BLONDIE'S 2014 YEAR IN REVIEW PART 2

I'm wrapping up the 2014 Year In Review today so we can move onward and upward.  We had a wonderful New Year's Eve...just The Husband and I, and I actually managed to stay up watching the ball dropping in the Grand Room at Navy Pier, as well as fireworks outside my windows, and then some great music on a few of the television broadcasts. 

Now, going backward to July seems a little odd, right? lol!  Well, here we are with our 4th of July celebration at the lake.  This is our biggest summer party and some of our guests actually stay at a motel in the next town as we can exceed the  16 people we are able to put up  in our lakehouse.  I have fun jazzing up the patio...I reuse the same patriotic decorations every year.  My favorite trick is to color the water in my Mason jars with red and blue food dye (and regular old water for the "white") and stuff them with our daisies which are usually blooming like crazy by July.

I found these paper fans at the Dollar Tree and had them here and there.  I hope they have them again this year...they are really cute.  I saved some but they took a beating being outdoors for a few days.  

Back and forth, city to country...that's our summer.  I love it.  Usually four days in the city and three at the lake. Things tend to go to the wayside here as I'm doing laundry, shopping, cleaning, running errands when I'm back.  You know...real life.  I took one day to give my bathroom a fresh little makeover.  I thought the vibrant colors were really different for me.  Everything came from Target; the shower curtain, rug and hand towel.  That's it.  A whole new look!  Since this pic was taken, the bath has been painted a soft white and I made a few cosmetic changes.  I hope to share that soon.

I get a little more laid back with cooking in the summer.  This was a little bit of a different dinner in the warm weather, chili with cornbread.  We do so much grilling outdoors, it's nice to just be inside once in awhile and use the good old stove.  Abby and Tom were here for this dinner on this particular night and I loved using some paper placemats I had found in a little shop in Asheville, N.C.  They come in a tablet form and I still have a ton!

My granddog, Tulo, continued to grow in leaps and bounds.  You saw him as a puppy in my last post.  Here he is at three months.  He totally infiltrated our house and took over Milo's dog bed, as well as Layla's favorite little raggedy toy.  It's so funny how he bursts into our house...he could care less about me or anyone else, he just wants to see his little fur friends!  Now remember, at eight months (as I write), he has quadrupled in size!

We took a week off in August to hang out at the lake.  It was on my agenda to start adding flowers to my little boxwood enclosed garden.  There was no shaking The Husband off on this one (he loves a good project) but it worked out to my advantage.  We lugged the plants home, he dug the holes and I planted the pots of perennials.  There are A LOT here, but I'm hoping that as the years go on and things get crowded, I can divide them and slowly fill in the rest of the borders here.  It should be really pretty.  My late sister, Leslie, loved pink and purple flowers.  She was a fantastic gardener.  I plant these colors in honor of her, and I threw some yellow in for contrast.  I wish she were here to see this, for me to get advice from.  On the bright side, she was great inspiration. :)

Not many recipes in this post so I'll just share a salsa recipe I tried to perfect over the summer.  I had an abundance of tomatoes, mostly from my neighbor, Susie, at the lake.  Find the basics here.  It's a winner. 

Most of you know that every year we meet up with my blogger friend, Cindy and her husband, Dan.  Cindy writes the blog Applestone Cottage and they live in Northwestern Wisconsin.  This summer we met in Madison, WI.  About 3 hours from Chicago, I was surprised that The Husband and I had never been there before.  What a great city!  So pretty, clean and plenty to do.  Sadly, we only had the weekend but we just  enjoyed the heck out of it.  I say it every year...you meet someone through blogging and it's like you've met your soul mate.  I have that with Cindy.

I'm usually the obnoxious one who chooses where we stay.  I was so excited that there was a B&B just outside of Madison that was basically a small farm with a few barnyard animals, an organic garden with veggies with which our breakfast was made, and a large Labradoodle to warm our hearts.  Chalk up another great time.  Cindy, I'm looking forward to what 2015 holds for us!

With a little nip in the air I was feeling fall around the corner.  I did a tiny little bit of rearranging of the mantel to get into the groove of fall arriving...

...and The Husband got his autumn groove on by buying a wood splitter and then roaming around old  backroads looking for country folks selling firewood.  Every weekend he would repeat this process, coming  home with a truckload of wood, and then spending the day cutting it into logs and kindling.  I started calling him Paul Bunyon, but honestly, this is what the man likes to do for relaxation.  And thankfully, we have enough firewood for the next ten winters.  

We had two antique/thrift stores open up in our little lake town.  I really have to drive by them with blinders on, I have so much clutter as it is.  But one day I spotted these wood folding chairs outside one of the shops and I hit the brakes.  Ahhh...I love chairs!  Not sure what I'm going to do with them...I get tired of painted furniture, I thought of stripping some of the varnish and stain, and then roughing them up with sandpaper.  Then maybe make some sort of thin little shabby seat cushions.  Yes?  No?  I'll also use varnish as they will be on the covered patio all summer. 

In September it was revealed that my son, Kevin, and daughter in law, Mary Clare, were having a baby girl.  Here I am with MC's mom, Peggy, after finding out we have Ellsie  arriving in February.  We are going to be playing tug of war with that little baby!

Bring on the mums!  I did it a little too early this year after being coerced by Emily to try a place with "rainbow mums".  Oh, LOVE!  But they petered out too soon and I had to replace them with pansies which do well here until frost.  Not bad, pansies are pretty inexpensive.  But whoa...these were gorgeous!

I may sometimes appear to be a person who is always happy, energetic and on the go, but no.  I'm a middle aged gal that wants to make sure I can get as much out of life as I'm allowed, and while I can.  Sometimes I worry that I'm not reaching high enough, not setting or achieving goals.  I mean to get into more in~depth conversations on my blog, but then I get consumed with chronicling day to day events.  Hopefully the dialogue changes sometimes to give you some inclination of my mindset at the time.  :)  

Anyway, this was fall, things were winding up at the lake and I was thinking of that word, "GROW", which you may remember from my last post was used as my "word" for 2015.  Maybe it's the time in my life...maybe I just want to take advantage of all the great opportunities for adventure and experiences I have at my fingertips.  Well, this is not a post to reflect in...you can read my thoughts on this subject here.  And I had several bloggers that warmly suggested a few books I might want to read.  Several recommended A Year By The Sea, by Joan Anderson.  I gobbled it up.  My friend, Melanie, had read it several times.  I truly hope the coming year is one in which I reach for the stars and climb a few small mountains.  

Okay, fall officially came to the Midwest.  I loved pulling out the jeans and sweaters, and I found these nifty shoe/boots that I thought were so cool!  In the guise of showing off the leaves, I present my blue suede shoes.  

We don't have to "close up" the lakehouse, it's year round, a regular old home.  But we go so rarely in the winter months. So in the late fall when we spend that last "real" weekend putting everything away; cleaning out the flowerpots and cleaning up the boat (forgotten stiff beach towels and water bottles galore)...it's a little bittersweet.  

Good 'ol Milo,  normally in a fenced in backyard (albeit quite large) here in the city, loves his freedom to roam at the lake.  This was the year of The Girlfriend.  Yes, he met a beautiful Golden Retriever two houses down on the bay.  He has to navigate around cattails and docks, and jump over and through a creek, but he knows when she's there.  Oh, young love.  Parting is such sweet sorrow.

A big surprise in or around September was waking up in the morning feeling like I had slept on my hands.  Numbness, tingling, pain.  The Husband guessed Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and after a test, yes, that's exactly what it was.  Man, why me?  How did it come on so fast and furious?  I had two surgeries in the space of four weeks and it really jumbled up my life to put it mildly.  It still seems a little surreal.  But happily, I'm doing really well.  I know it will be awhile before my hands feel normal but I'm not in pain all the time. :)

Between surgeries we slipped away to our condo in Asheville, N.C.  How sweet!  We had never been there in the fall so it was absolutely spectacular to see the mountains in all their glory.  

We relaxed, shopped, ate, took a few day trips and most happily, met up with my good friend and fellow blogger, Mary, from A Breath Of Fresh Air.  Here we are with her husband, Bob, at our favorite Asheville restaurant, The Lobster Trap.  Mary and Bob are from Raleigh, but had coinciding plans to be in our neck of the woods so it worked out grand.  Such fun.  Mary, I love you!  And Bob...you're not too bad either! :)

I really love to get inspired by food I have in restaurants, and Asheville has the best of the best...restaurants and food!  I had a simple sandwich for lunch one day at The Grove Wood Cafe  came home and duplicated it.  No recipe involved here...just a nice layering of hummus, avocado, sprouts, tomatoes and red pepper on good bread.  This is my version here that I couldn't wait to replicate. Find the details here.   

We were back home and Thanksgiving arrived quickly.  I had fun with a pretty table this year.  I found some colorful and inexpensive salad plates at Pier 1, and they gave the table a very vibrant autumn feel.  Everything else just seemed to fall into place.  We had  most of the kids for dinner and the extended family for dessert as per usual.  Always fun.

I hadn't planned on it but I tried a new grocery store that has a sensational cheese section.  I wrote in my Thanksgiving post that I set up a little area on my kitchen island with a variety of cheeses I had purchased along with crackers, bread and fruit.  It was such a hit.  Forget any other appetizers!  But I did make this baked cheese dip that was out of this world and everyone wanted the recipe.  Very simple but there is just something about the combination of cheeses and spices and served piping hot out of the oven.  You can find the recipe here.

Moving on to Christmas...I had so many lofty ideas for crafting...I just wanted to do my own thing and not buy into all the razzle dazzle of store items.  I did that a bit, too..I can't deny!  But I had so much fun recreating some of the ideas I had Pinned and had seen on other blogs.  You can look in my December archives if you'd like to see how I was inspired, but in reality, I took my own spin on everything.  Isn't that how the creative process works? 

These are your everyday Mason jars with a coat of Modge Podge (available at craft stores), then sprinkled with Epsom salts.  I decorated the rims very simply with tattered ribbons of drop cloth,   grapevine and faux berries.  You can use whatever you have on hand.  Then just plunk a votive candle down inside.  Very pretty.

This jar consisted of a few ideas together in one.  I had these smaller  Mason jars and I used some rock salt and cranberries in layers and then tucked a tea light in the center.  I love how the cranberries glow.  What is nice...you can keep the jars and the rest is so inexpensive.  I will make these every year, I'm sure.  This was a favorite.

I had a lot of inspiration in putting together these stockings for my kids and their partners.  Go to my original post to read about it.  I was so chuffed when the girls huddled around on Christmas morning to see them,  to see their names!  I stamped them on rounds of cedar found at Michael's, and The Husband had drilled the holes that I threaded twine though to attach them to the stockings.  The stockings were custom made by Southhouse Designs.

We had three days of Christmas celebrations, how blessed we are!  I won't spend a lot of time with that as I just posted recently,  I had Christmas morning brunch here and I set up a simple buffet with sweets and fruit (I also made an egg casserole which was still in the oven when I took this snap!).  

And on New Years Eve, The Husband and I celebrated with a small spread of cheeses, crackers, pears and cold shrimp with a remoulade sauce.  Oh, yes...some champagne!

Thank you so much for following along with me on this loooong year in review.  It's been quite a bit of work but so worth it.  Now...let's move on to the New Year, a year in which  I hope to meet more friends through my blogging, and of course,  continue to hold all of you wonderful and sweet friends from over the years very close to my heart,  

Again, love to all of you!

Jane x

BLONDIE'S 2014 YEAR IN REVIEW PART 1

Hang on to your hats...as much as I mean to keep this short and sweet, well, you know me after six years.  If you don't, prepare for some reading, and welcome to a sweet remembrance of 2014 in my world.  

What is really a big difference  now in comparing today with a year ago, and I know it is true for many, is that the winter of 2013-14 was so incredibly cold and snowy.  At this point in time, my area of Chicago has had less than an inch of snow, and last year we were at approximately 40+ inches.  A whole different realm then; shoveling out everyday and dealing with frigid temps.  Needless to say, we kept the home fires burning and my little Layla was close by.

Waves on Lake Michigan on Chicago's Lake Shore Drive, frozen in motion.  Incredible.  (Source unknown)

A trip up to the lake had us plodding along in knee deep snow, the bay hidden under ice and snow.  I never thought we would see that arbor bloom with clematis again, but of course it did.

I make a lot of my own recipes and soup was a mainstay (if you know me, you know I love to experiment with soups and stews) during the early months of the year.  For this post, I'm just going to give you links to the recipes.  Most of them I never gave a name to.  Ha!  Shall we call this Creamy Vegetable Soup?

I spent some time trying to get the right feel for our master bedroom after having it painted a bluish gray.  As fussy as I am, it took awhile of course, and I finally decided on this comforter from The Land Of Nod, pillowcases from West Elm, and the burlap pillow from Restoration Hardware.  I LOVE to look online..so many choices and good deals.  

I had these plate racks from One Kings Lane for awhile and they were  originally bright red, yellow and blue...not my normal color choices but I just had a "feeling" about them.  A light bulb moment came  and some cans of spray paint, and I had them on the wall with some collected plates in no time at all.  I love the feminine feel they give the room.

Finally, I made a small gallery wall with some of my own photographs.  Sometimes I switch them out.  It's so simple and inexpensive to have copies made online at your local Walgreens, CVS, etc.  

Winter brings in the store bought flowers, but how sweet are they?  Maybe even more so then the summer flowers we cut from our gardens...just an unexpected bright spot in our day!

I found a great recipe for a balsamic vinaigrette while fiddling in the kitchen (my fave pastime!) that I shared and still make.  I use this on salads, in dishes as a marinade, and added  to sauces for that little spike of flavor.  In a Mason jar, mix:

1/4 c. Balsamic vinegar

2 t. brown sugar

1 T chopped garlic

1/2 t each salt and pepper

3/4 c olive oil

Shake well and keep refrigerated.  As there are no preservatives, the mixture will solidify.  Take it out of the fridge 15 minutes before using.  Feel free to Pin!

These are delicious Red Velvet cookies made from a cake mix and even speedier dipped in an easy glaze. They were fun to make around Valentine's Day.  Find them here. 

February 3rd marks my birthday and this year I turned 54.  We celebrated at Tavern In The Green In Evergreen Park, IL.  Blurry picture but I sort of love the way I'm looking so sure and "Bring it on!"  :)

Spring was in the air not much later and I started to crave colorful vegetables...red peppers and asparagus fit the bill.  Go to this link to find this creamy recipe that I created using seasonal veggies and chicken.  I really have to start naming these things! :)

Lest you think I forgot my fashionista side, I hit some unexpected sales.  I scored these boots for $15,00 at Shoe Carnival.  Whoa, horsie!

And this gauzy romantic top was just perfect for summer, which was looking far, far away..  

I may have overlooked mentioning that as of January I had been "eating clean" for over six months.  Back in August of 2013 I cleared out the pantry and fridge and threw away everything and anything with preservatives or additives.  And I really started to enjoy cooking from scratch again.  It made a big difference in how I felt, but I wasn't losing the weight I wanted.  In January I went full on with a low carb plan (which I had successfully done before) and it was a definite challenge as far as shopping and keeping the right foods stocked, a big factor in how well you will do, as well as keeping you creative in your cooking so you're not bored to tears!  Anyway, this is just an example of the salads I played with and I usually had one 4 times a week.  Never burn yourself out on salads...there are so many other ways to enjoy veggies and maybe some day I will devote a whole post to it.  I did lose 26 pounds by June and have kept it off.  I plan to get very strict with myself again starting tomorrow!  More miles to go. 

This is a picture of my living room after I took most of my Christmas decor down in early January.  Boy, that was a big tree!  I show you this even though we are in the "spring" portion of my post because it took awhile to get my living room made over the way I wanted after having it painted a nice creamy color.  I know, I'm very slow (and indecisive).  

I finally reached this point in March and I was absolutely happy and totally chuffed with what I had created.  Okay, daughter Emily helped a lot!  Major purchases were the coffee and end tables, a mix of glass and wood; as well as the cabinet on which the TV sits.  The rest...Homegoods, Target maybe, and shopping the house.  That's it.  Oh, I lamented over the curtains for a looooong time and finally found these sheers with a twine~like textured vine at Pier 1.  Finished!  And wow, I was so happy and pleased!

How can I not include some tablescapes?  Since I started blogging six years ago I've enjoyed doing them.  I don't have a ton of dishes but I guess I do have a penchant for picking up salad/dessert dishes every once in awhile and they make for a lot of varied table settings.  And, where I once made the tablescapes only to dismantle after my photos, now I do them when I actually have company, which I'm happy to say, is more often.  Anyway, an early spring table.

My spring mantel.  A banner I made with stamped letters on linen with a little bling at the bottom, hung with jazzy clothespins (you have to click to enlarge :).  A lone bunny waits for Easter to arrive.  I tried to force forsythia that spring and I failed. :(

And then a simple Easter tablescape.  I actually doubled it after this picture as we had a lot of company for dinner...but this was the general idea.  A mix of woven straw placemats with linen ones, alternating colors of salad bowls and plates, and as always, my mismatched silverplate.  I thought the simple tulips were precious.  If you want those babies to stand a bit taller in a wide mouth vase like this, just tuck some simple herbs or greenery in around the sides where they don't come up too high to take away from the beauty of the flowers.  This will add a nice fresh fragrance as well.  

While we waited for the weather to really warm up (and it took it's good sweet time), I busied myself with a few projects in the house.  I surprised Abby with a mini~makeover of her room one weekend when she was away.  A MAJOR cleaning and a quilt, pillows and some prints from Target was all that was needed to freshen up her room.  She had painted the room a "Tiffany Box" blue the year before and I think I'll keep it. 

I left most of the major organizing to her.  She's now teaching high school English and has plans to get an apartment further north in the city this spring with her best friend.  This will be a guest room I guess.  I'll have to do something about all of this mismatched furniture and we will have to get a headboard for the bed among other things.  She laughs, "You wait until I'm gone to do these things?!"  Well, we know you're going to be back, darling!

Finally!  Warmer weather, green grass and daffodils...oh joy!  Milo and Layla started  spending a good part of their days rolling in the grass and chasing birds and squirrels.  

Not used to this much activity, they were exhausted after.

Spring also brought little Tulo into our lives, my son, Jeff's new puppy.  Tulo is an English Cream variety of Golden Retriever.  Most of you are well acquainted with him by now.  Still cute, but 90 pounds heavier.  

Flowers were blooming...

...and the recipes coming from my kitchen were more fresh and filled with color.  This is Chicken and Pine Nuts over Spinach.  It was delicious.  Feel free to Pin, my recipes are not long nor involved.

At the end of May, The Husband and I took a wonderful 12 day trip.  You can read about it by going back to May in my archives if you'd like.  The Husband is a real Civil War buff and wanted to see some of the historical sights of the battles, mostly those that had taken place in Virginia.  I was in charge of making  a winding little map from Washington, D.C., where we flew in to, down through Virginia into North Carolina, where we ultimately flew home from Asheville.  We visited/stayed in D.C., Lexington, Charlottesville, Richmond, Raleigh and Asheville.  All at B&B's that I researched.  My favorite part of the trip?  The gorgeous Shenandoah Valley.  We clocked over 1400 miles on our rental car and though I really don't have any patience for car travel, this was one of the best vacations we've ever had.

Eight months prior to this trip we had purchased a condo in Asheville, where we had vacationed before.  Our love of the mountains, fresh air, mild temps and the whole vibrant Asheville vibe made the investment a perfect one.  The condo is part of a Premier Hotel and is leased to tourists/vacationers, what have you.  So this is our place and where we stay when we visit.  It has a sort of rustic mountain style.  We can't add or subtract from the decor, the units are available on a "lottery" type basis so they must all be generally the same.

I have no complaints...look at this kitchen!  Everything is there;, dishes, glassware, pots and pans.  The best thing is that we have housekeeping service every morning! :)  And...a washer and dryer so that I can bring less clothes.  Which I don't.  

Back home, Chicago was saying hello to summer finally.  Lunch on the sidewalk at Gino's East is a must in the warm weather.

There's something really special about taking everything outdoors.  If you don't have a year round warm climate, you really appreciate warm sunny days!

Up at the lake in Michigan we had to work overtime to get the place ready for fun in the sun, something we normally do in May but had little time due to our trip.  Emily played a big part in creating this gallery wall on the covered patio, this space had been bugging me for the longest time.  Shopping the house, even the lakehouse can bring forth some surprises!

We had our fair share of company, maybe even more than usual and when we weren't,  I spent many hours relaxing and reflecting here while looking out at the bay.

We love our walks along the old lake roads, our house is just around the bend here.  The Husband used to take the kids and dogs into the woods for little "adventure" games. Eventually, the ground became quite swampy and the paths overgrown.  I simply stay away for fear of poison ivy and coyotes!  Lots of both.

And there was work at the lake; projects and dreams.  I totally redid the garden area around our front porch and along the house.  I was so proud to have accomplished this totally on my own, if only for the workout! lol!  But in all honesty, I prepared the beds, made diagrams, chose the plants based on multiple factors, and one day The Husband walked out just as I was backing the truck loaded with plants and shrubs into the yard, a little Cub Cadet hat on my head.  Smiles all around.  I love to make him proud! :)

I had a few painting projects, one was our picnic table and another this old, 1980's maple table.  I was never crazy about it but because it's round it fits really well in this corner sitting nook where we can read or chat and look out at the water.  I'm happy with it.  I love furniture painting up at the lake as I can do it outside and then just jump in the water to clean off!  Not.

Finally, I pulled together the master bedroom with some simple bedding, curtains and artwork on the walls.  I have some soft green and blues going on in here, the chair in the corner my inspiration.  

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I'm going to leave you here for now.  It's New Years Eve!  I truly hope I haven't dragged this on really long.  I tried to highlight some of the bigger moments but I also wanted to keep with the vibe of my blog...the decorating, cooking, gardening, etc.  As I sifted, or scrolled,  through picture after picture,  I could see that  even these don't really tell the  story, it was the pictures that I just couldn't squeeze in.  The little moments; people pictures, funny dog antics, peaceful beach moments.  Anyway...for me, this post will jog my memory quite well.  For you, well I hope you are enjoying the ride, I appreciate all of you!

The Husband and I are having a very quiet night.  I have cheese, crackers, fruit and some boiled shrimp to dip in cocktail or remoulade sauce.  And a bottle of champagne, of course.  And tomorrow I'm having a sort of "Open House" for the kids to stop by if they can.  I'm making a big roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, asparagus with shaved Parmesan, Brussels sprouts in a warm reduced balsamic sauce, and the one dish I am really looking forward to, a Black Eyed Pea Risotto that I found on my friend Karen's blog, Back Road Journals.  You know that these peas bring good luck, don't you? 

Maybe I'm silly but I still love to find that perfect "word" for the coming year.  I wish I could remember all the ones I've preciously had, even last years!  Well, this is the word for 2015...GROW.  And I'm not talking about my flowers. :)

Love to all of you and Happy New Year!  I'll be back in a few days to wrap this review up.

Jane xxx