There is no place like home!!

 My husband travels some for business, & if it is a really great place, I usually go along.

 But every year in June, there is a big conference. Always some place great. Last year was San Diego, this year, closer to home, we went to Chicago.

  Our 1st few days there we stayed in a fabulous, I mean fabulous place with a view of the lake. ( & I didn't take any pics of the view ) Then we moved, to a nice hotel, but not near as FABULOUS!!

 But it was closer to all his meetings & we had invited our kids to join us for the weekend, as we had a suite reserved :)

  Every year we go to this conference it falls on our anniversary, this year was 35 for us. A BIG one. So my sweetie asked if we could have something special. "Sure" they said.  Well, I was expecting the "View" again. BUT all they could do was give us a really big corner room, with a view of the city....  

   

       This is the view that we had....

  

            Nice, huh??  I watched each day as folks sat in the sun, walked thier dogs... see in the 2nd pic....beyond the fence... there is a spot for the dogs to do thier business :) 

    Imagine..... how fun!! ..... to live there.....  Million + dollar condos, with no maintenance, a place to sit high above & watch the world go by.

        And though we had a great time.... dinner at Morton's, dinner at the Palm, had dinner one night at the Field museum, one night at the Planetarium...... 8 nights was enough

  We came home & I woke up with this view from my bed ......

         And this view......

And though we loved the sites & sounds of the big city....waking up with windows open, with breezes coming in & the birds singing.... there is no place like home

Unless we are up north at the cabin for the weekend   :)

Going to try this Again (With a really exciting ending !! :)

Well, it has been a while since my 1st post, & that is only because
I do not not know how to do this blog thing...
So, a Saturday night where plans have been cancelled, I thought that I would try again : )
This is just a small project I did a few weeks ago.....
I saw this at my Local Goodwill & knew at 1st glance what I would do with it.
A former mug holder...(remember in the 70's?? when these were popular to have on our kitchen counters :)



I just gave it a few light coats of cheap white spray paint
What do you think??? I am not sure?? I thought that it was a brilliant idea, now not so much. I'll try it our for a while & see if it works for me.




I Love to buy jewelry, but I never wear it. (this is just a small part of what I actually own :) I am pretty much a silver hoop girl. I see others wear great pieces & think that I can pull it off, so I buy it. Then I try on & try on & pretty much go back to the silver hoops.
BUT my best thrift Store find E.V.E.R. is in there. Do You see it?? Yes, right there in the middle, hanging on the middle post.
That's right!! Can you say SCORE!! An authentic David Yurman bracelet!!!
Can you believe it.... Oh My!!


Here is the story.... I was in New York this spring, a very small town.
I run a Spring Break mission trip for my Church & Young Life. We drove out a few days early, to get things ready. On an errand run with my daughter-in-law, we stopped in at a Salvation Army (can not just pass by without stopping :) We bought a few things & then asked if there were any more thrift stores nearby. The very nice clerk said, "Well, there is a consignment shop right next door". Well I would not normally go in a consignment shop, they always seem to price things a bit to high for me (once you've done GW...you hate to pay those prices :) BUT my DIL said, "let's just look" So, as we are browsing, I am looking at the jewelry & saw this piece. I could not believe what I saw & it was marked $20. The sign on the door said all white tags are 1/2 off. Well, this had a white tag. I asked, "Is this half off, also"? She said, "No, not jewelry, but I can do 20% off".
And can you believe, I had to think about it. $16, That is over my thrift store limit. But I thought what the heck, if it is real, it is probably worth a $100 or $200.
So I bought it. Put it away & pretty much forgot about it until I got home.
When unpacking the next week, I thought, "Let's see what they go for on Ebay"
Can you say $3500 !!!!! That's right $3500 !!!!! Now to be completely honest with you, the last one sold for only $2500 !!!
But HEY!!!! OH MY GOODNESS !!!!
My friends are saying, "Surely, you will keep it, you will wear it".
And I am like "Are you kidding me?? That's a car at my house" :) And I am not kidding!! 3 boys thru Christian school, & college, that is worth more than the cars that they drove.
What do you think?? Keep it? Sell it? I am thinking that just maybe, I will wear it next week when I go Chicago with my husband. We will have a week of fancy schmancy dinners for his business conference. Maybe by wearing it, I will feel like I fit in just a little if I run into say, Oprah :)
( And then I will think about selling it. )

( & NO... it will not hang with the cheaper stuff in my bedroom, I will store/hide it... or keep it on my person at all times :)


  Linking up with Linda over at http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot/   For Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays