better late than never?

Never put up shots from our Summer diy photo shoot...

Remember?

The photo shoot at our Jersey shore family reunion where we decided not to hire a professional photographer like we have in years past?

Well here are some of my favorite pics :)

As promised, Our DIY photo shoot-

First, the matriarch and patriarch. Also known as the super generous folks who footed the bill!

Or, as I call them- Mom and Dad

That's a lot of DNA they passed on!

 With all the grandkids

or adorable ones...

Later? DIY photo returns with the progeny!

Home Design Porn

I bet that got your attention!

So guess what kids?

My kitchen is featured on http://www.houzz.com  this week...

OMG!!!!

let's not forget the girls...

You remember her.  First born daughter. Needs a job?

And, how about her? Youngest daughter. Senior year here we come!

I will post the entire photo shoot later.
Yes, I wasn't just tired- I ALWAYS have huge bags under my eyes!
Thank goodness my daughters did not inherit that :)

Beach boys, aka my boys at the beach!

These are the men in my life!

She's back...

Although hopefully I'm not so scary...

Ok, so my hair is pretty scary here. But we were at the beach!

So anything goes, right?

It was awesome. Two weeks at LBI with our nearest and dearest.

Here is a little peek:

These are just some of the 27 folks we partied and played with at the beach! Tomorrow I will post the pics from our photo shoot. We decided not to hire a photographer this year and do our own. I think it turned out very well.

Here is one example,

 Too cute!

Jude Connally Dresses 2011/2012 not so much....

Remember when I recommended the Jude Connally dresses?
I was so excited to see if I could sell them at a huge lacrosse fundraiser, lax for the cure.
The fundraiser is so special, 4 thousand girls and their families!

I was sooo disappointed when I was told that they would not allow me sell them, that they wanted to save any of their merchandise for the high end boutiques that they are currently selling at.
Hey I understand that they have a business model that they would like to adhere to AND I realize that there is no way that they could comprehend how influential the demographic at Lax for the cure is for setting preppy trends...

However, you can only imagine how relieved I was when in speaking to my customers I found that...
they felt the Jude Connally dress line was:
1. Cut too short for older/middle age women
2. Too matronly for young women
3. too seasonal
4. pricey
5. didn't hold up over time.

Glad I found out as I was willing to place a 3,000 order!!!
Personally, I love my dresse. I like a shorter dress.

The good news was that I didn't waste my money.
Because I took the time to speak to my customers about the Jude Connally dresses I was able to get a lot of feedback, over and over again I heard about a new line that is very versatile, chic AND preppy.
And it was:
Judith March
 Game Day dresses

I am in love! I plan on putting in an order at the end of the month.
keep you posted :)

false alarm

The other morning I came out the front door and almost stepped on this behemoth, black, hairy SPIDER!
Needless to say I ran screaming into the house. Except no one was home.

I went outside with my camera so that I could document just how BIG the spider was.
First I used my zoom lens. No way was I getting close to that again.
Then... I noticed it wasn't moving, maybe it was dead?
I found a branch and started poking it...
And realized that it was an old rubber Halloween decoration that must have been dug up when we did our construction.

I called my husband to tell him what happened. It turns out he was the prankster who placed it on the sidewalk, visible only after an innocent victim (me) were to come down the steps.

Apparently I was one of many victims. He went on to tell me that my older son came down the stairs and proceeded to yell, " What the Hell!" then he ran by while he kept looking back pointing and shouting to my husband.

My daughter skipped right over it, then realized what she had just seen and ran screaming to the car.

Of course, my younger son was late to his camp because he had to investigate and then ended up stomping it repeatedly (before he realized it was fake!)

I am plotting a prank to rival this...
Any ideas?

My monogram?

Well, that would be with a sharpie.
Our family will be going to our favorite place this Summer with our extended family.

All 27 of us.

If you are familiar with rentals at the Jersey shore- you know that you must bring all your own bed linens and towels.
That's a lot of sheets and towels!
And how to keep track of which towels and sheets belong to whom?
I rely on little initials in the corners, made with my black sharpie!
Not too classy, but it does the job.

Trend alert!

So first, I miss all of you! I have been on the road and haven't made it to blogging.
Visited the Frau in Buffalo. Will post pics soon.

Speaking of Buffalo, thanks to the Frau's daughter, my beloved niece Katelyn, I was alerted to the biggest trend EVER!!!!

Feather extensions. Kinda weird right? But they grow on you.
In fact, I am now selling clip on feather extensions... Like. Crazy.
So thanks to Katelyn I am on top of a Summer trend.
Love that girl.

Kinda cool...

So, you know I'm in love with my kitchen, right? So happy.
But, we still have a way to go.
 Butler's panty isn't done:

We want to put in cabinets, dishwasher, wine fridge and a ice maker in.
We also want to put in a patio:

But guess what kids?
That will have to wait while we play catch-up with all the money that went to construction and college tuition this past year.

So I put on my thinking cap and remembered that there was a girl in our town that rented out their kitchen for use in commercials, ads and movies. She felt there was little downside and that the money was big enough to put up with all the inconvenience.
I have heard some horror stories but decided to send the pictures shown above that my kitchen designer (Sharon Sherman, Thyme and Place Design, Wyckoff, NJ) had taken and generously gave to me.

Well, we were signed right away! Within a few days we received our first call and there I was running around crazy taking pictures of the french doors leading out of the kitchen, both inside and out. Apparently ABC wanted to shoot a promo with Mario Batali at... OUR HOUSE!!!!

However, it's show biz folks. They really needed a kitchen island that had a cook top on it!
Ours, thankfully does not. We were a contender unless they found one and... they did.

Aah, our brush with fame! Our location agent assured me that our house/kitchen is a star and that we can look forward to plenty more opportunities.

We're ready for our close-up Mr. De Mille!
 Or at least some bucks to do the patio!!