It pains me to admit that I was a bully as a kid. Really. I was terrible. I often wonder about the kids I terrorized — mostly boys — and how I impacted their lives. It’s the sort of thing one wonders about, but doesn’t really want to know for fear of what they might learn.
I didn’t just pick on boys. I was mean to some girls, too. There is one, whose name at the time was Diana Kunkoski, I am actually still friends with, believe it or not. We met in second grade. I used to take her into the girls bathroom to torment away from adult eyes. I vividly remember cornering her in the bathroom at one point, literally, telling her if she wouldn’t be my friend, I would keep “beating her up.”
I don’t remember ever hitting her, by the way. Just making her think I was going to hit her.
She and I have had very different paths in life. Her mother married multiple times, so they’d move away for a while and then come back. We spent second and third grade together. Then she moved. She came back during fourth or fifth grade, so we were together again for a while, but then she moved to the state of Washington.
Just before her wedding in 2003.
We kept in touch through the years. She returned to Baltimore briefly during our teenage years and, for better or worse, attended the same high school as me during tenth grade. After that, it was back to Washington. She ended up attending and graduating from Brigham Young University with a degree in broadcast journalism. She worked down south for a while then returned to Baltimore for good.
She dated off and on for a while, but always seemed to hook up with some of the oddest guys. In all honesty, we never thought she’d get married. But she ended up marrying a wonderful man — Brian — and having two kids. She’s the first person I knew to have a Match.com success. And Brian is a great guy. Mike and I actually attended their wedding in Charleston, South Carolina.
I tried photographing her kids back in 2008, when they were about 3 and 6, but they were feeling very cooperative and would NOT sit for a pose. So we let them do goofy stuff. That’s when I captured this shot of them, which is my favorite from that day.
Chris and Scott
Since we’re at different stages in our lives, we don’t see much of each other. But we do still keep in touch.
Early last year, she told me she and Brian had bought an investment property in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. She asked if I’d like to join her there for a visit. Of course, I agreed. She said it would have to be in the off season, as the house would be rented out during the summer months. So, back in October, we finally managed to get away for a weekend together.
It was fun catching up. Just like old times. Except we’re much older.
Happy Hour!
And that pitcher of delicious margaritas we drank during the Friday happy hour at Dos Locos, had us both feeling a bit, um, sluggish, for most of the day on Saturday. So NOT like old times.
We did eventually get moving and had a fun, laid back, relaxing sort of weekend.
But I’ve gotten ahead of myself…
I drove from my house in Virginia to Diana’s home in Crownsville, Maryland, just outside of Annapolis. She drove from there to Rehoboth. On the way, when we passed this yard art mecca. I was THRILLED when she turned to me and said, “Wanna stop? It’s not like we’re on a schedule.”
A Real Yard Art Mecca
Me, Browsing (didn’t buy anything)
The place was HUGE.
Sasquatches!
Widest selection of jockeys ever.
From there, we moseyed on to the beach.
Their house.
Their house is located just off of Rehoboth Avenue, about six blocks from the waterfront. It has a great sitting porch, above the garage, which we used quite a bit.
Dolle’s
At my urging (begging!), we stopped at Dolle’s upon arrival. I HAD to have some fresh, hot, caramel popcorn. YUM. Diana, who led a sheltered life, apparently, had never eaten Dolle’s caramel popcorn. How much you want to bet it becomes a regular stop for the family?
It really was a nice, slow-paced, relaxing weekend. Aside from the aforementioned happy hour, that is. We just meanderered about, chatting and catching up on each other’s lives. And enjoying the scenery, which I captured on camera to share later.
Red Moon, Moon Rising
Puddle Reflection
Marsh at Gordon Pond
Glimpses of Fall Color
Marsh Grass
Gordon Pond
Ancient Indian Cliff Dwellings (Not really, but that’s what I thought it looked like!)
Dos Chicas
Jetty
Looking South
I love, love, love Fall. The light is amazing.
I couldn’t end this post without a selfie, could I?
Me and Diana… Selfie
Sunday came far too fast. Diana and I decided we should make the Rehoboth trip an annual thing. Looking forward to doing it again in 2014.
But wait, there’s more…
On the way home, we stopped in Milton(?) to visit Peggy & Jim, who adopted Maddie, a former foster dog of mine.
Maddie and Me
Maddie, formerly known as Lizzie, won the forever home lottery when Peggy and Jim adopted her. They are absolutely delightful people, and perfect dog parents.
All in all, it was a fabulous weekend.
On a drink purchased en route to Diana’s house.
I am so glad we were able to reconnect. And I really am looking forward to seeing her again soon.
Did I tell you December was busy? I decided to get crafty this year and make a few snowmen.
Fancy Stitchery
This cutie was first. It took far longer than you might imagine. I’m a slow rookie.
Flaky Lady
I think she turned out pretty good, considering that was my first stitchery project.
She will be a pillow one day…
Yarn Ball Headed Snowpeeps
Yarn Ball Head SnowmenYarn Ball Head SnowmenYarn Ball Head Snowmen
Yarn Ball Head Snowmen
Yarn Ball Head Snowwoman
Canvas Snowmen
I started these because I wanted to give each of the kids a hand-made ornament. But I ended up with quite a few of them. They were really easy to make, although decorating them took some time. The buttons all came from Aunt Pearl’s button stash, which she gave to me last year.
Group Shot
I really love how the bunting turned out.
Mug Rug
I took another class as Kelly Ann’s Quilting and learned even more new sewing skills, which allowed me to make this cute little mug rug.
Mug Rug
Mug Rug
As much as I loved the mug rug, I decided she should go live with Amy.
And that’s it for the snowman explosion of 2013. LOL.
What better way to jump-start/reinvigorate the blog than with a Year in Review post? I thought it would be a fun way to reflect back and remind myself what all happened in 2013.
In many ways, it was a big year. But lots of little stuff happened, too. Okay, maybe “happened” isn’t the right word. It’s fun looking back over the past year anyway.
Big Event #2 for the year was Amy’s University of Maryland graduation (May 11).
Amy and Family
It was actually Amy’s second graduation. This time, she earned a Master’s Degree.
Can you believe I left my camera home that day? Luckily we got some phone pics. Mike, his mom and I went to the ceremony. You’ll have to trust me on that, since we didn’t get pictures.
The third Big Event was my Dad’s move to Pennsylvania (June 22).
Last Picture of Dad Before Selling His House
And for Big Event #4… Amy and her family moved West (late-June/early July).
Hubby the Chaperone
Mike volunteered to fly along with the kids. Amy and TJ drove one of their vehicles across country together. TJ had driven his truck out in January.
Those were the big events. That’s a lot of change.
There are quite a few little things worth remembering, too.
I already mentioned April’s big event — Eric’s wedding. Since that is such a momentous occasion, it sort of consumed all of my attention during the month.
There was a lot of mental stress leading up to June’s big event, which was moving my Dad back to Pennsylvania. We managed to get him out of his Baltimore City row-house and into a mobile home situated very close to where he grew up in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Of course, other stuff was happening in June, too. Life goes on, right?
And we were mentally preparing ourselves for Amy’s end-of-month move.
July
Although Amy and TJ left at the end of June, the kids didn’t leave until July. That’s when Hubby flew across country with the grand kids. And then back home the next day.
Mom’s friend, Jill, visited from Indiana with her husband in July, too. Another event I neglected to capture with pictures.
Closing out the month of July was the attack on Belle. It was a freak thing, and she recovered quickly, thank goodness. But it was scary.
All through May, June, and July, I should have been doing some serious vacation planning. But there were other things occupying my brain. I do work full-time. And we had to get Dad’s house listed and ready to sell. Plus, there were a few painting projects.
August
Dad needed a “new” table and chairs for the smaller kitchen in his new house. I had some old chairs that he’d given me, so I bought a table at a local thrift shop, and then painted the table and chairs to match. K and I delivered them to Dad the first weekend in August.
Mike made a cabinet, which I painted and then we hung in our bathroom.
At the end of August, Annelies and Yves arrived from Belgium to join us on that vacation I was supposed to have been planning.
September
I didn’t blog while on vacation. We were so busy having fun, I just didn’t feel up to blogging. It takes time, not to mention mental energy, which after an eventful year, I seemed to be seriously lacking. So I tried to play catch-up over the next couple of months.
Installment 1: In the Beginning (Friday, August 30 – Monday, Sept 2)
Rehoboth Beach weekend. There’s one I never even mentioned on my blog. I’ll have to do a make-up post on that one.
Me and Diana
I’ve know Diana since we were in second grade together. She invited me to go to Rehoboth Beach, DE with her for the weekend. She and her husband, Brian, own a house there and needed to winterize the place. We had so much fun reconnecting, we decided to make it an annual thing. I have lots of fun pics to share, too.
November
I never did finish the vacation re-cap. But I did do some other fun stuff.
I completed another painting project, a visitor’s stool for my kitchen. A place for visitors to sit while I prepare food.
I got to attend a fancy luncheon, prepared by Eric and his classmates during his last semester of culinary school.
My other big project during the month of November was painting some kitchen chairs for my Aunt Bertha (Dad’s sister).
December
Before I knew it, December had arrived. And you know what that means. Holiday preparations. Shopping, decorating, wrapping, event planning… it’s always a hectic month. But I did make time for the second annual Santa ride. But this time I had an elf.
I believe I can fly…
Meet my new friend, Dottie. She didn’t hesitate at all when I explained the Santa ride and said, “Wanna be my elf?”
It was a COLD day.
It was fun! But cold.
Something else that developed throughout the year was a unique coming-together of friends.
I’ve been establishing friendships gradually since moving to Warrenton, but 2013 was the year they all came together. We had a few gatherings, many of which involved the husbands. And, oddly enough, discovered that all of the men and women get along.
Cray-cray Pals
Pictured above, L-R, are Ashley (holding baby Oakley), Dottie (Ashley’s Mom), Me, Kelly Ann (she owns Kelly Ann’s Quilting), Tim (one of our crazy Facebook friends), and Janet (owner of The Empty Nest). Our menfolk are not pictured. There’s my hubby, Mike, of course, Andrew (Kelly Ann’s husband), Bill (Janet’s husband), and Jim (Dottie’s husband).
That picture was taken during a New Year’s Eve party at Dottie and Jim’s house. We closed out 2013 and welcome 2014 together. I foresee lot’s of fun together in 2014. We’ll have to make a point of photographing all of the couples at some point.
One of the hardest things about moving to a new place is establishing friendships. It’s hard living apart from your family and friends. Making new friends doesn’t mean replacing your old ones, of course. It just means adding to your circle, broadening your life. One person can never have too many friends, right?
I’m looking forward to 2014 and have high hopes of fun times with friends old and new.
There are some big events coming, too.
Mike and I are taking his Mom out to visit Amy and her family in February.
Eric just finished culinary school. And, although he won’t be participating in the actual ceremony, he’s my newest college graduate. He and his wife will be moving to Spain in June. Temporarily, we hope. Spain is a culinary hot-bed, so he’ll be furthering his education through some real-life work experience.
Mike and I will be traveling to Europe at some point in 2014. We’re not sure of the destination yet, or the timing. But the trip will involve motorcycles as well as meet-ups with our friends Annelies and Yves (who live in Belgium) plus Tammi and Martin (who live in Switzerland). We’ll see Eric and Kelsey, too. We just have to figure out how, where, and when to bring everyone together. Should be interesting…
Plus, I’m determined to get out on my bike more. My poor ride was neglected last year.
That’s it for the re-cap. Wow, it WAS an eventful year. And I’m sure I’ve left a few things out.
Please vote for this entry in Snap & Share Your Stockist Holiday Contest!! Click here to see it: http://bit.ly/1b41vlV
Just imagine how much fun I could have with the entire line of 31 colors. Plus wax and other stuff. And brushes. And books! Oh, the possibilities would be endless.
So, please vote. Ask your friends to vote, too. I don’t usually ask much of y’all, right?
The contest ends on December 8. You can submit one vote each day, too.
I’ll stop going on about it for now, but I sure would appreciate your help.
Earlier this year — February, to be exact — Aunt Bertha paid Hubby and I a visit. She’d never been to Warrenton, so I got to show her around town, introduce her to some of my friends, show off all of my projects, and take her to a number of my local thrift store haunts.
Aunt Bertha and Me
She told me she’d been looking for some new kitchen chairs. The ones she had were too tall and cut into the back of her legs when she sat on one for any extended period of time. We didn’t find any while she was here, but I told her I’d keep my eyes open for her.
A few months later, I went to the Fauquier Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore and saw what looked to be the perfect size chairs. They were old (I’m guessing late-60s or early 70s), dirty, and ugly. But they were comfortable, were made of solid wood, and they only cost $20 each. Only three were available, but Aunt Bertha had another chair already that she said she could use.
First, I told her I couldn’t paint them. Then I decided I could, but it would be a while before I got to them. I have far too many projects in the queue!
One of the chairs, after being cleaned.
When I told her I’d paint the chairs for her, she asked if I would paint her table to match. And that fourth chair.
I told her yes, and said I’d paint a couple of the chairs here at home then take them up to her house, which is just outside of Lancaster, PA, and spend a long weekend there painting the other stuff. She lives very close to Dad, so that would give me an opportunity to visit, too.
The table and her old chairs, before.
The difference in the chair after a couple coats of Old White Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (ASCP) was quite dramatic.
Old White Annie Sloan Chalk Paint
It looked so much better, I could have easily stopped there. But to me, the real fun is in the details.
Yes, the details made the project take much, MUCH longer, but I wanted to do it right. I wanted Aunt Bertha to have a kitchen set she could really be proud of.
Chair with details compared to plain wood.
I forgot to do a before and after shot until after I’d already started painting the second chair.
This past Saturday, I loaded up the car and headed North. I wasn’t there long before we dove into painting the other two chairs and the table.
Me, hard at work.
Aunt Bertha, who turns 68 in February, helped a lot. I put her to work painting one of the chairs and then the table. Once everything had the Old White base coat, I gave her some quick training and then put her to work waxing. I feel horrible that I forgot to get shots of Aunt Bertha at work.
She really was a very big help. I could never have finished without her. What I thought could be done by Monday night, ended up taking until Tuesday. If she hadn’t done so much work, we would never have finished.
I didn’t paint the whole time I was up there, I visited with Dad and Aunt Pearl, too. And I actually worked from Aunt Bertha’s house on Monday.
I am horrible at estimating how long these painting projects will take.
Aunt Bertha’s cat, Missy, who she just adopted about seven months ago, really watched me closely the whole time I was there.
Missy
Finally, late Tuesday afternoon, the project was finished.
Aunt Bertha’s newly upcycled table and chairs.
After finishing the first chair here at home, I told Aunt Bertha she was going to have the coolest, up-cycled, shabby chic dining set in all of Lancaster County. She was quite tickled when she saw the painted chairs for the first time. And we are both very pleased at the final, end result.
Details
Details
We’ve both been kicking ourselves for not taking a picture of that fourth chair she’d already owned. A chair which my Dad had given her. Previously, it had belonged to my maternal grandfather (born around 1915?). It was originally a rocking chair, but my grandfather had cut the rockers off of the chair, which he always kept beside his bed. Most likely, it was already old when he got it. We’re pretty sure it is Black Locust, which is a very hard wood.
Before we applied paint, the chair was a really, really dark, walnut brown. Now, it’s much brighter.
Old, orphan chair.
The “new” dining set brightens the whole kitchen. And remember what I said about details? For some projects, adding details is what really make a piece or pieces special.
We distressed this chair a bit more than the others.
Details add an extra special touch.
And while watching Missy watching me, I had an epiphany. I thought she might enjoy helping. I wasn’t sure how Aunt Bertha would feel about it, but promised I’d do the dirty work in case it really pissed Missy off.
I had to assist a bit…
Missy’s paw prints will forever be seen on the seat of this chair.
I didn’t just pick on boys. I was mean to some girls, too. There is one, whose name at the time was Diana Kunkoski, I am actually still friends with, believe it or not. We met in second grade. I used to take her into the girls bathroom to torment away from adult eyes. I vividly remember cornering her in the bathroom at one point, literally, telling her if she wouldn’t be my friend, I would keep “beating her up.”
