Red Front Door

I love red. A lot. And I love Behr paint's Red Awning. I've painted my bedroom this color in the last two apartments I've rented and while I knew it didn't really work with my "beach cottage" theme, I wanted to somehow incorporate this color in the new house. And so, when it came time to install a new front door, I knew exactly what color to paint it.

View of the neighbor's from my living room.


New door from the inside.


Her it is again with the new molding.


And from the outside.


I'll have to remember to take, and post, some pictures of it now that the all-glass storm door is in place and I've painted the mailbox and house numbers oil-rubbed bronze.

My grandmother would be so proud

My grandmother grew the most beautiful roses at her home in Fredericksburg, Virginia. She had an amazing green thumb. I always knew that when I had a place of my own, I would plant roses and holly as a way of remembering those happy visits to the little house my grandparents built in 1956. The smell takes me right back to that place.

She turned 95 on May 3 this year and although the Alzheimer's has started to rob her of her memory, she's still going strong physically. I send her roses every year for her birthday.

She is part of the legacy of strong, capable women in my family. She put herself through school at a time when women didn't go to college. She taught English and business, even serving as acting principal for a time, and kept the books for my grandfather's grocery store. She raised two amazing children, my aunt and my father. She worked hard for her version of the American dream.

She is my inspiration in life and in the garden.

A little like Don Quixote..

Except, I was not afraid they were giants. I love windmills! I joke that I'm going to put one in my front yard and buy an electric car to plug into it.

These can be seen in Sommerset County, Pennsylvania, from the PA Turnpike.

They've also put some up in my home town. Maybe one day I'll actually take a picture of them...

Spoiled.

The dating moratorium ended about a month ago.

He's awesome and wonderful and everything else.

And he spoils me just a little. Which I've never liked before.

This. I like.

:)

Hiding...

Miss Molly McGee has found a new place to "hide" each morning. She does this so maaaaybe I'll just forget about her and she won't have to spend the whole day in her crate.

Funny thing is, she has been crate trained from the beginning and really doesn't mind it. The hiding has just become routine.

Well, I forgot two...

I lied. I took two pictures of the preparations for the Bridal Shower mentioned in the previous post.




This is the lovely bride-to-be and the cookies we made to give as favors. They are shaped like tea bags, dipped in chocolate, and then we tied strings and tags to them. I was really happy with how they turned out!

Unphotographed Bliss

Bridal Shower Bliss that is!

This past weekend I travelled 9 hours, each way, to host a Bridal Shower for my bff. It was a LOT of work and totally worth it by the time we got our party on.

My biggest fail? I didn't take a single picture. Ooops.

I'm hoping one of the girls will share hers with me. They always say they will, but for some reason, getting those precious files is like pulling teeth.

Ah well. I'm just thrilled with how it turned out. I had great help from the other bridesmaids and all those in attendance thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

And I can breathe a huge sigh of relief.

I was nervous about this one. 50 ladies were invited. I'm sure we had at least 40 there.

Whew.