adams mark

front of Adams Mark taken from an inside window

I had a Power Point seminar downtown today in the Adams Mark. I have always thought this was a pretty hotel. It's very big with three Grand Ballrooms and many other smaller ballrooms and meeting rooms. The meeting rooms are named after some of the architects of Buffalo's buildings - Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright among them.


towards the front lobby from the restaurant


restaurant


second floor


lobby outside of Grand Ballroom C - note how tiny the guy to the right center of the photo is to get a perspective of how big this lobby is


Harlequin chair

I liked these Harlequin fabric chairs and the way my Lucky Brand bag looked with them.


carpet


medallion


hallway outside of Sullivan Room

My seminar was held in the Sullivan Room across the hall from the Wright Room.

fables

the public library

Every year for my birthday my friend, Tim, takes me out to lunch. Tim is a former co-worker. We were hired within months of one another at the accounting firm where I work. We shared some of the same interests and had a similar sense of humor. Our cubes shared a wall and we just seemed to hit it off. Tim left my accounting firm for another several years ago but we still meet for lunch on birthdays and Cinco de Mayo when we always have a Margarita. He sent me a birthday ecard several days ago and asked me to lunch. Since I don't work on Fridays, I had the time for a leisurely lunch yesterday. He suggested his new favorite lunch spot...Fables Cafe located in the public library.


waiting for Tim

I arrived a few minutes early and browsed some of the books. I hadn't been in the downtown public library in many years. I was really impressed by all the remodeling that had been done. I had no idea. This is looking towards the entrance from inside the library.


Fables Cafe


a scene from The Great Gatsby

Across from the Cafe was this parlour scene from The Great Gatsby. After lunch I wanted to look throughout the library to see if there were more scenes set up but I needed to get back to my parking spot. I had paid the parking box for two hours and was already more than a half hour late. I may as well have stayed. I'd already gotten a parking ticket.


also a store across from the Cafe


the Fables menu


Tim posing with the bamboo


Belling the Cat

The markers they give you for your table so they will know where to bring your food are fables. We got Belling the Cat...very appropriate for me. How did they know I was such a fan of cats?


my lunch

I had such a hard time deciding what to have for lunch. Everything on the menu looked sooo good. I went with the Duet of Soups served with salad, French bread and a cookie. My soups were Tomato Basil and Cream of Chicken and Artichoke. I swear these were two of the most delicious soups I've ever had.


Tim had the maple sage roasted chicken and let me have a bite. We chatted for over two hours. A pleasant way to spend a Friday afternoon.

chipmunk house

Sixty four degrees today. I went for a walk sans camera so when I returned home I wasn't able to get a shot of the little chipmunk who was sitting inside my pumpkin staring out at me as bold as anything.


my witch's pot filled with all my favorites in hopes that we don't many trick or treaters this year and I can eat it all


orange pom pom mums


DiCamillos cookies for Sara and Jay for are coming for dinner with us and MJ, our nephew from San Fransisco who is in town for a few days

modern bathroom

I heard a story on NPR recently about how all the home decorating shows on TV misuse the word modern when they mean contemporary or fresh. The modern style of decorating came about in the mid 20th century about the time our house was built. This style uses mostly light but not cool colored walls and accessories which feature geometric designs in bright colors. The modern decorating style is commonly called retro today. The idea is to give a bright and airy feel...clean and simple...no need for clutter. B and I have always liked the retro tiles in our bathrooms so when we decided to remodel our powder room we decided to keep the wall tiles. Our geometric design is definitely the rectangle. Square marble floor tile, square wall tiles, rectangular medicine cabinet and vanity. The square mosaic wall hanging my niece, Mandy, made for me fit perfectly into this bathroom.


squared off faucet


We needed a short towel bar and B found this square one on-line and it even has a little black trim on it.


This gorgeous marble floor is my favorite feature. It has veins in the marble that match the wall tile.

I love the new bathroom so much I sometimes go in it just to gaze at it. Before remodeling, this bathroom had white linoleum with gold flecks, a white vanity, pink toilet and ancient pink and aqua flowered wallpaper. What a difference.

pumpkin time

One week to Halloween and I hadn't bought my pumpkins yet. So Sunday I picked up three at Wegman's. Check later to see how we carve them. B and I still carve pumpkins every year. I hope these make it to Halloween. We have aggressive little squirrels here who like to chew right through them.


We have been having a streak of sunny warm weather so after Wegman's I headed out for a walk. This dog had the same idea.


a cute little tree with red berries and a few yellow leaves outside of Creekview Restaurant on Main Street

harvest dinner

one dish meal I threw together featuring autumn foods

whole wheat penne, apples, butternut squash, escarole, red onion, walnuts, maple apple chicken sausage links


sauced up with a reduction of half and half with a dash of maple syrup and parmesan cheese and served up on my pretty Syracuse China plates I found at the Junior League resale shop

auction winnings

lilies in my sewing room

B and I didn't win any baskets this year in the Chinese auction but got lucky in the silent auction where we won all three things were bid on. Four tickets to the Buffalo Philharmonic...any classic performance, this plant stand with lilies and a home Depot gift card


and this still life oil painting.


This was the first year that we bid on anything in the live auction. We were the high bidders on this five foot long beautifully framed picture....three stitched together photographs of Niagara Falls circa 1915. With a little rearranging of existing pictures, it will be finding a home on this wall in the stairwell.