NumberNineteen

Adding Some History to A New House -- Family Photo Wall

After living here a year, the house still feels pretty new to us.  There are a lot of blank walls, spaces without rugs, and windows without curtains.  Its a slow & steady process, hampered by my current status as a grad student (read: spending money, not making money).  One thing that I've always wanted is a wall of family photos which would include many generations.  I decided that I want to have two galleries -- one of black and white photos along the stairs and one of color photos on the landing to the basement.  Over the past year, I've been collecting photos and finally had enough to create a really nice gallery of black and white photos.

Since I decided to hang the photos on the wall going up the stairs, I knew placement would be tricky.  So, I first laid out everything on the floor:

Then, using paper grocery bags, I cut out a piece of paper the size & shape of each frame.  I taped these to the walls to show exactly where each picture should be nailed (sorry, I didn't take a picture of this step).  It sounds like a lot of work, but I was so glad that I did it that way.  I was able to move things around to see what I liked best and adjust the spacing before I put any holes in the wall.

I love being able to see our family every time that I go up and down the steps.

Glenn's grandparents in the 40s.

Our wedding photo and a picture of my grandparents at my father's Bar Mitzvah, apparently offering the photographer a drink.

My great grandparent's grocery & butcher store and a picture of Hope, age 2.

I'm continuing to gather photos, since there are a few people missing from the wall (mom & dad, I'm looking at you!).  I'd also like to add images of old documents like birth certificates, marriage licenses, or census records, either on this wall or elsewhere.  I feel like having these items in our house makes it feel more like a home.

A Weekend of Festivals

It was an absolutely beautiful weekend here in Virginia -- pure blue skies, moderate temperatures and a few trees just beginning to turn color.  We spent much of it outdoors, taking advantage of the gorgeousness. 

On Saturday morning, I headed downtown to the National Book Festival,

a wonderful event for book lovers of all ages.  I had been pondering going and then found out that attendance would be considered a make up for a class that I missed.  And, one of my favorite authors, John Green (READ HIS BOOKS  -- I'm an un-official John Green evangelist, I'm sure to the dismay of many of my friends and family, because I.won't.shut.up.about.him) was talking, so totally a win-win situation.  Of course, Metro wasn't running on time, so I got to see more of the sign language interpreter than John Green, but, hey, I heard what he had to say and that was really what I wanted anyway.

After gathering as much book-related swag as possible at the book festival, I scooted on home to meet up with Glenn & Hope so that we could check out an Arts Festival in Fredericksburg that I'd read about.  The festival was light on artists (only about 10 vendors), but there was some very cool Italian chalk pavement art:

and a musical group who encouraged participation from young audience members:

They had all of these very interesting drums sitting around and children could play along with the band.  Hope tried her hand at it:

After the Arts Festival, we were walking around and happened upon a Welsh festival, complete with Celtic music, a traditional Celtic folk dancer and face painting.  While the latter is probably not strictly Welsh, Hope was pretty excited about it.  She requested a unicorn:

After all of those festivities (sorry for the pun, couldn't resist), we stopped at one of our favorite wine bar/restaurants for a drink and a snack of cheese & bread.  Hope is a cheese nut, so she was enthusiastic about this locale and helped us select our snack:

Today was not so festive (darn, I did it again), but we did spend it outside, fluffing the yard for fall.  My haul at Lowes:

Hope helped me plant the bulbs, which we are very excited about. Here she is measuring to see if we dug the hole deep enough:

My only other experience with bulbs was in the early years at our old place.  We had a large squirrel population who considered tulips a delicacy, so my bulbs never made it past December.  We don't have a squirrel problem around here so we have high hopes. 

I hope that you had a good weekend, enjoying this early fall weather!

Cake Boss Party - Birthday Party

As I was surfing through Pinterest a few months ago, I came upon the perfect birthday party idea for Hope -- a Cake Boss party!  Hope is a huge fan of the show & the spin off, The Next Great Baker.  She loves watching them contruct and decorate the amazing cakes and has been begging me to take a decorating class.  So, she immediately loved the idea.  Using ideas that I found all over Pinterest (and a couple of my own), I think that pulled together the best birthday party yet!

The food table & the cake

Each girl got a personalized apron that I appliqued with a cupcake design.

First we took pictures of all of the girls on the front steps with their aprons on.  Then, we had them decorate picture frames that we later filled with their picture and gave to them as a gift.  Moving onto the sweets/decorating part of the festivities, the girls dipped strawberries in white chocolate and then each girl had a one layer cake that they could decorate with colored icing and candies.  They took home the cakes, but the strawberries were eaten as soon as they were dipped.

Happy Birthday to You!

Kids are so funny at birthday parties -- they watched Hope open every gift as if it were they that was receiving the gifts. 

The best part of the party? I think that the girls had a really good time!

Chalkboard Art

Hope's 7th birthday is coming up in less than two weeks.  Fueled by Pinterest, I've come up with a faboo birthday party plan, if I do say so.  If I can pull off all of the details and keep 8 kids happy for 2 hours, I will one happy mama. 

A little detail that I hadn't even thought of until I was buzzing around Pinterest is a birthday message for the chalkboard in our kitchen.  I saw Diane from In My Own Style's fabulous tutuorial for chalkboard art pinned and knew that I had to try it out:

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I pretty much followed her directions, with one minor extra step for someone who can't freehand draw anything (me).  Basically, you start out by wiping your board completely with a damp cloth.  Then, measure to find the center of the board.  That will help with your lettering, ensuring that it is centered & looks good.  Diane suggests that you draw your border first, if you choose to have one, so that you can see how much space you have left for lettering. Made sense to me, so I did that. Then, I started on the lettering.

Here is where I needed an extra guide to keep things looking nice.  I printed out the words that I wanted in exactly the size that I wanted on my board:

Then, I rubbed chalk on the back side of the paper (the side without the printing).

I then placed the paper, chalk side down, on the board, where I wanted the lettering.  I traced the letters with pencil, which left a faint chalk line on the board. 

I then went over the faint chalk lines with colored chalk that had been dipped into water.  The wet chalk really made a difference!  The colors look much brighter and crisper when they dry.

After I finished the lettering, I added some cute decorative bits.  OK, I did freehand one part, the cupcakes...

And, the finished product!

Not as good as Diane's or the photos in her post, but not too bad for my first try!

I Spent the Weekend in Stars Hollow

Not really Stars Hollow, but the closest thing that I've found yet (and I've been searching).  Milford, Pennsylvania. I spent the weekend in and around this adorable little town for a birthday party for my beautiful & inspirational Aunt Kay:

I know that you are reading Aunt Kay -- Love you!

Her daughter (my cousin) held a sorta surprise party for her -- "oh just a few family" which was really a bash for about 50 people from all parts of her life, who traveled from up & down the east coast to be there.  Kelly & Paul (my cousin & her husband) were amazing hosts and choose a fabulous caterer who not only created a spectacular spread but also this:

After so many years of seeing them in Martha's (Stewart, of course) books & shows, I finally saw & enjoyed a real croquembouche.  Dusted with edible gold, no less! 

The icing on the cake (forgive the pun) was staying in Milford.  I couldn't get a good picture of the main street, so here is one that I found online:

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It is a hidden treasure of Victorian era small town wonderfulness.

We ate breakfast at this adorable bagel place/deli.

This is the library.

An example of the local architecture.

The  main street was lined with cute shops, a diner (no hot Luke though, for those following the Gilmore Girls thread) and historic hotels.  It is nestled in the hills with a lake nearby. 

What a wonderful weekend.

Back to School!

Hope is now a second grader!  When I started this blog, this is what she looked like:

How the heck did it go so fast?

Here, for my memory as much as for anything else, are Hope's favorites at the beginning of second grade:

Books: Rainbow Magic & Candy Fairies

Food: Chocolate Ice Cream & Chicken Nuggets

Animals: Horses & Dexter (our cat)

Color: Lilac

Clothing: Dresses

Activities: Computer games on the Internet, pretending, playing with friends, tap dancing, reading

How I Spent My Summer....

Well, it looks like I took a summer break! Unintentional, but somehow time slipped away and before I knew it, I hadn't posted all summer.  Here's a little update of how I spent the summer:

Visited family at the beach (my parents recently moved near the beach...convenient, huh?)

Visited family in farm country (Glenn's uncle's cows).

Had family visit (Hope & my nephew at the local ice cream stand).

Made and canned my first batch of jam ever -- made from wild blackberries found in our side yard.


Went to the county fair.

Went to the farmer's market (though not often enough).

Scored a few finds for the Etsy shop.

In addition, there was a lot of time spent on school work and at the library, searching for every single Rainbow Magic book available.  If you are not familiar, Rainbow Magic is a children's series that Hope has become obsessed with in the past several months.  There was time spent at the pool (not enough) and time with friends.  Really, I'm not sure where the time went.

Here we are, September 1st, on the cusp of my favorite time of year.  I'm more than ready for pumpkins and crisp air, mums and cider.  Picnics at the winery, fall foliage, school starting, sweaters and leather boots, and fires in the fireplace.