I'm in the driver's seat, but should I be?

This is ME in the driver's seat 

circa 1988(?)

with my copilot Katie.

(Another dumped dog in the country)   

How 'bout those sunglasses?

I'm sure I thought they were quite stylish at the time.

This car was one of my favorites,

a 1986 Chrysler LeBaron convertible.

My 1st brand new car.

I ordered it between Christmas and New Year's Eve 1985.

(Note to self - one should not go car shopping immediately after the man you were going to marry, dumps you breaks up with you, on Christmas day.)  

As it turned out, it was a good purchase.

 I loved driving this car.

It was fun to drive (had a turbo engine),

a good sound system to listen 

to REO Speedwagon and Cheap Trick

(of course I had to plug the Illinois

homegrown bands),

it made me smile,

the wind blowing in my hair was freeing, 

and I shared by letting 

several of my friends

borrow it for special get away weekends.

This was the time when I felt I was in control of my life, 

but I really wasn't.

As I have learned since,

and was reminded again on Sunday,

God is in control.

He is the one that should be driving.

I should let him drive, 

ALL the time.

~

I still have to work on that........

because I love to drive.

Fr. Bruce is our newest parish priest.  During his homily on Sunday, he said it is hard to be a Christian these days and follow Jesus.  The world makes it hard on us.  Before he went into the seminary, he felt the calling but kept suppressing it.  He wanted to be in control and be in the driver's seat.  He knew as soon as Jesus got in the driver's seat, he would take the next exit to the seminary.  Sure enough.... that is what happened.

The Gospel comes to life so much more when the priest takes his own life experiences of today and relates them to the Bible.  It is so much more meaningful to me.  Tuesday night and I still remember most of his homily.   That is a good sign.  I'm glad Fr. Bruce let Jesus drive. 

It's My Birthday and I'll Cry if I Want to

Sunday, August 21st.

My Birthday

The Facebook messages started coming in

Same with text messages

Went to church and listened to Fr. Bruce talk about Peter and the Rock.

During the sign of peace, my neighbor Sharon and I both said Happy Birthday to each other.

Breakfast

At the spur of the moment, my husband and Idecided to take our day trip to Dekalb today instead of Monday.

(Goodie, I will be able to sleep in tomorrow.)

First stop:

Carter's Cottage owned by Christie

Purchased Annie Sloan Chalk Paint with the help of Christie's daughter Candace.
(Thanks for the tip Anne Marie)

OMG, the sweetest girl with the best personality. 

If I had a girl, I would want her exactly like Candy.

What a sweetheart. 

I went there to purchase the old white.  Got Duck Egg Blue instead

because of this piece.

They plan to be a vendor at Na-Da farm this fall.

To say they are excited would be an understatement.

Candy thinks she will remember me.
We will see.

Second stop:

Moxie's across the street

Used by $25.00 gift certificate door prize I won at the Na-Da farm in the spring.

Love my new purchases.

Bracelet

Embellished coin purse,

Glass droplet

Cute Moxie bag

and a sympathy booklet called

Hello From Heaven

Both of my brothers called to wish me a happy birthday

Touching moments

I think it was the first.

 Borrowing a page from the sympathy booklet:

And I will be beside you every day and week and year,

And when you are sad,

I am standing there to wipe away the tears.

And when you lie in bed at night,

the day's chores put to flight,
GOD and I are closest to you

in the middle of the night.

Downtown Morris, IL

Last Saturday I had such a pleasant time

getting to know one 

of my childhood friends again,

 Jill.

We shopped the Three French Hens Market

and decided to have lunch

at one of the newest places downtown

~ Letty Mae's Tea Room & Fancy Junk ~

Well, you know what happens when you have a new place

open up,

AND the Three French Hens Market

at the same time.

You guessed it -

It is packed!

We were famished,

and didn't stay for lunch

but not before I snapped a few pictures.

Isn't it the cutest place?

I hear they have fabulous lunches,

so the next time you are in Morris,

check it out.

AND if it is packed,

do what we did.

Mosey on down a few more blocks 

to

Ebbey George's Bar & Grill

Seating available immediately

and a great Pizza Burger & Fries.

We visited a couple more shops 

1.  The Thoughtful Spot

~ thanks for the potty break ~

of course it helps 

that Jill works for the owners

in the same building,

and 2.  Ruby Begonia'S

Here is one of the dressing rooms

Unfortunately the storm clouds rolled in

and we made a quick get away.

Definitely want to check out

Whimsy

and 

The Front Porch

during my next visit.

Morris is one of the few towns

that STILL has a downtown ~

and they seem to be thriving.

A very quaint town

that Jill calls Mayberry.

It was a fun time and I can't wait to go back.

AND since I'm a farm girl, 

I couldn't resist snapping a few pics 

on my way back home that day.

It must have been tractor day

in Rock Falls, IL

Be still my heart.

Go IH

Three French Hens and 35 Years LateR

Finally! 

 So excited that I got to go to the Three French Hens Market in Morris, IL.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect

And, I was pleasantly surprised

There was a little bit of everything

LOVE this whole set

Now for the BEST part!

I met my friend Jill for the first time in 35 years!

Can you believe it?

(Facebook is a wonderful thing.)

We met at church camp in Oregon, IL in 1969.  

Really!  1969!

A month after we landed on the moon.

Eons ago!

This is one of the few pictures I have of her back then.

I think we decided the last time we saw each other was her wedding in 1976.

Then we lost track of each other.

I moved to Sterling, IL (yikes) and she moved to Maui (heaven).

We had so much fun catching up ~

and lots of tears were shed as we stepped back in time.

To my surprise, Jill had never been to Three French Hens.  

AND she is from Morris.

Of course, she ran into all kinds of people she knew.

Jewelry must have been on my mind  ~

Purchased a beautiful sea glass necklace from this booth,

Seajeweled, artist Evelyn Kane.

Another jewelry find was a sterling silver bracelet 

from Jane Davis Designs ~

AND then we decided to go back and get a pair of earrings from her,

a silver dime and a buffalo nickel paired together.

Took them right out of her ears, I did.

Love them!

Jill ordered a pair too.

          Jill (left)      Jane Davis (right)

Turns out Jill recognized Jane from "back in the day" -

they had mutual acquaintances.

Jane even sells her jewelry at Ruby Begonia'S.

Here is part of her display.

More market booths

Traci Tessone from Whimsy was there.

http://whimsydecor.blogspot.com/

She was a vendor at Na-Da Farm this spring.

Seems Jill and Traci knew each other too

(from the country club darling)

 It was such a fun day! 

Pretty awesome if you think about it 

~ 35 years ~

I have more to share but time for bed now.

Thanks Jill for a great day!

Me                    Jill

Reconnecting with a friend ~ instead of Kane County Flea Market

You know, I started writing this post about our trip to the Kane County Flea Market on Saturday that didn't happen.  

As I'm writing details about "stuff", I realized that the biggest joy of the day was reconnecting with my friend RaeAnn ~ in fact, this had been the third time in a week that we had spent together.  


You see, we met through church, going through Ministry Formation classes together.


RaeAnn can make you laugh, make you cry, and sometimes do both at the same time.


Do you know what I'm talking about?


I remember laughing at something she said until I was in tears........literally.


She wears her heart on her sleeve and you always know where you stand with her.


Since Ministry Formation was completed, I haven't seen a lot of her, however, we are Facebook friends and occasionally one or the other will make a comment here and there, one that may not even make a big difference, but just something to tell the other one they are thinking of them.


One of my posts prompted her to ask if I would be interested in going to the Distinctive Gardens bash with her on July 30, a type of mini-Ravinia event.


I absolutely wanted to go and knowing my husband would whine if I had asked him (thus, I call him Mr. Social Bug ~ in jest of course), he was delighted when RaeAnn's message  invitation on FB came in.  


Rae and I coordinated our food, drink, chairs and blankets, and we were ready for the party to begin.  

What an awesome cooler RaeAnn had ~ soft-sided, very chic.  Isn't that the coolest?  (No pun intended)  

Oh.......it is a Thirty One bag.  Hmmmmmm, what is that? 


NO, I have NOT heard of it.  OH!  HOME parties.  That explains it.  I don't do home parties.  (Now stay with me here- I promise this is going somewhere.)

What a great time we had, listening to all different kinds of music under the stars on a summer night, in a beautiful garden setting.   People from all generations attended.  How many places can you go, take your grandparents and your young children, and everyone have a good time?  Best part?  Free! 

Yikes.  This is us.  RaeAnn on the left and ME on the right.

The following Thursday was GNO ~ or "Girls Night Out" at two popular, happening stores in Sterling - A Cook's Corner http://www.acookscorner.com/ and Jamie's Candleloft http://www.countryprimitiveantiques.com/1803candles.html  - surely you didn't think I was going to say GNO at a bar, right?)



Both stores stay open after hours for more bonding (and shopping) time.  I met up with RaeAnn again, talked some more, and shared more laughs.    


Now get this.


Jamie had a Thirty One representative vendor in her store that night. NO!  I was just introduced to Thirty One on Saturday and here she is, a rep before my very eyes.  


You know, I don't believe in coincidences. It is a sign, don't you think?  Of course, I had to order me a bag.  In fact, every bag is 15% off list the whole month of August.  SWEET!


The rest of the night was spent sampling dips..........oh my goodness!........and taking in all the wonderful scents.  Good stuff.


It was that night that we conspired......I mean........discussed going to the Kane County Flea Market together on Saturday.  It is only open one weekend a month during the non-snow months, so you have a limited amount of time to get there.  Saturdays they don't open until noon.  Is that not crazy?


About 9:00 a.m., Rae Ann pulls in my driveway.  We make a few stops before we hop on Rt. 38.......the laughter has already begun.  I felt like we were two giddy school girls.  What's up with that?


Now I have to tell you........Kane County Flea Market is on Rt. 38.........we are on the right road, but two hours away. 

Let me set the stage here.  Rt. 38 is a country road with small towns & villages along the way.......driving on  Saturday........in the summer.  Can you see where I'm going with this?  
  

Franklin Grove, just out of Dixon, were having their town wide garage sales.  After that, it was Ashton.

Just ONE more stop turned into an all day event.   
Needless to say, we didn't make it to the Kane County Flea Market.

BUT, we were never short on conversation ~ and laughter.  We had many moments when we just looked at each and burst out laughing ~ usually because we saw the same thing and we were both thinking the same, without having to speak.  We were living in the moment and enjoying each others company all day ~ well, most of the day.  Somewhere along the line we forgot to eat, and by 4:00, I was a bit cranky, but after a great meal at Tia Maria's in Geneva http://geneva.patch.com/listings/tia-marias-mexican-restaurant , all was good. 


I will have to show you my treasures another time.

Thanks for being a good friend RaeAnn..........

now, where did I put that bottle of wine?

To see what we missed at the Kane County Flea Market, check out these two blogs:

  

http://countingyourblessings.blogspot.com/2011/08/weekend-at-flea.html

http://frenchlarkspur.blogspot.com/2011/08/frenchmans-wife.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FrenchLarkspur+%28French+Larkspur%29

Mia's Room

MIA'S ROOM

Isn't it the cutest?

It all started with the inspiration rug

given by both grandmothers

 Walls are painted pink & green

to go along with the quilt

and the window treatment

My favorite is the painted tree

 

 done by Mia's grandmother

on her father's side

(my sister-in-law who is very talented)

Check out the birdhouse

and the bird

I would love to live in this room

as a little girl.

Lucky little girl.

Mia....I can't wait to meet you next month.

Love, 

Your great aunt