I've been slacking!

So much to do, so little time.  Haven't had time to post because I am addicted to Pinterest (pinning things I am never going to do!) and my new Facebook addiction, "I Grew Up or Hung Out in Black Rock."  But, here's a few new pictures of my yard.  Sad to say, I've already been out there this morning cutting down the dead stuff.

Memories

I took 500+ pictures over to Color Tech to get scanned for the bargain price of $50 for the first 500.  I am determined to get all my memories in digital format and it would take me the rest of my life to scan them on my $79 scanner.

With that being said, here's a few photos to prove my Mother of the Year Plaque is on its way.

Another finished project

A few years ago I found this little buffet at an estate sale.  I slapped a quick coat of green spray paint on it and it was a perfect liquor cabinet at the cottage.  We sold the cottage and the girl who bought it wanted the cabinet, but I wouldn't budge on it.  So, home it came.  A quick sanding, a few coats of off-white paint, some more sanding for the shabby look and it fits perfectly in my kitchen.  The bonus?  The back flips up with 2 legs and makes a nice table.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

And here's a little preview of my next project.  Modge-podging furniture is not as easy as it looks!





Susan Komen Race for the Cure & Allentown Art Festival

I can't believe a year has gone by since we last walked in the Race for the Cure.  I was disappointed at the lack of participation from our office and vow to nag harder next year.  There were approximately 7000 participants and according to the people from the Komen headquarters, anything under 10000 is considered a "small" race. 

It was cool in the morning, with a threat of rain.  Once we got to the park, the mugginess kicked in.  And being the Allentown Art Festival weekend, it is almost guaranteed the rain will pass over.  I only remember rain on Allentown weekend once.  So if you live in the Buffalo area and want to have a party, the second weekend in June is the time to have it!

Every year the Parade of Survivors gets longer and every year I am surprised to see someone else I know.  And every year I cry and pray I am never one of the women wearing the pink hat!  This year they gave out strands of pink beads to the survivors - one for every year they have been a survivor.  It was so moving to see some of the women with tons of strands around their neck and equally moving to see the women with a single strand.  Here's Betsy with her 9 strands!

Once the race got going, we wimped out and did the short course.  But in our defense, we probably completed the entire race with just the walk back and forth to our cars.  Of course, the view is always spectactular going through the Delaware Park district.  Here's one of the homes I hope to live in someday!

And just a few more of the event.

Betsy, Diane and Me

#1 Fundraising team

Read their shirts - love it!

Mary, Betsy, Diane

I love beer - gotta love it!



A survivor with the mounted police

Check out the "bad-ass" motorcycle guys with their pink bandanas

Off to the Allentown Art Festival - and was it ever muggy!  Didn't really feel like doing the whole thing this year, but had to at least go check it out.  Stopped by my favorite tie-dye shop and couldn't resist another shirt.  What can I say?  I'm an old hippy at heart!

And no trip to the Allentown would be complete without a gigantic bag of kettle corn!  Got a couple t-shirts and some wine slushy mix, but nothing else really spoke to me this year.  Guess all the clutter from the cottage dampened my spirit for buying much of anything, which isn't necessarily a bad thing!

 





Corporate Challenge

It was the Corporate Challenge in Buffalo and in spite of the weathermen's dire predictions, the weather was gorgeous.  There were 12,000 participants plus thousands more there to cheer them on.  Our office had a tent for the first time ever and the girl who organized it did a great job.  We had 23 participants, plus a few (like me!) who volunteered to man the tent.

The venue was incredible, hundreds of company tents lined Delaware Park.  There were grills going, chefs preparing, music playing - one company even had a string quartet!  We got some great ideas for next year.

What do you do with an old lamp, a can of spray paint and a day off?

Trying to catch up on some projects at home.  Have a garage full of furniture from the cottage and trying to decide what makes the cut and what goes to Amvets.  Currently painting a buffet out front, spray painting a patio table in the back and actually FINISHED one project.  Think this may be my favorite spray paint project yet.  I bought a beautiful turquoise spray paint to paint a table and a mirror a while back.   Well, it took only a can of paint and I bought 3.  So, an old chandelier got painted but today genious struck.  I absolutely love this!  The brass was totally shot (if it even was brass!) and it was destined for the scrap heap, so I thought what have I got to lose?



Where does the time go?

Can't believe I haven't posted in almost a month!  We've been busy.  Sold our cottage and are in the process of moving everything home.  Can you say garage sale? 

Got Nick to make my Wine bottle tiki torches and they look great in the yard! 

Got my chandelier painted - the one that Nick said don't paint! Doesn't it look so much better? The yard is shaping up, hope to finish up the annuals this weekend if it stops raining long enough.

Got lots more projects up my sleeve - mostly furniture I want to paint.



Finished table & mirror

So I picked up 3 cans of spray paint to paint my garage sale table & mirror.  I only used one, so what's next to paint?  Here they are in all their glory.  Now I just have to decide what goes on the table.

I've got an old chandelier like these, minus the wiring.  Think that may look beautful hanging on my patio painted turquoise.



Happy Spring!

Saw this on Pinterest and thought it would be cute to make.  Took about 30 minutes and a box of umbrellas cost me $4.99 for 144 at Party City and I had a straw wreath.  Although I think styrofoam would have been a lot easier.

My garage sale score

I was off to work when I noticed a garage sale around the corner from me.  Saw this great mirror and grabbed it before dashing off to work.  They had the sale again the next week, so of course I had to stop.  My powers of observation must be deserting me, because if some guy wouldn't have knocked something over that was leaning against this table I would have never noticed it.  Grand total for the 2 pieces was $9.  I probably could have gotten her down, but I was in a hurry and the lady was pretty sad about moving from her lifelong home into a senior apartment so I couldn't bring myself to do it.

Check back for the finished project, I have the perfect place for this.

Bubbles!

It was 70 degrees on Sunday and my daughter actually got sick of sitting in the house on the computer.  Always looking for something to make, she googled directions on making a big bubble wand.  She patiently wrapped yarn around the bent hanger and then we scrounged through the garage for something to put the bubbles in.  Her Father said it would never work, but here's the results.

Our fake grandchildren below:

Sheer luck with the timing of this shot.

Summer shoes and heated seats

What's wrong with this picture?  Got my cute little navy and white striped ballet flats on and I had to turn the heated seats on when I went out at lunch time.  It's snowing!  Hello, Mother Nature ... please make it stop.

Do you Pinterest?

Found a new online addiction called Pinterest where you can bookmark your sites in picture form.  It's like crack for the virtual world.  Here's mine.  Let me know if you'd like an invite.

My daughter, the baker/photographer (again)

Last week I had a hankerin' for some dessert.  You don't have to ask my daughter twice ... red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  She always says she wants to open her own bakery.  I could think of worse things.

Yep, she licked the bowl.

Look at that bokeh.

That big blob on the right is our cat.

Saw these cupcakes at Glorious Treats and I think she should make them for Mother's Day.

Retro clothing

We took a ride to Mississippi Mudd's for lunch yesterday and although it was only 29 degrees, it was sunny and the hot dogs and burgers tasted especially good with the view of the river.

However, the best part of the day was this great store we accidentally found on the ride home.  It pays to take the scenic route!  Cats Like Us sells these really cool retro clothes,  I will be keeping them in the back of my mind, although the only thing we bought was this adorable head band/bandana that even though I have short hair, I may have to fight my daughter for.

Or even better, we'll have to learn how to make them.  Although, for the $12 price tag, don't know if it would be worth all the work to sew the elastic through the back.  My sewing skills are not all that great.

The Buffalo Garden Walk aka I can't wait for Spring!

One of the blogs I follow is written by a gentleman who is very active in the Buffalo Garden Walk, one of the best garden walks in the entire country.  If you don't believe me, check out their website at Buffalo Garden Walk.   Anywho, while reading his blog today I came across an older post which showed one of his projects for last year ... tiki torches made out of wine bottles you can attach to your fence.

So, printed out the instructions and guess what will be my husband's project the next free weekend he has?  But first, we'll have to empty out some wine bottles!

So, I leave you with some of my favorite photos from the Garden Walk.