Art Work Friday & Tea!

Happy Friday!

Welcome to Art Work Friday!

This will be my last official "weekly" Art Work Friday.

I am hoping to post my Art Work Friday meme once a month and

will be finalizing the particulars soon.

I want to thank each person who has so wonderfully posted

fantastic art work over the past several months.

I have met some of the most creative people.

Including...

Peg at Bloomfield Farm

Molly at Molly's Country Memories Home Place

Jude at thisjewels4you

Jane's son at Mamie Jane's

Wendy at Relatively Unique

Hannah at Farmingon faith

Michelle at My Cozy Cottage

Rhonda at Shellbellestikihut

Wanda Lee at The Plumed Pen

Each one of your postings has deeply inspired me!

Thank you to each of you who have visited us each Friday.

Your comments encourage me more than you would know!

Yesterday, I arrived home from work to find

a special package in the mail addressed to me!

I was so excited to open and find this wonderful gift

from my dear blogfriend Christine.

Christine has a wonderful blog site called

Vista Woman.

She is a beautiful, wise, and creative friend!

Her site is full of family outings, bathroom redos,

creative tidbits, and love!

She even has gotten her daughter at Oh My Soul Rejoice
 and believe or not

her husband blogging at Is There Anyone Out There?!

When I opened this surprise gift and saw the tea,

I knew that it would be the perfect accompaniment

to my afternoon of art!

It was such a beautiful day that I took my supplies outside!

My project today is a pencil drawing for my dear blogfriend

Jeanette at Starting Over.

Jeanette, if you are seeing this... I wanted to do

a drawing of Keelie in her memory.

I hope that it will bring you treasured memories.

It will be in the mail soon.

For those of you that have not yet met Jeanette

she lost her puppy a few weeks ago in a tragic accident.

I'm not quite finished yet, but wanted to post

what I've completed so far!

Oh, by the way...

I'm almost at my 100 post anniversary.

That only means one thing...

Give-a-way!

Stay tuned....

Road Trip

Last week was Spring Break!

We decided to take a quick trip to Chicago.

Wayne (my hubby) is from Chicago and

we all have been craving

Giordano's Pizza!

Now, part of our trip was to see how many "free" things

to do both en route and in the city.

We had decided to stop in Indianapolis for our favorite

Goose Market sandwich...

Photo from the Internet... forgot to take a picture!

We thought to get some exercise and decided to make

the 32 floor climb to the top of the

Soldiers and Sailors Monument in downtown Indy!

I am very out of shape, my 12 year old

daughter, Madison, even held back to make sure I didn't die!

Next time I'll forget the "free" stair climb

and take the $2 elevator ride!

We left from Indy, full and tired!

Traveled to the hotel outside the city

(free too, thanks to "hotel points)

and checked in.

Then off to Chicago for

Pizza!

(Not free, but we must eat!)

After dinner we went to the Chicago Art Museum!

Free on Thursday evening!

We saw wonderful art works by

Seurat

van Gogh

Monet

Hofmann and

Woods!

While I was taking a photo of this

stunning claw foot table leg

I notice something...

dust... just like my house!

After a good nights sleep

and a free breakfast at the hotel

we came back into the city

and went to the free Lincoln Park Zoo.

Of course, I left my camera in the car and

we decided not to pay the parking lot $

and park four blocks in for free, so no photos!

But we just loved the zoo!

We had decided to splurge on lunch

and eat at the Signature Room on the 95 floor

of the John Hancock Building.

Great tip... The observation deck at the John Hancock

Building would run us around $63.00,

lunch at the floor above the observation deck

would run us about the same price!

So we opted for a delicious lunch and a view!
As it turned out, due to some unique
circumstances, lunch was free too!

The rest of our excellent weekend was spent visiting

Wayne's family out in the suburbs!

Thanks for tagging along on our family Road Trip!

Something New

A few months ago our laundry room went from

this...

to this...

For more see here!

We just loved the way the room turned out,

however, it was still missing a little something.

It needed a small change.

So after weeks of shopping I found just

what I was looking for.

Guess what it holds?

No, not trash...

Actually,

 it holds our 50 pound bag of dog food,

perfectly!

Sure beats...

which used to house the dog food!

I felt like Goldilocks during my search.

The "Oscar the Grouch" trash cans at the

big box stores were either

too BIG

or too small.

I checked

Home Depot

Lowes

Big Lots

Ikea

Sears

all with no results.

I finally found

the right size at our local Ace!

Ahhhhh... Just right!

I am linking to Metamorphosis Monday

at Between Naps on the Porch!

A Busy Weekend!

Zac's Birthday...

Spring Break...

Easter...

Dad's Days Off!

This has been a wonderfully busy weekend!

On Friday we enjoyed the start of Spring break

and the first of Dad's day off

to celebrate Zac's 15th Birthday.

It is hard to believe that my first born is now 15.

Seems like just yesterday I was

dutifully serving my 10 weeks of bed rest

in order to welcome him into this world

on April 2, 1995!

Tradition in our home (and we don't have many)

allows for the birthday person to pick

their restaurant and cake.

Zac pick was lunch at our local Tropical Smoothie.
And...

Peanut Butter Cup Cake from Cold Stone.

We even saved you a slice!

On Sunday we attended church to celebrate

our Risen Lord and Savior... Jesus!

After Church we headed over to Mom and Dad's house

for our Family Easter/ Birthday celebration.

Each year Mom and Dad host our annual

Easter Egg Hunt.

This year

over 300 eggs!

On your mark..

Get set...

Go!

"Easter Bunny" doesn't leave candy...

"He" leave $$$$!

Of course we had to celebrate Zac's Birthday

with family too!

What a fantastic weekend!

God has blessed me with such a fabulous family.
I hope your Easter was full of love!

Art Work Friday

I'm Late, I'm Late.... for posting

on this date!

The valley                                       acrylics

Today is Zac's birthday, so my mind has been a little

preoccupied. 

Thank you for joining me today

and

Happy Friday!

If you would like to share some art work

please link below!

Tablescape Eye Candy

A few weekends ago our church

hosted their annual Ladies Spring Event.

Over the past few years we have done everything

from very formal teas

to

a hearty brunch

and this year

lunch.

We always have a wonderful speaker!

Each year we ask different ladies to host a table.

In the past we've asked for full table setting

(china, flatware, stemware, centerpiece... etc.)

For the past two years in attempts to make it

easier for the hostess

we only ask that they pick a tablecloth,

provide a centerpiece and a water pitcher.

Our wonderful hostesses never fail us!

The following are photos from one of the two rooms

we had this year (34 hostesses in all)!

Please note...

I did not do a table this year.

I only took the photos!

I love the bunny reminding me to breath!

The morning sun looked so pretty

shining through the windows.

This sweet table had a bird theme!

I was so pleasantly surprised as I came to the other side

and saw these adorable blue headed birds!

This lady had just returned from a missions trip in Belize!

I liked the stacking hat boxes!

A wonderful Easter Table!

This sweet table was full of colorful spark!

Are you ready for some beautiful flowers?

This was my favorite table to photograph!

And I didn't even get a photo of the whole table!

I love the creative way she stacked teacups

and saucers, using them as bud vases!

What a marvelous collection of tea cups!

Thank you for joining me today!

I am linking to Tablescape Thursday

at Between Naps on the Porch!