Mother's Day and Miscellaneous Things

What a wonderful Mother's Day I had! I woke up a little later than usual, let Teddy out and then I had a cup of tea and watched HGTV for a little while. John then woke up and I made us a tomato, muenster cheese, basil (from my garden) omelet with sausage patties. It was so good! (John doesn't make really good omelets so I told him I would make them) I then proceeded to take a nap! Then John and I headed over to Megan and Ken's. Jenny and Kevin arrived shortly after we did. We had a lovely dinner that Megan and Ken made. Ken smoked 2 briskets (which were from my Dad's steer) and they were awesome!! Megan made this special macaroni salad with chicken in it, Ken made cucumber salad and we had rolls. Jenny made one of those huge cupcakes. She made it like a little house with a squirrel and hedgehog along the 2 sides-very cute! Jenny and Kevin gave me some cash for the trip North and Ken and Megan gave John and I (it was a Mother's Day/Father's Day gift) a year membership to the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden!! The day started out kind of chilly here (it was 58 degrees) and then it warmed up to a no humidity 69-70 degrees-it was absolutely gorgeous! After dinner we sat outside and enjoyed the lovely weather. Megan and Ken have really been working on their garden in the back and their herbs around the patio are huge! The lavendar and rosemary especially. Right before John woke up in the morning I went outside to water the plants in the courtyard and I found another tree frog just like Fernando but smaller. Maybe Fernando has a sweetie!! She has 2 gold dots on her lower back which glitters in the sunlight. Such interesting little creatures! Here are some pictures of my day-enjoy!


These are the flowers I woke up to from John. He also gave me a Mother's Day card.


The girls and I at Megan and Ken's house (Jenny, myself and Megan)


Here is a picture of the delicious brisket Ken smoked in his smoker. It was so tender it just fell apart when you touched it! Wonderful!


I ordered this really cute pink and polka dot tea cup garden stake from my friend Donna. She has an etsy site-check it out http://www.etsy.com/shop/whimsytwo. Donna also has a blog, here is her link: http://donnas-art.blogspot.com/ Donna is such a talented artist. She will also paint your pet and she does a beautiful job! Thanks Donna!


Fernando's little friend hiding in my daylilies.




Fernando's little friend hopped from my daylilies to the gardenia plant to the back of the patio chair. She is hanging on for dear life-I love the toes!


Last but not least, here is the view I have from my reading chair with the new configuration of the living room! It is absolutely wonderful looking out into the courtyard and see my roses and other flowers!

Happy Mother's Day Everyone!

Happy Mother's Day everyone! Even if you aren't a mother in the true sense, everyone has mothered someone along the way. We mother our dogs, cats, bird, nieces, nephews, etc., etc. This Mother's Day I will be spending the afternoon with my two girls and their husbands. Should be a wonderful time and I'm really looking forward to it! Megan and Jenny you are great kids and I'm really glad we will be together for Mother's Day! Love you two!!

TGIF is an under statement!!!!!

This week really needs to come to a close and in a big way!! One of the project mgrs. that I have worked with since I came here was let go on Tuesday. At first I thought he was kidding but then I could see he wasn't. I knew sooner or later someone else would have to be let go, but I was surprised management decided to do it when he was starting to build another CVS store and was in the middle of a big project at a nuclear power plant. Now my 2 favorite project mgrs. are taking these projects! It will be good to work with them on these projects. I will be working more also to get everything done.

Next Thursday Megan and I are leaving for NJ at 4 a.m.! We will arrive at my parents around 3:30 p.m. if the trip goes smoothly. I can't wait to get a break from work and just get away period! My Mom said she will be making a cherry pie for Megan and I because our husbands and Jenny, my other daughter doesn't like cherry pie. Thanks Mom!! I will be visiting another couple that we used to live across the street from when we lived in Branchville, NJ. Mike and Heidi are wonderful friends, they are always so happy, helpful and I really miss them as neighbors! They have been here to visit us and I have stopped by to say hello every time I go to NJ. We have alot of catching up to do. Then Megan and I will also be visiting our other friends that lived down the road from our farm. Their daughter, Sarah, who was like another daughter will be visiting from Texas with her baby boy that we haven't seen yet! YAY!

Alot going on, looking forward to things coming up and enjoying Mother's Day with my husband, my girls and my girls husbands-life doesn't get any better than this!! Everyone have a wonderful day!

GREAT NEWS--JOHN GOT A JOB OFFER TODAY!!!!!!!

John got a call from the company he interviewed with on Friday and they offered him the job!! He starts Monday!! I am so excited for him! This has been such a long time coming and he so deserves it! I am off to read the benefit package they have offered him-hopefully it will be better than what I have at work now! This is a happy day in our household!! The girls came over and gave him hugs and kisses-it was really cute!!! Thank you all for your tons of prayers, thoughts and good job vibes you have sent our way for such a long time-it has finally paid off!!!!!

The Living Room Transformation and a visit from a little outside friend!

Today I put some more touches on the Living Room. The only thing I'm waiting for is the Pottery Barn wicker chair from Megan. I had them stored at her house and now I can finally use them again! I am really pleased with the way the Living Room has shaped up-it is so much lighter and bigger! The two guys that bought our wall unit and armchair sent me an e-mail and they got everything to their house all right. Everything worked out for everyone! I went outside this morning with Teddy into the courtyard to water the plants and we had a little surprise-you will have to scroll down to see what it was!!


This was the side of the room with the fireplace before the transformation.

AND TA DA HERE IT IS NOW....


This is the fireplace side of the room all done. Teddy decided he needed to be in this picture-what a pretty boy he is!


Here is the items on the right side of the mantel.


Here are the items on the left side of the mantel.


This is the shaker style end table I had in the garage. I put the orchid Megan and Ken gave me for Mother's Day last year on it, the lovely oval smooth rock from Maine, my huge glass bowl of my beach glass collection and a stick lamp I already had with some books and my blueberry pottery coaster from Maine. I think it looks perfect!


Here was the other side of the room across from the fireplace before.

AND HERE IT IS NOW.....




This is a closeup of the TV cabinet my Dad made for me. He has Lupus and at the time wasn't doing to well, but now he is in remission. He was really upset this piece was being stored in my garage and I was too, but now we don't have to worry because it is in the Living Room and looking beautiful!



My flash was acting up on my camera so this picture is a little dark, but it is so nice and bright now with the blue pillows on the couch, lighter rug and lighter furniture.


I stole these soft blue pillows from my bedroom-I think they are the perfect color blue-very beachy/ocean looking!

HERE IS MY OUTSIDE SURPRISE....

Fernado, my little tree frog friend!



When we lived in our other house we had a little tree frog that I named Fernando. He would come and sit on the house, the gutter drain pipe or my plants every time I was out and about in the yard. He has iridescent gold around his eyes, toes, hips and lips. We actually had quite a few of these little creatures around our house and the would suction themselves to our window sidelights on either side of our front door every night and "serenade us" with their lovely little song. I was sad when I moved because I enjoyed the little frogs while I worked out in the garden or while I was watering my plants on the patio. This morning I went out into the courtyard to water my plants and there Fernando was clinging for dear life to the garden hose! Hey maybe the 2 owls that used to come and "talk" to me while I was on the screened in porch reading will find me too-LOL!!

Here are two more pictures of Fernando, the frog!

And the winner is........

I almost forgot to post the winner of South of Broad today! Lynne from Lynne's Little Corner of the World is the winner!

Lynne, please e-mail me your snail mail address again so I can let the publisher know.

Congratulations!

Today is the big decorating day for me!

I am waiting to hear from the men that are picking up the wall unit and armchair and after that the decorating commences!! I have the piece my Dad made all ready to come into the living room, my shell collections ready to be placed strategically on the mantel, the shaker end table is ready to be placed and the rugs are ready to be switched. I have yet to whitewash the one stick lamp I'm going to put on the one little table and I have to pick up my Pottery Barn wicker chairs from Megan (she has been keeping them for me since we moved in here). Yesterday when I got home from work my Coastal Living magazine had arrived! I perused it last night and I have to say I didn't get any ideas from it for the living room but it did give me alot of inspiration. I went to computer and started looking for some ideas and/or inspiration and here is what I found:


I love this Beach sign!


These beach-inspired pillows would look just lovely on my cream color couch and in my one and a half chair! I just might have to save for these.


I have always collected beach glass and I love this picture of the glass in a pottery bowl. I have a huge glass bowl that Jenny gave me for Christmas one year and I have alot of my beach glass collection on that. I also have another bowl with bubbles in the glass with a smaller collection in it-I just might have to bring that one into the living room too!


There is just something about a vanity! I love the color blue, just beautiful!


If I had this outdoor seating arrangement, I would always be outside. I just love it!


Last and certainly not least is this fabulous shell garland! I had an idea at one point to make something similar with shells for my market umbrella in the courtyard but I love the starfish idea!

Well that is it for now, hopefully I'll post some pictures tomorrow with some of the room decorated-a little glimpse at what I'm doing! Everyone have a wonderful weekend!