Thankful

 

Today is my 40th birthday.

I have thought a lot about what I was going to post today.  I figured it had to be something thoughtful, relevant to turning the big 4 – 0!  I sat at my computer last night for the longest time.  Nothing.

This morning, I awoke to this..

 

All that I am feeling today is thankful.

For my family, my friends, my life.

It doesn’t get better than that.

We Have a Winner and Expressing My Gratitude

We have a Winner!

True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 44 Powered by RANDOM.ORG

And number 44 is the lovely Roseanna of After I finish this row.  She has some really great tutorials and projects on her blog if you have a moment to check her out here.

So Roseanna, once I have your address, this package of vintage goodies will be on its way to you!  Thanks so much for joining in.

This was my first giveaway so I was unsure of how it would go.  I appreciate everyone’s support and getting involved.  Several of you were willing to share on you sidebars, facebook and twitter and I thank you for that as well.

I would like to especially thank Jami at Freckled Laundry.  She shared my giveaway on her blog and sent a ton of new followers my way.  So welcome to all who came through Jami and I hope you are glad you came!

If  you haven’t already found Freckled Laundry, it is definitely worth a visit.

As I mentioned the other day, my cup is overflowing.  I spent the last few days with surprise visitors from Nevada and before that from NH and MA.  And before that, on Saturday, so many people came from near and very far to celebrate my 40th birthday.  I feel so much gratitude and thanks for my family who pulled this challenging surprise off for me.

And now, for my late giveaway for 200 followers, I am actually over 300!

Wow, it is a lot in a week.

My girls are home on break this week.  This is the first time we have ever had a February break so we made a bunch of plans of fun things to do.  Plus, I planned to get a lot of work done.

Well, work is loosing on this one.  We are going to the movies and we are going to the “big” mall and we are bringing friends and hoping to have lots of fun.

Trying to fit it into half of the week is a challenge, but everything else has to go, including cleaning my house.

But, I am not going to lie.  I have a hair appointment on Friday and I am not letting that go!  A girl has to got to cover her gray!  Especially when she is days from turning 40!

Have an amazing one!  And thanks so much for all that I have found through this blog and through all of you!

My Cup is Overflowing

I will be away for a few days.  Feeling the love and feeling appreciation.  My sister and husband surprised me with a most amazing, and early birthday party to celebrate my 40th on Saturday.

The best part is that I had my Betties for one night and now I have dear friends who came all the way from Nevada to surprise me.

I feel so lucky and so loved.  So many people came from so far and near and it was an amazing night.

So, I am going to enjoy my time with my friends and my amazing family.

Oh, and the way they surprised me was my dear husband packed a full bag to leave for a trip to Europe.  I am not going to lie, I checked his bag to see if it was really packed.  It was and he said it was because he knew I would check his bag.  He knows me so well.

Truly, I feel so loved and there is nothing more a girl could ask for to celebrate her birthday.

A Visit to the Emerald Cove

You often hear people talk about the friends they have made in the blog world.  It is strange type of relationship since very often you never or have yet to meet in person.  Even still, there is a connection.

I have been fortunate to find a friend in this lady.

Michelle of Emerald Cove.

For the last few week she has been on fire redoing rooms in her home.

First, she worked on her daughter’s bedroom.

Then, she re-worked the master bedroom with equally beautiful results.

For more details and images, you can visit her blog here.  It is worth the visit.

If you haven’t entered my giveaway yet, please visit here.

Have a great night!

A Day of Necessities and a Coconut

For the second day, Peanut was home sick. 

However, after numerous cartwheels performed throughout the day, I am uncertain if I made the right call on keeping her home.  However, she is working hard on the work her sister brought home for her, so props to her.

I ran her to the doctor and the post office. 

Actually two post offices, the first one was closed at 2:00 in the afternoon.  Really, we do live in the country.

Other than that, I have been at my desk.

As much as I never want my kids sick, it has been good to buckle down and get stuff done the last two days.

Today has been nothing creative. 

Ordering Catalogs.

Preparing bills for clients.

Taxes.

Ugh.

Honestly, I just want to get it over with.

My kind husband brought home dinner, is changing over the laundry and the girls are taking care of the dishwasher.

My office is open to the rest of the house in a loft.  So, while I determine who exactly that Pay Pal expense was to I can still answer if a coconut is a fruit or not.

Actually, I couldn’t. 

Blondie looked it up for me.

And in case you are dying to know.  It is considered a fruit, a seed and a nut.  Who knew?

Maybe with all of this behind me, I can enjoy some creative stuff without all of the “financial guilt”.

That is the reality.  In order to do this fun stuff as a business, we can’t loose sight of the “business” side of things. 

I am really going to try and do a better job with my financial records and tracking this year so it is not such a chore to do each year.

I know, very exciting post.

Getting Caught Up and a Giveaway

To those lovely and patient ladies who I had promised some hankies to a bit back, they are finally on their way to you!  Sorry for the hold up.

Since the Holidays, I have been challenged in keeping up with everything. 

It has become clear too me that I am wearing far too many hats.

What has not yet become clear is which hats I need to remove for now.

But I guess that is all part of that journey.

(a little sneak peak of the almost finalized logo!)

I spoke a while back about a giveaway for reaching 200 followers.  I am finally getting to it!

I think followers might be like men.  When you are not looking you find them.  Is that how it goes?  Well sort of, for the both the men and the followers.

I so badly wanted to reach 200 followers before Christmas. 

Yup, I admit it, I was really focused on how many followers I was at.

So I guess there was a purpose in me not reaching that goal..  I now try to focus on the two main goals that I am hoping my blog will help me achieve. 

So now, instead of worrying about how many followers, I am focused on “what am looking to achieve?”.

And look at that, in 6 weeks or so, I gained another 80 followers.

Thank you to each and every one of you, new and been here for a bit.

A special thank you to my sister who was kindly my first follower.

As far as those two goals, well, that is for another post.

So I thought I would put together some vintage goodies to send as a genuine thank you.

Included are two vintage wooden spools and one vintage blue thread spool.

A silver plated creamer with beautiful details, 2 hankies, a skeleton key…

And a really interesting old nail file.  I did some research to determine if it was mother of pearl, Bakelite or celluloid.  My best research determined that it is none of those or two of them combined. 

They call me Sherlock you know.

And it is all packed in this enamelware box and cover.  After a good cleaning and the magic of the Magic Eraser, it is in really good shape with the exception of a few marks on the inside bottom.

 

It is an assortment of items that I hope you will enjoy.  I believe I even put in a small branch slice just for fun as well.

 

And to make sure that I don’t get too busy to send it out, it is already in a box ready to ship!

Since this is my first giveaway, I hope I am going about this correctly, but here is the plan…

1. I will draw a random number and match it to a comment number. So, in order to enter please comment below.
2. Please become a follower, if you are not already, if you would like to enter.
3. I would love if you shared, tweeted, facebook, etc. about this if you would like.  If you do, please make another comment for another entry.
4. I will take entries until Wednesday, February 23rd at 9 a.m.

Thanks for stopping by!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED – THANKS SO MUCH!

For the Love of A Dog

Today is a day to talk about love.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my family so much and we did a really great job of expressing our feelings to each other, without spending a lot of money, for Valentine’s Day.

But I thought I would change it up a little and talk about my love for my dog.

I truly love this dog.  But she looks guilty for a reason.

She has had a rough couple of weeks. 

First, the snow is so crazy thick out there she can’t run like she usually does. 

And, I was a bad dog Mom and got her late to the groomer.  As a result, she was all matted and how to be shaved down.  I think she gets embarrassed.

She gets really stirred up when this happens and the result is that she drives me crazy.

When I go to the sink, oh look, Bailey is there.

When I go up the stairs, guess who runs past me and then waits on the landing.  Are you coming Mom?

When I sit in the chair to work on my laptop, she decides the best spot is ON my foot.

When my husband and I sit down in front of the fire to get a little down time, she is there first checking it out for us.

And when we actually sit down, she is right there in between us.

When we went to church on Saturday night, we came home to this.

 

This was her bed.  It is now in a trash bag.

  

And now, she paces back and forth in our room all night, keeping me up, presumably looking for her bed.

Ah, all for the love of a dog.

Family Focus

So, I haven’t done any projects in a while and for the first time since I started joining, I haven’t joined, for not just one week, but TWO weeks.  The truth is, I haven’t had anything to share lately.

But no worries, lots a ‘brewin!

First off, I am finally pretty much done with my new blog design.  I just gave the final approvals to the designer for her to move forward and she thinks it will just be another couple of weeks.  She is amazing and I have feeling you guys are going to want to check her out!

As exciting as all that is, the truth is, my focus has really been on my kiddos lately. 

My sweet peanut has especially needed a lot of help and guidance lately.

(her First Communion last year.  It really works out when your girlfriend is a really great hair stylist on days like this!)

Truth is, it can sometimes be hard to be an 8 year old little girl and ALL that comes with that.

So, since family is my focus, I thought I would share some fun oldies of my kiddos.

So, please indulge me.

You are also getting some glimpses of the “old” house.

Oh, how I miss feety pajamas.

  

Aah, the old playroom.  This was Blondie’s preview day at pre-school.  I remember so clearly that peanut had a fever but was so excited for her sister to be going to school.

Definitely a favorite.   We tucked her and came back later to her whole dollhouse set up in her bed.  A little decorator in the making!

One of my favorite crafty projects.  I put together / made the costumes for them and their dolls.

  Oh, how I am looking forward to getting back to the beach this year!

 

     

How do you not love faces like these?

Yeah, I know, we all think are kids are the cutest.

But, we are all right!

Thanks for indulging me and have a great night and weekend.  Looking forward to all that the next few weeks have to offer!

Oh yeah, including a little thing called…

TURNING 40!!!

A Fun Idea for Picture Display

My girlfriend Julie does a really great job getting pictures off of her camera, off of her computer, printed out and displayed.  Throughout her lovely home she has pictures of friends and family alike displayed.  When I visited her last week, I saw this unique idea for a picture display and I thought I would share it with you.

I never got a chance to ask her if they were vintage skis or reproductions, but who really cares when the wood and the metal accents look this great.

In case you are wondering, her amazing husband is actually flying that black hawk helicopter.  He is stationed right now in Afghanistan.  As amazing as he is for all that he does, his family back home are amazing as well. 

She and their daughter also happen to be talented photographers as well which is why all of these pictures are so great.

Have a great day! Laura

Centerpieces on a VERY Small Budget

Each year we have a “Thank You” dinner at our church for all the volunteers.  I have been doing the centerpieces and decorating for these events for several years now. 

Previously it was held in the spring and so I would use mason jars and fresh flowers.  I have been known to trim a few of my neighbors bushes during this time frame.  With permission, of course.

source

Not my picture, pretty though.

However, last year it was moved to January.

My budget for this project – pretty much none.

I am working with plastic tablecloths. 

With tablecloths included, for 25 tables I have VERY limited funds. 

Fresh flowers in January is not going to happen.

Generally, I am not a fan of fake flowers, but desperate times…

Last year I found these brown flowers on clearance.

(Yes, all of these pictures were taken with a flash.  I am sorry, it was before I knew any better. )

They came with 6 attached in a bundle, but with a wire cutter I was able to break them down to individual blooms to spread them out more.

Then the fun began.

This was during the time when my house was being renovated and the painters were using spray guns. 

Let me just say, ugghh.

So, I was literally trapped in my basement.

At one point at I had to go out the bulk head door to leave the house.

So, I decided to make 25 of these arrangements.

If you look closely you can see the insanity.

Each branch and pinecone were sprayed with adhesive and then glittered.

In the basement. 

With no ventilation. 

It was an interesting few days.

I used dollar store vases, covered and glued with ribbon I already had.

The branches are from my backyard.

The pinecones were retrieved from a friend of a friend’s yard after I put out an “all call for pinecones”.

Luckily there was no snow on the ground in January last year.

The birch logs were cut from our yard and my husband and I took turns on the drill press making the holes for the tea lights.

Last year we had a mix of brown and white tablecloths (budget reasons).

Last Friday, we had this year’s dinner and we used the centerpieces again.

This year I got smart and found the best price and bought all brown tableclotha on line.

 

I also added a larger branch slice under each of the vases.

So, if you need to do a centerpiece on a budget, head outside!  But if you live in the Northeast, you are going to have to wait for the snow to melt!

Have a great one, Laura

Home Tour: Part 4

This is almost the last stop on my friend Julie’s home tour.  I already showed you the..

Guest Bedroom

Master Bedroom

Mantel

Now I am sharing the family room.

This room is a little awkward because it serves many function.  Julie has rearranged the furniture many times in here.  And, I must admit, when I took the picture I rearranged one more time.  She was at work already when I did this.  I feel quite certain she has move back the chair that I moved.

Please excuse the less than ideal pictures.  Ideal circumstances would have been to take these later in the day.  However, she lives in Massachusetts and I live in New York.  I had a 2 o’clock meeting to make it to, so you are getting 8:30 am photos.

She put a fun arrangement on top of her armoire to transition between what she had for Christmas and what is to come for spring.

 

  This is a view from the other side of the room.  She has a round table that can be used for homework or extra space for meals since this room is right off the kitchen.

  

I absolutely love her raspberry red sofa and how can you not love a green zebra ottoman.  Every time I am at her house, I want to come home and add more color to mine.  She does it so very well.

 

The rug brings together all of the colors.  She is a master at finding Pottery Barn items at a discount on Ebay.

 

Next time I visit, I hope to get picture of the kitchen.  She was not ready for her close-up on this morning.  This room into the kitchen look out onto this beautiful view.

  

Does it get any better than that?

And just for another little beautiful tidbit, here is part of her entry.

 

Next time I visit, I will work to take pictures of the kitchen and some other parts of the house.  I do still have one more thing to share next.

Have a great day!