we remembered.

and never forgetting 9-11, ten years ago today.
today, there were so many ways that we remembered.

{image via my sister, lisa}

happy september.

although it is only the first of september and my children have been back in school for a month now, i am already missing summer. actually, i am missing the jersey shore and i wish we could sneak back before fall truly arrives.


maybe it's the fact that our temperatures here are still in the 90's each day. and maybe because labor day weekend is upon us. i am just feeling like we should be at the shore celebrating with family and friends and enjoying the last big weekend of summer.


being at the shore is one of my favorite places to be during the summer. it always has been since i was a little girl and i think it will always will be. thankfully, my children enjoy it as much as i do and together we love to spend countless summer hours there.


how about you, does it feel like it is fall where you are at? and where is your favorite place to be during the summer?

happy september!
(even though i am still dreaming about summer!!)

reminiscence.

happy anniversary to my sweet husband.
i love you... XO

my little boy.

my little boy has such a sweet little heart. he is a worker, a planner, an organizer and likes things to be just so. he is wonderfully creative, loves surprises and hates goodbyes. he is not afraid to play house with his sisters, yet loves spending time with the boys riding scooters and bikes and playing sports and video games. he enjoys helping me cook and bake, yet when daddy is home he is always right by his side. he assists him with the yard work and household chores. loves tools, going to home depot and anything with speed. he is a rough little boy with so much energy, yet his heart is so gentle.

this morning he woke up and went down to the kitchen before the girls and i. from the upstairs i could hear dishes and silverware and the microwave running. he yelled up to us to stay upstairs because he had a surprise. of course, the girls ran down anyway, and he begged them not to look in the kitchen until it was time. he had the breakfast table set for all of us with plates and forks and napkins and juice glasses and maple syrup. he had warmed up the leftover waffles from yesterday. on each plate was either a half or a whole waffle and he told us where to sit. he was so proud of his surprise. proud he prepared breakfast this morning for us to enjoy.

this is not the first time my 6-year old boy has prepared us a meal. we've had lunches of crackers and cheese and fruit and snacks delivered in small little bowls.

i love my little boy for a million reasons and more. when i look at him, i know i am seeing his daddy all over again. i know his daddy was this same little boy. the same little boy i am watching grow each and every day. and someday, like his daddy, my little boy with such a sweet heart is going to make some girl so wonderfully happy. just like his mommy is today.

10 years ago today.

i knew my life had changed forever 10 years ago today. i met the most wonderful guy on the dance floor at my best friend's wedding. wow! as strange as it may seem, i knew that night, i had met the man i would spend the rest of my life with. i knew it. i believe in fate. i believe we were meant to be. and so thankful 10 years ago today our paths crossed marking only the beginning of our forever.

i love you so much jeffrey. and, couldn't imagine a single day of my life without you.

print available at whimsy studios

memories of home.

i've been thinking a lot lately about home. the way the sun shines brightly into our foyer during the day. and the way the streetlight shines into our bedroom at night. pictures of our children hung on the walls. memories. my kitchen. cooking. baking. sweetness fills the air. pizza night on fridays. and the warmth. our children's bedrooms. the comfort. and a true statement of their personalities. in the last few days, they have been saying how they miss them too. the slamming of the garage door and running down the upstairs hall. nightly rituals and our usual sundays. projects i started and ready to complete. projects i am anxious to begin. i do miss our home. thankful for the time away. but, we are ready to go home.

friday favorites: collecting.

for years I've had a passion for collecting sea glass. i am so fascinated by these ocean gems. amazingly, they are simply aged pieces of glass with hues of blue, green, brown and white that have tumbled against the ocean floor giving them this wonderfully frosted patina. my collection holds so many memories for me of the places i once lived, visited and vacationed by.

pictured above are the pieces i recently found along the beach in atlantic city, new jersey. as strange as it seems for me, it was, by far, the best place I have ever found sea glass. i was completely amazed and excited as i strolled along the shore with my husband and found these wonderful shimmers in the sand.

is there something you love to collect? does it hold special memories for you too?


please note: beginning this week, i will begin posting some of my favorite things on fridays. the topics will change weekly.

hydrangea blooms.

I dropped Slade off at the bus stop this morning and on my way into the side garage door, I was very excited to see my hydrangeas were blooming and beautiful. So, with excitement, immediately I cut some of the larger flowers and brought them indoors to fill a ceramic pitcher.

I am flooded with memories. Happiness. Love. Unity. Galvanized buckets filled with the same color hydrangeas hung on the end of each pew in the church the day Jeff and I were married. For me, hydrangeas such as these will always symbolize the joy and love we shared that day. The day we became husband and wife. The day we became one. The day we vowed that we would be together forever.

I love when a simple moment overwhelms me with so many memories and such happiness.

sending off to kindergarten.

They are growing up so quickly. Today was Elle's Sending Off Ceremony. She is going off to Kindergarten. Her preschool days are over and she will be riding the big yellow bus next year and spending all day away from home. I can hardly believe it. It seems like it was just the other day I was undecided whether I even wanted to send her to preschool and now those days are gone.

I am so very proud of my little Elle Belle and can't want to see all the places she'll go.

a cup of tea.

Amazingly this morning, I was ready way before I had to wake up my children up to dress them for Church. I actually had time to sit down and have a cup of tea... that never happens to me. Usually we are rushing out of the house at 7:15 am, and why a cup of tea? Anyone who really knows me, knows how much I love coffee in the morning. But, for whatever reason, I opened the cabinet for a teacup and I was overwhelmed by sweet, joyful memories of my grandmother.

Every morning was the same whenever I visited Grandma P. I would wake up each morning hearing the tea kettle whistling. And my grandmother would sit at her kitchen table, adorned with beautiful place mats and cloth napkins (usually pink) with a proper cup of tea, not a mug, but in a china cup on a saucer with a dallop of milk or cream. Usually, by this time in the morning, her lips were already coated with pink lipstick which would leave its mark on the cup. She would read the newspaper and look out of the window from her 9th floor apartment. I would join her with my own cup of tea and we'd sit and talk, just about everything.

I loved her apartment on the 9th floor. It seemed like everything was pink and white and floral and always in its place. I loved how she called the living room couch a davenport. I loved her sense of fashion, it seemed like her drawers and closets were overflowing with jewelry and scarves and handbags and shoes. Her nails were always painted pink and her hair was always done.

My grandmother will always be special to me for so many reasons.

I vividly pictured her this morning as I reached for that teacup. I sat down and quietly enjoyed my cup of tea with cream, not alone, but with memories. It made me truly smile. I still miss my grandmother tremendously, yet memories such as these will always be a part of my heart as I know I am such a part of her.


Has that every happened to you? In an instant, you are overwhelmed by memories of a person or even a place?