I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Our weather finally cooperated with us and we had clear blue skies and sun. What a treat. Just the way June should be. The Husband worked around the outside of the house but I decided I was just going to relax this weekend. The shower we are throwing for Mary Clare is on Friday and along with decorating, I have to make chicken salad for 35 people. But that is another story. 
The iris are in full bloom now and I made vases. They don't really have a smell but flowers brighten up everything. My day lilies and black eyed Susan's are getting huge. I love plants that just pop up on their own, like good old friends that you haven't seen in awhile. My friend, Barb, gifted me with some tomato and pepper plants that she grew from seed. I planted them in my little veggie patch and all I need are a few herbs to round it out. If the mommy bird on my front porch would ever kick the babies out of the nest, I could hang some baskets and put out some pots of flowers I am just afraid to startle them. I have a nest of mourning doves on my balcony and that's my excuse for not getting that in order. All in good time...
The good old dog poop stake has made it from Asheville to Chicago to Michigan. As you may remember, I was stopped by security at the airport as it looked like a concealed weapon. We mailed it home and when it arrived, the stake had poked through the package. Well, clumsy old me, when I took it off the work bench to put it in the garden, I dropped it and the stake punctured my foot. Nothing a few butterfly stitches and swear words couldn't take care of. I think it is cursed. 
This is the end of the dock where I spent most of Saturday afternoon just chilling. An occasional splash from a turtle was the only sound around. I had my nose in a magazine when I caught something out of the corner of my eye and looked up to see a big white swan 3 feet away from me, just staring. I nearly peed myself. They are really huge close up and if it flapped it wings, it could have sent me into the water. Once it realized I wasn't going to feed it anything, it paddled away.
We met some new neighbors that just moved in 2 houses away. A very nice couple with kids the same age as ours. I love meeting new people. We invited them over for a drink and then a boat ride. It looks like we have some new friends. I love that.
I hope everyone of you had a nice, relaxing weekend. Did you do anything fun? I hope all of you had good weather, for once. I'll see you later in the week. :-)
One spring The Husband planted iris's in under an old oak tree at the lake. I don't know where he got them and didn't notice them until the following year when they bloomed. What a pretty surprise. They have multiplied since then and I fall in love all over again every spring. With The Husband of course.
This weekend nothing got planted. It rained and howled Saturday and Sunday until it seemed to wear itself out come Monday. At one point on Sunday we actually stood in the hallway while the wind and rain blew like crazy. I think we are all a little on edge with the weather we have been having.
So I did the next logical thing...I cleaned. Not fun, but we are now company ready {by the way, our friends cancelled at the last minute, so it was the perfect weekend to get things done}. While The Husband power washed everything in sight outside, I scrubbed floors and bathrooms. I also found a bag in a cabinet of what looked to be potatoes in a previous life, It had oozed everywhere and although it didn't smell, it got all over everything else in the cabinet. Rule #1 at the lake...everything not in a tight container goes into the refrigerator.
So Monday was beautiful. We got the patio furniture out and the hanging swing. I put my little bistro table out under the big maple tree and we sat outside reading our books and having a few refreshments. It was good to just relax.
Today I am back home and it is off to the nursery to buy flowers and plants for here. After all the heat we had yesterday, it is going to be good to get outside.
Now I want to hear what everyone did for the holiday weekend. I know everyone was having a problem with blogger and commenting last week so it will be nice to hear what your plans were and how much fun you had. Did it rain on your parade? How are your gardens doing?
I'll be back later in the week and hopefully I'll have some pretty flowers to show you! :-)
This may be a short post, or a long dull post, I never know where I am going, but I thought I would touch base with some random ramblings. My pictures are just some things I picked up on vacation. Oh, my dog poop stake arrived and believe it or not, the stake had poked through the box. I'm surprised the post office delivered it. I probably have the FBI watching my house right now.
It's been quite slow this week, the weather not cooperating with anything I wanted to do garden wise. The Husband has worked late every night so I STILL have not gotten my vegetable patch rototilled. I'm not so worried because out temps have dropped so much in the evenings that I would have just lost sleep over those baby plants. Better to be safe and lazy than busy and sorry.
I am slowly getting my house back in order, Emily has a tendency to move things around and hide things when company is coming so I keep stumbling upon random items like floor fans in the closet and dirty pots in the oven. Actually, I give her credit for keeping the house so clean, she even instructed the cleaning ladies to clean the refrigerator and laundry room. She is controlling like that. I am usually apologizing when they come or I use the old standby, "I forgot you were coming today!"
I bought these in Asheville at The Screen Door and I have no idea what to use them for. Any suggestions? I have moved them around from place to place and nothing is working. That's usually a sign for me to bring them up to the lake, which is starting to get cluttered in it's own right. Speaking of the lake, this is one lively weekend for it, right up there with July 4th and Labor Day. We are having company and I have been making up menus and grocery lists. I have slipped into a rut where I am serving store bought potato salad with lunch and coffee cake for breakfast and although this is the last place you want to fuss, I really have time on Fridays to make a few quick things...I'm just unorganized. So I have vowed that this will be the summer that I get off my lazy bum and start making some food to remember. Or not.
June is an incredibly busy month for us. I have three wedding showers to go to. Two of them are for Mary Clare {son Kevin's fiancee}, and one of those I am actually hosting with my daughters and 2 sister in laws. It's not the chicken salad I have to make or the 10 round tablecloths I have to come up with...it's more about what I am going to wear. The worrisome things. And don't even get me started about what I am going to wear to the wedding. As the mother of the groom, I know I have to wear something elegant and sparkly, not too young and not too old... not too sexy, not too matronly. I will probably find something the week before.
This is my new read. I have always been fascinated by Jacqueline Kennedy, and I wanted this book for Christmas and then forgot about it. It's really good so far and I highly recommend it. It takes me back to my working girl days, although I didn't have Doubleday and Random House panting for me to come work for them. Not that I know of, anyway.
Today is Emily's last day of school. She is no longer FIDD {Future Interior Designer Daughter}. She is IDD!! We are SO proud of her. Her graduation ceremony comes later as well as a party. The Husband does his own happy dance at times like this, looking over his saving account and watching it stabilize for the first time in 4 years. I am just happy that she can slow down a bit now and just enjoy life before getting out into the working world. Life is scary when you are in your twenties. I don't think I would want to go back to that.
Well, that is about it for today. I have plenty to keep me busy in getting ready for the holiday weekend. I hope all of you have a good one. I'll see you next week, hopefully with some great outdoor pictures. :-)
This post will conclude my trip to beautiful North Carolina. I can't think of a better place to have taken a spring trip. I have raved about it in my last few posts, so I will just get on with the details of our last few days. As I mentioned. I met two bloggers in person and the gracious Penny, from Lake Lure Cottage invited us to brunch at their home on the lake. This is Penny putting the finishing touches on Mexican Benedict. It was delicious. She also served potatoes, a tropical fruit salad and apple bread. Penny is a fabulous cook and she and her husband David were such gracious hosts. Their home is warm and cozy and inviting, just as a lake home should be. 
After we were sufficiently stuffed, we went for a pontoon ride on beautiful Lake Lure. This is a view from Penny and David's dock. Until my visit to Asheville, I had never seen mountains like these. They were absolutely breathtaking. 
We were so lucky that the weather was mild. We cruised around and enjoyed refreshments and beautiful views. I took a ton of pictures, but I'll spare you. Can you see all the beauty?
The Husband made new friends...
...and after only our second day together, I got to know Penny and Penny even better. They are like old and special friends now. I'm going to miss them a lot.
The Husband took fly fishing lessons on Friday and as I was just getting used to the idea of spending the day alone, I got a call from Penny {from The Comforts Of Home} inviting me to an afternoon of lunch and shopping. What an angel she is. We ate outside at a restaurant called Bistro 1876.
Our sweet waitress took our picture.
We browsed a few shops. I couldn't really buy anything else since I had zero room left in my bags for the flight home. But I did find a few cute small things at The Mast General Store. 
We ended the afternoon with coffee at a really neat place, a real double decker bus/coffee cafe. Isn't it the cat's meow? We sat outside and chatted away the afternoon. We had a great time and I will always treasure Penny as a good friend. When I arrived back at the hotel, The Husband was already back from his fishing trip. Not only did he have the best time of his life, he caught a 24 inch brown trout and was named fisherman of the week at the shop. Whoo Hoo!
We came home yesterday. I almost didn't make it on the plane. Remember the little 'No Dumping' doggie garden stake that I bought? Well it was deemed a weapon, so rather then giving it up, I had it shipped home. I love that stake.
Well, I hope this post wasn't too long. We are back to Blondieville and the same old stuff. The weather is beautiful here and I hope to get to planting some flowers this week. And I have to clean up the wreckage of having 3 adult children home alone for a week. See you soon! :-)
I can't believe I haven't posted for a week. I've been busy and I had a few problems with my Reading List, so I wasn't blogging as much. Amazing how clean my house was. It was a good week though, a little bit of shopping, a few good naps. I threw a Cinco de Mayo dinner party on Thursday night and spent the whole day cooking. I tried not to get stressed out by having everything perfect, but I did anyway...that's just me. I had ribs in a Mexican barbecue sauce, beef and pork tenderloin, Spanish rice, refried beans. potatoes with poblano peppers and several appetizers before. It was a lot of fun, but it took me half the day Friday to clean up and put everything away. I need a maid. 
My pictures look random but I thought I would join Kathleen at Faded Charm for White Wednesday.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. Our weekend was so full, it passed by in the blink of an eye. We went to a Communion party on Saturday for my niece and then yesterday morning I was in a 3 mile walk for breast cancer awareness. I wish I had brought my camera with but it would have weighed me down {I have a point and shoot ;-D}. It was a beautiful sight, thousands of participants, a sea of pink. Afterward, my sister in law had a brunch with great food, sweets and mimosas. It was a really nice day.
The Husband has a big trial coming up so he was working a bunch this week and weekend. My garden wasn't rototilled as a result. Oh well, vegetables in September. I hope to work on my pots and herb garden this week. Layla has taken to lying in the herb bed on the cool ground and where the sunshine hits. My little 4 year old niece noticed this and said, "Layla is lying in Aunt Jane's farm!" Layla also found a bunny nest in one of my garden beds, but I'll spare you the details. I put the babies back as best I could and I really hope the mommy comes back to take care of them. 
People have asked if it is hard to keep open shelving clean. It is if you are fussy like me. Last week I took everything off as there was a thin layer of dust on the shelves. I do this once in awhile and it's always fun to rearrange pieces afterward, which I did. Since the lower cabinets are used for food, appliances, etc., I have almost all of my dishes on the shelves, so I can't really have a lot for display only. It is what it is. Okay, I do sneak a few things in there that I don't use on a regular basis, but a girl's got to have fun.
I wish I could say I made this, and it looks fairly easy to do so I may give it a try. I found this at the Shop The Shed party last year and fell in love. I just recently unpacked it and hung it up. 
In spite of a busy week I managed to do a little shoe shopping. I LOVE shoes. The flats have a little bit of a wedge to them which is good because I am only 5'2. I feel stumpy in totally flat shoes. I love the peep toe. The brown shoes go with a lot of neutral colors that I seem to be buying for summer. Abby has already broken them in for me. Now I need to get a pedicure.
Vacation is creeping up and then there is the big Memorial Day weekend that kicks off summer at the lake. We already have company booked until August. I love it. I wish I could say that we got more done as far a painting and working on the guest rooms but every weekend has been so busy. It will happen. I have a busy week ahead, going through summer clothes, getting laundry done and winter clothes packed. I gave 2 big bags of clothes to my cleaning ladies, they are always so happy when I do that. It saves me a trip to the donation box and they have large families to share with.
I hope you have a wonderful week filled with sunshine and great weather. I will see you soon! :-)
I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Our weather finally cooperated with us and we had clear blue skies and sun. What a treat. Just the way June should be. The Husband worked around the outside of the house but I decided I was just going to relax this weekend. The shower we are throwing for Mary Clare is on Friday and along with decorating, I have to make chicken salad for 35 people. But that is another story. 
The iris are in full bloom now and I made vases. They don't really have a smell but flowers brighten up everything. My day lilies and black eyed Susan's are getting huge. I love plants that just pop up on their own, like good old friends that you haven't seen in awhile. My friend, Barb, gifted me with some tomato and pepper plants that she grew from seed. I planted them in my little veggie patch and all I need are a few herbs to round it out. If the mommy bird on my front porch would ever kick the babies out of the nest, I could hang some baskets and put out some pots of flowers I am just afraid to startle them. I have a nest of mourning doves on my balcony and that's my excuse for not getting that in order. All in good time...
The good old dog poop stake has made it from Asheville to Chicago to Michigan. As you may remember, I was stopped by security at the airport as it looked like a concealed weapon. We mailed it home and when it arrived, the stake had poked through the package. Well, clumsy old me, when I took it off the work bench to put it in the garden, I dropped it and the stake punctured my foot. Nothing a few butterfly stitches and swear words couldn't take care of. I think it is cursed. 
This is the end of the dock where I spent most of Saturday afternoon just chilling. An occasional splash from a turtle was the only sound around. I had my nose in a magazine when I caught something out of the corner of my eye and looked up to see a big white swan 3 feet away from me, just staring. I nearly peed myself. They are really huge close up and if it flapped it wings, it could have sent me into the water. Once it realized I wasn't going to feed it anything, it paddled away. 
