picket fence flag.

I've been DREAMING about picket fence projects ever since we scored all the fence scraps from our neighbors. Keeping the picket momentum going, and since it's July, and considering our patriotic vacation in DC - I'll let you connect the rest of the dots. So here it is, our latest picket project - a Picket Fence American Flag!

I researched the dimensions of the American Flag because there is a science to it's size, but decided to wing it a bit when the pickets wouldn't cooperate at their full width. I'm very excited about this one, McAllister hung it from our pergola in the backyard and I think it looks FAB!

Who knows, since our picket fence planter boxes were such a hit at the Dirty Birdies sale, these may be up for sale too!

just stuff it.

Some of the banana pepper plants in our garden are in HARVEST mode. We usually cut them up to throw them on sandwiches and homeade pizzas. But these plants are producing a TON of them which kept me thinking, what in the heck are we going to do with all these banana peppers?!

Meet BOB. We don't know who he is, but he has a tasty recipe for stuffed banana peppers that McAllister found online. He stuffed all sorts of GOODNESS in them, like italian sausage, onions, breadcrumbs, basil and oregano from our herb garden and then topped with Bob's tomato sauce.

They were very YUMMY and reminded me of my mom's homeade galumpkis. (which I never knew how to spell until now). They also taste just as good cold as lunch leftovers.

Now I'm on a mission to find things to STUFF in our peppers. I'm drooling over the idea of a three cheese stuffed banana pepper, kinda like stuffed shells or manicotti sans the pasta. MMmm... cheese.

sky-divin.

alright, so this is my crazy friend allison. today she jumped out of a plane (no I was not with her to take the pic, i was on the ground happily eating hummus).

she told me I could have all her scrapbooking supplies if she didn't make it to the ground on two feet. (she really is a great friend) but she made it without splattering. it's better this way, i know her crafty-crazed roomate would have put up a fight.

i chuckled at the funny looking hat they made her wear, it must be an aerodynamic model.

happenin' hummus.

Today I was cravin a snacky-snack so McAllister whipped us some homeade HUMMUS. He made two kinds - roasted garlic and roasted red pepper. Roasted garlic is up there on my list of BEST smells ever. I wish I could upload the scent so everyone could hit play and experience the intense flavor that permeated our home.

call for corks.

The newest craft to keep me busy is making a wine cork wreath. I started it EONS ago, but it gathered dust in my basement until I saw a completed one at my cousin's house in Alexandria. His looked so great, it kicked me in gear to finish mine. I'm just about half-way done, (much farther along than this pic) - but I'll hit a road block soon b/c I NEED MORE CORKS. I'm very grateful for all the donations I've received (I'm not a huge lush!) but please keep 'em coming!!

Delivery appreciated but not required ;-)

tomato stalks.

Even though the rain is keeping me on the bus and off the bike - it is doing WONDERS for our garden. Our tomato plants are HUGE (that is Mc behind them) and the fruit is finally starting to turn RED.

riding the bus.

Today I woke up to RAIN which meant no bike riding to work. My only backup plan was catching the bus for the first time EVER.

I have to admit - I was pleasantly surprised! It was quicker than expected, clean and full of NORMAL people like me just trying to get from point A to point B. I've now purged all bus-riding stereotypes.

There are no non-stop buses to my job, so if I keep this up, I'll have to get an all day pass. With a bus transfer and paying 'per' leg, riding to/from work would be more expensive than GAS (if I had my Jeep) ;-)

bowl full of cherries.

The cherry invasion has hit our house. We have several BASKETS from McAllister's parents' cherry orchard and they are tasty. I'm eating CHERRIES for breakfast, snacks and dessert....

new ride.

Check out my new wheels! That's right, I downsized from 4 to 2 for the next couple weeks. In order to save LOTS of money, my jeep is over in Canada getting some love from my special mechanic! (future father-in-law)

My friend Betsy was nice enough to lend me her bike. It's been about 10 years since I rode a bike, but after day two - I have some tips for anyone using the main drags to get to work like me.

• Cut through neighborhoods and take side roads as much as possible
• WATCH out for cars zooming out of their long driveways, cause they don't watch out for you.
  
• Wear a helmet. (even if it's purple)
• Be on sprinkler ALERT. When you are biking 30 minutes with a 20 lb backpack - you need a refreshing shower every now and again.
• Bring deodorant to work.
  

Even though my new wheels aren't as nice as Emily's - I am doing my part as a GREEN citizen by biking. On rainy days, I will try out the new hybrid bus from the Rochester Transportation System. I read that the diesel bus is quieter and more fuel efficient.

cornhill.

Today I went to the Corn Hill Arts Festival with some friends. Corn Hill is a historic neighborhood in Rochester which has some of the best architecture in it's old residential homes. The Arts festival was actually started back in the late 60s as a means for the Corn Hill residents to preserve the architecture of the neighborhood by raising money bringing public awareness to the area. It now draws over 200,000 people each year. It's my fave festival of all, well above Clothesline and Park Ave.

Coming off my patriotic vacation, I got Lucy a new American flag collar. I also came home with some cute glass mushrooms to adorn my garden. Those were my only purchases other than food, of course!

welcome home lucy.

Today we welcomed home Lucy. Lazy Lucy has been sleeping under the cherry trees at her grandparents house the last two weeks playing with her cousins.

We've missed her LOTS the last two weeks, the house just isn't the same without her. We immediately went to her fave place Ellison Park so she could go for a swim and see all her friends.

travel pains.

One way to subside travel pains is getting a fun, CHEERY to-go mug from Starbucks that will keep one very caffeinated during delays. and more delays. Cheers to making it back to Rochester.

missing lucy.

We dropped Lucy off for her Canadian vacation almost two weeks ago and we're missing her BIG time. When we were in Alexandria, I went to Fetch - a dog and cat bakery. It was hard for me to resist carting the fun, FESTIVE doggie treats all the way back to the Roch.

1000words.

I'm featured on kodak's BLOG today talking about two of my favorite things. PHOTOS and JUNK.

It's called 1000words. Take a peek and comment over there if you'd like!

Happy Tuesday!

my new fave store.

In 'Old Town' Alexandria, VA last week, I accidently stumbled on the Paper Source. I was outside their store window, taking a photo of their fun paper garland project when curiousity BEGGED me to wander inside. Low and behold, I entered into a crafty, paper HEAVEN. I wanted one of everything but somehow my will-power brought me home with a moderately full bag-o-goodies.

I treated myself to new rubber stamps and gifts for friends. Since I find their wasp logo irrestible, I MUST go back for their bug glasses.

After checking out their website, I found no stores in New York state. (boo). Guess I'll have to sign up for their catalog instead.

sight-seeing.

While Jon and Lisa were working today, we made our way into DC to do some sight-seeing. After meeting them for lunch, we went to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum which was a very powerful and impactful memorial of that era. Then we strolled down down along the The National Mall to visit some monuments, which was much nicer without the 100,000 people who were with us for last night's fireworks.

Oh, I can't forget the lovely steak dinner our hosts prepared for us.... I'm still FULL.

happi 4th.

road trip.

6.5 hours in a car = LONG drive to Washington, DC.

$5 tees.

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Originally uploaded by cunhatuna.

I heart tees. What's more fun than picking one up for $5?! If you don't have your outfit planned for tomorrow, OLD NAVY has some cute patriotic tees that won't break the bank! (actually only $4.97)

I even got our vacation HOSTS a pair of coordinating tees so that our pics will be all decked out in the red-white-and-blue!!

meet skinny.

I came home from work and McAllister said he had a surprise for me. He opened the freezer and I found it chock FULL of Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches. He made the trek to an out-of-the-way Wegmans' to fill our freezer! (my East Ave Wegmans' hasn't caught onto the craze yet)

For those who haven't indulged, allow me to introduce you SKINNY and her ice cream treats. They are low-fat ice cream products and you'd never know it. You can rest assured that my palette has no time for ice cream that tastes 'low-fat'.

Skinny's website has lots of fun tools: the cowculator, Skinny e-greeting cards (my mom is gonna LOVE the one I sent her) and my most recent discovery - Skinny's Flavor Finder. As much as I heart Wegman's - I may have to make a pit stop at the Top's in Greece to try Skinny's Chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream sandwiches. (I just hope Top's doesn't mind me carrying my treats out in my Wegman's tote)

oh canada.

Today McAllister and I quickly went to Canada to drop Lucy off for the week. Her grandparents are going to help us out and dog-sit while we go on vaca for the 4th. We fought lots of border traffic b/c it's Canada Day. It wasn't bad though - I got to wear my Canada tank top and take photos of Niagara Falls while I was in line.

We took our time coming back along Route 104, stopping at roadside farmer's stands and yard sales. I scored lots of treasures! It was picture perfect weather, so I made true by I taking CLOUDY 'photos from the car'. I tried to get a cloud in every photo, but after going through them just now - I think there are a couple we missed.

We also stumbled upon Beyer's Drive-in along Route 104 for lunch. It was a great grease-pit stop that we think Guy Fiere of Diner's, Drive-Ins and Dives should spotlight for their onion rings.... yum.

Happy Canada Day to everyone!

Smoooooothie Saturday.

When we were at the LPGA last weekend, I indulged in the free samples they were giving out at the Wegman's building. I'm usually an honest-1-per-sampler, however I loved the Dole Sunrise Smoothi so much I hopped in their line 3 or 4 times hoping the worker-bees didn't recognize me!

I took their recipe card and perused the Dole website which I found enjoyable. I made the Sunrise Smoothie today and it was GREAT, next time I'll make sure to chill/freeze the bananas for added affect. They had LOADS of other smoothie recipes I'll have to try.

The easey-peasey recipe:
1 cup DOLE® Pineapple Juice
1 cup vanilla low fat yogurt or frozen yogurt
1 cup DOLE Frozen Strawberries, partially thawed
2 ripe, medium DOLE Bananas, peeled

taste of Rochester.

Tonight we went to a Taste of Rochester. The music was good, however I noted not from Rochester. (boo) Some good eats, but we had to pass on food vendors like Uno's and Papa John's. I'm sure we could have come up with more Rochester focused eateries than them.

Lots of foodies were out, gobblin up goodies - so was 'festival guy'. He is this shirtless dude who dances at all the local rochester festivals. He was dancing so fast he should be called 'blurry festival guy'. I didn't know he is already famous, I took a short video of him and when I got home I saw him already on You Tube.

I passed on the garbage plate (for once) and stuck to the fried dough. I had will power of steel, because I also went home without having a chocolate almond cone from Abbott's. Then again, there's always tomorrorow.....

pickets, pickets everywhere.

Our neighbors down the street put in a new fence. To which I say 'good for them and GREAT for us'. Great for us because we took some of their old picket fence scraps that they were junking.

With all the fence scraps in our garage, LOADS of 'picket-fence' projects are running through my BRAIN. Let's see... I could make garden fences, planter boxes, a cute wall shelf, picket fence headboard, picket fence bookcases, a picket-fence shoe rack... the list is ENDLESS. You could add a picket fence to almost anything and it will ooze cute, shabby chic-ness.

First project up - PLANTER BOXES. McAllister put his new handy-saw to good use and built me my first prototype. They are now up for sale by the Dirty Birdies.

The how-to pics are on project page, check em out! And, because most of you will never make your own, if you're interested - just holler with your color of choice!!

my summer research.

I'm pretty confident that summer has arrived here in Rochester. How can I tell you ask? Well my research has noted my ice cream MELTING much faster, my STICKY legs regretting the choice of leather seats and our LAZY Lucy being noticeably absent around the house.

She can be found sleeping on the COOL bathroom floor or in the basement laundry room.

I wonder if we can train her to fold the clothes while she is down there....

hide your books.

Ok, ok - the secrets out... I'm a self-confessing BOOK thief.

I'll admit it. I've just caught myself red-handed with books borrowed YEARS ago that went unreturned to their rightful owners.

This self-realization came to me when organizing my office bookshelf, by author and color. I had to make room for the FREE books I got at the public market. Low and behold, there was no room with all the STOLEN property that lines my shelves. It's either get a new bookcase or FESS UP. (ok, so there really only was TWO books in the evidence pile - but still!)

What's worse is there is one I never finished, so now I'm attempting to re-read it.

So now I must ask... How long is OK to hang on to a borrowed BOOK?! Comments people - curious offenders need to know...

(I liked what T. Davis had to say about being a book thief.... )

lpga.

Today McAllister and I enjoyed the sunny weather at Locust Hill, watching the ladies battle it out for the LPGA championship. The purse was 1.8M total, which is some BIG money!!

We followed Paula Creamer, Reilley Rankin, Se Ri Pak, and Lincicome for a few holes. It was really neat getting up close to all the ladies. I like Paula b/c she is young, fun and her signature look is PINK. It was very different than watching it on TV, b/c you can't see everyone at once.

We loaded up on FREE stuff, including samples, magazines, food, and even a free 10 minute golf lesson for me from a PRO. She told me I have a ways to go before I can join the LPGA. Boo. Atleast I can look the part!! Check out my pics page for the PHOTOS and many thanks to LANIE for giving us the tix!

i paint rocks.

Another summer hobby of mine.... is painting ROCKS.

While we scour Lake Ontario's shore for lake glass, I also pick up baskets of rocks for painting. They don't seem to miss them! Sometimes, a rock's shape will tickle my fancy and inspire a certain SOMETHING to be painted on it. Like a strawberry or a flip flop, for examples. Both are two of my other FAVE things about summer!

Check out some more rocks!