Once upon a time...

...there were two little girls...


... The first little girl loved to play dress-up...


... and, over the years, put together (some very unique!!) outfits to model for the camera....

The second little girl loved all the colors of the rainbow...

...and was happiest when she was drawing, painting...


...or coloring her own creations...

The years flew by (as they do in a mother's eyes), and the first little girl decided to study fashion merchandising in college...

...and this past week she ventured totally out of her "comfort zone," helping her college roomie (as a last minute model) and did an amazing job modeling an outfit designed by her roommate for a fashion show held at the beautiful Dorothy Quincy Suite in Copley Square, Boston (She said she was SO nervous, but you'd never know it... Heck, I'd probably have walked right off the end of the runway!!)...


(The 21 second runway clip recorded from our TV, hence the sub-standard quality! ha ha)

Meanwhile, the second little girl never put her paints or brushes away...

(holding the same poster she created 15 years ago, which looked a lot bigger when she was holding it up as a 9 year old!)

She graduated from college...

...with a major in illustration and a minor in literature...


...and just this past week, the incredibly talented Jerry Fish & The Mudbug Club (of Ireland) released their latest album, The Beautiful Untrue, featuring her gorgeous artwork!


(You Tube Video) Click photo to hear "Back to Before," an absolutely beautiful song from the album!

(I know I had promised to share photos from Fairground Antiques in today's post but with all that happened - the fashion show and the release of the CD - I had to squeeze this post in!! Plus I've been stuck in my office cleaning, cleaning, cleaning because Comcast is coming Friday to update our cable, high speed Internet, phone, etc., and they'll be spending time in my office - and what a disaster area that's been of late!!! So them coming has provided the perfect excuse to finally get organized in here!! See you all in a day or two!)

And I couldn't end without thanking all of you who left such sweet comments about the little black cat perfume bottle that reminds me of My Boy... I'll be visiting each of you soon to thank you for your kind words!

Donna

A vintage "must have" junktique find...

...that I didn't know I wanted (or needed) until I laid eyes on it. But once spotted, it had to come home with me...


After bringing Court to NH to visit with friends this past weekend, Amanda and I stopped at Fairground Antiques to browse a bit before heading home. It was Amanda who spotted this little (circa 1970/80) Avon perfume bottle in the shape of a long-haired black cat...


Well, it just reminded me so much of My Boy (who I lost in December of 2007), that I had to get it. My Blackie was the most athletic of our cats; he loved to leap onto all of the furniture. Here he is sitting on top of my dining room hutch (he was equally at home on the pie safe and jelly cupboard). Thank goodness he was blessed with graceful precision... I never lost a single picture frame or piece of china as a result of his acrobatics...


For the time being I've placed the perfume bottle next to Blackie's urn on the hutch (said "urn" actually being a cotton ball container that I picked up on clearance at TJ Maxx shortly after we lost Blackie)... Both the statue and urn are sitting in the exact same spot where My Boy was sitting when I took the above photo of him...

I was so anxious to share this little gem with you that I didn't even clean him up before taking the photos! (He cleaned up beautifully!)

"A cat doesn't want the world to love him - only those he has chosen."

(Helen Thomson)

Thank you for having chosen me, My Boy...

In the next day or two I'll share LOTS of photos from Fairground Antiques. Now that I've had the pleasure to meet so many others through this wonderful world of blogging, it has changed how I look at things while out "junktiquing"... I'll clarify that in my next post!

Donna

If you're happy and you know it....

... raise your hands!! This little guy is in a state of pure bliss, that's for sure! If you need a smile today, just click the photo to watch this short (under a minute) video...

I also received this lovely Bella award from Allison at A Little Shabby, Always Chic.

You must visit Allison's blog, filled with birds and cloches and flowers and glitter ... a delightful place to spend some time browsing!!! You'll be glad you did! Thank you for the award, Allison!

I am passing it along to the many friends whose blogs I love to visit!!!

Donna

The Martha-Mary Chapel...

... will soon be coming to a theater near you...

(click any photos to enlarge)
I've been seeing a lot of commercials on TV for "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" (which was filmed here in Massachusetts), the new Jennifer Garner/Matthew McConaughey movie due out Friday, May 1st...


Some scenes for the movie were filmed in and around the Martha-Mary Chapel, situated on the grounds of the historic Longfellow's Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Massachusetts.


So I headed over there the other day to take some pictures to share with you and, as you can see from my photos, it was a gray and misty day (actually a good thing because I pretty much had the place to myself)... The chapel was locked up, so I took photos through the beautiful windows... This is the interior of the chapel that you will see in the movie (I wonder if they'll show that gorgeous chandelier hanging from the ceiling?)


Then I walked around to the other side of the chapel and took this photo. (Do you see the little red school house reflected in the glass? I'll be writing about that later this week.)


In the movie trailer that I've posted a little further down, you'll see the chapel starting at about the 1:57 point...



...and when Jennifer Garner, the bride, enters the church, these are the woods that are behind her.


This is the rear entrance to the chapel, and these are the windows that Jennifer Garner's character is getting married in front of in the movie. Just click on the photo above to watch a very short movie trailer (which features the Martha-Mary Chapel starting at the 1:57 mark)...




Did you know that the Martha-Mary Chapel was named for Henry Ford's mother, Martha Ford, and mother-in-law, Mary Bryant? This plaque is attached to the front steps of the chapel. You can read a brief history on the Wayside Inn website by clicking on the above photo, or for a much more in-depth article on Ford's acquisition of The Wayside Inn and the building of the Martha-Mary Chapel, just click here.

The Martha-Mary Chapel, with its quaint charm, continues to woo movie makers... Bride Wars (the Kate Hudson/Anne Hathaway movie released earlier this year) filmed some scenes there, and Jennifer Garner was back at the Chapel to film scenes for another movie she'll be starring in, ("This Side of the Truth," a.k.a. The Invention of Lying), a comedy due out this September...

I hope you enjoyed your visit to the Chapel... I'm a sucker for romantic comedies, so I'm really looking forward to this movie! Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!


Donna

Window shopping...

Okay, so in my last post I told you about the $1.00 I spent at the hospital auxilliary shop for the hobnail planters and the floral earrings...


But just a few doors down is Viviana's Vintage Shop....


...and her window displays are always so beautiful that Amanda and I had to go in and look around.....


(So much for just window shopping)....


I loved this table full of vintage toys (and they all work, too!)....


This was a sweet stitchery of Cape May Lighthouse...

I loved these doors, even if they did have broken glass....

Can you guess what this design appears on?

This sweet old toy piano. I just loved the birds singing and all the flowers.. Wouldn't some potted plants look adorable on top of that piano... a little raised plant stand?

And just look at all these sweet Mary statues and/or planters! (I wonder what Amanda is checking out in the section behind me?)

I have to tell you, I was very tempted to get the Mary dressed all in white... V-e-r-y tempted...

This little garden burro reminds me so much of a small, indoor burro planter my Nana had in the 1950's. I'm just so drawn to things that reminds me of that era and/or of my Nana.

So even though I didn't purchase anything at Vivianna's today, it's always so much fun to go in and browse around...

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Donna

A dollar well spent...

UPDATE: For those who were interested in my sampler from yesterday's post, I just updated that post to include links to some really great cross-stitch sampler designs, including the LIVE TODAY one that I stitched. And wait until you see the Jane Austen one I'm thinking of ordering! Love the quotation on it!

************************************

Amanda and I had planned to visit a relative on the Cape today, but at the last minute our trip was postponed until next week...


Since we were just about on our way out the door, we headed over to Clinton to hit a few shops...


We popped into a little hospital auxiliary thrift shop (the same place I bought this cat print for my family room)....



... and I spotted these two white hobnail (jars? planters? containers? I'm so bad at coming up with words to describe certain items). The tops are scalloped; the front and back have a hobnail design while the sides have long and short bars (as seen in the photo above)...

...I thought 25 cents apiece was a pretty good price. The bottoms are embossed with the words: Oven Ware - Fire King - Made in USA, but I doubt that I'll be using them in the oven!


I also spotted this sweet little pair of floral pierced earrings priced at only 50 cents (I didn't have to think long or hard about that purchase!)...

All in all, I think it was definitely a dollar well spent!

Donna

Live Today... A Cottage Sampler

I can't remember the last time I cross-stitched, but it was long ago... And I don't know why I haven't done it in recent years because I find it so relaxing...

(click any photos to enlarge)

I cross-stitched this little sampler in 1993, back when the house was decorated in a primitive style. I took it down during my cottage/shabby transition because I wasn't sure if it "fit" in with the pastels and florals that I'd fallen in love with...


But with each passing day, each passing week, each passing month and year, I learn more about myself. I've learned that I needn't be so rigid in my thinking about whether something fits... about whether something is the right color... about whether something is "cottagey"...


...because, as it turns out, if it's something I love, or if it holds special meaning, or is handmade with love, or brings back warm memories, it's always going to be the right "style" for the home we live in and love...


... and this little sampler, with its profound motto, is proof of that...
So I dug it out and hung it on the side of the recycling hutch in our kitchen... I think it "fits" in perfectly!

Wishing you all a wonderful week!

COMMENT UPDATE 1: Marnie, that is a Morgan Jones full size chenille spread on my small wing chair (and it just fits side to side)... Front to back isn't usually a problem, but to have good side to side coverage over the arms I really prefer a queen for this small wing chair, and I've even used a king size spread on my larger family rooom wing chair (of course that means LOTS of the material is tucked!)

COMMENT UPDATE 2: Jan, I'm afraid I don't remember who designed this cross stitch patter, but it's very similar to many of Nan Caldera's samplers... I just tried to find mine on-line but couldn't come up with anything. However, I did come across this site which has a wide variety of samplers to cross-stitch (I'm eyeing several of them!): http://www.theneedlesart.com/category_results.cfm?Category=62

This Jane Austen sampler especially caught my eye! I might give some serious thought to ordering it! (just click the photo below to go directly to that sampler on The Needle's Art site):

Comment Update 3: I just found my samplers on that same site, if anyone is interested. Just click on the photo below to go directly to the source for this sampler:


Happy Stitching!

Donna

Boston, you're my home...

The best of luck to all of this year's Boston Marathon participants!

(Swan boat in the Public Garden)

I hope you enjoy the beautiful city of Boston...


during your stay here in Massachusetts!

I've had many opportunities to enjoy this beautiful city (with a daughter attending college here)...

The John Hancock Tower at night...


and during the day, from the same vantage point.

Colonnade Boston Hotel (as seen from The Cheesecake Factory at the Pru)

The Prudential Center...

Another shot in the Pru...

Beautiful Back Bay, Boston....

So enjoy yourselves and make the most of your time here... It is a unique city with so much to offer... full of charm, history, incredible architecture, and so much more - Enjoy!

Donna