Once a Designer...

 I am just here for a very quick minute but I just had to share my chuckle of the day. Yesterday was my birthday and with many, many lacrosse games happening this week I really thought I would probably be having a very quiet day and my celebrating would start when we got to Charleston. I knew I would get some messages and perhaps a phone call or two but I truly was ready to give myself the day and binge a bit more on my new obsession-"The Lincoln Lawyer"-recommended to me by my brother and SIL.

My brother started the day off with a lovely call and we chatted for a bit. As I was finishing up with him. I saw a truck pull up and in came a beautiful bouquet from Daughter #2 and her family. I love flowers but this came as quite a surprise because I know I am going to celebrate with them on another day soon.

Then, I heard a text come in at the same time the phone rang and it was grandson #1 calling from college. I really don't get to actually talk with him too often because his time is super busy but we chatted on and on for a long time and I got to catch up on all kinds of things.

When I finally got to my daughter's text she asked if she and granddaughter #5 could bring over dinner and help me celebrate. It seems as if her very important lacrosse practice was at the same time as her brother's game out of town so my daughter and son-in-law divided to conquer and the girls got to stay in town.

Of course, I am not one to often turn down an invite like that and before I knew it, a delivery from one of my favorite restaurants was at my door with Jen and Presley a minute or two behind. It was lovely to have someone to share my day with in person and it was late by the time they left.

I was just climbing into bed when I got another text-this time from granddaughter #1 asking if I was still awake. I couldn't help but laugh because it was only 8:30 PM but I guess at my age one never knows. Lol We also had a wonderful chat and by the time we were done, I was raring to get to my show and then stayed awake much too long!

Fast forward to just now when I was in the kitchen at the sink and noticed the window frame that I have in my dining room not centered as it usually is. Of course, that would drive the "symmetrical" me crazy so I went around to center it and had to laugh!

You see, last night my interior decorator daughter had gotten up to go to the kitchen while we were eating in the dining room. When she came back I knew she was doing something behind my chair so I turned to see her holding the window frame up to the wall on the left of the opening. She knew that I wasn't crazy about this big, blank wall after we moved things so I guess she was trying to give me an option.

It seems that she forgot her mom is a fan of balance and I immediately said "no" because the other part of the wall would then be empty and, in my opinion, look wrong. Of course, she gave me the "designer" reason that this would be a good solution but I held my ground and, I thought she put it back and sat back down and dinner continued.

Fast forward to this morning when I spied the off center frame and went into the dining room to see this...

I seriously just started laughing because apparently if I wasn't going to go along with her wall idea the "least" she could do for me was to rearrange the vignette. This is how I designed it...

The funny part is that being caught in my "balanced" perspective, I probably would never have tried her layout but I actually like it so much better than what I did so it will remain...still don't like the frame on just one side of the wall though....Lol

That's actually all I have to share. I have to get busy with choosing outfits for my trip and making sure I can fit them all in one small suitcase because with five women heading off for four days, suitcase room will be at a premium. lol And then I'm off to my granddaughter's next lacrosse game. Daughter #1 arrives tomorrow and we're then off to two lacrosse games-one for the girls and one for the boys but thankfully they are both at a school not too far so we can "kill two birds with one stone" so to speak. 

Thinking I won't visit again until after my trip. Stay safe and stay tuned.

Going Green

 I'm having a fairly easy day today with a bit of free time so I thought I would take you into the dining room for a quick look. Honestly, I think most of the decor is the same as last year. The only things that have changed are the changes due to bringing in a few of the "new to me" pieces.

I am still loving my "Belles of Ireland". They are so hard to find. I usually find them in boutiques that carry higher end faux flowers and they are not inexpensive but I just love them for St. Pat's decor so I grab them when I see them. Note to self-since I will be in Charleston and Summerville next weekend and possibly browsing some cute stores, I need to be on the lookout for more. I truly never know where they will pop up. Lol

This is a vignette I added last year. I had kind of steered away from all of the "shelf clutter" things but, for some reason, the coziness of an Irish cottage kitchen just seemed right for here and even more since I have all of my mom's Irish themed bone china that my dad used to find for her when he traveled for his job. And, I have the Irish blessing that I cross-stitched many years ago along with the one that daughter #2 did for a school project when she was in middle school. And then there's the cute cottage teapot and cream and sugar set that I picked up somewhere along the way. I always felt like I would be very content living in a house that looked just like that.

If you're really observant you will probably notice one of the concrete signs from the living room now leaning on the floor here. It definitely needed to come down from its former home but I really love it. I bought it from Ballard Design many, many years ago and I know it must be up in my house somewhere-probably back in the living room but on the opposite wall. I am just waiting to see what I end up with in that recently vacant corner of the room and where anything will then hang. 

So, that is the dining room for this year. Not sure if I'll make it back before I head to Charleston because I have a birthday and four lacrosse games before we leave so my days will be a bit busy. If not, rest assured that I will be returning with many more things to share-girls' road trips are always fun-at least with my gang! Stay safe and stay tuned.

I forgot one more thing I wanted to share. Since I use this blog as a bit of a family history for myself, I like to make note of important things and this is right up there.

This is granddaughter #1 and I am so proud of her. Her students are definitely lucky to have her!

Youth Fair

 What a full, busy, happy and chilly week we have had! The Southeastern Youth Fair has been in full swing and my grandchildren were not only involved in a number of showings and competitions but also in volunteer work to keep everything at the fair running smoothly. Believe me, there are many, many parts to this endeavor and it takes many, many helping hands to pull it all off. I guess the steer showing and auctions are the largest part because they are what bring in LOTS of money but there are so many other wonderful things as well.

Both grandchildren had a steer this year and both sold for a nice amount!

My granddaughter's steer was a sweetheart when it didn't have to move but was not a fan of the walking. It gave her a run for her money but she did incredibly well in keeping control. I can't say the same for some others. I don't know if the REALLY CHILLY weather has any affect on the animals but there were many more that broke free this year and were running and kicking all over the ring. It definitely made this old Nana a bit nervous because these are some pretty large animals. Both Presley's and Hudson's were smaller this year but many classes had steer well over 1600 pounds!

Hudson also entered the cooking competition where he presented the judges with a Bobby Flay recipe for venison steak. I hear it was pretty tasty!

We are still awaiting results but the winning/losing part of all of this isn't really important. I am just so proud of the fact that they put themselves out there, had fun and learned so much more than you would think. There are not only the things that we see, but so much more behind the scenes. The kids have logs to keep track of everything they do for their animal including how much they feed them, costs of food, how much they exercise them, comparison of muscle to fat, and so much more than I understand as well as being questioned about every aspect of what they have done and are doing. It is something they will carry with them for the rest of their lives and I was happy to be able to participate by being there to support them-although I do wish they could use some of their profits to pad those very HARD bleachers. After a few hours of sitting there, my legs didn't want to co-operate. Lol

I am giving myself the rest of today to catch up on some of the things I have neglected this week before I start to think about what I will need for our road trip next week-but, I'll be back soon with the next room of our tour. Stay safe and stay tuned.

On We Go

 I've got some time before I'm off to the 2026 Southeastern Youth Fair where both my grandson and granddaughter will be showing their steer so I thought I would continue on with our tour...especially since we have a "feels like" temperature of 38 outside-no yardwork for me today. Lol Welcome to the kitchen. I have made a fair amount of change in here since I have become addicted to the small "paintings" in places where you might not expect them.

These simple still-life pictures caught my eye as soon as I saw them in HL and I am obsessed with the colors in them. I will probably go back to the "rose" pictures for Easter and spring but then I suspect you will see these back here all the way up to autumn.

Serendipity...when I put this picture in the old carpenter's box I didn't realize how closely the vessel full of sharpened pencils would so mimic the small jar full of my mom and mother-in-law's old silverware.

The infamous pizza paddle that I spent way TOO much time looking for is home again!

I'm realizing that as I have removed some "cutesy" things I have replaced them with things that can probably stay where they are through many swaps with maybe just a simple change of what I put in them-like the small rustic vase on the right. I first bought that for use with my Valentine's decor and now with just some faux greenery, it works here as well for St. Pat's. Maybe if I start doing more of that my swaps won't continue to take me quite as long as they do.

So that is the kitchen for this year. Have I told you just how much I love green? Every room I walk into makes me feel so at peace. I don't usually add too much color for Easter and spring but I'm already thinking that it may be even less this year and I will continue to let the green reign supreme.

Off to start to get ready for the steer show. It's looking to get pretty COOL tonight-like down below freezing at some point-hopefully not while we're still there-so I'm planning to layer up and fingers crossed all goes well. I like cool weather but we Floridians aren't quite ready for that! Lol Stay safe and stay tuned.

Green, Green, It's Green They Say

 Crazy days around here. Yesterday, the skies were pure blue, sun was shining and it was in the 80s. Today it is cloudy, we've had a bit of rain and we are predicted to go down into the low 30s for the next few nights! Today is definitely a "stay inside" kind of day so I figured no better time than now to get this year's St. Patrick's Day tour started.

Instead of starting on the porch as I often do, we'll head into the living room. I had to transplant some shamrocks to fill the porch urns and they're not quite picture ready just yet.

I love this thing but it almost didn't make this year's cut...until I realized just how well it goes with the rusty ceiling tile mirror. I was trying to weed out the "cutesy" but this one just can't go...at least not yet. Lol I still love that mirror so much. I found it at a Junior League Christmas Show many years ago. It is made from an antique tin ceiling tile that has been cut out and then just has a mirror attached at the back. It wasn't inexpensive back then but I'll bet if you found one these days it would be so much more because the price of the original tin tiles has just continued to increase-if you can even find them anymore.

This cutie almost didn't make the cut this year either but, I think I have mentioned before, it is one of my most viewed images. My granddaughters and I made these as gifts for family many years ago. I think I put it on my Pinterest page and someone who has a site featuring children's crafts made from terra cotta pots put it on her page and it just took off from there. She gave me credit for the project and my blog exploded for that month...and still seems to go up every time this picture circulates through "Pinterestland". Lol

Here is the updated view from this angle. I think I do have to admit that I like it better without the corner cabinet. Now I just have to get used to what still seems like a bit of an unbalance to me when I am looking at this wall straight on-it actually doesn't look so bad from this angle. Hopefully a ficus tree in that corner will fill the bill! I took down one of the wall hanging things but am leaving the nails and the one on the other wall until we see what lands here permanently. If anything is going back I'd be happy to use the same nails as both of the things previously here are made of concrete and super HEAVY. And, I'm guessing that lantern will have to find a new home as well...we shall see what my "decorator" says. LOL

This may not be a picture of a thatched roof house in Ireland but I do love the way it looks and feels...and I can pretend if I want to. Lol

I'm definitely liking this shelf better with the few changes I made this year.

So that is pretty much the living room for this year. Thought I'd give you the latest on that old corner cabinet as well...

I think I can live with this. It really doesn't seem as odd as I first thought it might and, let's be honest, I'm happy to have my photos back! Lol

I was hoping to be able to do a bit more photographing this afternoon but it is just too dreary so, I guess I'll think about some lunch and maybe find a good movie. The next few days are going to be busy but then I will have some time since we won't be going to St. Pete-sob-so I'll be back and we'll continue on with the green goodness. Stay safe and stay tuned.