READYING THE HOUSE FOR A SPECIAL GUEST

I've linked up this post with

Marty at A Stroll Thru Life's

Table Top Tuesday

link party. Those of you visiting through her wonderful site, keep scrolling down to see my version of some summer scenes.

Thanks so much for visiting!

A very special house guest will be arriving this evening, and I've been working 'round the house the past few days preparing for her arrival.

Dear Son No. 1's girlfriend, whom he met in college and has been with for well over a year now, is coming up from North Carolina for a visit. It'll be a rather short visit, but I know they'll be so happy to see each other. They haven't seen one another since school ended back in April.

Banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and

good ole Toll House Chocolate Chip cookies.

So, in an effort to make her stay as pleasant as possible, I've been cleaning and fluffing and baking and making yummy snacks and shopping for her favorite drinks and goodies.

I'm really diggin' this new coverlet I picked up at Kohl's. Can you make out the design? And the color . . . it's my fave - red!

New bed linens were purchased for the room in which she'll be staying, along with a little "welcome" basket.

I also ~ finally ~ created some new tablescapes and vignettes around the house to better reflect the season. Lots of shells, stones, starfishes, blues, aquas and naturals used here and there to remind me of the beach . . . even if I can't get there as often as I'd like.

The hutch by the kitchen table . . .

And, no, I haven't painted that yet either!

I love incorporating books into my tablescapes. And, I never have any trouble finding books whose bindings/covers match the color scheme I'm creating.

The kitchen table has a new look. Out with the patriotic red, white and blue, and in with a more natural, beachy look.

I sewed this table runner from a piece of painter's cotton drop cloth and upholstery strapping top stitched down the center with little ruffles on the ends.

I just LOVE how it turned out! :o)

One corner of the kitchen counter by the counter eating area has a new look as well. I released my summery "warm" colored dishes from the cabinet. I wanted it to look as if I just tossed them into that chicken wire basket. Of course I didn't!

We inherited this marble top table from Hubby's grandmother. I have it in the powder room.

I've always wondered about it's origins. It appears as if it might be hand made? Notice how primitive looking the engraved detail is on the front apron of the table. I should really do some family detective work to find out more about this piece.

It's decked out in a summer look as well.

I almost forgot I had this little guy. It was a souvenir from our honeymoon trip to Bermuda almost 26 years ago. I found it a few months back up in the attic in a box of old stuff. He's nestled in a bed of lavender blooms from my garden.

It'll be so nice to see her again. Dear Son has lots of fun things lined to do during her short visit . . . the beach, Philadelphia Zoo, Hershey Park to name a few. It might be a tiring 3 days for her, but I'm sure they'll have tons of fun!

Thanks for visiting!

Leave a comment so I can get to know you.

TRAGEDY!

Well . . . kinda . . .

Remember this chair?

The chair that kicked my behind during it's personal little makeover?

The chair that I procrastinated on for sooo long?

The chair whose upholstery was becoming tattered and torn, but I was determined to save?

The other night, Dear Son along with his sweet girlfriend, sat themselves in that chair (you might remember that chair's a reclining chair-and-a-half), and pushed back to recline comfortably when POP! A bolt in the hinge of the reclining mechanism snapped in two.

Well, we're surely not going to pay the price to repair it. So now I'm on the hunt for a new chair. And I think I've actually found one. Since I just hate spending big money of furniture if I can get away with not, (THE CHAIR is case-in-point - big money spent on a chair whose upholstery wore out in 3 years and eventually broke after 8), Ikea has what I think just might be the answer for me.

The Ektorp Chair

Ikea

Ikea

It comes in a variety of colors, even a cute floral print. The color I'm leaning to is the white. And better yet, the white cotton slipcover is machine washable, and it's the cheapest of the color options at $249.

SuWeeet!

The other colors are dry clean only, and a bit more expensive. The floral above, for example, is priced at $349.

Pottery Barn

This Pottery Barn chair, named

The Basic Armchair ,

(all that money for that chair, and they can't come up with a real name for it??? LOL) also offers what I'm looking for. But really, priced at around $900, and a chair that will be used basically as an extra, occasional chair in the family room, I just can't see spending that much. Granted, the PB chair's frame is made much better being a solid, kiln-dried hardwood frame, and the Ikea chair is not. I still think, for us, the Ikea chair is the way to go.

Unless I see something somewhere else that fits the bill, I'll be taking a drive up to Philly to visit our closest Ikea store very soon!

Thanks for visiting!

Leave a comment so I can get to know you.

SWELTERING

Phew

It's hot.

A real scorcher.

We're in the midst of yet another heat wave here on the east coast.

Today it reached 101 degrees.

I believe I heard on the news this morning we haven't hit 100 degrees here in our area in a decade.

Before I left the house this morning for work, I made sure my flowers, plants and the gardens were well hydrated to face the soaring temps.

With temps reaching near and well into the 90's the past few days, and no rain at all in the past 7 days, it's getting pretty dry 'round here. The grass has gone dormant and turned brown.

Even Mr. Bunny needed to cool off in the damp, cool soil in the veg garden. See him there above the garden flag?

According to my computer, tomorrow's supposed to hit 103.

Boy . . . wish I had a pool!

Thanks for visiting!

Leave a comment so I can get to know you.

NICE TO GO AWAY, BUT SO GOOD TO BE HOME

Cocoa Beach

That's my sentiment every time we go away on vaca. I'm always grateful to be able to get away, but I so love being home more than anything!

I'm a real home body for sure.

Our quick little jaunt down to Florida was very nice. It was a real treat spending three days with just Son No. 3.

What a cool kid ;o)

I think he had an okay time hanging out with his old Mom and Dad, too!

I won't bore you all with pictures of the amusement parks and the water park, but I will share pictures of where we stayed. Let me tell you, this place was fabulous! As I mentioned in my last post, it's a golf resort.

The Villas of Grand Cypress

We found out it's just not any golf resort, it's ranked within the top 25 golf resorts in the country! And I can surely see why.

It was beautiful . . . the rooms . . . the grounds . . . the restaurants . . . the pool

ahhh the pool.

The left side of the pool.

We hit that gorgeous, ginormous pool every day/evening. Most times having it almost totally to ourselves the entire time we were there.

Hard to make out in this picture, but all around the the pool those trees were trimmed like umbrellas for shading the lounge chairs.

One of two spas in the pool area. This one has the refreshing waterfall with fragrant bougainvillea vine trailing down.

The right side of the pool.

Summer is "off season" for golf in Florida, so the resort was not at all crowded. And, another plus, is the rates are quite affordable. The Villas of Grand Cypress where we stayed, is affiliated with the 815 room hotel The Hyatt Grand Cypress just down the road. The Hyatt just went through a multi-million dollar renovation. It's a very nice, very large, very busy hotel/conference center. I'm so glad we did not stay there!

The cul-de-sac where our villa was located.

The Villas is a much smaller hotel facility. Separate cul-de-sacs with private outside entrances for each suite/villa. It was quiet, peaceful and beautiful. No busy lobbies. No waiting for elevators. No loud groups passing by the hotel room door. It was perfect.

Below are views from our villa's back patio.

Unfortunately, there was no time for golf - not even time for hitting some balls at the driving range. We were down there for only 3 full days, and those days were booked solid. Maybe next time ;o)

Some views of the golf course.

Views from the main clubhouse.

Another highlight of the trip was the Cirque du Soleil show, La Nouba. It was fantastic! I've only ever seen one over Cirque show, Ka, in Las Vegas, and it was great as well. I'll have to say, though, so far La Nouba is my favorite. If you're ever in Orlando, I highly recommend seeing the show.

Spending an afternoon at Cocoa Beach was nice as well.

Relaxing by the ocean.

Of course, coming home has had me busy . . . unpacking, laundry, cleaning the house, working, weeding, tending to my almost neglected plants and flowers (the big boys get an almost failing grade for caring for my beloved plants and flowers!). All the work the last couple days has almost totally cancelled out the vacation we just took!

Isn't that always the way?!!!

Thanks for visiting!

Leave a comment so I can get to know you.