Dinner at the Hess'

So... Jay and I very rarely get invited anywhere. Not to sound pathetic (it does, doesn't it?), but once you hit anything more than 2 kids, you are officially off the list of invites for dinner. We love to have people into our home, and truly enjoy the opportunities. Jay and I both LOVE to cook, and I love dishes and table ware, and decorations, etc... So we are a good team (I think!), and we try to invite others over often.
Well, a month ago, Mrs Connie called to invite Jay and I over for dinner at their home. We had to plan weeks ahead, but it worked out and we went last night.
You have to know Mrs. Connie and Mr. Bill. They are old-school V.B. kids. Mrs. Connie graduated from Granby High School, and Mr. Bill grew up in Little Neck. He knows V.B. as "Princess Anne County". They were married in Talbot Park church in 1966, and they are STILL happily married. Mrs. Connie is a retired educator, and Mr. Bill is a retired sales man. She advises my kids on the correct classes to take to prepare for college, and he advises me on local history. Have I mentioned I LOVE them? They are warm, sincere, caring people. I am thinking about kicking their two daughters out of the upstairs bedrooms reserved for their visits, and taking the vacant spot. Needless to say, I was delighted to be invited for dinner. I had been in their gorgeous home on several occasions, but this was Jay's first visit.
When we arrived, Mrs Connie was taking the appetizer and the peach cobbler out of the oven. Jay made jalapeno poppers, and a pistachio dessert, so we set out the pepperoni dip and the poppers and chatted for a bit. Let me tell you, appetizers would have been enough for me, it was delicious. Then Mr. Bill showed Jay his carved shorebirds, and vintage ammunition collections while Mrs Connie finished dinner. Mrs Connie loves vintage fabrics too, and has a wonderful mix of antique pieces as well as mission and beach influences. It works somehow- not cluttered and scattered. She had beautiful china and crystal set for dinner and dessert, and I love looking at her family pieces. So I took a photo of her buffet, since the runner was a line of yo-yo's. YES, I am totally copying that idea. I so appreciated her taking the time to set up such a beautiful table, including fresh daisies in small pots.
Dinner was butterbeans, cucumber salad, tomato pie, shaved corn, and grilled beef. It was so good I stuffed myself. I had not had much to eat all day, and I was ravenous by dinner.
We chatted about everything from TJ's visit to the Naval Academy to hunting. They love our kids, and take a very kind interest in their lives. Of course, that wins any mother's heart.
Our evening ended with dessert and it was fantastic. We cut our visit short at 11pm! Jay got in the car and said, "I didn't even realize the time!" Woah, that is a rarity.
Thank you Mr. Bill and Mrs. Connie for such a lovely evening.

Oh, and I wore at dress I picked up at Anthropologie last summer along with the necklace that Heather made me when we went up to visit the farm on 4th of July weekend. I love how versatile it is. I goes with all kinds of dresses I have. And Jay loves that blue dress on me, so he was complimentary. :)

Sewing, sewing, sewing

I feel like I have spent every minute of the last 6 days sewing. That is a really good thing, I just need to figure out how to balance my time. The funny thing is, I told myself each day, "At 1:30, I am going to go outside and lay on my float in the pool. And just float." And every afternoon, the storm clouds rolled in. Like clockwork. It was almost comical.

So while things are moving along on the running a small business front, I also have to move things along in my discipline. I hate that word. I like words like, "spontaneous" and "thrifting" and "reading". Those now have to be scheduled.

I have neglected my study of the Scripture lately, and am so disappointed with myself. I had this awesome plan to study the life of Paul during the summer months. I have given myself over to the plan that I will now wait until school starts, and I have a few quiet hours during the mornings. So, in the meantime I went back to my hip-high stack of books (waiting to be read) beside my bed. I have started reading John Pipers Passion of the Christ. Boy, talk about deep. How easily I forget the Saviour's love for me in my ramblings and musings. How easily I forget that the Almighty God of the Universe created me and loves me. I tend to put such earthy and human qualities on Him. I thank God for His unfailing and unchanging nature.

I am very much looking forward to riding with Jay to visit a couple of offices this week. It will give me some much-needed time with him and the two little kids, and I have a bag ready of things to work on in the car. I get to thrift, and hit a fabric warehouse and my fave store. Anthropologie just put out a bunch of fall arrivals, and I can't wait to see them in person.

Have a great Saturday everyone! We are completing our chore list today so that we have everything done before our big ole family week next week. I can't wait to see my cousins and aunt and uncle.

Here are a few of the new bags I made this week: Jay keeps trying to get me to sell the Market Bag.

Bags, Bags, and more Bags

My best buddie Jennifer took an embroidery set that I found in my father in law Gregg's mothers house, while cleaning it out and finished it for my dining table. It turned out gorgeous!

Here is the thrift store pile from Friday!

And the crazy bag I wanted to hate...

So.....

Jay came home from his trips last week with a goodie bag for me. You guessed it, more vintage linens. There were a pair of pillowcases that he was particularly proud of. I, on the other hand was not overly enthusiastic. However, I started working on them to please him. Turns out, I was happy to be wrong. The fabric was the olive green and white outer portion of the bag, and the other pieces were from men's shirts. I LOVE it!

I did the bag sale on Friday, and hit the jackpot! So many great pieces to work with. So I brought the bags home and dumped them and took pictures and counted them out. This is the first time I have ever done that. It turned out to be 80 pieces of clothing I STUFFED in those bags!

Anniversary Celebration

It is so hard to believe that Jay and I renewed our vows a year ago today. So much thought and planning went into that day. We look back on it and still feel so strongly that we did it exactly the right way. A wedding 16 years ago would not have been the event that our vow renewal was to us. I feel like I married a complete stranger 16 years ago, but I now live with my biggest fan. There are so many wonderful things to love about Jay. Things that make him the man that he is today. I feel so blessed to walk my days with him.

Such is Life

This week was Vacation Bible School at London Bridge, so the kids and I have had a busy, busy week. My boys worked with the little kids during the day, and went back for student VBS at night, so we are all exhausted. We had Rachel all week, and she was wonderful. Madison was happy to have her buddie everyday. And Zach loved VBS.

I stayed up most nights sewing, as I feel I am on a roll, and trying to keep up the momentum. I have not had time to post any pics, so this will be a full post. ;)

I am excited about taking the little kids with Jay on a couple of work visits in N.C. next week, so I can thrift and hit a few Anthro stores. Yay for me! At the end of the week, my cousin Jill arrives from Missouri, and I can't wait! It has been way too long (over a year) since I got to be with her. And I love her husband and daughters, too.

Oh, and my sister Valerie seems to feel left out of my postings, so here is a shout out to her and my beautiful neices, Madelyn, Samantha, and Jessica. (Samantha is my pabit, pabit.) Love you guys.

Sunday Church Outfit

So I told you guys about my Anthro finds last weekend. And here is how I wore the Penciled Abronia.

I know, it is a little wacky. This morning Jay said he didn't see how it was any wackier than anything else I wear. :)

Shirt: Ralph Lauren (thrifted for pennies)

Skirt: Anthropologie Penciled Abronia ($42.49)

Belt: Dillards (75% off, plus an add'l 30%)

Shoes: Dillards (75%, plus add'l 30%)

I am thinking about growing my bangs out again, any suggestions?

Running Blues

I have been feeling off my game all week as far as the running goes. I ran 3.5 last Saturday, 4.4 on Sunday, and 3 on Monday, but only rode my bike the rest of the week. Knowing that the Rock N Roll Half is coming is really putting the pressure on to improve my distance.
So I hit the gym this afternoon, to clock some distance on the treadmill (my LEAST favorite way to run). The goal was a strong 5 miles, with the intent to do more if I felt great. I got to 4 miles with no problem, then my left knee started aching. I pushed to 5 and completed, but still feel very defeated. UGH The 1/2 marathon is starting to feel like a dark cloud.

Saturday Funday

My mom and dad took all of us to see the new Toy Story 3 this morning. I usually do not care one bit about the previews for new movies, but one particularly caught my eye. It is a new Disney movie called Secretariat, starring Diane Lane, and I can't wait to go see it. The story is set in the 60's/70's, and the costuming is delightful! The story is along the same lines as Miracle and Seabiscuit.

Toy Story was cute and heartwarming, and although I heard I was supposed to bring tissues, I did not shed a tear. ;)

On a sewing note, I got a bag completed today. A friend from H.S., Tina asked for a bag in earthy colors, with a vintage feel to use on the go. I hope she likes it!

Ooopps, sorry. I am new at this blogging thing. I thought the dress uploaded....

Jay and I go to Chicago next month, for the Geico conference, and I have been gearing up my wardrobe. Basically, it is a great excuse to get some cute clothing. So while I was visiting Heather last weekend, we made a trip to the Tysons Corner Anthropologie. I scored two finds on my wish list, at a 15% discount, since they were both damaged (but fixable). The Polka Peppered dress has been on my wishlist for a few weeks, and the Penciled Abronia, since it came out. I walked into the sale room (aka: the room I hang out in) and behold, there was the skirt I dreamed of in my size. The LAST one! Yahoo! Yay for me. So I was super stoked.

Madison and Rachel showing off their finds....

Thrift Day

Today I took Madison and Rachel thrifting. I recently picked up a bunch of cute, tiny formal pieces for them to play dress-up with, and they went crazy over it. So I thought it would be fun if Rachel stayed with us today while mommy was working and did the bag sale with us. They filled their own bag, and had a ball doing so.

I ran across several Free People items, but those crazy thrift stores seem to forget that the prices are supposed to be CHEAP! So I passed on them.

I think we scored big on the unique finds, pictures to follow. Everything comes straight home and into the washer.

My First Blog!

I have been following some really cool blogs, and thought it would be fun to add what I "do" to the blogging world.
My postings will be about thrifting, my obsession with Anthropologie, coffee, sewing, my Bible study girls (they love it when I talk about them!) and my husband and kids.