29 Years

Happy Anniversary Sweetheart!

One Down Three to Go

It's finally finished!  I'm happy with how the chair turned out.  I still have to screw down the seat to the chair.  I may leave that for DH to do.  I upholstered this is blue in order for it to work in several different rooms in my house.  Here you see it in the Family Room.  

This is sitting in the Living Room.

And here it is perfectly at home in the office.

Now I only have 3 more chairs left!  Whew!  Thanks for all your cushion input.  You reaffirmed my thoughts and it looks so much better.  Check out The Inspired Room for other posts on making a beautiful life.  

Floral Fridays

Have a beautiful weekend!

Opinions Needed

Here is the chair I decided to work on.  Pretty shape, huh? So, I'm only a month behind the challenge.  Slowly, but surely, I'm getting there.  Please ignore the hot pink, tie-dyed sheet underneath.  

I went ahead and primed it.

Here's a peek.

Pretty fabric.  It's actually the wrong side.

Here's my dilemma.  I think my foam is too big.  It's 2 inch thick foam.  I took of 4 LAYERS of nastiness just to get to the wood.  That included some kind of cotton batting as the padding.  So, it was very small to begin with.  This is just feeling too thick to me.  I haven't stapled the fabric all the way down because I'm not sure about it.  I need opinions.  What do you think?

Chair Inspiration

I've actually been working on painting an armchair this weekend. I posted it in a challenge that Melissa from The Inspired Room proposed at least 3 weeks ago.  Obviously, I didn't meet the deadline.  But, I have been painting my chair.  It's not quite finished.  I think the cushion is going to pose a particular challenge.  I found these pictures below at Country Living. I was looking for inspiration.  The chair that I'm painting is not going to be white, but these photos are beautiful. I think it's the varied ways that they're using the chair.  I would like my chair to be flexible, to fit into different rooms.  I think the fabric choice will dictate that the most.  

I love the way the photo is framed and of course the beautiful hardwood floors.  

This is a beautiful vignette.  But why do you suppose it's facing the wall?  Do you suppose it's the naughty chair?  I had to stand in the corner a lot in elementary school.  This would've been much better.  

Here is a beautiful place to change your shoes.  I don't think I'd be wearing those, though.    

This is just a pretty setting.  I like how the rain boots are added to coordinate the colors.  I don't think I'll be adding boots to my decorating just yet.  

Floral Fridays

This is actually my own bouquet from my own roses.  You can see where this old pitcher is absorbing the water.  Guess I won't use that one for flowers again.  I hope you have a beautiful weekend!

Fun Finds

I left work yesterday and decided to take a detour.  I did some fun shopping.  First stop was the thrift store.  I actually only had about 30 minutes before they closed.  I managed to find some treasures pretty quickly.  

Here are three plates that I found.  I've been thinking that I needed some all white plates.  I have 3 sets of blue and white plates that I mix up.  But, blue doesn't work so well at Thanksgiving or Christmas.  Well, I take that back.  I like blue for Christmas.  Anyway, these plates made it home with me.  They were only $1 a piece.  

Look at these fantastic patterns!  I'm thinking they're from the 60's.  I haven't found a date on them yet.  I also haven't looked too terribly hard.  And don't ask what I'm going to do with them.  At the moment, I have no idea.  I have seen a lot of fun art done with patterns.  I have such trouble cutting up things like this for other projects, though.  We'll see.  In the mean time, I'm going to just look at them, or sit them on my sewing table pile.  They were only 25 cents a piece! 



These books came home also.  They're gardening books and they have pretty covers.  What more do you need?  They were only $1 a piece till I reached the checkout and discovered books were half price yesterday.  So One Dollar for two hard back, in great condition, pretty colored books.  
Not a bad shopping trip for $6.53, I don't think.  I went from there to the knitting store where I caught up with my knitting friends and touched all the beautiful yarns.  Then on to reality at the grocery store.  It was a fun little diversion.  Check in with Rhoda at Southern Hospitality if you'd like to see what other bloggers found while treasure hunting.  

Strawberry Season

I'm sure you all know that strawberries are in season.  They are grown here in the Southern California area, so they are plentiful.  Here are the beautiful ones I bought last Friday for our chocolate fountain.  Perfect!

This is what I made for breakfast on Saturday.  I tried messing with my photo and couldn't undo the damage done.  I hadn't even saved it!  Ugh.  Oh well, you get the idea of the lovely breakfast we had.  

These plates were a fun thrift store find.  They remind me of diner dishes.  

Strawberry shortcake also made an appearance.  What do you make with your strawberries?  

New Banner

In case you can't tell, I'm extremely proud of my new banner.  I know it's not professional, but I'm excited because I did it ALL BY MYSELF!  This is a huge accomplishment and took me much longer than many of you would.  But, I'm learning.  I think it's pretty darn cute.  

Floral Fridays

Whew, it's Friday again!  This is a crazy day for me and my family.  There's just a lot going on today.  DD2 finishes her finals today.  DH flies home from Chicago.  I hear tornadoes are headed their direction.  I am spending the day preparing for our Chocolate Event tonight.  So, I'm relieved that it is also Floral Friday.  Here I can just show you an absolutely gorgeous photo of a bouquet of flowers.  This picture is from the beautiful British blog of Jane Brocket. If you haven't visited her, you will enjoy it.  Her photos are beautiful and her content is witty. You'll probably learn something along the way.  Have a beautiful spring weekend!

Procrastinator's Party Confession

Okay, here are my excuses.  Just for background, I live in Southern California.  The day after I (stupidly) committed to this challenge, I left for OKC where I met up with 15 friends from my college graduating class.  We celebrated our 50th year birthdays and had a wonderful time catching up.  Most of these I hadn't seen since 1981!  Here's the proof.  See me?  There I am.  

Then I came home and worked for 3 days.  Then I flew to Chicago, Illinois where I attended the precious wedding of this beautiful young lady.  
See me?  There I am again.  

Then I came home and have been working feverishly on these treasures.  This Friday night (the 15th) is our Women's Ministries Event, "Taste and See".  We are having a Chocolate Tasting night along with two fabulous stories of how the Lord is with us through the difficult places in our lives.  We are using the verse, "Taste and See that the Lord is Good!"  Psalm 34:8 as our theme for the event.  Below are 75 covers for Chocolate Cookbooks that we're giving to everyone.  After about 15 hours of work, they're not finished yet!  But, almost.  

I'll be posting more of this event in the next few days.  I'll also post a link to the talented artist where I got the idea for the cakes.  Her's are much more beautiful than mine.  In the mean time, the chairs that I hope to paint are back in the garage.  The paint has been purchased and I'm planning on starting them next week!  

Guest Room

If you've read my recent posts you can see that I've been traveling.  In my travels I have had the privilege of staying with good friends.  Each of them were great hostesses and provided for my needs as a guest.  Because of that, I told DH that I thought maybe I should stay in our guest bedroom and use our guest bath in order to see how it works for others.  Of course, everyone has their own likes and dislikes, but I thought it might help to see how comfortable others are in my own home.  

{house beautiful}

Obviously, most importantly is a comfortable bed and privacy.  A light by the bed or a next to comfy chair to read in is lovely. I tend to read in bed before the lights go out.  Plenty of blankets are necessary for the various temperatures that we all go through at night.  I was even provided a little room heater for the bathroom on a chilly evening.  

{HGTV}

A good place to put your suitcase and hang your clothes is helpful. Occasionally, we need access to an iron and ironing board.  Well, more than occasionally.  

{Twig Hutchinson}

Good lighting in the bathroom is important.  Let's face it, the eyes are failing and the face needs more work than ever.  As my Dad would say, "painting the barn" takes work.  One friend provided a little basket of mini bath products, which was helpful.  Occasionally, because I'm used to staying in hotels, I forget to take shampoo.  Good towels are always important. Definitely try to use these before your guests arrive.  One friend provides beautiful, soft towels, but no matter how much she's washed them, they leave fuzzies everywhere.  She was gracious enough to provide me with a non-fuzzy towel for when I put in my contacts.  Thanks, D!  So, enough of my rambling.  

I was wondering what you think is important to have in a guest room?

Soul Sisters

For some reason the Lord never blessed me with sisters.  Actually, I'm an only child.  Which has been for the most part a wonderful gift.  I have awesome parents and we are very close. But, I've never had sisters.  These two ladies that stand with me below are maybe even closer than sisters.  We are probably as different in every way from each other as we look.  In fact, we're totally different.  But, for me, they are sisters.  

Do you have friends that no matter how far apart you are, you're still connected?  These good friends live in the Chicago area.  I no longer live 15 minutes away.  But, when we're together, it feels like we've never been apart.  It was wonderful to be with you again, sharing special memories.  Just so you know girls, I love you.

"A man of many companions may come to ruin, 

but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother."  

Proverbs 18:24

Beautiful Morning

This is what I saw when I opened my curtains this morning.  I didn't have time to go and get my telephoto lens.  I also wasn't thinking that clearly.  It was a beautiful sight anyway.  The bottom balloon was landing.  How early do you suppose they had to get up in order to enjoy the sunrise?  Whew!  I bet it was worth it.

Life is so crazy at the moment that I don't have much time to think about being a creative blogger.  I thought I'd share the lovely sight that I awoke to.  I hope you have a day full of lovely surprises.  

Whirlwind Weekend

I just got back late last night from a very fast trip from California to Oklahoma City.  There I met up with 15 friends in order to celebrate our 50th birthdays.  This lovely young lady was the organizer.  She was my friend in college and in my wedding 29 years ago.  We haven't seen each other since 2001.  

Some of us haven't seen each other since graduation in 1981!  How does the time go so quickly?We had lots of laughs, stories, hugs, tears and prayers with each other.  

The food was fabulous and presentation beautiful at Nonna's in Bricktown.  This is chicken pot pie. Do you notice the rooster on the top?

Yes, we piled up on the staircase for a group photo.

Later we ate more, laughed a whole lot more and here we're eating Chocolate Chip cookie dough just like we did in the dorm rooms.  What a very special weekend it was, in spite of my travel difficulties.  There is no need to bore you with them, but it was not good.