Blood, Sweat and Tears

Well I don't mean the band...

...but what I put into stripping this cedar chest. My grandfather gave this to my grandmother (both deceased) on her 18th birthday. She painted it white over varnish I am pretty sure by the way it all came off. Lots of scraping, sanding, and steel wool-ing.

Whew - I got it all off. I started stripping this a year ago (before I started blogging, so no real "before" picture), got busy with other things and it sat in the garage for months until my husband got tired of seeing it there and moved it to the basement. You know the old saying, "out of sight, out of mind", it was certainly true here. So about 3 weeks ago, I hauled it back upstairs (more blood sweat and tears) and finished up.

I painted it my favorite colour...

...and it now sits in one of my guest rooms.

I temporarily hung some art that one of my sons did until I find just the right mirror. I think every guest room needs a long mirror. I have a silver starburst in mind for over the pillows between the posts. I don't always like a bed skirt, so I covered the boxed spring with a fitted bottom sheet in the blue that is in the pillows. To see how I like to put my beds together go here.

Why does everything take so long to pull together? For me part of the reason is I really don't like shopping.

What little projects are you doing or just completed? Stop by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch to see what others are doing this Metamorphosis Monday!

Blood Sweat and Tears image from Wikipedia

The Tortoise and the Hare

Have you ever felt like that in your design projects?

I have been working on a project for a client who is now such a sweet friend for months. I posted here in February with just fabric samples and what was going where. Since then, the painters and upholsterer's have been there, new furniture pieces purchased and a bathroom remodel is currently going on plus a powder-room re-do.

Pillows have been made...the fringe on the paisley is so yummy! My drapery seamstress, Erica, Miss Sew It All, is fabulous. She added such nice detail to the monogrammed pillow with triple tassels at each corner and a covered button.

Living room drapes with triple pinch pleat and covered buttons for an added detail...

Dining room drapes with goblet pleats and fringe on leading edge...

In a few weeks I will be going to DC to put it all together. I cannot wait, and I know my client is anxious as well. I will certainly post the finished product!

Tortoise Hare image from Google image search

Friday Flowers

Is your garden full of color? Can you bring in several varieties and arrange something fun?

I wish I could. I CAN enjoy what others harvest though!
Have a fabulous weekend and Happy Father's Day to all of your men.

Florals by Jonathon Andrew Sage
Houston Master Floral Designer
Image from Veranda

Garden and Guns?

WHAT?

While waiting to get my hair cut, this was on the table in the salon.
I have never seen this magazine. Great concept, something for most guys and gals.

While looking through, this tree house caught my eye and when reading further I found it's right here in Atlanta.

Environmentalist Peter Bahouth found a sliver of forest and built the ultimate retreat - 50 feet above the ground. He is the former executive director of the Turner Foundation and now the executive director of the U. S. Climate Action Network. He has helped preserve some of the most beautiful places on earth. He said, "there's no place he would rather be than in his tree house perched high atop some tulip poplars and an old southern shortleaf pine."
He bought a vacant wooded lot with a meandering creek next to his modern glass house.
The whole thing took 6 months of planning and 6 weeks to build out of spare lumber and old windows that had been thrown out or bought at antique stores. The result, with a built in platform bed overlooking the creek and a whimsical bridge held in place with ship rope, is the perfect place for a nap or large parties! Balmouth says that at the end of the day he enjoys getting up there to enjoy the sunsets that filter through the trees. Pretty tremendous!"
Now...just WHERE in Atlanta is this house?

After further investigation I found this magazine has been around since 2007 so you true blue southerners probably knew this already. But I love finding new things and learning even more!
Go here to check it out online.

Visit a Southern Daydreamer here to see what she and others are doing today on Outdoor Wednesday.

Text taken from G&G April/May Tree Topper

Great Adventure! Part II, Wine Country and Beyond!

I've since edited Part 1 to tell you that riding from Guernville to Calistoga takes us from Sonoma county to the Napa valley and that we climbed 2300 feet all total climbs that day.  I am pretty sure I worked off that cinnamon roll from the day before!

Day 5

Ok...here's where we left off, to see part 1, go here.  This is the beautiful entry to Sterling Vineyards which we did not tour. Our tour was self paced on our bikes and were smaller lesser known vineyards that do not mass produce.  A real treat!  For those of you that find yourselves in Calistoga and want a fun tour, go to the Calistoga Bike shop (here) and purchase their package which includes bicycle rental (we had our own so the price was adjusted), they take care of all the details including tasting fees, and wine pick up at any of the vineyards you purchase from! We went to 5 of the 6 vineyards on their tour and they are no more than a couple of miles from each other and ANYONE can ride the mostly flat terrain!

We biked along the Silverado Trail where many vineyards line the trail.

I snapped this picture, while riding, approaching the entrance to Dutch Henry.

  If only I could transport fragrance as well.  The smells along the way were always sweet with jasmine and roses.  We went inside and tasted a couple and then the host sent us to the cave.

I had never been in a wine cave which is underground with concrete walls and of course just the right temperature for the wine to mature in these oak barrels.  We got a tasting right from one of these barrels that has not been bottled yet.  We kept walking through the cave and came upon this beautiful event room...

...this picture in no way captures the essence of this room which is used for parties and wedding receptions.  Can you imagine?  I was wondering the whole time who the decorator might be.  Small details, simple yet in a way elegant.  Look at the chandeliers, the wall sconces, just the right piece of art and the bar.

I REALLY did a terrible job on this picture of the candelabra.  A beautiful piece of art sculptured in silver (my fave).

This is the entrance to Vincent Arroyo.  This building has the tasting room in the front and the barrels in the back.  We were able to taste wine futures (not been bottled yet) here as well.

We got quite a wine history lesson here.  I had no idea there were SO MANY different grapes and blends of grapes that go into producing the different varieties.  We liked their wine so much we bought a case that will be shipped in November.  What a nice Christmas present that will be!  

This is Mike with one of the vineyard dogs, JJ.  Our boys call my Mom JJ...no resemblance OF COURSE Mom! 

Our last stop was a very new vineyard only 2 years old, Envy. I know we would have enjoyed it more if it weren't the end of the day.  After tasting at 4 vineyards, the 5th was hard!  The host had a bin of chocolate and I was more into that at this point.  Their wine is VERY GOOD.

We also toured  Twomey, and August Briggs, we had such a fun time.

Day 6

Today we set off to Davis from Calistoga, our longest cycling day of 67 miles.  We climbed 2400 feet in all and sat on the bike 4 hours and 45 minutes.  Yes we were DEFINITELY feeling seat pain.  

We rode along Pope Creek through the mountains, Mike was getting neck strain trying to check out the fishing holes. 

This is lake Berryessa and the Monticello Dam in Napa.  This was absolutely gorgeous.  

Both of these are from Google images...see the road on the left?  We biked right along there, notice the terrain. 

As we got closer to Davis we went over this graffiti bridge....

...passed by fields of glorious sunflowers, oh how I would have loved to have picked a few, they are one of my faves!

I sure wish I had Cote de Texas Joni's new camera to capture the lavender fields. Well...just try to imagine and the fragrance....ahhhhh!

Day 7

Davis to Fairfield, home of the Jelly Belly Factory.  This was a VERY windy day, mostly flat terrain, but with the wind as strong as it was it FELT like climbing.  45 miles today.

The tour was fun and a great marketing scheme.  Start on one end, cirlce the factory and see how it's all done, then dump out into the candy store!  

Day 8

Bike from Fairfield to Vallejo...another mostly flat WINDY day, but only 25 miles all total. We took a ferry from Vallejo to San Francisco to ride to the hotel we started from and take apart and box our bikes and get them to FedEx.  On the way to Vallejo was a very cute little town called Benicia.  The hydrangeas in front of this Victorian really caught my eye, they were HUGE.  What I DID NOT notice were the oh so lovely garbage receptacles, not to mention the street sign.

I definitely NEED a photography class.  Honestly I didn't even notice them, I was so taken with the flowers. 

Sooooo, just to get a much CLOSER view of the receptacles....ok never mind, put your hand over them and just look at the flowers and the house.  It took up 3 lots and some YOUNG person came out of there....the gal I was riding with and I decided she MUST have been hired help! What you cannot see is not too far across the street is a bay, so you KNOW the property values are more than I can comprehend.

Getting into Vallejo we enjoyed this Saturday street market.

Of course I find the flowers....look at those sunflowers!

Lots of adventure and fun,  a bit of hard work too with the cycling, but good times all in all.

Do you have an adventure planned for this summer?  Where might you go, what will you do?  I would love to hear!

I couldn't resist this picture.  On the way home from the airport, Erma, my granddog was sitting in the backseat with me.  She adores Mike and kept trying to get his attention because she wanted in his lap.  He plays "hard to get" for a while and FINALLY gives in.  She's one happy puppy!

Great Adventure! Part 1

First of all, let me say thank you to all of you that left sweet messages for me as I left for a very fun vacation! Some might not say biking 280 miles is much of a vacation, but for me, it was perfect. I so enjoy doing something "active" when I am away and prefer it to just sight seeing. My husband is an avid hunter and usually has a trip each year and I visit girlfriends along the coast somewhere since I love the beach, but bicycling is something we both enjoy so it's fun to do it together. I am doing this adventure in 2 postings so it won't be so long!

Day 1

We stayed in the very funky San Remo Hotel 4 blocks up from Fisherman's Wharf. It was built in 1906 after the earthquake and fires of that year destroyed most of San Francisco, check out full history here. Each room was very charmingly decorated and it was like a dorm, you had to go down the hall the the WC!

It reminds me of traveling in Europe and staying in quaint little inn's! It really was fun and the hosts were so gracious to receive all of the bikes that were on our tour and house them in their garage. Once we arrived, we had to put our bikes together (we shipped them out ahead of time) and store the boxes until we returned. I had my own personal mechanic (DH) taking care of those details!

This is one of my favorite girlfriends Chi Chi (Lucia). She and her husband Freddy (from Chesapeake, VA) met us in San Fran on Saturday the 30th. We only had a few hours to visit Fisherman's Wharf, Cannery Row and Ghiradelli Square, some of my favorites before saddling up the next day. We were only allowed 30 pounds by the ride coordinators so that all the cyclist's (38 of us) bags could fit on the Sag Bus (one that takes our gear from place to place and in case anyone has a problem on the road) so packing was interesting. Not only biking clothes but clothes for the evenings which were VERY casual, but of course, I still didn't pack right.

Let's get this party started! We found this little Mexican restaurant outside of Cannery Row...they had so much fun supplying us with sombrero's for the photo op! Margarita's weren't too bad either!

(Mike , Me, Chi Chi, Freddy)

We've been friends since meeting in Kodiak, Alaska, in 1986.

Day 2

Here we are the fearsome 4-some getting ready to saddle up!

I told you I was excited about riding over the Golden Gate bridge...well here I am! Biking clothes and helmet are soooo flattering. NOT. Each side of the bridge has a pedestrian crossing, we crossed and dropped right into Sausalito. We rode 38.5 miles north to Pt. Reyes, through Corte Madera, Larkspur, Kentfield, San Anselmo, Fairfax and Lagunitas and then bussed to Guernville. Me being the crazy person I am rode another 1.5 to make it an even 40. I know that these locations don't mean much to you in bloggyland, but those familiar with northern Cal will know where we are. Maybe I rode through your town? We had two difficult climbs first day out, both over 1 mile long. Doesn't seem much when you are in a car. On the first climb as I was going up, on the other side of the road were 2 ambulances and a fire truck. The policeman directing traffic said cyclists were going down too fast and lost control. YIKES. When I passed by they were loading up a fellow into the ambulance. I DO NOT like to see this.

Day 3

We stayed in Guernville 2 nights so those that wanted to could kayak, hike or bike. Mike and I opted to do a ride. We rode to and through the Armstrong Redwood State Reserve first...it was so beautiful. It is my understanding the state parks in California are all going to be closed due to finances. You Californians please tell me it isn't so.

This tree had fallen many years ago, the markers you see tell of the dates in history the tree lived through, well over 100 years.

Back in the woods was this great amphitheater. So sad that it will not get to be used. I understand it was used for many different types of events including weddings. Can you imagine having all of God's beautiful creation around you as you say your "I DO'S?"

As we went on our way we rode through other glorious woods...

...and along the Russian River

...and vineyards. We did a 44 mile loop from Guernville through Forestville, Graton, Occidental, Monte Rio and back. We ate lunch In Occidental...

...where I had dessert first...I treated myself AND SHARED a HUGE cinnamon roll. I don't eat them as a general rule but I do LOVE them. I topped it off with soup!

I had to take a picture of this sign...only in California...

...will you see posting for "Hemp and Chocolate." Too funny. This is downtown Guernville, an interesting little stop. Artsy and cute.

Day 4

We biked 44 miles from Guernville to Calistoga going from Sonoma county to the Napa valley home of the famous mineral and mud baths.

The ride had a mile climb and a 2 mile descent with lots of rolling hills...all I could think about as I was going 30+ miles per hour downhill was the guy I saw on the road 2 days before. We went through the cute little town of Windsor.  We actually climbed 2300 feet on this day.

There were two couples that rode tandems on our ride. I don't know how they do it. My husband and I would KILL each other. I can just see myself sitting on back and trying to tell him what to do and him not listening whatsoever. Nope, not for us. These two said it took them a year to get over the major "discussions" they had on the bike and they've been riding tandem for over 20 years.

We stayed at the Lodge at Calistoga, a half a mile from town. It was a nice place to stay and they let us take the bikes in the rooms....actually we were able to do that every place we stayed. We got cleaned up, gathered our laundry and walked to the laundromat that the guy at the front desk said men weren't allowed in. Ha! Chi Chi and I gathered our men and we all hiked down there. We ended up having a small party as other's from our group came along....the guys went across the street and got some "beverages" while everything churned. Got that done and delivered back to the hotel and walked to town again for dinner.

We found this fabuloso Italian restaurant BOSKOS downtown. It was so delish! If you are ever there, you MUST try.

Day 5

A day to do whatever you liked. We opted to go on our bikes to do a little wine tasting!

A great adventure....to come in part 2!