Hopping Down the Bunny Trail

As I was taking pictures of more of my Easter decorating this year, I realize that the sleep deprivation of the last many weeks must have caught up with me. Not my best effort. No wonder there are still so many things out in the storage boxes...I never put them out! But still, I am okay with it. The house reads "Easter" and with the addition of several lilac Yankee candle jars, it smells like Easter as well. Pretty much kept things at a minimum this year....something new for the queen of "more is more"!


This is the ledge over my sink looking through to the dining room. It is simply 3 small spring pots I bought at PB several years ago and a set of Hallmark salt & pepper shakers that were a gift from Daughter #2. I love this so much even though it is a total no brainer-think it must be the freshness of the greenery. Added bonus-the pots were there for St. Pat's so it was truly just a matter of adding in the bunnies.


Definitely need some violet candles here, but until I can leave the house again.....



Kind of kept things simple this year with a green and violet color scheme. It is fresh and clean and I will probably use it all again for spring minus the eggs and bunnies.

Have just a few more things to show you. Life gets a little bit more "back to normal" each day, so I am hoping I will soon have the energy to get gardening and crafting again-please stay tuned.

I'm Back!!!!!!

I have been missing in action for several weeks and it is so good to be back. Once again, "life" kept me on my toes! My husband had a quintuple bi-pass surgery and I have been with him. I must say that the medical world is so NOT my kind of world. I don't understand it and the smells, sights and sounds of a hospital set my nervous system at odds. But, that being said, when I have no choice but to deal with it, I do pretty well. It was a long 11 days in the hospital with several "bumps" along the way but we are now home and he is doing super and gaining back his strength a little every day.

Since we have this "forced togetherness", we are trying to enjoy every minute of it. Now, I do not mean to imply that we don't always love every chance we have to be together, but between his career and my many family obligations, we don't always have all of the time we would like to do nothing. At least for this first week at home, that is what we have both been instructed to do-him to regain his health and me to catch up on some much needed sleep.

So, we are taking things slowly. We are enjoying this beautiful spring weather sitting out by the pool, catching up on countless hours of TV via our Ti-Vos, and taking some time to reorganize lots of things that have gotten away from us as we raced through life in recent months. If this is a hint of how things will be when he retires, I think I will love it!

In any case, when we finally got home from the hospital on March 25, my house was still decorated for St. Pat's Day and because I didn't have the energy to tackle it right then, that is how it stayed for a few days. After apologizing to numerous people as they came to visit, I finally bit the bullet yesterday and got busy on Easter decorating. Since I haven't stepped foot outside of a hospital or my house for about 3 1/2 weeks now, I don't have anything new to comment on but I did try to mix things up a bit.

I do love the light and airy feel that Easter decorations give my house. I went pretty natural in feel except where I added in my vintage things-somehow I still love anything vintage. Brings back lots of memories.



This still isn't what I want for my "Heidi Devlin" eggs that I bought last year. I had been on the lookout for an antique funeral flower basket but didn't find what I wanted, so when a friend gave my husband a "get well Easter basket", I took the basket and gave it a quick coat of a light sage color. I still want to tweak it a bit so it looks older but will have to wait until I can get to the stores again.



That's it for today. Physical therapist coming soon so I must get moving. Lots more to show you in another post so stay tuned.

Random Thoughts From a Hectic Life

Here is my latest lantern. It was a birthday gift from Daughter #3 and family. I love it mostly because of its size and the fact that it is so different from all of my other lanterns. Since I don't have much spare time right now, I put it here on the sofa table in the living room. I like it here but feel the "need" to work it into a vignette so that will be coming as soon as my time frees up a bit.

They also gave me this pitcher which I absolutely love! It is just the feel I adore-beat up and rusty. One of those things that would prompt my husband to say "how much did they pay you to take that off of their hands?". I am totally enamored of the colors of both of these items. So much so that I am thinking of finding a way to bring more of these colors into wherever they find a permanent home.

These are the antique wine bottles that I blogged about the other day. They are gorgeous! I love them ! They are from PB and more than I would probably spend for a bottle. But I couldn't get them out of my mind. I went to HL -which has a huge glass section- hoping to find a knock off but all of their large bottles read too modern for me. I was disappointed but life went on. Fast forward a few days and I found myself in Kohls looking for St. Pat's frames and linens when I looked up and saw this....

It was in the Elle design section. It is hard to tell from this picture, but it is pretty big. I turned it over to see the price tag and it read 119.99. I actually got out my reading glasses to see if I read that right because if I wouldn't spend that for a one of a kind antique bottle from PB, I sure wouldn't spend that here. But then my eyes noticed a little digital frame hanging off the shelf. These are apparently the new sale signs at Kohls. And there staring me straight in the face was "60% off". Now that was a lot better and I had another 30% off coupon to use at check-out. I quickly did the math and decided that this guy would be coming home with me. Right now it too is just sitting on the couch table but I know it will find its way into much of my decorating for a long time to come.

And yes, we have another basketball player in the family. I must say that Harrison's game was a lot more exciting than his brother's because he is a few years older so the boys are beginning to catch on to the idea of guarding, scoring, etc. Now if someone would tell them that they are supposed to being guarding the other team, things might work out better for all. Still, a fun evening for a Nana and Papa!

Spring is definitely in the air and I hope it will soon be in my decorating as well. Stay tuned.

The Wearing of the Green

St. Patrick's Day is just a week away and I think I have pretty much finished decorating. Thought I would show you a few of the leftover shots I have taken around the house. This flag flies out front. I try to fly a flag for every holiday or season but when I started doing this it was easy to find unique and detailed flags. I liked the ones I found in garden boutiques. They were usually embroidered and uniquely shaped. I guess maybe the flags are beginning to be a thing of the past because as mine are fading, I am finding it difficult to find new ones that I like. Sadly, a time honored tradition may soon be coming to an end!

This year, this metal sign hangs outside over the front window of our house.

I realize when seeing these pictures that I treat the sunroom as the "ugly step-sister". It kind of just gets the leftovers. I think I do this because by the time I have finished decorating the rest of the house, I am tired and just happy to put the things still in the bottom of the boxes in here. This is a nice room, and I love it. I have actually begun to think about changing the color scheme out here so I will have to make a point of doing a better job with my seasonal decor as well. This year, I moved this banner out here after I made the new one for the dining room. I made this one last year (I think) from a download from "My Crafty Little Page".

This is the kid's video storage in the sunroom. I wanted all of their DVDs and videos to be where they can reach them and this seems to be the room that they use most often for TV watching, Legos, etc. I decided to do a bit of decorating here as well.

Had to put my "hand" and Bingo card somewhere-it is tradition but they didn't seem to fit anywhere else this year, so this is where they landed! Don't you just love my whole hearted endorsement?

Flower basket on the front door. I still love this as all I ever have to do is swap out the filling for the holiday. Much easier to store than a different large wreath for each holiday!

So that is it for St. Pat's. My next post is going to be a favorite of mine because I found a "keeper" when I was out and about the other day and saved a bundle too! Also want to show you some of my birthday goodies. Stay tuned! If St. Pat's is going, can Easter be far behind?

Begosh & Begorrah

So here we are in the guest bath. Just a few well placed towels, some shamrock soap and a pot of ferns and I am feeling the green.



There are a few more vignettes scattered throughout the house and the front porch that I still want to share, but haven't gotten the pictures taken yet.

I guess I am now officially a year older! My birthday was on Friday and it came at the end of a pretty rough week for our family. I must say my daughters and their families put forth a brilliant effort and actually got me to enjoy the day.

It started with daughter #3 and lunch out at a new "bistro" here in town. It is in an old Victorian house and very avant garde for our city. We did the whole bit: a bottle of wine, appetizer, entree and dessert and every bit of it was yummy! Then I got to go back to their house for presents and flowers-because they were TOO BIG to bring to the restaurant-oh yeah- and a celebration with the little ones where I received their "made with love" cards-always special to me!

That evening, daughter #2 and her family arrived bringing dinner, flowers, cake and more presents. We were all so exhausted from the week that it was a pretty low key party but family-filled just the same.

And then daughter #1 (who had been up here most of the week and left me flowers, wine and candy before heading home) and her family called to sing to me and send their love. After all of that, how could anyone not feel surrounded by warmth and security-they all know how to take good care of their old mom and dad and the right things to say at the right times. I am so blessed to have them!

Then, on Sunday, I got to see them all again as the one group returned from a volleyball tournament in Orlando and stopped by to pick up their dogs we were sitting for and then the other gang went to the FL/KY basketball game and I got to keep my grand daughter for a few hours. Oh, and what fun we had! We colored, made a bracelet, played doll house and watched princess movies-just like the old days with my first 4 grand daughters. Now don't get me wrong, I love my 2 grand sons and all of the Legos, Thomas, Transformers, etc. that go along with that but there is nothing quite like a beautiful Sunday afternoon spent nuzzling on the couch with those little chubby cheeks and pudgy legs! Heaven!!! What a way to end the week!

Have a few things on the docket this week. If all goes well, I will be back soon. Stay tuned!

Top O' the Morning

Some vignettes from in and around the kitchen. They are all pretty self explanatory and much the same as last year. A few little tweaks here and there but since Easter will be following so closely behind St. Pat's this year, I decided not to do a lot of adding and changing...if it's not broke, etc.


This is the first of 4 bouquets of flowers that I received for my birthday. My husband brought me a mixed bouquet of spring flowers and each of my girls brought me a bouquet of tulips-they all know me so well! I LOVE my spring flowers!!






This is the window over my sink. I have somehow become enamored of colored glass bottles. I think that happened when I opened the PB spring catalog and saw the huge, antique wine bottles they were offering. They are gorgeous but so is their price. And, I guess they really are antique as you have to let them pick the bottle for you and the size will vary within certain parameters. I love PB and I trust them completely so I know I would be happy with whatever they sent but I could get more punch for the buck somewhere else I think so for now, I am resisting. I noticed how some of my recent wine choices came in beautiful green and amber glass-just the colors of Ireland- so I decide to set them on this pass through and see how I liked it. Funniest thing how there is already another bottle added to the collection since I took this photo-and it is a lot bigger! I love the way the glass shines as the sun comes through so, for now, these are keepers. I think I will probably move them to a window sill in spring and pop a single flower in each for a new look.

Just a little bit more to go so stay tuned. I had a wonderful birthday thanks to my wonderful family so I will fill you all in on that as well.

Green, Green-It's Green They Say...

I love the new banner I made for the dining room hutch...and, it was truly a no-brainer! I found it on Pinterest from Lil' Luna. She had the download for the maps of Ireland and then a tutorial for the banner. I simply downloaded the maps, cut out banner shapes, distressed the edges, made shamrocks from heart shapes, distressed the hearts and glued them on and then punched holes and strung. I really love how it turned out and it was so easy!




Can't seem to bring myself to move this collection of mercury glass, so here it is again. I really like it when the main pieces of a vignette can get me through several holidays by just changing the "color" elements. It sure makes packing and unpacking a lot easier!

We have had a pretty rough two weeks in this house, so a lot of my decorations are similar to last years but, never-the-less, the house looks festive and I am enjoying it. I will try to get back soon with the rest of the tour. Stay tuned.