Happy Monday morning!  We had a busy weekend here, how was yours?  We started off boat shopping Saturday morning and found a beautiful old Formula Cruiser that we think will be just the thing for putzing around the lake with the grand's this summer and beyond.

 Sunday we headed up north to celebrate Nolan's birthday.  Dana had a nice lunch of chili with all the toppings; cheese, sour cream, and scallions, plus yummy corn bread.  Nolal loves cupcakes so instead of a birthday cake she made red velvet cupcakes that she adorned with Cat 'n The Hat flags that she also made. 

 Pippa and Aunt Taylor having a quiet moment at the birthday party.

After the birthday party in MP we stopped in to visit some of Pippa's cousins on our way home.  Bella, (pictured above) loved her.  The three other cousins were not quite so sure that Pippa was going to fit in.  All in all they had a wonderful time. 

Not all was fun this weekend.  Dear friends of ours lost their 42 year old son as a result of an snowmobile accident a week ago last Saturday and the service was Saturday night.  It was a beautiful service with many wonderful speakers that, along with our friends strong faith, brought some piece to them during this sad, sad time.

Hug your loved ones my friends and rejoice in this beautiful day that The Lord has made.  

A Puppy And A Happiness Jar

 Finally a fairly decent picture of Pippa to share with you all.  Isn't she just the cutiest?  God made her this cute to make up for how awful she acts ;)

 At the kennel for the Rochester Leader Dog Academy they have a wall of the breeder dogs so you can see who your puppies parents are.  Here is Pippa's Dad Gabe, a fairly white, yellow Labradore Retriever.  I think she resembles him.

 This is her beautiful, Golden Retriever Mom Abby.  Hopefully Pippa will take on some of Abby's Golden traits as she ages.  She has longish hair on the back of here legs, ears, and chest so I think there is a good chance that she will.

On another note, the other night I went to Homegoods looking for another blue and white lamp for up north and found one that was recommended by one of my pintrest friends, but, unfortunately, it was too big for where I need one.  Over in the accessories section though they had two of these happiness jars that I also need for the mantle so I picked them up.  Unhappily, when we got home and lifted the back door hatch of our SUV one of my happiness jars fell out and smashed to bits.....grrrrrrr.  I have done this so many time and it makes me so mad every time.  Psssst ~ I didn't open the hatch from the inside, but John did......Not that I am blaming him though.  Ok, I am, but anyhow......Any friends, family or fellow bloggers in the Rochester, MI area, if you see one of these at a local Homegoods I would appreciate a heads up so I can replace the one that I (john) broke.  Thanks!!!

Meet Miss Pippa

Our darling little puppy from The Leader Dog For The Blind Program is now in the house.

She is the cutest thing you can imagine. We are so excited to be able to be a part of this wonderful program.

Ina Garten Homemade Chicken Stock

Good morning.  There is a big pot of homemade chicken stock (see above) simmering on the stove and the smell is delicious.  It is kind of a welcome home smell for John who has been out of town for a few days.

Yesterday on my way home from up north I stopped at Whole Foods to get groceries.  I knew I wanted to make some stock so I checked my Iphone for Ina Garten's recipe to make sure we had all the ingredients needed.  Well, for the life of me I couldn't find it.  As a result I am going to post it here then pin it to Pintrest so I am never without the recipe again.  I make stock occasionally just using what I have but I picked up Ina's, "barefoot contessa ~ how easy is that?, cook book at TJ Max the other day and wanted to try her recipe.  I have one other barefoot contessa cook book and found her recipes in it to be scrumptious.

homemade chicken stock

via: how easy is that?

(Anybody know why she doesn't capitalize anything?)

Makes 6 Quarts

3  (5-pound) roasting chickens

3  large yellow onions, unpeeled, quartered

6  carrots, unpeeled, halved

4  celery stalks with leaves, cut in thirds

4  parsnips, unpeeled, cut in half (optional)

20 sprigs fresh parsley

15 sprigs fresh tyme

20  sprigs fresh dill

1  head garlic, uppeeled, cut in half crosswise

2 T  kosher salt

2 t  whole black pepercorns

Place the chickens, onions, carrots, celery parsnips, parsley, thyme,

dill, garlic, salt, and peppercorns in a 16-20 quart stockpot.  Add 7 quarts of water and

bring to a boil.  Simmer uncovered for 4 hours.  Strain the entire contents of the pot through a colander and discard

the solids.

Pack in quart containers and chill overnight.  Refrigerate

for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

A Snowy Morning

I was so looking forward to seeing the "S" monogram boxwoods in my front yard get their spring trim soom, but this morning work up to a winter weather storm advisories.  Looks like it may be awhile now before yard maintainence commences.

Leader Dogs For The Blind

We just got word that the puppy we are going to raise for Leader Dogs For The Blind is ready for us to pick up.

We had a choice of a Black Lab and a Golden Retriever/Lab mix.  John chose the later.  We don't have any idea what color it will be but I'm sure we will love it regardless of what color it is.

Next Sunday we pick her up.  You can bet I will post pictures....We are very excited to be able to help Leader Dogs For The Blind by raising a puppy up until the age of 1 when it will then go into obedience training and become avaliable for a client in need of assistance if the dog qualifies.  There are strict guidelines that need to be adhered to.  John has been studying them and will be the dog whisperer.....I will be the dog petter.

Inspiration From Tina

Oh I love this photograph enlargement feature on blogger......Are there any other neat features that I missed out on while I was away from blogging that you can think of?  Do share if you get a minute...

Well, do you all know Tina at The Enchanted Home?  She has a dream house that she has been building and she has shared the journey with her blog readers.  She is more than generous with sources for all kinds of construction items including right down to cabinet hardware.  She has broadened my base of reference in decor.  For example, before Tina I would have been more than happy to have a cute bathroom with maybe a little wallpaper.  Post Tina, all I can think of while doing the bathroom up north is floor to ceiling marble...You should see the beautiful marble variations Tina shares on her blog that she is using in her house.....Well, my little place up north is getting a very scaled down version of http://theenchantedhome.blogspot.com/2012/02/random-musings-on-saturday-afternoon.htmlbut I am loving the wallpaper that she is thinking about using in her kitchen powder room and may use that as inspiration for our guest bathroom.  

So, this morning I go to The Enchanted Home blog for my morning dose of gorgeous and was inspired to change thing up a little bit here at our house.  Tina put some big blue and white urns on her island that I thought looked great so I went around the house and found a pair of urns to put on our island too.  What do you thing?

Hum,,,not sure what is going on with the link feature here but I hope you can find your way to Tina's from this long underlined link that inserted itself into this post.????  

Estate of Grace

 Tory Burch's new Southampton House.  Have you seen it yet?  I believe these photographs of it are from Vogue Magazine.  Come on in and look around.

 The house with an avenue of sugar maples leading to the main entrance.  Isn't this just gorgeous????

 The solarium which I think was coordinated by Bunny Williams husband John Rosselli.  Gorg

 Hummmm, I think I just learned about a new blogger feature.  Something popped up under this picture and showed a number of sizing options.  I clicked on ex large and this is what I got.  Cool.  Anyway, it also deleted the picture of a table in the pool house, but moving forward.....The huge picture above is the formal approach to the wood paneled library.

 Here is Tory in her dining room with custom designed panels. 

 One end of the formal ball room enlivened by Tory for her modern lifestyle.

 A bedroom featuring two of my favorite things, Imari ironstone, and floral wallpaper and upholstery from Colefax & Fowler.

Finally a relaxing picture of the trellis pool house and the swimming pool.

I went back up in this post and found out that if you click on a picture that bar will appear for you to enlarge your blog pictures.  Very nice feature blogger!  Thank you.

50 classics for your closet

Via Matchbook ezine, page 38, matchbook's february issue.

This list has been pinned and repinned all over Pintrest.  The first time I saw it I glanced through it and thought to myself that I am pretty well covered in the classics department.  I thought I would post it on here to help with my spring cleaning and to record what I have and where I need to fill in. 

 Starting with footwear, I pulled out all the ballet flats I could find from around the house.  Seems like I have quite a few ballet flats....Above is the curated version.

Here they are lined up on the top two shelves of my shoe rack in our closet.  The next item on the footwear list is loafers....hummmm, a couple of shelves of loafers also made it back in the closet.  Most of my sandals are at the cottage and the few I have here are lined up around the perimiter of the closet on John's side.....He loves that of course.  The next two selves are sandals and black pumps...The tall boots are in another section of the closet but I have not gone through them yet.  Here in Michigan we generally wear boots only in the winter.  This winter has been the exception and my boots have gotten very little wear.  I need to keep that in mind when I begin to go through them to make sure I don't get rid of too many pair.

Spring Cleaning Inspiration

Isn't this cupboard with a window into the pantry adorable?  It belongs Ruth Ann who blogs over at Warm Pie Happy Home.  If you are in need of a little inspiration to get motivated, a visit to Aunt Ruthie might be what will do the trick.

Warm Pie Happy Home

She is not right out there with pictures of her fabulous farm house but if you poke around her posts that are listed on the right side of her blog and down a ways from the top you will come across some great inspiration for your house, your tummy, and your soul.  The posts are kind of arranged according to the season.  I just went back today, after seeing her pantry posted on Pintrest, and look for some of her spring posts and was richly rewarded by the wisdom, industriousness, and humor of Aunt Ruthie....that is what she calls herself....

So, if you are not familiar with Aunt Ruthie or have not been over there in a while, like me, then you might want to stop by and look around.  Tell her I sent you...then come back here and tell me what you think ;)  

Blue and White Lamps

Here is the close up of the blue and white lamps.  They are the gourd shape that you are seeing a lot of these days.  Also imbeded in the blue and white pattern are a pair of kissing fish making them subtly beachy.

Thank you Dana for the great find and for bringing them up north to me.

Party

I tried on Saturday to upload this picture with no luck.  My blogger skills are definitly rusty. Anyway, here is a picture of the table set without silverware yet but I wanted to at least get some kind of picture before the party got under way.

See the two lamps on the buffet.  Dana picked them up for me at the Mt. Pleasant TJ's.  Tomorrow I will have close ups of them and details.

Hope you had a good weekend.

Party Preps

 Starting to get ready for the birthday party Saturday night.

 Fluffing the petal, leaves, and buds on the poppy napkin rings is a step that takes faux flowers from frumpy to fab.

 I found these poppy napkin rings and dish towels at Sur La Table the other day when I stopped in after getting my hair highlighted and trimmed.

I am hoping they will form the base of a cute tablescape for Dana's party.  She loves poppies and navy blue so I think she will like it.

 I

I also ironed the Chicken apron that I will wear to keep my party clothes clean.  Dana loves Roosters too so the theme is set with a couple of things she likes.

It is raining up here right now ;(  Hopefully it will stop soon and cool back off so we don't loose all of our snow for the skiers on Saturday.  Thanks for stopping by.  It is good to hear from you.

  

Two Days In A Row

 Well, two day in a row of blogging.  Maybe I will get back into it....too soon to tell I suppose.  Anyway, we left home today for up north at around 9.  It was a nice sunny day to make the three hour drive up 1-75.  We stopped at Birch Run for a quick run through the Ralph Lauren store and a break at the 7-11.  I needed a couple of tops to fit my ever expanding body.  I quit smoking in November and am giving myself until March 1 to not worry about the weight I gain..... March 1th can not come soon enough!!!   

I always loving coming into the Condo.  It is so different from our house, very neutral and calm.   We have not done much decorating yet but have painted, upgraded a few appliances , and cleaned like crazy.  The condo is small but I will try to post progress here as we go along.  Three of the pictures above came from our local antique shop that I love call Dunnagain's here in Boyne City.  The two on the left are prints framed in old gold frames and the one on the right is an old oil painting.  They all are pictures with lakes in them.  The oil painting on the left under the little oval print is one the I got from an antique shop in New Orleans in the late 70's.  I wish I knew more about this nice little oil painting.

Well I'm off to check out Pintrest to see what I missed today.    

Happy Valentines Day!  I'm celebrating by getting out a few Easter goodies for the house, down loading pictures to my lap top, and updating this blog.  I see a few of you over on Pintrest but often feel like I want to say more than I can say in the comment section so I'm going to try to jump back into blogging and see if I can even remember the basics.

Quite a bit going on around here since I last blogged.  I left you with a couple pictures of Dana's cottage.  It is coming along and they have hired The Cottage Company out of Harbor Springs to draw up some plans for them to give it a bit of a face lift and to maximixe the space to accomodate their family.  Should be a fun adventure to follow.  She has a lot of her ideas pinned on Pintrest in her cottage board that you can take a look at to get an idea of the direction she is going with the updating if you enjoy that kind of thing.  You might be able to get there by clicking HERE.

Since the kids seem to be setting up housekeeping of one sort or another in the northwest lower penninsula of Michigan we decided to take advantage of the buyers real estate market and we made an offer on a condo around the 4th of July and the sellers accepted our offer. 

There is our prize....far left, ground floor, and steps from the beach. 

There is soooo much inspiration on Pintrest that I think it is hard to narrow down your choices but it is an invaluable resource none-the-less and I am totally addicted.  Pintrest has my head spinning with ideas to update our new/old place. For now we have painted the whole inside with a fresh coat of Benjamin Moore White Dove.  I wanted the color of an LL Bean canvas tote, the White Dove seemed like the closest match and it turn out to be just what I was looking for.  You can have a look at my inspiration board on Pintrest by clicking HERE if you would like.  I have so much pinned there and probably won't use any of it but it sure is fun to dream....

Thanks for stopping by if you have found your way back here after such a long absence by me, the negligent author of this blog.  Are you on Pintrest?  Has it replaced blogging for you?  I hope not....If I can get a grove going here I hope to get back into.  

   

"The Bounce"

 Have you ever heard of Cherry Bounce?  It is a long held tradition among family and friends in Northern Michigan.  Cherry Bounce is a Cordial Liquor with roots dating back to colonial times.

 The main ingredient to make your own Cherry Bounce is fresh Tart Cherries.  Tart Cherries are very perishable so around the middle of July the Tart Cherries that are left over after all the major pie corporations scoop them up for their pies, the locals get there opportunity to acquire any that remain.

 The farmers markets are the purveyors of these precious jewels and the early birds are the lucky ones.  If you are one of the fortunate, your next task in the small communities that dot the Northeastern Coast of Northern Michigan is to acquire enough Vodka to make your "Bounce".  Our small town ran out of the big bottles of Vodka the first day the Cherries were available.....

I have heard that you can find frozen Tart Cherries on line if you are interested in making a batch of Cherry Bounce yourself.  It is a delicious drink to serve your friends or to give as gifts in small batches during the Holidays.  The taste is like nothing you have had before and if you do decide to try it I guarantee that before long the words "The Bounce" will become part of your vocabulary too.

Classic Cherry Bounce

6 cups Tart Cherries

3/4 cup sugar

1 fifth Vodka

Directions

What a fun way to ring in the holidays with cherries from the summer. When the liqueur is gone, enjoy a vodka infused cherry every now and then.

Place the cleaned cherries in a large, clean jug or jar with a tight fitting lid. Add the sugar and then pour in the vodka. Seal and place the jug in a cool place away from the light. Shake the contents on occasion.



At holiday time (six months later), the bounce should be ready to enjoy. Serve in cordial glasses as an after dinner liqueur and enjoy in moderation. The cherries that have been steeping in the liquor can also be enjoyed on their own or spooned over ice cream or pound cake.

Trunk Show

Trunk Show by preppysue featuring coach handbags

J Crew navy blazer
$188 - jcrew.com

J Crew long skirt
$135 - jcrew.com

Tory burch shoes
$289 - mytheresa.com

Coach handbag
$158 - freepeople.com

London Road pearl stud earrings
£85 - johnlewis.com

Jigsaw scarve
£15 - jigsaw-online.com

Pintrest

Good morning!  Long time no see....

Hope you all had a good summer, ours was crazy busy with many fun, and exciting new adventures.

More about those later.  For now let's talk about

Pintrest.

What a fun site!  Have you joined?  I have joined and started to follow a few bloggers.  I have no idea what I am doing and am probably breaking some Pintrest etiquette rules so if any one has any tips please leave them here for me in the comments.

I have a link on my sidebar to follow me if you are so inclined and I hope you are.  Let me warn you though, this site is addictive.

xoxo

A Few Cottage Pictures

 Hello all.  Last weekend was rainy, cold, and windy but at sunset on Saturday night the sun came out and cast the most beautiful gold glow over everything at Dana's cottage.

 She is still fluffing the inside so here are a few pictures of the outside of the cottage.

 When we were up north over Memorial Weekend we scoured all the antique shops in Northwestern Michigan and we were able to fill the front porch with a lot of nice old wicker and ratan pieces.

Here is a sneak peak at what is to come of the interior of the cottage.  It is going to be adorable!