Pink Roses

dorm decor...

This year, at college,  Elizabeth will be living in a suite with 2 other girls.  She will have her own bedroom, and they will share a kitchen, family room and bathroom.  The girls have been talking all summer about how to decorate their common areas, and are so excited about it.  They want to have an Anthropologie look, without an Anthropologie price tag!  I bought these cheap plastic picture frames months ago at Goodwill for $1.00.  They are super lightweight and can be hung with the double sided tape you have to use in college dorms (no nails allowed).  I primed them with white spray paint, and was planning on doing something using each of the girls initials...

I handed the project over to Elizabeth, and this is what she made last night, using some scrapbook paper and ribbon and alphabet letters...

They have a black couch in their family room, along with a few other black accents and some French Eiffel Tower things...these are going in the entry of their dorm...I think she did a great job...

Today we are sewing some pillows for the couch, and we are making them out of some funky skirts we found at Goodwill.  Oh, and we're sewing aprons too...out of little girls skirts, stacked and layered.  You have to have a cute apron for baking cupcakes!

More dorm decorating tomorrow!

a new day...

If you read the comments on my last post, you would know that this blog world is filled with so many loving, caring women.  I feel so grateful and blessed to call you my friends.  Thank you for listening, and being there for me.

I hope that you know that I am here for you.

Today is a new day, and I'm moving forward with a renewed spirit and attitude.  I have far too much to be thankful for to sit around and mope.  It also helped that some of you reminded me that I don't have to cook dinner if I don't want to!  My cousin lives alone and he uses his kitchen table to rebuild motorcycle engines. I'm just saying...there are options to explore;)

Thanks again for listening! xo suzanne

silence...

There have been many times, when my children were younger, that I wished for a moment of silence.  Just a few minutes alone.  Both of them napping at the same time.  A quick trip to the grocery store, without a sing-a-long song playing.  A little peace and quiet.  The silence I used to yearn for has now become my fear,  and it is quickly approaching.  My children leave for college in 3 weeks, and I will be alone for the first time in my life.

Some days it feels liberating.                                                  Some days it is overwhelming, and I can hardly breathe.   

My house is filled with bags and boxes of college stuff.  Everything you need for a dorm or apartment, times two. Sheets, towels, bedding, computers, printers, pillows, rugs, lamps, clothes....As I walk through and look at their things I am constantly reminded of their looming departure.  It's like preparing a nursery for your first baby.  You try to anticipate all of their needs and have everything washed and ironed and just perfect for them to arrive.  You try to create a nest, a world, a home. 

But just as no one can prepare you for the overwhelming joy you feel when your baby arrives, no one can prepare you for the unbelievable sadness when they leave. 

They are struggling too, especially my son.  Leaving behind everything you have ever known is quite intimidating.  He's about to grow up.  Fast.

I am sorry for being sad.  You didn't come here for this.  Knowing that I have the support of my blog friends means more to me than you could ever know.  Seriously. 

Change is part of life, and I will get through it, and I know the best is yet to come for us all.  They will get a chance to grow, and I will finally have the chance to just be ME, whoever that is. 

I promise not to complain for the next 3 weeks, I just had to get that burden off my chest. 

WHEW...that feels SO much better.  Thanks for listening.

my helper...

 

I was trying to take a few pictures of my Hydrangeas today, because at this time of the year they turn green instead of blue.  I don't know if it's just the end of the season, or something to do with heat (lots of it), or rainfall (not enough of it).  They will stay green like this all winter, eventually turning very papery and brown.

I think they look very pretty this way...very neutral ... they actually match my decor better than the bright blue.  I looked up from the flowers and noticed that my helper had followed me outside...

She follows me everywhere...she is curled up by my feet as I write this.  And she has no plans to leave me and go off to college.  I should have just had cats, not kids.

a busy bee...

Life seems hectic these days...no big project underway, just the project of life, and I'm trying to enjoy it. Here are a few pictures I took at my parents house last week...

I don't know what kind of flower this is, but it reminds me of those little paper flower nosegays, with the different colors all on one stem...if you know what this is, please tell me...I want to plant them next year...

Daisy's always remind me of "You've got Mail", one of my favorite movies of all time...

Pink Hydrangeas {sigh}...right up there with pink roses...

My dad is also interested in Hypertufa gardens...which he fills with succulents...I love these Hen and Chicks...  and the mossy color of these...

...which were sitting next to this pile of rocks that my dad brings home from fishing trips...this explains a lot of my behavior...

I hope that whatever your Project Life has in store for you today, that you can enjoy it.  I'm going to put on some music and clean the kitchen and dance. 

I said I'm trying...:)

Show and Tell Sunday!

Cerri is hosting Show and Tell Sunday today, and the topic is paper.  I agree with Cerri, that this could be a topic for the next 3 weeks...there's so many things I collect!  I have been collecting all kinds of paper for years (scrapbooker since birth!), I can't throw away ticket stubs and programs, cards and notes from my kids...it's bad.  Add to that, the fact that I buy other people's old papers, and you've got a problem!  I love old calling cards...

and postcards, and have collected them for  25 years...

In the past few years I have been collecting vintage wallpaper, and sheet music, playing cards and game pieces...stuff to use in altered art.  When I was strictly scrapbooking I never bought this kind of thing because it wasn't "acid free" or "archival"...but now I don't care :) 

I have some really messy shelves...

like these...

and some slightly more organized...

I keep the wallpaper rolls in a big clear plastic Rubbermaid wrapping paper box, and the smaller sheets in a smaller clear plastic bin.  I have lots of clear plastic shoeboxes that I keep little bits and pieces in...not too pretty or organized...nothing you would really want to see!  That's all I've got for now, cause I'm late getting this posted...

Thanks Cerri for hosting another Show and Tell Sunday!

Pink Saturday...

My friend Beverly hosts a "Pink Saturday" every week on her blog, and since today is Saturday, and my new tricycle is pink, I thought I'd play along!

I realize as I am posting these pictures, that I haven't even washed the dirt off of this treasure...lets just call it a vintage patina shall we?  Or we could call it rust...

Or just dirt...

Beverly might have had something more refined in mind...

For $5.00, I think it's kind of cute...yard art...garden sculpture...junk.  One thing for sure...I'm glad we drove on our trip...I could have never checked this in my carry on bag! Go visit Beverly for more Pink Saturday!

three fleas...

We were lucky enough to go to 3 different flea markets on our trip last week.  The first was just a little roadside farmers/flea market in West Virginia, where we bought the peaches.  The other two were in my parents town in Pennsylvania.  We found pink and green crochet doilies, a few milk glass vases, and loads of old bottles...

a pink rose apron, and doll skirt, rhinestone buttons and jewelry bits... Elizabeth found this pink and black poodle Bridge Score Pad...love it!

Bingo cards and plates, a chippy old kitchen utensil, and a free ball of string... :)

A stack of old sheet music (should have bought it all), and a bunch of old rulers...

  More old linens, and a pile of tiny pastel spools of tatting thread...

Everything here was CHEAP...mostly 25 or 50 cents...nothing more than $1.00!

The most expensive thing I bought was a vintage pink tricycle with a cream colored seat for $5.00...I'll take a picture of it tomorrow, along with the rest of our finds!

my sister's garden...

My sisters flower gardens are SO much nicer than mine, and while I'd like to blame it on the fact that she has better weather and soil than I do, it's quite simply a fact that she puts in MUCH more time than I do.  It shows...

She has gardens all around her house, and everything was blooming beautifully...this bee balm was swarming with bees...

My sister lives in the same town as my parents in Pennsylvania...

We tend to like the same colors in our gardens...

I took over 50 pictures of her flowers, I won't bore you with them all, just wanted to share a little color, in case your garden is looking as sad and wilted as mine is in this summer heat!

Everything in her yard was just perfect... It made me want to come home and replant my garden... There's always next year... :)

the strip...

In downtown Pittsburgh there is a section called the Strip District, or "the strip"...

It's mostly along Penn Avenue by the river, and it's very old, very ethnic, and very unique.  Lots of the old factories are closed and have been converted into restaurants, shops,  clubs and museums.  There are dozens of specialty shops and markets that have been there for YEARS...family owned places, selling fresh produce, seafood, cheese, coffee, candy...lots of Italian markets, one that just sells biscotti, and has been selling it for decades...

There are flower stands along the streets, and the sights and smells are just amazing...especially from the bakeries.  We always go to the strip and get fried fish sandwiches for lunch..fresh, FATTENING, and delicious! It's a fun place to people watch, and an amazing place to take photographs, unless you take your camera with a dead battery...yes, I did that, and only got these 6 pictures...so annoying!  There were lots of street vendors...

One of my favorite shops...

I loved this stack of pillows...

There was SO much more I wanted to show you, but the battery died...luckily I brought my charger along, and was able to charge it when I got back home to my parents house.  These 6 pictures can't even begin to capture everything, but if you are ever in Pittsburgh, check out the Strip...you won't be disappointed!

P.S. Christopher's surgery went well this morning...he is finally sleeping...he is a difficult patient...so cranky when he doesn't feel well.  Thanks for all the good wishes!