My grandmother

My grandmother was a stylish woman!

Recently my sister gave me a burned cd of photos my uncle scanned that belonged to my maternal grandmother. My grandma kept a lot of photos. She lived from January 30th, 1923 until January 1, 2007.

I have blogged on here about her before, I have a part of her with me every day (my wedding band was her wedding band), and I think about her and my grandfather all the time. Especially when I see cute little elderly couples holding hands or laughing together in love. I want to grow old with my own husband the way they grew old together.

I really miss them both, and looking at the photos my uncle scanned for us really pulls at my heart strings. It makes me happy and also sad that I didn't know them the way my mom knew them or the way they knew each other. The photos are very sweet and heart-warming so I have to share some of them here. And my grandma had really good style back in the 40's and 50's (and even after, I always remember thinking she had great taste).

(This one says "your wife, love you" !! The back of it has a heart felt message she wrote to my grandfather. I think this was a photo she sent to him during the war.)

And on their wedding day..

Updates and projects

When we were out of power last week, we went to Ross and Marshall's to get some big jar smell-good candles on the cheap.

We took our time going through each aisle and I spotted this decorative rhino.



He was $10 and I almost bought him. But I put him back because I decided he wasn't necessary.

At home I went through some of our origami boxes and found this guy:



I thought he was the better rhino. So he now has a place on our ladder shelf in our living room, next to our printer stamps. New life for almost-forgotten origami!




Here is another shot in the living room, which shows my chair I got from a friend who was moving.



I have since moved my brother's marine photo to the frame gallery on our staircase wall. I will post some new photos of that soon.


A few weeks ago, after we made our t-shirt quilts, I had some extra fleece and an extra shirt and decided to make this pillow for myself.



I already had the batting on hand, and the project didn't cost me anything since I already had all of the materials for it. It is perfect for while I am at work. During peak season it's going to be great having a pillow behind my back to help me keep my posture. It's really easy to sit the wrong way at the computer and end up with weird neck/shoulder pains. This pillow is going to help me out this coming season!

Ikea trip

Last Friday I took a little afternoon trip to Ikea after having lunch with my parents and sister in Fredericksburg.

Driving North I could see all the crazy labor day weekend South-bound traffic, so I decided when I got to Ikea that I would take my time checking things out.


When I got there, I set up my Ikea Family card and strolled through the showroom. Then I took my time going through the other level and picking up the things I was there for. I also picked up a couple other things along the way, which was okay too.

I had dinner at the Ikea cafe, swedish meatballs of course. They were delicious. Here's a blurry phone photo:

This is the duvet cover that we have on our bed. It's called Ransby, and you can see this twin sized duvet cover was marked down to a clearance price. When I bought our queen size cover earlier this year, I tried to find it listed online somewhere but had no luck. It must be a discontinued item or something. It's not listed on Ikea's website now, either. They didn't even have any packaged ones left on the shelf this time.

Here's a closeup of the material:

I thought it was funny that there is a matching shower curtain out there. I was tempted to buy it, since it was only $10, but I took a photo instead to remember it by.

For some odd reason I really love these cowhide rugs. Not sure why. But of course I left them all there at Ikea.

I checked out the textile section and literally gasped out loud when I saw this amazing fabric, called Charlotta Vild.

It has origami animal figures drawn on it. It's a mixture of Japanese (origami) and Scandinavian (the animals). The designer, Åsa Ekström, must know something about origami! I fell in love with this fabric when I saw it, and I especially loved the marked-down price. You can see in this photo that it was marked down from $5.99/yard to $4.99/yard and then again to $2.99/yard.

So I just knew I needed to get 4 yards of it for that great price. After ringing up at the register, the price was even lower! I got it for less than $1/yard. At first I thought something rang up wrong, but I double checked the receipt and did the math-it was on clearance even MORE.

So, after loading my car up with my purchases, I happily walked back to the textiles department and bought the rest of the fabric they had on the bolts on the shelf! Got about 15 yards or so all for under $15! I did this because I knew it would be the last I'd ever see of the fabric unless I bought it from some etsy seller online. Ikea is definitely doing away with this fabric-it's from 2008, so it's time for something new on their shelf. Thank goodness I was there on that day and got this awesome deal.

I am going to make some pillows with this fabric, and the rest I will save for a future kids' room. I think I could probably make some nice bedding and curtains out of this fabric since I have so much of it now, and it would be perfect in a nursey. Not that we have one of those to worry about any time soon, though. Guess this can be added to the small collection of items we have for that future kid (remember the plush food sets and baby piano?).


The other things I purchased were typical Ikea items.

Like this green pot. I re-potted my christmas cactus in it-as soon as I saw it I knew it would be perfect. I had been meaning to re-pot the little guy because he was starting to look a little frail. I like this pot because it matches the plant.

I also got 5 packs of these glass Clips frames for .99 cents each. 4 come in a pack, so that was a total of 20 frames for $5. I had a specific project in mind for these little guys.

We moved our blanket chest back upstairs and I got these 2 Lack side tables for $7.99 each. Stuck them together (a little YHL tip) and now we have a new coffee table. I also got the faux sheepskin rug for $9.99 and put that on top. We already had the basket and I thought this would be the perfect place for it.

I love how the lack tables match our bar table and stools, too. The color and the shape all go really well together.


I bought a couple Tekla dish towels for .79 cents each.



And a couple packs of these Svajs clothes covers for Daniel's suits.



And this comfy polka dot Ikea Stockholm Cirkel cushion. I had been eyeballing this for the last few times I was at Ikea, so I knew it was finally time to get it.

Nephew weekend!

Last weekend I picked up my nephews Joseph and Adam and we had a fun-filled weekend. On Saturday I took them to the Richmond Metro Zoo....















and then we played some mini golf at Patterson Sports Park...












and I treated them to some gelato from Deluca Gelato...







we visited World of Mirth in Carytown and they each got something special...




then we walked around Maymont and checked out the animals and trails...









and then we had dinner at Mary Angela's in Carytown, with Pearl's cupcakes for dessert.






Once we got home to my place, the pool was open (it had been closed because of the hurricane the week before), so we quickly changed and jumped into the pool before we headed inside for the night to watch movies.





I took them home on Sunday and we were all sad to part, but it was a great weekend!