#60 - Blue

I have so many blue things in my house. This was the first thing to grab my attention. It's a tie blanket that I received from my little sister in the sorority a few years ago. On one end it says "Big Sis Bridget" (pictured) and at the other end it says "Little Sis Gillian".

I love this blanket and use it almost every day. Samus the cat loves it too. In fact, she's laying on it right now.

#57 - Favorite Candle... for now

This past summer I bought this candle. It was a great summer candle. It's a Yankee Candle. The fragrance is Juicy Watermelon. I could only burn it for a few hours because the smell would permeate through out the house. I've put it away for now because it's now fall and the scent isn't quite right for the season.

I'll probably not buy Yankee Candles any more... not because they aren't good candles but because I'm now going to be a Partylite Consultant. It's a direct sales company that sells candles and home decor among other things. I'm excited to start selling. I should be getting my start kit soon, so I can start holding parties.

The Martini glass is one of their new seasonal products. It's called Scents of Illumination Martini. It has a candy cane scent. You put a tealight in side and it heats up the gel, releasing the scent.

#54 - Fall Flowers

My mom got me a fall plant for my birthday. Here's a photo of some of the flowers on this mum plant. They are very beautiful. The toughest part is trying to keep the cats away from them so they don't eat the leaves.

#52 - Random Object

Random object in a room. I looked around my house trying to find something that seemed random for a room. I found this. It's Ed's musical electric coin bank (did you get all that?). It's on his dresser. It's just a weird bank and it doesn't really belong in our bedroom, but that's where it lives.

#40 - A real piece of work

We don't have many pieces of art in our house (we've been here 16 months and I still haven't hung our diplomas...).

I decided to share 2 sculpture/figurines that we have. This first one is a Willow Tree figurine. The name of this one is Together. It was given to us as a wedding gift. I will always remember our wedding when I look at this figurine. I hope to get more as our lives go along and we hit major milestones.

The second one is a sculpture that we got while we were on our honeymoon (a Caribbean cruise). I had found this in Cozumel, Mexico and was drawn to it. I find it so beautiful and sensual as well as romantic and intimate.

Both of these pieces are made of wood yet they are so different. I will remember our trip to the Caribbean when I look at this statue and think of the fun times we had.

We keep the Willow Tree figurine in the dining room with the light green walls. The Mexican one is in our downstairs living room which is full of warm colors (browns/oranges/reds). They each fit their rooms quite well.

#36 - Electronic Wall

Electronics are today's theme. Here are a few of my favorites (besides my phone and computer).

• 42" HDTV (and yes, that's Miss J on the TV)
• Wii
• Wii Fit Plus board
• BluRay Player
• DVR
• iPod Stereo (it's also hooked up to the TV)
• Super NES

This is our entertainment center. It's a great place to watch football games and movies. I also highly suggest getting a DVR. I don't know what we did before we got the DVR. There are so many options.

#34 - My little corner of the world

I am a housewife so the whole house is technically my workspace. So, I took a picture of my messy desk. This is where I sew and file things. I also keep my scrapbooking things here.

My brother made this desk for me back in 2005. It was a birthday present from him. It's a little rough around the edges, but it's still a nice desk.

My dad and I put a laminate top on it to help with the roughness. I hope to make a nice fabric skirt to cover the wood and possibly make storage underneath.

I also took a photo of Ed's desk because that's where he likes to be when he comes home. As a software developer, he spends a lot of time at his computer both at work and at home.

His desk is neat and clean... the way he likes it. I personally don't mind a little mess. I try to keep mine clean, but it's hard. When I clean up in other rooms, it end up in the office, on my desk. Then I will sort it later.

Maybe someday I will get my act together and be able to use the desk as a desk.

I also just took a photo of the room from the door. It's has his and her sides. His is the dark side, mine is the lighter side. It's also the messy versus the clean. This room won't always looklike this though. Eventually, when the time comes (when we have a baby), it will become a nursery. We don't have to worry about that for a while.

#31 - Work of Art

I just wanted to share a piece of art work that I had made in high school. It's done with black color pencil. I've always loved it.

It's from a photograph in a magazine (like a National Geographic). I had blown up the picture and made an outline. I think it's a beautiful picture. I wish I had this kind of talent naturally.

#25 - M is for Monkey

When Ed and I got married we had 2 little sock monkey key chains as a part of a gift. I didn't know what to do with them so I clipped them to the light chain in our closet. We see them every day now. The other monkey is orange and hiding behind the blue monkey.

#24 - deck lighting

This is a photo of my deck when the sun was in the west. I love using the sepia setting on my camera and I think it catches the light well.

#7 - Garage Sales at Their Best

A couple of weeks ago, I went home to my parents' house for my hometown annual town festival. One of the "big" attractions is the city-wide garage sales. My mom and I went to one because I wanted to check out the kittens they had (yes... kittens at a garage sale). Unfortunately they didn't have the kind we were looking for. But... we found this!

A gently used rocking recliner! I was so excited to find this and it was only $30. We needed another piece of seating furniture in our downstairs living room. It goes well with the coloring of the room and I can put my feet up.

I just got it to the house yesterday. When I was at my parents' place (100 miles away) I had our Camry... there's no way this would have fit. So, I had to wait 2 weeks until my mom had the free time to bring it up in a larger vehicle. Now it's home safe and sound, and ready to be used!

#4 - A Basket of Cones

This is a carry over from yesterday's post; things in our downstairs living room. These are scented pine cones. So, here is the story of how I came to own these.

My mother-in-law is a piano teacher. She generally teaches adults. One of her students is affiliated with the company Lightstone.They are the creators of these dipped cones. So, they were given to my mother-in-law who has, in turn, passed some on to us.

The large green one smells like evergreen and it gives our whole downstairs an outdoorsy-woodsy smell. It goes great with the ambiance of the room. The room is a nice chocolate brown (the top of the photo) with beige carpets and a mocha couch. The fireplace wall is painted a nice pumpkin spice accent color.

#3 - Mantel Piece

For today's photo, I wanted to show my mantel. After many photos I came up with this one.

The focal piece is one of the two lead crystal candle holders that we received as a wedding gift. I love the way it reflects the light. I usually put a pillar candle on it, but it also has a spot for a tea light.

The tall vases behind it are also from our wedding. We used them in our unity ceremony. We did unity water because we were married outside (we were afraid that a candle would blow out). They make a great addition to our mantel.

#2 - A Present from the Past

This one is very special to me and I felt I needed to put it in here right away. My Great-Grandma Schultz passed away this past June. She was 98 years young. She left quite a legacy;she had 6 children (one passed in infancy), 18 grandchildren, 34 great-grandchildren (my generation), and 26 great-great-grandchildren.

I was very lucky to receive something of hers, because there were 2 generations before me and they got first choice. The precious item that has become mine, is a quilt she had made herself and used daily while she was in the nursing home for many years.

One of the reasons it's special to me is because I had worked as a nursing assistant at her nursing home for a few years during high school. Whenever I got the chance I would pop into her room to say hi, and this was always on her bed.

I felt very honored when my aunt had offered it to me the day of her funeral. She said I was the first one to come to her mind when

my great aunts and uncles decided they didn't want it and gave it to her.

I was surprised to learn, from my aunt, that Grandma had hand stitched all of the birds. The only thing we weren't sure if she did or not, was the quilting stitches in the blue areas. Here's a close up of the intricate hand work she put into it.

This is something that I will cherish for the rest of my life. I hope that I will be able to create a legacy such as hers and maybe create something that can be passed down for generations like this quilt.