NumberNineteen

May Happenings

Greetings! I'm finally back after a hiatus.  Not an intentional hiatus, but before I knew it, it was the end of May.  We have been busy, busy, busy!  First, my parents were here.  Then, our friends from Indiana came for a visit.  You may remember the wife as my friend who bakes & decorates the most gorgeous cakes (February 12, 2007 blog entry that Typepad won't let me link to at the moment).  She completely inspired me to start baking more.  Since she left, I've purchased this:


And this:
I'm going to try out the Paula Deen Boston Cream Cupcakes this weekend.  Our officemates are the happy recipients of many of these baked goods.  We try a few servings & then get them out of the house!

After Leslie & Brian left, my sister & brother in law came for a fun-filled visit.  They just about ate up Hope...Cue to a gratuitous Hope photo....

I also have been reading a lot.  My recent reads:

So, so gorgeous.  I'm a fast reader & I made myself put it down so that I could savor it for awhile longer.  Also, The Interpreter of Maladies by the same author.  It's a collection of short stories & I normally do not like short stories.  But, I Loved these.  Again, as with The Glass Castle, I urge you to read these books if you have not.  I've been very lucky recently to have come across a few authors who have that incredible rare gift of taking the ordinary words that comprise our language & craft them into art.

I'm resting up this weekend, after a month of being hostess.  I purchased the peony that is pictured above on the way home tonight.  Peonies are one of my very favorite flowers & they only last such a short time each season. I wish that I could send their scent to all of you over the web. Just heavenly.

Cork Wreath Tutorial

I thought that I'd show you how I made my cork wreath, which I mentioned in my earlier posts.  I got the idea from a friend of mine, who also made one out of the corks that she'd been saving. 

First of all, you need a lot of corks.  I mean A LOT of corks.  I had a whole bowl full of them & thought "this must be enough".  Nope.  Collected some more.  "This must be enough." Nope.  I probably have about 150-200 corks on this wreath, which is about 20-24 inches in diameter.  I forgot to measure.

Next, you need a straw wreath form, like the one above (back of the wreath is pictured).  The color of the straw blends in well with the corks. Then, get out your hot glue gun & just start gluing!  I found that putting the glue onto the cork (rather than onto the wreath) worked better.  Remember to put the corks at different angles & overlapping, or it won't look right.  Even if some of them look sort of strange, like they are just sticking out of the wreath, that's OK because it will look good in the end. Edited to add: Only put corks on the front & sides, not the back, or you'll have a hard time hanging on the wall.

Then, put it up on the wall, pour yourself a glass of wine, and admire your handiwork.

Corks & Matchbooks

I was browsing through Blissfully Domestic recently & came upon a thread about one of my favorite decorating things, apothecary jars.  One woman had an idea that was like a light bulb going off in my head (more like "hello, why didn't I think of that????")...putting your collected corks & matchbooks in your jars. 

I've been collecting restaurant/bar matchbooks since, well, forever, and I've kept the cork from every bottle of wine that Glenn & I have shared (Ahem....the numbers are embarrassing....).  Its so cool to go through them every once in awhile & remember times that you had at a restaurant or a special bottle of wine that you had.  Or, a couple of bottles of wine that made the world a very happy place...

I've already made a wreath of some of my corks (a fun addition to the kitchen),
but I was looking for something to do with all of the rest.  And, those matchbooks.  I'm liking the two of them together -- it's all about thinking about good times!