It’s going to be a great Mother’s Day…

…and not because I have been busy making 3 yummy side salads including this one, to go with the grilling the men folk will be doing tomorrow.

And not because Mr. Red Door came home with the fixings for raspberry margaritas and this pretty pink glass for mine.

And not because the torrential rain and thunderstorms we are having today are going away and it will be sunny and cool – just the way I like it.

Those are all great, but it will be wonderful because we will have four generations around the harvest table that Mr. Red Door and I made just for occasions like this! That’s the best part about Mother’s Day for me. It will be exciting to share Ang’s first Mother’s Day with her, and it’s my first Mother’s Day as a Grammy. It’s going to be very special indeed!

By the way, that’s an edamame salad pictured above. I had it for the first time at Jill’s last week and I wanted to share the recipe with you because if you like edamame (soy beans) and garlic and lime, you’ll like this! It’s easy and healthy too. Just mix and chill the following ingredients:

1.5 c shelled edamame

( I could only find them in freezer section the pods and I just popped them out. Jill found them already shelled and I know Trader Joe’s has them shelled in the freezer section)

1.5 c corn

1 c. grape tomatoes cut in half

1 tsp. minced fresh garlic

2 TBSP. fresh lime juice

2 TBSP. extra virgin olive oil

1/4 tsp. black pepper

salt to taste

ENJOY!

~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~

So do you remember when I said we had some fun plans with family and friends for last weekend? Well I didn’t mean here Behind My Red Door – but in South Carolina!! That’s where Mr. Red Door and I went for 6 days. We left home on Thursday and got home late Tuesday – a lot of driving in that short amount of time but so worth it. Luckily Mr. Red Door and I enjoy driving with each each other and it gives us a chance to enjoy the beauty of our great country. After 2 long days of driving, on Friday he left me here at Jill’s new home in SC (where I had the edamame salad) !!

Keep in mind that this is a “before” picture …

Those shrubs across the front are now cut way down and now you can actually see that she has 2 new black rockers on the front porch along with some other prim decor and it is already starting to look like home. They will be painting the shutters and front door and she has a great project in mind to cover the glass insert in the door.

Oh and the inside … even though she is going to paint the cabinets a dark colonial red and replace the hinges with black hardware, replace all the carpeting with hardwood floors and paint the white trim a wonderful colonial color … it already looks wonderful! She has hung almost all new prim light fixtures, and made some remarkable changes to the bathroom sinks hardware and vanities in the short time they have been there. And then there are those new purchases from our frequent shopping trips and the new never before seen pieces of furniture she has made! WONDERFUL!!

Here is a peek at the “before “of the cabinets – you can see the potential with that gorgeous molding, can’t you??

And here is a “before” of the mantle…

and a teeny peek at after where you can tell it already has been painted ! No – that’s not the color of the rest of the woodwork…

Here is a teeny peek of MY bedroom when I am there….

but this is all I can show you so stay tuned!

And before you wonder and ask, NOPE - she doesn’t have an online album – sorry!

~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~

While in SC, Jill and I made a 3+ hour drive each way to the Fayetteville, NC area to visit two wonderful shops. Our first stop was to Just Country, 5735 Aberdeen Rd., Raeford, NC at Just Country. The shopkeeper Jen has a blog ~HERE~. What a wonderful shop! A great mix of antiques and prims to choose from! Gail was tending shop that day and we both enjoyed meeting her. She had such kind words to say about Jen. Both Jill and I found some treasures – I could have taken a lot more home, but I showed remarkable restraint. I thought I would take home one of the tobacco baskets I had eyed the blog, and they were indeed gorgeous and VERY reasonable, but they were a lot bigger than I thought. I hope I am not kicking myself for not grabbing one and making Mr. Red Door leave his golf clubs in SC so I could get it home!! You see after leaving me at Jill’s, he continued driving a few more hours to stay with his folks in their home in a golf community.

The reason Jen wasn’t there that day was because she was at the Cameron Antique Fair in the quaint little town of Cameron, NC. Now it just so happens that I am very familiar with that town because my dear friend Ina lived right on the main drag - Carthage St.- for several years until moving back here in the fall of 08. Most of the year Cameron is a sleepy little town with some lovely antique shops, a tea room and the Dewberry Cafe – which still has the counter stools and counter service like an old fashioned soda shop. A few times a year Cameron springs to life when booths are set up everywhere on the main drag and it is THE place to be for antiquing. Twice a year while she and Bill lived there, Mr. Red Door and I made the trip to see them. Sometimes I stayed with Ina and he drove to his folks house in SC and sometimes he stayed with us too – playing some of the great golf courses in nearby Pinehurst and Southern Pines. Almost every time we made the trip, Ina would take me into Fayetteville where she worked at the college to a great shop she found called Carolina Window Fashions -3753 Sycamore Dairy Rd. Suite 100, Fayetteville, NC 28303. That shop was the second and last stop for Jill and I. You can follow the store blog by clicking ~HERE~ or by visiting the store’s website by clicking ~HERE~. You have to see the wonderful prim displays and antiques they carry!

Well here is where is gets really interesting and fun – I hope I don’t lose you because this just goes to show you what a small world it is and it is made even smaller by the Internet! Awhile back, long before I knew Jill would move to Columbia, SC and long before I knew I would have a reason to be back in NC, I had come across the blog Country at Heart of a gal named Kim and she mentioned that she worked at Carolina Window Fashions. I lost touch with her blog until just before this trip when I found her again! I mentioned I was hoping to visit the store when visiting Jill and we emailed back and forth and we looked forward to meeting.

Now totally separate from the above but tying into this in a moment, I have a friend Sherrie in SC who lives about an hour or so EAST from Jill, and we met online when she found my blog and she has become very dear to me. (Coincidentally and tying in to this as well, she is also very close to another dear blogging friend of mine, Jen from Taylors*Farmhouse*Attic – who happens to live about an hour WEST of Jill.) Back when Lili was born, Sherrie sent me the cutest gifts for her and more recently sent me the biggest bunch of tallow berries as seen here.

As much as I would have loved it, I knew there wasn’t time for a gathering of prim friends on this quick trip because Jill and I had things to do and she had some specific things she was looking for when we shopped, and I had scouting work for the magazine. So even before THIS trip, Jill and I already made plans for the fall when Mr. Red Door and I hope to make the trip again and we can’t wait to get together with Sherrie, Jen, and a few more prim friends.

So here is where I will tie it all together for you if I haven’t lost you all together. As I said, I told Kim I was hoping and planning to make a trip to the shop. Well then a few days before we left, Sherrie mentioned that the weekend before she had gone to a nice shop in Fayetteville that she likes to visit whenever she can. She didn’t mention the name but I remembered back when she sent me the tallow berries that she had also mentioned she sold some to shops as well – again no names were mentioned. As I was in the middle of answering her email and I was about to ask her if the shop in Fayetteville was Carolina Window Fashions, I decided to google Carolina Window Fashions and I found the shop website and the shop blog. And get this…. in the most recent post Kim (who writes the post for the store blog as well) mentioned the very sweet customer named Sherrie who had just been in the shop – the tallow berry lady! Now if that isn’t the most amazing coinky dink – I don’t know what is.

So last Saturday when Jill and I got to the shop, we got to meet Kim who was hard at work that day. She is the sweetest gal!! It was so much fun chatting in person and meeting her co-workers too. And then she presented both Jill and I each with a gift bag from both her and Sherrie! We were blown away when we saw the gorgeous pillow Kim had taken the time to cross stitch for each us and Sherrie had her include the most yummy soy candle in the Southern Home scent – from two sweet and generous southern gals. Here is another fun twist – the pillow is stitched from one of Jen’s patterns! Kim is a fan of Taylors*Farmhouse*Attic and Jen’s patterns as well! Now how cool is that? And Kim is a very busy mom besides working at the store! I don’t know where she found the time, but it really made it even more special.

Then it was even more fun when Kim put Sherrie on the phone!! Even though the connection wasn’t great and it was hard to hear with all the customers in the store, it was really very special indeed to talk in person. Thank you again Sherrie and Kim. You made the trip very memorable for me and I really look forward to the fall!

~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~

Now I know you want to see what I brought home beside dirty laundry, right?? A wonderful small old trunk, two egg baskets, an old book, a candle holder, rolling pin and masher.

My gorgeous new pillow is in an egg basket I already had and they are on top of the trunk in the dining room.

The candle holder is on the other side of the dining room and the largest of the new baskets is on the beam between the dining room and living room – at least for now!

The masher and rolling pin joined these...

and the small egg basket found a home here.

It’s always fun to bring home special treasures from a trip. Indeed, it was a lot of driving in a short time but it turned out to be a trip full of memories and special moments!

~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~

It was so interesting to read all the opinions on FB. In my own personal and very humble opinion, it’s good and bad – depending how you use it and here comes that word again – BALANCE. For me, it always comes down to balance. I don’t play any games on it and I don’t give or accept all those applications available either. I don’t even accept everyone as a friend (so please don’t be offended if I don’t accept you as one) because for me it is more personal and intimate than blogging because unlike blogging, each of us can decide how many friends we want and how much privacy we want. I just connect briefly with people important to me and people I enjoy and I feel I can show more of Lili there as well because of my privacy controls. When there is not enough time to make a blog post, or write a bunch of emails or even just one long one, it’s great to use to make a quick update or to be updated and see that a friend’s new grand baby was born after a long night of labor for mom, or that the surgery went well for someone. In this time of my life, it works well in that way for me.

And once again, while contemplating that balance in my life, blogging comes into play AGAIN. My life has changed considerably in the 2 years since I started this journey called blogging. With a new grandchild that I adore spending time with, and with aging parents who rely on me for many things and all the changes they will be facing soon that will require more of me, and other changes in my life and commitments I have recently made, I am STILL very much mulling over that balance as well as what I can and can’t and should and shouldn’t blog about at this time in my life. Being away for 6 days with very little online time has helped make things more clear to me in some ways. I have some things mulling around in my head as far as changes I may be making in the future and you all will be the first to know when I come to a conclusion. I thank you all for the kind input but this has become something a lot bigger than I ever dreamed and I need to decide this is my own way and in a way that feels right for me. In the meantime, if you don’t see me in blogland, please don’t be concerned, I am still working on that balance and you can always find me at the APP Forum by clicking here and joining.

~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~

For those that asked, we took the old Murano to SC and Mr. Red Door is just so good to me, and he really doesn’t care what he drives as long as it gets him where he is going so he gives me the new car. Pretty nice of him huh??

Before closing, I want to wish my mom the happiest of Mother’s Days and thank you for all you have given and done for me in my lifetime - especially for fixing me up with that cute college guy back in 1972 when I was in high school – the one who happens to drive my old car now!! He’ll be picking you and dad up tomorrow so you too can enjoy a raspberry margarita on Mother’s Day. For that and so many more reasons, he’s a keeper!!

To read my tribute to my wonderful mom from 2008 click ~HERE~

And I want to wish all the mom’s reading this a very special Mother’s Day.

The value of a life is best measured by the moments spent giving one's self, sharing wisdom, inspiring hope, wiping tears, and touching hearts. David L. Weatherford

You've touched so many lives, including mine, just by being the wonderful women
that you are!! As always, thank you to each of you for stopping by and making Behind My Red Door part of your day!

Warm hugs, Grammy Linda