porches porches porches
(THIS POST HAS BEEN EDITED FOR SARCASM!}

I have only had one real front porch
in my homeowner lifetime!
I've had some "back porches" that were
pretty sweet and even
one "screened in" number!

Remember earlier when I did a post about
"doorways"
and I shared with you my thoughts on what
kind of person lived behind those doors.

Well I believe porches have a personality also!

And lucky you.....
you get to hear my thoughts on
this array of porches!!

I believe
this porch belongs to an accountant.
She's not very creative but very neat.
An everything has it's place kinda gal!
Hence the matchy-matchy white wicker.
(Sorry but this one kinda makes me yawn).


I would never think to paint everything
on my porch the same color!
Even the pillars and banisters are the same color.
So who lives here?
I think it's a women who is going through menopause.
She is creative but she hasn't slept well lately.
And when she went to the store to get the paint she
forgot the paint chips she had picked out.

Then she had a serious hot flash so she bought a
bunch of gallons of the first paint color she saw.
And when her husband questioned why she painted
everything the same color, she bit his head off.
I get this women!
After all, it's just paint. You can always re-paint it!



This lady is a card player.
Her husband past away a few years ago.
But before that they would sit in their his and her rockers
and sip raspberry lemonade and talk about there day.
Now, she very seldom sits in her rocker but she still has her
bridge group over to play cards on Wednesday afternoon.

No women lives here.
The guy who lives here and his partner are
in the design business.
And they are so excited....
because.... a design magazine just did a photo
shoot of their porch and the publicity has done

wonders for their business!

This lady wears white linen drawstring pants,
a light khaki gauze top, is barefoot and single.
Less is more for her. She writes books for a living.
And loves yoga!!

This women is bold and loud!
She's a mover and shaker!
She's confident and would have been a interior designer
if she hadn't gotten hooked on
selling real estate when she was younger.

This one is young but has an old soul
(She's always been an old soul).
She dresses older than her age and
Country Living is her favorite magazine!
She's easy going and loves the simple things in life!

This is the women we are all jealous of!
She's intelligent, athletic, creative, she gardens
and even has time to cozy up in this chair
and read a book!
I used to want to be this women
but now she just makes me tired!

Now at this time in my "doorway post" I showed my own doorway.
Well, my porch is sooooo ugly right now
I decided to show this one instead!
Love this one!!
I'm going to pretend it's mine.:-)
So what does this porch say....
It says this women hasn't had time to
work on her own porch so she had to pretend this one is her's.

Honestly it's not so much about time as it is that she can't seem to
find all the right items she's been looking for to finish her's up!
She's looking for a blue and white outdoor rug,
a large old white cabinet to store pool equipment
and a fun storage bench for toys.
But she is on the hunt and hopefully
some of these things will pop up soon!

This women has also gotten to the stage in her life were
she realizes that it's important to enjoy the hunt!
She has leaned from experience that the right things
will come along and not to settle for just any thing!

How about you...
have you learned this lesson yet!

When I was younger I made plenty of mistakes because
I thought I had to hurry up and finish a room right away!

But now....
I know that the search is half the fun and that
the right things will come along!

Happy Hunting Everyone!

Do you love a good musical?

I was invited by my friend Gina to go see....


It was a bus trip to Chicago!
Gina's mom coordinates these trips
for the bank she works for.
And she had some extra tickets to the
Oriental Theater!

The show was wonderful.
If you get a chance.... you really should go!

Now, I feel like I need to tell you
that they do drop the F-bomb several times.
But...
for some reason when they say it with
a British accent it's kind of funny!
;-)


No trip to the
"Windy City"
would be complete without a trip to
Garrett's Popcorn!
After all, it's right next door!

I am a Cashew CaramelCrisp girl my self!
Gina goes for the sweet/salty thing,
so she gets the
"The Chicago Mix"
which is caramel & cheese mixed together!

We pigged out on the ride home!
And for some reason I am still picking
cheese corn out of my purse!
{Know anything about that... Gina?}

You can even order it online!
It makes a great gift!

Click HERE!

Wow..it sounds like I work for Garrett's.
But actually I just love their popcorn!

Along with a wonderful show we
ate and laughed ourselves silly!
Thanks for the invite gals!

Hugs,

Whoa....look what I got today!!

I LOVE SUNFLOWERS!

And they had them today at the farmers market!

I didn't get to go to the my usual farmers market on Wednesday.
I went to a Musical in Chicago!
{I'll tell you more about that later!}

Sunflowers are early this year because
of all the warm weather and rain!

I can remember way back,
when Mike and I were young and broke.
I told him
"NO FLOWERS,
we can't afford it!"

But now....
I love to buy fresh flowers every week at the market!
That's one good thing about being old!

Don't they make you smile!
Have a good weekend!

~XXOXO~

ugh!
i am exhausted!
and i think i have what they call blogger's block

i do have a post that i worked on last week
but....
i re-read it yesterday and it sounded extremely sarcastic
i get that way when i'am tired and cranky

maybe i feel this way because after
i finish a big event in my life
{christmas, a wedding, a vacation,
an extravaganza birthday party}
i feel like i need a "new something"
to look forward to...

Hmmm....
what to do, what to do

i could go on a diet{again}
or start an exercise program{big fat ugh!}
can you tell i am feeling fat

oh wait...
i forgot....
i was invited to joy's house for lunch in her garden
you know joy from the savvy city farmer blog
she invited me to lunch
how lovely!

ok
i think i am fine again!


now...
i know that if you post a lot of words and
no pictures that your followers get bored
and yet...
i happen to enjoy a certain blog very much
and it has only words....
so check out
kristen @ bringing pretty back
{just click on it}
she cracks me up

i will do some work on my really sarcastic post and
hopefully show it to you soon!

it's weird what's on my mind today
;-)

What a Crazy Weekend!
{Beware...this is one really long post!}

We pulled off the surprise of the decade!
Last Friday night our family surprised my mom
for her 69th birthday!

We started planning it at Easter....
then we firmed things up on Mother's Day!
After several update emails we finally made it
to the night of the Big Surprise!

All the Grand-kids!

And was she surprised!!

My husband came up with this big idea!
Because of the economy and the lack of vacation days,
we couldn't all go to the lodge in Wisconsin.

So.....
all 20 of us checked into
"The Rand Lodge"
for the Birthday Extravaganza Weekend!
{That's right all 20 of us at our house for 2 nights!}

I am the oldest of three children.

(this is me with my family}


Next is my younger sister and her family!

Then my baby brother and his family!


And of course my Mom and Step-Dad!

Add in a few boyfriends and girlfriends and
we are up to the magic number 20!

~~~

Let the party begin!

{Each family was to prepare one meal for everyone.}

I went first....
and started with Fiesta Nite!

We sang Happy Birthday & opened gifts.

Then...
as suggested by my middle son
we went around the room and told
our favorite mom/grandma memory!
{We laughed and cried and for me it was one of the best parts of the weekend!}

Then Saturday morning my sister's family
made a yummy egg casseroles, monkey bread
and fresh fruit for breakfast!

Then off to the golf course were mom enjoyed a round of
{best ball} golf with 7 of her favorite guys!

For lunch....
my brother's family went with Italian!
He made lasagna that was to die for.
They added a tossed salad and french bread
and we had a wonderful lunch!


Next...
the swimming began!

Dinner was prepared by
my daughter in-law and son,
{it was questionable if the son actually helped prepare...
but I did see him doing dishes!}
which included Italian beefs,
our family favorite picnic potatoes and corn on the cob!

The girl can cook!
{I am still eating her feta dip this morning!}

Yum!!

On to the infamous family pictures!
{does everyone's kids and husbands whine about doing this?}
We had to do it.
After all it's not everyday that we have
the whole family together at the same time.

Later that evening....
we enjoyed some cocktails on the veranda.
{really it's a deck but a veranda sounds so much cooler!}

And some s-mores by the bonfire!

On the last morning....
my daughter, her boyfriend & my son and his girlfriend
treated us to an awesome Father's Day breakfast!

Baked french toast with fresh fruit,
nuts and whipped creme topping!
And a little bacon and sausage on the side!
And it was wonderful!
I am still craving it!

Wow did we eat well!!



Now......
you would think since there was no one
on lunch duty my family would get the hint
that the party was over!
But No!
The sun was out and we had
tons of leftovers, so the party went on!

We even ended up at a JMK Nippons for dinner.
Which is one our favorite Japanese restaurants!
A little going away dinner for my nephew who
starts his training at West Point next week!
{~We love & will miss you Eric~}

Today....
I spent the day
doing a never ending mountain of laundry!
OMG!
I didn't realize I had that many towels and sheets!!
I am pretty tired now.
But it's a good tired!

I did this post to celebrate family!
I think it's important to tell the people
in our lives how much we love them!

Happy Birthday Mom
We love you!