I have an obsession with Etsy.com. I love everything about this site and the thought that a lot of people have never heard of it boggles my mind. This needs to be bigger than EBay and Amazon people! Not a day…or hour goes by where I am not taking a peek at what’s new. For me it’s a place to find cool one of a kind treasures from individual people and sellers.
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25Oct
Categories: Blonde Things, Love Comments: 1
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20Oct
Categories: Blonde Things Comments: 1
So I have this is sickeness – OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). If you want to leave out the fancy terminology and call me a neat freak – that works too. I think it’s in the genes because my dad has it to.
Last summer when we were visiting Sam’s brother and his wife in Connecticut we stopped at a Scandinavian store in Mystic, CT that my mom use to take me to when I was little. We found these fabulous Swedish dish cloths! At seven bucks a pop we only bought one, but that is all you need because they are made of this all-natural cellulose and cotton material that never smells. They are are also very absorbent; can be machine washed; they never leave any streaks; and they are SWEDISH!
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19Oct
Categories: Blonde Things, The House Comments: 0
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19Oct
Categories: Blonde Things, Traveling Comments: 0
The first week of our honeymoon was spent in Venice, Italy and when it came time to say “arrivederci” it was extremely difficult to leave! I’m pretty sure this city has some mystical magical powers….and it’s a little bit of heaven on earth.
Our next stop was Florence, a complete change of pace from the slow moving Venice. I think there was a moment when Sam and I looked at each other and we both thought…lets turn around and go back to Venice! But after a few days we found Florence to be a special place too. The city is a walking city and walk it we did… it also sits smack in the middle of the Tuscan mountains, which is an amazing site to be seen.
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18Oct
Categories: Traveling Comments: 2
After an amazing few days of celebrating our marriage with family and friends the Sam and Melissa party and a year of planning our nuptials came to quick end. It was bitter sweet because I had a lot of fun planning our wedding, but it was more stress than a girl can handle.
So a few weeks later Sam and I celebrated together in Italy. Our first stop was Venice, the city on the lagoon. We both thought the city was an incredible place especially if you can escape the fast paced tourist who jump off the cruise ship for five hours to say they “saw Venice.” The truth is “Venice” wasn’t in St. Mark’s Square, and we didn’t find it in the Basilica. For us Venice was best found hidden down a canal that seemed like it was leading somewhere but ended up to be a dead end or an empty palazzo.
Most evenings it was our mission to find the darkest alley that housed a restaurant where a tourist wouldn’t dare venture down. We enjoyed some of the most amazing meals with this method, and we also enjoyed getting lost this way. Well worth the agony of trying to find our way home though.
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03May
Categories: Blonde Things, The House Comments: 2
I kinda have an infatuation with using natural, rustic things as decor in our house …wood, stones, rock, glass…and right now burlap.
A few weeks ago Sam and I splurged and bought a Pottery Barn burlap lamp shade for – I don’t know – over fifty bucks (I had a coupon and we bought a rug) – and I can’t bare to look up what we actually paid because I made an almost identical one for five bucks.
We had a plain white lamp shade on a cool floor lamp that was a bit shabby, so I went to the craft store and bought some burlap for $5 (and I even have enough fabric left over to cover at least one more shade). I traced a pattern on some newspaper, cut, and used a hot glue gun to secure it on the shade!
What do you think?
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27Mar
Categories: Food, The House Comments: 1
Sometimes living in the country has its setbacks. My favorite thing about living in downtown Albany was walking to fabulous restaurants and bars; and being able to order delivery. We can’t do much of that now that we live in the middle of nowhere.
Like last night when we were sitting on the couch – our muscles sore from working hard in the yard all weekend and with dinner time quickly approaching – a pizza commercial came on the TV. It looked so appetizing and simple. No cooking needed. Delivery – a perfect idea. Unfortunately, since we moved out here we found only one place that delivers to our house – and the pizza – not so good. You know you’re in trouble when you can’t even get a good slice of pie! I looked online and found a few places to call – they all had the same response – no delivery to our house.
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22Mar
Categories: Food, Sam's Recipes Comments: 0
I love to garden. Something I think I get from my grandparents. They always had a huge flower and vegetable garden, and I remember playing in their gardens when I was a kid. And as an adult I would help them weed, pick the food, and eat it. For several years Sam and I were part of the Community Gardens in Albany, and it was so much fun. This year will be our first summer in our house and I am very excited to have a vegetable garden.
Around the middle of March I like to plant my seeds indoors, so I can put them in the ground after the frost. The weather has been so amazing I have already been able to set my trays outside in the warm sunshine. Within a few days my seedlings started to pop up.

