The Big Day

 I understand why professional photographers are hired for weddings!  They aren't distracted by being a part of the ceremony, or needing to be in the photos.  So this is my view of the wedding: pretty dresses, flowers & dancing shoes!

 

BFF's!

She even did my eye makeup!

 The ladies of the wedding party.

I love the flowers.  Wish I could have taken them on the plane home.

The bride loves shoes.

While this picture doesn't quite do them justice, these are truly amazing  & match the dress.

 Head Table

 Centerpiece.

The flowers match the cake.

 Beautiful and Restrained.

The bride & her younger brother.

I've known him almost as long as I've known my friend and I love watching them dance!

A Day to Play

In the midst of this wedding week, we took a day off.

 With the bride's cousins we visited Vizcaya.

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Each room in the mansion is decorated in a different style. 

The inner courtyard looks a bit like the Gardner Museum in it's Italian styling.

The bedrooms are amazing.

Indoor photography was not allowed,

so you'll just have to take my word or go yourselves!

A Venice Influenced patio.

 What a great place for a tea party!

 

A calming view.

 

 Much of the stonework was quarried on the property.

It was cut to show off the coral look.

 This part of the garden is in the French formal style.

But the plants are tropical.

 After Vizcana, we went to the beach.

The water was warm by New England standards

I got out early, sat in the sand and took photos of the happy couple

Wedding Cake

This post is a bit heavy on words.  Too busy for photos! 

As my closest friends & family will tell you, I don't cook or bake much.  I do know how.  I'm not even bad at it.  It just doesn't appeal.  I enjoy eating if someone else fixes the food, otherwise I don't care.

So when I arrived in Florida, I found it terribly ironic that my friend announced we would be baking the cake.  She was using a recipe from The Silver Palate Cookbook.  And we had to make some measurement modifications.  The recipe was for 2 - 9" round pans and we were using 8", 12", & 16" square pans.  While baking may be a foreign language, math is not. 

 

When I finished my calculations I told my friend I needed to call my mother!  Noooo, she wailed.  (my mom can make me crazed).  Yessss, encouraged the groom - he is fascinated by mother-child interactions and wanted to see mine.  Lucky for everyone I know what kinds of things to ask my mom's advice.  Baking cakes is one of them.

What the bride and groom noticed is that she took charge of the conversation and  interrupted me quite a lot.  What I noticed (since she always takes charge and interrupts) is that she confirmed I had gotten the calculations right. 

 

We baked 2 - 12" cakes & 12 - 8" square cakes (the 16" pan wouldn't fit in the oven and the #@%& dog ate part of a layer).  The bride put apricot jam between the layers of each tier, then frosted them with lemon zested buttercream frosting. 

 

Next we fondanted the 3 tiers.

The groom rolled the fondant out.  We both gently laid it over the layers and I discovered it was an art project!  I was in my element.

The tiers all fit in the small bar refrigerator.

Baking/Frosting took us two full days.

The day of the wedding, I went over to the restaurant where we were having the reception.  The groom had a photo of what he wanted.  He & I decorated the cake with flowers which coordinated with the table decorations made by the an amazing flower arranger!

The finished cake.

The bride & groom cut the first piece.

It was delicious!

My Friend's Wedding

I'm leaving today to attend my best friend's wedding.

The bride will definitely have fabulous shoes.  She loves shoes!

 I'm going to be her maid of honor.

I'll be wearing my own dress -- either a clingy pale pink number I got last year on my Silver Bella trip or a raspberry linen bias cut shift.  I'm bringing both, the bride gets to choose.

Here's to the happy couple.

I'll be back in a week with pictures of the real thing.

Estate Sailing

A few years ago neighbors invited us to their Christmas Open House.  They also invited an auctioneer & his wife.  We talked and he stated calling me to work auctions and estate sales.  Turns out neither of us were invited back to the neighbors again, but we became friends and a couple times a year I work for him.

This was a wild sale.  Upon first look there was a lot of junk.

These cool curtain clips were from the very smelly basement.

I can never pass up vintage coat and skirt hangers!

Because I get to go in before the sale begins I think it would be unethical to grab all the best stuff.  Luckily for the people in line, I never see the "best" stuff until someone else has snagged it and I am adding up their slip and taking their money!

Mostly at his sales I chose the quirky things, the things no one here will fight to get; the things my friend running the sale always wonders why I am even purchasing!
Though we all think the green handled thermometer from the 50's is very cool!

I love old tape measures.

The small one on the end is made by Zippo --

my husband thought it very collectable.
The cup hooks were in the jar of curtain clips and I've been meaning to get some at the hardware store.

I put this pink stool out in front of the shop to attract the attention of passing motorists.

Customers always want to buy it.

And I don't want to sell it.

Viola!

A new-old stool I can spray paint pink and offer for sale.

I found these flower frogs.
The round one comes apart.
The square one has a connector sticking out the side.
I thought somehow I had missed the rest of them. . . 

 
Luckily my husband is even better at puzzles than I am.
He saw how they fit together to make this oval.

The journal is blank and would make a great altered book!

The fabric is mine, not from the sale.
I'm trying really hard not to buy any more linens until I get the many I already have cleaned.  I'll let you know how that goes (chuckle!).
 

Dorothy Tag Book Swap

I love The Wizard of Oz.  My grandma gave me my dad's copies of the books when I graduated from High School.  As a kid, I watched the movie every year when it was on TV.  When we got our first colour TV, I was amazed when black & white Kansas turned into technicolor Oz.

So when Karla announced a Dorothy Tag Swap, I signed up!

 I sent my package off last week.

Here is a peek at what I sent:

 I love Glinda,

so I used her as the basis for the front of my tags.

I love my dad's books,

so I used illustrations from a couple of them for the back of my tags.

I'll share complete pictures of the tags and also some cool images I used from Ozma of Oz &; The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum when I get my tag book back.

Happy October

      October First

      Beautiful child, may'st thou soar above,

      A warbling cherub of joy and love;

      A drop on eternity's mighty sea,

      A blossom of life's immortal tree;

      Floating, flowering forevermore,

      In the blessed light of the golden shore.

      And as I gaze on thy sinless bloom

      And thy radiant face, they dispel my gloom;

      I feel He will keep thee undefiled,

      And His love protect my beautiful child.

-- W. A. H. Sigourney

                                 

From A Mother's Year.  compiled by Helen Russ Stough.

New York:  Fleming H. Revell Co., 1905.