A completely useless, feel-good-only post (wall art)

A friend of mine blogged recently about the art on the walls of her home, and it was inspiring.  I enjoyed learning about where and why she got the pieces.  I think you can learn a lot about a person from how they decorate their home.

Lately, I've spent all of my blogging time writing angsty things, and I need to just do blogging lite for a minute.

A big part of my wall decorating is travel art.  Some of it I have purchased, and some of it friends or family have purchased for me.

If I know a friend is going someplace cool that I likely won't go ever or for a very long time
, I say, "Hey, can I give you some money and will you buy a piece of wall art while you're there?"

The best thing about travel art is that I have constant reminders in my home of special places I've visited or special people who have traveled to some interesting places.

My neighbor's daughter has traveled to India and Jordan, and she was kind enough to bring me back some pieces, which I love.  I always think about her when I see them.  (She is currently in England getting her master's degree---how cool of a 20-something existence is that?)

From Jordan

From India

My parents visited Greece, Italy and Turkey a few years ago, and since D and I had already been to Greece and Italy, I asked mom to pick me up something from Turkey.

I do have a couple small shelves in my dining room, where most of the travel art is, although the more places we go, the more I've been having to find new locations.  This shelf has a wooden container from Hawaii (from my parents), a small pottery piece from England (my MIL), a vase from Williamsburg, VA (bought myself) and a vase from Mexico (my MIL).  I have other small things that are currently in my bedroom closet that usually reside in my living room.  They will return just as soon as I put Christmas decor away.  

I just added this to the shelf the other night---my next-door neighbor gave me a cigar from Cuba (he returned not too long ago from his 3rd mission trip).

These two pieces are from Iceland, where D and I went in 2003.

This is from Strasberg, Germany (from my mom and dad).

I've got the Canadian section, which has these two:

Niagara Falls

Toronto

I have an entire wall of US art, including....

 Charleston, SC

 The Grand Canyon

 Smokey Mountains National Park, TN

Savannah, GA

Sleeping Bear Dunes, MI

These are upstairs in our bedroom and bath.....because my US wall in the dining room is really full.

Sanibel Island, FL

 Edisto Island, SC

 Mackinaw Bridge, Michigan

This is one of my favorite pieces....a piece of lace I bought in Burano, Italy that I had matted and framed once we returned home.  It is in the center of my Mediterranean/Asian wall.  

This piece was given to me by my SIL and is from Mexico.  Right now, it stands alone...since when D and I visted the Caribbean prior to marriage we hadn't yet begun this travel wall art tradition.  If we had, this little guy would have some tropical friends.  

This piece hung in my home for years and years, but I changed things around and haven't found the right place for him again....because he is very long.  A friend traveled to Nepal and brought it back for me.  It stunk of gasoline because of the machines they made it on so I had to dry it with dryer sheets to make it tolerable to hang up.  I always think of RG and TL when I see it.

I think one of the things that makes our house reflective of us and what we value is our travel art.  I always look forward to going new places and finding new pieces to build my memory mosaic.  

What I don't intend to (ever) do for Thanksgiving

We do Thanksgiving at my MIL's house every year.  Everyone brings a dish, although my MIL still seems to do a lot of cooking---the turkey, of course, but also her frozen cranberry salad and two types of stuffing (oyster, my favorite) and other things of which I'm not fully aware.  D's aunt usually brings a heavenly sweet potato casserole that is out of this world.  I bring something.....and every year it changes because I am sorta not very traditional when it comes to traditions.

I am perfectly happy to make a meal out of the side dishes.  Eff the turkey, I say.

My brother and his family generally spend Thanksgiving with my SIL's large family, so I always worried about mom and dad being alone.  Fortunately, my MIL always invites my parents for the meal.   My parents and MIL get along well, and I'm super thankful for this.  The kids get to see all their grandparents at the same time,  D and I aren't leaving one house having just eaten to then go to another house and stuff ourselves silly again, and I don't have to feel guilty that I'm not spending time with my parents and they are sitting alone in their home twiddling their thumbs.

I enjoy spending the holiday eating and enjoying the company of family, as well as going back to my MIL's on Black Friday to eat leftovers for dinner.

As much as I do enjoy this day of the year, I don't ever intend to cook a Thanksgiving meal of my own.  I have zero desire.  There are no Norman Rockwell dreams of family harmony I envision with hosting my own Thanksgiving.  Given how much I dislike cooking dinner every night, I most certainly don't want to fix anything larger than my usual nightly casserole and Ore-Ida french fries.  I know there is no gold medal in heaven for having prepared a Thanksgiving meal for one's family.  And if there is, I don't wanna go there anyway.

Sure, I fully anticipate changing my mind about this at some point....perhaps when I'm desperate to see my children and grandchildren and will be willing to cook and bake for days on end in order to do so.

But I'm gonna have to be really desperate to love on some grandbabies.  

The weekend that kicked our collective asses--Saturday

Our usual weekend routine is to maybe do a family activity on Saturday morning and then lay low until late Sunday afternoon when we visit Mamaw for dinner.

But this past weekend was different.

Saturday morning we visited a nearby county farm where we went on a hayride, picked pumpkins and enjoyed lots of fun in and on the hay.  I first visited this farm when N was 18 months old (2005), and have gone with the kids in 2008, 2009, 2010 and this year.  (G was a newborn in 2007, but I have no idea why we didn't go in 2006?)

Being there on a beautiful fall day with my family brings me tremendous joy, seeing them enjoy it now and remembering all the wonderful visits we've had in the past.

In honor of our family tradition, I present Pumpkin Picking Past and Present:

2005--N was around 18 months old.  

 This (above) is one of my all-time most cherished photos of N.  

2008--With N (who was 3-and-a-half) and G (who was a year old)

In 2009, with N (who was 5), G (who was 2) and me (who was ready to pop M out).

In 2010, with N (age 6), G (age 3) and M (age 1)

And this year, 2011, with N (age 7), G (age 4) and M (age 2)

 Love this pic of my babies.