Saturday, July 30, 2011

better than a cup of joe in the early hours...


I woke up this morning to find an etsy convo. telling me that I have been 'treasured'

***sweet music to my ears***



GOOD MORNING!

how sweet are these colors?


What a great way to start the day!
Thank you Lauralee from Shabby Life


Have a fabulously beautiful Saturday,
I know I will!

love,
Theresa xoxo

Thursday, July 28, 2011

newest creations...


newest creations...

another version of a bib necklace, something a bit less over-the-top than the gray that I showed before.
I need to make myself one of these to dress up a plain t-shirt
These were gifts for 2 very special people
but I will be adding these to my etsy as well.


I only have time to show you these for now...









I am in the middle of getting ready for our family reunion!
I can't wait to play with these people










CAN YOU FEEL MY EXCITEMENT?

5 days of fun, laughter, more laughter and reuniting with my family.
I can't wait!
I'll tell you all about it when I get back!

...did I mention that there will be laughter?
:O

love,
Theresa xoxo

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

"picniking" on the riverwalk...






Last week I brought my camera on our River Walk. 
We have just over 8 miles of paved trails around town all on the river!
It is very rare to go for a walk and not see people jogging, biking or roller blading.
This is the first part of the regular walk that Duane and I take for our daily excersize.
(we do not do all 8 miles on our walk, but we are planning on increasing our regular amount)

no pain no gain

what crazy person said that?

I have been wanting to play with picnik since I took these,  Picnik is a new creative outlet for me : )
We have 3 of these iron bridges on the trail, aren't they gorgeous?



 
Here is another of the iron bridges, this one is curved at the top like the other,
but I still think it is beautiful.
Our town received a 'cool city' grant a few years ago so many of the stores got
makeovers... front and backs.
The store owners picked the colors and the awnings.
I love the different colors they picked.




This steeple just pops out at you when you cross the bridge in town.

I wish I could tell you all of the textures that I used in Picnik,
I just played with each one until I liked what I saw and then I layered 3 or 4 on top of eachother.
I suppose having a pencil and paper handy would be a good thing... hmmmmm?
I don't even think I could duplicate these!
Good thing they are saved to the computer, or I'd probably forget I even made them!

50 + menopause + low thyroid = some serious brain fog
keeping it real...

Happy Tuesday!

love,
Theresa xoxo

ohhhhh it feels good to be back!
: )

Monday, July 25, 2011

time seems to have gotten away from me...

WOW!   I can't believe my last post was so long ago!
So.... what have I been up too, you ask?
Between summer being full of just plain crazy business,
I was also without a computer because our router decided to say "so long".
I could use Duane's when he wasn't busy on it, but I could not make a post because
I only know how to upload the camera to mine.

Grand Haven

 
So hang on to your seats, this is going to be a long catching up post!

Last weekend we went to our favorite beach.
We love it because it is only about an hour away so we can go there without much planning.



o..k., forgive me for the excessive pics of this ADORABLE stackable snack container,
but when I found it for $1.00 at a yard sale down the street from me I just couldn't
wait to use it for picnicing at the beach!
It's first order of business?  
Carting fresh berries to the beach...


to fill this belly!



and these bellys!
My kids hated that I wore the hat, but I figure I have enough wrinkles as it is,
and so a day of humiliation for them is a small price to pay!



We were actually further down the beach where the sea of humanity wasn't so crowded.
We tried to take a walk down to the pier but it was too crazy down there.

ALSO...
Duane and I celebrated our 25th anniversary last week,
...this is our story;

We met at the restaurant where we both worked,
him as a manager and myself as a waitress and bartender. 
Duane asked me out many times
but I was kind of sick of dating and really didn't want to date someone that I worked with. 
 Have I ever told you how persistent he is?
I agreed to ONE date and 18 DAYS later he asked me to marry him and I said YES!
We were married 6 months later, and although it hasn't always been easy,
it has been a wonderful journey.
A journey that I would not want to be on with anyone else.
(and they said it wouldn't last.)
really, they did., in fact I'm pretty sure there was a betting pool going on.
anyway...
 to celebrate, we turned right around on Tuesday,
and headed back to the beach for a wonderful walk on the pier,
a bean burger for me and a real carnevor burger for him.


I know, I got a nice little farmer tan/burn going from the weekend excursion.  I had to put a shirt on after only being there a little while because I burn way toooooo easy.

here are some of the highlights of the night...


We bought a sky lantern to light to celebrate US.

I was so excited to light the lantern.  If you have not seen these at your local fireworks, they are beautiful.
They float so peacefully in the air that they are perfect for celebrations.


We had  a bit of trouble lighting ours though,
first ~ we only had matches
 we will bring a long grill lighter next time.

We thought the beach was perfect for it, I still do, but it can't be too windy.
it was too windy.


see the burn hole on the bottom right? not good.
the 'flame retardant' paper caught fire when the wind sucked the air out of the balloon.
This is as high as it flew.
We bought two, and will try this again soon.
There were some very nice helpful people at the beach.
One man helped block the wind with his towel,
and there was a group of kids in their 20's watching in anticipation of the launch
 and one of the girls took pictures for us.



the night sky just kept getting more beautiful.



I just have to share this with you.
As we were walking back toward the car
We heard the best, happiest laughter and
we came across this couple, I'm guessing in their 60's
who went into the lake with their dress clothes on.
Their dress shoes were on the beach, then we spotted him in his dress pants and shirt
and her in her fancy dress going out to the buoy.
I loved their spirit and had to snap a few shots of them!
I swear if we didn't have an hour drive home or had an extra set of clothes
I would have joined the party!


last shot of the night.
I have to tell you, these shots were not 'doctored' this is really what the sky looked like that night!

Duane was a bit down that we weren't able to do something huge to celebrate
our 25 years together but I have to tell you,
this was one of our best dates yet.

As I get older I relish the simple things even more and am returning to my
'wanna be hippy' roots. 

Going to dinner, enjoying a good burger and a beer, walking the pier,
lighting a lantern, laughing at ourselves, and holding hands while we walk the beach,
was the perfect way to celebrate US.

This has been a long post, I know, if you stuck it out until the end ~ Thank you!
Next time I will show you what else has been going on around here.

Here's a preview :



I thought I would take you on one of our rivertrail walks...

plus, of course a project or two!
so tell me what have you been up to?
inquiring minds want to know!
See you soon!

love,
Theresa xoxo

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

I managed to finish a project...

This is serious people...
it seems that since summer has kicked in I haven't been able to really FINISH anything!


I started this bag in April...
good grief!
It was for Danielle for her birthday
I found the transfer from a site on etsy

called  GRAPHIQUE

they have wonderful downloadable graphics to use in so many ways...
best part?  They are having a $1.00 sale!
get on over there!!!

I made this from a GW skirt and I sewed the bottom up to create a bag out of it.
You would think that with the ease of this little project I would have been able to finish it much sooner.
not so.
it still needed a handle and I was kinda stumped.



I wanted it to be soft and I wanted more of a strap kinda thing
So I bought some cotton rope from the upholstery section and I braided it.
then I  sewed the across the ends quite a few times so that it wouldn't unravel.
In this photo you can see the ruffly reason that I bought this skirt in the first place.
such a sucker for ruffles...



Then just to be sure it didn't fray, I dipped the ends in FabriTac
I think Elmers or Mod Podge or really any kind of glue that dries clear will work
but FabriTac was the closest and easiest to find.



I think she plans on filling in the blanks herself...



To make this even easier, it was a drawstring skirt!
crazy easy!

So what's on the dining room chalkboard behind the chair?



another quote that I found on Pinterest...

I think I need to start a series called

What's on the Chalkboards Today...


I'm going to share a cute (well at least to me) story about MY SORRY
When my older kids would do something that they needed to apologize to eachother for
I would tell them to say THEIR SORRY...
get it?
They would come back saying that either they said "my sorry" or that the other
person (usually a sibling) would not accept "my sorry"
cute.
So it stuck!


Now on to the other project  that I finished



yes, I started this in April too.
but it's finished now!

I bought this transfer from Graphique also.



The chalkboard also got some changes...
Hannah loves to look for inspirational words too
so she went on pinterest herself and found this one.
I love it...

"if you really want to catch your dreams, you have to chase them"
so true.

I also took off the burlap garland, it was a bit too fussy for the simplified look I am going for.
imagine that!

Well, there you have it...
2 finished projects in one week!
WOOHOO!

now to finish the workroom/studio that is what I am referring to as

the monkey on my back...

I'll let you know when the monkey jumps off!

Happy Wednesday!

love,
Theresa xoxo

linking to :
Club GW @ Charm Bracelet Diva

it's been a while since I've been a real party girl,
time to remedy that!
;O



Sunday, July 10, 2011

proud mom post...


just over a week ago I told you that we had a big day coming up...


Danielle graduated from the Aveda Institute and is now a full fledge cosmetologist!
Her future is as bright as her eyes...





Her dream to be a make up artist is already coming true
as she has been offered a job as lead hair and make up artist
for a movie to be shot in MI.!!!
how cool is that?
She has been involved in some fabulous photo shoots locally...



and has done the make up for a couple of runway shows!



this is her cousin Helena in a photo shoot that Danielle did.



Danielle is amazingly talented and I am lucky enough to have my own personal stylist!
I know, right?
Right now I am sporting my lovely new 'do' compliments of Danielle...
I like to call my summer highlites my 'hoochie momma do'...
So I am BLONDE, BLONDE, BLONDE.
and I love it!

Here is a link to Danielle's website...


you can go there and see more of her wonderful work
She also has a facebook page


and she would love it if you would "like" her!




All of the above photos were taken by Danielle's very talented friend Kendra Schroeder 
you can see more of her beautiful work at her website by clicking on her name...

CONGRATULATIONS SWEETPEA!!!
I LOVE YOU SOOOOO MUCH XOXOOXOXOX


Happy Sunday!

love,
Theresa xoxo

Thursday, July 7, 2011

this is why I plant flowers...


The kids love to surprise me with little bouquets as soon as they see a flower arrive in the garden...

Max and I picked these peonies together when they were in bloom.



Hannah does this the most...




she loves to pick them and arrange them, who knows maybe we have a florist in the family?



todays pick was the few hydrangea blooms and some lavender


she picks the vase too
I love this old silver hotel pitcher and she knows it!



After she has finished arranging them, she finds me and
says "look what I picked for you"

blessed I tell you.

gotta run, I have to work in a few minutes and I haven't even put on my face yet!

can't be scaring away the customers!

Happy Thursday!

love,
Theresa xoxo


Sunday, July 3, 2011

Let Freedom Ring...



Happy 4th of July!!!




I hope your day is full of
ice cream and sparklers!

love,
Theresa xoxo

I don't usually have music on my blog but I heard this song today and it has been one of my favorites for so long that I just had to share it with all of you.
I have never heard America The Beautiful sung any better or with any more feeling than from one of the best ever... Ray Charles!  It gets me every single time.

God Bless America
 xoxoxo