Hi Friends,
I wanted to let you know last Friday that there would be NO SUNDAY SAMPLE Labor Day Weekend, but I ran out of time. Sorry about that. We went to West Virginia to see my parents. I wanted to get my last post finished and entered into challenges before we left, which I was able to do. By that time, my husband was home from his short time at work, and we had to leave. We had a very nice weekend. We live near Atlanta, Georgia.
First, we headed to Asheville, North Carolina, 
to visit with Jan’s brother and his family. We especially wanted to see the new baby. This is our niece’s second child, another little girl. Look how adorable she is! She is so soft, cuddly and precious. Week before last, I posted the Congratulations card I designed for her parents. I will link it below. 
I also made a Big Sister Card for her three-year-old sister. They have a sweetheart of a dog that is a West Highland White Terrier, so I thought this card would be fitting for the toddler. I haven’t written a post about it yet, but I’ll show you a picture of the shaker card. Also, here is a picture of a dog I got online that looks like their dog.
The lighting was horrible on this shot of the Big Sister Card. It was raining outside so I had to take the photo indoors. On the actual card, the white cardstock is so pure white looking and is beautiful with the pastel colors. I had to hurry, so I had to take what I could get.
I’m going to edit it to add brightness on my computer and show you the edited version. Let’s see if there is an improvement.
Yes, I like the edited photo better, but the sequins look more blurry. What’s your opinion?I’ll give directions on how I designed this card and the supplies I used soon. It really is such a cute, colorful interactive card.
We got to everyone while we were there except for our other niece and her fellow. We wish they could have come. They were packing up to move closer to town. We ate at our favorite restaurant in Asheville, Apollo Flame Bistro, Greek and Italian cuisine. 
I had spanakopita and a fresh, green and crisp Greek salad, of course with feta cheese, olives and their homemade Greek salad dressing. Spanakopita is an authentic, really rich pie stuffed with spinach, onions, cheeses and herbs that are all enfolded by crispy, flaky phyllo dough. Mine was delicious. Jan had chicken Greek salad and he said it was very good.
On Saturday morning, we headed for southwestern West Virginia. It’s a beautiful drive. We have a favorite super market we always stop at in Wise, Virginia, called Food City. We don’t have one where we live.
When we got to my parents’ house, my nephew, William, was there. He always makes things more fun. Right now, he is doing a genealogy study through ancestor.com (linked below), so that added quite a bit of interest to the weekend. We had a few surprises that I don’t like. Instead of my maiden name being Browning, it should have been Dolan. About two hundred years ago, a boy child was born out of wedlock. Instead of taking his father’s surname, Dolan, he was given his mother’s maiden name, Browning. Surprise! Yikes! William also did a search on my husband’s family. We always thought it was cool that Jan’s father had the middle name of Jasper, a semi-precious stone, and his mother’s middle name was Beryl, a precious stone. Come to find out, the middle name of Jan’s mom was Burl! We actually saw her birth certificate online! Mommy found out something about her half-sister that she had wondered about for years.
While we went over genealogy, Jan and I worked on strings of beads for our granddaughter’s bedroom lamp. We bought her a pretty string beaded lamp for Christmas when Kassidy was four. They just moved into their new house and her bedroom colors have changed. So we’re changing out the beads on the lamp so she can use it beside her bed. I’ll show you pictures when we get the strings of beads on the lamp. It’s going to look nice.
The weather was absolutely gorgeous over the weekend. We had a wonderful time of worship at church on Sunday. All in all, it was a low-key weekend but very enjoyable. My parents are doing well for a 91-year-old man and an 87-year-old woman living on their own. My mom doesn’t want me to show their picture online.
On Monday, we hung around the house a while then the three of us had to leave. William, Jan and I drove to McDonald’s and had a bit more time together before we parted ways. We said our goodbyes at noon. He headed for Charlotte and we headed for home. It’s a 5-hour drive for Will and a 10-hour drive for us. The only stops we made were at gas stations, Food City and Shoney’s to eat dinner. We had an easy trip back.
What do you think of Chit Chat? If you like things like this, please click on the LIKE BUTTON at the bottom of the page. What did YOU do over Labor Day weekend, or YOUR weekend if you don’t live in the United States? Please do LEAVE A COMMENT at the top of the page under the title. Thanks so much for stopping by. Come back again soon.
Have a bright and sunny week,
Tricia Ann
LINKS
For help with your genealogy – http://www.ancestor.com/
Baby Congratulations Card – https://coffincardsandcreations.wordpress.com/2016/08/26/from-up-above/
COFFIN CARDS and CREATIONS 