Wedding Madness

Good Morning Dear Readers,

Well, we are down to the last push before my daughter's wedding.  Sixteen days to go!  I don't have time to give you lots of detail so I thought I would just share a few photos of recent projects.  I need to get the house in the wedding spirit so I thought I would switch out some spring decorations with some wedding themed decorations.  Here are a few of the results:

Starting with the foyer.  The front door got some white roses in my vintage Saturday Evening Post mail bag:

To the right of the door is a bench that now is filled with wedding albums and paraphernalia from my older daughter's wedding, my wedding, my mom's wedding and my in-laws wedding.  Lace and tulle bind them together into one vignette.

I also replaced the eggs in the vintage egg basket with the headpiece from my bridal veil.  Brought back some lovely memories:

Above the bench, I filled the sewing drawer with pale pink satin (my daughter's wedding color), white lace and several pictures from my parents 1940's wedding.

I updated my birdie on the kitchen windowsill.  Now she is a blushing bride.

 

Onto the dining room.  I've just started there because it is the staging area for all of the reception decorations that will be transferred two days before the event.  Until then I can only decorate a few areas.  I started with the linen dresser.  On top I put a chalkboard and photo vignette  dedicated to Allison and Rob.

That's it for now.  I'm off to make the last payment at the reception venue.  Hallelujah!

My Personal Chef

What could be more lovely than a romantic dinner for two prepared by your own personal chef?  Not much, I say.  But that's one of the benefits of being married to Bob.  Not only does he take me for delectable bike rides, but he also whips up some delectable dishes.

With our straining wedding budget, we have had to forego eating out at fine dining restaurants.  This has been quite a challenge for my "foodie"  of a husband. We have tried to make up for it by spicing things up in our own cooking.  I'm a decent baker, but I must admit, Bob is the master chef of this household.  He loves food and is not satisfied with a can of Campbell's Chunky Beef soup over noodles ( a staple of our first year of marriage), so he scours the newspapers and magazines for tempting things to make.  This weekend he graced us with a salad that was a meal in itself. The salad boasted golden beets, raspberries and pistachios sprinkled among tender greens.  And it was accompanied by goat cheese toasts...heaven!!!  He found the recipe in the Healthy Eating section of The Star Ledger, but it came from the cookbook of Ellie Krieger.  Ellie has a blog and a weekly newsletter and you can reach her Here .  Take a look at these greens:

Bob may have done most of the cooking for the meal, but I added some ambiance.  I set the small round table in our sun room with a faded pink vintage linen table cloth.  The centerpiece is a simple rustic green Ball canning jar with a "necklace" of jute twine.  I added a few Queen Anne"s Lace blooms from the garden.  The dinner plate is from Pier One (last year's summer purchase) and the salad plate is a find from Home Goods.  Just lovin' the blue transferware-like patterns. Wine goblets are part of an etched glass collection we bought years ago from  Flemington Cut Glass.  Sadly, after decades of being in the cut glass business they closed up shop.  What a loss for the community, another landmark gone, but at least I got a few treasures before that happened.  

To make the experience even more romantic and restaurant-like, I added some music from one of our present favorite artists, Michael Buble.  Love those mellow tones and smooth jazz sounds.  Bob was so inspired, I got a slow dance out of him!  We kept the sliding door open, so we could hear the burble of the patio fountain and feel the warm late afternoon breeze.  Almost like eating alfresco.  We must have created some envy in the neighborhood because we ended up with visitors at our door.

The basset on the left is our neighbor's dog, Violet.  She often stops by for bones and sunny spots for sunbathing on the patio.  The beagle on the right is our grand-dog, Lilly.  She's our youngest daughter's dog and used to live here with us before Alli bought a house of her own and moved out.  Lilly often comes to visit her old play pals Violet and Violet's housemate Sudsy.

If you want to make the salad yourself, you can see the recipe HERE. All in all a lovely evening.
 

Everything is "Rosie"

Good Morning Dear Readers,

I've been traveling the past few days, and that is why I have not posted for awhile. My adorable great-niece graduated from high school, and I just had to attend the festivities.  She lives in Erie, PA, so Bob and I were off and traveling again. No bikes this time, Erie is about a seven hour ride without any stops or road construction.  So, I had plenty of time to read.

I just had to share and recommend the book I had taken along for the ride. What a delight...The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion.

What a hoot!  This book had me laughing out loud and reading passages to Bob as he tried to concentrate on navigating past the giant 18-wheelers that tend to populate and bully the lanes on Route 80 (the most direct way to traverse the entire state of PA).  But, I just couldn't keep quiet...the story, and mostly the main character, were just so outrageous and quirky.

The main character is Don, a professor of genetics in a university in Melbourne, Australia, who just so happens to be "on the spectrum".  Don suffers from Aspergers and thus is dramatically lacking in social skills, this provides a deep well for humor. To add a complication, Don is on a quest to find a wife.  He calls this The Wife Project and goes about finding the perfect mate via a very straightforward questionnaire that will narrow his search to only "acceptable" candidates. Enter Rosie, who Don thinks has contacted him as part of The Wife Project.  He determines she has failed the questionnaire and plans to discontinue contact with her, only she has a project of her own that intrigues the geneticist in him...she is searching for her real father.  Hence, The Father Project begins...

The story has everything to delight a reader:  endearing characters, plot twists, mystery, suspense, HUMOR, and a touching romance. I can't wait for the movie to come out...the book just screams "make me a movie"!  I want to see Don in action on the big screen.  Don has a lot to teach all of us; just read The Rosie Project. You will know what I mean.

So, my 14 hours in the car on route 80 was a delight.  Thank you Don and Rosie!