Chair Revival

Matt tells me that when I have the most to do, I will usually find the most inane things to do.  He's right.  The week of the wedding I had taken off work to finish getting things together.  Instead, I reupholstered all of my dining room chairs.  The set is a 1960 original I purchased at an estate sale.  It has fantastic lines.  The upholstery was in good shape when I bought them but, it degraded pretty quickly.  I had purchased the replacement upholstery several months prior on clearance.  It included the original colors but, in a more updated pattern.  The first photo is the before, the second is the writing under the seat when it was disassembled, and the third is my handiwork.

Bits of Vintage Christmas

I sprinkled a bit of vintage Christmas in my decor this year.  A few post cards, some old ornaments, and a new, old tablecloth set the scene.  A few weeks after Christmas I stumbled upon a 2' tall aluminum tree at an estate sale.  I got it for a steal at $2!  Next year, I'll add it to the rest of the festivities.

Wedding

On October 20th, 2012 we were married at Osage Hills State Park.  It was a beautiful fall day.  All the details came together perfectly.  Items of note in the photos:  boutonnieres were made with fall leaves, wheat, vintage buttons, and raffia.  I made and decorated the cake (shown on a vintage cake stand procured from one of my favorite junk stores).  The cake topper was a pair of owl salt and pepper shakers I made finery for.  I sketched the guest book tree on a large sheet of paper and everyone stamped their fingerprints as leaves.  Our daughter carried a pillow made from a Kansas alfalfa sack with our rings tied to it.  The chandelier was decorated with dollar store leaves I'd dipped in plaster of paris.  My aunt and sister-in-law tied them to the existing light fixture with twine.  The remainder of the decor was foraged from around the park and lots of fresh pumpkins.  Photos provided by my aunt and Jennifer Braden Photography.

A Long Weekend

With a month to plan, Matt and I had a pretty lofty menu for the long weekend. We had to adjust our plans when tickets to a baseball tournament became available but, still managed to make bruschetta, pizza, and do some serious grilling.

Saturday morning we hit the farmer's market and snagged some garlic, blackberries, peaches, and corn.

Lunch Saturday was bruschetta. I brought the tomatoes a

nd herbs from my garden and we used garlic from the farmers market. Matt thought to add Mozzarella to the bagel crisps and topping that with the bruschetta. It was amazing.

Sunday lunch was pizza. I made the crust while Matt chopped all of the toppings (I was knife banned after a slip that landed on my thumb while making the bruschetta). We wanted a sun-dried tomato basil pesto for the base but, when we couldn't find any we mixed basil pesto with a sun dried tomato spread we got at the grocery store. We topped it with spinach, a

rtichoke hearts, diced chicken and feta. We did good.

Dinner Sunday night was a lot of prep work but totally worth it. We decided we were going to grill so, we soaked some corn in husk that afternoon. Matt put some rib eye steaks in to marinate with a bottle of Rogue Chocolate Stout beer about the same time. Right before we were ready to grill we halved some jalapenos (I got my knife privileges back) filled them with cream cheese and wrapped them in bacon. Matt pulled the steaks out of the beer and coated them in Montreal steak seasoning. We chucked everything on the grill, lit one of those neat burn in bags of charcoal and waited on dinner.

A dinner that nice has to have dessert so, we used our peaches and blackberries from the farmer's market and made the prettiest little pie.

And what's pie without ice cream?