Recap of a Fun Roadtrip

Two weekends ago, Mr. KV and I went to Cincinnati, Ohio for a mini family reunion. We used to all gather here in Michigan during the week between Christmas & New Year's, but that hasn't happened for the past two years, so we were all looking forward to this seeing each other.

Mr. KV and I stopped at Jeffrey's Antiques in Findlay on the way down (a stop we try to make at least one way on every trip). If you've never had a chance to go to Jeffrey's, you'll want to shop there if you're ever traveling on I-75 through Ohio! It's huge -- allow at least 1 1/2 to 2 hours to cover the entire mall. My son Jim spent most of his time in the political booth, while I went hunting for vintage hardware for my many furniture projects.,

On Saturday, I spent the morning with my niece. First we had breakfast at her house, which is a sweet 1930s bungalow in Westwood. Like many of the houses built around that time in Cincinnati, it has a Rookwood tile fireplace (it's hard to imagine a time when Rookwood pottery was so common that it was used routinely in building!

She's got the cutest kitchen, all decorated in red and white. She refurbished this thrift shop chair and used an Anthropologie napkin to cover the seat. I love it! She gave me my birthday presents early -- a great slate she had made and a vintage switch plate surround. Just using this around a switch plate will simplify life and make housework a breeze -- just look at the happy housewife on the package!After that, we walked up to the community yard sale on the grounds of the Westwood Town Hall. This beautiful old building figures in some of my earliest memories -- I used to go to theatrical productions there, and ushered when I was in middle school. The bell tower you can see in this picture is supposed to be haunted! The yard sale was great, there were about 50 sellers there and they were really bargain priced! It was already very hot, but the big shade trees made it pretty comfortable. We bought so much that she had to walk back to her house and get the van to haul it all away. That evening, we all met for a cookout at my nephew's house. It was a wonderful weekend and so precious to get to see all of the family together and hang out! If you're interested in seeing a slideshow of the evening, you can check it out here.

And oh, by the way, we stopped at Jeffrey's on the way back north, too!