It made me feel so wonderful and yet so sad at the same time to be uniting these loving families with great little dogs that they will cherish and love for the rest of their lives. The sadness was merely jealousy on my part, because I had had my heart stolen by little Eastwood, one of the puppies. Even Justin cried a little when we had to say goodbye to him...
But then came Sunday, with a day at the lake, thanks to my wonderful water-loving sister. And Monday brought its fair share of fun too. My mother invited us all over for BBQ and fun, and I made a cute little dessert to bring along. It's called Fruit Pizza. It's incredibly (ridiculous, actually) easy to make, yet it looks like a show stopper!
So here it is, my Fruit Pizza!
It's essentially sugar cookie dough, rolled out and baked according to the directions. Once cooled, you mix cream cheese, sugar, and a dash of vanilla until smooth and spread it out over the 'crust'. Then arrange whatever kind of fruit your heart desires. Here are a few more photos, just for fun!
It really was the prettiest thing I've made in a long time....
It's hard to be artsy fartsy with photography a la iphone...
Anyhoo, so that was yesterday. Today was a new day, and it was a day where in rare form, I really wanted to go shopping. The need to shop must have a greater pull on the majority of females, but myself, well... I usually can only handle about 10 minutes and then I begin to whine. Anyone in my family can attest to this. This time is greatly shortened if I'm not actually shopping for myself...
But I got an incredible wind today! I went to..... TJ MAXX! The worst store in the entire world for shopping... really, it is. That being said, I gave it a good go for at least 2 whole hours and somehow managed to actually spend money there as well. It's one of those stores where if I walk around with an item long enough, it always turns into something I don't reallllly need. So today, I made it my mission to only pick up amazing things, and then to buy every single amazing thing I put in the basket.
I did realize by the end of my excursion that furniture, despite my trying, will not fit into a basket. But, I simply could not leave this piece behind!!!
It felt almost like one of those instances where I wasn't buying the piece, but rather freeing it, as though it were one of those sad little hermit crabs in the shop with 8 million hermit crabs, where you think that if you buy it you're really saving its life, but in reality you're just giving them a reason to buy more... same goes for pet stores and backyard oodly doodly fake breed breeders (You spent $800 on a mutt? Aren't you smart!)... *steps off of soap box and backs away slowly*...
Anyhoo, as I was saying, I just knew in my heart it was the perfect piece for my dining room, the one I have spent months searching for! I also got a few other things, including 2 pillows ($10 & $25), 1 gorgeous pillow cover ($25), a basket just like in the Pottery Barn magazine (but for $16), a glass vase ($4), vase filler ($8), and two candle holders ($8). All in all, I was rather tickled with my purchases.
Here they are on display in my dining room, which is beginning to look a little more refined. The table top:
The new buffet, topped with some glass vases and candles I had, as well as my lovely white platter, pitcher, and more vase filler for color.
Here is a view of the whole buffet. Underneath is the PB-like basket (will fill with goodies) and a pillow I purchased but haven't found the perfect home for yet. I also repurposed some amazing pillows we also found at TJMaxx but had been using in the formal living room.
And the whole sha-bang.
So what do you think? Next on the list is a new rug. I'm thinking a white one with a grey/blue pattern (also at TJ Maxx, but I really couldn't carry that one, so I gave up on it for the time being). Also, I'm thinking of doing some really fun vintage travel posters in here, like these: http://www.art.com/gallery/id--b6473-c1837/places-vintage-art-prints.htm?Aff=CONF&RFID=054402&TKID=0&KWID=893413358&gclid=CMWa7e-e66kCFYtb7AodIQ8eYQ&CTID=1105803609. I think they'd fit perfectly, especially ones like the Yellowstone poster, since we just recently got back from a trip there.
