Love Shack Nonsense

Learning a Foreign Language for Free!

OR...What to Do While in Pittsburgh, PA ;}

Can you tell that I really struggled with this blog post title?  That would be because I was thrilled to learn that this TEDx event was held at Carnegie Mellon University in good ole Pittsburgh, PA...the current home to my son and DIL, Timothy and Ashley.  Did you know that Pittsburgh, PA was recently listed as one of the Best of the World for 2012 in National Geographic's Traveler magazine?  Huh?...yeah that what we thought when I was flipping through my magazine and recognized this photo in the article...

Photograph by Brad Feinknopf

Extreme Metropolitan Makeover

Three rivers. One reinvented city. On all counts, the Steel City’s transformation over the past quarter century qualifies as revolutionary. Its mourning for its industrial past long concluded, this western Pennsylvania city changed jobs and reclaimed its major assets: a natural setting that rivals Lisbon and San Francisco, a wealth of fine art and architecture, and a quirky sense of humor.

Pittsburgh’s century-wide swath of architectural styles persuaded British film director Christopher Nolan to use downtown as a stand-in for Gotham City in this summer’s Dark Knight Rises. Sustainable design has transformed Victorian landmarks like the glass-domed Phipps Conservatory and created contemporary ones like the swooping waterfront convention center (above).

Old Home Week...Visiting Family in New Hampshire

Just got home a few days ago after spending a week visiting with my Mom and family in New Hampshire.  I thought that if I went this time of year it wouldn't be too cold as yet and I'd still be able to enjoy getting out to see some of my relatives that I haven't seen in years...but that didn't work out very well ;{  The temperature dropped a couple of nights and it was damp and raining for a few of the days and I ended up with a major head cold.  Hence why I haven't been able to blog...just didn't have the head for it {pun intended ;}  Below is a great photo of my Mom that I took while we were visiting my Aunt Bernie, one my Mom's younger sisters.  Mom is smiling because she's winning at cards...lol

Boy did I forget just how isolated it felt to be at my parent's home...no internet and my cell phone had terrible reception...had to sit on the porch to call DH most of the time.  Another weird phenomenon were the birds...see the photo below with all the crows out on my Mom's front lawn? 

{Inspiration Workshop! — week #9, the beach} Daytona Beach

WHAT IS THE GUSSY SEWS INSPIRATION WORKSHOP!?
The Gussy Sews Inspiration Workshop!is a weekly link-up party hosted by Gussy to create further connections with her online community and to encourage inspiration among her peers. 

♥ This week’s prompt is THE BEACH. Are you a beach babe? Are you a summer cottage lover? Does your heart flutter when you see beach-themed decor? Share with us below your take on the prompt by linking your blog post.

So I thought this was an excellent time to share our Daytona Beach vacation with you all...since it is already the end of July...and I'm afraid that my memories will soon fade if I don't record them now!   It has come to our attention that, from approximately June 15 through July 15, we were only home for 6 out of those 30 days...wow ;}  Part of it was because we had to do some business travel for DH...then we had an un-expected family get-together for the holiday weekend...and then...add to that our two-week vacation that began with a few days in Savannah before we headed on down the highway for a week in our condo on Daytona Beach Shores followed by four days in Charleston. 

Update: last night I was finishing up this post and LOST my internet connection...and with it...everything that I had written! 

Totally my own fault, I know, for not saving my work as I went...lesson learned ;}  Talk about being bummed...I was in tears (hormones ;) so I put my laptop away for the evening until I could think straight again...oh my!  So now I'm here this morning trying to re-capture the moment and finish this post so that I can join the party...thank goodness Gussy leaves the link up for a few days!

This year when we were planning our beach vacation our intentions were to enjoy the simple pleasures.  To be in the moment as they say and to not take any of it for granted.  When I was working on my Summer Travel Journal I had gathered some ideas of the things we wanted to do when I selected photos from our previous travels that reflected these simple pleasures.  So I printed these images in large, sepia photos as background pages for my journal as gentle reminders.  Some things are always more obvious than others so we were making a big effort to appreciate it all!

Things like arriving in Daytona in the middle of a late summer afternoon thunderstorm and finding the beach completely empty...except for the lonely lifeguard that is.  Some people may think...why would you be thankful for summer rain?  Well because in Daytona you come to expect them and welcome them because they cool things off somewhat and they get you off the beach so you can go clean up for your evening's activities.

Summer Travel 2011: Savannah, Georgia

It's always great to travel and to take a vacation and then I'm always happy to be back home again...really missed our cozy little Love Shack.  Now that I've had a few days after the long holiday weekend and another mini-trip to see family...I've got all the bags un-packed, the laundry done and I even had time to cook a bit today...so things are finally getting back to normal around here!

Since our summer vacation consisted of three different destinations, Savannah, GA...Daytona, FL...and Charleston, SC...I'm going to break up my blog posts into three different ones so as to not over-load you all with my photos and vacation details ;)

First up is Savannah...where we always like to stop for a day or two on our way down to our weekly time-share every summer in Daytona.  It takes over 10 hours, one-way, to drive to Daytona and we don't like to be completely exhausted once we arrive there...so we always break the road-trip up between Savannah and Charleston.   I wanted to share with you my view of the road-trip...

Yep that's my sweetie-pie DH...he usually does all the driving when-ever we take a road-trip...even if it's just to Charlotte for a day-trip. 

Celebrating July 4th in the Carolinas...nothin' could be finer!

What a wonderful way to end our summer vacation...spending time with family for the weekend...celebrating July 4th in the Carolinas!  My niece Cortney, and her husband Carl came home for the weekend and surprised just about all of the family.  Carl's brother and sister-in-law, Craig and Lennie helped out by hosting a family barbecue at their home and we had a full day of good food and great fun just being together.  Here is a quick slide-show that I put together highlighting the days events.

Personalize a free slideshow

Later on, Les (Carl's dad) emailed me some of the great shots that he had taken...that I just had to share...especially this one of me playing with my new toy :}

It was an early birthday present to me from DH...and I just love this thing! 

Meet Me On Mosaic Monday: One Weary Traveler!

Meet Me On Monday! is a weekly blog party hosted by Java at, Never Growing Old, where she provides five new get to know you questions that you can copy and paste into your own Monday post.  This is really a fun way to get to know a little bit about yourself and your fellow bloggers!  Mosaic Monday is another weekly blog party hosted by Mary at, Little Red House, where you can link up your favorite photo mosaics. 

Ok so here are today’s questions: 

1.  Caesar Salad or Garden Salad?

Garden Salad because I like mixed greens, especially spinach salads with lots of nuts and dried fruits and vinagarette dressings.  Caesar salads, especially with bottled dressings do not agree with me ;)

2.  Will you be watching the Royal Wedding on April 29th?

Will be watching some of it but will not spend the entire day watching it.  I loved watching Princess Diana's wedding but lost interest in the Royal family after her death...especially when Charles married Camilla...too tacky for me.

 
3.  Last thing you spent lots of money on?

 

 

 

This gazebo for our garden...

Now we just have to put it together ;)