NumberNineteen

Easter Table 2018

It's become a tradition for me to come up with a new Easter tablescape every year and share it here. Though I've been absent from the blog, I thought that this would be a good time to come back and share this year's table.

Every year I've got a starting point, whether it's an inspiration photo online or a tablecloth.  This year's starting point is the cabbage plates that I picked up last year.  

I found an April Cornell table runner that I knew would look great with the plates and napkins with the sweetest matching blue edging at Home Goods.  I love April Cornell table linens.  I have several table runners and I love their beautiful designs and quality.  I embroidered the napkins with our monogram to give them a bit of personalization.  

And, of course, flowers.  The one time a year that I do a big arrangement.  Although, I can I do a little flower-related vent?  I always go out, looking for gorgeous magazine worthy flowers in the stores and I can't find them.  Even at the nice grocery stores like Wegmans.  Grocery stores: please stock something besides roses, tulips and hydrangeas -- at least at Easter.  First world, ridiculous issue, without out a doubt.  

It's just going to be the three of us for Easter this year.  Glenn's mother was planning on visiting, but she came down with the flu.  I hope that all of you have a wonderful Easter!

Nana's Christmas Present/A Weekend in Happy Valley

My mom's big Christmas present last year was tickets to a Penn State football game.  But, not just the tickets.  It was a promise for all of us to be together, back in State College.  This was her gift weekend, for the Indiana game. 

Being back in State College was wonderful.  It's called Happy Valley for a reason. It was cloudy all day Saturday until the game was about to start.  Then, the sun came out and it became a perfect fall day.  We had great tickets -- 15th row near the endzone -- and it was a great game for Penn State.  There is such a sense of excitement and fun and community during the games.  

The best part was family time.  Being back in our home town together was very special.  There was a lot of hugs and cuddling.  Then, there was even more family time with my aunts, uncles & cousins on Sunday. 

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Not only did I have an amazing weekend, but my shop officially opened today! Check it out at www.Number19vintage.etsy.com!

Hope's 12th Birthday Tea Party

I'm back friends!  I took a short break after my big announcement to work on the shop. It's been so much work but I know that it's worth it.  

In the meantime, Hope turned 12 years old! (Reminder -- she was 15 months old when I started this blog!)  We celebrated with a tea party -- she's becoming a chip off the old Anglophile block ;)

I had fun searching for mis-matched china for the table this summer.  Any excuse to treasure hunt, you know.

The girls crafted facinators and then posed with their creations.  Because you need a facinator for tea, of course.

The main event -- eating!

The girls had so much fun and Hope was in sparkle-ly happy mode.  I love who she is right now and who she is becoming. I hope that she always stays true to herself and confident in her individuality.

First Day of 7th Grade

Today is Hope's first day of 7th grade! Can you believe it?  She was 16 months old when I started this blog.  She is friendly to everyone she meets, marches to her own drum and is the sunshine in any day.

On her first day of 7th grade (less than one month from her 12th birthday), these are her favorites:

Food: Cheese, shrimp, rice, ice cream, cookies & cake

Clothes: Dresses

Color: Purple

Books: The Warriors series, Fairy Tail series, Wings of Fire series and manga in general

Subject in School: Social Studies

TV/Movies: Anime

Youtube (she is really into Youtube): Seri!Pixlbiologist and StacyPlays

Favorite things to do: Play with our new cat, Lucy, read, dance, and draw

I know that you are going to do amazing things this year, my Hope!

Very Vintage Back to School

Once again, the summer slipped past me and blogging went to the wayside.  It was a good summer, though it felt shorter than usual.  It seemed like I was just starting to relax and then I had to go back to school.  

I've been back to work for about two weeks (the kids first day is this Monday) and I'm starting to look forward to fall.  The light coming through the windows is at a certain fall-ish angle and every so often, we have a cooler day.  I'm starting to think about making stews and casseroles and pumpkin bread.  

I was in a particularly back-to-school/fall-ish spirit this afternoon and pulled together a few things to get the house in the proper mindset.

The dining room table is all ready for studying.

An old globe, ruler, vintage primers and scrabble pieces cover the main subjects.  Yes, I happen to have these things just lying around my house.

Can't forget the kitchen table.  Because who knows when you might need a pencil during breakfast?

 

My next post is likely to be on the first day of school.  My baby is going into 7th grade.  7th grade.  Someone slow down time, please.

Spring Break and Easter

Hi All!  I hope that you had a wonderful, joyous Easter!  Ours was just perfect.  It was absolutely beautiful here -- warm and sunny, just right for an egg hunt.  

 

We were able to spend the holiday with Glenn's mother, who visited for the weekend. Hope was thrilled with lots of grandma time.

 

We shared a traditional dinner of ham, potatoes, biscuits, beans

 

and our tradition, butterfly cake.

 

Spring break has been blissful.  I had a couple of stressful weeks at work leading up to break -- several large projects going on at the same time -- I was sorely in need of rejuvenation. 

 

It was hard for me to let go and just take care of myself.  I often had thoughts of "maybe I should do a project since you have the time".  I had to let that go.  

I did yoga and walked every day.  I watched British TV.  I read old favorite books. 

I spent time with Hope.  We had tea at an adorable tea room. We shopped and went to the library.

I feel restored and happy now, ready to go back to real life being my best self.  I hope that you had a wonderful Easter and if you had a little break, it was as restful as mine.

Christmas 2017

Two posts in one week?  It must be Christmas vacation!  I was going to write that I wanted to share photos of our "actual" Christmas celebrations, but that isn't quite right to me...for me, Christmas is a season that is celebrated through the month.  Of course, the pinnacle is Christmas day and the days immediately beforehand, which is what I'll share here. 

Since we always go to my parent's house for Christmas, we decided to create a mini celebration at our house the night before we leave.  We have a nice dinner in the dining room,

open a few gifts and then drive around the neighborhood to look at all of the lights.

The next morning we loaded up the car and headed off to Nana and Grandpa's house.  I must take this moment to give props to Glenn and thank God for the millionth time that I married an engineer, because I don't know how he manages to fit all of the gifts, luggage, food and other whatnots that we haul to my parents into our car.

Christmas Eve was spent getting last minute groceries and poking around downtown Rehoboth.  This will sound a little nutty, but I love going to the grocery store on the afternoon of Christmas Eve.  Everyone is so excited and celebratory. You hear "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Holidays" between complete strangers.  Rehoboth is also surprisingly wonderful on Christmas Eve.  It's off-season, so it's just local families and their guests walking around. We meet a very friendly corgi named Charlie and his mom on the beach, who were also enjoying the wintery beauty of the ocean.

Back at the house, it's time for Christmas Eve dinner.

After Christmas Eve service in a beautiful church in Lewes (the candle lighting to Silent Night at the end gets me every time -- tears streaming down my face), we came back to get ready for Santa.  Cookies and milk, not forgetting to throw reindeer food (dry oatmeal mixed with red and green sugars) in the backyard.

And, then, Christmas morning!  The kids held off until 7, at which point they were about to burst with excitement. 

My mother, opening her big gift -- a promise for the family to return to Happy Valley next fall for a football game, complete with tailgating.  Her Penn State-loving heart could barely believe it!

Glenn, showing his love for his big gift -- a nail gun with compressor.  The kids decided that they needed to be involved in the love fest as well.

The rest of Christmas was mostly spent in our pjs, though we managed to clean ourselves up in time to Skype with our family in Pennsylvania. 

We had a wonderful Christmas.  Lots of family fun, snuggles and surprises.  And, BONUS -- no one was sick!  A major accomplishment in our family.  I hope that you also had a wonderful holiday and that you are taking time to enjoy the very end of the season.

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Pumpkin Time

We are at the very height of fall here in Virginia.  The leaves have exploded in color and I'm just trying to soak in every bit of it while I can. 

We've been checking items off of our fall bucket list -- a trip to the pumpkin patch, a walk in the park today, carving pumpkins.

Some of us carved pumpkins with more gusto than others.

Some of us thought that the pumpkin guts were smelly but then undertook carving with great seriousness.  Some of us were less serious about the pumpkin guts.

We had a black cat in our midst on Halloween.

See?  A black cat, ready to pounce.

There was much candy collected that evening and much that had to be given away because of new braces.  Never fear, chocolate is OK with braces. Whew. 

It's a long weekend around here, between teacher work days (I took one off!), election day and the best day of the entire year -- Fall Back Day!  A day with an extra hour???  Whoopee!  I'll be using my extra hour to craft while sipping cider and watching The Gilmore Girls.  What about you?

September With The Family in PA

This post is super, super outdated but I really want to share the wonderful weekend that we had with my family in Pennsylvania the second weekend of September.  Work may have gotten in the way of my posting about it, but the glow of happiness from the trip remains with me.

There were so many good times over the weekend that we were there.  One highlight was seeing my gorgeous cousin who just turned one.  Lilly, you are just so adorable!  Her personality is just as bright as her hair (that hair!!!  I'm in love!!!).

 

We timed the weekend so that we could go to a massive antique machinery show/flea market.  Glenn & my uncle headed for the machinery, Hope & I went for the flea.  Of course :)  I only got one thing there, which is sort of a mystery piece.

 

Anyone recognize that mark on the underside?  I think that it may be ironstone, but I can't find anything about the mark anywhere online.  We looked at it with my uncle's jeweler's loop and found a very faint WM in addition to the Princess mark.  I got a very, very good deal on it and I'd love to know how old it is and where it was made.  I should take it to Antiques Roadshow ;)

Later in the day, Glenn & I went to a large antique mall, where I found wonderful things. 

I've been in love with everything tartan this past year & this tin is so perfect for fall and the holidays. As a weird bonus, it was filled with hundreds of little black buttons.  Not cool vintage buttons, just plain little buttons. Hmm.

I'll tell the truth, I would have probably paid just about anything for this cookie tin.  Usually you see cake tins, but never cookie.  And cookies are my THING.  I need to start baking soon so that I can fill it up.

A wonderful wicker wrapped bottle, found in a dusty corner, and a beautiful English transferware platter, which will eventually make it's way to my re-vamped Etsy store. 

My aunts (who live next door to each other -- I keep telling my mom to buy a house on their street so that we could visit everyone at once) had a Saturday night get together so that we could see all of the cousins.  There was so much good catching up and so much good Lilly time!  And, the food!  There is nothing like a Central PA family party for food -- 5 or 6 desserts, ring bologna, dips, more!

 

That would certainly have been enough wonderfulness, but on Sunday, there was a birthday party for Lilly!  A big tea party at their church thrown by her mom and grandmother.

I was kicking myself for leaving my good camera at home.  I had to make do with my phone, but I'm glad that I was able to capture some memories of a a great time.  Love you, PA family!

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Summer So Far

We've been having dinner on the porch, picking berries, going to the pool, and doing little projects. Lots of sewing projects.  Well....lots of sewing projects that I'm planning. I have the idea and the fabric...soooooo, I just need to actually sew.  Here is a sneak peek at one of the projects: 

 Painting.  Painting, painting, painting.  You know how you start with "I'm just going to touch up the trim" and then you notice how awful the walls look and then you notice how bad the trim in the entire house looks and the next thing you know, you've painted three rooms and hundreds of yards of trim???  Yeah, that is me.

Remember this little shelf from my flea market trip in April?

I loved it's jadite green color but it isn't Hope's favorite and it was purchased for her room.  So, I  painted it powder blue at her request (sigh) and it now holds her treasured art projects.

Reading.....lots of reading.  When you are a school librarian, your summer homework is to read as much as possible.  Not a bad deal, in my opinion :)

It's been a good summer so far, with a lot going on, but not too much.  I went thrifting yesterday and found a few treasures that I'll do a quick post on in the next few days.

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