Front Hall

This is my current arrangement on my front hall table. I love that little birdbath - purchased it at Michaels' a couple years ago. Great place to drop keys, too!

Show and Tell Friday

This is my first time participating in "Show and Tell Friday" at the blog Romantic Home. This is a picture of my great-grandmother, Alma Persson, sitting with her friends having a tea party! (She is the one furthest to the left.) It is one of my favorite pictures - I love the clothes, the furniture, the pictures on the wall, doilies, their hairstyles...all of it! So Victorian and proper! I hope you enjoy seeing it, too. I wonder what they chatted about!
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New Picture

I bought this for my husband for Father's Day and now have it in our family room. I found it on Etsy. It's handmade canvas art by Stephen Fowler of Gemini Art Studio. Check out his art - it's great! I thought this picture looked like my Dover dog and combined my husband's love of the Chicago Bears.

Living Room Nice and Tidy

I cleaned my living room and decided to rearrange it... it makes me feel like I have new things even though I'm just moving stuff around. Do you like to rearrange? I am CONSTANTLY doing it! I'm sure that it must be some sort of mental problem. Ha Ha

I decided to leave my 4th of July decor up for awhile longer. It's summery and patriotic, why not! It's too cute to take down, yet!

I added a little handkerchief chain to my baker's rack...

Added a few cute things to my desk...

Dolled up a lampshade...

Put a few cute things on the coffee table...

Fluffed the pillows...

Gave the bunny a seat...

And after wiping, spraying, fluffing, vacuuming, shining up and dusting off, I took pictures for you! Then I took a rest. What room will I work on next?

I went to TJ Maxx yesterday and found a rug for under this table. I saw one similar to it in the Pottery Barn catalog but didn't want to pay $250 for it! So scouted around and found this one:

with a clearance tag of $29!! Sold! Then I found a couple of cute new pillows...

I bought two of this one in the middle....

I bought this pillow recently on etsy...handmade from old sack cloths! It's soft and cushy. That etsy can be dangerous to my credit card! WAY too many cute things! (Kind of like when I go into TJ Maxx or Homegoods!) I'm off to the lake later today! Time to spend some time at our cottage. Hopefully it won't RAIN!

Vintage Guest Bedroom

Welcome back to my vintage guest bedroom....I have it LOADED with all sorts of sentimental things...I've had to change out a few pillows since the arrival of Mr. Dover Dog who liked to jump up there and chew them up! He's lucky I love him so much because when he chewed up a vintage needlepoint I wasn't too happy...

This little table I move around the house...from out on my porch to my room to my family room. At the moment it's here.

I love lots and lots of pillows...

Mix and match fabrics and pillows.

All the photographs in this room are of my family or my husband Alan's family. The lady is my Aunt Alice that a lot of my "old stuff" is from. That's her little travel suitcase there. The window came from our old screen door. We had to replace it but I kept that window. It was just too cute!
I hung a cute old coat on the door. An idea I got from here. I have this "thing" for vintage coats. They are so cute. I even bought an old robe because the fabric on it was so delightful. It's in my closet!

Found this phone in the trash. The kids LOVE it! The old clock was my grandfather's. It has his initials engraved in it. The photos are me and my cousin when we were newborns. I think it came from my grandma's house.

Well, well, well. Who do we have here? This is the trouble maker. See the teeth marks on the end of the bed!!! He hops up here when I'm on my computer! Off, Dover!!! Now you see who chewed up my pillows. (He's saying "Who, me?") YES, YOU!!!

I also love vintage dogs - these were my great-grandma's.

View out the window. The ivy is really crazy on this side of the house! It grows right over the windows! Hope you enjoyed my little tour! Thanks for being my "guest" today!

Hawaii 2010

It began with a limo ride...

our trip to paradise...

where there are palm trees and ocean views year round!

This was the view from our hotel balcony - it was so pretty to see the ocean.

The kids and grandma took a ride to see the Big Island of Hawaii from a helicopter.

My oldest daughter, Brittany, went scuba diving with my husband. They swam with dophins and had such fun seeing the beauty of the ocean underwater. Brittany also did her first night dive!

We went on a glass bottom boat ride! We saw turtles, coral, and fish.

Grandma came, too! This is Grandma and the Handley girls.

We went to a luau. My oldest daughter, Brittany, got to go up on stage with the dancers! That's her in the black and white dress.

They also talked me into some overpriced henna tattoos by the pool.

My three littlest girls. They also were able to do a dophin quest! It as a wonderful trip!

Me looking out at a heavenly view. Sigh....

Fun in the Backyard

Elizabeth filled up the pool...she and Dover splashed around!

Back Yard Musings

This is my back porch, leading out to my backyard. It's small and vintagey. It has old original windows that are cute but hard to open! You can kind of see them in the reflection in the mirror.

My backyard vintage bike.

This Hydrangea bush is one of my favorites in my garden.

Dover loves it back here!

I bought these chairs at Home Depot. They had the cutest colors! I had a hard time choosing!