Spring break, Sewing and Surprises...

I've been out of town and we will be in and out of town the next couple of weeks...but wanted to share a little and join in with Ms. Jenny's  Alphabe-thursday's "S" week.  (A big thank you to all those that stopped by and commented on my last post, I truly will get by to visit all of you).

1st...our Son's Spring Break... It was fun to hang out with Heartbreaker and Sweetie...

My hubby and I went with them to our town's celebration and walked the 3mile path in the park.

 

 ...by one of the bridges, we watched two guys in their boat checking their "alligator traps"they set up.
One of my friends and I have seen an alligator sunning along those paths.

In Savannah's Market place, the day before St. Patrick's day...We stopped to eat some yummy pizza.  It was already crowded with those in the St. Patrick day spirit.

 

 The photo in the middle, is of my hubby and Heartbreaker replacing the headlights to his car.

Heading off to Savannah's St. Patrick's day parade. Heartbreaker is toasting with some healthy vegetable juice - Mean green! lol

 2nd...some sewing for our little grandbaby Bunny...

I Sewed and Sent them for Bunny's room...

The pillow with the multiple pie shaped fabrics was not stuffed yet. The other pillow that shows the solid pink Lilly Pulitzer matelasse' back was stuffed...this one is more like a drum shaped pillow. Both are on our bed, next to the valance and the different patterned fabric pennants.

 

This is the pie shaped pillow with the stuffing and the button sewn on. You can see that I sewed a little handle on the side of this one and the other one, so that when Caroline is big enough, she can carry it around to sit on...or just to carry around. :o)

This is three separate photos of the valance and the pennants, so you can see how it looks. The ends of the pennant ties have huge buttons sewn on each ric-rac.

Here is Bunny's nursery, with the valance hung. Girly~Twirly (aka Bunny's mommy) hung the pennants to the side of the crib.  (This post shows some of her nursery in progress...*Pretty Paintings*...)

I also sewed a "pouf" or little ottoman for Caroline, when she is older. When we are there, I'll stuff and finish sewing the decorative stitches on it.

If you haven't seen our little grandbaby ~ "Bunny", please take a peek at some photos of her, over at this post * Q~tie Pie * .

3rd...some surpises... 

...a Sweet gift sent by Sweet Ms. Jenny! (I love, love, love this sweet pillow and it will be in our extra bedroom~ that will be our "grandbabies" room for when any grandbabies come to visit ;o)

 Oh yes! This little sweet sign from our dear friends will be sure to find a special spot in our grandbabies room too. :o)

We have some other Surprises, but I will post about those later...

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Here is another art order completed and sent to another sweet baby's nursery.

& her momma sent this photo of it matted and framed. Thank you Katie!

Thank you again for always taking the time to stop by and comment! I will catch up on my visits, but it may be a little bit...once we are not in and out of Georgia.

...Wee bit of Irish...

...Wee bit of Irish... is a repost from St. Patrick's Day last year  and my entry for Jenny'sAlphabe-Thursdays "I" post~March 2010! But I am pushing the envelope a Wee bit...for this week's "W" post, since it does have "Wee" in it :o)

...I've never reposted before, but this week has been crazy busy at work (coming home later), number of drawing orders to complete and also my hubby and I had spent a wonderful time this past weekend and this upcoming weekend with our daughter Girly~Whirly and her boyfriend.  Hope you all don't mind. Next week may also have to be a repost of some of our son's music. Thanks for your visit and comments!

One more thing...I may not have a wee bit of Irish blood in me, but through my hubby, sister-in-law...I happily claim to be linked to their beautiful heritage.

Here it is~ (With a wee bit of changes)... 

A Wee bit of Irish...

...through family, friends and experiences in my neck of the woods...

My hubby is mainly of Portuguese ancestry...but they do have Some Spanish, maybe a Fraction of French...and somewhere along the family lines... there is a wee bit of Irish.

When he was a little boy (and after getting spankings or reprimanded...which he says happened often... and that he deserved every bit of it...well...except for the times that he says he got in the way of his brother getting a lickin', so ended up getting a lickin' too :o)... he would look at some old baby photos and "know" for certain that he had to be adopted!

He had light reddish/blondish hair and was very, very fair, compared to his older brother with dark curly hair, so he thought he was an adopted child that got all the spankings.

(Too funny to think about, especially, since you take one look at him and he looks like his dad and you can definitely see he is related through and through!)

 ~Check out this late 1970's family photo ~

(does anyone else remember wearing shirts with big collars?)

(My Mr. B is in the top middle)

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My sweet sister-in-law has quite a lot of Irish in her blood. My brother and SIL named their little girl "Brecken", which is Irish for "freckle"... How cute is that!

Here's this little Irish/Filipino/German/Chinese/Spanish sweetie~

(These are recent photos of our niece Beautiful Brecken and nephew Cutie Crew).

          

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This night scene postcard of River Street in Savannah, Georgia has a bit of the green shining through...

We live in a town right on the outskirts of Savannah, Georgia.  Before moving here, I never realized just how celebrated St. Patrick's Day is in Savannah! ...but an example of this... schools in the area and surrounding area are closed on Mar 17th (they gave in to having St. Paddy's day off, since a lot of students end up going to the huge parade...).  

*****Added March 18, 2011 info from my original post on March 19, 2010*****

...Unofficially, this parade was first held in 1818 and the first official parade held in 1856 (A wee bit more interesting parade facts in this 2008 copy of the Savannah Now)... And on the news, leading up to this day, I learned that the elected Grand Marshall is selected through votes behind closed doors.)

There are participants in the parade from across the United States and Ireland. Some local military units were present in the parade this year...last year many units were still in Iraq or Afghanistan.

*****

This taken from ABOUT.COM contributer Sheridan Alexander:

"The St. Patrick's Day celebration in Savannah is the city's largest annual celebration including the second largest St. Patrick's Day Parade and by many accounts the largest St. Patrick's Day street celebration in the United States. Likened by some to Mardi Gras gone Irish, the spirited St. Patrick's Day festivities in Savannah go on for several days, attracting roughly 400,000 Irish and honorary Irish visitors each year in addition to local revelers. The comparison to Mardi Gras ends when it comes to displays of public nudity, however, which in Savannah according to authorities can "get you arrested."

...A humongous crowd on Riverfront Street, after the parade.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Savannah Waterfront Association

The fountains flow with glistening green water.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Savannah St. Patrick's Day Parade Committee

This week is also Spring break for Heartbreaker... so with some good college friends, they'll get a chance to experience some Idyllic Irish Imagery...around Savannah. On Saturday, they arrived to our home and stopped to eat dinner on their way to the condo on Tybee Island.  And then after spending St. Patrick's Day in Savannah on Weds, they came to the house for dinner.  (Night time on Riverfront Street can get too crazy.)

(I love the last photo silhouette of the 8 boys taken on the beach at sunrise).

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I am joining in with Jenny for

ALPHABE-THURSDAY "W".

&

Alicia for 

FRIDAY PHOTO FLASHBACK.

*****Some added, recent photos of our kiddoes :o)*****

Although we would have loved to have Girly~Twirly and her hubby down by us this past week, they had a wonderful, well-deserved vacation in Florida (since he started his first year of residency and she has been a very, very busy dentist). I don't have any of those photos yet, but here is one of the two of them when they were celebrating their 2nd year anniversary in Jan 2011.

*****

And this week is Girly~Whirly and her boyfriend's spring break from dental school (He'll be a dentist this May and Girly~Whirly will be a dentist next May :o).  I will be taking photos while they are here, but for now am sharing this one of the two of them taken in February 2011.

*****

 And our son and some of his college buds didnt make it down to Savannah this year. They had to head back to Lexington after watching the basketball games held in Atlanta...so close!
One of the guys had to get back for a work interview. They had a great time.

(M, Heartbreaker, J, P, W)

I took this photo of a photo on his facebook :o)

...hm...I see a little shaving has not been done :o)

*****

Here's a Wee bit of Celtic/Irish inspired artwork.

(Click on each to see a closer view)

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind always be at your back.

May the sun shine upon your face,

and rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

~an Old Irish Blessing~

My Sweetie and Some Savannah Sites...

This past Saturday was my Handsome Hubby and my 29th Anniversary...

So...my Sweetie "surprised" me with several sweet surprises...

 I found this set up the night before, after I got home late from work.

In the morning I woke up and took another picture of it, before he woke up and I made breakfast...

Beautiful bouquet of roses, a perfect card, and yummy Lindor truffles chocolate.

After breakfast, we drove to downtown Savannah...and parked and walked past some gorgeous homes like this one...

This was the Armstrong family home...

& later the home of Armstrong Junior College, it was also known as being the antiques showcase for Jim Williams, of which the book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" tells the non-fiction story of how Jim Williams was aquitted for the murder of Jonny Hansford.

The walkway towards the Forsythe Fountain...

I love how the tree limbs with Spanish moss arch overhead.

 (Close up view of the fountain)

 Next, we walked around Monterey Square...

The city of Savannah, Georgia, United States, was laid out in 1733 around four open squares. The plan anticipated growth of the city and thus expansion of the grid; additional squares were added during the 18th and 19th centuries, and by 1851 there were twenty-four squares in the city. In the 20th century three of the squares were demolished or altered beyond recognition, leaving twenty-one. In 2010, one of the three "lost" squares, Ellis, was reclaimed. (info source: Wikipedia)

Most of Savannah's squares are named in honor or in memory of a person, persons or historical event, and many contain monuments, markers, memorials, statues, plaques, and other tributes. The first squares were originally intended to provide colonists space for military exercises.

Monterey Square is the site of Mercer House. The house, and the square itself, were featured prominently in John Berendt's 1994 true crime novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. The square has been used as a setting for several motion pictures, including the 1997 film version of Berendt's novel.

Monterey Square (laid out in 1847) is widely considered to be the most picturesque of Savannah's squares. All of the surrounding buildings but one (the United Way Building) are original to the square.

The square also is home to Congregation Mickve Israel, which boasts the only Gothic-style synagogue in America, dating from 1878. 

(I would love to take some other weekend walks around the other squares and take photos of the many beautiful church buildings.

Since my husband is of Portuguese/Spanish/Irish/French descent, I found it interesting that those who were original members were of Spanish-Portuguese descent.

Here are some of the beautiful row houses around Monterey Square.

Next, we went to see more sites down by River Street...

The Riverboat ready to roll...& see the original cobblestone road?

My hubby and I were guests for our son's (Heartbreaker) Riverboat dinner cruise when he was recognized for Academic Honors in High School several years ago. It was so much fun.

Oh! This operating trolley rides the rails...

 ...in front of the many gift boutiques and eateries.

This statue is a tribute to Florence Martus (1869-1943), a Savannah resident who used to live along the river and waved at the ships as they sailed by.

 On to Broughton Street, a few streets from River Street...

with more super skies and beautiful old architecture...

This is the old KRESS department store (now the home of several shops).

Dave's mom worked in the Hilo, Hawaii location Kress store when she was young.

 This is the Marshall House on the day that we walked along Broughton Street.
(In 1999, $12 million dollar restoration returned the building to its original purpose. The inside is gorgeous and my photo doesn't do it justice. If you would like, you can see the Marshal House photo gallery.)

The Marshall House was the first Savannah Hotel built in 1851.

Go to this link: Marshall House - for more on its history.

This is a photo of it back after the iron veranda was added in 1857.

(photo credit: Marshall House.com)

 My Sweetie and I stop at the Melting Pot on Broughton Street. He had a "surprise 3:30 dessert reservation"...
When we lived near Nashville, I had always wanted to go to the Melting Pot, but we never did make it.
He had 3 roses(to represent each of our children) on the table waiting. And the owners (3 brothers-we met the oldest brother who was very nice and the middle brother-a talented artist whose art graces their establishment) and the very friendly staff had an anniversary card for us.

It was yummy! We look forward to coming back.

 Later that evening, we went to one of the malls...and decided on dinner at Macaroni Grill.

Oh! In the mail, yesterday, was an anniversary card from our younger daughter Girly~Whirly...and in it was a gift card to the Melting Pot! Hm...can't wait to go back...

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Joining Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday meme

for this week's "S" post!

Also... I found and am excited to join with Sew It's Finished, a blog of quilters with UFOs (unfinished  object) committed to getting them completed.  I know that I will be inspired, motivated and learn from these talented quilters. I have said before: I am a novice quilter (but also realized, that with all my UFOs),  oh dear! I should be considered a "professional UFOer"! (I really, really want to get some of these done, for our future grandbabies :o)

I hope to get that tutorial of the cathedral quilt up in a couple of weeks.  Please excuse me if my terminology may not be quite right, but I will have some photos to help show what I hope will be an easy explanation. My dear friend showed me how and if I can do it, any one can :o)

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Here are a couple of past orders:

Michelle ordered this one for her little one's 1st bday...Happy Birthday!

"...can you do characters like Mickey? Baby Geo's room is all Mickey Mouse sports, I was thinking of taking a pic of the baseball one..."

This one was an order from Lauri for her brother who has collected Donald Duck memorabilia for years.

"...I'm a good friend of Kristen's.... she gave me some work of yours for our first daughter "Addison"...its just gorgeous! Thank you so much for your hard work.
I have a twin brother that LOVES! Donald Duck..."

This is the Donald Duck in Black and White, before I added the color that she requested.

 I had to take a photo of it after the color was added, since our scanner does not scan in color. And my camera photo kept reflecting the light off of the color, so the colors here are not as vibrant as they are in actuality.

Please check out my facebook art page and become a "fan".

Thank you always for your visit and comments! I will be sure to return your visits.