Paparazzi...

How do you know that your husband has gotten a hold of your camera?

How about when you go to download your photos and end up with these "mystery pictures" interspersed with your other photos?

I now have quite the collection of myself in my most unflattering moments, which being the good friend I am, I am going to share with you. This is just a sampling of the best of the worst.

I obviously walk around the yard a lot.

and talk on the phone outside.

Yep, this one too ( oh, the things you do when you are 23...)

And here's a real winner. I think I need to buy new pants..ones that come without granny panty-lines.

Jen

Contemplating...

And transitioning...

I'm still here. It's just me.

I have dreams and goals I want to achieve, every day they seem so small and the baby steps seem so big. but sometimes I find that the hardest thing is taking the next step. it's really scary.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed when you really want to do something and are not sure if it's the right time or not? But you have to take that risk anyway?

You may have noticed the slight name change in my blog address. I decided it was time to push myself ahead even though it wasn't the most comfortable decision and make myself be known for me. Not my blog.

Besides, Sanctuary Art is an old business, long gone and hard to say. A phase in my life that has passed. A phase I needed to have then, but need to look back on now.

So I took the big step and bought a domain name. My name.

I hope you can continue to follow along and hang with me as I take some bigger steps into a new unknown. You may need to change your link lists over the next few days to http://www.jenniferrizzo.com

So now, in some odd way. I finally own me.

Jen

Inspired by...Patina....

 pa·ti·na   \pə-ˈtē-nə, ˈpa-tə-nə\  : noun

Inflected Form(s): plural pa·ti·nas \-nəz\ or pa·ti·nae \-ˌnē, -ˌnī\   Italian, from Latin, 

Date: 1748 1 a : a usually green film formed naturally on copper and bronze by long exposure or 

artificially (as by acids) and often valued aesthetically for its color b : a surface appearance of something grown beautiful especially with age or use 2 : an appearance or aura that is derived from association, habit, or established character 3 : a superficial covering or exterior.

Jen

Dictionary definition from here.

This Old House magazine project.....

I made it into July/August's This Old House Magazine.

I have a reader tip inprint and you can check out my garden marker idea here, made with old silverware on-line.

I want to thank Manuela for helping me with the garden marker idea. :)

Jen

The new girl's new look..From roadside find to farmhouse......

This was a dresser my husband found for me on the side of the road after telling me not to bring any more furniture into the house. :) Yep, He's a keeper.

The top was actually in fantastic condition, so I decided to leave it for now. It already had  a really nice, hard coat of shellac.

All she needed was a good cleaning and coat of paint (or two).

I have to call her  a "she" because her pretty step-sister is here.

A few crystal knobs (from Target), and she was all dressed up. She is going to be my "office" and storage for my inside art supplies.

I was excited I finally had  a place to display the "new-to-me"  paint-by-number picture I bought from The Farm Chicks show and my grandmother's mirror and $4 Goodwill lamp.

Jen

P.S. head over to Miss Mustard Seed Creations for more furniture makeovers,

and The Shabby Nest!

The old man is snoring...

Holy cow.

It's raining, 

it's pouring 

the old man is snoring

he bumped his head

and went to bed

and couldn't get up in the morning.

The poor old dude. He probably had  a concussion.

I's been raining here in Chicago FOR DAYS.

EVERYTHING IS WET.

I think it's rained every day for  at least a  month. The farmer's should be thrilled. Or I don't know, too much rain?

We've had more cancelled swim lessons and bored kids than I know what to do with.

Help me.

I did manage to snap some garden shots the other day and found this weed growing in my Hosta's. About  3 feet high. Ruffled leaf edges and pretty pinky/tan... flowers? Seed heads?

Any ideas?

it's growing great in all of this rain!

Jen

The new girl in town...

And she's getting a  makeover!

Sweet strawberry summer...

In Chicago, it's a fleeting strawberry season. In fact, so quick that it's only around for two weeks before the peaches move in and reign. This is the time of year when the berries have that full, sweet, "real" strawberry taste, and not that bland, disappointing, dense nothingness when they are out of season.

Even though I've made freezer jam;I wanted to make strawberry syrup. My kids love that crappy, junky goop in a squeeze bottle that is stirred into milk and I wanted something natural that they could put in instead. I must admit, 2 tablespoons in milk is pure heaven.

I love this syrup recipe. It can even be poured over ice cream, pancakes, almost anything, and I keep it in my deep freeze in little freezer-safe canning jars to have summer memories all through the dark winter months.

All you need is 2 cups crushed, hulled strawberries ( I used a hand blender.)

(After you puree it, you can run it through a sieve to get the pulp and seeds out.We don't mind it and I am lazy, so I left mine in.)

1- 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups sugar depending on how sweet the berries are.

1/4 teaspoon fresh squeezed lemon juice.

Put the puree and the other ingredients in a sauce pan and cook it over low heat, stir until the sugar melts.

Bring it up to a boil over medium-high heat. Once it comes to a boil, simmer over low for 5-7 minutes.  I normally boil it until I can put a spoon in and when I pull it out, it coats with  a thin layer. Skim the foam from the top. Save it though! You can still use it! 

(Be careful on the stove not to splash, because it's basically a boiled syrup and burns can be bad.)

This recipe made enough to fill 8 of those mini-canning jars. Let cool, pour in, put the lids on and keep in the freezer for up to 1 year or the fridge for 3 weeks. So easy!

Take the left-over stuff you skimmed and give it a quick 30-40 second zap in the microwave, making sure it doesn't boil over and let it cool before handling. The foam will settle and there will be much less to skim off and less syrup wasted. You'll end up with almost one extra jar.

Eat that one first, and then enjoy the fresh, sweet summer taste all year 'round.

: ) Jen

Whenever...

You feel too "small" to try something you've always wanted to do;

just remember...

Have a wonderful and adventurous weekend!

~Jen

Summer feast...

When it's just mom and the kids, who feels like cooking a whole flippin' dinner on a hot night?

Not me.

That's flippin'who.

So it was picnic-time out in the gazebo al-fresco style.

They thought it was fun, I thought it was brilliantly lazy.

Watermelon, raw milk cheddar, free-range hard boiled eggs from my good friends chickens, and pasture butter on some very non-organic but oh-so-yummy fresh baked, chewy french bread from the supermarket.

I did give in with full sugar, powdered drink mix lemonade. I secretly crave it during the summer. I could drink a gallon of it. A girl's gotta live it up. Right?

Cheese, eggs, bread, butter,watermelon, and fake lemonade, all the major food groups covered.

a perfect dinner for little hands to pick up.

and bite into.

Jen

Wonderful friends...

I know I have been SO blessed with many wonderful friends. Like sisters I never had.

I have Mary and Nicola who would do anything for me and would be there for me in a moments notice.

I have blog friends, kindred spirits, that I have recently traveled, get to talk on the phone with even though they are far away, with and others that

am planning wonderful things with ( mark your calenders for October!).

I've gotten to meet new friends like the really sweet and gorgeous Stacey from the Blessed Nest and many others too.

And I have my good friend and neighbor Anne ( who is my anti-GMO buddy :) ,

Who lets my kid's hang at her house and at crunch time, and spends her entire day making me a slipcover,

with cute little details like ruffles none the less!

How can you ask for more of a blessing than that!!!??

Jen

Eat Cake...

I couldn't resist showing you these awesome letters I bought at Farm Chicks in Lisa Souers booth.

To get my stuff home I shipped my dirty clothes.

If that isn't decorating commitment, I don't know what that is...

They went perfectly in my kitchen, but I thought they needed some friends.

I went to the craft store and bought about $6 worth of smaller, pre-made wooden letters and painted them the opposing wall color.

I think they are much happier now. Now if I could just get the courage up to paint those old oak cabinets, I think everyone would be much happier. :)

But even if I don't, " Eat Cake' is always good advice. Always.

Which reminds me, if you haven't tried this girl's Reine de Saba you are missing out!

Jen

Farm Chicks 2010 part two...

Of course, we had to go back the second day.

I bought some amazing jewelry from Lisa Souers

I met the lovely Deb Kennedy from Retreat.

and saw a few more things that if I had about a hundred-million more dollars and a trailer I would've bought.

We headed to Serena's party Saturday night at Chaps.

and back to the hotel to fall into bed. In our room we were in bed by 10:30 every night. I think my grandma used to stay up later. Since the three of us had all children I think we were just happy to be able to sleep!

One more post to go. Are you sick of the pictures yet? I can't wait to show you what I bought. I actually ended up shipping my dirty clothes home. :)

Jen