Alright, That's Enough

Home Sweet Home

One year down. I’ve given it a valiant effort, but I’m over this blogging thing. So much has happened and I’m appreciative to have a place to look back on this time in our lives. We can no longer say we just moved back, we just bought a house, we just started new jobs. After one year, we are officially Davenport residents. We’ve accomplished a lot in this house, transforming this little outdated ranch into a home we love and could live in for many years to come. I’ve achieved some personal goals, chiefly getting involved with the community. As a board member of the St. Patrick Society, a member of the Junior League, and founder of the Alpha Gamma Delta Junior Circle alumnae group of the Quad Cities, I feel like I’m on the right track to being an active community member. I’ve also made great strides professionally, and hope to continue making contacts and gaining experience to one day become a full-time, self-employed event planner with a cute little shop (hopefully in the East Village).

I’ll leave you with some photos that I’ve taken throughout the house (omitting the bathrooms and basement since we haven't worked on those yet), something I’ve been meaning to do for awhile now. Yes, there’s more work to be done but we’ll take our time. Perhaps I’ll start blogging again when we start our next big project, the basement remodel or the deck construction. In the meantime, you can find us gallivanting around the Quad Cities.

Living Room

Living Room

Living Room

Dining Room

Sun Porch

Kitchen

Kitchen

Kitchen (soon to be home of built-in banquette)

Den

Den

Den

Master Bedroom

Master Bedroom

Office

Office

Office

50 and Fabulous

We celebrated my mom's 50th birthday on Sunday with a luncheon at our house for our immediate family. She was absolutely convinced that we were throwing a surprise party, but it was just us and I think it was better that way. My preparations included stringing balloons, making a photo collage, and arranging flowers. The meal consisted of crab cakes, pesto pasta, plantation salad, and bread with olive oil (with bellini's as the beverage) and everything turned out just perfect. Dessert was my main focus, since my mom loves chocolate so much, and we had chocolate cake (the butter recipe), banana split bites, s'more cups, and chocolate milk. It was decadent and delicious!

Zinnias as the centerpiece

Mom with the "50" photo collage

Luke with the balloons (and virgin bellini, aka peach puree)

Lunch: crab cakes, pesto pasta, and plantation salad

Opening gifts

Beautiful necklace handmade by Sarah

Cake time!

Chocolate milk with sprinkles on the rim

Dessert: chocolate cake, banana split bites and s'more cups

Mom had to prove she could still do a cartwheel!

Quad Cities Irish Festival 2011

My whole family attended the Quad Cities Irish Festival yesterday. This annual event, hosted by the St. Patrick Society, is the primary fundraiser for the Grand Parade. My dad was the emcee, so we were in for the long haul. There was Irish music, food (including my dad's famous Irish stew), silent auction, raffle, and children's activities. The festivities were more aimed for the older crowd and children, so I'm hoping to help integrate some new ideas for next year to draw a younger demographic.

Wake-up to Balloons

Today is my mom's 50th birthday. We went over to their house super early and surprised her with balloons. You guessed it, I got this idea from Pinterest. It didn't turn out exactly as I had planned, but she was delighted all the same. My dad cooked a nice breakfast, stuffed French toast, so we had a little party to get her birthday started. We're having my immediate family over for lunch on Sunday to celebrate in style, and I just might have a few more surprises up my sleeve!

River Roots Live

River Roots Live

Jord and I attended River Roots Live on Friday night, a free music festival at LeClaire Park in downtown Davenport. The Gin Blossoms were the headliner of the evening, so we knew some of their oldies.

On Saturday we stopped at a garage sale that my dad had scoped out on Friday and finally found our church pew! I've been searching for almost a year now, and this was definitely worth the wait. It's in pieces at the moment, but the detailing is exactly what I was looking for. We're going to hire a carpenter to try and piece this together to make a banquette in the kitchen, but if that doesn't work we have plenty of other spots for it.

Church pew

We had a Junior League picnic to attend that evening and I signed up to take a dessert to share. I decided on the “s’more on a stick” that I found on Pinterest. Simple enough, and quite tasty! After the picnic we headed back downtown for the second night of River Roots, this time to enjoy Blues Traveler. Man, were there a ton of people down there!

S'mores on a stick

We spent Sunday by my parents’ pool recuperating. It’s one of the last weekends to enjoy the pool before my mom closes up for the season! And we helped my dad with a batch of Irish Stew for the Quad Cities Irish Festival next weekend. I also worked on a super secret birthday surprise for my mom, which will be revealed soon!

Bar Carts Galore

I'm in love. Society Social has the most amazing collection of bar carts, as well as some other fabulous home goods. The style, vibrant colors, functionality - how could you not adore these pieces!

"The Hostess"
Doesn't this make you want to throw a summer soiree!

Tugfest in LeClaire

We were invited to hang with the Mississippi River Distilling Company crew on Friday night. Since it’s Tugfest weekend in LeClaire, they were having a little celebration at the Distillery to watch the parade and fireworks that coincide with the event. Luckily, the rain stayed away and it was a lovely summer evening. We missed the parade procession, but the fireworks display was amazing! Although we didn't return to LeClaire on Saturday to watch the main event, I'm sorry to report that Iowa lost. Illinois is winning this 25 year battle, with 15 wins. Maybe we'll get out there next year to cheer on Iowa!

Figge Fun

Figge Art Museum

Jord and I attended the weekly event Thursdays at the Figge last week. I had this on my to-do list since the beginning of the summer, but it kept getting pushed back for one reason or another. We didn't know what to expect, so we first stopped for dinner at the new downtown spot Barrel House 211. It was pretty good, but we could have eaten at the Figge had we known better. We checked out the current exhibitions, including The Art of Seating and Water Views, and enjoyed a cocktail while listening to musician Ellis Kell. I'm glad that we got out and supported the museum!

Luke enjoying the boat ride

Dad and Luke on the ferris wheel

Luke playing in the sprinkler

We had a relatively relaxing weekend. I went to the Mississippi Valley Fair with my mom, dad and Luke on Saturday afternoon. We took it all in - the animals, rides, games, and, of course, fair food. My parents stayed at the fair for the concert and I took Luke home for a sleepover, his first at our house. He wore himself out pretty quickly - running through the sprinkler, playing ball with Jord, coloring - and surprised us by going to bed on his own accord. He left early the next morning, so Jord and I got some yardwork done before heading down to the East Village to see the British Auto Fest. Maybe someday we'll be owners of one of these beauties!

British Auto Fest

Sun Porch

We’ve done a bit of work on the sun porch recently. The chandelier was installed last fall and we purchased Flor carpet tiles, but that was about it until this month. We finally put up curtains, although my mom thinks they look like shower curtains. I moved this round table from the office – it was just too big for the room – and added corresponding chairs (surprisingly comfy). It’s far from the vision that I have for this small space, but it provides a nice seating area when it’s not too hot out. And it was relatively inexpensive, as almost everything came from IKEA!

Bixbrai Weekend

What a wonderful weekend! Bix, Ragbrai, my Dad’s birthday, Sarah’s five year high school reunion – all packed into one day!

Jord and Luke at the River Bandits game

Well, actually my fun festivities began on Thursday night. We had dinner with Jord’s family, then picked up my Dad and Luke for the River Bandits game. It was boiling hot but totally worth it. Modern Woodmen Park is such a nice ballpark! It was only our 2nd game of the season, but I see many more in our future.

Unfortunately, I had to work a half day on Friday. But then I was off to Mamie’s pool for a luxurious afternoon of lounging. After a few hours of relaxation, I was back at home to prepare for the remainder of the weekend. I played Suzy homemaker inside, cooking and cleaning, while Jord tended to the yard.

Wontons - our favorite

Sarah enjoying the fruit skewers

Yummy muffins

I was up bright and early on Saturday morning to get breakfast ready to take with us to the Bix course. We found our usual spot at the bottom of McClellan and set-up our little cheering section. I had made some finger foods: a new kind of wonton, this version with hashbrowns, eggs, cheese, sausage with a dollop of sour cream; fruit skewers; and muffins with a cream cheese center. And of course we enjoyed some blood red mimosas while watching the runners. It was just the start to the day that we all needed. Once we had our fill, we packed it in and went back to our house to relax. We ended up doing a little shopping in the East Village before heading west to watch the Ragbrai bikers dip their front bike wheels into the Mississippi (as a symbol of completion). It was my first experience watching the Ragbrai group – what an amazing tradition! That evening we had to part ways: Sarah to Jersey Grille for her five year high school reunion, the rest of us to downtown Davenport for the Bix street fest. It was a long, fun day!


Ragbrai riders dipping their front wheels in the river


Sunday was much more laid back. We enjoyed a morning of Mexican breakfast and swimming at Mamie’s. Then my mom, Sarah and I made apple crisp for my dad’s birthday treat. And that was about it!

Apple crisp - my dad's birthday treat