MANTEL PARTY & BITS & PIECES FROM BLONDIE'S WORLD

I am joining Beth's Mantel Party again this week because I am having such a fun time. It is really forcing me not only to find my creative side, but to find little goodies that I have bought and put away (hid), only to forget I had them. So last week I took down the Silver, Glass & White decor I had for the last party and put back up my favorite giclee paintings. And then I found these cute little bottles I bought before Christmas and had stored (hid) away in a basket. So here we have the ever coveted crown and Fleur de lis. Magical.
On this side of the mantel I simply rearranged the mercury glass votives and tried to give you a better picture of one of my lamps. Everything else from last week stayed the same and so I won't bore you with pictures of the whole mantel. Oh, I am having a blast and feel like I am getting out of the rut of mindlessly decorating.
I have not been up to the Lakehouse because of various engagements, but Emily went last weekend and I asked her to get some shots of the fireplace. We have no mantel and I suppose one day I will want one, but by looking at the stones, it will have to be custom made and put up. For now I enjoy decorating the stone wall (which happens to be bare right now...you might remember I took The Husbands spear gun down and hid it...wow, I do a lot of hiding things! Now it is my turn to put something up. I am thinking of a huge grapevine wreath. Very simple, no flowers or greenery because there are so many floral patterns going on in the room that you can't see.
I may be cheating but instead of the mantel I am showing the hearth. i don't have a lot on it because I have never made a big effort in decorating it. It's pretty rustic and I think it might be fun to 'feminize' it a bit... To the right is the big old wood burning stove that does a fantastic job of heating up the Great Room. It is by the stairwell so the heat also goes upstairs and keeps everything very snugly. When I go to the lake next time, I will work on this hearth and maybe visit my friend Jody at the floral shop in town to see about the grapevine wreath. You might remember that she helped me with my cloche last fall. She is SO creative.


Now for those of you that are here for the Mantel Party, you can stop reading here if you wish. I am going to ramble on a bit about things that have absolutely nothing to do with mantels. Just little bits and pieces about what is going on in Blondie's world.


The Husband left for his annual Fundraiser for the Make A Wish Foundation that is held in Naples, Florida every January. How coincidental that our son Kevin is working the golf season in Naples as well. The have had dinner together a few times and golfed yesterday. Now, Kevin is a professional golfer and gives lessons as well as runs the Pro Shop. How ironic it is that The Husband bought him his first set of clubs and taught him how to golf and today they are out on the course and Kevin is giving The Husband tips! Life is full of surprises. So The Husband is having a rollicking time; today he went to a wildlife conservation area and had a bobcat cross his path fifty feet away. Just moseying along, minding it's own business. He called me and went on and on for about a half hour about this darn bobcat until I finally said (shouted), "What did you expect in a wildlife conservation, a litter of kittens?" He has a bit of fear of these things ever since he was chased buy a wild horse in a field while we were honeymooning in Hawaii. These adventures never happen to me.
So when The Husband is away, what does any good blonde do? Shop, of course. Actually I took Abigail out and she reaped the rewards of my credit card and I came home with this book. I am a bit ashamed that I am still reading three other books simultaneously and had no business buying another, but it was either go in to Borders or follow Abby around Forever 21 looking at clothes that could have fit my Barbie doll. I flipped through the book and it looks incredibly funny. I watched most of the movie awhile ago but fell asleep before it was over...not because it was boring, it was late at night and it was our third movie. So I have to catch it again.

I saw this frame at Marshall's the other day and just stared and stared at it with creative thoughts running fleetingly through my head. None of them turned into anything firm so I left without it. I continued to have those fleeting thoughts (actually, all my thoughts seem to be fleeting), and so I went back for it yesterday. I want to fill the four spaces with something vintagy and I think once I take a trip to Michael's, my ideas will come together. Don't you love the frame?


Emily, Abby and myself are having quite a wonderful girls week here. We are taking turns cooking every night and it's really quite interesting since neither of them can cook to save their lives. Last night Emily made Chicken Parmesan and she bought bread sticks and made a dipping sauce with a Parmesan garlic vinaigrette by Giada De Laurentiis. She has a line of products at Target and I can tell you that I was impressed with the vinaigrette. Tonight is Abby's night to cook, so I think I will fast all day and have no problem getting down whatever she makes...


So that is what is going on my life. As always, I say I am going to post more often so I am not so lengthy, but time gets in the way. I'll do my best. Thanks for coming by!