2/29/12

A New Look...I'm Being Featured...and the Liebster Blog Award!

It is turning out to be an exciting week here at 21 Rosemary Lane.  You may have noticed some changes with my header and background....I've probably have been driving you all nuts with it because I think I've had about 6 or 7 different ones over the last 2 weeks. I know I am never completely happy and that's why it is always being reconfigured. But the other reason why I've been playing with it is because I have finally decided to merge my foodie blog Big Giant Food Basket, and my mommy blog Big Giant Dog into 21 Rosemary Lane, and I wanted my new header to reflect what this blog is all about. Frankly it simply has been too much trying to keep up with all 3 and to be honest I haven't been doing a very good job. Although I am not deleting them and I will still post to them, everything I post will be seen here first. (Unless I am really venting...then that post will be reserved for Big Giant Dog!) Also you may have noticed that the header is in a slidehow format. I can't believe I actually was able to do this but not without the help of a wonderful tutorial over at This and That blog. Eventually I will like to have my pictures have a "fade in fade out" transition...but I will leave that for another rainy day and tutorial!

Also I want to send a shout out again this week to the lovely ladies over at Junk in Their Trunk blog and thank them for yet another feature. This week my Taco Lasagna recipe was Tiffany's favorite!




And finally I want to thank Jeannie over at Maxwell House Interiors blog for honoring me again with the wonderful Liebster Blog award!


Thank you so much Jeannie for the honor and I am so happy you are following 21 Rosemary Lane.  And you all must stop by and check out how Jeannie is loosing weight while drinking wine! She has the most amazing idea but I don't want to spoil it for all of you, so please hop on over to Jeannie's little part of blogland and see what she is up to!


As part of being a recipient of this award I must now pass it on to 5 other deserving bloggers. This may take me a couple days to decide upon so stay tuned!

Ciao 4 now!


2/28/12

Ten Fabu Office Ideas and What I Already Have for My Own Office Redo

So as you may or may not know my wonderful hubby is letting me use his office for all of my bloggy work. Up to this point I basically have been working from the kitchen island, which does bode pretty well for me since a lot of what I post are recipes. But to have a space to inspire me creatively, well that's something really special! 
I've been working my way through several decorating magazines and catalogs, along with poking around the Internet, for ideas which I believe will work both for me and the space I will be in. Here's some of what I've found...


















I think you can see where I am going with this. I need loads of storage, not only for all of my stuff but for all of the regular office items we use everyday to run our home. I also want a clean and bright space to work in. I simply can't wait I am so excited to get started. I've already eyed up the Ikea storage cubbies in the kid's playroom which they've been using to store (toss) old books and toys they don't read or play with any more.


And I have a beautiful gentleman's dresser with 6 drawers of crap I need to empty out. I can use it for storing some of my linen's which are currently in bags on the floor.


Don't forget about the desk I've had sitting in the garage for the past 2 years! She's pretty beat up but I have an idea that I think will bring out her inner beauty.


I know I have a few more goodies lying around that I can upcycle and recyle...and there are probably items I haven't even thought about using yet too. Remember I am doing this project on one thin little dime. Like my friend Dee Dee over at d dzine has said, "...the tighter the budget the more creative the end result." 

Have a great day !


Linking to these parties...
;Sunday's Best Linky Party!

2/27/12

Model House Tour Part 3 "Poet's Walk" ~ More of the Main Floor and Downstairs


Here we are at the final segment of our tour and as I promised we will be looking at the rest of the first floor and the downstairs gaming and entertainment rooms. So again find a comfy spot and enjoy the rest of the tour!

(Via website)










And now for the amazing downstairs...










And that will wrap up our tour! I truly hope you enjoyed this little trip through this beautiful house in Poet's Walk...it really is one extraordinary place.

To see part one "The Kitchen and Great Room" click here.
To see part two "The Upstairs" click here

XO

2/25/12

Pottery Barn Spring Catalog and a Home Office Makeover


My Pottery Barn Catalog has arrived with perfect timing. Just today Mr. Rosemary Lane offered me his office and computer for my blogging use so now I will need to organize and refurnish the tired space. (To start I have this wonderful old desk in my garage which I bought at a yard sale 2 years ago.)

It also happens that the PB catalog arrived with all kinds of wonderful office ideas! 




Of course this will have to be done on a super tight budget...and I'm going to see just how tight I can make it by counting every penny!

(I better start planning this out A.S.A.P. before Mr. R.L. changes his mind!!!)


2/24/12

Our Adoption Story ~ in the Beginning

It was the fall of 2005 when my husband Chris and I received our long awaited invitation from the country of Kazakhstan to adopt 2 children from the region known as Semey. You see we had originally begun this process in the fall of 2003 with the attempt of adopting from Lithuania. But a year later after nothing happening with our dossier, our adoption agency suggested that we switch to plan B. So in April of 2005 we resubmitted our dossier to Kazakhstan and thus our second wait for adoption began.

On the day of my 44th birthday we received the call from our agency to say that we were clear to travel at our earliest convenience. So of course we were anxious to get our new family started and 4 days later on the afternoon of November 11, 2005 we flew out of JFK to begin our journey.
We spent 4 weeks living in Kazakhstan to go through the adoption process. First we met Michael and Grace who at that time were known as Mikael, or Mishka as he was called, and Tanya. This process was a bit different from that of Russia in 2005, where a referral system was used. In Russia a couple would request a child by gender, age, and acceptable disabilities and then the governing body in the region would select a child that fit the perspective adoptive parents request.

In Semey it was a little bit different. We did give the orphanage the information on what we were looking for as far as age and gender, but...BUT...no child or children were preselected for us. Instead 4 possibilities were presented to us the very first day we went to the orphanage, 2 boys and 2 girls. Then we had to make our decision on who if any we wanted to adopt. God was good to us that day because out of the 4 children shown to us the 2 we actually had contact with were the two we decided to adopt.

 2005 in the orphanage, Semey














We spent 2 weeks bonding with Grace and Michael for a period of about 2 hours each day, and at the end of the two weeks our court date was set. It all went very smoothly and we spent one more week in Semey to finish all the legalities of the adoption from Kazakhstan's end. Then we flew to Almaty to begin the process of bringing Michael and Grace home. They both needed to have physicals before traveling and our final paperwork had to be submitted to the American Embassy. This took about 5 days and in the early morning hours of December 9th 2005 Kazak time, we departed on the first of two flights equalling at total of 19 exhausting hours of travel, including a 3 hour layover in Frankfurt Germany, on our journey home. It was 12:45 pm EST when we landed at JFK International Airport in New York, and it was at that precise moment Michael and Grace became citizens of the United States of America.





Our two little lambs were finally home.

To read more about our adoption adventures in Kazakhstan just click below on the word adoption.




Sharing this story at the following parties...



Ivy and Elephants

It's Overflowing



The ArtsyGirl Connection



 
 
 




 
 

five days five ways  feature friday free for all

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