Great American Suffragettes

I have a new follower - actually a have a couple of new followers in the last week and I truly mean it when I say, I love you all and are SO delighted you find me interesting enough to spend some time with me. I think you are ALL amazing, and thank you all for choosing to spend a couple minutes of your day with me!

Anyway, this new individual creates (among other things) wonderful American Suffragette figures which I think are so different and so special that I wanted to share them with you. Her name is Lenae May and she is a mixed media fiber artist. You have to see some of her fabulous works of art. I just love everything she does! Stop by her blog for a treat!

I love mixed media and have dabbled in it myself. A couple of you faithful friends out there are also very talented mixed media artists and I know your art was what initially attracted me to your blog. There is just something so expressive about mixed media art!




Don't ya just love these whimsical suffragettes? Thank you Lenae May for stopping by my blog and for sharing your talent with us.

Old Friends, New Friends and Julia!

I had such a nice weekend as my title implies. I mentioned in my last blog my friend Lori came down from NY state for the bead show and it was so great to spend time with her, and to make a new friend, Kelley Wenzel. Any friend of Lori's has got to be great, and Kelley sure is. She is so easy to talk to and to get to know, and she has the same passion about making her beautiful lampwork beads as Lori does about jewelry. Both are amazingly talented.

Friday we met for dinner, headed back to their hotel and then spent some time chatting over dessert, and sharing a glass of wine. Kelley made an amazing cake and brought it with her (I'm waiting for her to blog the recipe). What could be better - good company, wine and a Mississippi Mud Cake!

Here's Lori and me -


and Kelley and me -

They had a spectacular day at the big bead show which I did not attend, but we decided to meet Saturday night for a movie and see Julie and Julia - I loved it - a wonderful story, inspiring and heart-warming, and very funny too. Meryl Streep can do anything - wow she is amazing! She really nailed this role and captured Julia Child so well. I highly recommend the movie - you won't be disappointed.

Thanks for a nice weekend Lori and Kelley!

TGIF

Happy Friday everyone!
I'm anxious for this day to begin. I have interview #4 this afternoon. Gosh I hope I make it through this one and then I hope they make a decision. This has been dragging on however the good news is they are still interested!
More good news - yesterday I received a call from another financial institution I applied to and they want me to interview on Tuesday - when it rains it pours. I certainly happily accepted the interview. I really like the company I've been continuing to interview with but I'm not going to put all my eggs in one basket and assume an offer will be made. Like the saying goes, it ain't over till the fat lady sings, and I don't hear any singing, so I'm still actively pursuing all opportunities.
Last night I saw a third "perfect fit" opportunity too and applied to it. All of a sudden it seems like things are opening up. I sure hope so. I know there are lots of people in the same situation I'm in, or worse (who have been unemployed longer). I sure hope I'm right and all of our searches will soon have positive results.

My friend, Lori Eurto is coming to Philly from upstate NY. She is a talented jewelry designer on Etsy, Lorelei1141, and attending a big bead show in this area. Also, her friend Kelley of Kelleysbeads is meeting Lori here and I know they are excited about some serious bead shopping. I'm excited cause I get to see Lori tonight, and meet Kelley - we are having dinner together. The bead show is at the convention center in King of Prussia, PA, which is only a couple of miles away from me.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Vacation #2 to Italy (Florence and Tuscany)

I'm still feeling nostalgic and missing traveling, especially missing Italy! It was 2 years ago that we took this trip. I hope you don't mind me sharing my 2nd Italian adventure with you. As I mentioned, we had such a good time that my sister immediately started talking Italy again and she and her husband booked a villa in Tuscany and invited all of us back again! When opportunity knocks..........
Speaking of opportunity, we had luck with us with our flight over - we ended up flying over in business class rather than coach. My brother-in-law does a lot of flying on a particular airline and on the date of our departure over to Pisa, the plane was not completely sold out and only a few seats in business class were occupied. The attendant approached my brother-in-law and stated that they would like to move his family into business class - he said there were others traveling with him, the airline said no problem and we all got moved into business class!!! That was like being spoiled like you would not believe - what a pleasure!

Upon arrival into Pisa we headed over to the leaning tower which was an incredible sight, and then drove over to Florence first. We spent the first 3 nights in Florence and then went out to the Tuscan countryside.
Oh Florence - what a dreamy little city. I just adored everything about it.

This is the view from our hotel


and pictures in Florence -




Katie and I beside a cool sporty Alpha Romeo


Tuscany was lovely - everything you would imagine it to be however we liked Umbria better. Umbria was just as beautiful but much less crowded.
These next 2 pictures are in Sienna -



Scenes from Tuscany-





Thank goodness for memories and photographs.
If you have never been, I would highly recommend Italy. It is a wonderful and beautiful country. The people are friendly, the scenery spectacular and the food out of this world!

By the way, my profile picture was taken in Tuscany!

Our Trip to Itay (Rome and Umbria)

Ciao! Buon Giorno! I'm feeling very nostalgic - 3 years ago today we left for Italy for the first time. We had such a great time that we went again the following year too. Just my daughter Katie and I went and both times we traveled with family and friends (14 of us in total). I knew at the time circumstances may never allow us to go again (or at least for a long time) so we took full advantage of the opportunity, and the generosity of my brother-in-law renting a villa for all of us.

The first year we spent 3 nights in a hotel in Rome and then went on to a villa in Torgiano in Umbria. I took a ton of pictures and I'll share a couple with you - this posting is about our Rome/Umbria trip.

In Rome we saw the Colosseum, The Vatican, The Pantheon, The Trevi Fountain, The Forum, The Spanish Steps and more. It was all so incredible but I thought the ruins of The Forum was the most impressive.
The food, the culture, the architecture, the landscape, the language - everything was so lovely and magical.


Just as we arrived at The Vatican a storm rolled in - I was able to capture this photo before the rain came down.
This is the dome inside St. Peter's


My favorite picture from the ruins of The Forum


After leaving Rome and moving out to Umbria one of the first places we went to was Assisi.


Almost everyday we went to a different "hill town" and here are some pictures just showcasing views of the beautiful Italian architecture and landscape in Umbria.




It was so relaxing and everyone was free to do whatever they wanted. If they wanted to stay home by the pool they could or if the wanted to venture out to explore the neighboring towns - there was always a group doing one or the other.
The villa was lovely and, making it a total taste-of-Italy experience my sister and brother-in-law ordered 4 dinners to be cooked for us during our week long stay - it was such an incredible part of the trip. Talk about spoiled - did I feel spoiled!
This is our "dining room" at the villa where our prepared dinners were served. They were course after course of incredible food and drink.



I loved taking walks from the villa - there were vineyards, olive trees, fruit trees and all sorts of vegetables growing all around -



My sister and her family have continued with their European summer trips and right now they are on a Mediterranean cruise and my brother-in-law texted me to say they missed us in Rome (upon their arrival for the cruise).
I can't help feeling nostalgic but I have my pictures and my memories to cherish forever!

Garden Update

It is very hot this week - we are officially in a heat wave with consecutive days in the 90's and, of course, that familiar humidity! Trying to get out earlier and earlier for my walks cause otherwise it is just too dang hot!

When I came back from walking I grabbed my camera to take some updated pics of our garden which I thought I'd share with you.



I just love Phlox - in my opinion it is one of the best flowering plants in a garden and never seems to disappoint. They grow well in both the full sun and shade and continue to fill up our garden beautifully year after year. They attract so many butterflies and honey bees.

Speaking of butterflies, here is our Butterfly Bush, with one of our many birdhouses in the background. We had a family of house wrens in the upper "apartment" this season.


Last year George brought home these cool birds for our garden that one of his customers no longer wanted. There were 3 of them. I'm not sure what they are, herons maybe, but they look so great and I'm happy to have them.



Look at this lone little Morning Glory which has wrapped itself around the stalk of an old Hosta bloom. Guess that's why George does not like Morning Glories and says they are too invasive.

Happy Friday!

It's Friday again. Gosh, these weeks are flying by. I can't believe August is half over already!
I finished my stitching Wednesday night and framed it yesterday. I was able to work on it last week while I was working at the shop. Actually I stitched most of it at the shop. Like a lot of my recent stitchings, it is a melting pot of different patterns and motifs. I like the saying, IN VIRTUOUS WAYS I SPEND MY DAYS, and will probably use that saying again. The alphabet is pretty standard and except for the big bird (taken from a Sheepish Designs pattern) the other birds and flowers were kind of half made up, half taken from patterns.

I've seen some nice give-aways over the last couple of days. I mentioned one in my last post, and today I have another one to mention from the sweet and talented Silke Powers. Check out her incredible give-away painting at her blog, metamorphosis. She is giving away a lovely painting to honor her blogging friends and her birthday - Happy Birthday Silke!

Last but not least, today I'm having a 3rd interview. Things are looking good my friends!
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and are able to enjoy these last couple of weeks of the summer.