Happy 6th Birthday American Homestead Blog!

Today marks the 6th birthday of the American Homestead

blog and it is also my birthday but I'm older than 6!

I have been a bad blogger this year, in fact, I have only

posted 12 times in the whole year.  It seemed like blogging

was falling by the wayside but lately I am happy to see many

bloggers returning from long breaks.  So hopefully with the

New Year I will try to blog more often.  I do have so many

stories I would love to tell, things about my travels, the 

things I make, the things I eat, the things I collect, etc.

I do post everyday on Instagram:  @americanhomestead1

There are rumors that there may be some new technology

coming my way for my birthday so hopefully that will make

blogging a bit easier.  I take so many photos with my phone

these days, there are so many pieces of equipment it can be

hard to get them to work together in an easy way.

This blog started just as I was about to go on a big adventure

and that is still going on.  I travel a lot!  And I love it.  I have

traveled to 7 foreign countries this year, 6 of them are new

to me.  I leave next week to set sail to South America and I

will visit five new countries on my world list.

What is my World List you may ask?  Well, there are a few

milestones that travelers like to meet.  One is to

circumnavigate the globe, I've done that twice.  Another

milestone is to visit 100 countries ~ I'm working on that!

I am almost halfway to my goal.

So please stay tuned to see what the New Year brings.

I hope everyone enjoys the upcoming holidays no

matter what holiday you may celebrate.  Just be happy!

All the best,

~ Ellen

Happy Birthday American Homestead ~ 5 years!

It is the American Homestead blog's 5th birthday!

It is easy to remember since it is my birthday too.

Five years ago I started this blog to chronicle the

changes I expected to have in my life.  My kids were

growing up and living at school and I was suddenly

faced with reinventing myself.  At the time I had no

idea what would happen in the future but in five

short years so many things have changed.  I started

a business and from that I have written a few books.

In the last five years I have circumnavigated the world

twice and had many other travel adventures as well.

I have watched my kids grow into interesting, smart

adults and I have celebrated 25 years of happy marriage 

with my Mr. Wonderful.  

Stay tuned for new adventures to come.

Happy 4th Birthday American Homestead!

Happy 4th Birthday to the American Homestead

blog!  Four years ago today I started my blogging

journey, it also happened to be my birthday so I 

thought that would be good luck.  I had no clue 

about how to blog, I didn't really know how to 

upload photos from my camera and I think I was

a bit shy about writing whatever I wanted for all 

the world to see.  Oh , how times have changed!

My daughter sent me off to eastern Europe four 

years ago with an index card with a few instructions 

written on it and somehow I figured out how to do it.

Avalon, our American Homestead, has been filled with 

people who have come to visit for Thanksgiving week.

Kasey, our Hawaiian daughter (Kate's former college

roommate) lives on the beach in Hawaii but makes us

happy by spending some of her Thanksgivings with us.

Last night, to kick off my birthday celebration, she made

me Haupia ~ a coconut custard that tastes like a pina 

colada, it was delish!  Thanks Kasey! (And Kasey's Mom

who sent out the mix from Hawaii).

It has been a busy week of movie watching, talking and

feasting.  Photos of our feasts will be sure to show up on

future blog posts.  

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving and thank 

you for visiting the American Homestead!

The Summer of Home ~ Happy Birthday Mr. Wonderful

Rain had been predicted for today but it turned 

out to be a beautiful Spring day so we decided to

take advantage of the lovely weather and head out.

Late last night Brennan came home from

college for the summer and he joined Mr.

Wonderful and I for a day out to celebrate

Mr. W's birthday.  We went to a few local

Farmer's Markets.

It is so early in the season, there was little

produce available, only some asparagus and

rhubarb.  But there were many other vendors,

we got some citronella solid perfume to try to

help keep the mosquitoes off our skin, some 

local honey, homemade dog biscuits, a baking 

mix and a lavender bergamot orange goat's

milk soap that I look forward to using tomorrow.

I guess it's true that goats will try to 

eat anything.

We then went out for a lovely lunch at

our favorite Mediterranean restaurant 

and Mr. W was surprised with a birthday

baklava dessert.

Wonderful got a new grill for his birthday.

We had to fire it up for dinner.

We dined on the deck, we had Adana kebabs,

veggie kebabs and Shepherd's salad.

And finished the night with cake, singing

and presents at G&T's.

It was a perfect day at our American Homestead.

We miss you Katie!!!!

Me Time ~ September 24, 2013

 

I'm finally back home for a little while and

headed off to Me Time today.  Someone

celebrated a birthday recently so it was a

perfect time for cookies and presents.

 

 

There are some new things in the shop

since the last time I was there.  This one

makes my head hurt, the squares are tiny!

 

 

This is a quilt made with a large scale block

which is much easier to make than it looks.

 

 

Here is a sweet small basket quilt.

 

 

This will be a pillow.  I love the stitching

on the rick-rack.

 

 

 

 



Happy Birthday Mr. Wonderful!

 

Today is Mr. Wonderful's birthday, it is

a milestone birthday and his wish was to

spend it in Paris.  We were up very early

this morning and left Brussels on the hi

speed train.  We checked into our apartment

and then it was time to hit the streets.

 

 

First stop was a Birthday lunch at

Café Med on the Ile St. Louis.

 

 

Quiche, Mushroom Risotto and Crepes

with a carafe of white.

 

 

Then to walk it off with a stroll

along the Seine.

 

 

And a bit of exploring in our

neighborhood, the Marais.

 

 

Now home for a rest and if the weather

cooperates we plan to have an elegant

picnic on the Champs du Mars and watch

the Eiffel Tower glitter.

 

 

 

Birthday Dinner

 

A while back, Mr. Wonderful asked me

what I would like to do for my birthday.

I said I would like to have Mexican food.

I did.

By early afternoon on my birthday we

were on the beach in Cancun.

 

 

And I got to have Mexican food.

 

A Pico de Gallo salad.

 

 

Goat Cheese Ravioli in Sweet

Corn & Poblano Cream.

 

 

Avocado & Oaxaco Cheese Flautas

 

 

Chamorro in Red Mole a la Parmentier.

 

 

Not Birthday Cake, but still delicious.

 

 

Now spending time here, watching the

waves and the sky.  I could make this

my new office.

 

Thank you Mr. Wonderful!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Me Time ~ November 13, 2012

 

It has been a busy day today!

 

But I got to spend some time with

my friends at Me Time.

 

 

The post says Me Time but I guess

it is really about ME!

 

My birthday is later in the month but

we started off the celebrations early

since I won't see Susan again before

my birthday.

 

I got this beautiful candle holder from

Nepal that is sooo Me!  The reasons are:

 

1.  It is blue ~ which I love.

 

2. It is ceramic and glazed in the same

glaze as many of my blue ceramic pieces.

 

3. It is from a fair trade shop that I love.

 

4.  It is a candle ~ which I love.

 

5. It is a lotus flower that holds a special

significance for me.

 

 

And there were cupcakes ~ num-num.

 

There was laughter and chatting and

creating going on too.

 

 

Susan ~ I must ask:  Are we getting old when

we meet up in the same hospital in the same

lab for different tests?  If so,  I'm sure we'll

go into this phase of our lives with enjoyment...

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Mr. Wonderful!

It is Rob's birthday today!

Time to take the day off,

(ok, almost, for both of us),

eat some Indian food, get

together with the kids and

sometime have cake.

(We already did a cake on Sunday).

My Darling,

I love that I dream it

and you make it happen.

I love that whatever far flung

corner of the world we may be

in, when we are together it

always feels like home.

I love that when I hear

 a particular song, (usually

as we are driving through

West Virginia) and I say this

always makes me cry & I

turn to you & see a tear

just about to escape from

the corner of your eye.

I love that when I speak

Hungarian it has the same

effect as when Morticia

speaks French to Gomez.

I love that you always make

me laugh at myself when

I take the world too seriously.

I love the life we have created

together and look forward

to new adventures.

Happy Birthday!

3, 2, 1, Launch!

Welcome to the launch of the American Homestead blog.

In this blog I will be sharing thoughts and stories about my business, my family and friends, travel, eating, design, American and International style, history, books and my adventures.  All the things that make life interesting.

Today is a... shall we say, "Milestone Birthday"  for me.  I thought this was an appropriate day to start my blog since I plan to wring out every bit of excitement and fun and adventure as I can for the rest of my life.

I hope you will enjoy what is to come and please stop back to share the journey.

Ellen