maybe this one??

I'm trying to get an appointment to see this one... Silver Lake Indiana...

Did someone say Lakehouse?

my latest project is to find us a summer / lakehouse getaway. I currently have 2 contenders. one located on Big Long Lake in Wolcottsville Indiana and one on Duck Lake in Gobles Michigan. I'm continuing my search....

spring???

the Japanese Maples are leafing out, well one of three is, Hopefully the other two didn't die on me this winter.. and my Miniature Narcissus are still trying to get to that blooming stage.. so much for having Narcissus at Christmas :-)

Sweet EBAY.. oh how I love thee....

back in the early 90's when I was a Store Manager for Pottery Barn, they carried a product called Hotel Silver Flatware. Basically it was vintage flatware that was recycled by PB, re-silvered and sold by the piece, I believe around $5 per piece and the result was an eclectic mix of mix and match flatware, very shabby chic.. I loved the flatware but at the time I really wasn't shabby or chic so I passed on the opportunity to purchase it and yes passed on the 40% discount. Later when I realized I really was a bit shabby chic I went looking for this flatware only to discover that PB had discontinued it. PB now carries a similar item called Madison Flatware, selling for $95 per 5 piece place setting, but the catch is, while each piece of the 5 place setting is a different pattern, all of the place settings are the same 5 patterns. Well that and the $95 price tag. So I went searching.. and found exactly what I was looking for on EBAY. I found an auction lot of 150 pieces of vintage silver flatware, I won this auction for $75.02 + shipping so I got 150 pieces of flatware for less that 1 place setting of Madison. My box arrived today and I could not be happier... in this box of mis matched silver flatware was enough pieces to put together over 15 place settings (with a few serving pieces and left overs too) with each place setting being entirely unique and different from the others. I can't wait to dip this stuff in some silver polish and put it to use...

bulk

seems everyone is in on the catering idea, boxes of bulk dinnerware, flatware, barware. You can get them just about anywhere from C&B, Pottery Barn, and Target. But Target recently clearanced theirs so I stocked up... 18 wineglasses for $9 and 12 Porcelain Dinnerplates for $10. Can't beat that....

call me fickle

new house to add to the list... so far we have Bloomington Indiana, Saugatuck Michigan, and now McHenry Illinois. 3 bedroom home on 5 acres with horse barn for $450,000. The most expensive so far but the closest to a big city, Chicago.