TGIF!

It no longer only stands for "Thank God It's Friday", no my friends, on this day (which happens to be a Friday, I know) it stands for "Thank God It's Finished!

It = our dining room set

During my parents' visit back in April we went to the unfinished furniture store to pick out some chairs to match the farm table that my dad had helped my make back in PA.

 I loved the chairs that we came back with. They're not to big, not too small, and elegant but they're still simple enough to match the simple table.  They turned out to be a great "unemployment project", keeping me busy for weeks during the painting and staining process. 

 This was the resulting look. Don't ask me why but for the bit of time when I was finishing the table and chairs I developed a phobia of polyeurithain which explains the absense of any on the final product. I think my aversion may have been related to using it on a previous project prior to our move to France but I was hell-bent on keeping the farm table looking farm-ish. 

It only took a few months before I realized that this mindset is not practical for a soft-wood dining room table. Very soon the scratches and dents were taking over the table top, which really didn't bother me since it is a very "distressed" looking table top to begin with, but I didn't want to end up ruining my precious table. Thankfully, this decision coincided perfectly with the purchase of the 5th and 6th chair in the set (we had been saving up for a few months to complete the set) so over the past few weekends, we (but mostly Michael) have been working to get the furniture finally completed. 

 While I was at work Michael started by taking the seats back off the chairs, new and old, then priming the new chairs and paining the old in a fresh coat of semi-gloss black (stupid me had painted them flat before...it kind of went along with the no-poly-no-shiny thing from above but I'm learning lots about durability of paints lately). We also flipped the table so he could do a fresh coat of the semi-gloss on that as well. 

Then came the surprise!

 Blue chairs! On a walk one morning last weekend Michael made the tentative suggestion of painting his chair the french blue that we had used on my childhood stool. He thought I was going to laugh at the suggestion but in reality, I had been feeling that the simple black and stain look was a bit too plain for me so I agreed as long as the two end chairs could both be blue. In the end, I love the color and how they go so well with the paintings and other pieces of furniture in the room.

 Pep supervised and thankfully, never jumped on the table while it was drying.

Here's the final look complete with a shiny-topped table and blue chairs on the end. So, who wants to come over and test them out?

My Best Friend's Wedding

It seems like we've moved over to a every 2 or 3 week schedule over here at Metzing Around. Honestly though, until my work schedule is a bit less crazy and exhausting and until I get finished with the last of my wedding cakes for the year, this posting schedule will probably stand. 

On the subject of weddings though, almost a month ago (You've been married nearly a month, A!), Michael and I made our way across Illinois and Indiana and almost through Ohio to Cleveland for my best friend's wedding. 

It was a insanely fun wedding weekend and we were sad to leave on Sunday morning. 

Long story short though: we drove, with a cake, 10+hrs, I finished the cake in 100% humidity (which does NOT make rolled fondant happy), there was a beautiful, sunny wedding (despite a morning or pouring rain), we partied, we ate cake, we partied some more, we collapsed into bed, we drove home. 

And here a a few favorite pictures from the trip.

 Pep was certainly not happy about the packing

 The lovebirds themselves in this utterly creepy underwater shot

 The self-proclaimed Sex In the City girls and my new friends

 The gorgeous bride

 Their excellent photographer blocking my view

 The final product

The Adrienne look

Oh, and Adrienne and Shannon gave us the best "Thanks for making our wedding cake" present EVER!

Behold!

 Only Adrienne would seek out a 1964 French Guide Michelin for us.

Although it did make us a bit "home"sick.

I hope this post will last everyone a bit. I am sure I'll be back to my regular, err...more regular posting schedule at some point soon. For now though, I'll let this and some other Photos from the wedding keep you satisfied.

Reindls Visit St. Louis

Q: How far behind am I on this blog?
A: 1.5 months

Sad, I know. In my defense, it has been an absolutely crazy few months including no less than two wedding cakes, multiple 12-hr work shifts (and working straight threw a few weekends), car issues, visitors, a Birthday (which I did manage to blog about), medical tests (nothing serious, thankfully), and a few other things that we'll get to later on in the blog.

Now, to get caught up. Wish me luck.

Back in the beginning of August Tom and Ginny drove out for a week-long sort-of visit. I say sort of only because they actually stayed an hour and a half outside of the city so we didn't spent the whole week with them but got some great shorter visits while not feeling guilty that we still had to go to work every day.

Our first visit with them was a overnight trip down to visit them and the wine region that they were conveniently located near.

Of course, I took no pictures.

We did have a great time though, as we always do, visiting wineries, breweries and driving around the picturesque town of Ste. Genevieve.

A few days later, I had a day off  so they headed up to the city for a visit. That first evening we all headed into the city for the first trip up the Gateway Arch for all four of us.

We did get some great views, especially on the East facing side (less weather), but the way up was a bit too rickety for me. and what they say is true, the viewing windows are incredibly tiny.

 We posed outside in the beautiful (if horrendously hot) weather then I'm sure headed off to eat something.

 The next day was my day off so we hit up the Missouri Botanical gardens for the second time with the Reindls. They liked it so much they first time, we had to go back. Not to mention the fact that it was very early spring during our last visit and we were all anxious to see how everything had filled out. Not to mention the fact that Mo Bot is free to residents on Wednesday mornings.

That visit made me realize just how much I would love to live in their greenhouse. Who wouldn't love the beautiful brick and beautiful view?

After the gardens, we went to one of my favorite restaurants Farmhaus for their blue plate lunch special then killed a few more hours at the St. Louis History Museum.

Our last visit with the Reindl parents was a very chill Friday night. They came back up to stay with us before making their way home on Saturday and we spent a nice evening eating Cicero's pizza and playing with Pepin.

All-in-all, a great week of visits. We can't wait for the next!