HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE!

Can you guess how old Joe is?
Nope......No......Not even close.......!
He's 57, Unbelievable right! Proving life with me must be pretty good! Barely a gray hair in sight & still strong as an ox! I'm one lucky lady!

Things I learned on my vacation....Driving

We had heard that Ireland had the highest accident rate in western Europe but for some reason that didn't bother us, until we got in our tiny rental car & hit the road! Life altering to say the least, I aged 10 years from the airport to the hotel. We alternated between cursing & laughing so hard we could hardly breathe. Don't underestimate the learning curve of everything being opposite, even the gas guage works in reverse. We did have GPS, a few flaws with that were we had no idea what distance a kilometer or meter is so when instructed to turn in 250 meters we were at a real disadvantage. Also the streets are not clearly marked with standard signs, in standard places, like on a corner, like we're used to. The GPS spent more time "re-calculating" than anything else. We had also read that while the roadsides are beautiful they tend to be narrow & curvy, that was the biggest understatement of all! We had to back down a windy road until we came to a driveway to go in so a truck could pass us, another day a car had to back off a little bridge so we could pass. The highways are roomier but they have these things called "roundabouts", the name says it all! Now when all is said & done and we swore never to drive in another foreign country we were quite proud of overselves for not adding to the high accident stats!

I'm Baaaaaa Baaa Back!

Things I learned on my Vacation...Fly Direct!
Just got back from Dublin with a few new rules for traveling. Most important new rule is to only fly non stop from now on! Last night on our incredibly long journey home we flew over New York (Home) and 1 hour 40 minutes later landed in Atlanta Ga., 4 hours later got back on a plane to New York & 1 hour 40 minutes later landed in NY! INSANE!!!!
To pass the time on the plane I read Kathy Griffin's Memoir which I very much enjoyed, unfortunately I finished it before I hit Atlanta (oh No!) She had a line in the book that totally spoke to me.... "Even vacations start not to feel like vacations after 5 days: They become the thing that keeps me from working." It's good to be home & back to work!
More rules & photos to follow soon!

ATLANTIC ANTIC STREET FESTIVAL BROOKLYN NY

These are the treasures I picked up at the fair.
The adorable card is made by fiskandfern
The christmas ornament is by delongceramics
The silverware piece is made by a guy who's name I didn't get but he did say that he is usually set up in front of Whole Foods by Union Square in NYC every Sunday.
I had to include this photo, this is a bus I remember riding as a kid (my age is showing again!) The transit Museum had a bunch of old buses that you could check out and board.
Did you ever want to do something but then didn't because you didn't want to go by yourself? Well I found out this morning that this fair was today but for a variety of reasons my choice was to skip it or go alone. It was a beautiful day out so I went alone, and I'm glad I did! Granted it would have been way more fun with company but it was very liberating. It was in an area I wasn't familiar with so when I got off the subway I had no idea where I was, but I found my way & when all was done I found my way back! This fair was HUGE, there were a ton musicians playing all kinds of music, there was a stage with a belly dancer and another with go go dancers! There was a great variety of food, my treat today was a potato on a stick, tempting as it was I didn't have any fried oreo's! There are a lot of antique shops on Atlantic Ave so there were many fun things for sale like the robots in the photo, there were even big inflatable things for the kids to bounce around in. Something for everyone. For me it's all about the local artists and craftspeople, GREAT stuff.
For more info on the Atlantic Antic click here

NYC, Picture Books, afternoon with Callan, just a few of my favorite things!

Saturday Callan & I went to the Housing Works Bookstore open air street fair in Soho where we both added to our childrens book collections. We each bought 5 books @ $1.00 each, mine were all picture books, Callan got a mix of picture books & art books so it was a really great deal! One of my books is in French (I think) but it's all about the illustrations for me. When my son was younger & he would have a Dr. appointment he would be a little embarrassed by the fact that I would sit there looking at the picture books instead of a ladies magazine like all the other moms!
For more info on Housing Works click here

Brooklyn Flea

Aren't these fishnet floats great! I think they would look great in the garden, maybe next time!


I've been wanting to get to this Flea market all summer & since this is the last weekend of the summer I decided to take a little break from working & enjoy the beautiful day. I only spent $4.00, the shelf was $1.00 & I found a great little book "My Father Can Fix Anything" illustrated by Bill & Bonnie Rutherford circa 1965 for $3.00. My dad was a guy who could fix anything & luckily enough so is Joe so once I hit the shelf with a couple of coats of black paint I'll have him hang it in my office. Click here to see more

The Feast of San Gennaro

As predicted we made it back to Little Italy tonight and to our delight Callan joined us for her first feast experience. Joe & I have been practicing taking photos of ourselves in preparation for our trip to Ireland, & believe it or not these are the best so far!

New Flickr - Old Projects!

I made this birdbath about 13 years ago. It's made of stacked terra cotta pots. The cat on the base was our cat Tinkerbell. Because it was so labor intensive to make I never put it outside in the garden for fear it would be ruined. This year I swore I'd put it out but once again it remained indoors, next year for sure it'll be in the garden! Click here to see more

Anything this GOOD can't be good for you!

Joe & I made our annual visit to the Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy Sunday. It was a beautiful day for a festival & a walk in the city. The feast has events & carnival games but really it's all about the food! There are a ton of resturants if you want to sit for a meal but for the feast we prefer the festival food from the many venders with booths set up along all the streets. Lots to choose from. Traditionally we always get sausage & Pepper heros. This year I discovered fried oreos, talk about guilty pleasure! I'm just grateful I didn't know about these sooner! The feast is on until the 20th of September so if your in the area there is still time to go get some fried oreos, we will definately be there again before it ends!

BUILD IT & THEY WILL COME!

Truth be told when I started making birdhouses it was purely because I liked the way they added whimsy & color to the yard. I never expected how much I would enjoy watching the birds that took up residence in them. The fact that so many birds have used these houses for shelter & for nesting has given me such a great feeling. This little bird was born this summer. We watched as both parents spent all day flying back & forth feeding the baby, their work was endless. My dog actually alerted us that the baby was out of the nest because she was crying by the steps & there was the baby bird.

After the baby was born we cleaned out the house for the next resident. We remove the bottom of the house & this is what the nest looks like. As you can see they use a lot of different things to build the nest. Joe & I saw a squirrel run up the tree with one of Joe's socks for his nest, I suspect that nest probably looks like the floor of my sons room!