30 years ago today....

....it was a warm, breezy, and sunny day, and I was getting married.  As any other bride, I was worried that everything would be just perfect, did I forget to do anything, would all my family and friends get there ok?  I was the sixth cousin in my family to get married in the summer of 1980, and I was afraid that everyone was so sick of going to weddings, they wouldn't want to come.  As my parents stood at the back of the church waiting to walk me down the aisle to my new husband, they told me to walk slow so they could cherish the last few moments I would be their little girl. But 250 people came and watched my husband and I get married, showered us with hugs and kisses and rice, ate and drank and danced until 1am and had a great time. 

So three daughters, one son-in-law and thirty years later, I love him more today than I did on August 16 1980.  Our hair may be a different color (meaning a little grey), and we may walk a little slower, but we still hold hands when we walk together.  And so this year, as every year since, we write in our cards the same thing I wrote to him in my high school year book:  "When today is a long time ago, you'll still hear me say that the best thing I know is you".  I love you honey....always.....

And a Cherry on Top

A great big thank you to Christina at Christina's Creative Corner for the Cherry on Top blog award! I'm so flattered that she would pass this award to me, and it's nice to know someone other than me reads my little blog :)  The rules for accepting this award are:

 1. you must thank the person who passed it on to you - thanks again Christina!

 2. copy award to your blog - check

 3. list three things you love about yourself:

• I love spending time with my friends and family
• I love to cook
• Besides crafting, my other passion is genealogy

 4. post a picture that you love on your blog - here's a favorite picture I took in Ireland a few years ago.

 5. pass award on to five (5) others - check out these super talented ladies and leave them some love

• http://2kraftygirls.blogspot.com/
• http://stampdetails.blogspot.com/
• http://cathyspassionforscrappin.blogspot.com/
• http://the-purple-place.blogspot.com/
• http://alicebrowncreations.blogspot.com/

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programing.....

Did you ever have one of those days....

.....well I've had one of those weeks.  Nothing bad, just busy.  One little project snowballed into a major house sorting. This week we had some work done in our kitchen and living room, so my husband and I have been busy moving things and going through stuff.  During the 30 years we've been married, I never realized that we accumulated all this stuff and now it was in places that I needed it moved.  During this renovation, I started going through some of this "stuff", which lead to going through other "stuff" in another room, then more "stuff" in the next room. I cleaned out closets, went through bookcases, china closets, hutches, drawers in end tables, etc.  Whew! I couldn't even get to my computer or my craft room for a week! But now I've thinned out a lot of this "stuff" and managed to find some old favorites I had stashed away. I've always liked to repurpose things and make them into something new, so as we were putting the house back together, I decided it was time to change some of the wall decorations.  One of my new found treasures was a wood Ohio Star wall hanging from my "blue" phase in the living room.   Now that I'm in a "cream and cranberry" phase, I thought I could restain it and put it back up again. It took me longer to tape it up than to stain it, but I think it looks pretty nice.

Next up was an idea to display some very sentimental items from both of my grandmothers.  First was a small flag that my paternal grandmother received on the day she became a United States citizen in 1927. 

I didn't even want to iron the wrinkles out of it, and just smoothed it out as much as I could and framed it.  I also had a small yellow pressed rosebud that I found in my grandmother's prayerbook - it was so delicate and beautiful. I gently placed it on a small crocheted doiley that my maternal grandmother made and added it to a small black frame.

                                       

Now these special pieces of my family history are displayed so everyone can be reminded of these two special ladies. 

So even though I didn't get any paper crafting in this past week, my house is back in order, my kitchen has a nice new floor, I cleared out some "stuff", repurposed other "stuff" and can get back into my craft room next week.  Now I'm off to catch up on some blogs -  enjoy the rest of your weekend!

The heat, Broadway and King Tut

It's been so stinkin' hot in NJ for the past few weeks and between the 90+ temps and hot flashes, I can't stay in my craft room without needing to change my shirt every half hour.  It's ok if I happen to be doing laundry (my craft room is in the basement), but I've been much more content to stay in the lovely air conditioned portions of the house and find other stuff to do.  I've cleaned out the linen closet in the bathroom and found 6 boxes of tissues buried all the way in the back; I've cleaned out the bottom of my closet and found 4 pair of shoes I forgot I had; I've gone through the bookcases and taken out books to donate to the library and found 3 books I never read; I've picked out a new floor for the kitchen and a new stove too, debated about taking down the wallpaper and decided that job could wait until the fall.  And for the past two Sundays I've taken a trip into NYC with two of my daughters to see two great Broadway shows:  The Lion King and The Addams Family.  We had a ball and if it hadn't been 100+ degrees on both of those trips and getting stuck in the only train car without AC (both times) we would have had an even better time.  I live less than 20 miles from NYC and can see the city skyline from my house (well, from the bridge down the block), and I very seldom go there.  But these 2 trips and shows were fabulous and if you ever get a chance to see them, run -don't walk. 

The Lion King is such a huge, colorful, brilliant musical production - you are overwhelmed and don't know where to look first - just fabulous!  My kids grew up watching this video, so it was as familiar as it was new.

The Addams Family was hysterical and it's 2 leading stars are Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth. Every one of these characters had a fabulous voice and kept you in stitches from the beginning to the end especially Jackie Hoffman who plays Grandma.  I'd watch Nathan Lane read the phone book, so this was such fun for me.

Then, as if I wasn't happy enough, we walked a half block to the Discovery Times Square Exposition and saw the King Tut and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs exhibit.  It was magnificent, could have stayed there for hours but was anxious to get back on the NJ Transit train car with no AC and sweat some more.....