Just as promised-here is a picture of the pie!

Well here is the finished peach pie! Tonight John and I will have a piece with french vanilla ice cream with a touch of cinnamon on top! I love fresh pies. I'll take a picture when it is cut so you can see it.

Saturday's Adventures

Today was a lazy day for John and I. We started out by getting up late, which there is nothing wrong with that when you don't have any plans for Saturday. We decided to have lunch at Showmars just over the border in South Carolina. We got gas for my car while we were in SC (it is usually 10 cents a gallon cheaper than buying it in Charlotte). Then we made our way to the peach orchard. We bought some wonderful peaches so I can make a peach pie and we'll have some left over just to munch on! They were beautiful! Here are a few pictures of them and the orchard:


Here is a closeup view of the peach orchard. This orchard is behind the stand that sold the peaches we bought. Can't get much fresher than that!


Peaches growing on the trees.


This is the whole box of peaches we bought. There definitely should be enough for a pie or two and peaches for snacking on.


This picture really makes my mouth water for peach pie. The peaches were still a little hard so I'm waiting until tomorrow to make my pie. I'll just have to be patient until then! John and I both love peach pie!

We then left there and headed on home. While we were driving we decided to drive home through Pineville, NC. John Wieland is a builder in our area and he started a new neighborhood that has single family homes and townhomes called McCullough. Well John and I fell in love with both the single family homes and the townhomes. All the homes and townhomes were so light and airy inside-just lovely! Here are some pictures of those:

This model is The Chesapeake and it was just gorgeous! Too big for John and I but still gorgeous and beautifully staged!


This is The Donnelly model.


The Foster Model


The Dawson Model


This Townhome was called The Crofton.

All the porches on these homes/townhomes were very deep and there was a cool breeze flowing through all of them. Some of the homes even had ceiling fans and porch swings on them-just really wonderful. Some of the ones we looked at overlooked a beautiful park that had a bandstand style gazebo. Just gorgeous!

When I came home I noticed one of the hostas I have named Avocado had started blooming. I saw the perfect picture of the blossom with the fountain right behind it. I love this picture!



The pink phlox are also still blooming away in the summer sunshine. Here is a picture I snapped of them.


Last week I went shopping (Sunday to be exact). I love roses and Harris Teeter (our grocery store) had roses that were pink in the center and white on the outside. They are still really gorgeous as you can see in the pictures.


Here is the bouquet after almost a week on my kitchen table. I put them in my green depression glass vase and I have my green depression glass candlesticks there too.





I finished the special order of the twisted sterling silver wire bird nest necklace. I really like how the twisted wire looks like real twigs. The client can't wait to receive it. I will take it to her on Tuesday to my Knitting Group.







I guess John was tired from our adventure because he is now napping and snoring away in my one and half chair! Teddy our dog is curled up on the ottoman near him (not an easy fete for a Golden Retriever). Everyone have a great weekend! Enjoy!

Friday Wish!

Don't you just want to crawl in this picture and be there right now!! This is Taino Beach in the Bahamas. I have never been there but I was looking for a picture to post on my blog for today and when I saw this I knew it was the place I'd love to be right now!!

Where would you like to be today?

Books, Books Everywhere!!

Over this past 4th of July holiday weekend I decided I was going to make a list of the books on my bookshelves (3 huge bookshelves that is). All of the books on there are books I haven't read yet. I have another bookshelf that has the books I've read already. I completed the list and I couldn't believe there were 427 books on there!! Alot of these books I get from Paperbackswap.com so I have not purchased them. Some were given to me after the reader was done with them. A few I have bought at the library. But of course, some of those books I have purchased! I am going to make a point to read some of these books by the end of the year! Hopefully I'll have read atleast 20 or more. Alot of them are quick cozy mysteries, but about half are novels that will take a little more time. I was shocked that John said, "I thought you had more than that!" Wasn't that a pleasant surprise! I did find one book that I had a duplicate of, so off to the paperbackswap list it went. I could have a really bad vice other than books (and my other love is plants!). The main reason for doing this project wasn't because I'm OCD or anything like that but the truth is sometimes I forget what I have on the shelves and I don't want to duplicate. I was really glad I was able to get this project done because it will be really helpful in the future!

Everyone have a lovely day!

2 Swap Goodies

A few weeks ago I signed up to participate in 2 different swaps on my friends blogs. What fun I had! The first one was by Lori at Morning Glories and Moonflowers. This was a bird swap! I was to swap goodies with Lindsay at The Cross-Stitch House. Lindsay lives in Yorkshire, England! She sent me many lovelies and she made some of them herself-she is very creative!! Here are some pictures of the goodies she sent me (sorry to say the pictures are minus the cream fudge (John and I ate it before I remembered to take a picture) and also the chocolate is missing (same thing we ate it).



These are all the lovely presents Lindsay sent me! Well except the fudge and chocolate (opps should have waited to indulge :)



This gorgeous hand towel is in my half bathroom downstairs. It is so beautiful-I love turquoise!


Lindsay did the cross-stitch on this cute burlap bag-she is so talented!


She sent me the cutest plate with little birds on it. They were raised on the edge-I've already used it twice! Really adorable.


This little bird was crafted for me by Lindsay! I just love it! I have her hanging in my jewelry studio.


This nest is so adorable! The "eggs" are soap!! Love it!


Lindsay is a very thoughtful person and wanted to send some Yorkshire things to me. She sent this towel, the chocolate, clotted cream fudge and a Yorkshire reusable bag (which I have already used at the grocery store!).

Thanks Lindsay for all the wonderful things you sent me and all the thought you put into this! Also thank you Lori for setting all this up-your swaps are always so much fun!!


On to the next swap! Heidi of Foxgloves, Fabric and Folly!! hosted a Very Vintage Summer Swap. Thanks Heidi!! My partner was Angie from Just Simply Live! Angie is really an amazing person and a fellow North Carolinian. She and I got our e-mail from Heidi with regard to our swap partner and her likes. Well I thought Heidi had sent me my own list back and so did Angie! We love all the same things, hence being paired up!! Here are the lovely presents I received from Angie:


John told me there was a box waiting for me on the Dining Room table and I knew Angie's box arrived. Here is her box before I opened up all the goodies she sent me! Isn't it beautiful!


See how beautiful all these presents are! Angie had them all wrapped in beautiful colored tissue paper also-very pretty!


There was some lovely rose stationery! I love stationery and this is just beautiful! She also included some recipe cards and black, white and lime green notes cards too! She is wonderful!


When I opened the box, this wonderful smell came out and it was from the gorgeous botanical candle Angie sent me! I had a candle very similar to this years ago and now I have another one and I love it!


This gorgeous tea cup has already founds its way to my sideboard! I love roses so this is the perfect addition to my collection of cups and teapots!


I love this dish Angie sent me! I love anything that is antique and white! I will be putting this out with some little mint candies in it. It is so beautiful. It reminds me of a very delicate oyster shell! Just lovely!

Now I have to tell you, I didn't put anything down on my information sheet about collecting antique silver tea items. This will show you how Angie and I are kindred spirits because she sent me a gorgeous antique tea strainer!! Here it is:






Thank you to the hostesses and participants I had a wonderful time! You are all wonderful women!!! I am so glad to have made some new friends through these swaps! Enjoy!

Here are some 4th of July Thoughts and Ideas!

Hi Everyone! The 4th of July make me think of many things. For example I think of Parades, Picnics, Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, Corn on the Cob, Family, Friends and last but not least the people who fought for our Independence. I was looking through the Martha Stewart website for some red, white and blue ideas and she had some great ones! Here are a few of those ideas.


The red, white and blue bunting on this porch is just great! Not too much and not too little I think!



I love garlands of any kind around doorways or hanging from a mantel. They are always so festive. I thought this garland was just wonderful!


Every garden looks wonderful when there are red,white and blue flowers in them! I love these three pots of flowers-wish I had thought to pot up something like this for my courtyard!


I love this arrangement. The windowsills in my house are deep so I really could recreate this-maybe I will.


I wish I was here right now! What a beautiful setting.


Now these are just fun! I love the flowers in the picture too!


If I had a gazebo, I would have definitely decorated it with these lovelies! I should tell my Mom, she has a gazebo.



Take a moment during this wonderful holiday weekend to remember those who have fought for your freedom and those who are still fighting for our freedom! Happy 4th to y'all! Enjoy!!

New Building with a "Green Roof"

I think most of you know I work for a Commercial Construction company. Well yesterday I went to one of the projects we have been building for the last 9 months. I was particularly interested in this project because the Owner of the building decided he wanted to have a "green" roof. This is done by putting special mats down on the roof, with special light-weight soil and then sedum plants are planted. Rainwater is collected by the sedum, which reduces the amount of water going down off the roof and into the sewer drains. This is also wonderful for water conservation. This has become a very popular type roof in alot of the building in Charlotte where I live. Here are some pictures of the "green" roof that I thought I would share with you. You can also see the skyline of Charlotte in some of the pictures. Enjoy!




This is a closeup of the sedum they used. The bare spots will be filled in once the sedum starts growing and taking hold.



I was able to snap a shot of the Charlotte skyline along with a section of the green roof. That huge building in the center is the new Duke Energy Building.