Saturday Meanderings

Happy Saturday, friends! I am trying to get back into the swing of things after being in Washington, D.C. for a week helping my son move. Whenever I get the opportunity to spend time with my adult children, I am ready, willing and able! So grab a cup of coffee or tea, and let’s chat about all the things that are happening on Saturday Meanderings.

Easy Way to Fill Walls

With a larger apartment, there are many blank walls and my son, Benjamin doesn’t have any art collected to date. An affordable alternative to purchasing art is to create your own. Michael’s is having a Buy One, Get One Free sale on all their canvases. See here.

During the week, we are able to create two paintings. One is an abstract which is completely out of my wheelhouse ~ a consolidated effort by me, Benjamin and his girlfriend, Delaney. The other is an ocean scene, incorporating the colors of his apartment. With one large brush and only a few paint colors, we did have fun painting “originals” for his new apartment.

Paint Does Makes a Difference

With a predominantly blue theme for my son’s apartment, the bright, red wall in the kitchen didn’t really work. Using Home Depot’s Behr One Coat paint, look how nice the new color looks.

If you ever want to do an affordable update to any room, consider a can of paint. Worst case, you don’t like it and can paint over it. This was a nice upgrade to tie the decor of his apartment together.

While I was in the painting frame of mind, I also brightened up the baseboards with a fresh coat of white paint. All the dings and dents disappeared~making it fell fresh and new.

Fun with Frosé

Recently, I made a Watermelon frosé and decided to take advantage of the Utah peaches that are currently available. I suppose you could use any fruit but the technique is pretty much the same.

• 4 cups of frozen peaches (cut into slices)
• 1 bottle chilled rosé
• Agave syrup or a flavored simple syrup of your choice (optional)

Freeze the fruit on a cookie sheet. Put in blender and add a bottle of chilled rosé wine (I leave a little in the bottle to add if it is too frozen). Blend. Add a squirt of agave syrup or for the peach frose I added a bit of honey/thyme syrup (a bit of water, honey and fresh thyme in a pot and simmered).

Here is the watermelon one….now I’m wondering if I can make it with cantaloupe, cherries, plums, pears or mangoes? This is an incredibly refreshing drink!

My First Podcast!

I would consider myself a bit of a technology dinosaur and tried not to feel too intimidated when asked to participate in a podcast. But it was such fun!

Two highly respected land use attorneys conducted an interview on neighborhood organizations. Since our neighborhood group works closely with this law firm, this podcast really felt like a conversation among friends. It will be available in 30 days and I’m hoping I didn’t sound totally goofy.

So what does one wear to a podcast? Heck if I know, but I did want to be comfortable since I would be sitting for an hour. White pants, black t-shirt and a kimono seem to be a reasonable choice. The vintage mirror has lots of age spots so ignore the photo boo-boos.

Squeezed in a painting

After having fun with the canvas paintings in DC, I am inspired to pick up a paintbrush again. Last March, I spotted this painting on Facebook and just loved the colors. I could not find a name for the painting but the artist is Johannes Evert Hendrik Akkeringa (1861-1942) from the Netherlands. Fortunately, I am able to find a larger picture so I can print it out as a reference point.

Though I believe I am still noodling this, here is the painting to date. My flowers seem a bit more dense, but I think that’s okay.

Copper and Fall

When I think of fall decorating, I love the copper colors that remind me of autumn leaves. Have you seen Martha Stewart’s copper collection?

I am sure she doesn’t do the polishing but what a stunning display. Makes me want to go and get out the few pieces of copper I own…however I am sure they will need a good cleaning. To see Martha’s tips on cleaning copper, click here.

Did I ever mention that long ago, I took a cooking class from Martha? This was before she because so famous but she demonstrated how to make homemade pasta. When I met with her after class and she gave me the leftovers~and for a brief moment I felt like the teacher’s pet!

Wishing you a happy Labor Day! The weather is perfect here in the mountains and the wild flowers are so abundant due to all the rain. Be safe out there!