A New Addition - to the office

I'm so excited about my new addition I feel like I should mail out something akin to Birth Annoucements. I have a new dining room table set! If anyone has visited my office recently and sat at my table you were probably being polite when you didn't say, "wow, this chair is really wobbly". My friend Laura wasn't so polite, mostly because she thought she was the problem not the chair.

In the morning sunlight.

Anyway, on Sunday I was in sort of a stupid mood. Poor Adam had no clue what my problem was so I decided to spare him. I went on a jaunt to Wapakoneta to bum around the antique shops. It was at Gild the Lily (102 East Auglaize Street - lots of great items there) that I found the most perfect table and chairs. Deep mahogony wood, antique-ish character (however, I couldn't tell you when it was crafted) and beautiful aqua upholstery. I loved it, though I reasoned in my head that I don't have anything aqua in my home for it to match. I have red curtains for crying out loud. And an orange office chair. Still, I sat on each chair and was pleased that only one had a flawed arm. It was a fabulous price, proof that if you spend years searching and longing for such a treasure it will eventually happen. I called Adam (who was even more confused as I was suddenly in a good mood) and got the okay to make the purchase. He picked it up yesterday (Special thanks to brother Munch for helping Adam carry it into the house - sorry I couldn't chat) and I'm just thrilled. Somehow, aqua fabric and all - it just works.

A closeup of the fabric and the craftsmanship

Just a fun picture. A vase (or vaaaase if you want to be fancy) from our wedding, a doily I believe made by Adams grandmother and of course the top of the new table.

Me, being goofy - I guess I should get back to work now.

Some recent brides in all their glory (the guys look pretty good too) Jason and Neily (Dingledine) Iannantuono

Married May 31, 2008 in Chicago Illinois

(aren't they all beautiful)

Caton and Teresa (Dubbs) McLear

Married June 14, 2008 in New Madison Ohio

(in an impressive motorcycle themed wedding - you should have seen the pics)

Photo by Stockton Studio, New Madison, Ohio

Kurt and Chrissy (Homan) Albers

Married June 14, 2008 in St. Sebastian, Ohio

(on probably the first HOT day of the summer in an un-airconditioned church)

Photo by my old buddy, Todd B. Acker, Sidney, Ohio

A Weekend Getaway!

All sorts of fun. Brides getting married, the weddings a fleeting blimp on the course of their marriage. Some will get to enjoy the rest of their summer in newlywed bliss. Other have the summer to sweat out the rest of their wedding plans.

My husband and I finally took a little weekend getaway. A nice relaxing jaunt to Cincinnati, or more specifically across the river to Covington, Kentucky. We spent Saturday walking the streets of the Main Strasse Village http://www.mainstrasse.org/, lounging at the hotel pool and finally an evening at Newport on the Levee http://www.newportonthelevee.com/ where we enjoyed excellent German food and beer at the Hofbrauhaus. http://www.hofbrauhausnewport.com/.

Imagine our surprise to be seated at a table next to a fellow New Bremen resident! Talk about trying to get away. And then later we enjoyed chatting with three Navy Men and their wives, one of which originally hailed from Coldwater. These men served in Korean War and were enjoying a nice reunion. We had fun talking to them, especially Adam who worked so hard to find the ladies a nice felt tip pen so they could add their marks on the already written on table. These ladies were so nice that when they left they came back into the hall and presented Adam with his very own Hofbrauhaus mug. The big one. I forget the whole story behind it but I know Adam was sweet talking and pretending it was his birthday. Anyway, we got a great kick out of it.

We spent the rest of the night meeting new people, including the band, Monica with her harmonica and her brother Joe, and a nice group of Dayton students celebrating their friends 21st. Apparently too, the Hofbrauhaus, and I guess Cinci in general, is an excellent place to have a bachlor/bachlorette party. In fact, we met a bachlorette party participant on the bus on the way back to the hotel. She was from Bradford. So future brides take note and make the trip to Cinci to have some fun.

We capped off the trip with a visit to the Freedom Center, the Reds Museum and finally shopping at the Ikea just off of 75.

Now it's back to work and I'm very excited to be brainstorming with a new bunch of brides with fabulous ideas!

Another Random Spotlight

Well, my grand plan of updating this blog and keeping a regular rotation of client spotlights is out the window. It's just not happening. It seems I only do the spotlight when something newsy is going on. Well today I have such an opportunity to share.

My Random Spotlight client is Bev Hurlburt of We Speak Communications. Bev recently ordered stationery for her business. She is a motivational speaker and from the looks of it, has a lot of important stuff to talk about.

Check out her website, http://www.wespeakcommunications.com/ and try to catch her in action. She is speaking this Sunday, June 22 at the Bethany UMC in Celina at 7:00pm. This evening is free and open to the public.

Starting to Feel like Summer

For weeks now I've been talking about my "Spring Brides". Looks like we're almost into summer. Where did the time go? One of the things that make my life feel like summer is the Farmers Market. The market in St. Marys started on May 31st. It was a beautiful day and my friend Kat and I enjoyed a relaxing morning on the bridge.

Me, showing off my notecards which I peddle at the bridge

Here we have Kat, showing off her wares of hand dyed wool,

baby shoes, jewelry and all sorts of stuff.

I encourage everyone to attend our Farmers Market. It's held every Saturday from 8-12 at the Covered Bridge in St. Marys. You'll find unique items, yummy food (not to mention free samples) and entertainment.

Friday Fun - I have a twin, sorta

I love to go antiquing. I like buying vintage housewares, things I can use to decorate my home, anything interesting looking that I can turn into something useful and attractive for present day use. Things I enjoy looking at but normally never buy are mostly girly things. Hats with tired netting that has seen better days, long opera length gloves with impossibly tiny fingers, that sort of thing. Other things fun to look at are vintage magazines and photographs.

I recently bought a bag of photos because one of them looked a great deal like me. I just couldn't pass up owning the photo.

A close up/side by side comparison (ignore the fact that my photo is several years old.)

Husband and Wife Landscaping

It's been awhile since my last post, with good reason. I've been super busy with a multitude of brides and various projects. I'm looking forward to the summer, have been faithfully attending my pilates and zumba classes and according to the post title, doing a bit of landscaping.

First off, I'm not the worlds greatest gardener. I'm more of an "appreciator" of great landscaping. But I try to keep up and do my part by planting a couple flats of annuals and of course a garden heavy with tomatoes. This year Adam commented that we need to plant perennials so we have less work in the spring. So in addition to my petunias I planted a Bleeding Heart bush (very pretty delicate little blooms). My neighbor offered me some of her hostas that she was planning on eliminating from their much more impressive landscaping, so I hopped on that and moved the hardy plants to my yard.

Now, let's talk about my husband and his thoughts (or in this case his actions) in the landscaping realm. He's a mulcher which is great. The town offers free mulch which is actually pretty decent mulch. Last night he works until he can no longer see. He's cleaned up the grape vines (our own little vineyard) behind our home, yanked out all the sticklers and dug up some random tulips bulbs. Then a fresh layer of mulch and his own decorations. I laughed out loud when I went out there this morning.

My idea of pretty

His idea of pretty

A close up of what made me laugh.

His prized cattle heads from Jackson County, each artfully adorned with a fading tulip.

Compromise is everything in a marriage.