Findley Lake Cottage

Peter and I have been so busy this summer.  We've barely done anything "summery" and haven't been able to connect with our crazy schedules.  Our amazing friends have a lake cottage that they let us stay at for the weekend.  It was AMAZING!

The cottage is in Findley Lake, NY - up near Erie, right over the border from PA.

We drove up Friday night after work.  Initially we anticipated getting there around 8PM, but there was a major fatal accident on 79N which really backed up traffic.  We went less than 2 miles in an hour and were turned around in an emergency turnaround so we had to find some back way.  We ended up getting to the cottage way after dark and decided to hit the sack and start fresh in the morning.

This is what we woke up to!  It was absolutely beautiful!


Since it was pitch black out when we arrived, we couldn't really see anything outside.  The cottage is right on the lake and it was a perfectly sunny morning.


The porch overlooking the lake was awesome.  So relaxing!


We decided to head "into town" to a small cafe for a light breakfast.  Peter had a bagel sandwich with OJ which he said was quite delicious.


And I had a super yummy cinnamon roll with iced chai.  Yum!


After breakfast we walked around to the few shops on Main Street.  It was so quaint and we dreamt of opening a shop in a lake town someday.  We bought some homemade soaps which smelled amazing.  We also bought some wine from the Finger Lakes region and cheese to enjoy as an afternoon snack.  Peter also bought me a little candle holder as a souvenir.  :)

Then we took a quick drive around the lake to check things out.






We headed back to the cottage to do some reading and bask in the sunshine.

This is the inside of the cottage. Look at that wood burning fireplace.  I bet it's nice to cuddle up inside when it's cold out.


Loved these lanterns that were on the porch!


This is a picture of the cottage from the deck.


Me and the hubs - happy to be getting away together!


A few of the other side of the lake:


There was even a cute island in the middle of the lake.


No schedules.  No problem!


We kayaked a bit in the lake, too.  :)


I loved, loved, LOVED this porch swing!  It was so nice to swing and enjoy the peaceful environment.


We spent the rest of Saturday enjoying the sunshine, reading, and relaxing.  We hit up a local tavern for dinner and watched a movie on TV before bedtime.

On Sunday, we had breakfast out again.  It was much chillier on Sunday - very fall-like which was quite enjoyable. The wine we got on Saturday was the best white wine I've ever had so we stopped back for a couple more bottles to bring home!  We also walked around this cool building with a water wheel.



















Like I said - this porch swing was just wonderful :)


Feeling happy, well-rested and connected!

How many self-shots can we take? haha

We read on the porch for a while, took a bunch of pictures, and then decided it was time to start the drive back home. 

We stopped in Erie on the way home since neither of us had ever been there.  Presque Isle was a beautiful park.


Lake Erie is HUGE!


It was nice to not have to rush and be able to just mosey along.


So pretty!


There's even lots of beach areas in the park.  We heard about people going to Erie all the time, but didn't realize how nice of a place it is!


We joked about this being our beach vacation incase the Outer Banks gets destroyed next week with the hurricane predictions.  We hope we can still go, though!!


This weekend was much needed and we're so grateful to have such wonderful, generous friends to share their cottage with us.

Wedding Decorations

I'm finally finished with all of the decorations I was to make for Mark and Jackie's wedding! It took a while to make all of the treat bags since I scalloped the edges of the bag, had to punch 2 circles per bag, stamp one of those circles, then glue them all together. 208 times! Whew! I also Steelerfied (Is that a word? If not, then it should be!) the guest book, ring bearer pillow, and flower girl basket.

I think they look pretty good, don't you?

Marnie's Brunch Shower

This morning we had a baby shower for Marnie.  She is due with her first baby (a boy!) in September.  We wanted to celebrate her separately from the second time moms and had a brunch shower.  It was a great idea.  Super good food and very chill which is I think right up Marnie's alley.  (Hopefully she enjoyed it!)

I realized I haven't been taking many pictures lately and really need to work on that.  These occasions are flying by and I keep forgetting to document them with pictures!

Randomness

I love crafts. Possibly a little too much because I see great ideas online and want to make everything haha.

I recently saw ideas for appliques for onesies and whipped up these 2 as gifts for friends. The birdie was for baby girl Marando, now known as Laney.

The elephant was for Eli. Cute and pretty simple to do!

I now have a small stockpile of white onesies that I've gotten at Walmart and Babies R Us for pretty cheap. Now I just need to find some more ideas for appliques! I'm thinking a pumpkin and Christmas tree may be fun for the holidays!

Is there a limit on free samples for paint colors? I hope not! I got a nice stack to use my paper punches on for gift tags, etc.

Is this post random enough? No, not yet?

How about 2 random pictures of our dining room to add to the mix. I have the linens we got while in Italy out and have been enjoying them and thinking fondly of our trip last year.

A new centerpiece arrangement that I came up with a few weeks ago:

Well that about does it for what's going on here, haha.

PEC

This weekend was PEC, a conference for Peter's work.  We ended up staying in the Sheraton hotel in Station Square from Thursday night through Sunday.  Since we are a one car family and Peter had to be there almost 24/7, it made it easier to stay there.  Thursday after work, we checked in, grabbed dinner, and then Peter had to do some set up work.

Friday I went to work as normal and then went shopping after until Peter would be able to go to dinner.  I found some great bargains at Target including 2 scarves for $3.24 each, an umbrella for $7, and sparkly black flip flops for the wedding for $3.  

Saturday I had Karen's baby shower, did some shopping at Joann (stocked up on fat quarters for 80 cents and baby flannel for $2.39/yard) and then had a picnic at Peter's work.

Sunday was only half day for the conference so we were out of there by lunchtime.  We hit up Rey Azteca for lunch and then enjoyed relaxing at home for the evening.

When I wasn't shopping, working, or at the baby shower, I just stayed in the hotel room and did some crafting.  I worked my tail off on making the treat bags for Mark and Jackie's wedding.  I got about 3/4 of the way done so that's great news!

Why do weekends have to fly by?

Saturday Fun

My friend, Karen, whom I've known since 3rd grade was having her baby shower today.  Lots of friends and gals I know have been having babies or are currently pregnant, but it still seems weird to me that my grade school friend is having a baby.  Not only that, but two other grade school friends, Jamie and Ann, recently had babies, too!

It was fun to see them again, but hard to believe it's been so long since our days in high school.  Almost 10 years!

Here's a shot I stole from Facebook of all of us.  I'm the only one without baby/not preggo, but that seems to be a theme with my groups of friends lately haha.