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.
 

Travels With Bob

Good Morning Dear Readers,

Have you ever read the book Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck?  It's not one of his most well-known works, but it is charming.  Steinbeck loved America and decided to see it up close and personal way back in 1960.  He packed up his pick-up truck, Rocinante, that had been equipped with a camper, and took to the road with his French poodle, Charley, to learn about the people and land he loved. I couldn't help but think of this book when I was out on the bike paths of the Delaware again the other day with my husband Bob.  Now that we are both retired we do a lot of exploring together.  He's John Steinbeck, of course, easily chatting with every stranger we meet, and I'm his Charley, just happy to be along for the ride.  I have seen little towns and hamlets I never knew existed so close to my own hometown.  We go in search of antique shops (my passion) and eateries (his passion; he's a true foodie) and the end result is we discover lovely places and lovely people (most of the time).  We've discovered so many things, from an antique shop whose barn once stabled George Washington's horses, to an historic tavern that hosts phenomenal jazz sessions on open-mic Wednesdays.

Once my daughter's wedding is over, we should have more time to branch out in our explorations, but for now we are enjoying getting to know the lovely things Central Jersey has to offer.  I took a few snapshots of our recent bike excursion along the Deleware in Frenchtown which I share below.  I love this little town, so many cute shops, like my favorite, Thistle,  and of course quaint eating places like The Bridge Cafe, where you can get the best spinach cakes in the world and the more refined Frenchtown Inn that offers exquisite French cuisine.  Both boast al fresco dining with delightful views of the river.

This time we sought refreshment in a brand new coffee shop that Bob had read about in the Hunterdon Democrat.  After our 6-mile bike ride we stopped at the Eary Bird for some espresso to recharge!  Great place...hope it does well.

The bike ride was delightful, Spring was in full bloom.  The path was lined with feathery Queen Ann's Lace and a beautiful flower( I don't know the name of ) that appeared in  multitude shades of purple .

I even spied some buttercups.  I always think back to idyllic, childhood summer days when I see buttercups.  My friends and I would test each other's love for butter by placing the flower under your chin.  If your chin showed yellow... you were a butter lover!!!

I was amazed at how much the landcape had changed in just one week.  The trees were lush with leaves, the grasses tall and green and flowers, flowers everywhere.  The river views from this section of the path were different too from the Stockton- Lambertville stretch...but just as scenic.

If you get a chance, visit Frenchtown, NJ... another quaint river town along the Delaware.  Who knows where my "travels with Bob" will take me next.

Picture Perfect

Hi Viewers and Readers,

I'm starting a new house project that I wanted to share with you.  My husband and I are currently painting and repairing and refreshing just about every room in our house...LONG OVERDUE.  The first room to be painted is the family room.  While Bob really does all of the painting (he thinks I am too messy...when really he just has a control problem !) I am the organizer and decorator.  I must say, that I am good at organizing and kind of have a knack for decorating. At least I enjoy those activities.  I chose Benjamin Moore's Cameo white for the walls.  It is my favorite white, nice and creamy, and it has a soft texture not harsh at all.  I thought this would make a nice neutral background for any wall art I will do.

The main wall of the family room is now a blank canvas and I will be decorating it.  Right now the wall is home to two bookcases and a console table that supports the TV.  Before painting, the wall was covered in black-framed photographs of my two girls.  They were lovely pictures, but my youngest, Alli, was in middle school when those pics were taken and now she is 26!  I think it's time to move forward, don't you?  Of course I will miss the pictures, but I am putting them in a lovely separate album that I can flip through whenever I want.

I've taken several days to plan and mull over what I want to do to the wall.  I've finally, decided on a word or lettering theme.  The family room also contains a corner where the computer table sits, along with another corner built-in bookcase.  Lots of books in this room I thought, why not focus on emphasizing them and go with a complimentary theme like words and letters.  I had purchased vintage word flashcards from a local antique shop in town this past summer, and decided they would be the perfect thing to frame and at least be a start for the theme. The cards came in two sizes and I had picked out some great words like pretty, jam and meow. I'll reuse the frames from my daughters' photos in order to economize and will be on the lookout for various other items that might be frame-able and fit the theme.

I keep you posted with the progress.  Below is the freshly painted wall sans photos.