Monday, June 29, 2009

Today I'm loving....


Love the yellow head board! What a great pop of color!

The stairs are beautiful! Instead of painting the top of the stair, I'm loving the idea of painting the kick plate...mine are currently scuffed white!

images courtesy of Mary Ruffle

Friday, June 26, 2009

Dinner in the Drive @ LaNa - June 2009!

The theme for this month's Dinner in the Drive was "local!" We dined on dishes with local ingredients (bonus points if someone used something from their own garden!) and Michigan wine.

Chocolate covered Michigan strawberries and cherry wine from Traverse City! Jiffy Mix (Chelsea, MI) muffins and local honey!
BYObeercozy!
Basil, tomato, buffalo mozzarella, onion, and avocado salad...and, a asian cucumber salad.
Pork loin, local MI asparagus, homemade sweet potato fries!
Homemade tomatillo salsa...cilantro from Melissa's garden - delish!
Good times...GREAT friends and family!

*All images property of LaNa!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Seafoam or Granite?

Take the poll at your right to give your feedback on the color of a couch for LaNa!

Seafoam - http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=351407&PseudoCat=se-xx-xx-xx.esn_results

Granite - http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=357224&PseudoCat=se-xx-xx-xx.esn_results

Thoughts...

Seafoam is fun...would look great with the "Tornado Watch" paint in the living room...and matches the pillows/decor. BUT, am I going to be sitting on it in a couple years thinking "I have a seafoam colored couch?!?!" *note: the seafoam color looks a little different on this link with the chair...it's definitely more true to the swatch provided. In the pic of the couch in seafoam it looks a bit robins-egg blue... here's the swatch on the chair http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=352291&PseudoCat=se-xx-xx-xx.esn_results

Granite is more of a classic, neutral color...looks good with the paint...not so great with chair cushions and pillows...definitely don't think we'll be tired of color as we can spice it up with pillows, etc.

Love them both...find myself leaning towards seafoam, but am scared of that commitement!

Friday, June 12, 2009

Flowers at LaNa!

No alarm...this flower is from MY peony garden at LaNa!
My new painting, by L. Wardo Rusho, bought at Art for the Cure of Cystic Fibrosis!

Another one of my beautiful peonies...
2 pieces of art from "Kids for the Cure" benefiting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

Flowers from a beautiful bush at LaNa!
I'm still unsure what type of flowering bush this is (maybe a variety of honeysuckle?)...
but, I now notice these all over town!
All photos courtesy of LaNa...

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Peony Garden at the University of Michigan Arboretum!


Someone's cute dog...

I love how delicate this bloom is...





All images belong to LaNa...

Monday, June 8, 2009

Dinner in the Drive @ LaNa - May 2009!

Friends and family came together in May to eat al fresco at LaNa
and welcome home Gigi and Lola.

Friday, June 5, 2009

LaNa's Edible Garden!

Bib lettuce, spinach, kale, red leaf lettuce, tomatoes - varying types, eggplant, squash, cucumber...YUM!

Tomatoes
Pumpkins

Any clues on how to get rid of the Queen Anne's Lace that has taken over my yard?
Besides chemicals and hard labor?

THANK YOU!

A big round of applause to everyone that made the 3rd Annual Art for the Cure of Cystic Fibrosis a HUGE success! Below you will see a rough estimate of what we raised at last Saturday's event, but first some thanks...

Conor O'Neill's - thank you to hosting us since our inaugural event! We look forward to it every year...your staff is excellent and the atmosphere always makes for a festive evening. A big thank you for your generosity this year - INCREDIBLE!

The Nathan Experience - thank you for jumping in last-minute to provide musical entertainment during our auction! We were all very impressed with your professionalism and talent - especially as high school students! We will definitely keep you in mind next year as well!

Auction Donors - we had over 100 auction items donated by local artists and independent businesses in Michigan. These businesses also include local printers who made certain we had our invites, flyers, and programs donated. THANK YOU!

Many of our art donors included children who participated in our successful "Kids for the Cure" auction. We are very proud of them all for getting involved and supporting our cause at such a young age!

Kyle- thank you for playing music to get us all dancing. As always, you know what tunes we love and it was so special to have you be part of this event in Robyn's honor. She was smiling down on you!!

Andrew - we were thrilled to have you get us laughing even though a bit later than originally planned - thank you for being patient throughout the evening!! Your compliments and put-downs were a hit!!! Excited to have you want to be part of it all again next year...

Dr. Simon - thank you again for your kind words at the event. Robyn was so excited that you accepted her invitation after last years event to be involved this year. We are thankful that you could join us to update our guests on the importance of their support to help continue research towards a cure. We look forward to your involvement again next year...

Ryan - You did such a wonderful job of addressing our group with your personal story of living with cystic fibrosis. We have heard from many that your presentation was powerful and prompted them to dig deep into their pockets to help the cause. It was an honor to include you in our event. We will definitely keep you in-the-loop on future ACCF events!

Committee Members (and friends/family that helped with setup!) - thank you all for donating your time and resources to make the 3rd Annual Art for the Cure of Cystic Fibrosis a success. Robyn was SO proud of this event and would be honored to know you are working to keep her memory alive. I love you all! xo

Sponsors - our sponsors this year were Robyn's parents - my parents too. I am proud that we continue our fight to give other CF families hope that a cure is just around the corner. I know Robyn has provided us strength to get through a difficult time and still have the determination to help raise money for a cure in her name. I love you! XOXOXOXOXO

Lola - thank you for serving as the inspiration to many to keep your mommy's memory alive. You have a lot of "aunts" and "uncles" that are going to provide you with stories of how she touched their lives over the years. We were all very proud of your art submission for "Kids for the Cure", how you helped setup for the event, worked the check-in (some of us had stamps on our hands and arms for days!), and helped with keeping the happy atmosphere. I love, love, love you! XOXOXOXOXO

We still have money coming in the door, but as of today we raised over $8,500 for the cause! The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation will be thrilled when we hand over that money to be used for research towards finding a cure.

On behalf of Robyn's entire family, THANK YOU for your continued support.

Laura

Monday, June 1, 2009

The last couple months at LaNa!

I've been MIA lately as I was working fast and furiously on the 3rd Annual Art for the Cure of Cystic Fibrosis in memory of my sister, Robyn. More details to come on that event, but in the meantime enjoy some pics from LaNa the last couple of months...

Green coats... Going high class...
Strawberries, goat cheese, and fresh basil on baguette...
Lilacs from my yard...
Lola near my flowering plum tree...I wonder who will be taller next year?
Tulips from my yard...
One of the first bbq's of the season...
Yummy turkey burgers with dried cranberries and goat cheese...
One of the first bbq's of the season... One of my new fave beers...Orange Blossom...
Old German Potato Salad...if you're from the area - you understand!
More images of my lamp shade by Lady of the Lamp...