Heirlooms

Some of my most treasured possessions are items that have been passed down to me from previous family generations. Here is a collection of lovelies I've inherited from my maternal side:


A painting done by my Great Aunt Pinky. It hung in the guestroom of my grandparents' home for years and I grew up admiring it deeply. It now proudly hangs in our own guestroom.

A teacup and saucer my Gramma passed down to me years ago. I use it for special tea times and it makes me feel very fancy.

Not as much an heirloom, but here is a postcard I recently came across that my Grandparents sent me from Kenya back in 1994. They were quite the world travelers. My Gramma's opening sentence, "Dear Deanne, The way you like jewelry, you would really get to wear a lot of it here! The ladies make all their own jewelry and it is very pretty."

The locket my Gramma passed on to me many years ago. Inside are two black and white photos: one of my gramma at age four, and one of my mom at age four. Besides my wedding ring, I think it is the piece of jewelry I treasure the most. I wear it often.

I never had the privilege to meet my Great Grandma Proffitt. She died of cancer when my Gramma was only fourteen. I have one of her porcelain gravy boats and an old handbag of hers. I love them both!

I inherited this beautiful rose-colored glass bowl from my Gramma. It was one of her favorite decor items, and my mom said it often sat on their dining room table, filled with floating flowers.

Two gorgeous ivory pins that belonged to my Gramma--some of the many items she collected during her world travels.

I share a few more sentiments about a few of these items in a recent post, A Letter to Gramma.

Summer Recap, Part I

Oh, hello. Indeed, I haven't forgotten about my little blog space here on the world wide web. I've actually been itching to get back and write here for weeks upon weeks, during which time you may have noticed my neglect.

But this past summer has been one of the absolute busiest we've ever had. If we didn't have house guests one week, then we were traveling to and fro the next week, meeting up with friends and family.

So I thought--now that we're {ahem} well into Fall--I would play catch-up a bit. Before I go back to June, I thought I'd start with the most recent: a lovely extended visit from my dear friend, Jane. You would have met Jane on my blog before, as I first met her when we worked together in England. Then Jane paid me a visit when I was working in Hungary during Matt's deployment.

We had a fabulous time together exploring our charming little suburb, visiting my hometown of St. Joseph, taking a trip to my parents' house in Dayton, and even showing her the nice parts of downtown Detroit. Our days were filled with coffees, teas, ice creams, shopping excursions, dining out, making homemade meals, the cinema, picnics in the park, and {of course} lots and lots of snuggles with Makenna.

Jane brought a large box of PG Tips for me {one of Britain's most-popular tea brands}. You can find these stateside
but, of course, they just taste more British coming straight off the plane.

A visit from Jane wouldn't be complete without some silliness! This random prop is parked out front of an ice cream stand.

We got up and headed straight to the shores of Lake Michigan on a bright, glorious morning in St. Joseph. Makenna decided to make mischief and dig into the contents of my purse.

I showed Jane how to look for beach glass at our favorite secret beach.

These two sure adored one another. It made my heart melt every time!

I kept telling Jane that until she saw Lake Michigan in person, she couldn't understand how much it looks like an ocean {and she agreed}. That's true, really, of any person who has never seen Lake Michigan. I am so blessed to have grown up along these gorgeous waters.

Trying out Clementine's famous onion rings.

A visit to St. Joseph is never complete without a sunset stroll along the pier.

Makenna remains to be such a versatile, easy-going baby, making traveling with her a breeze.

I wanted to visit the Detroit Zoo with Jane, but seeing as how it was 94 degrees that day, we decided to take a picnic to the park instead and lounge in the shade.

As always, Jane and I shared so many giggles. She really is one of the dearest, sweetest souls you'll ever meet. The world is so much better just because Jane is in it.

And naturally, being around Jane brought my jealousy of NOT having a British accent to front and center. Although, after only a day or two with her, I easily slid into my old habits of using words and phrases like "bits" "rubbish" "corridor" "car park" "buggy {stroller}" "nappy {diaper}" "trousers" "post" "queue", many of which I used regularly when I worked in England. And it reminded me how much I really prefer a lot of British words and phrases to our American ones. They just sound nicer to me.

It was very sad, indeed, to see our lovely visit come to an end.

From here, I'll back it up to June and recap our summer adventures!

Mackinac Getaway: Part II

Mackinac Island is among the most charming of destinations. A day spent here is a retreat from the rest of the bustling, modern world. Matt and I visited the island at the very end of tourist season, so the busy and noisy summer crowds had all but dissipated. It was so deliciously calm and quiet, and that element combined with the absolutely perfect autumn weather made our day simply dreamy.



Our day began {true to our history-nerd-selves} by touring Fort Mackinac, which also provided us with the most breathtaking views of the island. We strolled the quaint streets hand in hand, browsing the lovely shops and picking out a few treasures to take home.

One of my favorite elements of the island is that no "horseless carriages" are allowed. The perfectly-groomed streets are traversed by walking, biking, and carriages. I love hearing the clip-clop of horse hooves on the pavement acting as a sort of soundtrack to a visit to the island--a reminder of simpler times.

We of course ended up at the Grand Hotel, that magical Mackinac destination. Matt and I treated ourselves to afternoon tea in the hotel's parlor. The pastries and finger sandwiches were oh-so-scrumptious, and thankfully the menu allowed for substituting a delicious sparkling juice instead of champagne!

By the end of the day, the streets were almost ghostly quiet. The beautiful sunny sky was slowly beginning to be replaced with grey rainclouds. Matt and I took a ferry back to the mainland just in time to witness the beautiful golden colors painted behind the Mackinac bridge.

I really could not have imagined a more relaxing and delightful day to celebrate two very special things: Matt's 30th birthday and our "babymoon" before baby girl arrives in 2013. What lovely memories we made to celebrate our love, our life together, and our growing family.

Things You Didn't Know About Me

For those of you newer readers to my blog, I thought I'd do a quick little list of things so you can know me a bit better. And hey...for those of you who know me personally--well, you just might learn a little something, too.

• My favorite ice cream: Edy's French Silk {it's dangerous.}
• My favorite tea: Earl Grey {preferably Harney & Sons brand}
• I have always been a "back" sleeper. Though I'll occasionally roll to the side, it's by far the most comfortable position for me. I drift off in this position with my hands folded on my ribcage and my feet crossed. My sister always remarked that I look like I've been laid out in a coffin!
• I have always gotten asked if my red hair is natural. It is, and I've never even highlighted it because it gets lots of natural highlights from the sun {to the point where people have asked if I dyed my hair blonde}.
• As often as I get asked about my hair, I get questions about my eyelashes--whether they're real or fake. They are 100% real {plus mascara}. Many thanks to Mom and Dad for great eyelash genes! The mascara is just as important, however; my eyelashes are too light to be seen without it.
• My favorite childhood book: The Farthest Away Mountain by Lynn Reid Banks {author of The Indian in the Cupboard}
• I work as the Unplanned Pregnancy and Adoption Counselor for a non-profit Christian counseling services, also a licensed adoption agency.
• When eating a standard sandwich, I eat all the crusts around the edges, then eat the center last.
• If I had to narrow down all my favorite foods to only two items, it would be mashed potatoes and chocolate cake.
• I have a freakishly strong memory, especially when it comes to how far back I can remember when I was little. I have all these memories I can tell you from age 3 and on, in lots of detail and recalling my thought processes at the time, too. Then, I once drew the layout of a house we lived in for my parents, trying to test my memory. I also drew the location of the furniture in the rooms, including where my high chair sat in the dining room and the crib in my room. My parents were so completely stunned, and verified the exact accuracy of my memory, explaining that we moved out of that house before I turned two years old.
• I have a large shoebox where I keep cards and letters from dear family and friends from all over the world, starting from when I was just a little girl.
• The household chore I most enjoy is dusting. I use lemon Pledge and not only do I love the smell and the sheen it gives to the furniture, it brings be back to my childhood as that was the household chore I was always assigned. I pretty much despise all other household chores.
• I have two recurring types of bad dreams: 1) It's the end of the semester of high school or college and I've completely forgotten to attend a course all semester, and will therefore fail it, or 2) It's dance recital time and I'm about to go onstage and do a dance that I haven't learned at all, but am supposed to know. The psych analyses aren't hard to see with these two...
• My whole life, people have mispronounced my name. Instead of Deanne, I'll usually get Deanna. Or Denea, or Deena. Since I've been older, I've frequently been getting Dean. As in, the male name DEAN. {Really.} I'm sure my parents would have spelled my name "DeeAnn" or something if they'd known people couldn't get it right.
• I loved walking as my means of transportation at the times when I've lived abroad. I can't even describe how much I wish that were a possibility for my life here in the US.

There, you know me a bit better. Thanks for taking the time to do so!

Tea Time, Gramma, and Will

These three words adequately describe the wonderful, memorable Mother's Day weekend I recently spent with my family in Ohio.

Sadly, Matt was unable to get time off of work {the downside to his having a job where only so many people in the office can be "out" at any given time}, so I made the trek down to my parents' home with Annabelle in tow.

My Grandma Dorsey, or "Gramma" as we spell it, was out visiting from Portland, Oregon. Since I don't see her often, I of course HAD to make quality time with her a priority. And then there was the fact that I hadn't seen my sister, brother-in-law, or nephew Will since Christmas. That fact alone was horrendous to me, since Will has just turned nine months old and has changed so much since we last saw him!

On Saturday, my Mom, Gramma, and I visited a "Tea Cottage." I found every single detail to be utterly delightful! We all loved it and made such a great memory together.

Ivy trails on the steps--oh yes, please!

There was even clotted cream for our lemon and rosemary scones. Oh, how clotted cream makes me miss England and the many tea rooms I visited there, sipping on my Dorset cream teas...

Every bite was even more delicious than it looks!

We opted for a photo with some of the many hats the tea room offers to it's guests. We didn't wear them during our "high tea"--I think we'd have felt a little silly.

And then there was time with my sister, brother-in-law, and darling nephew Will. Gramma just couldn't get enough of her Great-Grandson!

Will has grown so big! Look at what a little man he is now--feeding himself in his adorable overalls!

And I mentioned before that I made breakfast for Mom and Gramma on Mother's Day. It was just a simple little breakfast before church:

{There was bacon, too!}

And then, just because my Mom loves me so much {and in light of my recent posting of an Irish Soda Bread recipe}, she presented me with this beautiful Irish Soda Bread plate. The plate actually matches the Claddagh tea cup and saucer my parents gave me for Christmas. What a wonderful surprise!

It has been so long since my sister, my mom, and I have all been together on Mother's Day, and to have my Gramma Dorsey there as well made this one of the best Mother's Days I can remember. If only Grandma Moss could have been there, too...