Before and After: Have a (New) Seat

About a year ago, I posted about some chairs I inherited (see above). I loved the lines of these chairs and I planned on reupholstering them. Note, I said "planned." I purchased the fabric, I sanded them, and I painted them a pretty off-white. Then, they sat in my garage for six months.
I don't like to reupholster. What was I thinking? Was I suddenly going to love it? Enter my friend, Jen, who I was with at the Paris Flea Market ... so talented and right in my neighborhood! So, I asked her if she could take on the task of reupholstering these beauties.

She exceeded my expectations! Not only was she quick, she did a fantastic job for a very fair price. She just opened an esty shop, SevernHome, and she does great work (and did I mention that she was quick?)

Anyway, I love my new chairs. They flank my piano and if I wasn't so busy, I would show you how great they look beside my piano, but alas, dust bunnies are also flanking the piano, along with my latest Sam's Club purchases. So, you'll just have to enjoy these glimpses until I have the energy and time to clean and stage the room.

Want to know why I'm so busy? Stay tuned my friends.
Linking to:
 Primitive and Proper
Faded Charm

So Many Things...

Hi all:
I know that I've been away for quite a while. My dear Dad had emergency bypass open heart surgery on Monday so right after coming home from my reunion, I turned around and went back to Pittsburgh to be with my family. My dad is doing remarkably well, and is already back home, but it was quite a scare. I thank God he is doing great, but it will be a while before things return to normal.
On some lighter news, my key holders were published in Somerset Home magazine (due out in August)! I'm very excited and again, they did such a beautiful job making my art look great.

I tried to take some pictures of the inside, but they didn't turn out that great...I'll have to get my son to take better ones, but here is the 4-page spread for now:

I actually have another announcement, which I'll be sharing soon and hope to have some new finds and a project to share very soon.

Enjoying the Past in the Present

Just got back from my 35th high school reunion....yes, I'm that old. Or would you believe that I was a child prodigy?
All kidding aside, it was incredible...really fun. It started on a Friday when a lot of people met at the Pittsburgh Pirate game. Perfect evening and the Pirates won! Just for us!! Above is a shot of the beautiful stadium. Here are some pics from the game with family and friends.

The next evening was the highlight as over 160 people gathered at a contemporary mansion overlooking the city. Here are some shots of the house where the party was held (I got them off the reunion FB page as I didn't think to take pictures.)

Below...view from third floor.

 View of the city from the house...

 View of the house at night...three floors of wall to ceiling windows.

And scenes from the party...I love dressing up!!

(No, that's not my husband!) This is the guy that made me laugh during history class...and he's still really funny! Now home, now tired, but happy from the experience.

What Family Really Means...

I am very lucky to be a part of my husband's family. Growing up in a small family (just my parents, sis and me), I was at first overwhelmed by the noise and chaos associated with my husband's family (he has five siblings). Holidays and gatherings were crazy and fun, but for someone like me, very different and quite honestly, a little scary. Now, after 25 plus years of being a part of this loving and fun family, I can't imagine anything else. I don’t know what I’d do without them. When I married Greg, I didn’t get a choice…his family came with him, but if I had the opportunity to choose, I would have handpicked them!


Every other year we all meet at the beach (usually Hilton Head) or in Phoenix (where my husband's aunt and uncle live). Most of us stay in one large house (well, actually families have branched out to other homes). 
This year, we celebrated Greg's parent's 60th wedding anniversary. We commemorated it with a book of memories, which my niece gathered and assembled into a book for them. Every child and grandchild wrote a memory (or many memories in some cases) of the happy couple. It was a great idea and of course, they loved it. We had a heck of a party...complete with singing dog (see video). Here are some scenes from our trip (most were taken with a phone so sorry about the quality):

                             Dinner for 30? Restaurants really love us (not really).

...so do miniature golf courses.

The happy couple!

Making dinner with my sister in law.

Dancing to Jimmy Buffet

and finally... Taz, singing to Piano Man (the only song he sings to). That's my brother-in-law as backup singer.

I want to emulate my in-laws because they always, always put family first. I love that they travel great distances to see their 14 grandchildren (all over the U.S.!) make first communions, graduate and play sports--they've seen every one of my kids play every sport. They have always tried to be here for every important occasion and I so appreciate that, and so do the kids. I really hope that someday, we will be half as good as parents/grandparents as they are…thank you, Win and Lou, for setting the bar so high. We love you both.

From Hilton Head to Hershey to Home

We are back from a whirlwind week! Survived the storm, power came back on right before we left...I had time to clean the house and pack. Left for Hilton Head and enjoyed a wonderful (and needed) vacation with my husband's family! We stayed in a beautiful house a short walk from the beach and enjoyed great (but very hot) weather. All we did is eat, sleep, drink, swim, bike and have fun. Then, my youngest and I woke up at 4:30 AM on Friday to catch a flight out of Charleston to Baltimore, rented a car and drove to Hershey Park. Spent a long day at the amusement park, checked in our hotel and woke up for two days of intense lacrosse. Finally home. I'm going to sleep well tonight.
Photos: Morning on the beach above and one of the many biking paths on Hilton Head Island on the right.
Will post more pictures later this week.

Derecho

So, wondering where I've been? really? well, let me tell you the saga that continues to unfold. We had a weather "event" last Friday that took out our power. It was actually very scary. It happened when we were in bed and I really thought it was a tornado. We woke up my youngest and ran downstairs. The event lasted pretty long and the lightening and wind were incredible. We found out later that it was called a Derecho, which means "land hurricane." There were winds up to 80 mph. There were 12 trees down on my street alone. So, we are on day 5 with no power, no water (we have a well) and 90 to 100 degree heat. You can imagine how happy and pleasant we are with each other by now! I escaped last night and drove to my sister's air conditioned house with 15 loads of laundry (no, I am not exaggerating...you can ask her)! Above is just a quick photo of half of the loads (sorry, have nothing prettier to post). Our power is not expected to be on until Friday at the earliest--that's 7 days  without power people!! I am so not happy, but I believe the power company is doing the best it can. Our local pool is closed, too. So, we've been driving 30 minutes to go to another pool that will honor our membership. It's the only piece of heaven we have right now. (well, my sister's house is great, too, but I do have to go home sometime!) Anyway, that's why you haven't heard from me. Please cross your fingers that we get power soon, so I can clean my filthy, smelly house. (Did I mention there is no water? Makes flushing the toilet very difficult...we've been pouring water into the toilets to "flush them.") Happy Fourth btw!