Monday, July 18, 2011

A Little Help

Isn't this lovely?  Okay fellow bloggers ... I ran across this on a blog some months ago.  I love the saying but, I sure can't remember where I found it.  Can anyone help me out with this?  






The Year of the Weddings

The year 2011 has been quite busy at the Cook household.  We've had two weddings in six months.  Our beautiful daughter, Amanda, was married to her wonderful guy, Damola, on January 22.  It was a stunning and joyful wedding.  A lot of work went into her wedding but, by the wedding date we had totally relaxed and let the day unfold.  It did so beautifully and we could not have been happier.  The wedding was beyond our expectations.  More importantly, these two have been together for a long time. They are now husband and wife and they are great together.  Here they are at their reception.  (I apologize for the quality of the photo as I have not gotten the formals yet.)




My son, Blair, married his sweetheart, Sabreena, this past Saturday, July 16 in Bend, Oregon.  It seemed that the weather was going to be a little dicey the day prior to the wedding but, on the actual day and appointed time, a weather window opened to provide the most beautiful skies and backdrop for their outdoor wedding.  It could not have been more perfect.  It was another gorgeous wedding and more joy for our family.  A little special feature of this wedding was that my stepson, Chris, officiated for his younger brother and he did the most amazingly meaningful job of it.  These two kids are so well matched that it must have been fated at their births.  Here they are shortly after the ceremony: 





It has been a busy six months.  I've dress shopped, planned and celebrated.  The weddings were different in feel ... one being a wintery themed affair and the other being an outdoor summery celebration but, they were both beautiful and wonderful.  All of my children are married now.  It is a different feeling.  I feel a little satisfied that they are in good hands, a little wistful that they are grown up now but, mainly I am so happy for us all.  And now ... I'm going to put my dancing shoes away for awhile and rest my poor feet.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Works In Progress

Well, I've been the worst blogger lately.  I've not posted a single thing.  In my defense, I have been busy with life in general and a few projects in particular.  The weather finally decided to straighten up and I found out just how far behind I was in my garden.  And, there is that one other little event coming up in a couple of weeks ... my sons wedding.  I just had to find a dress I actually liked.  I'm happy to report success in that area.

I have actually been working on a couple of projects.  One is a porch redo.  While I have made great strides and the porch looks so much better, there is one pesky little part that is holding me back from my 'after' pics.  That is the fact that it hasn't quite been dry enough, long enough around here to paint.  I want to paint the porch floor before I photograph it.  And, there are a few porch rail details pieces we replaced due to dry rot that also need to be primed and painted.  The fellow at the paint store told me to wait 3 to 4 months.  WHAT?  Yea well, that's not going to happen.  That would be the entire summer and I'm bound and determined to have this done before August.  So, I'm going to go ahead and do it real soon.  Then, I promise a post with pics.

The other project is a table make over complete with a matching empty frame gallery in the little foyer area leading into my bathroom.  I have the painting and distressing done but, not the hanging of the frames.  I guess that other things, including a long holiday weekend, have captured my attention lately.  Or, you could just say I'm procrastinating.  But, now that I've thrown out the tease, I promise I'm going to finish this up and post very soon.

So, there you have it .... excuses, excuses.  I will try to do better but, I'm not promising anything.  After all, its summer and this blog is not the boss of me.