Gone too long!! Sorry!!! :D

Hello!!! It has been way too long since I've posted on my blog. Sorry about this. Hope all is well with my 'readers.'

I was planning on posting before we went on vacation (9/15--10/16), even downloaded pictures to put on it but never got to it with all the getting ready to go and all...

I am going to share some Wisconsin vacation pictures in this post.

Please ENJOY!!!!

John looking like 'Walter." Me knitting at the beach. (don't

know how to turn the pic)

Hannah at the beach. Funny sign!!

Love this pic of H+me!! I love H + the beach!!

Cool trees!! Ore boat on the coast in Ashland.

This ship is HUGE!!

Us around the dinner table. Sunset on Siskiwit Lake.


Me on Lake Superior. :D The girls out for lunch.

Squirrel in John's feeder. Storm comin' in. Crashing in
sea caves.

High waves from storm. A little wind-blown. :)

H + K being blown away!! Wearing my hand-knit socks.

Knitted by my own two hands!!

OUR TRIP TO DOWNTOWN ASHEVILLE!! (and the Mark Schultz concert!!)

Hannah + I went to Asheville on Saturday (8/22/09) with our good friend, Alison. (she knows downtown Asheville where as we don't...she used to live in Asheville.) We'd been planning on doing this for months + decided to JUST DO IT!! this particular day...

Here's Hannah ready to head out. Still at our house right before we left.

In Alison's car heading to the 'BIG CITY.'

Walking in downtown Asheville.

These drawings were on a stockade fence between 2 buildings. They were amazing. The artist community here is terrific.

We ate a really cool Pan Asian restaurant, DOC CHEY'S Noodle House. We sat at the 'bar' (which was really a granite counter with some cool fiber optic lights in it. tried to take a picture of the lights...but it wouldn't show up in the photos.) The picture of Me is a silly one...trying to 'look Asian' I guess!!! LOL!! But in actuality just being silly. :) The 'girl' in the bottom picture was our server. She worked the bar. She was very nice + patient with me. ;) I'm not one for anything out of the ordinary when it comes to my food intake so I had a few questions about their menu. ;) The dining area wasn't very big + the wait would have been very long had we not eaten at the counter. Oh...And the food was good, too!!! :D

SCENERY OF DOWNTOWN ASHEVILLE..........

Hannah at the 'bead store' spending the Gift Certificate that Alison gave her last year for her birthday! Better late than never!! She had a wonderful time going through all they had. Very cool store.

Absolutely loved this mural on the side of a building. Had to have Hannah take a picture of me!

That pretty much finishes our day in Asheville. I got so excited about being in a 'CITY' that you would think I was in New York City!! Asheville is a very eclectic city with people from all different walks of life. Very cool. :)

The Mark Schultz concert at the new Smoky Mountain Performing Arts Center. Very nice facility (with extremely fancy bathrooms!!!!). The concert was FANTASTIC!! Very uplifting. Will definately see him in concert again if we get the chance.

Kevin + I after the concert outside the Perforning Arts Center.

Thanks all for letting me go on + on about our adventures this summer. Sorry it's taken me so long to post on my blog. 'Need' to update it at least every other week. (or at least 'try!!') I'll 'try' to be better at it from now on!!

Happenings of the past week or so...

Well....this past week or more has been quite exciting! Last Tuesday (?) Kevin painted our kitchen. The bottom color is the same as in the Living Room but the top part is a lighter yellow from the same paint chip than the LR. I absolutely LOVE how it has turned out!!

Here's a photo of Kevin painting behind the sink.... (yes, he painted right over the wallpaper!! Believe me...it's much easier this way than having a frustrated painter in your home!!)

The finished kitchen corner + back door. This photo doesn't show the 'right' colors of this room. (flash must have been on!)

This is the 'finished' Kitchen. ;) I say that because as you can see....my kitchen still isn't completely put back together. (believe it or not...it still isn't completed!!) I made these valances myself. I tore the fabric after dying them the same color as the Living Room and 'sewed' them with iron-on fuse tape. (It's great when you don't want to pull out your machine!!) They came out terrific. I'm very proud of myself!!

And here's the finished Living Room. The curtains have been dyed. My (our) home is like having the sun shining inside all the time. :) Very comforting + uplifting.

Here's a photo of me on my birthday. I know...not the most flattering!! We (my mom + I) 'tried' making sugar-free cupcakes. They weren't the tastiest...but I wanted my mom to be able to eat some cake, too.

More birthday pictures........

Maggie holding 'baby Luke.' She did so very well. She even got to feed him!! :)

And Hannah holding her nephew baby Luke. :)

Here are 3 generations. My mom, Lynette. My neice, Maggie. And myself. (I'm sorry my sister, Mag's mom Barbara, couldn't make it. she had to work.)

My mom + I when they first got here. :)

Me comforting Maggie after her 'injury.' It was quite amusing (once we knew she was going to be fine). We were playing 'restaurant' out on the deck + Kevin was popping in + out of the sliding-glass-doors being the 'chef' Well, after we ordered + got our food he thought we were done playing so he closed the door. Maggie had no idea he had done this. Well...she ended up walking right into the closed glass door. At first it upset her but once we saw that she wasn't hurt I had to laugh because it was comical. :D :D If I had video taped it we could have won $10,000 from 'America's Funniest Videos.' (LOL!!!)

Here's Kevin (my honey!!) cooking us supper on our last night together. We had barb-b-qued chicken with lots of fresh veggies from a local produce stand. Yummy!!!

One of the best + biggest highlights (at least for me) was watching Maggie playing with Honey, our very large Collie. Two years ago she was petrified of her. She told me her goal this time was to spend time with our dog. And she sure did!! Maggie's favorite prt was being able to walk Honey around our yard on the leash. Maggie seemed to like being more in control of her. It was just great watching her overcome her fears.

This is one of my favorite pictures of our visit. All the 'girls' we had here for my b-day.

Sitting: Aunt Martha + Mother

Back row: Me, Maggie + Hannah

It was so nice seeing family. We had a great time with all the fun we could shove into 2 days!! Went to the Factory. Had chinese food for my b-day lunch. Shopped uptown on Main Stree. And the best....was eating Maple Walnut ice cream at the local chocolate shop. :) Yum!!!

Thanks for 'hearing' me out!!!

Hope you've enjoyed the pictures!!

Hugs..........Nanette :D