Friday evening it was lovely - a perfect spring evening to join Jay and Angela and both of our families to celebrate Angela's birthday with dinner at Val's. Here are just a few of the folks that enjoyed a delicious meal.
The birthday girl and mother to be! Angela is holding up the two CD's we gave her. The one on the left is the one that we listened to when we all went to the 3d ultrasound the day before Easter. It is Disney's Lullaby album Volume 2. I also gave her parents one and bought a third for our home so we all can play it to remind Liliana of when we first met her. Every time I play it, my heart just wells up with love for her. The moment she smiled, the song Chim Chim Cher-Ee was playing and I will never forget that moment for the rest of my life. I knew I had to have that music in our home.
My beautiful mom...
Angela's Gram, Dad, mom and nephew Stephen....
It was a wonderful evening. There is nothing more important than family!
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Saturday I got up bright and early and headed to Saco, ME to spend the day with my friend Jill - aka Prim Chick on Webshots and Made in Maine on A Primitive Place.
You may remember that Jill came down here in March and we had a fun day out and about back then as well. This time it was my turn to make the 2 hour drive up north. Temps in the mid 80's were predicted here (too hot for me!) so I hoped it would be a bit cooler up north as we had a full day planned with shopping and then Jill requested I spend some time helping her tweak and arrange her things in her home. When I arrived at Jill's a little after 10 am, it was still crisp and cool. After walking around ooooooohhing and aahhhhhhhhing and seeing her wonderful home in person, Jill packed the lunch she made for us, and off we went! The further inland we drove, the warmer it got but for a time it was still breezy and manageable. This time I did remember my camera but still didn't get too many pictures as we were soooooo busy having fun!
Our first stop was the Colonial Attic in Alfred. (no picture) Overall this lovely little shop was a bit too country for me but I did manage to find a teeny little calico bird and a wonderful cotton coverlet. I was thrilled because it was tops on my list to go on the new blanket crane Jill had made me.
Next we headed on over to a huge shop - Blue Door Primitives also in Alfred. You'll be proud of me - I remembered to pull the camera out of my purse so we could get pictures of each other out front.
I found a great candle snuffer here.
Next it was on to Country Treasures Shapliegh. This is one of three buildings that make up one great shop in a compound that also includes the owners home. I snapped this picture and then was told NO MORE pictures even outside. Apparently they are weary of other shop owners stealing their ideas. This was my favorite shop all day. I found a great basket and a new toilet paper holder.
After we left here, we stopped by a lake and enjoyed the delicious barley salad and fresh cantaloupe Jill had prepared. YUMMO! From there we went over to Primitives in Pine in Hollis but they weren't open. I had been there in the fall with my DH so I was a bit disappointed but the family has a lot going on so it was understandable and not surprising that they weren't open. My thoughts and prayers go out to them. And finally we headed on to the Mustard House in Buxton. I had been here in the fall as well but couldn't stay in the shop as the shopkeeper's helper opened the doors several minutes late, and was reeking of cologne. It was all I could do to walk in and out quickly. I am so glad I was able to go back - I found another wonderful folk art calico bird and a colonial runner. 
About this time it was showing 87 on my car's outside thermostat! UGH! We headed back to Jill's and as we got closer to her home, which is about a mile from the ocean, the temp dropped a full 10 degrees and there was a wonderful breeze. Jill's home was nicely shaded by then making it more comfortable thankfully because that girl put me to work!
This gorgeous hutch that Jill made was the first place I needed to work my magic. I shopped from her stash of unused antiques and her new scoop and after a lot of trial and error, this is the end result.
The corner cabinet is perfect to display Jill's antique mashers collection!! She has too much going on so I simplified it a bit so you can appreciate the collection and the cabinet.
This corner only needed a minor change.
We gathered some of Jill's great wooden bowls and made a nice display of them here and took some things off the top. Her crocks and yellow ware are too pretty to hide behind all that other stuff. Jill made this plate rack after seeing mine and she made the dry sink too! AMAZING!! There is already a change in this display though. See that brown crock in the sink on the left?
It is now switched out with the one below with all Jill's rolling pins. She wanted to hide her phone/answering system until she can make something so we grouped these crocks here. On my 2 hour ride home that night, I thought about this and decided that the pins took away from the wall display and would be better suited on her dry sink above. Jill has since made the change. She is also getting an off white phone cord and will hide that as well. Now you can't see the phone junction box! And you see the gorgeous butcher block counters? Jill MADE those and added the wainscoting herself!
I just removed a few things and put her firkin up here.
Some of her redware was in here and it just didn't show up. The plate on the top hides an old outlet. She made this too!
Just some minor tweaking on this shelf that Jill also made!
After this I did some more tweaking in her bedroom and den but it was getting late, I was getting hot and I really needed to get on the road for the long drive home. Even though Jill worked me hard (just teasing!) I had a lot of fun and look forward to going back and seeing more of the area she calls home! To see more of Jill's beautiful home, click on Prim Chick or Made In Maine above!
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When I drove into the driveway, DH was waiting for me on the front steps and wanted to warn me that it had gotten hot there and our house was pretty hot inside. You see, there is never ever one drop of shade on our house - ever. The large trees are situated such that the shade misses the house. And to make matters worse the large paved driveway out front and the paved sidewalk that goes halfway around the back, are where the sun beats down all day and sets at night. And our foundation is quite exposed on that side as well. So the house gets hot and then at night pavement and concrete let go of the heat, keeping it hot for many hours. In the winter, if it is sunny, I can shut the heat off all day but in the summer, we make up for it by running the a/c most days. So as I walked up the stairs, the temp rose with me. DH offered to put our window a/c units in but I checked the forecast and it was going to get into the 50's at night and cool down to the 50's in the daytime by Wednesday so I said I would struggle through a few days. I enjoy the spring breezes and because we use 3 window units, I hate to block the windows too early. This heat wave is VERY unusual this early.
So Sunday I didn't do much at all. I was too hot and bothered but not in a good way! We did have one nice cool reprieve on Sunday. It was Jay and Angela's one year wedding anniversary. They were married in the Chapel in the Valley of Fire Desert State Park in Nevada one year ago. This is a picture of their wedding dance one week later at the formal reception back home.
And this is the complimentary One Year Anniversary cake the baker made for them so they didn't have to freeze the top of their cake. It has the light and fluffy Italian frosting - not the heavy stuff. YUMMO!They invited David and I over last night to have a slice. Jay has central a/c in house so what do you think I said? It was wonderful to cool down AND celebrate that special day with them. 
Well Mother duck thought it was the perfect place to lay some eggs! DH saw one there yesterday and this morning another! Apparently she thinks the hot foundation is just right!
DH just got home with some WW Ice Cream cones for us, so I am off to cool down from the inside out and watch Dancing with the Stars.
Talk about hot and bothered...
Until Next Time - Hugs, Linda
