Last Week's Post from Florida!

Hi Everyone!

I hope I am back blogging on a regular basis again!

My weekend was wonderful, but I MUST

blog about my trip to Floriday first.

So here I am with my "BFF"

We had such a wonderful visit

For the first time in a long time, we had NO PLANS!!

We just hung out, did a little shopping, went to a movie

(SOCIAL NETWORK - it was good!)

visited with some of Kathy's friends and just had FUN!!!!

We always laugh, we always have a fabulous time!

One thing I want to tell you about Kathy is that

she is an artist.

She has not put her talent to work in a very long time and this

past year she started taking some art classes

and I am SO PROUD to show you some of her work

This is one of my favorites....

and I love this one too....

She does all her own framing and i am just so proud of her

I just found out this weekend that she will be doing her first

art show in Delray Beach, Florida

the weekends of Dec 11th & 12th and 18th & 19th

I would have loved to go down for it but the timing is not good.

When she has her first gallery showing I WILL BE THERE!!!!!

This is Kathy's dog, Sassy!!

These orchids are growing in Kathy's front yard!!!

They are gorgeous....

and this is the golf course taken from inside the club!!!

Just beautiful

I love all my visits with Kathy, but this one was really good

and I got to visit with her family!!!

Now - the wedding

We had a fabulous time

These adorable cookies were part of our "welcome" basket at the hotel

The "rehearsal dinner" on Saturday night was so much fun!

 We were with friends we love and adore

These are two of Jared's best friends growing up

Justin and Greg

It was wonderful to see them and have fun with them...

I also got to visit with Annie and Mark on Sunday and that is always good.

It was so awesome to see Mark

Annie's house is just beautiful -

Here are a couple of photos....

It was great to see them...

The wedding was incredible

The venue was magnificent

Mar-a-lago is just gorgeous!

I thought it would be very "over-the-top" but it was not

Just everything in beautiful taste

This was the most gorgeous "Chuppa" I have ever seen

the pictures do it no justice

and my friend, Melanie, looked gorgeous

as did the bride.....

the flowers were perfect....

this picture is not very clear, but it is

Ronni, me, Mrs Lipson, Ilene and Melanie

we all had a fantastic time....

I really want to get this posted and I am very sleepy,

so I will end here...

It was a magical wedding!!!

I have lots more to post, but tomorrow is another day

Hugs and More,
Peggy

Leaving Again...

I never found the time to blog all about my

five days in Florida

It is coming.....

I am leaving again....

This time I am going to Connecticut

(can you just feel the smiles)

Danielle and I are teaching in Westbrook, Connecticut

on Saturday so I am going up today to make

all the kits with her AND

to have some time with my granddaughters!!!!

BIG yippee!!!

This is the class I am teaching

(sorry Dan, I did not have your picture downloaded to post)

It is a woven cover with berries and a box to store

your trinkets and/or wishes

I will also be teaching this class on December 11th at Scrapper's Cove

http://www.scrapperscove.com/

Here are a couple of other pictures

A mini album within the album

See the fabulous pom-poms!!!!

This page is paper made from newspaper!!!

and another woven page to tie in the theme of the cover

with one of "tim's" new flowers

There is so much more inside the book

Lots of vintage goodies, ribbons and fabric, etc.

Visit the store to see it person after this weekend.

I will be posting on Sunday so stay tuned

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend

"LIFE IS A NOVEL. 

THEREFORE, I AM THE AUTHOR

OF THE ART I CREATE!"

Hugs and More,

Peggy

Important Message....

Hi Everyone!

I have really missed all of you and missed blogging.

I have so much to write and show you

but this post is for a different reason.

Almost one year ago my very dear friend was diagnosed

with incurable breast cancer.

She was told it was treatable, but there was no cure.

It had spread into the wall of her chest.

Monday, when I landed in Newark airport there were several

text messages from Lois

(I knew she was going for her "PET" scan last Friday)

I read the words I thought I would never see

"call me quick, I am in remission!"

How absolutely fabulous is that!

The icing on the cake!

I also have a friend from childhood who lives in

San Francisco and she has breast cancer, but she

was very fortunate.

It was caught early and a new kind of radiation helped her fight

this dreaded disease.

(five intense days instead of once a week)

My son Jared has a friend who is undergoing chemo

as I write this.

She will then undergo a double mastectomy with reconstruction

and then possibly radiation.

She is only 34 years old!

Why am I telling you all of this?

Because once again I have signed up for the

Susan Komen North Jersey Walk For the Cure.

I have always been an advocate for Susan Komen and I

think the organization does incredible things and has helped

make wonderful strides in breast cancer research.

If anyone out there can find it in their hearts to make

a small donation it would be greatly appreciated

I walk for everyone - and hope one day in our lifetime 

there is a cure.

To donate online, click here.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart

Hugs and More,

Peggy



Where In The World Am I Going Now???

I am off again to another wedding this weekend

Our third and final "away" wedding since July

This one is in Florida at "Mar-a-lago"

Yes, that one, the one that is owned by Donald Trump!

The good thing about this is that I get to leave tomorrow

and spend two days with my "BFF"!!

So this is a good thing

I do not know what our plans are but you will

know next week

Michael is not flying down until Saturday

He will meet me at Kathy's house and we will have

lunch with Kathy and Jeff

Then we will drive to our hotel in Palm Beach

(we are not staying at the "Ritz" - we are at the cheapie hotel)

There is a dinner Saturday night

Sunday we will meet some friends for lunch

The wedding is Sunday night at 5:00 PM

Monday morning is a brunch and we fly home in the afternoon

So.... I will be in blog withdrawal beginning tomorrow

I can blog from my i-pad but I just do not think I

will have the time and it is not so easy to add pictures

So I will be mature about it and wait until next week

I am sure you will all be able to wait

until next week to hear about my life

As for today, this was in the mail when I arrived home

these are Ellie's colors she selected for her Chanukah gift

the colors are:  screamin' green, blue bell, purple pizzazz

and robin's egg blue

these are Marlie's colors:

illuminating emerald, inchworm, screamin' green & caribbean green

every pack is so pretty

Now I have to order them for my great-niece Avery

I decided (at the last minute) to (literally) put together

a nice dinner for me and Michael

I had taken out some shrimp (fresh frozen)

and Michael thought I was just going to throw them into a salad

I was not in the mood for a salad and this is what I made

The picture really does it no justice

It is shrimp with feta cheese in tomato sauce over pasta

(with some capers thrown in)

This is how simple it is

Slice up some fresh garlic and saute it in warmed olive oil

Add the shrimp and saute until a little golden

Add a can of crushed tomatoes (the Italian kind)

Start the water boiling for the pasta

(I used the "healthy" kind from Wegman's)

I added some sea salt and two shakes of hot pepper flakes

to the tomato mixture

Simmer over a low flame

When the water is boiling, add the pasta

Now add the diced feta cheese to the tomato mixture and simmer

for about five to ten minutes

When the pasta is done, drain in colander and let sit

Add some capers (optional) to the tomato mixture

Raise the heat a drop and bring to an "almost boil"

Place pasta in a pasta bowl

Pour tomato/shrimp over pasta

Mix and enjoy!!

This is really quick and easy

I hope you like this recipe

As for amounts that is a hard question

I used about 1 lb shrimp

3 lge cloves garlic, sliced

a large can of crushed tomatoes

about 8 oz feta cheese

a 14 oz box pasta

capers, to taste

I think that does it

So I MUST go pack

It is 8:30 PM and I have not done ONE thing

except print my boarding pass and pay for my luggage!

Have a wonderful weekend

I will take LOTS of pictures and you will hear from me

next week

Hugs and More,

Peggy

"Sunday, Sunday" on "Monday, Monday"

I am going to try and re-create my post from last night

I have gotten over my trauma and I am ready to write!!!!

I began by telling everyone that I hoped that had

a wonderful Halloween

This was a picture I took at Tinsel Trading last week and

saved to post "today"

This was the first time in several years that we did not go

trick 'o treating with the kids

The timing just did not work out but here they are in

their costumes...

Ellie was Wendy from Peter Pan...

Marlie was Peter Pan....

They had a great time and got lots of candy!!!

Michael and I had a great day

I had promised him we would spend the whole day

together since five out of the last seven

Saturdays have been spent without him

doing stuff related to "art" and "crafting"

It was definitely his turn

We got up early and left the house and went to the

Golden Nugget Flea Market

There were not as many goodies as when I went three weeks ago

but i managed to find a couple of good finds

I did take some nice pictures

Very interesting gourds...

more gorgeous cabbage...

I must say Michael found this picture....

is this so cute???

We left the flea market and drove to New Hope

We parked our car right in front of this charming home

so perfectly manicured

and this tree was next door and I loved it's natural beauty...

We walked right to Starbucks (me) and Dunkin Donuts (him)

From there we walked around town for about two hours

What a pleasure to walk around without the crowds

Many of the stores were not open but that was OK!!

We discovered that going early is a BIG plus

There was a different feel to everything and I

took some amazing pictures

I would LOVE to have a porch like this

the following pictures need NO narration....

we were almost at the edge of "town" and we saw this

across the street so we crossed over to take a picture

how cool...

then we saw a flight of steps so we walked up and

this is what we found...

there are not words to describe the beauty of this

it is the old Delaware Canal that has been kept "in tact"

I cannot tell you how many times we have been to New Hope

and we have never seen this

It was wonderful and probably because there were no crowds

and we were walking with a different purpose

Walking back we saw this in a window

A mannequin decorated with pieces from Candyland

and...

giant button candy

This picture is from a store where we bought

Marlie and Ellie each a Chanukah present

The picture has nothing to do with the gift

We just thought it was a cool picture

This store was not open

if they had been I probably would have bought this...

walking back there were these amazing sights...

We walked back to the car and then drove over the bridge

into Lambertville and had brunch at...

it was delicious

This cool trunk was right behind Michael's chair...

a few more great photo op's...

We left Lambertville and took a leisurely drive towards

Montgomery Township where we were going to a movie

Along the ride we saw this...

and this...

Some of the wonderful "sights" you see when you take

a drive in the country

So this is the movie we went to see

in case you cannot read the title it is

"Mao's Last Dancer"

I am telling you RUN, do not walk, to see this movie

Michael was only going to appease me because he

knew I wanted to see it

He never thought it was going to be good or that

he would like it in the least

HE LOVED IT!!!!

There were several adorable children ringing our doorbell for candy

I retired to bed by 9:30

Watched some quality TV

The Giants won!!

It was a great day

I hope you all had a great Halloween

and a nice new November and Monday!!!

I leave you with this...

"CREATIVITY IS ALLOWING YOURSELF TO MAKE MISTAKES.

ART IS KNOWING WHICH ONES TO KEEP."

Hugs and More,

Peggy

First Blog "Boo-Boo"

I spent over an hour last night posting

all about my day, which was a lot,

and then accidentally

DELETED

the entire post!!!!

To say I was a little upset with myself

is an understatement

So, when I come home from work later,

I will try and redo it

I hope I have my "heart" in it as I did last night

We really had a nice day.

Happy Monday and Happy November to everyone.

Hugs and More,

Peggy