Dads Passion

Posted on January 18, 2014May 9, 2017 by Vintage Chic

My Dad will be 77 this year in August.  He was a Home Builder until he got involved in Race Horses!

I was around 9 or 10 I think when race horses became not only his passion but his new line of work love!  

So since the “60’s” he has been racing his horses at the track.

He stopped building houses and started claiming horses.  He bought a 33 acre farm and filled it with race horses. 

  I asked him one day not too long ago when he was going to retire and take it easy….
He said “When I fall down dead in my tracks! 
I LOVE what I do and I don’t want to ever stop doing it!”

So even tho taking care of a ton of horses all day every day is really a lot of work
and even tho it has aged my dad from being constasntly outside in the New England weather,
he LOVES what he does!

Not too many people can say that they LOVE what they do and make a living at it.

My Dad is one of the lucky ones.  He had riding horses as a kid and then we had horses growing up and now he has his race horses and is a trainer.  He has had a few great horses over the years.

And I will assume he has made a pretty penny every now and again.  But all that seems to matter to him is that he can keep racing and having his horses.

Him and his wife are side by side every day too, doing what they love!

  

Moms Vintage Family

Posted on January 14, 2014May 9, 2017 by Vintage Chic



Not sure if you have noticed yet or not, but I LOVE vintage pictures!  I mostly LOVE the ones of our family!

This is mom’s high school picture….



And this is my Mom, not sure how old she was here…..

These lovely ladies are my Aunt Vivian, she is one of my grandmothers sisters,
then my Aunt Janet, she is my Mom’s older sister, and then my Grandmother, Beatrice or “Bea”
as a lot of people called her.

My grandmother LOVED the beach!  It’s one of the things I always will remember about her.  She seemed the happiest ever at the beach!

Christmas Bling

Posted on January 3, 2014May 9, 2017 by Vintage Chic

I haven’t had the energy to take down Christmas yet thanks to what I think was the flu!  Just starting to feel alive again after a week of chills, fever, achy body, coughing, sleepless nights and lots of NyQuil.  So before Christmas of 2013 is put to bed, here are a few pictures!

Aidan turns 1…..

Posted on January 1, 2014May 9, 2017 by Vintage Chic


Well actually he turned one on November 29th!

This kid has the most beautiful eyes and smile you could ever want. He’s just a ray of sunshine and a burst of wind!  His energy is endless!

This is me and my daughter, Aidan’s mom.  I am thankful every day that they are both here and healthy. 

I love to kiss this little ham when he lets me!  He’s so dam cute!

His mom loves hats and is always buying him a new one!

I am so lucky to have the cutest grandkids around!

He is one of my favorite subjects to have a photo shoot with!

Kisses anyone?  Only 25 cents!



Our dog Sophie just loves these kids so much…..

She just can’t get enough!


It sure is exhausting being one!

Oh…wait maybe I meant for me, because this one takes a nap and is up and running again!  Happy Birthday Aidan, Ma loves you sooo much!!!!

Thanksgiving 2013

Posted on December 31, 2013May 9, 2017 by Vintage Chic

A little late, but here are a few family pictures from Thanksgiving 2013……

 

Nest in Peace…

Posted on December 31, 2013May 9, 2017 by Vintage Chic

My friend Karen over at A Cape Cod Nest always ends her post with Nest in Peace…..

So I made her a pillow with the saying on it!

Bedroom Screen Door handmade

Posted on December 30, 2013May 9, 2017 by Vintage Chic

Finally got another project finished! Only took a couple of hours and wasn’t very hard to do.
My daughter in-law has two cats that love sleeping in my “almost” one year old grandsons crib, and since he wasn’t sleeping in it, it wasn’t that big of a deal.
Now we fast forward a few months and my daughter in-law and son are giving me grandchild number seven in a few weeks! No, they don’t have seven, this will be number two for them. Their first son will be one January 4th and the new baby is due the end of January, so the rush was on to figure out something to keep the cats out of the crib and still let the heat into the room because the only heat source is in the hallway!
I thought a screen door would be perfect so we went to Lowe’s to see if we could buy one.  No such luck as the bedroom has a very small doorway, only about 24”x78”.  So I decided to make my own.  I went back to Lowe’s and purchased the things I thought I would need to build this screen door. 2- 1x4x10 Top Choice white pine boards and 2 packages of Stanley-National Hardware 3-in x 3-in Zinc T Plate and a package of Stanley-National Hardware 3-1/2-in Zinc Flat Brace.  I already had a package of a Stanley-National Hardware Zinc Screen Door and Storm Door Set to use to attach the door to the frame.  I also had taken the door down that’s usually there and used it as a guide to size the screen door correctly.  Picture below shows the wood already cut and laid on top of the regular with brackets.

This is the package of the Stanley-National Hardware 3-in x 3-in Zinc T Plate.

This is an up close picture of the T bracket laid out on the frame from Lowe’s.
Here is a picture of the Stanley-National Hardware 3-1/2-in Zinc Flat Brace from Lowe’s. 

This is an up close picture of the flat bracket from Lowe’s laid out on the frame.

And here is a picture of what was used for the handle and the hinges to attach the door to the frame, Stanley-National Hardware Zinc Screen Door and Storm Door  also bought at Lowe’s.

Here is a picture of the door, un-painted, hung on the bedroom door frame!  And if you look to the right of the picture you can see a little bit of that “baby bump”!

I think it came out pretty good and once it’s stained or painted it will look even better!  Til next time….

Friends for Life, Sister by Choice

Posted on December 28, 2013May 9, 2017 by Vintage Chic

We met in the gym in 7th grade.  She was new to the school and so was I.  We had to sit on the bleachers because we didn’t have any gym clothes.  We started talking and realized we were in almost ALL the same classes.
We became friends right away.  We are still friends today.

I don’t  have any sisters so I have always considered her my sister.  Over the years we have both been thru rough times, had children, moved, had personal tragedies, lots of happy times and long spans of not hearing from each other for whatever reasons…..  

She has always been someone I could tell anything to and she would always listen and give me her advice.  She has lived with me over the years a few times and we still remained friends!  That’s usually a feat in itself!  She is always the first one I think of to call when I am having a hard time or when something awesome is going on in my life. 

She knows all about my good stuff and all about the mistakes I have made.  There have been times when it’s been years that we have not spoken and I must say I’m not sure why that happens but it does. 

This last span of no communication was awful for me, I hate not being able to talk to her.  Then I got an unexpected email from her sister telling me she would be coming up and she wanted me to meet them as a surprise.  I couldn’t wait for the night to come!

Thanks to her sister we are back on track and I couldn’t be happier!   She and her husband have just bought their first home and I am so excited for her.  She has wanted that for a long time and it finally has come true!  I’m hoping I can plan a trip to see her new home this coming year, that would just be the best!  It’s funny how some people you just feel belong in your life forever and some you wish your paths had never crossed!

Vintage Family

Posted on December 27, 2013 by Vintage Chic

I get so excited when my Dad says he has more vintage family pictures!
Here is my Dad sitting on a stoop.

Family in front of the house

My dad with 2 of his fur babies! Summer St., Brockton.

My dad’s sister, (my aunt Rosie) with an aunt.

Here is a picture of my grandmother in 1956 a year before I was born. You can see my Nona and great great aunt in the background.

Here is my grandpa and grandma in front of their Summer St., Brockton home in 1955.

The home is almost done being built.

My dad on his horse.

My great great aunts and my Nona with my dad and his
sister and cousins.

My Nona & great great aunt

My dad

Here he is again on his horse.



Merry Christmas 2013

Posted on December 26, 2013 by Vintage Chic

I have a few different trees around the house. My biggest tree is a real pain in the butt putting it together!  It’s color coded, about 13 years old and missing a lot of the color code stickers. 

So I have to lay all of the pieces out and put them in piles by length. Then I start from the top and place the smallest first all the way to the biggest. 

Looks pretty skinny and cheap when it first starts out but then as I spread out each set of branches it starts to fill out. 

And it starts to look like a real tree and a full tree!

After all the branches are in place and spread out I put the lights on. Then the ornaments are placed all over!  And here ya go!  Looks awesome!

Here us my table top white tree with pink and gold decorations. 

In the very front living room is my smaller fake tree. This one is much easier to set up. It comes pre-lit and in 2 parts. 

You just put the stand together and set the bottom on it & put the top on. Then spread the branches and plug it in!  I left it with just the white lights and no ornaments this year. I put a red and white bed dust ruffle down as a tree skirt!  It looked awesome!

Here is my small table top jewelry tree. I decorated it with vintage earrings and a necklace!

I kinda like it!  I think I will put more pieces on it next year!

How many trees did you put up this year?  How were they decorated?  Which is your favorite?   Well I hope you all had a wonderful Merry Christmas!