Summertime Summertime

How's your summer going so far? It's about mid-point and you know that once August hits, time really flies by. Have you done all you've wanted to yet?


Here is a my summer so far in pictures. There are some home improvements, graduations, a birthday, an anniversary and some other assorted things.


My daughter Jena painted our front porch for us. She insisted (for a price!) and we are so glad she did.


Isn't it pretty?

I almost didn't want to put any of the furniture on it. But I did. The pillows and rug are new. My attempt at adding more aqua in my life!

The bucket to the left of the chair with the twigs in it is new too. It is a vintage apple picking bucket, which is near and dear to my heart. I lived in an apple orchard and the pickers with these buckets slung over their shoulder was a familiar site.

My son Michael graduated from high school. Here he is with a few of his "lunch table" friends.

We bought him a few gifts for being on the honor roll, winning scholarships and just being an all around great kid. He turns 18 in a few weeks.

These are his new "kicks" as he calls them. They have to be LeBron James' brand.

He is teaching himself guitar and was using my old acoustic guitar. Time for an upgrade to a nice, red electric guitar.

Yes, we spoil him :-)



My granddaughter Chloe graduated pre-school and will start Kindergarten in the Fall. This is the year she will graduate high school. Yikes!!

Our silly kitty Cyrus turned one year old on July 1st.

He is not only silly, but a little crazy. Here he is playing fetch. He loves jumping up to catch his toy.

That is a real picture. It has not be edited :-0

We went to opening day of the Renaissance Faire in Sterling, NY. It is done very well with the authentic costumes and accents and events of Medieval England. This was the Sing-Along at the last half hour of the day.



We spent the 4th of July at a Red Wings baseball game with fireworks following. They are a local minor league team. It is nice to have them nearby to go in the summer for some baseball, peanuts and cracker jacks!

I went strawberry picking with my daughter. We ran out of time before we had to get back for pedicures so it was the fastest 2 quarts I ever picked. I got two batches of jam and a strawberry rhubarb pie out of them.

My husband and I celebrated 20 years of marriage on July 13th. It was a 90+ degree humid day so all we wanted to do was be in air conditioning. We went on a shopping spree at the mall, which was to buy anything we wanted the whole day. Looking back I didn't buy enough!


We also went to see the movie The Shallows. It was really good! All I will tell you is that it is about a girl on a rock in the ocean and a shark.


Our day ended with dinner at a restaurant called Otto Tomattos.

There has been lots of thrifting and garage sales and barn sales. My granddaughter Cassidy and I have been going on Fridays when she is with me for the day. We found this great barn sale nearby and spent an hour going through everything. I bought a lot of great treasures, some to sell, some to keep.

We had been working on our dining room and decided to give up and give in. It was just too much work. We hired my niece's husband to finish the job. It turned out phenomenal! There is still one more thing to be hung before I do a reveal.


Here is a sneak peak at the color. That's all I've got for now!

We have had a very dry, hot, humid summer so my gardens are not looking very good and the grass is brown and crunchy. I did enjoy my Mock Orange Tree in bloom in late Spring though. It is always a highlight of the weather turning warm.

I hope your summer has been all that you planned for, or hoped for.


There is still a lot of summer left so enjoy!


AnnMarie xoxo


I am joining these great blog parties this week:


Make It Pretty Monday
Share Your Cup
Thoughts of Home on Thursday
Simple & Sweet Fridays

Five Random Things Plus a Recipe!

Time for another "random things" post (otherwise known as 5 things happening in my world that would take me five weeks to write them all out as individual posts!)


1 - I have the perfect recipe for all those luscious homegrown red tomatoes you have been or will be picking and don't know what to do with! It is called Fresh Tomato Garlic Pasta and it is from a great cookbook my sister sent  me when she moved to Florida 20 years ago.

Simple to make with simple ingredients and it is SO good and fresh tasting. You have to make it ahead, in the morning of the day you want to eat it, so that all the ingredients have time to become delicious together.

Here is the recipe:

4 large ripe tomatoes, diced

5 cloves garlic, chopped

1 large sprig fresh parsley, chopped

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

6 ounces mozzarella cheese, cubed

1 pound pasta, like penne

Parmesan/Romano cheese as garnish

The night before or early in the day combine all ingredients EXCEPT pasta and parmesan.

 Stir well. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours but not more than one day.

Stir once or twice while in fridge.

When ready to serve, prepare pasta. Coat with sauce; serve hot or cold with parmesan.

It is delicious both ways.

The final plate with penne pasta and romano cheese....

2 - It was finally warm enough for me to go watch my granddaughter Cassidy's baseball game. She is eleven and the only girl on her team, the Marion Knights. Her Dad is a coach and her Mom is the score keeper. So proud of her and how she holds her own with the boys. She plays third base or short stop. Here she is ready to smack the ball.

3 - I have been working on my garden, getting things planted in pots and putting all my new, fun garden things out. It has been slow going because of the cold weather but we are having high 70's - 80's now so I am playing catch up.

Here is a sneak peak of two of my new additions to my gardens this year.

My weathered door and garden hose wreath I made this year

A sink garden with white Bacopa and vintage plates



Once my yard and gardens are ready and done I will do a whole post on all of my new treasures!


4 - Huge score at my local Goodwill. It was another "thrifting on a whim" kind of day and I found so many things that I was there for an hour and a half while my frozen tilapia was melting in my car. It is grocery shopping day but the thrifting bug bit me hard! Some will go to my booth and others to my Etsy shop. I might have to keep the little fish.

 I need some help here. Does anyone have any idea what this cut glass, crystal beauty is? It is on a marble base with no way to wire it as a lamp. The fancy brass top screws off. I just had to get it but I don't know what to call it to even search it. I was asking customers at the Goodwill to help me out. No one knew. Help!

Since I first posted this, I found out that this stunning piece is a Scales of Justice. It should have a hanging scale on either side. After reading Betsy's comment about using this pretty crystal stand to hang necklaces, I had to try it. What do you think? I love it!

5 - How many pictures of cute kitties sleeping together do you really need?

Just one more.....

AnnMarie xoxo


I am linking up with these great blog parties:


Talk of the Town
Share Your Cup Thursday
Simple & Sweet Fridays
Vintage Charm
Thoughts of Home on Thursday
Home Sweet Home
Random Five Friday
Five on Friday
Pink Saturday
Happiness is Homemade
Dishing It & Digging It Link Party
Cooking and Crafting with J & J
Best of the Weekend

You Know It's All About Getting One For The Land

Cleve-land, that is.

That's a HUGE billboard of LeBron James on the building in the background.

LeBron James said that about getting a championship win for the Cav's - the Cleveland Caveliers NBA basketball team.


But we weren't in Cleveland this past weekend for the Cav's game. We were there for the Cleveland Indians vs. the New York Mets baseball game.


Why go to Cleveland, Ohio for a Mets game and not New York City when we live in Upstate NY?


$$$ vs. $$$$$$......It is actually less expensive for the tickets, the gas, the lodging and almost everything else you spend money on for a trip. And it's closer.


It was a three game series for the Mets and the Indians and we had tickets to see two of them, Saturday and Sunday. This could have easily been a guy's only weekend for my husband and son but I like a live baseball game too! And I found out that the once a month flea market in Cleveland was to be on Saturday! We had all day to roam the city before the 4 p.m. game so we stopped there first.

Located in a parking lot behind some buildings in the city, it was full of all kinds of stuff, including my favorite....vintage. The railroad tracks were right there, with trains going by above the whole lot.



Not a lot was affordable enough for me to buy and resell but I did buy a few things. I paid too much but they were unique.


This was the best upcycle of vintage suitcases that I have seen yet! The music was very loud coming out of them!

With a few hours to go before the game, we decided to check out the Westside Market on 125th St. It is an indoor market with vegetables and fruit, meat and bakeries.


It literally blasted all your senses as you walked in the doors.

 Ewwww.....

 Italian goodies....

I am AnnMarie (no e) and my husband is Frank. How cool to see this cute dairy first.....

and then just to the left.....

It was so tempting to load up on all the food that surrounded us.....and how about those apple fritters?! But we were good and had juiced veggie drinks and some fresh fruit as a snack.

On our way back to the car we ran into Guitar Man, Super Hero for Hire. His slogan is "Saving Cleveland 1 Song At A Time".

We weren't quite sure how to take him but he was super fun to talk to.

Time to get to the game. The weather was gorgeous, not a cloud in the sky. Frank got us great seats, right on first base. It was a really nice field, called Progressive Field.

The Mets came out to stretch a little.

This struck me so funny. How many guys does it take to hold a hose?

Apparently 15.


Even though it was warmer back in NY, we all got sunburned from sitting out in the glorious sun for 4 hours. Not complaining!


Mets lost 7-5.


But we had some pretty good food. The best veggie pizza I have had to date!

The next morning our plan was to go to breakfast and then off to the second game. There was a Bob Evan's restaurant across the street from the hotel that the guys wanted to go to but I didn't want to go there. I wanted to find a cute diner to eat at. I googled a few places and we set off.

It would all turn into a comedy of errors.....three times!

Yours Truly was our first stop. When the GPS said "your destination is on the left" this is what we saw....

A building torn down to the studs.

I googled again. Another one that sounded cute....can't remember the cute name. This is what we found when we arrived....

Shut down for who knows how long.

Across the street was a grocery market with a huge Café sign on the building. We went inside to find out it too was closed down.

Guess where we ended up going to breakfast?

Yup, you guessed it, Bob Evans!

The game on Sunday was an early afternoon game at 1 p.m. The Cav's were playing at 3 p.m. The baseball field and the basketball arena just happened to be right next to each other. We got caught in the middle of two major sporting events going on and it was lively! Thank goodness for being able to make reservations for a parking spot online a month ago!

The weather was perfect again but we were on the third base side this time, in the shade most of the game. I was dressed in 3 layers with a scarf around my neck and a jacket over my legs. It was a great game though. Mets won 6-0.

On our way out, another colorful character was hanging out by the parking garage.

It's always a fun time in a big city! You never know what you'll see or who you'll meet. It was a memorable trip and I got to tag along with the guys!


What are you doing this weekend?


AnnMarie xoxo


I am linking up with these fun blog parties:


Thoughts of Home
Share Your Cup
Best of the Weekend
Anything Goes Pink Saturday