last night i got bit by the rearrange bug!  it actually started earlier in the day when i dashed in the antique mall to kill a little bit of time between appointments.  there.  the trouble began!

i don’t too often fall in love with furniture but as i came down the aisle, peeked in one of my favorite spaces, i saw it…a fabulous, perfectly chippy, blue hutch!  S.O.S.

i have way too much furniture as it is and the absolute last thing i needed was another anything!  and blue?  for crying out loud.  thankfully, i’m not opposed to introducing a single color to a room and then completely ignoring it.  plus, all that glorious chippy-ness was calling my name!

i measured it.  like that was going to make a difference!  and then i began to flirt with the possibility that i have a hutch-thing.  in the end, i was unwillling to acknowledge that!  i left as the sold tag was being taped to it!

i thought about having buyers remorse, but i couldn’t see any use in that…so i got excited and started thinking about where-the-heck i was going to put it!

that’s when the rearrange bug bit me…i decided i wanted to put it in my breakfast room.  that meant that i had to find a place for the hutch (don’t say it) that currently occupies that space.  it’s two pieces, so i took it apart and moved the bottom half to a wall in the den where i had a metal desk.  that worked, until i realized i didn’t have any place to put the metal desk…or the top of the hutch…and so it went…

i pushed things around…squeezed things in…stacked this & that and it all worked out!  and, now, i have the perfect place for my new hutch!  i was too freaked out to remember to snap a pic of the new hutch.  when i get it all *fixed* i’ll be sure to show you how fab it is!

in the process of all the shifting, i regrouped my mercury glass collection, added a superbly discolored ironstone platter behind it and fell in love all over again!

here’s the two piece hutch that i took apart…the mercury glass started out here on the shelf below the clocks…

the mercury glass…and the bottom of the hutch…find a new home on this wall…

now.  how to break the excellent news to the hubby….i know he’s going to be thrilled!  after all, chippy is his favorite word! 
i think…

boy.  i’m about to be in so much trouble, but i couldn’t resist!  it’s not like i put in on facebook.  or at least i don’t really think it counts that my blog loads on my facebook page…i mean, i could have put it on facebook and tagged them!  that would be bad!

well, anyway, i’m at peace with it!

every other year at thanksgiving we have “Christmas” with my family.  we don’t really exchange gifts anymore so the mother brings white elephant gifts and there’s always much to laugh about!

this year, silly hats seemed to be a theme…my nieces and nephews were good sports…

need i say more?  i didn’t think so! 

unfortunately…or maybe fortunately…the oldest was under the weather and missed out on all the hat-fun!  yup, this made me smile!  actually, it made me laugh…really hard!

~ happy friday!

it happened!  you know.  you get that call and that interview but you never really know!  now i do.  know!

little ol’ me!  the thought of high-speed machines churning out an article about SweetTalk over and over again!  it blows me away! 

most of the time i think the creative-me is simply the sum total of too much crazy!  i always appreciate recognition and it gives me validation that maybe, just maybe i’m actually on to something!

page 36 in…

i bought a few…i’m gonna walk around with them in my arms and hope that people ask me about it!  if they don’t…i’m totally prepared to (proudly) volunteer the story!

as we celebrate thanksgiving this week it’s easy to focus in on what really matters to me.  my life is full and busy and fun!  but at the end of the day…these are the nuts and bolts of my world…

FAITH…
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
~John 3:16

FAMILY…
I would be nothing without them.

FREEDOM…
And the men and women who protect it.  There is no freedom without military victory.

FRIENDS…
You know who you are and you know i heart each and every one of you!

on this thanksgiving may your hearts be happy…your tummies be full…and your travels be safe!

~ happy thanksgiving!

my friday posts are all about what makes me smile!  i really do believe it’s *the small things*!

i’m having a great time in tyler at Mistletoe & Magic…my dogs are barkin’ but it’s so worth it in the name of JUNK and WORDS!

i made this necklace and yesterday i sold it to a guy…

there is no doubt…he will rock it!

my mind is in overdrive…selling to dudes opens up a whole new creative world and customer base!  sweet! 

i don’t have to tell you…but i will…it made me smile! 
~ happy friday!

again!  got in sunday night from a long weekend in las vegas!  the husband and i went in honor of our upcoming 21st wedding anniversary! 

it was superfun!  we weren’t lucky gamblers but we are lucky-in-love…come on, let’s hear it, the collective “AHHH”!

i could tell you all about it, but you know the saying…what happens in vegas…

today i’ve been watching weather radar all morning (i don’t have to tell you how exciting that is) as i’m waiting for the rain to move along…that’s not a complaint, btw…and then i’m headed for Tyler where i’m setting up at the Junior League show Mistletoe & Magic!  i’m pumped!

i’ve never done this show before, but Junior League shows are usually great as these girls go all out to support their organization.  which should make for one fun week!  not to mention that i get to hang with my big sis and some of my JUNKin’ friends!

hope you can make it by…i’d love to see you!

i have a Martha Stewart caesar salad recipe that gets a lot of use….can you tell?

i don’t give myself much credit, but i am a decent cook.  it’s just not my favorite activity!  i simply have no creativity in the kitchen.

i envy people who stand at the pantry and say: excellent, i have a can of this and a box of that, i’ll just make “blah”!  i can’t do that!

if you give me a recipe, i can follow it and, remarkably, after i’ve made it (and only after) i can actually tweak it!

the ingredients:

and a big wooden bowl…you have to have a big wooden bowl so you get that…well…”wooden” flavor!

tah-dah!

it’s quick, easy and healthy!

now.  i suppose it would be a good time to tell you that while i was whipping up this fab salad i had some chicken breast under the broiler…or so i thought…apparently i turned on “bake” instead of “broil”…so much for being a decent cook!

dinner was slightly delayed which made it that much more yummy!

this salad always makes me *smile* ~ happy friday!

when we were in prague this summer i saw this construction worker and just about lost my lunch!

really!

wish i had a dime for everytime someone came to my front door, looked over at the swing hanging from a big oak tree branch and said “how many kids do you have?” 

i always glance over at it, look back at them and casually say “none”…

little do they know…that swing is for me!

i’m smiling…are you?  ~ happy friday!

i’m a hotel snob!  i’ve long  suspected it, but this past weekend
it was CONFIRMED!  and i have to tell ya…i’m completely at peace with it!

i headed to St. Libory, IL for my friend tricia’s surprise birthday party!  her bald guy…who i love almost as much as i love my own bald guy…made the motel reservations…at a Super 8…in Okawville, IL.  yeah.  i bet you know where this is going…

i know how bald guys think…it’s close to the party, people are in unfamiliar territory, it’s ONE night…i mean, how bad can it be? 

i’ll tell you exactly how bad it can be because there is such a thing as worse-than-bad!  the good news for the bald guy is that the next time he makes my reservations…assuming i grant him permission…there’s only room for improvement!

the better news is that we didn’t get back to our rooms until 3:00am…i was (almost) too tired to care!

i cranked the a/c, carefully peeled back the scary bedspread that hadn’t seen a washing machine in the last decade…said a little prayer and crawled between the sheets hoping no teeny-weeny critters attached themselves to me during the (thankfully) short night ahead!

i was so close to la-la land i could smell it when the a/c shut off.  grrr.  about the time i decided i couldn’t concern myself with it, it came back on…and so went my sleep….until 6am when the bed starting vibrating.  yes, i said it…VIBRATING.

holy cow…my eyes shot open, but my brain was still a little foggy and i tried desperately to remember if i’d seen a quarter machine attached to the bed…(unfortunately) it was possible.  nope.  was someone standing at the end of my bed shaking it?  nope.  so what-the-heck?

i stood up and realized the entire room was vibrating.  for whatever crazy reason…that made me feel better.  so i climbed back in bed and managed to doze off.  and then at 7am the room phone rang.  and when i answered no one was there.  really.

at that point the only thing i wanted to do was to take my 3-ish hours of sleep and skedaddle!  but standing between me and leaving was the shower.  thud.  could i get home without a shower?  that’s never a good option for me…

trying my darndest not to touch the shower curtain, i said (another) little prayer and climbed in.  took the fastest shower in the history of showers, grabbed a towel, opened my eyes…to a stain.  no. please. no.  so i turned the towel upside down…outta sight, outta mind!  sorta.

my lonely rental car...

i think i spent a total of 6 hours in that sad-excuse-of-a-room and it was 6 hours too many!

i had, however, made pretty good friends with mike the hotel manager.  uh, no mike, thank you but i won’t be staying for the continental breakfast…i’m pretty sure your idea of “continental” breakfast and my idea of “continental” breakfast are at least a world apart!

apparently, i’m a “continental” breakfast snob too!

boy.  the things we do in the name of love!