Greetings, fellow tablescaping fans! We're back!
Where did the time go? Well, it's been nearly two years since our last post. But we have a really good explanation, though.
For those of you that had the opportunity to read how our blog originally started, (http://tablescapex3.blogspot.com/2011/03/our-first-giveaway-comes-with-little.html), we had a hospital/homebound child. This blog was part of how we got through that very difficult time. As an update on Emma, she earned a very prestigious scholarship in 9th grade to boarding school and will be beginning her second year this year. She still has some lingering health issues, but she is a fighter. The experience has been great for her, bolstered by her maturity and desire to succeed. We are back to traveling and dining and almost all of the things we used to do.
But - you say - that was BEFORE the blog hiatus. So, what gives?
Well, the illness was not all that happened. Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. There was a move, (3 actually), a divorce, a new job, new schools, brave venturing out into the dating world again, (eHarmony - not even kidding - too scared to go straight to the face-to-face thing), new boyfriend who became a new husband and step-father, new dogs, new household, remodeling and renting of a house, new blogs, OH MY!
Two years may seem like a long time, but I feel like I am Dorothy returning from a trip to Oz, complete with the horrifying scary parts and finding a real home at the end. With as crazy as this sounds, and it really was crazy, LIFE IS SO WONDERFUL NOW!
First, my mom Diane branched out on her own. She has a new BEAUTIFUL blog. If you haven't found her there, please do! Check out Confessions of the Obsessed: http://confessionsoftheobsessed.blogspot.com
Her entry around the time of the great upheaval was here: http://confessionsoftheobsessed.blogspot.com/2013/01/what-i-have-been-doing.html
Her post is a great summary of some of the changes that were underway.
I will be including links to her blog from time to time, but she will be writing there primarily.
Emma is off at school most of the year, so we will have guest entries from her at the holidays.
You may remember my other children, Carson and Ava. Ava, in particular, has been pushing to become more involved in the blog, and she is a key third generation member this go-round.
Remember her first blog? http://tablescapex3.blogspot.com/2011/05/ava-makes-her-debut.html
And let me tell you about how entertaining has changed for me. The new house is wonderful, and being married to a pretty handy husband now is amazing! When we married, Steve relocated to my new home, and he immediately set to work building shelves and updating the kitchen and new dining room so that we could entertain together. I am working on a post showing the architectural changes that have left me with a 19' x 14' dining room!
Steve is somewhat of a foodie, and that has turned out to be incredibly fun. Steve's a wonderful cook. He British and from Bermuda, so he has added many of his grandmother's recipes to our kitchen. We love to entertain together, travel, and plan all kinds of activities. Steve started a blog reviewing venues and restaurants the same month we met. So, we have been working on consolidating all of our projects so that we can manage them over the past year. We have just rolled out our travel and consumer versions of that blog, and there's more to come!
Our Here's What You Do (hereswhatyoudo.com) is a great, comprehensive blog that began with day trips in and around metro Atlanta. We took a break during our wedding and during the reorganization phase. Along with travel and consumer product reviews, Gourmet and Education are coming soon with even more to follow.
Here's What You Do - Travel http://hereswhatyoudo-travel.blogspot.com/
Here's What You Do - Consumer http://hereswhatyoudo-consumer.blogspot.com/
We are also in the process of moving all of those blogs to a new platform so we can tie all of our interests together in a one-stop shop. Stay tuned!
The other thing we have been doing is developing iPhone and iPad apps. We found that in starting a new life together, we have a particular way of organizing things like budgets, grocery planning, allowance activity for the children, bill payment, etc. There was no app that would do everything we needed. So, we built the first phase of our master app plan, the Famously Simple Budget App 1.0, and we released it in June 2013. It will eventually integrate into a database system, but even the first version is so much better than anything we had tried to use! Check it out! http://itunes.com/apps/famouslysimplebudgetapp
This presentation was on the first design. We have already published a few minor updates:
http://prezi.com/d9iphwirbkau/famously-simple-budget-app/
http://www.famouslysimple.com
I guess that's all for now. I can't wait to post my first blog about the house, and then the second will be about our wedding and our last minute meal plan, and I think the third will be Steve's 40 days of 40 - his big 40th birthday celebration at home with lots and lots of cooking and tablescapes!
We have Facebook pages for all of our blogs, so please feel free to find us there:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tablescape-Times-Three/503454099733376
https://www.facebook.com/HeresWhatYouDo
https://www.facebook.com/HeresWhatYouDoTravel
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Heres-What-You-Do-Consumer/448970045200673
https://www.facebook.com/FamouslySimple
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Custom-Assessment-and-Publishing-LLC/354754424627886
Thanks so very much for reading this and putting up with the pause in productivity! It's hard to document life when it's moving so fast!
Much love,
Andrea & Steve and family
Sharing at:
http://www.betweennapsontheporch.net
http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com
http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com
http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/
Where did the time go? Well, it's been nearly two years since our last post. But we have a really good explanation, though.
For those of you that had the opportunity to read how our blog originally started, (http://tablescapex3.blogspot.com/2011/03/our-first-giveaway-comes-with-little.html), we had a hospital/homebound child. This blog was part of how we got through that very difficult time. As an update on Emma, she earned a very prestigious scholarship in 9th grade to boarding school and will be beginning her second year this year. She still has some lingering health issues, but she is a fighter. The experience has been great for her, bolstered by her maturity and desire to succeed. We are back to traveling and dining and almost all of the things we used to do.
But - you say - that was BEFORE the blog hiatus. So, what gives?
Well, the illness was not all that happened. Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. There was a move, (3 actually), a divorce, a new job, new schools, brave venturing out into the dating world again, (eHarmony - not even kidding - too scared to go straight to the face-to-face thing), new boyfriend who became a new husband and step-father, new dogs, new household, remodeling and renting of a house, new blogs, OH MY!
New Sun Room
New Job
New Schools
New Boyfriend
Who Became New Husband
Who Became New Step-Dad
New Dogs
So, let me tell you what you can expect now that the blog is returning!
Her entry around the time of the great upheaval was here: http://confessionsoftheobsessed.blogspot.com/2013/01/what-i-have-been-doing.html
Her post is a great summary of some of the changes that were underway.
I will be including links to her blog from time to time, but she will be writing there primarily.
Emma is off at school most of the year, so we will have guest entries from her at the holidays.
You may remember my other children, Carson and Ava. Ava, in particular, has been pushing to become more involved in the blog, and she is a key third generation member this go-round.
Remember her first blog? http://tablescapex3.blogspot.com/2011/05/ava-makes-her-debut.html
And let me tell you about how entertaining has changed for me. The new house is wonderful, and being married to a pretty handy husband now is amazing! When we married, Steve relocated to my new home, and he immediately set to work building shelves and updating the kitchen and new dining room so that we could entertain together. I am working on a post showing the architectural changes that have left me with a 19' x 14' dining room!
Steve is somewhat of a foodie, and that has turned out to be incredibly fun. Steve's a wonderful cook. He British and from Bermuda, so he has added many of his grandmother's recipes to our kitchen. We love to entertain together, travel, and plan all kinds of activities. Steve started a blog reviewing venues and restaurants the same month we met. So, we have been working on consolidating all of our projects so that we can manage them over the past year. We have just rolled out our travel and consumer versions of that blog, and there's more to come!
Our Here's What You Do (hereswhatyoudo.com) is a great, comprehensive blog that began with day trips in and around metro Atlanta. We took a break during our wedding and during the reorganization phase. Along with travel and consumer product reviews, Gourmet and Education are coming soon with even more to follow.
Here's What You Do - Travel http://hereswhatyoudo-travel.blogspot.com/
Here's What You Do - Consumer http://hereswhatyoudo-consumer.blogspot.com/
We are also in the process of moving all of those blogs to a new platform so we can tie all of our interests together in a one-stop shop. Stay tuned!
The other thing we have been doing is developing iPhone and iPad apps. We found that in starting a new life together, we have a particular way of organizing things like budgets, grocery planning, allowance activity for the children, bill payment, etc. There was no app that would do everything we needed. So, we built the first phase of our master app plan, the Famously Simple Budget App 1.0, and we released it in June 2013. It will eventually integrate into a database system, but even the first version is so much better than anything we had tried to use! Check it out! http://itunes.com/apps/famouslysimplebudgetapp
This presentation was on the first design. We have already published a few minor updates:
http://prezi.com/d9iphwirbkau/famously-simple-budget-app/
http://www.famouslysimple.com
I guess that's all for now. I can't wait to post my first blog about the house, and then the second will be about our wedding and our last minute meal plan, and I think the third will be Steve's 40 days of 40 - his big 40th birthday celebration at home with lots and lots of cooking and tablescapes!
We have Facebook pages for all of our blogs, so please feel free to find us there:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tablescape-Times-Three/503454099733376
https://www.facebook.com/HeresWhatYouDo
https://www.facebook.com/HeresWhatYouDoTravel
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Heres-What-You-Do-Consumer/448970045200673
https://www.facebook.com/FamouslySimple
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Custom-Assessment-and-Publishing-LLC/354754424627886
Thanks so very much for reading this and putting up with the pause in productivity! It's hard to document life when it's moving so fast!
Much love,
Andrea & Steve and family
Sharing at:
http://www.betweennapsontheporch.net
http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com
http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com
http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/
Andrea... I am so glad you are baaaack.....but I am out of breath reading about your life...lol so glad you are so happy...there is life after divorce.....a very, very good one!!
ReplyDeletelove, Mona
Thanks, Mona! It's good to be back, too!
ReplyDeleteFirst, congratulations on our marriage! I am so happy for you!!! Sometimes you have to just try it 'til you get it right. I was married 4 times before I found the right one. We now have nearly 22 years under our belts. (And over our belts because happy really does = fat sometimes! :-) ) So congrats big time on finding "the one"! I am impressed that he is so handy that you now have an auditorium for a dining room! :-) Doesn't hurt that he's handsome, to boot! ;-)
ReplyDeleteI am really encouraged to hear that your daughter is making great strides in her health. That's a really important element in the overall happiness in your life, I'm sure. Congratulations to her on her scholarship and her sheer courage and will be get better health-wise!
I know your Mom through blogging, and she and I share a lot. I love her. She's pretty terrific and very supportive. I have been following her blog for some time now.
Congratulations all around and welcome back to the world of blog! Have a great weekend!!!
Whew! What a whirlwind way to meet you, Andrea! I'm visiting from your mom's blog--she and I follow each other pretty closely, and even share an Ava! :) My best wishes to you in your new and fun and lovely life. It sounds like you're on an awesome track with lots of exciting things to come. I'm happy to see that Emma's health is improved--that is the main blessing. best wishes too on all your new endeavors, and in welcome (back) to the tablescaping world! How great that you and your mom (and the girls!) share this fun hobby! ~Zuni
ReplyDeleteAlycia and Zuni, thanks so much for the kind wishes! My mom is terrific. If you have never seen her posts on here, you should check them out! She did some beautiful tables. My favorites are: http://tablescapex3.blogspot.com/2011/03/pinkest-party-on-earth.html, http://tablescapex3.blogspot.com/2011/06/thank-heavens-for-dale-evans.html, http://tablescapex3.blogspot.com/2011/02/blue-monday-wedgwood-tea-for-one.html, and http://tablescapex3.blogspot.com/2011/02/waiting-for-breakfast-pies.html. Just gorgeous! Thanks for joining us here! Hugs, Andrea
ReplyDeleteWow! That is a LOT in two years!!!
ReplyDeleteI don't know if your Mom ever shared with you, but I always enjoyed Tablescape times Three and often wondered what happened. It was a wonderful connection when I realized her new blog was Confessions of the Obsessed.
I'm so happy to hear that you are blogging again. I'm looking forward to your future tablescapes.
- The Tablescaper
Thank you for your welcome back to the world of blogging. We have really missed it, but this is the first breather I've had in a while! Looking forward to being a part of the tablescaping club again!
Delete- Andrea
Welcome back to the land of blogging! And, a BIG CONGRATULATIONS on your new marriage/start in life. I wish you much happiness. I like your blues; thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteHappy Blue Monday, Andrea.
Thanks, Sally! It's so good to be back, "in the world!"
Delete