just for my mama

who's been missing me doing any new blog posts, here's

a belated one about our spring break shopping adventure.

We went to Ross and found a bunch of stuff to try on and in the absence of a dressing room attendant or a sign telling us how many items, we wheeled in our cart. :)

We were already feeling giggly and then I reach in my purse for something and my hand comes in contact with these funny disguise glasses that just happened to be in my purse (yeah, and I don't even have kids.)

So my mom gamely put them on for a photo and then we took these:

We like being together, can you tell?

When we came out of the dressing room the attendant or "dressing room police" was there and she was *not* pleased that we had wheeled in our entire cart. She gave us a stern look and we tried to smile politely and scoot on out of the way. :)

Sidenote, that black and white dress with the big red and orange poppies was my Easter dress this year and I'm wearing it to a wedding this weekend! Ready to get my dancing shoes on!

So two random questions for this post:

What do you enjoy doing with your mom?

Do you enjoy dancing at weddings?

Have a great weekend!

School is almost over and hopefully posting from me will pick up!

Five more days but who's counting???

Kelly

silver tray

Last year I used it like this . . .

This year I'm using it like this . . .

I think the Nester would be proud.

happy

This basket makes me happy.

It sits on top of my refrigerator and not only is a joy to look at all alone up there in it's "unclutteredness" but it also is holding plastic cups, etc. Yea for storage. This was a wedding gift from two of my co-workers. They know me well. Off to do some laundry . . .

Hope you're having a good day!

What are you up to today?

Kelly

Travel Tuesdays - Chicago May '09 edition

Have you gathered by now that we really like Chicago?

It also helps that we have family there so there's a good excuse to visit a lot.

Mother's Day weekend found us in Chicago to spend time with family.

We ate at one of our favorite breakfast spots, Clark's

walked along the water

hung out with family (and I really wish I had more pictures of that part of the trip but unfortunately I don't)

went to Navy Pier

enjoyed blooming, heavenly scented things

rode a water taxi

walked around the city

saw this statue

rode in a taxi

and ate well (not just breakfast places although that seems to be when I was taking photos)

(they give the ladies milk duds)

Do you have any trips planned? Where are you going next?

weekend treasures

My friend Jacquie called Saturday morning and said there was an estate sale across the street from their house. Since I was nearby after meeting with some girls from church, I went over.

I walked up to the door to see a 50% off everything sign!

*That* is fun to see! I enjoy slashing all the prices in my head as I walk through.

$1, nah 50 cents! etc.

I scored these fun treasures for only $1.49 total.

The handkerchief has a B on it but it was so beautifully embroidered and so inexpensive that I got it. I don't intend to keep it for myself.

The black plate was a steal at 12 1/2 cents. :) It will hang on a wall or go into a display.

The rhinestone buckle was attached to a black fabric belt that wasn't all that attractive so I just looked past the belt, bought it quite happily and promptly brought it home and freed it from it's frumpy black entanglement. I'm not quite sure what it's next life will be yet but it's exciting to think of the possibilities.

What would you do with it? Did you go to any yard sales or estate sales this weekend?

Kelly

p.s. Then today (Sunday) my friend Brenda brought a couple of treasures to me from a garage sale where you could take whatever you wanted for 25 cents ~ for all of it! The furniture was $10. Anyway, she brought me a hand mixer and handmade shooter marble with inscription. Really neat.

Then Adrian went with me to an estate sale where I got some other treasures. I would like to post pics of all that but honestly I need to go to bed!

Happy beginning of the week. Kelly

Pokey O's

Last night we went out for a little treat.

We had a great time at Pokey O's.

If you live in the area, you've really got to go.

Fresh baked cookies and Bluebell ice cream.

You pick your cookie flavor (we both chose two different cookie flavors for our sandwich).

Then you pick your ice cream flavor.

They stack it all together for you and off you go!

It was delicious!

Plus we discovered some fellow Steelers fans there AND the nice guy working gave us a bag of the "brokey pokies" (broken cookies) when I commented on the cute name.

It was a fun date with my sweet husband.

Do anything fun this weekend? What'd you do?

Did you know . . .

my husband built a house?

Well he did.

Actually he remodeled a house that was built around the time of the civil war.

It is really, really cool and it makes me very proud of him.

Now, if anyone would like to buy a house in Missouri, just let us know. :)

Kelly

photography

What kind of camera do you have?

I have a Canon Elf that I love that was a very special & complete surprise

birthday gift from my parents, brother & sister-in-law and Adrian.

What is your favorite "photography tip" that you feel like makes your photos turn out well?

Do you do anything to grow your photography skills?

photo: vintage camera bought at Canton as decoration for

my brother & sister-in-law's rehearsal dinner at which we did a

black & white photography theme since they met in photography class.

Since then it has gotten much use in decorative displays around here as well.

Fun Friday Finds

Lest you think I've already been to Target this early in the morning, I'll have to preface by saying these are *last* Friday's fun finds. :)

After work I went out to get a book for the Bible study I was starting and in addition to being able to get it and a little gift on a gift card that had more left on it than I had thought, I went into Target for a gift and found . . .

orangey-red clearance stickers!

The bucket wasn't on clearance but it was in the dollar section.

Hmm . . . do you detect a theme here with the buckets?

I just can't pass them up when they are so versatile!

The Twizzlers, Rainbow Twizzlers, for 38 cents are in anticipation of our next road trip. Twizzlers are one of our road trip foods.

Also, I really like these tortellini and have a recipe I like that calls for the meat ones.

I shopped at three different stores before I found them last time I wanted to make

the recipe so into the freezer these went and I'm ready to go!

little packages . . .

big package . . .

now I feel like Jen!

Have a great weekend! Kelly

p.s. I have let something sneak up on me and I need ideas!

We will be blessed to stay in someone's house this weekend and I want to take a nice hostess gift. What is the your favorite thing you've ever given/received that would fit this category? Thanks. Kelly

favorite foods

A fun thing happened this week. A friend who I've known for a long time indirectly learned that my favorite candy bar is a Skor bar. She commented that she hadn't known that about me.

So for those of you who know me, (in real life or in blogland!) did you know this one? Did you know that one of my favorite foods is pine nuts? I love them! They are so yummy to me.

Do you have any recipes you like to make that include pine nuts?

I don't cook with them very often but you can bet that if I'm at Macaroni Grill and doing their "create your own pasta" that pine nuts get checked off with that crayon they give you. :)

What is one of your "little known" favorite foods? Maybe I'll learn something new about you too! Kelly

haircut

I got my hair cut today and this was my inspiration photo. This photo was taken the first summer Adrian and I were dating. Such sweet memories.

On another note, our upstairs neighbor children are out on their balcony singing every song they've ever learned in music class I think, including "Jingle Bells" in May and ironically enough, "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe" which I taught my Kindergarteners today. It is alternately a nice reminder that what I do makes a difference and a soundtrack I wouldn't mind doing without after school. Maybe I'll just turn on a little itunes for a while. :)

13 cents a piece!

Vintage cookbooks that I scored for 13 cents a piece this weekend! Oh the joy!

I love the pink and black and the scallops of the one above and the picture of those crescent rolls below is very fun!

This patio picnic cookbook is my favorite!

I want to learn how to turn that scanned image into an invitation for a cookout!

The past two weekends I have gotten to indulge in a favorite past time. Shopping for treasures.

Nordstrom, etc. are not really my cup of tea. Give me the "thrill of the hunt", never-knowing-what-you'll-find and most importantly, teeny tiny price tag kind of shopping and I'm a happy girl.

photo: bucket I scored for $2 at an estate sale last weekend - don't forget to look in the garage!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last weekend I had my eye on an estate sale at the home of a former Canton dealer (!) and also an estate sale at the home of a MAJOR crafter. In the online photos you could see tons of Hobby Lobby and Michael's bags with stuff just spilling out of them. Fun stuff!

But . . . both of these sales were between 45 minutes and an hour plus from where we live. The drive didn't seem very appealing to either of us and spending time together did.

We decided to go to a "neighborhood garage sale" only about 10 minutes away. Well, it was a bust. So . . . my sweet husband took me to a couple of estate sales that were 10-15 minutes away and we got a Frappucino on the way. :)

The first sale was in a charming older home and we both got busy digging. The garage was full of all sorts of tools and Adrian got some really useful things at killer prices.

I hunted through the garage and the house and got some fishing floats that will show up in a summer display, a vintage Carlsbad Caverns brochure, an old hymnal and several other things.

Then we went to the second house where I scored a few more finds . . . lots of sewing notions, trims and such that I've already begun using for wrapping packages, a set of vintage coasters, etc.

We had a great time!

Which brings us to this weekend.

Several weeks ago I had to take an alternate route to work because of a wreck. On the way I passed a church with a large banner sign advertising their annual flea market on May 2nd. I made a mental note and was at the sale bright and early Saturday morning.

The pricing was very interesting and unlike anything I've yet to experience. Large items you just made an offer and all small items/clothing were $1 or whatever you could put in a bag for $3.

As soon as I found more than one thing and had a bag, basically everything was free!

How's that for you?

I'll admit that it did make shopping a bit more of a challenge. Did I really want the thing that I was looking at or did I just want it because it was "free"? It was a good exercise I think.

Anyway, I ended up with 23 great items for $3. Average that out and it was 13 cents an item!

So, without further ado . . . here are photos of some of the rest of the treasures!

Silver chenilles for Christmas decorating and present wrapping

an entire box for 13 cents! Isn't it such a great box too?

This was the find that got me to go ahead and commit to the $3 bag. :) I might have even paid $3 a piece but I'm sure glad I didn't! Aren't they beauties?

We have a racquetball court nearby and Adrian has a racquet but I don't. Now I do!

Look at these two clipboards that I also managed to stuff into the $3 bag along with the racquet, glass doorknobs, vintage cookbooks, etc. . . . Maybe I'll follow Julie's tutorial to make them extra cute.

I got these ties at the estate sale last weekend. I just really liked the fabric. I'm not quite sure what I'll do with them yet. Any ideas?

hee hee . . . this is one of my favorite finds . . . my pink tape dispenser . . . I'm thinking of naming her Betty . . .

These two little stockings came from a stop I forgot to mention. I went to another sale this weekend that had a lot of crafty stuff. I got these for free and will use them at Christmas in my neutral color scheme. I spent one dollar on a brand new plastic 12x12 paper holder AND a 12x12 template for fitting lots of pictures on a page in scrapbooking. I have two others and really enjoy using them.

I also slipped patterns into that $3 bag to use for their paper.

I didn't get pictures of everything but I'm sure it will turn up from time to time in decorating posts.

I look forward to checking out Rhoda's party at Southern Hospitality when I have time where others linked up their second hand finds yesterday. Looks like fun.

What about you, is this type of shopping up your alley or do you prefer to stick to buying new?

If you do enjoy the treasure hunt, what is one of your most favorite recent finds?

window shopping

I like this sign.

I like the name.

I don't remember if we even went in.

photo: by my friend Jenni from our girls' trip to New York City, Memorial Day Weekend 2006

summer dreaming . . .