New Job!

Big news! I accepted a job offer and put in notice at my current company! I start working in the loop and taking the train June 2! Wish me luck.

I'll be writing and editing for construction and architecture magazine...sound familiar? Yeah, it's my old job. But at a different company in a sweet location--in the heart of downtown Chicago!

Some extra pics of Charlevoix

Dale took a few postcard-esque shots of Charlevoix and other things that caught his fancy. Just though I'd share them rather than tuck them away in a folder! The photo above is the harbor in Charlevoix.

An abandoned building. Abandoned buildings are almost always interesting to me; I don't know why.

Lake Michigan from Charlevoix. Pretty!

Weekend Up North . . .

Dale shot a wedding in Petoskey the first weekend of May and since it was my birthday weekend--and a place where many dear friends live--I decided to go with him.

We stayed with Doug...

and the boys (Oliver and Cole, pictured above).

Dale did everything he could to make it a nice birthday for me. It was great, actually, though this year is filled with painful "firsts" without my mom Dale made it really special and fun. Anyway, Dale had a bunch of people call me (he's sneaky) and got me a new iPod. Sweet! And my friend Rebecca made me cupcakes for the road trip--she's a sweetie!

While Dale was working, Doug & I drove to Charlevoix on Saturday to meet our friend Heather and her little girl Maggie for lunch. We also wandered about Charlevoix for a spell and got ice cream.

Heather is pregnant with baby #2 and is due in a couple of weeks! This is us in Charlevoix. Oh, and I'm wearing my new glasses! As one of the bosses at work told me, "very fashion-forward!" But I think that might have been an insult. Hee!

Maggie is a cutie! And she loves her glass, too, obviously! She lit up like the fourth of July when Heather gave her the sunglasses! Ha!

Then it was back to Petoskey. During the weekend we went to a few of our favorite spots including Roast & Toast (an adorable indie coffee shop/deli) that is situated right next to one of my favorite bookstores in the world: McLean & Eakin (I could live there). Also, we went to the greatest kitchen gadget store in Michigan: Cutler's. It was a very happy trip!

We drove to Harbor Springs on Sunday and had breakfast at Mary Ellen's Diner--an old-fashioned counter grill and ice cream spot.

Doug & I soaking up the atmosphere! We also saw Iron Man. Good times.

Dale and I took the long way home--we drove along Lake Michigan as much as we could and stopped for dinner in St. Joseph to eat on a restaurant patio and watch the sunset. Lovely weekend! It was great to see Heather & Doug! I wish we all lived closer.

Vintage Dishes...

Dale and I share a well-known (among our friends and family) love of retro and vintage things (particularly things with a midcentury modern aesthetic--in case you want to get us something!) and our dear friends Lara & Trish (mom and daughter) generously offered us Trish's mom's set of dishes from the 1950s. We already use vintage dishes everyday and were very interested! These are the dishes--they are ADORABLE! Pink, with a black and white pinecone/nature theme. They were produced by Taylor Smith Taylor and are the Pink Dwarf Pine design.

LOVE THEM! Thanks Trish & Lara for thinking of us and giving us such a lovely set!

Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle

Hugely dorky post ahead... Click on the photos for larger versions of the images.

Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle is a major attraction at the Museum of Science and Industry and one of my favorite things. I love miniatures! And Dale awesomely took a bunch of photos of the dollhouse for me--it's behind thick plastic in a very dark room so he took photos so I could see things up close! Yay! Every little room has a bunch of little stories!

The chapel organ. To the right of the organ is a candelabra and in the middle is a real diamond--it was in Colleen Moore's mother's engagement ring.

The dining room with King Arthur's Round Table in the center. The plates and tiny silver wear is all made of real gold. The glasses are crystal.

The Drawing Room . . . The floor is rose quartz and jade and the chandelier is made with real diamonds, emeralds, and pearls.

Another shot of the drawing room--see the mural of Cinderella running away painted on the wall to the left of the fireplace?

The Great Hall features many tiny treasures including Knights in shining armor that once belonged to Rudolph Valentino and hard-carved ancient vases.

In the kitchen you'll find Royal Doulton china with the Queen of England's crest on it. Only two sets of this tiny china set were made--one for Colleen Moore and one for the Queen of England's doll house.

The library features tiny furniture for the fairies to lounge on and read. The books are all real and many of them are gifts from prominent authors of the day with mini versions of their books.

The Fairy Prince's Bedroom features Excalibur's sword--and a "bear" rug made with mice teeth!

The Prince's Bathroom is made of alabaster and features real sapphires.

The Princess's Bedroom is spectacular! Sleeping Beauty's bed sits off to the right and the chairs--center of the photo--are made of platinum, diamond, and emerald earrings. The floor is Mother of Pearl.

The Magic Garden features a weeping willow tree that actually weeps.

And that's the Fairy Castle! I'm a dork.

The Glass Experience

Dale and I went to one of our favorite places--the Museum of Science & Industry--for the The Glass Experience. Check out the chandeliers.

The first section of the exhibit involved examples of glass and it's innumerable applications. This is a paperweight that looks like a snowglobe. I LOVE it, especially the little lady standing in the snow.

Eeek! Glass eyeballs!

Rolling Rock glass bottle form.

There was also an art glass exhibit featuring the work of the famous glass blowing artist Dale Chihuly.

There was a sea of huge Chihuly decorative bowls.

There were also artisans on hand working on real stained-glass projects.

Restoring stained glass if a good deal like putting together a glass jigsaw puzzle.

Antique stained glass lamp.

A huge decorative glass piece balances precariously on a tiny stem.

And finally there was a real live glass blowing exhibit. Pretty neat!

Dale was also nice enough to take a ton of photos of the Fairy Castle--but there are so many and I love that miniature house so much that I think that's a separate post!

Granda Cutcher's 90th Birthday!

Last weekend we made a quick trip to Michigan to go to Dale's maternal grandmother's 90th birthday party! It was a huge success--everybody was there! Dale took some photos to commemorate the occasion.

Dale's grandmothers! Grandma Cutcher and Grandma Murray (his mom's mom and his dad's mom). It was sweet of Grandma Murray to come to the party; Dale was excited to have both his grannies in one place.

Grandma Cutcher's brood: (top) Beverly, Donnie, Genevieve, Jackie, John, (bottom) Darlene, and Grandma Cutcher.

Grandma's portrait for the local paper...

Lauren (our niece, for those that don't know) and Grandma.

Grandma Cutcher and her sister.

To see all of the pictures that Dale took, check out our gallery by clicking here.

Rebecca's View-Master Collection....

Finally! Whatever evil bug was keeping me from uploading pictures has eased off this evening. As a test post I offer you my view-master collection.

There are my viewers. I have 16 in total.

That's right, I like the old view-masters! I love the older viewers and I especially love the older vacation reels from the 1940s and 1950s. Whenever I go to a new place I like to collect all the old view-master reels from that place. Dorky but fun!

These are my reels.

I have tons from my own childhood and many, many more that I've collected in the last few years. I especially love finding some in the back of an antique store I've never visited before. I LOVE that.

Weird Posting Problems...

Test...

I haven't been able to add to the blog in like a week! So this is a test post. Our FTP site is not playing nice with blogger's proxy.

Test photo...does not work. Boo. Hiss.

Yay! We're in business. And Monty is in the business of snuggling.

Sidney is Under the Weather...

I got some complaints for not giving Sidney equal blog time recently and so I took this picture. He loves to sit in the sink so we try to remember to close the bathroom door before he can sneak in there! Anyway, he loves to lounge in the bathroom (he seems to think its his own private spa) but the past week he's been spending all his time sleeping and sniffling!

He's always had a temperamental gastrointestinal system but it's gotten worse in recent weeks. We did some research and added a teaspoon of mashed pumpkin to his diet twice a day. That seems to have helped and he really loves the sweet bonus treat. However, he's also come down with the sniffles a couple of days ago. He still has a strong appetite and isn't showing any other signs of illness so we're just watching him closely and waiting for his little cold to pass. Send some happy thoughts his way! He's really such a sweet kitty. He loves people and loves attention and his only bad behavior involves eating anything he can put into his mouth! He only wants to sleep and snuggle, poor little guy!