off to a rough start. Billy Joe's father had beat his mother nearly to death 2 months before Billy Joe was born and ever since then, his life has been a roller coaster ride.  Billy Joe lost his wife and his mother to cancer in 1999 and then he lost his son in 2000 to a heroine overdose.  Billy Joe has had a heart attack on stage while performing, multiple surgeries on joints and organs, a recent stint with prostate cancer, as well as accusations of shooting another man in the face.  For a better account of all these happenings, be sure to check out Texas Monthly's interview of Billy Joe Shaver. 

Now, for one of my favorite songs of Billy Joe Shaver's. "Live Forever" is such a spiritually moving song. You'll also see and hear Big & Rich in the video.  

Personally, this song has many meanings.  Many memories of friends and loved ones that passed from this world go through my mind as this song plays.  Sometimes it brings saddness, but mostly its happy memories.  The lyrics are carry very deep messages, but are very simple. 

"Nobody here will ever find me
But I always be around
Just like the songs I leave behind me
I'm gonna live forever now."

Off the Grid...

I've been off the blogging grid this week!  Whoops! 

Well to catch up...

We had a Super Bowl party at our home on the prairie!  It was so fun to have some of our neighbors over for some food, fun, and oh ya...football!  To tell you the truth, I didn't watch ANY of the game!  I was to busy gabbing with everyone as the came through the grub line to pay attention to the game!  By the way...who won? Just kidding...I think. 

Anyways, we had a fun party and I paid for it on Monday. My bad!  And since then it's been busy, busy around here with farm work! 

BUT...I do have something fantastic to fill you in on! 

Crystal at the Crystal Cattle blog is doing a fabulous giveaway of...TURQUOISE!  A wonderful and talented gal from Texas has graciously offered up some of her gorgeous handmade necklaces! 

Sara from Noble House Designs makes beautiful pieces that definitely make you say WOWZA!  So you must go and visit Crystal's blog and read through her post to get the specifics! 

Thanks for joining me down the dirt roads!  Dream big and Carpe' Diem!

Cheers,
Whitney

Corgi Friday

I've got a quick Corgi Friday update (that's rather late...)

This is Annie underneath the dishwasher tonight...

As you can see, she was 'helping' us wash dishes!  There is never a dull moment with her around...

I will also share a video with you!  But it's not of Annie.  It's a video of 'Sparky the tap dancing corgi'! This is my FAVORITE YouTube video and it got me through several months (okay...fine...years!) of corgi-yearning!  I had always wanted a corgi, but refused to have a dog while I was in school and living in town.  So I had to wait a long time before the time was right!  But more on that later.

So here it is!  Enjoy!

Thanks for joining me down the dirt roads! Keep dreamin' big and Carpe' Diem!

Cheers,
Whitney