Want a "Real Letter" in Your Mailbox??

Are you tired of always having bills and credit card offers in your mailbox? Do you have some beautiful stationery that is gathering dust in a desk drawer? Do you have a favorite or special pen? Well....have I got news for you!! Shelagh over at blog Alice in Paris loves Art and Tea, is organizing Artful Penpals - a project to revive the lost art of letter-writing. The project will require those that sign up to write one letter to another that she matches up. All the 411 can be read through the Artful Penpals link above.

Come on.....one little letter.....one measly letter.....one note card to brighten someone's day.....and the best part?? You'll receive one too!! Now, rush right on over and sign up because come June 14th, the doors close and the matchings begin.....

Memorial Day.....THANK YOU....and to Blog Followers with Shop Picks

Thank you to all the people in the military that protect the United States. Thank you for fighting the wars so we can have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Thank you to all the brave men and women who do this selfless job everyday. Thank you to those who gave their lives so ours are safer.

And while it is no where near the scale of the military committment, I want to thank all the bloggers that follow my little chronicle, so below are some Memorial Day items from follower shops. I hope you continue to like what you read - Thank You!

From My Little Blog Spot: Desserts at the BBQ.....

From Ilena at Corr Creations: BBQ decorations......

From Bette's Bags: A small wallet.....

From Christine at New Life Artworks: To frame a favorite picture from the BBQ.....

From If I Had a Hammer: Keep the bees out of the food......

From Barefoot Bath & Body: To start the day off clean.....

From Glazed Over: No table is complete without these.....

From Country Girl: Better than a napkin....

From Jill at John Met Betty: For the change you won at the BBQ card game....

From My Dear Darling: For the kids to cuddle as they fall asleep on the way home....AND kudos on the military item.....

Hope everyone enjoyed this Memorial Day......We spent it on Fire Island in a town called Fair Harbor. This link is to a local real estate agent, but the intro shows some nice pics. I love this place and we had a great weekend.

Back from Oklahoma....and Ryan's words....

Whew! Finally home. I left Wednesday night for Oklahoma City for a business trip. I had meetings all day on Thursday, and headed to the airport after a nice market tour between Norman in the south and Penn Square Mall in the north. I'm so tired, I cannot even remember the name of the area where this mall is located! A 4pm departure turned into another overnight stay in a hotel significantly less-nice that the hotel of the previous night. MENTAL NOTE: When the airline offers $$, a hotel, and dinner, make sure you know what level hotel you are getting before taking the deal. If my boss and I hadn't missed our connecting flight in Memphis, we would have held out, but with that flight going to be gone, we cut our losses and stayed in OK. I asked the agent "so what type of hotel is XXXXX?" and he was less than direct. But, another person knew the name and said "Holy cow! You guys lucked out! That is a beautiful hotel". A $40/night room rate and a $15 meal voucher in that hotel, does not a beautiful room make. But it was clean and well-kept.

Other than that, my trip was really nice! Oklahoma City is super clean and friendly. New York needs to go down and take notes on the cleanliness concept. But, a 5:20am wake-up call has done me in. So it is off to bed for me.

Before I go, I wanted to post about something darling almost-three year-old daughter said while we were vegging and watching cartoons....

**** some girls doll / toy was being advertised (again, I'm so tired I cannot remember what toy this was) ****

Mommy: "Oh that looks like a fun doll / toy"
Daughter: "Mommy....you know I really like pirates. Pirates are my favorite"
Mommy: ??????

So does this mean she's going to have the 'bad boy' complex when dating??

Our 7 Year Anniversary: May 18, 2009

Holy cow.....married for seven years today! The NY weather is just like it was seven years ago - chilly, brisk, and windy minus the morning rainstorms. I guess I wasn't really focused on the number of years, until I got to work and the calendar said "7 years today :-D" from when I wrote it in back in January. As I thought about the day and the times we've been through since, I couldn't help smiling - each time I thought of it.

NOW, let me just say, the seven years have definitely not been all sunshine, roses, and rainbows...in fact, I can probably tally more notches in the tears column than the smiles column. We each have our fair share of faults (his being worse than mine of course....) that became more evident as things do when married, but we've managed to get through the tough times to a place where we both know we need to work on the issues that exist.

ALL THAT BEING SAID, we have had good laughs and communication and the bottom line is that we love each other and want to grow old together, and an anniversary is a perfect time to reflect on that love that started the trip down this life seven years ago.

And now for the lighter note.....we follow the Traditional Gift Guide for anniversary presents. My parents always did this, so I just started and hubby jumped on board. Seven is "copper / wool", so in a crunch with few ideas and a week looming deadline, I turned to Etsy Alchemy for help. What help I got!! For hubby, I got a copper pair of Seahorses from Nature Art Studio and had them dedicated on the back with "Mason and Jennifer.....a pair for seven years"

......and a copper guitar pick engraved with "7 years of lovely music" - it hasn't arrived yet so no picture, but I ordered it from Shama. I also found a wool coffee cozy and was disappointed to turn down the bid because hubby is not a coffee drinker, but when I told him about the idea, he said "I'll get it for you" so I excitedly contacted Wayside Violet to place an order. She was kind enough to embroider a "7" on it and she used copper thread!

Hubby also got me an orchid...he knows me so well......and I love him so much. :-D

A Pleasant Surprise! Purple Pansy

On our way out the door this afternoon to go to a friend's annual Crawfish Boil party, my husband called Ryan and I outside to point out a little pansy that started to grow out of the mortar in our brick staircase. I'm only used to weeds doing this so had I noticed the greenery before the bloom, I surely would have yanked the little sucker right out and tossed it into the bin. Since that didn't happen, we were pleasantly surprised with this little shower! The two pics try to give perspective on how little it is on our walkway, and then the close-up of its beauty....

If you've been following me for awhile, you know I love to garden. Back in April, my hubby went to Jacksonville, Florida to visit with my brother and his family, so Ryan and I had 3 days of 'girls days' - one of our activities was to plant some seeds. Here are some pictures of our peas starting to come up and the chives that returned. We also planted marigolds, snapdragons, and radishes - only the radishes have started growing.

We have this fragrant lilac bush in our backyard, but got gypped in the front yard because that lilac failed to bloom this year. You can see it in the pics of the purple pansy - lots of new growth, but not a single bud or flower.......Grrrrr. When I planted these back in 2002, I knew I'd have to wait a season or two to get flowers and sure enough, it was 2 years before the front budded and 3 before the back budded. Now, after a stellar spring 2008, the front one bailed on us. I have to check my gardening book if lilac tend to skip a season.....but I'm still irked.

I couldn't resist these multi-flowered planters (bought from Lowe's) that are sitting in front of our container blueberry bushes. I hope the blueberry bushes grow fast!!

I'm in a Treasury!! Thanks to Corr Creations...

I don't make it into very many Treasury groupings, but I am always psyched when I get that unexpected note saying someone thought something of mine was nice enough to be included! My Etsy friend at Corr Creations thought just that back in early April and I have been remiss in showing off her talent! I was only able to get 9 pics from the treasury - my PowerPoint wasn't working with me - but here they are with my chenille bears .



Corr Creations has many great quilts in her shop and adorable table runners, pot holders, and a personal favorite - a party banner!


Her blog is good too, so if you are interested in reading about her sewing, quilting, being a mom to two youngins', and living in upstate NY....check out Have You Seen My Dragon?

Adios Amigos....

It's Mother's Day!

I have a few Mothers stories for today....

The first being that I wasn't sure I'd ever become a mother. We struggled for 2 years and 11 months to have a child. Been through all the tests and procedures - all to no avail. Many tears too. And then on the precipice of our three-year mark (when I dealt with infertility, time was always on my mind, no matter how hard I tried to not think of it, I just could stop counting), one night when I was seething mad at the hubby (even though he apologized) and thought 'how could I have married this man?', was the time it actually worked. And it looks like one is all we get, but we got a great one - my darling Ryan is such a good, considerate, happy kid. And everyday I count the blessing that she is.

The second story being that of our Mother / Daughter sewing business. For as long as I can remember, my grandmother and mother knit, crocheted, embroidered, sewed, made dolls and clothes, etc. I remember Christmas morning when I was about 10, and coming downstairs to Santa's gift of a blue Brother sewing machine in a beautiful white wood cabinet with flowers on the outside. I was overjoyed! I started sewing basic doll clothes and little 9-patches. Another gift that I loved was a knitting basket because my mom always knitted while watching TV so she got me started. I also received a set of crochet needles in a fancy zip case, another cherished gift that was in my knitting basket (I've recently asked my mom if it is still in her house somewhere because I'd like to reclaim it). All growing up, my mom always made baby quilts for her friend's baby showers - some have told her that the quilt was put into a hope chest and is being used today for the grandbabies! My mom was thrilled to hear that news. Jump to 2001 when my mom made her first pastel patch chenille quilt for my SIL's first baby. These quilts became the baby shower gift of her friend's iminent grandchildren. And once she started getting requests to buy the quilts, she asked me if I'd like to start this little business with her. So here we are today!! We do two different lines, "Olive Street Studio" (for my little handbag business of which none are posted to Etsy yet) and "Emilia Anne Designs", which are all our baby items. We chose our baby business name to pay homage to the amazing women in our lives: Emilia is my maternal great-grandmother and Anne is my maternal grandmother. It has been fantastic to work with my mom. Ryan is almost 3, and she already loves playing in my sewing room - so hopefully, we'll still have the business and she'll step into it too. :-)

Won a Giveaway!

Over on the Wendi Winn blog, Barefoot Bath and Body was featured for all her great bath and body products. Of course I entered her giveaway for the most-generous prize-pack, and was SO HAPPY to get the email that I'd won. Check out the fantastic loot that came my way......"Lavendar Cucumber Sage" bar soap, "Cucumber Melon" lip balm, and "Cut Grass" solid perfume. Since today is Saturday, I'm getting ready to mow the backyard so I dotted on the perfume and it really does smell like cut grass, but it has a little floral tinge to it too - or at least my nose is telling me that. This is my first try of solid perfumes and I can still smell the light, springtime scent. I'm a happy girl. :-)

Some other products in her shop that will lure me in include:

Amber Solid Perfume, Raspberry Vanilla Soap, and Cocoa Butter Soap

New Sneaks and New Book....

I decided to splurge on a new pair of running shoes today. Mind you, I'm NOT a big exerciser, but force myself to do that 1.5 miles 2-3x a week between May and October. I've never been a big 'go to the gym' girl - I'd MUCH prefer to lounge in a beach chair with a book or magazine - or better yet, take a nap on my towel. But, I'm not as young as I used to be *sigh* so I decided to join the gym at work to maintain my exercise routine (...routine - HA!) year-round. I've had the gym membership since February and how many times have I been? ONCE. I ran a mile on the treadmill and thought I would die. Regardless, I need a pair of sneaks for work and a pair for home....I don't want to be lugging sneaks back and forth....a total hassle. SOOOOOO with only reading on these beauties and without trying them on and never wearing New Balance before, but know it as the brand my Dad always wore for running, I ordered a pair of 805 in white and blue. These get great reviews from people that I'd consider 'real runners' based on their reviews, so do any of you lovely Blog Followers / Readers use these? How do you like / not like?

......And for the new book, I mentioned that after I finished "Stolen Innocence" about Elissa Wall and her FLDS experience, I was going to read Jon Krakauer's "Under the Banner of Heaven" about the murder of a woman and her 15-month old daughter by her brother-in-law because he was told by God to kill them. I know more about Mormons - LDS and FLDS - now than I ever wanted to know. It is an interesting read about these people - but I definitely need some mindless summer books after this one. I'm planning to go back to the posts you lovely Blog Followers / Readers left for me a couple month back. If you've since found some other good reads - please feel free to share!

TGIF?

Well, I'm home after a really hectic week at work. I got pulled to work with another group due to my prior work experience in commercial real estate, and while it has been a GREAT week, unfortunately, I have to do work this weekend. Boo. :-( I normally wouldn't mind, but I have a piercing headache and I feel chills, so all I really want to do is veg on the couch and watch "Days of out Lives" and "Deadliest Catch" and go to sleep. But I know I won't do the work tomorrow, and a few hours of conference calls await, so I need to take out the computer. *sigh*.

Just thought I'd vent a bit!! Happy Friday Night.