free table.

i forgot to update my projects page with the free table project last month! sondra and i scored a free table - so I paired it with some crafty scraps I had laying around the garage. i thought it would be cute to do a place setting for two theme (with plates, flatware and glasses) but I ran out of room. (it's a SMALL free table).

I never got a final pic (i know, i know) because it SOLD at a dirty birdies sale! hah. you can check out the pics I DO have at my kodak gallery projects page.

vintage plumbing.

GUESS how much I spent on my latest garage sale find?!

It's a porcelain enamel pedestal sink. LOVE it! Even though we just put in a new sink - I could NOT pass it up. Maybe in our next house....

I googled Standard Sanitary Manufacturing and found the company started in 1899 and was bought by American Standard Company in 1929. Jiminy CRICKETS - could the sink be that old?! I think it is still the original enamel coating finish. It's in great condition, with some slight rust and etching probably caused by abrasive cleaning products.

LOOK - this vintage plumbing website is selling pedestal sinks for thousands of dollars. Holy TOLEDO! Maybe I'll be on the next episode of Antiques Roadshow...

I need to get a flashlight and see if the YEAR is on the inside of the sink.

do u have a guess yet?! leave me a comment - the winner gets a prize.

sunflowers.

not only is my mom pretty cool, she takes GREAT pictures too. Her and Tom went for a motorcycle ride along the 150 acre SUNFLOWER farm in Camillus, NY and took photos of the endless sunny sunflowers. i've been enjoying sunflowers from the public market but i'm still JEALOUS!

she called this one 'achu'. hah. he does kinda look like he's sneezing.

kitchen gadgets.

we have two new kitchen gadgets!

the first is a merry MATE for our pepper grinder. mcallister is always cooking with kosher salt which doesn't easily FLOW out of salt shakers. he kept leaving the top off the shaker for easy access or just pinching straight from the container. several times the lid never got put 100% back on and I (or my food) was left SALTY.

i tried looking for a new container, but didn't find one. one day, while I was in my workshop glueing more corks on my wreath I was admiring several of my old tins. I use them to store scrapbooking scraps and store-bought cards I re-purpose. well the old Morton Iodized Salt girl begged for a chance to play her part so I moved her up in the kitchen! This tin is another one of the many cool finds Sue gave me, and it's being put to good use!

The other gadget is the ultimate ice cream scoop. this thing is the mack-daddy of SCOOPERS. It's strong, got a great comfy grip and maintains a nice balance while slicing through hard ice cream.

plus - it's PINK!

it doesn't give you the perfect, round scoop meant for a cone - but I love it just the same. i got it at william-sonoma but I don't see it online anymore.

i guess i'm not alone - it got good reviews on epinions.

kayaking.

today we went kayaking on the northern end of canandaigua lake with some friends. i forget how close we are to nice bodies of water living here in rochester.

we rented some kayaks for 2 hours and leisurely strolled around the lake. we checked out the pier, the state's smallest park, Squaw Island and some old boathouses. i really liked the old boathouses on the pier. i later found out that they are actually historic, the first of which were built in 1848 and also that Squaw Island is like 11,000 years old!

we had a picnic in kershaw park which was fun, such a nice view of the lake.


You can check out the rest of the pics on my Kodak gallery page.

tablecloth.

i decided today should be 'wear a TABLECLOTH to work day'. so I did! ok - so i only wish i could say it really made of my table linens. it totally isn't - my sewing skills are a bit rusty. my new shirt is actually my latest under 10 dollar find.

i googled and found that crafty crafty made skirts out of table linens and creative little daisy did it too! even celebrities are wearing things that look like table linens. RECYCLED fashions must be an upcoming TREND. I don't think I've ever been in front of a trend before...

i could never wear it around lisa when she was wearing her red checkered gingham pants. we'd look funny.

eating.

tuna... it's what's for dinner.

monKEYS.

In Scituate, we strolled through the local shops along the main drag. I was intrigued by store called Artifacts b/c they had a fun little JUNK pile outside their door.

Inside I met FRED. There were a bunch of fun Fred products buried in the back of store that kept me entertained. Like a fred - o - matic (a retro whirling kitchen timer that plays music), skeleton and monkey covers for your keys, a cactus pen that sits in a pot, desk accessories that made me smile and CUPS with fake noses on them. haha. The cups are very familiar... I think I've seen them before.

I could NOT resist getting the monKEYS! I have 2 look-a-like keys on my keychain and what better way to tell them apart than by a colorful CHIMP?! (or perky primate as Fred calls them) monKEYS will solve ALL my problems! (with keys, that is)

Fred is a funny guy. I took his advice and already gave my two chimps names. Cheeky and Kong. It's much more FUN to look for lost keys by calling out names of my colorful monkeys. 'Have you seen Cheeky lately?!' Lucy is getting very confused.

Last night I found Fred's website and realized I NEED a drip clip to hold paper clips on my desk at work. A teeny-tiny kitchen sink for the desk - BRILLIANT!! I also figured out where I had seen the 'pick a nose' cups, Fred's blog had a Jack Black pic in People magazine that I recall seeing. Wow bubble wands too! I saw them on ljc's blog recently. Funny how close to Fred I was and didn't even know it!

stick support.

I must have been so BUSY the last week, I didn't even notice the new support materials being used in our garden!

It looks like McAllister cleverly traded my ornamental bamboo garden stakes in for some old (and already broken) HOCKEY sticks to support our heavy green pepper plants. They have been toppling over with all the rain we've been getting. Hah.

My crazy hockey man wins the 'new uses for old things' prize of the week!

Our rhubarb is growing like MAD too. Quite a big difference from when it almost bit the dust back in June. I'm convinced it is the addition of my good luck rocks to the planter.

Now if only my 'Die Weeds' would work harder than the 'Grow Up'.

1000words.

I'm featured on Kodak's blog today talking about how I recently cut off most of my hair for Locks of Love.

Their blog is called 1000words. If you haven't checked it out, they always have neat stories from employees and guests that are told through one of my FAVE things - PHOTOS!

Take a peek at it or my my former 1000words posts, and comment over there if you'd like!

oh, and Happi Monday!

scituate, mass.

we're back from a quick 3 day weekend getaway. we visited the Lavelle family on what is proving to be our annual family fishing trip. I just love picturesque new england. this year we stayed in the quaint seacoast town of scituate, massachusetts. think boats, fishing, shops, boutiques, dining out, seagulls, lighthouses, lazy strolls on the coast, sunrises and sunsets, plus more.

as expected, everyone took lotso pics. i haven't organized mine yet - but I pulled a few out to help me hold onto our nice relaxing break for just a few more days.

and we're off.

bags are packed.
directions are printed.
lucy's dog sitting arrangements made.

we're off to the atlantic ocean, away from tropical storms and hurricanes, to set sail on my aunt and uncle's boat for the weekend. we'll be fishing. and then fishing some more. while i plan to stick with plain ole fishing rods to catch my dinner, my brother will be debuting a new fishing technique on this trip. based on his description of it (below), I can't wait to capture on camera for all to see. he describe's this technique as (and I quote):

"... I see you have been practicing your fishing techniques McAllister, but they will be no match for my deadly in the water 'el snatch ala hand' technique I use while deep sea fishing. It's complicated and has been passed down from generations of my Polish/Portuguese ascenders. It involves some intense submerged salt H20 wrestling and can be pretty dangerous. So lookout."

hah. bet you didn't know we were polish.

Below is a mosaic of last year's fishing event photos.



see ya soon.

junker's heaven.

Today I will be super-duper busy day at work and then I am getting ready to jet outta town for the weekend. It is a great day, however, and I wanted to share just TWO of the reasons why:

Reason #1: I joined the Junkmarket Junk CLUB!!

Remember when Sondra and I met Sue from the Junk Ladies - well that duo is taking the junk market by storm by starting a junk club! If you don't know, Sue and Ki are the authors of Decorating Junkmarket Style (a good book that I don't like to let people borrow for fear of my own book-lending habits) and also write a column in Country Home Magazine.

Well they started a club 'for the enjoyment of people who like to hunt for, find, repair, recycle and reuse cool stuff. Often mistaken for junk.' That's ME!! I'm one of those people. I'm most excited that this club will introduce me to other junk-crazed people and create a forum for us to share ideas and projects. We can feel normal together in pure JUNK heaven.

Reason #2: The other dirty birdie started her own blog!! Check it out - it's called 'Aged Essence'.

There you have it. Happi Wednesday!

catch my mail.

one of my newest junk items that I'm re-purposing is an old BABY scale. the junk ladies used an old baby scale to hold rolled-up bath towels, but i already have our homemade ladder towel rack in our guest bedroom. McAllister's mother Sue gave it to me and while I was trying to find a creative use for it, it served as a catch-all in our foyer. then it hit me, we'd use it to PILE the mail up! it's nearly the same color as the kitchen walls and I think it fits the dry-sink nicely.

t-shirt art.

FOR THE LOVE OF T-SHIRTS.

(an art mural in the city of Rochester. ArtWALK)

dinner date.

When my mom, sister and Tom came up for dinner Thursday night - we put them right to work helping us make chikn and veggie KABOBS.

We did let Mom take a break and open some long overdue birthday presents (her bday was in June). She got a PINK, magnetic hammer to accessorize all those home improvement projects her and Tom are working on. It came alongside some nice, new lotions to repair her hands from working too much on the house.

Justine was around too, being SILLY as usual. It was nice to see she made it up from Florida in one piece considering the travel nightmare she had.

candid.

Candid is playing in Rochester this weekend. Yippee! They are playing downtown at the East End Festival on Friday night.

Candid and I have a long history together. I went to high school with all the musicians and I even played in the band with them for a short while. (the violin for any curious readers)

I missed them when they performed at the last East End fest, so we will definitely make it out this time. Hopefully dancing right alongside 'festival guy', whom I haven't seen since we went to the Taste of Rochester.

bruster's.

At the Corn Hill Festival, I took the suggestion from a friend to try out BRUSTER'S ice cream. She claimed it to be the best in Rochester. Being the ice-cream-aholic I am, I selfishly thought how could there be a place here I haven't tried that was THAT good?

After having it AGAIN last night with McAllister - I can attest this real ice cream is top notch! It's fresh, creamy, and filled with deliciousness. Quite the homemade ice cream TREAT! I wanted to try out all the flavors, however I stuck to good ole Black Raspberry. Again.

Their sign reminded me of LUDEN's cough drops.... don't ya think? I used to eat those like candy when I was a youngin.

potter earmuffs.

I've joined in on the Harry Potter mania craze that has recently swept most of the Muggle reading world. The past two weeks, my nose has been buried in books 5 and 6 in an effort to brush up in preparation for book 7.

Having just finished, I will now spend the next two weeks trying to AVOID any and all conversations or print news about book 7. I don't want any he said/she said baloney to ruin the ending or cloud my thoughts while I'm reading. My copy of book 7 happens to be at my mom's house, so I'll have to keep my potter earmuffs on for two weeks until I pick it up.

These neat Harry Potter stamps are for sale in Britian, I wonder if I could get McAllister's brother to mail me some.