Welcome to Lincoln

The garage sale customer came back on Monday to deposit her earnings. During our conversation the week before, she learned I came to Lincoln because my husband started Dental College. It's a small world, of course, and it turns out she works on campus. We chatted, and she told me a little bit about her work. So Monday she came in with a gift bag- she called it a "Welcome to Lincoln" present:


How sweet! I absolutely love the pieces visually for my collection- but mostly it is nice to make a connection with a customer and start to build more relationships here. And every one of my sets in my tea collection has a story, including this one.

I'm on a roll

Almost a week after my 25 cent treasure, I waited on a customer who needed change for her garage sale. She was getting together with 30 other people- and said she had teacups for sale! This sounded too good to be true! So I thought maybe I would stop by on my way to work the next day.

Unfortunately, the location was too far west and would have meant a lot of extra driving. I tried not to be too bummed. On my way home the next day, I passed by several signs and finally decided to stop by a house.

There was actually a bunch on one block, so I meandered around for a little. I was super excited when I found a jewelry armoir! I saw it first thing, but hesitated. Then I was walking back to the car and realized it was too good to pass up- but I still didn't want to pay full price. I grabbed some cash out of my wallet and offered seven dollars, instead of the marked ten. SOLD! I paid the lady, and had to tell a couple that was picking it up that I had just bought it.

I didn't realize til after I got home and started to vacuum the inside drawers that it smells faintly of cigarette smoke. I'm working on deodorizing the fabric, and will work on the wood next, after I buy some supplies at the store.

This could be dangerous...

A couple of weekends ago we went to Omaha on a Saturday. Ben and his dad went golfing to celebrate Ben's birthday and Father's Day. In the meantime, we girls spent some time together.

My mother-in-law and I stopped at a few garage sales en route to our main destinations. What a blast! Not all of them were winners, but at one of our last stops I found this teacup and saucer for JUST 25 CENTS!!! And Jan found a wall pocket for the same price.



This filled the one empty spot I had in my dining room.


25 CENTS!!!

You could say I was on a little bit of a high after that.

Hello there

Hi there- are you still there? It's been almost two weeks since I've posted, which is a shame because I had been so consistent of late. That's okay, though, because I have been pretty busy. So many goals and deadlines, plus holidays and family celebrations have made the month of June absolutely fly by!

One goal I am working on is in regards to our meals. With my work schedule in Lincoln, I never make it home before six. And then of course do I feel like making a meal? Well my goal is to plan ahead better so that we can have well-balanced meals.

It worked for a couple of days in a row, and here is the first meal:


The next day I made crab alfredo, which I had been craving for a very long time.

The third day that week, I was having the girls over for a wedding work night, to assemble invitations. Luckily, Ben had some time that afternoon and prepared chicken enchiladas for us lucky ladies. I came home to final directions. Check out the layout:


Note the pre-drained olives? What a stud!



So here is the finished masterpiece:


Last week was busy as well, and I wasn't home much for supper. Maybe this week will be better again. Wish me luck!

So long ago

So back in January, Amanda became engaged and I was psyched to start designing her invitations and other paper projects. These were a few of the first elements I was playing with: watercolor and ink. We were attempting to develop a theme that later...well, you'll see..eventually!

Prairie Creek Inn, Refurbished Barn, Walton, NE

They're heeeere!

These singing bird salt and pepper shakers are from my in-laws for Easter. They found them in an antique store. I love the colors! What a perfect addition to my salt and pepper shaker collection.

Before and/or After

So Spring is here, and we've had lots of rain- which results in weeds. Luckily we had nice weather and I had some extra time last weekend, so I bit the bullet and worked outside for a little.

We didn't do anything to the front porch area when we moved in, except that my mother-in-law (MIL) transplanted some flowers from her yard and Ben and I bought some pretty red mulch.



Thank goodness we didn't use the whole bag- I used it up this last weekend after pulling weeds. What a difference! I forgot to take "before" pictures (but believe me it was not pretty), so these will suffice as my "before" pictures, as I plan on doing a little bit more to the yard.




I ran across some shepherd hooks on sale at Hobby Lobby (spring items on 50% clearance!) and was set on a hanging basket. My MIL suggested moving some of the hostas that came with the house and/or placing more mulch to cover some of the dead/weedish areas in the corner.



I'm still figuring out my gameplan, but I am also thinking about transplanting some of Grandma's peony bushes.

Decisions, decisions.

First and foremost: I'm buying gardening gloves. I have a few battle scars from pulling weeds.

A different appreciation

These photos were taken back in May 2009. Ben's cousin was about to get married, and her bridal party bouquets were all peonies from her parents' and in-laws' backyards and from the Midland campus. I can't remember the last time I purchased cards (well except for gifts and yes, my wedding thank yous) and so I visited Grandma's backyard for some inspiration to make the bride and groom's card.





I ended up taking, I believe, the light pink image, and manipulating it in Photoshop. Closely cropped, monotone (grayscale image printed in one ink) dark pink on vellum, and overlaying the handwritten message on paper beneath--it was not the most obvious rendition of a peony, but I was very pleased.

That's what happens sometimes. Until now, I hadn't shared these images with anyone; they were simply used as inspiration and one was manipulated enough to represent what I wanted to keep of the original.

Now I can look at them with different memories- reminders of the pride Grandma had walking around her garden, and the anticipation and joy she felt as the peony bushes grew and bloomed.