Canton

On Saturday, my mother, my father and I went to Canton's First Monday Trade Days!  It was not an unique idea, that place was covered up with people, but it was a great idea.  The weather was beautiful.  The shopping was an adventure.  And at two different points in the day we ate blackberry cobbler and sour cherry cobbler.  It was a great day!

Although, when we got back to the house I had to explain to my husband why we "needed" $100 worth of new Tupperware.

Aunt Charlotte

My mother's sister, my Aunt Charlotte, just turned sixty.  (Hooray!)  While every moment you clock here on earth is reason enough to celebrate, I really like that we take note when people hit their zero birthdays.  My cousin and her husband very generously hosted a family dinner at The Melting Pot on Friday night to celebrate Aunt Charlotte's birthday.  We talked; we toasted the birthday girl; we enjoyed the slow paced dinner.  We dipped our bread into different cheese, then we dipped our steak, lobster, pork, chicken, shrimp in cooking oil, and then we dipped cake and strawberries into various chocolates. It was a festive night.

I'm paraphrasing but at one point after several toasts were made in her honor, my aunt stood up and said: "Maybe I was a good mother; maybe I made a few mistakes as a mother, you'll have to ask my children, but I hope my children always felt loved.  I hope my children always felt encouraged to explore their passions.  Today on my sixtieth birthday I know, my richness, my wealth comes from my children and grandchildren.  I love you all so much."

I loved that toast.  It echoes the driving principals of my life: When it's all said and done the only thing that matters are the relationships you have with the people you love.

After

Look at our beautiful new bathroom counter tops.  When I got home I was a bit shocked, because I had envisioned a more subtle white marble with faint grey veins, but instead the quarry delivered this light grey marble with aggressive dark grey veins.  My counter tops look like a Jackson Pollock painting. 

I don't know what I was thinking originally when I wanted white marble, because these bold counter tops will be great in our house; our house projects a very strong point-of-view.  We don't really know how to do subtle.  These counter tops can hold their own.

Beautiful.

Hello Wallpaper

Look what was hiding behind the bathroom mirror?  When was that wallpaper ever considered beautiful?  Do you think in 30 years they'll be asking the same question about our design choices from 2011?

Before

We're getting new counter tops in our guest bathroom and half bathroom.  The above photos are of the current counter tops; they are yellow-ish (butter white) cast stone with shell sinks and gold fixtures.  They were amazing in 1980, but it's time for a new look. 

WTF 72 Days?!

Do you know how annoying it is to live in a society were homos do not have the freedom to marry, but heteros have the unlimited freedom to marry and divorce.  Yeah, don't give homos the freedom to marry because we might damage the sanctity of marriage.  Kim Kardashian was married for four years to Damon Thomas; the marriage ended in divorce.  Kim Kardashian was married to Kris Humphries; she filed for divorce after 72 days.  Ridiculous.

Walk on Marble

We're getting new white marble added to the floor in our guest bathroom.   The counter tops will be added later this week. We bought our 1980 house in 2008 (it was the newest house we could afford in our 'hood) and every year we have a project to update the house without disrespecting its roots.   We ripped out the dated 1990 tile, and we're adding 18-inch square marble tiles.  Marble makes the normal bathroom feel special.

Often times I wonder what it'd be like to purchase a new house with all new elements.  Would we save more money if we had a new house?  Each year, we spend several thousand dollars updating our house to make it current.

However, I love that we get to make it our own.