Christmas Tag Swap

The Burton girls were at it again with a Christmas tag swap. We wanted to do the swap early enough in December that a) we would be able to put up our tags for Christmas decoration, and b) Our Sis who is currently lining in Australia would get hers in time for Christmas. I think we made it!

This year our Christmas theme was more of a color scheme. The theme was Winter Whites. Our tags were to focus on white, cream, silver, gold, and sepia.

I made a banner with the Christmas tags and strung it across my piano for the holidays. I love the look of these tags. They turned out beautiful, and look great displayed together.

A few of us have already had some great ideas for next year’s theme. I’m already excited. Thanks ladies!

-Lynnae

Wedding Joy

Hello my blog friends!

I know I’ve been missing from the blogosphere lately, but last month my daughter got married, and it has been all consuming! I have been busy sewing and crafting, but it has all been for the wedding, and therefore under wraps until the big day.

Then the wedding date came and went, and I have been in RELAXATION and DECOMPRESSION mode for the past few weeks. But I have not forgotten you, so the next couple posts will be about this BIG DAY!

So stay tuned for more wedding goodness!

-Lynnae

Update May 2013

I’m a little late….. My husband’s deployment ended in February. I know I’m very behind in blogging, but I am so thankful that he is home. Since he’s been home we’ve taken a romantic trip to Las Vegas, a spring break trip to Utah to visit our daughter and son-in-law, and our other college daughter has been here to visit us.

My husband also had two months of vacation- a month from the Army, and a month from his job here, before he had to go back to Microsoft. I loved spending so much time with him every day. We ran around town together, eating at restaurants that he had missed while he was away, we even joined a gym and started going together. I love my sweetie!

I have a list of ‘deployment thank-you’s"’ for all the help I received during the time he was gone.

I am very thankful to friends, to my family, daughters, and siblings and all the good times we had together, and for my youngest daughter who was a great companion every day, laughed at my silliness, and was perfectly willing to have a frozen burrito any night I didn’t feel like cooking.

Thanks to those who helped with yard work, visited my sick doggie at the kennel while I was out of town, brought me soup on a sad day, looked at broken cars, sent a cake through the mail, climbed a ladder, tried to help me break into my own house after locking myself out, took me to dinner, or movies, or just were there for me.

  Mostly to my Father in Heaven. For keeping us safe, for giving me strength, for protecting our home and protecting my husband. Knowing that the Lord was mindful of me and my needs is humbling and overpowering. Thank you is not enough.

-Lynnae

The Spoiled Janeite

Wait until you see what Santa brought this Janeite!

My Santa of choice is currently deployed with the Army in North Africa, but he has been spoiling me big time. Look what he gave me for Christmas.A production script from Sense and Sensibility 1995 signed by Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Robert Hardy, Alan Rickman, James Fleet and Tom Wilkinson. Can you believe that? It comes with a certificate of authenticity too. I admit I did run my hand across the signatures a few times. Time to watch this show again!

I was blessed with many gifts that I am thankful for, not all of them Austen related, but here is another one that is.

My daughter and her husband gave me this adorable board book Pride and Prejudice by Cozy Classics. I haven’t even seen this one advertised yet. I love dolls, and have been caught out in the neighborhood doing a Barbie photo shoot or two, so I loved seeing the earnest look of emotion on the faces of the soft felt characters. Can Pride and Prejudice be told in 15 words or less? I say, YES!

-Lynnae

Basildon Court

Known as ‘Netherfield’ to fans of the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice, Basildon Court is a lovely building inside and out.
The setting is beautiful. I enjoyed our little drives so much my sister at one point called me a Hampshire girl. I felt a certain thrill going out on the highway and seeing names of places that Jane Austen knew and was familiar with. I couldn’t ride past the Basingstoke exit without thinking of a young Jane and Cassandra preparing for a dance at the local assembly room. One thing I learned about this countryside is that, like in the old days, most of the roads are tucked into a thick growth of trees and hedges, making a glimpse of the gently rolling countryside a rare treat. You can imagine me craning my neck to catch a glimpse of an old church or fine country home briefly visible through the trees.
But back to Basildon- here are my pictures of that lovely mansion.

Beautifully restored ceiling in the entrance.

There were lovely patterns on the wall. These are seen in the background in Pride and Prejudice when Mr. Bennet consoles Mary after the ‘piano incident’.

More lovely ceilings.

The dining room.

This is the room where Miss Bingley and Elizabeth Bennet take their infamous turn about the room, but the directors wanted a lighter color for the room. In order to protect the historic red silk walls, artificial walls were created to go in front. Decorative pillars were also added, their real purpose was to hold the walls so nothing would be affixed to the delicate walls of the home.

This was an original ceiling that hadn’t been replaced or restored. It was absolutely lovely. The guide was trying to direct me to take my photo in another area because of the watermark here. I felt like saying “I’m from America and we like old stuff!”

This bathroom had it’s last update after WWII.

One of Basildon Court’s lovely bedrooms.

1940’s style servant’s bells.

A fun surprise in this house- the state of the art (1950’s) kitchen, complete with volunteers making cookies for the visitors to sample.

Another view of the cute kitchen.

The entrance to a walled garden.

There is a room dedicated to the houses role in the 2005

adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.

Wouldn’t you love to receive notice for this casting call?

One of the lovely statues on the grounds at the rear of the house.

A view of the back face of the house.

My daughter sits at the edge of the garden with a new little friend. Small children were attracted to my daughter throughout our trip, which made for some fun moments, including one little girl who wouldn’t let go of Jordan’s hand on the underground, and screamed when her parents had to pry her away at the exit.

A little picture I hobbled together of me and my daughter living in the world of Jane Austen.
Cheers!
-Lynnae

My England Trip- London

I am in England. It is my second day and this is really a dream come true for me. I am staying with my sister Julianna and her kind husband, who have a sweet little cottage style home in Reading. There are so many little nooks and Crannies! My daughter and I are sleeping in a little upstairs room that is so sweet it’s like being in a treehouse. I have an angled window right above my bed. Julianna also had some gifts for us when we arrived.

This is a one hundred year old copy of Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, my favorite novel, that she gave me as a birthday present. Isn’t it beautiful!

Today we went out to London, But we started the day with Breakfast at a charming and very yummy restaurant in Reading called Bill’s.. My daughter was excited to see the tower of London, so that was our main destination.

London Bridge.

We also went out to see Big Ben. OK, OK, I’ll post this picture, even though I’m not too happy about what is going on with my hair by this point! Jordan looks fabulous as always!

My sister Julianna and I with the London Eye in the background.

As you can see I’m having a great time and feeling totally spoiled here in the UK. I wish I could write about everything. But right now I’m feeling about as tired as this little girl…..

More to come….

-Lynnae

A Pink Fiesta

Look what I just found!

Fiesta ‘Flamingo’!

This will be a great addition to my lovely rainbow of Fiesta dinnerware. I’m so excited!

The color is still in preorder but I ordered a few to add to my collection. I’m so excited. They look so lovely!

In other news…. Our England trip is less than a month away. I’m freaking out a little bit right now. And I’m so very grateful I have a sister who lives there to not only invite me, but be familiar with the area a bit. It’s strange to travel without my husband.

Speaking of his deployment, he ate camel meat. Can you believe it?

And on the home front, today is the last day of school. My daughter went to the park with friends and I brought them a bag full of treats to celebrate. And in an unusual twist for Washington, it actually LOOKED like summer. Hoorah!

-Lynnae

Cured by a Hot Glue Gun

January has been a little crazy, and no, I haven’t dropped off the face of the earth.

I was sick early in January, then in mid January we had crazy snowstorms, school cancellations, and an ice storm, followed by a three day power outage.

Then my husband left for a short Army Reserve training in Pennsylvania and I had big plans. I was finally going to paint my family room, get ready for my Jane Austen party, and do a bunch of other cool stuff, and low and behold, I got sick again.

I was a miserable, laying around, achy eyed, coughing kind of sick, for about a week, and did almost nothing except the basic laundry and food for my daughter, and taking her to school.

Now the fog is lifting. Laryngitis has left my voice a little raspy, but I have felt bad for so long that now I almost feel hyper. Which is good because now I have less time to do all the things I wanted to do.

I’ve spent the last two days catching up on laundry and crafting with my daughter. She wanted to try this cool art project with melted crayons that we saw on Pinterest.  She had a lot of fun and it turned out really cool.

As for me, my BFF’s daughter is expecting her first child, and I am helping out with the baby shower. I’ve been experimenting with all kinds of tissue flowers and coffee filter pom-poms. Next time I’ll post a picture of what I come up with!

-Lynnae

PS. wanna have a peek at my Pinterest Boards? Click here!

The Hunger Games Costume

Have you read the series “The Hunger Games”?  My daughter wanted to be the heroine, Katniss Everdeen for Halloween. I loved the series and had a great time helping her put the outfit together.

This Halloween was pretty poignant in that my youngest was 14 and not going trick or treating. She did have a few places to wear her costume though. And, one benefit of having an older child, in lieu of the normal hectic Halloween evening rush, she let me take her out to the woods for a photo shoot in her costume.

I love reading books and have always thought it would be fun to do a photo shoot based on the scenes and imagery of a book, so this was a blast. Jordan made a great Katniss and we had a lot of fun. Then I brought the photos into editing software and tweaked them a little bit.

Thanks Jordan, for indulging mom!

-Lynnae