OUTDOOR WEDNESDAY: LINCOLN PARK

Welcome to Outdoor Wednesday hosted by Susan at A Summer Daydreamer. Be sure to visit Susan to see all the participants in today's event and be sure to visit them to see some beautiful "outdoor" pictures!
I have foraged through some of my old pictures to bring you something today that makes me think of summer. For me, the very good summer of 1985 when I moved in to my very first apartment in the Lincoln Park neighborhood on the Northside of Chicago. The picture above is a statue of William Shakespeare that sits in a little square on the corner of Clark and Hudson. It is a beautiful place to sit on a bench and read or eat lunch and feed all the pesky little pigeons!

The day these pictures were taken my mother had come to visit me for the first time. I was just so excited for her to see where I lived! Although my mother was born and raised in Chicago, I was living on the Northside as opposed to her neighborhood on the Southside, worlds apart theoretically. So she was very excited as well!!

We had such a great day, browsing the boutiques, bookstores and having lunch at a gorgeous sidewalk cafe. I have a picture of her that I can't for the life of me find, but I remember vividly. She is sitting at our table at the cafe, dressed for the city in her summer finest, the sun glinting off her long earrings as she raises her wine glass in a toast. I WILL find that picture!
My apartment was just a studio and the building is pictured below. Thankfully, I didn't need more than a bed and a little dining table and chairs and friends bought me dishes and glasses from Crate & Barrel as an "apartment warming" gift! I didn't even have a television, but that didn't matter. Every evening after work I went for walks and browsed the parks and shops, visited the Lincoln Park Zoo (which was free) and sometimes just sat looking out my window on the second floor at the children laughing and rollerskating up and down the block and people sharing a cool drink on their front porches.



The quality of this picture is poor, but this is in front of a garden next to my building. My building itself had once been a hotel and I never gathered much more information about it. The lobby was large and carpeted in dark burgundy with faded wallpaper on the walls. A winding staircase stopped at the second floor on which was my studio.
At the top of my street was Grant Hospital, now known as Lincoln Park Hospital, and at the bottom of my street was Augustana Hospital (great location to be if I ever broke a leg!). Thus, most of the buildings' residents were medical students. I rarely ran in to any of them, they must have all been studying or sleeping!!
So that is my contribution to Outdoor Wednesday, a wonderful time in my life and a beautiful day with my mother.

xoxo

Jane

BLUE MONDAY:

Hi everybody! Have you noticed my new blog design? No? Okay, take a close look... oh, there you go! How do you like it? Oh gosh, I feel like I have been working on this forever, maybe I have! I am just so fussy. Now you may understand why it took three years to re-do my living room! Seriously, three years without any pictures on the walls or curtains... Fussy, fussy, fussy. I want to thank Ashley from the Cutest Blog on the Block. She got it down right with her first mock up. And I want everyone to notice the little vignette on the left side of the header. Those are some of my real journals, my own teacup and saucer, and most importantly, a picture of my mother from her high school days. She is probably looking down at me from heaven right now with that great big smile of hers and that twinkle in her eyes!

You might remember a recent post I did after Valentines Day. The Husband gave me a gift of a Tea for One set by Lenox. Well, while shopping Saturday for the wedding we were going to that night (yes, the same wedding which I posted on last week about my hunt for the perfect dress), he saw these little dessert plates from the same Butterfly Meadow pattern and thought I would like them. Aren't they beautiful? As I have said, he is kind and generous to a fault and spoils me constantly! The thing is, I now have the Tea for One and four dessert plates. Now I know I can easily down four desserts with my tea, LOL, but I think the proper thing is, and I strongly urged The Husband to consider this, is to purchase four tea cups and saucers, a tea pot and maybe throw in the creamer & sugar bowl. Is that asking for too much?? :-)

Below is the complete set. It really makes me excited about spring being on it's way.

I wish I could be taking pictures for Blue Monday of blue skies, blue water, blue flowers... but for awhile I am going to have to stick with things indoors!
I am so upset that I could not show all of you pictures from this wedding. I am sort of shy about taking pictures in public, or of having strangers wonder why I am taking pictures of them, but since this wedding was taking place at the Newberry Library in downtown Chicago, I thought I would take some pictures of the architecture of the building. The Newberry Library is a members only library for the research of the humanities. The building itself is very old and covered in ivy and the inside is very ornate, marble everywhere. However, my camera battery was "exhausted" I was so disappointed. This had to be the most beautiful wedding I have ever been to. From the restrooms to the long corridor leading to the reception room to the banquet tables, white roses and white candles were displayed in square glass vases with rose petals scattered all over the tables. In front of every place setting was a little Chinese take~out box from a cupcake bakery named More in Chicago. Inside was the most beautifully decorated cupcake with at least an inch of frosting. A hand printed menu sat on each place setting. I won't go in to the whole thing but the main course was Macadamia Encrusted Sea Bass and Roasted Beef Medallions over Balsamic Marinated Baby Boc Choy with Assorted Baby Vegetables and Herbed Rosemary Smashed Potatoes. There was a sweet table set up for dessert loaded with small cakes, cookies, brownies, fudge, truffles and candies, all hand frosted and decorated. Of course, white rose petals were scattered over the table. The music for the reception was a large band that included about five singers, two piano players, a saxophone and trumpet player and a few violinists. Oh my. We had such a good time. I met all the new people in The Husband's office and they are great people. Of course they had to like me, I'm the boss's wife! By the way, I wore the black dress by unanimous decision of my great blogger friends and it was definitely appropriate! Thanks girls!

The last thing I want to show you is a photo I took the last time I was up at the lake at a friends home. I happened to use her washroom and noticed this sweet little "window treatment. I ran back for my camera and took this (terrible) picture:

Isn't this a neat idea. If you can't tell (due to the poor quality of my picture and my lame picture taking talents) she has a coat rack (?) over the window with three sweet little bonnets hanging on it. I thought it was so unique and might give some of us ideas. My friend Sharon has the one of the nicest decorated homes on the lake. You will be in store for some wonderful pictures when I am up more in the summer and visit all my friends. Most of the homes on the lake are over a million dollars so there is much eye candy for me to blog about.

Have a happy Blue Monday and visit Sally, our hostess for today and she will have a list of all the participants you can visit to see a lot more blue!

xoxo

Janie

PINK SATURDAY: PINK LOVE

Happy Pink Saturday!! I hope everyone is having a wonderful morning. Give a big "thank you" to Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for hosting this fun day. Visit her blog to see all the ladies who love their pink and visit them, which may take a few days, I noticed there are 156 participants today! Wow! We have a great pink blogging group of gals here!

My daughter Abby is preparing for her senior prom in May. Better, I am preparing! All the footwork! And her fussiness. I just can't imagine where she gets that! So for Pink Saturday I thought I would post pictures of her older sister Emily, who went to her senior prom a few years ago. Emily is my firstborn, light of my live and my very stylish daughter. While all the girls were choosing simple pastel gowns, Emily brought this ballerina style dress home. I instantly fell in love with it and she looks sensational, doesn't she? She also had pink heels with a rounded toe and satin ribbons that laced up her ankle. My heart was just bursting when I was taking the pictures!

This is a close up of the pretty beading. Each piece is hand sewn. The skirt part of the dress is a net type of material. Can't think of the name of it right now... Net? :-)

This is Emily with the love of her life, Mike. They practically grew up together. Mike and his family live next door to Emily's grandparents, my in laws. So they were romping and playing like puppies way back when until the "Yuk" factor took over. Now they are love birds!!

Happy Pink Saturday!!

xoxo
Janie

CHOCOLATE: THE BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS

"Put 'eat chocolate' at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you'll get one thing done"
~Author unknown~
Why you ask, is that crumpled little bag on Blondie's post? Well you will soon say that it represents both the good and bad in my life lately. I think many of you gals will identify with this story. I promise not to be as long winded as I usually am (well I'll make a valiant effort anyway).
Blondie and The husband have a wedding on Saturday. The groom is a new attorney in The Husband's office. Actually, there are many new attorney's in his office now as well as clerks, etc. that I have yet to meet (he has expanded his staff just recently). This wedding is to take place at some museum of sorts downtown ( the bride's family must have connections). Somehow we did not receive the invitation in the mail so my husband has left the invite he was given at the office so I don't have any further information to share on the location of said wedding. But knowing that this will be a very glamorous affair, I instinctively knew I just had to have a new dress!
So yesterday myself and my bad back went out on a search for the perfect dress. And it turned into a nightmare. First let me ask you this: Have we all not been on a sweet frenzy since Thanksgiving? That is when we started loading up on all the desserts that then made their comeback on Christmas. Along came Valentines day and all the pretty boxes filled with truffles and pecan clusters, heart shaped cakes and cookies, candy dishes filled with sweet pastel hearts and mints. Now Easter looms ahead with the beautiful chocolate eggs and big chocolate bunnies (and I'm not talking about the hollow ones, goodness noooo). We have the bunny and lamb shaped cakes with lots of coconut (ooooh, yum) and my favorite, marshmallow peeps (they're soooo cute). So okay, after Easter there will be no other holidays that revolve around sweets, am I right? Summer will come and we will be feasting on all that fresh fruit and getting our daily exersize in by working and playing outdoors.
So onward, Blondie!! Me and the bad back headed for Macy's. There I happily picked out several beautiful fancy dresses and headed for the fitting rooms. I began to try on my most favorite of the bunch and low and behold, once it was over my head it wouldn't go any further. What, you ask is in the way? Well, er...my boobs! My puppies. My babies... I don't know what everyone is calling them now but there I was trying to get that darn dress over them and it wasn't happening!
Now I know I have gained a little weight from the aforementioned sweet frenzy that I admit I gleefully participated in (Hey, if everyone else is doing it..."). Yeah, I knew my brassieres were a little tight (well, very tight) but I didn't seem to have any problem pulling my everyday attire over my head (baggy sweatshirts, sweaters, and jammies mostly).
So I proceeded to try on every dress I had in the fitting room, sometimes actually stepping in to them, and I soon realized my hips had also somehow gotten a little wider! And of course I was not oblivious to what I saw in that 3~way mirror under those harsh florescent lights (gulp). So I headed back out to the floor and picked out the dresses in the next size up. Nope, no deal. Now I was having a difficult time trying to find my "new" size. Don't you hate it when you are riffling through those racks and it is all size 2 and 4's? My gosh, does Susan Lucci shop here?
Well anyway, I had to have a dress, it being just 4 days away from above mentioned wedding. I narrowed my search down to two dresses.
Below you will find the first one.

You can't tell in the picture that it is a wrap dress with a low neckline. Next you will see a close up of the colors and pattern:

Now I thought I could really jazz this dress up with a pair of matching blue pumps and clutch purse. Maybe a little chunky jewelry. What do you think?

The next dress is a totally different look:

This would be your little black dress for cold Chicago winters. Classic and elegant.

This picture turned out horrible but believe me, it is black. Note the little sparky thingy on the empire type.gathering that sits just below my puppies, er... boobs, I mean breasts. Now this I would probably wear with classic black pumps, maybe pearls or diamonds and a simple black clutch. May I add that Emily said this dress looks like something I would wear to a funeral. So, what do you think of this one?

The problem is, gasp, I'm not a very social person. I mean that sincerely. I try to duck out of many invitations and when I go out to shop for clothes, groceries, books or even thrift shopping, I prefer to do it alone. Face it, I'm a true homebody. I prefer to stay in my jammies all day long cleaning the house, doing the laundry and cooking and then curling up in the evening with a good book or magazine. I like comfort! For those times when I have to face the music and head out, I throw on a pair of sweats, put my hair in a decent ponytail, apply a little lip gloss and off I go. Reluctantly. The other day I was folding my laundry and I realized that 80% of it is pajamas. That is not a good thing.

Abby recently said to me, "You've let yourself go Mom". That was a jaw dropper. Am I no longer an example to my daughters. to neighbors dropping in? The mail lady? Yes, I know my jammies are nice and loose and comfy, but they are also not very revealing to the fact that I have er... packed on a few pounds!

Now I am miserable. Gone are the days of shopping for clothes and picking out anything that strikes my fancy. I have to search for the right combination of something that hides my jiggly upper arms, my somewhat wider hips and these creepy little bumps on my thighs. Where did they come from? Why hadn't I noticed them before? Maybe it is because when I look down I can't see below my puppies, well, err...you get the message.

So in conclusion, I am seriously going to go off the chocolate... cold turkey. And after I have gotten back to my old self I will go shopping again . But I know in my heart I will come home with a few bags of new jammies. I can't give up all of my vices, can I?

xoxo

Janie

I NEED SOME REST!!

You have probably noticed that I haven't been around much since Tuesday. I have been commenting on every one's blogs because I just can't get enough of what you great ladies have been up to! But I have been having some problems with my back (from my infamous "over packing of the suitcases" during my trip at Christmas) and so I have...well, er...been hitting the pain pills a little. Not much, being groggy all the time is not fun but neither is having what feels like a great big, giant toothache throbbing in my lower back!! So I am going to take a little rest, catch up on some reading (and I mean reading some books, no more magazines!!) and hopefully soon I will be sitting at my kitchen table, drinking a lot of coffee and tea and catching up with everyone. I'll be checking in on what everyone does for Pink Saturday & Blue Monday because I love doing those myself. So you will see me around! :-)

Have a great weekend and I hope to be back at it again, long~winded as usual, by the end of next week! :-)

xoxo

Janie

TWO OR MORE TUESDAY: TEA AND BUTTERFLYS

I am really excited to be participating in Two or More Tuesday hosted by A Gypsy's Corner. I just recently started following Tam's blog and just love it. She is both interesting and sweet, the perfect combination to me. Pay her a visit and see all the participants in this event. It's a fun way to make new friends!! :-)
I received this beautiful teapot, cup and tea bag dish (is this the correct way to describe this??!) from my husband on Valentine's Day. It was such a sweet and memorable day. We got up early as usual to have our morning coffee and chat as we always do and then we exchanged gifts, almost like Christmas morning! I also had little bags decorated with hearts and flowers for the girls, and the most gorgeous three dimensional cards, all glittery and girly that I found at Target. They carry Papyrus cards at a great price. All you gals probably know this being the savvy shoppers that you are, but I didn't and thought I would pass it along. Anyway, they delighted in their little bags filled with inexpensive jewelry and chocolates. But I was truly surprised and touched at this beautiful gift The Husband gave me. He is always so generous in his gift giving because he truly tries to find the things that you will love but wouldn't buy for yourself, and I love that quality. He was so unsure if I would like this, but my gosh, who wouldn't?
This tea set is made by Lenox and is from the Butterfly Meadow collection. He thought it would be perfect for that second cup of tea, filling the cup and pot with water. The little tea bag holder is much more elegant than a paper napkin or plate as I usually use!

Here is a close~up of the butterfly on the lid. Isn't it precious? It truly makes me think of spring and oh my gosh, that is a heavenly thought living in Chicago!

Here I have the three pieces...

Finally you ask, what is with this dog in the post? Well this is Layla, Milo's little sister. Layla gets the bum rap a lot because pictures of Milo always seem to make it in my posts, probably because he is always doing foolish and crazy things when I am taking my pictures! But Layla is just such a sweet and gentle old soul, although not technically old. Her birthday is tomorrow and she is turning two!! She is a chihuahua/mix with a crooked tail and very haphazard markings. She is also bowlegged (we should have named her Lucky!!). So anyway, here is my little darling, sitting on the window ledge like a cat! Happy birthday Layla!

I hope you enjoyed the gift I received from my husband. He is just so thoughtful and kind sometimes, I am so blessed to be spending the rest of my life with him. I should have been named Lucky.

xoxo

Janie

BLUE MONDAY: BOWLS, CHIPS, BERRIES & TRIPS

Today is the ever so wonderful Blue Monday hosted by Smiling Sally. This is a great way to start the week and to do so, please stop by Sally's to see a list of all the gals that are participating, then pay a visit, see some blue and rave a little! It's fun!

Today I am showing off a set of blue bowls I bought last year. Until I started to participate in Blue Monday, not only did I find that I had more blue things than I had thought, but I also have some collections of sort, or perhaps better called obsessions. I got on a bowl kick about two years ago. (Before that it was a platter kick). For some reason I couldn't pass a set of bowls without wanting them. The usual excuses: "I don't have any bowls in fuchsia", or "I want something for Groundhogs Day", that sort of thing. Anyway I have enough bowls to host a Pillsbury Bake~off. Some are serving bowls, some are mixing bowls and some are just pretty containers for potpourri or candy, popcorn or baubles. They are useful and fun. Have I justified my collection, er... obsession??

The above bowls are from Gooseberry Patch. You HAVE to visit them if you haven't already. They have really darling things if you are in the mood for whimsical and they have a lot of bowl sets. These blue and white bowls are very spring-like and look pretty just by themselves on the counter around springtime. If you are feeling creative, you can even put something in them. I guess I have awhile for the idea's to start germinating, ha ha...

Below are close ups of the cute details:

Can you see the cute little chippy table they are sitting on? I bought this for $10.00 at the little antique shop I mentioned last week that just opened a few blocks away. As I said then, I like to fool around with inexpensive pieces like this, painting, distressing or whatever strikes me. Since I love rustic, shabby chic sort of things, you can see there won't be much fooling around here... However if anyone has any fun ideas, let me know. It is very light weight but sturdy. I thought it might look cute on a patio or balcony with a few plants (or maybe in the garage to hold a few cans of motor oil). Should I leave it all chippy or should I paint it? Should it be fun and whimsical or simple and pretty?

Below is a view showing the legs. They sort of remind me of the Jenny Lind furniture from way back when, they made baby furniture that really wasn't the best quality but affordable. I had a diaper changing table (oh, those sweet memories!!!). Maybe I can put a plastic tub on it to bathe Milo & Layla.

If you are starting to think my Blue Mondays are looking quite alike, I probably should mention that I pretty much stage everything in front of my quilt rack in my bedroom. The true confession is that I have so little available wall space in my wee little old house and I have too much furniture for said wee old house. So this is my perfect backdrop. That or the stove. Besides, I want to show off that antique tablecloth I'm so dying to use in my as of yet to be Tablescape Thursday. Note: Tablecloth on quilt rack . Obviously no room for linen armoire in wee little old house either.

Below is a close up of the top.

When I was foraging through the cabinets for the blue bowls I happened to notice this little page I tore from a magazine and taped inside the door. I open these cabinets a few times a day but sometimes you just don't notice things you've had forever. I looked closer and I saw that it was from Country Living, 1996, the year we renovated the kitchen. I have to laugh thinking that at the time I thought it was so Martha Stewart of me to have a place setting guide in my plate cabinet. As if I would forget how to set a place! Ha Ha. Well er...yeah, I do sometimes. Minor things I will say, like if the knife is turned in or out and where you put the butter knife. And, I have a question. If you are serving berries, perhaps for a brunch, where would you put the berry bowls? I lose sleep over that one. This little portion of my post has no relevancy to Blue Monday but I'm throwing it in, along with that burning question about berry bowls.

Finally, a picture I came across during an organizing frenzy. It is a picture of me in front of a blue shingled store in Martha's Vineyard 7 years ago. The husband and I went there for one of his milestone birthdays. We had one of the best trips ever, so simple and laid back. I will be having the same milestone birthday next year and this is where I want to go. In fact, we probably would have returned by now but it was such a special time it's best to save it for milestones. Now, Paris is a place you would want to go to every couple of months just to get away, blend in with everyone, catch up on your reading...

Happy Blue Monday to all. If you haven't wasted the last few hours reading all this, try to visit Sally to see all of your fellow bloggers that are participating and share the blues!!!

xoxo

Janie