Right Up My Alley

Months ago, I mentioned in a blog post that our son is getting married.

The wedding is now just 3 months away and last Saturday the first real wedding event, the bridal shower, was held.

I am so fortunate that my future daughter-in-law and her friends trusted me to make a lot of the decorations for the bridal shower - they know that crafting is "right up my alley".

Aylin loves coffee, so much, that the Maid of Honor suggested coffee as the theme for the shower and I had fun creating coffee related decorations.

A LOVE IS BREWING banner greeted guests as they came through the gate.

The background on each flag had math questions because Joshua is a math whiz and will be graduating with a 4th degree, this one in math, in just 6 weeks.

Aylin's mother's Turkish samovar served as a beautiful decoration beneath the banner.

The shower was attended by family and friends on both sides so I created a "get to know you" game to mix up the crowd - it was wonderful to see everyone beginning as strangers and hugging goodbye with "see you at the wedding" as they departed.

Aylin's family is from Turkey so each guest was given a bracelet with the Turkish good luck charm of the eye-like symbol know as a nazar.

Plants potted in teapots, cups and other crockery decorated the tables and

cards with coffee or tea quotes were strewn along the tables and throughout the house.

Unfortunately, I was too busy enjoying incredible Turkish dishes and chatting with everyone to get photos of either the food or the dessert tables.

As guests left, they filled burlap bags with their choice of coffee beans as their parting gift.

I have been so busy these last few weeks creating things for the shower and now it is time to move on to the wedding.

These boxes from Betsy at My Salvaged Treasures will be part of the decorations and she is also making me a set of Mr. and Mrs. forks.

Steve teases me about everything I am doing for the wedding, but he knows that I am in my element.

Change Happens

Change, constant change, is Steve's major complaint about me!

But, change happens sometimes when you are not expecting it.

Until last week, the guest room looked like this.

Our daughter has been staying with us during the week since October, but KC moved back to the Bay Area and took much of her decor/furniture with her.

I spent the last few days putting together the room because we have a special guest coming this week.

In my old age, I am realizing that I don't need to always be purchasing new items

so my goal for the room was to spend no money and only use things I had on hand.

The checkered shams are an old IKEA purchase and the white quilt was on our bed until last summer.

A favorite quilt adorns the foot of the bed complimented by pillows that have been used on our bed, on the window seat in the dining room, on the living room sofa and even outside on the chaises.

The little stool at the foot of the bed is one of several pieces KC returned to me after stealing it when she moved to town.

Among the things KC left behind were the navy suede headboard on the bed and her IKEA dresser - it's old, but does the trick for now.

My original plan was shelves and baskets on this wall, but I decided that "less is more" and I asked my resident artist for paintings.

The chair was a cheap Tuesday Morning purchase that I love tucking into empty corners.

While KC was with us, this little table served as a night stand, but I had other ideas for next to the bed so the table fills a space between the windows - Steve added one of my favorite truck paintings.

I have always wanted to use a ladder for shelves and finally I have the perfect spot.

Originally we hung a painting over the bed, but it was overwhelming

so an old screen hangs above the bed and a little bag for candy (empty for now or Lulu would try to get it) awaits our guest who will arrive on Friday.

 Steve's most recent painting hangs above a table I moved into the bedroom from the living room.

I am eagerly awaiting my cousin Vicki's arrival

as is Lulu - although she might be waiting for KC to come home.

I am happy with the room and pleased with myself that I didn't buy anything except flowers

and fresh flowers are a change that Steve can handle!

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Head on over to My Salvaged Treasures for the Vintage Inspiration Party

on the road again . . . I'm over at The Old Painted Cottage

One day in February, I came home from the hand surgeon feeling miserable after 2 cortisone shots and dreading the surgery looming in my future.

That same afternoon, I received an email from Jennifer Grey of The Old Painted Cottage
that made my spirits soar!

Steve couldn't understand my excitement, but I explained to him that Jennifer's was among the first blogs I ever read and she was one of the bloggers who inspired me to start my own blog.

The timing was perfect because surgery and recovery didn't allow me to do much with my hands, but I could hold a camera.

I took over 2000 photos (none of these photos are part of the feature) and edited it down to 150 - all with my left hand!

As I write this, the feature isn't published yet so I don't know how many/which photos Jennifer used.

Please head over to The Old Painted Cottage to check it out!

And now, for a hand update, my right wrist is still very weak and quite sore which makes blogging an arduous task - this short post took 4 days to complete with my left hand!

Short & Sweet

I literally have hundreds of sweet emails wishing me well that I cannot answer because I still only have the use of my left hand and have not been on the computer.

Please know that I will respond when I am better.

 At least the beach has been gorgeous and I am able to sit and read most days.

I am able to do Instagram (saving my sanity) because I can easily scroll through and comment with just one tap of the finger.

I thought you might get a kick out of the comment I put with today's picture on Instagram - Bobbie of Cottleston Pie has promised not to judge me.

Thank you for all of your loving concern - I hope to be back visiting soon!