I love St. Patrick’s Day! Green happens to be one of my fav colors, I love Irish beer, Leprechauns are funny and Ireland is across the water from my fav country…Scotland! Hee hee!
But seriously, every year the thought of corned beef and cabbage just makes me drool. I absolutely love it and it reminds me of my childhood. So of course I have a pot of corned beef brisket simmering away on the stove until this evening when it will just fall apart and be absolutely yummy! Also, this year I attempted Irish Soda Bread..we’ll see how that turns out this evening when we have some with dinner.
Ireland has a soft spot in my heart since it was part of our 1 year wedding anniversary trip back in 2005. I had never been across the pond before and well, being an anglophile…this was a problem! My husband lived in London for a short time on a study abroad right after college. So of course he felt it was his duty to show his girl where he had spent some time in his younger years and tell me all the funny stories of his time there.
I could go on and on about that memorable trip. It seriously was a life changer for me. We even took a very long train ride to Aberdeen, Scotland to see where my family is from and my family castle. Well, if you can call it a castle. But hey, how many people can say they have one of those in their fam right?!
From Scotland we took the ferry ride over to Northern Ireland…. WHAT AN EXPERIENCE! Northern Ireland not the ferry ride. We were told things were calm, safe and totally normal while we were there. Well, I guess so, but I will say that we got quite a few looks when we would walk back to our bed and breakfast every day which happened to be in the Catholic part of town.
I have been one busy girl lately! This past weekend as I have been sharing with everyone, quite often, was my trip to the Rose Bowl with Eddie and Jaithan. Our little flea market group wasn’t meeting until 10am Sunday morning, but since the hubby agreed to watch our girl while I shopped I took advantage of my alone time. I got up nice and early and headed over to the Bowl way before 10am to see if I could score deals. To be honest, I was overwhelmed!!!! I don’t go to many flea markets..actually I think I’ve been to one. I usually hit up estate and yard sales for my deals. So, I didn’t really know my prices and I was a bit nervous to buy anything in fear that it would be a piece of…well you get the idea.
Well, that’s where Eddie’s little trip totally helped! Our group was fun, enthusiastic and ready for those deals and finds. Eddie was SO informative and full of so many wonderful, creative ideas for gifts, decorating, and general antique knowledge. He and Jaithan are the sweetest guys and so down to earth. I wish I could bundle up their positive energy for myself. Really, truely,…these guys are the real deal!
With Jaithan and Eddie!
One particular highlight of the day was meeting the bloggers behind some of the blogs I follow and admire. The three girls were none other than Grace from Grace Happens, Alex who owns Rustic Rooster Interiors and Melissa from Seagrass Interiors who works as a junior designer at the Rooster. I was thrilled to finally meet the Rooster chicks from Encinitas, CA and will definitely be taking a day trip down there very soon to check out the store!
It was awesome that they came to the event because the three of them had a design sense similar to my own. Since I didn’t take a friend with me, I kept bouncing ideas off them and getting their approval on some things I was seeing and liking. Thanks girls for putting up with me!
So, you’re wondering…what did I find? Here are my flea market goodies:
I found this gorgeous mirror with the scallop shell at the top for over our living room fireplace. Its a bit more Shabby Chic than I had planned on going with, but I’m liking it a lot. But, knowing me I’ll decide it isn’t right and want something else. And that actually is fine because it would look great in our guest room which is beachy with white painted furniture.
Well the living room is coming along slowly but surely. Still need tables and some other things, but its coming together. Any thoughts…opinions?
I know, I know…I promised to show pictures of our newly redone powder room on Monday. I swear, it’s almost done. Today I have the little one going to a sitter for a few hours, so I can buy some finishing touches (shower curtain mainly). Also, a while back I wrote about another bath remodel in our home. Well, I never quite gave you guys the “after” lowdown. Let’s just say, things didn’t exactly go smoothly. We fired the original contractor, hired another set of guys to finish the job, we had to redo part of the tile that had been done wrong…ugh..! What a nightmare! But it is done and so I want to show that bath to you as well!
So hold tight kids! Pictures are a coming your way!
On another note, I haven’t checked Tracery Interiors blog for a while and so I did so this morning when I woke up far earlier than I normally do and decided to surf the web. I’m in love with a dining room on their site…
