Vacuuming in high heels & pearls

10 Things That Make Me Really Happy

2013-05-14T14:00:00.003-06:00

One of the blogs I read has been blogging every day this month, following these prompts over at Story of My Life. Since I've totally become a blogging flunky over the past few months, I might try a few to get back in the habit of posting more frequently. I can't guarantee I'll blog every single day for the rest of the month, but this might at least give me a push in the right direction!

10 Things That Make Me Really Happy

Chocolate layer cake with chocolate buttercream frosting. Seriously, it's my favorite! I rarely make one because I would probably eat the whole darn thing by myself. My birthday cake of choice will always and forever be a chocolate cake of some kind.
Hanging out with my immediate family (parents, brothers & their spouses). They are a really FUN bunch and I love being with them. Unfortunately we live 600 miles apart so this doesn't happen often but when it does, I love it!
Finding REALLY GOOD vintage junk. Cheap. This should come as no surprise if you read this blog.
Target clearance. Specifically, the 50% and 70% off variety. Look, I never said this list was going to be profound! But man, I love those red endcaps. Last week I found a pair of shoes that were 70% off--they were marked down to $5.08. I had a $5.00 off coupon, so my shoes cost 8¢!
Going on dates with my husband. I think he's dreamy, he's fun to be with, and I love getting away and hanging out with him without the kids (notwithstanding #9 down below). My husband just in general makes me Really Happy.
Making pretty things. I derive SO much pleasure and personal satisfaction from creating, whether the medium is paper or paint or even food. I love that my daughter loves to create, too.
Summer. Spring in Colorado is pathetic and winter is long. Autumn is beautiful, but right now (at the end of a long, snowy spring) the heat and freedom of summer is on the horizon and I couldn't be happier!
Reading good books. I just discovered a new series that I am head over heels IN LOVE with--more on that in a later post. I also really love Goodreads, as a way to catalogue what I've read and a source for finding new books. My new beloved series was discovered when a friend reviewed it on Goodreads, otherwise I never would have found it on my own.
My kids. They drive me nuts on a daily basis but much more than that, they bring me so much joy and laughter. Last night, Porter fell out of his bed--and never even woke up! Awesome. Maren is helpful and kind and sweet and such a good helper to me. I am so lucky to be their mom.
Freshly cleaned percale sheets. Mine are in the wash right now. I already look forward to getting in them tonight.

Weekend Junk Finds: 1960s Estate sale edition

2013-05-13T10:59:00.002-06:00

I really do love shopping at estate sales, but I rarely get to go because 1) I have a rambunctious 3-year-old in tow and 2) most of the sales are FAR away from my house. A few weeks ago there were two sales that were relatively close as far as estate sales are concerned (about a 25-30 min. drive as opposed to 45 min. or more) and the 3-year-old seems to be doing a little better lately, so I decided to chance it. We were flying out that afternoon for my brother's graduation so we only had a little bit of time but I got all of my packing and errands done the day before so I could go shop with a clear conscience!

The first sale was in a neighborhood that backs to a golf course, absolutely FULL of really fantastic 1960s ramblers. The homes are set on huge lots with wide, green yards--what looks like it would be kid heaven. The houses themselves are low-slung, excellent examples of classic suburban 1960s architecture and the interior of the house was the same. We got there a bit after opening to miss the initial mad rush in the doors so I know we missed some goodies, but I was happy with the things I did find.

A pair of old sparkler boxes, with sparklers still inside. These will go with my 4th of July decorations.

A pair of WWII-era letters to Daisy, who I assume is the woman who owned the house. There was a whole box full and I picked out just two, although I wish I could have sat down and read them all.

More WWII stuff--a pair of 8x10 glossy photos that look like they were taken by somebody maybe for professional purposes? There was a whole stack and they seemed much nicer than an average serviceman's snapshots.

Loved this one of the couple dancing! It reminded me of the 1940s Ball I attended last year.

And going along with the WWII theme--at the sale, there were some glossy large group photos of Navy sailors in boot camp at Camp Farragut, Idaho in about 1943. Now, landlocked, mountainous Idaho seems like just about the last place where you'd expect to find a Naval training base, but apparently there was one. In the photos were large canvas flags with each group, and those very same flags were at the sale. They are good-sized and each is made of canvas with dark green felt letters stitched onto both sides. I bought all five of them--they seem like something cool to hang in a boy's bedroom. They're a bit dirty so I've got one soaking in Biz right now to see if I can get them cleaner. I think I'll keep one, and the others will eventually be for sale.

Onto the next sale. Also in a 1960s house, though not as neat as the first one.

Why did I buy these? I've certainly never been to any of these locations! I have a weakness for old postcard folders like these, especially the type where the location is written in large letters with scenes inside like the White Mountains on top left. I actually bought 2 more of these but they're for a gift so I can't show them.

Vintage Christmas. I'm selective in the single color ornaments I buy now--this time I bought pink and one orange, since I rarely find that color.

And a whole bunch of babies, including a handful of the ones that are about the size of a marble. They're teeny tiny.

Two bags of buttons. I haven't bought buttons in a while, because usually they're priced sky-high I forgot that I bought these until I pulled them out to photograph yesterday, so I'm looking forward to sorting them all today.

Did you get to go junking over Mother's Day weekend? I'm linking up with the Nifty Thrifty over at A Living Space!

Maren's baptism lunch: the food

2013-05-02T04:00:00.000-06:00

Figuring out what kind of food to have for our Baptism lunch was a little tricky. Everything I served had to be prepared in advance, because we left the house at 9:30 a.m. and wouldn't return until after the Baptism service. We knew our guests would be right on our heels, so everything had to be just about ready to go before we left for the church that morning.

I knew right away that I wanted to serve funeral sandwiches again. I made these for my Duck Dynasty party back in February and they were a huge hit, so I wanted to try them again. This time, I used Honey Wheat King's Hawaiian Rolls and did a batch of ham/Swiss and also turkey/provolone. I made them the day before and let them marinate. We set the oven timer to turn on so that the oven would be preheated when we walked in the door, then we just removed the foil and popped them in the oven so that they could be cooking while the guests arrived.

For punch, I used a recipe similar to this one that I found on Pinterest, though the amount of water & Sprite in mine was a little different. I chose this recipe because I had a can of pineapple juice in my pantry that I wanted to use up. I made up the base of the punch before we left the house, and while the sandwiches were cooking, I just added it to my drink dispenser along with the cans of soda, lemon slices and ice cubes. I forgot to get a photo, but I will say that I probably won't make that particular recipe again. It was okay, but not great.

Another thing in my pantry that I wanted to use up were a pair of cake pop kits that make pops that look like chocolate-dipped strawberries. My sweet mom worked on them forever--so many different steps! They looked really cute, though, and they were delicious so I'm so glad she was willing to go to the trouble to make them! I also had a large cake plate full of beautiful real strawberries in the center of the table. I'm afraid I didn't get a photo of those either. The only photos I got were taken before we left for the church in the morning. When we came home, I was much too busy trying to get sandwiches cooked, punch made, and the plastic wrap off of everything to take any beauty shots of the rest of the food.

This is really one of my all-time favorite Pinterest ideas: individual veggie cups with the dip already inside. You can double-dip to your heart's content! LOL To make these a little more fancy, we skewered the tomatoes and cauliflower with some really pretty beaded toothpicks that I found at T.J. Maxx years ago and had been hanging onto for a really special occasion. They added a bit of sparkle to the table and had the bonus of making it so you didn't have to dig your fingers down into the ranch dressing to find the tomato!

One of my favorite things on the table was this jar of pretzels. They're yogurt-dipped pretzels in the prettiest soft shades of blue (blueberry) and pale purple (raspberry_--perfect for my party color scheme! Who knew they'd actually turn out to be delicious? I found these at my local Sprouts. I served them in my all-time favorite antique coffee jar with some pretty vintage seam binding tied around the top.

I have enough thrift store silver forks that I don't even need to buy plastic utensils anymore, and I don't even mind sending it through the dishwasher! I displayed the forks in an antique green depression glass measuring cup. The gray straws were decorated with pretty washi tape flags and displayed in an antique canning jar that has been turned a lovely shade of purple by the sun.

I love to have fresh flowers for a party! I bought the gorgeous iris and white ranunculus at Costco the day before. The iris were all closed tightly, but I forced them to open by putting the vase in the very warm sunshine for a while on Friday afternoon and by Saturday morning they were all opened up and looking beautiful! I also bought a bunch of blue hydrangea that I put in a vase with the rest of the white ranunculus--but for some reason, they all wilted and looked completely horrible by the next day. :( I'm not sure what I did wrong but that was disappointing because they were the perfect shade of blue. Oh well.

For the lunch, we also served crackers (from my pantry) and homemade hummus, tortilla chips and Costco's Artichoke & Jalapeno dip (my favorite!), peanut butter blossom cookies (I had bags of Hershey's Kisses in my pantry so that was an easy decision) and at Maren's request, mini powdered sugar donuts. I think she must have eaten two dozen of those by herself--she had a permanent ring of white dust around her mouth for the whole weekend! I was pleased with myself for being able to use so many things that I already had in my food storage to keep the costs down a bit so I could splurge on the pretty fresh flowers that we're still enjoying days later!

The whole event was just lovely! I was pleased with how everything looked and tasted--pleasing to the eye as well as to the palate! Celebrating my beautiful daughter's baptism with loved friends and family only made everything sweeter!

Maren's Baptism Lunch: handmade decorations

2013-05-01T04:00:00.000-06:00

Maren's baptism was held at 10:00 a.m. so we planned to hold a lunch at our home afterwards for our friends and family to help us celebrate. When I started thinking about what colors and theme I wanted for the party, I immediately decided on a butterfly motif. Butterflies are a symbol of change and rebirth--perfect for a baptism, where there is a very physical representation of rebirth, with the person coming up out of the water cleansed from their old life. Plus they're pretty and feminine and perfect for the Spring--and I just so happened to have a butterfly die for my Big Shot machine that I'd been itching to use.

For the color scheme I knew that I wanted to use periwinkle blue, shades of purple, and a bright green to set it all off with touches of kraft as the neutral. I found the perfect patterned paper at Michael's that incorporated all of those colors, and supplemented with various other patterned papers from my stash. I started out by cutting about 100 butterflies in various sizes with my Big Shot and then waited for inspiration to strike!

Pack-rattery pays off, yet again! I made this brown paper sack ruffle wreath WAY back in August 2010, but it has sat in my closet, naked, for lo these many years. I saw it in the basement recently and remembered that the original that I copied actually had butterflies going up the side, so I grabbed it and adorned it with a few of my butterflies, with tiny lines of pearls adorning the bodies.

Next, I knew that I wanted to hang a banner in the doorway between the front room and kitchen. I used kraft cardstock for the base, embossed with my cool new hexagon embossing folder from Stampin' Up.

To add some movement, I layered the butterflies in different colors and patterns.

I crumpled and then smoothed some of the butterflies to add dimension. On others, I used my fingers to
bend and shape the wings so they curved in and out. I used hot glue to attach everything.

Then I punched holes in the tops of the banner pieces and strung them all on some beautiful periwinkle vintage seam binding. It was tricky to see the dimension and the embossing in the photos, but in real life it looks really pretty!

At Target I found a set of three small tissue fans in my color scheme, so I couldn't resist! I added more layered butterflies to the centers of each side of the medallions (since they would be seen from front and back) and hung them from my light fixture using vintage seam binding. These hung right over the food table. Target also had a cool garland made of strips of paper in purple, blue and green sewn together. I don't have a photo of this one but it hung over a different door.

After all of this, I still had some butterflies leftover, and I was determined to use them all! I bought some cool twine at Paper Source a while back--it is natural twine color, twisted with metallic thread. I used the natural/silver twine and sandwiched it between pairs of butterflies to make a garland.

This photo is sideways, but darn Blogger won't load it the right direction! I used this garland to decorate a little table display I put together of photos of Maren. I just used washi tape to attach it to the wall and the picture frame above the table.

I love how it all turned out and the butterflies were just the way I had pictured them in my head. It's so gratifying when a craft turns out just like you hoped it would!

Maren's Baptism

2013-04-30T04:00:00.000-06:00

Saturday was a happy, joyful day for our family! In our church, a person can choose to be baptized starting at age 8, which we believe is the age of accountability. Maren decided that she wanted to be baptized, and we've been looking forward to the event for months!

Here is a bit more about what my church teaches about baptism:

"One of the purposes of baptism is to symbolically wash away our sins, but even Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life, was baptized. Jesus was baptized because it is a commandment and he wanted to provide a perfect example of obedience to Heavenly Father’s divine guidance.

The ordinances of baptism and confirmation are a way for us to show that we are willing to take the name of Jesus Christ upon us, which means to become Christians and do our best to always live accordingly. First, we are baptized by being lowered under water and raised back up by a person who has authority from God to do so. This action symbolizes Jesus Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, and it also represents the end of our old lives and beginning a new life as His disciples. After we are baptized, a person with authority puts his hands on our heads, gives us the right to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and confirms us members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." (source)

Maren was baptized by her daddy. They both dressed in awesome white jumpsuits.

When the time came, they both entered the font (like an oversized, sunken bathtub in the church) and he held her just like John is holding Jesus in the painting above. He said a brief prayer, and then immersed her under the water completely before bringing her back up again.

Next, I helped Maren get dried off and into her pretty dress so that she could be confirmed as an official member of the church.

We believe that baptism is the first step on the path to following our Savior, Jesus Christ. As He was baptized, we must also be baptized to show obedience and love for our Heavenly Father. It's a huge step and a decision of the utmost importance, and I'm so happy and proud that it was something that Maren wanted to do!

I believe that if we keep the covenants and promises that we've made to God about how we will behave and make the right choices, my family can be together forever, and I want nothing less than that! I love them so much--my family brings me JOY!

Up next: the lunch party!

Weekend Junk Finds: Vintage sparkles edition

2013-04-29T04:00:00.000-06:00

Hello, friends! It seems like decent Spring weather has finally decided to arrive here in the Denver area! Oh, we had snow and sub-freezing temps last Tuesday, all right--but this weekend the sun came out and the air was legitimately warm. It's enough to give me hope that winter might finally be in the past! Having a snowstorm here in May is not at all out of the realm of possibility, but I think we might be through the worst of it. My kids played outside all weekend long and came in at night, filthy dirty and sunburned but boy, did they fall asleep quickly! I'm all too happy to return to that routine.

I didn't do any junking at all this past week. Still trying to get things OUT--I took another box of stuff to the consignment store a few days ago and I think I've decided to hold a yard sale in a few weeks. Can you believe that in all of the many yard sales I've shopped, I've never actually held one of my own? We're trying to dejunk the house in preparation for selling so now seems like the perfect time. Truthfully, I don't have a whole ton of stuff to sell yet--all of my 'good' discards have been going to the consignment store for months because I can get more for them there. Maren is itching to sell some toys and make some money, and I've asked some friends if they want to send any of their stuff over for me to sell. They'll get the proceeds, and hopefully my sale will look bigger and thereby attract more shoppers--win for us all!

This week's junk finds are all of the pretty and sparkly variety:

This gorgeous vintage brooch is big, about 2" across. It has pretty multicolored gems and part of it is painted. It makes me think "Spring"! It has an 'older' look to me, older than the brooches I usually see. It really is lovely.

This brooch is tiny, about the size of a quarter is all. It's a sweet little birdcage and there's even a wee birdie inside! It's attached with a separate jump ring so it dangles and moves.

I bought this pin because I thought it looked unusual. On the back of the circle there are three teeny screws, and I was curious to find out why it was fastened that way! The only other vintage brooch I have with screws on the back conceals a tiny battery compartment. When I got home and found my itty bitty screwdriver and removed the back, I found that each of those little tiny circles with the blue stones is removable, and there are slots for four more of them. I'm guessing it's some type of service pin, where a circle would be awarded for years of service or some other achievement. I'm wondering if those little blue stones might actually be sapphire chips? Any ideas?

Can't pass up an owl brooch, especially one with red jeweled eyes and rhinestone feathers!

And the last and probably my favorite--a giant, bejeweled lizard! He was tricky to get a good in-focus picture. Guess my hands were feeling shaky that day.

He's 4" long and made of really pretty large grey and aurora borealis rhinestones, with red AB stones for his eyes. There is no marking on the underside so I have no idea of age or origin, but he looks like a really nice piece and it must have been quite a bit of work to solder all of those settings together. I absolutely love it and I've already worn it!

Did you find any treasures this weekend? It looked like there were a ton of garage sales around here this weekend, though I didn't get to go because I was busy throwing a special party--more on that tomorrow!

Weekend Junk Finds: Small town edition, now with more Jadeite!

2013-04-15T08:14:00.000-06:00

I know I've been neglecting my blog lately, but the truth is that things here still continue to be difficult and it's hard to feel like blogging. The laundry room floor situation is still not resolved (we're 3 months in, in case you're keeping track) and has in fact gotten WORSE, if you can possibly believe it. All those times when I was trying to be optimistic and chirped, "Well, it could be worse, right?"--apparently I was right about that.

This past weekend alone: on Friday afternoon, a few hours before an event I'd been looking forward to for months my babysitter called and cancelled because she was sick, leaving me scrambling to find another. The Mister worked all weekend long, we had both an unexpected $700 car repair on Friday and an unexpected $170 computer repair on Saturday, all of which culminated in me having a sobbing breakdown last night when I couldn't find any of my photos from 2011-2012 on the computer. I'd like to think I've been pretty tough through all the crap I've dealt with lately, but that was the one thing that finally reduced me to tears. I *think* my sweet husband may have located them, tucked away in a folder with a weird name, but I'm still not 100% sure. And the external hard drive that was supposed to be backing up everything has apparently not been plugged in for quite some time. Needless to say, we have signed up with Carbonite.

And then the capper? Last night as I was reading bedtime stories to Maren, Porter was in my bathroom, decapitating lipsticks. He got through four of them and tried to dump four lip glosses down the sink as well before I caught him. Today's fun? I get to have my very first cavity filled. I made it nearly 35 years without one but if my luck was going to turn, I'm not surprised that it did it now because why not add that to the list? Oh, and I'm developing a nasty canker sore on the same side as the cavity, so that should be fun.

Seriously, I need a vacation from my life.

And if you made it through all of that whining, you deserve a treat! How about some Jadeite?

I spent most of our Spring Break week staying with my recently-widowed grandmother who can't live alone. I managed to sneak away to the thrift store for a few minutes one afternoon between errands, and these Fire King beauties were my reward! I actually gasped audibly when I saw them on the shelf. This thrift store has a "boutique" attached and they skim off any halfway-decent or 'antique' donations so they can charge a higher price for them in the boutique. How these escaped that fate, I'll never know but I was thrilled to find them!

I found a few other goodies on that trip as well.

The lidless Tom's peanut jar was from a different thrift store and actually was not much of a bargain, but I snagged it anyway because I have plans for it. The three Fire King Kimberly mugs were from the same store as the Jadeite bowls.

That same store also produced a handful of vintage seam binding (which I've been using frequently in my recent crafting) and a pair of vintage games. The Children's Hour game is adorable! There are actually three games inside the box:

--An elephant board game complete with an cool, graphic game board, little plastic elephant game figures, and an elephant head spinner.

--Some sort of card game with animal cards that have cute illustrations

--and a darling fishing game with little alphabet cards and a wee fishing pole. Sadly, the instructions are missing so I'm not sure how to play any of these cute games.

I have high hopes that this week will be a better one. We do have rain and snow in the forecast and cold temperatures expected for the entire week which will do nothing positive for my mental state, but I know we desperately need the moisture here. We're having a big event for Maren in less than two weeks so I need to start party prep, a task I always enjoy. I'm hopeful we'll make some progress on the basement disaster. And perhaps we'll get through the week without something expensive breaking or my 3-year-old destroying it. Cross your fingers for me.

Duck Dynasty Party

2013-04-03T05:00:00.000-06:00

Do you watch "Duck Dynasty"? We're big fans around here, and when the third season premiere rolled around back in February, I knew I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have a party complete with appropriately-themed food! If you've watched the show the food should give you a laugh, but if you don't watch you will probably be awfully confused. :)

Uncle Si's glazed donuts with hand-stamped "Happy Happy Happy" picks. I loved that I already had that stamp in my stash, long before Phil Robertson made the phrase famous.

My tablecloth was one of The Mister's camouflage Army-issue poncho liners and I pulled out all of my green and brown dishes. We scattered shotgun shells as 'confetti'!

Miss Kay's Banana Pudding. I made little signs for all of the food using kraft cardstock and camouflage scrapbook paper.

Homemade biscuits and honey and jam

And my favorite, Godwin's Protest Ham Sammiches complete with cardboard box protest sign. I made the funeral ham sandwich recipe from The Sunday Baker and they were SO yummy! We're having a big party at the end of April and I think I'm going to make them again. They're great party food because you make them ahead and then just pop into the oven for 20 minutes before serving.

I used my vintage McCoy log planter to hold green napkins

And found this vintage duck planter to hold a few more shells. I forgot to get a picture of our "Muscadine Berries" which were chocolate-covered cranberries.

And of course, we had to dress up! I never pass up an opportunity for a costume, you know. I dressed up my outfit with a vintage pearl necklace and a vintage rhinestone brooch in the shape of a pheasant.

Even Bronco got into character, wearing Willie's flag bandanna around his neck.

The Mister was excited because he has an old green Army cold weather cap, just like the one Jase wears when he goes hunting.

The Littlest Beard

My funny neighbor thrifted camo pants for Maren and a camo shirt for Porter so they could be dressed up too.

My awesome neighbors! Alice (wearing her best Miss Kay apron over on the right) ordered beards for her family, unbeknownst to us. When we opened the front door to let them in and saw them all dressed up, we about died laughing! What funny, funny friends we have and what a fun little party this was!

Weekend Junk Finds: vintage Letterman sweater

2013-04-01T04:00:00.000-06:00

I mentioned in Friday's post two things: Porter started preschool and I found some fun junk at the thrift store. These two items are totally related, because the latter could not have happened without the former! Porter now goes to school two days per week for about 2.5 hours each day, so I have five lovely hours all to myself (well, not always--last week I watched a friend's baby one day and then volunteered at the school on the other. But the potential is there, anyway). I've been staying well clear of the thrift stores lately because I'm trying to get stuff out of the house, not bring more in. However, I had to celebrate Porter's first day of preschool with a solo trip to the thrift stores! I was rewarded with some fun finds, one of which I want to show today.

That particular day at the thrift store, all of the winter-type clothing (coats, sweaters, etc) was 50% off. I took a spin through the women's racks to see if I could find anything to keep or resell but didn't even think to look at the men's section. As I was walking to the registers at the front to pay, something caught my eye:

a vintage letterman's sweater! It wasn't even hanging with any other sweaters so I'm not sure what it was doing there, other than patiently waiting for me to find it. :D

At first I thought maybe it was a reproduction or a newer version, but this tag clued me in that it was the real thing. Then I saw the number on the arm and got really excited:

1943! Very cool. As I was inspecting it, I found one more little treasure:

the owner's name, embroidered on the inside placket. So naturally, I Googled him, and guess what--I found the owner! Mr. Moog passed away last November, and through the magic of the Internets I found his obituary. He was "Top Boy" and graduated from high school in 1943 in Eveleth, Minnesota--hence the giant E. He served in the Navy after graduating, then went on to work as an aeronautical engineer. He even worked at Lockheed Martin on the Viking Mars Lander and Space Shuttle programs!

I think the sweater is a really fun find, but I must admit that after recently losing my own grandfather I feel like it's my duty to see if I can make contact with any of the children named in the obituary and ask if they want their dad's high school letterman sweater returned to them. I can imagine that after he passed away his belongings were donated to charity and that's how they ended up at the thrift store. If I can't locate anyone or if they don't want it, then I'll keep the sweater and at least my conscience will be satisfied!

One month.

2013-03-29T04:00:00.000-06:00

Today, The Mister is coming home! He's been gone since February 28, so you can probably imagine how excited we are. :) While this hasn't actually been our longest time apart by a long shot, this month has been particularly busy. Since my husband left one month ago...

My laundry room floor has been installed incorrectly TWICE. (Most recent iteration earlier this week. I'm in vinyl flooring HELL)
My barely-one-month-old tire got a 3"-long siding nail stuck in it and was unfixable. Thank goodness for the warranty (This was yesterday's disaster)
My toilet leaked
My washing machine leaked
Porter knocked heads with another kid hard, threw up, then went to sleep, making me terrified all night long that he had a concussion
My beloved grandpa died unexpectedly, devastating my entire family. I had to load up my kids and drive four hours to the funeral alone.
My dog got sick the day after my grandpa's death, requiring an emergency trip to the vet, a $100 antibiotic and a frantic search to find somebody willing to take my sick dog for the weekend while I went to the funeral.
My mom slipped on a piece of food in a grocery store and tore her ACL and then had the subsequent repair surgery
We had two major snowstorms, one of which was the day of Maren's birthday party, which meant we had to do a pinata in my living room
Some little stinker girl was stealing food from Maren's lunch and snack repeatedly and we had to get the teacher involved to stop it
I made the disgusting mistake of buying California rolls sushi from Costco
I had a mouthful of canker sores all at one time, making eating and drinking anything absolutely miserable
Porter dumped a giant new bottle of nail polish remover, a lip gloss, and a $45 bottle of face serum down the bathtub drain while I was downstairs vacuuming up the neverending dog hair because Bronco is shedding his winter coat
My vacuum died
I haven't cooked in a month so we have eaten terribly
I basically quit blogging

On the upside, this also happened:

Maren turns 8

Maren turned 8 years old and I managed to pull together a fun birthday party for her mostly at the last minute with my Party Ninja skillz
Porter started preschool, giving me five hours of blissful alone time each week
I was honored be able to give the eulogy at my grandfather's funeral
My dad came out for a weekend to help me around the house and give me some moral support
We got to see much of my extended family at my grandpa's funeral
I thrifted some cool stuff including a 1943 letterman sweater

My friends were so, SO wonderful! They brought me dinner, invited us over for dinner, watched Porter to give me a break, volunteered husbands for fixing the toilet, took my sick dog and loved him for a weekend, brought brownies and ice cream and flowers and cupcakes when I was sad, consoled me and commiserated with me when I complained on Facebook, jumped in to lend a hand in the indoor pinata debacle, sent condolence cards and texts and generally lifted me up and supported me in so many ways. I am truly blessed! I couldn't have made it through this without them and their kindness.

Porter's first day of Preschool

And now, The Mister is on his way home. Sure, I complained about being home and facing all that nonsense alone but I know I had it better--he spent the month in the barracks (hello, cinderblock walls and hard furniture) with a stranger for a roommate and eating in the chow hall (just like living in the dorms. When you're 40 and married and have two children.) and the course he was taking was HARD--much, much more difficult than he had anticipated. He got the highest grade in the class and I am SO proud of him!

Bring on April!

Where I've been

2013-03-21T22:27:00.002-06:00

Hello, friends! I've never been a terribly consistent blogger but it's even unlike me to go nearly an entire month without a peep. This last three weeks has been a bit rough, so blogging has been the last thing on my mind. The Mister has been out of town for a long time and will be gone for a little while yet. His stepping on an airplane seems to be my house's cue to fall apart, and in the first week he was gone we had both a leaky toilet and a leaky washing machine. Thankfully, I have kind friends willing to lend handy husbands and my dad came for a quick visit so we managed to get all the water mopped up. I'm crossing all my fingers and toes that nothing else springs a leak or bursts into flames before The Mister comes home!

An update on my laundry room situation: it's still not done. Seriously. We've gone beyond ridiculous and have approached Ludicrous Speed (name that movie). The last time I posted, my vinyl flooring was supposed to be installed that day but was delayed a week because somebody failed to get it ordered. Well, they did finally show up the following Monday and the installer did both my bathroom (not related to the laundry room disaster) and the laundry room. It's a long story, but the gist of it is that the floor in the laundry room looks TERRIBLE. Completely unacceptable. From there, it was a fight between the contractor and the insurance. Today I finally got a call back from the contractor that they will start work on this next Monday and then hopefully in just a few days it will be ALL OVER. I'm so, so very ready for it to be finished. The good news is that I have had my washer and dryer back in service even though the floor was crap, so I have been able to wash my own undies in my own house, a welcome occurrence after more than a month and a half without that convenience.

The most difficult part of the last three weeks has been undoubtedly the unexpected passing of my dear grandfather. He passed away last Wednesday. I supposed when you're 87, death is not exactly a completely unexpected occurrence but we were all very unprepared for it and it was very difficult, especially without The Mister to lean on. It was hard for him to be so far away and he was not able to come back for the funeral service, but I know he supported me the best he could from across the country and I am thankful for that.

My grandpa was a great, great man. The finest man I've yet known, in fact. Here's a link to his obituary, if you're so inclined. I had the honor and privilege of giving the eulogy at his funeral service. He was a man of integrity and honor. He was a hard worker who also knew how to have fun. He was devoted to his family and always put them first. He was extremely generous to his family and many people and organizations in his community. I have him to thank that I was able to go to college, go on my Study Abroad to London, and graduate without any student loans. He was the kind of man I'd be proud to have my son grow up to emulate. I will miss him terribly and hope that I can honor his legacy to be the kind of person that he was.

Now, I'm scrambling to get ready for Maren's birthday party on Saturday. Last year I had everything planned and organized and all ready to go. This year, I'm throwing it together at the last minute. I'm still not entirely sure what we're even going to do besides eat cake, open presents and whack a pinata. Thankfully the girls are old enough now that I don't have to have every single second planned out--they're happy to play and talk with each other and their attention spans are longer. Unfortunately the weather forecast is for 29 degrees and 4-8" of snow, so I can't just send them outside to run around. I'm not exactly thrilled that we'll be doing a pinata inside the living room, but there just isn't another option. I'm sure I'll get it all pulled together and I know it will be fun, but I sure wish I had about two more days to get things prepared!

What should be happening today, but isn't

2013-02-26T16:32:00.002-07:00

What should be happening today, but isn't? The vinyl flooring in my laundry room and hall bathroom, that's what. (Insert a really CRANKY face here)

Last week the Project Manager called and scheduled the vinyl floor installation for this morning at 9:00 a.m. Oh, I was so excited! I knew the jobs were small enough that they'd be finished by the end of the day and had planned to start my very first load of laundry as soon as the washer and dryer had been hooked up again. And then I planned to do laundry for about the next 36 hours straight to get myself all caught up again. I have never looked forward to doing laundry in my life but I can tell you that pretty much nothing would make me happier at this point.

Yesterday, the Project Manager called and said that the installation couldn't take place today because the vinyl I chose was a "special order" and wouldn't be available for a few days. So hang on a sec--I emailed my vinyl choices to the Estimator on Friday, February 15--more than a week ago. SOMEBODY dropped the ball BIG TIME--I don't know if it was the Estimator or the Project Manager, but I am MAD! If they had ordered my vinyl last week when they were supposed to do it, then it would have been ready to install today. Instead, I get to continue haul my laundry to my friends' homes for YET ANOTHER WEEK. Ooh, I am STEAMING MAD!

Not to mention the fact that my husband removed the toilet in the hall bathroom yesterday morning, a few hours before the Project Manager called. The Estimator wanted to charge us $200 to remove and replace the toilet--a fairly simple DIY job--so we opted to do it ourselves and The Mister had it all done and ready to go for the installation this morning. There's no point in buying a new wax seal and reinstalling the toilet, when we'll just have to do it again in a week. Only now there's a new complication--The Mister is leaving on Thursday morning to go out of town for an entire MONTH--so now I have to see if I can 'borrow' one of my friends' husbands to come and put the darn toilet back together when the vinyl is done next week. AND--I'm down one toilet for a week! That's not a crisis as we have 3 others in the house, but STILL--it's a needless hassle.

I swear, every friend or family member I've ever known that has had to use a contractor in their homes said it ALWAYS took longer than expected and ALWAYS was fraught with headaches and extra hassles. Count me in among them. At the end of this, it will have taken more than an entire month for those bozos to complete THREE days of actual work. Believe me, I can't wait until the job is done to write a LOVELY evaluation of their services for the agency that recommended them. I'm getting my typing fingers ready right now.

Tick tock, a broken red clock

2013-02-21T11:24:00.005-07:00

Yesterday, there was a tragedy in my house.

Okay, fine, it might not exactly qualify as a tragedy, but I'm still sad! My beloved red plastic retro kitchen clock fell right off the wall and met with an untimely end on the wood floors. I thrifted the clock back in 2008--I was surprised to see that I've had it so long!

When I first bought it at the thrift store for 80¢ the clock mechanism didn't work. I fixed it by buying another 80¢ clock at the same thrift store and using the working mechanism in it to replace the non-working one in my red clock. Pretty thrifty and smart, if I do say so myself!

Now I'm on the hunt for a new retro-style wall clock. All day long yesterday I caught myself looking at the wall where this one hung! There's actually a carriage-style clock hanging directly on the other side of the kitchen so if I just turn my head in the other direction there's still a clock--but force of habit has me looking at the empty spot. If you know of a cute clock I need to see, let me know!

Soda-lighted it's Valentine's Day!

2013-02-14T11:01:00.002-07:00

Possibly one of my favorite vintage Valentines ever! Found via Pinterest.

PS--The visit with the Project Manager yesterday went well--as I type, there are dudes in my basement building a new subfloor! It's a Valentine's Day Miracle!

The Laundry room saga...stalled

2013-02-12T05:00:00.000-07:00

So, an update on my basement situation. Let me remind you what my laundry/food storage room looked like back on January 25:

And let me show you how my basement looks today, February 12:

Well, to be honest, that's not totally accurate. Cover up the machinery in the corners of the second photo and that's what it looks like. Astute readers such as yourself might notice that there has been NO CHANGE. And that, of course, is the problem.

The mold/water remediation guys packed up their big blower machines and left on Monday, January 28. We contacted the restoration/building company the following day, they called me back on Wednesday and their estimator came out to see the job on Thursday. Since then, we've been waiting for the project manager to contact us; he finally called last Friday to schedule a time to come see the job tomorrow. So that means for the last two weeks we've been sitting around and twiddling our thumbs because we're totally at their mercy. Two weeks more of doing my laundry at my friends' homes. Two weeks more of having to buy groceries that I know I already had down on my food storage shelves, but can no longer locate because all the food is boxed up and piled in the basement family room.

So the project manager will come tomorrow, look at the job, and then assign out the work to subcontractors. And who knows when they'll show up or how long it will take them to get the work done and my laundry room back in working order? It could be another few weeks, if things continue at the same (glacial) speed that they have so far. Monday marked one month since we filed our insurance claim and back when we did that, I naively thought it would all be over and done with by now. Wrong!

So after you read this, do me a favor and be thankful for your washer and dryer, if you're lucky enough to have a set in your home. You might even give them a kind word and a little pat if nobody's looking. I know that I took my ability to do laundry in my own home, on my own terms and timeline completely for granted before. You can bet your Tide With Bleach I won't be making that mistake again!

The 1940s White Christmas Ball part 2: What we did

2013-01-31T05:00:00.001-07:00

My last post talked about what we wore to the Ball so today I can tell you what we did once we were all gussied up!

The 1940s White Christmas Ball was held in the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum, a facility that is housed in an airplane hangar. It was such a perfect location for this event! There was plenty of space and there was no shortage of interesting exhibits and things to look at.

The centerpiece of the party was the stage where there were all kinds of entertaining performances throughout the night. There was a Polynesian band (who of course played "Mele Kalikimaka"), a fantastic swing band called the Hot Tomatoes, an Andrews Sisters-style trio, and more.

Because this was the White Christmas Ball, there were nods to the movie sprinkled all throughout the hanger: the iconic "Welcome to Bedford Falls" sign, movie cameras and lights, and this sign:

"White Christmas" wasn't the only movie referenced--there was also a really fun backdrop from "A Christmas Story" where you could have your photos taken with Ralphie, who was wearing the pink bunny suit and carrying a Red Ryder BB Gun.

There were other photo ops but they had long lines so we didn't do those. I also found out after the party that there was a whole area outside with roasting chestnuts, ice carving and a glass blower. I was so disappointed that I missed it, although it FREEZING outside so we probably wouldn't have spent much time out there anyway!

We loved walking around the museum and looking at the aircraft and all of the really amazing displays.

We probably had WAY too much fun walking around and posing for pictures!

As with the other 1940s events we've attended this year, half the fun is just people-watching! I saw some really beautiful vintage dresses.

I think The Mister was the best looking and best dressed guy there. :)

We definitely need more occasions for him to wear a white dinner jacket!

I have to admit I felt pretty va-va-voom myself! A slinky red dress, lots of sparkles and long evening gloves will do that to a girl. :)

I'm so glad that we decided to go to this event and will definitely plan on doing it again next year. I'm already planning my outfit for the 1940s WWII Ball in June!

The 1940s White Christmas Ball part 1: What we wore

2013-01-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

These photos are almost two months old but they're too fun not to share anyway! You may remember that back in June 2012, The Mister and I attended the 1940s WWII Ball (part 1 is here, part 2 is here).

Then in August, some friends joined us and we went to the 1940s and 50s Voodoo Island Tiki Ball, put on by the same organization that does the other party.

The organization puts on a third event called the 1940s White Christmas Ball, and since we'd had such a great time at the other two parties, The Mister and I decided to go! The dress for this event was formal or dressy 1940s attire, which to me means one thing: SPARKLES! I was only too happy to pick through my collection of vintage rhinestone jewelry to find some sparkles to wear.

While it would have been wonderful to wear a long evening gown, finding something authentic 1940s in my size is pretty near impossible and even if I had gotten lucky, it would have been crazy expensive. I ended up wearing this dress that The Mister actually picked out for me months before--it's by Stop Staring, a company that makes beautiful retro-style dresses.

It has a 1940s-style sweetheart neckline and a cute little faux peplum around the waist. Since it's not really an evening dress, I had to make it fancier with my accessories. I added a big, sparkly brooch with long rhinestone dangles to the bodice.

The brooch is a (thrifted) vintage Kandell &Marcus NY and it's gorgeous! It's over 4" long and makes quite the statement so for this occasion it was perfect.

SPARKLES!! I wore a pair of long black evening gloves, a wide rhinestone bracelet, beautiful rhinestone clip earrings, and the star-shaped brooch was pinned in my hair. I carried the black beaded bag, a sentimental treasure that I bought way back on my study abroad to London in 1998.

I also wore nude back-seam stockings with a black Cuban heel and a pair of low-heeled black pumps. Finding authentic 1940s shoes in my size is even more unlikely than finding a dress, so I did my best to find shoes that had the right silhouette (rounded toe, mid-height slightly curvy heel) and ended up with these Clarks. They were okay in a pinch, but I really wish I'd been able to find the black suede version in my size because they would have looked dressier.

For my hair this time, I decided not to do Victory rolls and instead to go for an old-Hollywood starlet kind of style. When I found this photo of Scarlett Johansson, I knew it was exactly the look I was going for!

For makeup, I did pretty much the same colors as I used for the summer 1940s WWII ball, with the iconic 1940s dark eyebrow and red lips to match my dress. And fake eyelashes, of course!

The Mister decided to go full-out Humphrey Bogart and rented a white dinner jacket and tuxedo pants.

Of course we had to add a red carnation in his lapel! He even had the perfect cufflinks for the occasion:

They're hard to see unless you click the picture to enlarge, but they commemorate the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the wartime intelligence agency that was the precursor to the CIA. I don't mind telling you that The Mister looked HOT!

Tomorrow I'll post pictures of us at the actual event!

PPM

2013-01-25T12:25:00.000-07:00

I'll be upfront. This is plainly a Poor, Pitiful Me post. Nothing interesting here, no fabulous projects or cool thrifted stuff, just some complaining.

This is what my laundry room looks like right now. Yes, that is dirt you can see below the metal floor joists. Suffice it to say, we're not exactly having the best few weeks ever.

In the last three weeks, there hasn't been a single day when one of us hasn't been sick. Maren started it the first Monday back to school after Christmas break, then The Mister was hit with the flu for the remainder of that week. Porter was sick on Sunday and then Monday afternoon Maren came home sick again and spent the remainder of the week on the couch, ill with not one but two strains of the flu. On Sunday I woke up sick and the next day, Monday, Porter woke up with it too and we're still suffering. I don't think Porter and I actually have the flu, just a really nasty respiratory/sinus infection. And I have a big canker sore, can I whine about that one too? Compounding the illness is the issue that I haven't had a decent night's sleep in weeks. While the kids have been sick they've been up multiple times per night, and guess who they want? I feel like a zombie. A hacking, sniffling zombie.

And then there's the issue of the basement. Two weeks ago we noticed that our sump pump was going off repeatedly, all day long. The Mister ventured down into the crawl space below the house to check things out and found it wet. We called the insurance and a plumber, who found that the pipe leading from the sump out of the house had a crack in it, so the water was leaking right back down. Because this was behind a wall, we're not sure how long it was leaking but it was long enough to completely rot the subfloor in that corner of the room and cause mold to grow. The day after the plumber arrived, a recovery team came in to get everything dried out and to remove all the moldy and rotted materials.

Once they finally finish (which will likely be sometime next week) we will have to get a reconstruction team to come and fix it all. They'll have to put in new drywall, retexture the walls and repaint, put in new subfloor, remove the remaining vinyl flooring and install new vinyl flooring. I think we're looking at another 2 weeks or so of work once they can finally get started.

In the meantime, I have no washer and drier, which I realize is not an emergency-level crisis. Plenty of people live in places with no W/D and survive just fine. For crying out loud, we didn't have one the first 2 years of our marriage because we lived in an apartment so it's not like I'm not capable of hauling my clothes somewhere else to be cleaned. Having sick children and being ill yourself doesn't make that task particularly pleasant, however, and I'm lucky to have plenty of friends who have offered the use of their washers, for which I am truly very grateful!

I realize that everybody has problems, most of which are probably far greater than my own. You know that saying about how you probably wouldn't want to trade troubles with anybody else, right? By next week Porter and I will feel better, progress will be made on the basement issues, and I will start drugging my children if they don't quit waking me up in the night. Okay, I'm kidding about that last one. Maybe.

If you've made it through all this whining, please feel free to leave a complaining and whining comment of your own! Go ahead and let it all out and I won't judge you or tell you to quit being a complainer--that's what friends do. Then we can all just pull up our big-girl pants and get on with dealing with our troubles, right? So, spill it.

Weekend Junk Finds

2013-01-21T05:00:00.000-07:00

In my quest to lighten up my basement, still no thrifting for me! I even took another box to the consignment store and made another pile of stuff to donate, so I'm making progress! Feels good, but I won't deny I miss the treasure hunting. :) Here are some more past finds I haven't shared.

This trio of beautiful vintage NOS postcards is from an antique store but they're in almost pristine condition-- in fact, I think I'm going to frame them! I have always loved this style of postcard, where the name of the place is in big letters that are filled with pictures. Also, I love to collect travel souvenirs from places that are significant to me so these are perfect! I especially adore the one in the center. It's from the valley in southern Colorado where my parents grew up and my grandparents still live. And yes, they grow potatoes there. :)

In fact, I found this cute vintage chalkboard in a thrift store in that very same valley! This one went into my Etsy shop and sold soon after.

I found this beautiful shabby platter on a fun trip with some girlfriends. It was on the top shelf in the loft of an antique store, covered in thick dust. I'm going to hang onto it for a future pink/blue/shabby style booth that I'm planning for an outdoor vintage market this summer.

I found this globe on the same trip. Actually, it was the same trip where I bought the globe I showed last week. Two globes in one day! This after we swore we were limited to buying only things that would fit in our purses. HA! That was one packed car heading home, let me tell you. Lucky for me that I was the driver, or I'm pretty sure I would have made the trip with a globe or two on my lap! This globe is not particularly old or decorative (like last week's 1939 beauty) so I'm almost tempted to do something fun like cover it with chalkboard paint. We'll see.

And one darling find from the local thrifts. This cutie pie mug has two sides. If you're feeling chipper when you wake up, you can drink your morning coffee from the "Good Morning! Darling" side with the warbling bluebird.

And if you're feeling cranky, you can use the "Good Morning You Ole Grouch" side with the owl in the rain!

The mug is currently available in my Etsy shop here.

Did you make any fantastic junk finds this weekend?

In my Etsy shop: Winter Whites

2013-01-18T05:00:00.000-07:00

Things in my basement are NOT GOOD right now. A leaky pipe, a rotted subfloor and mold mean that my food storage/laundry room contents had to be completely removed and shoved into the rest of the (already full) basement. Not sure how long it will take to fix, or how much it's going to cost. Suffice it to say, things are not happy. I have no idea when I'll be able to do laundry again so I'll be toting my dirties over to friends' homes for the next few weeks. Dee-lightful!

One of the reasons my basement is already full is because that's where I store of all of my inventory for my Etsy shop. So in an effort to clean things out and make the basement a little less crowded, I've been on an Etsy listing spree. This week I've chosen to list a bunch of white things in a section called "Winter Whites". I may add more listings as I find more items in my stash to fit the theme, but this is what I have so far:

A trio of white milk glass handled sugar bowls. I have two of the bottom version. I love how they look like trophies!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/120727361/vintage-milk-glass-trophy-shaped-sugar

https://www.etsy.com/listing/120726871/pair-of-vintage-milk-glass-trophy-shaped

A gorgeous ironstone leaf-shaped bowl dating from the 1800s:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/120539904/antique-1800s-white-ironstone-china-leaf

A sweet little white bowl with a perfectly shabby patina:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/120538367/vintage-aged-white-cream-brown-patina

An antique Homer Laughlin dish with markings that date it to February 1921:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/120537566/antique-vintage-homer-laughlin-hudson

Another antique ironstone bowl dating from the 1800s:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/120541583/antique-1800s-white-ironstone-bowl-dish

And a vintage Sterling China bowl with a gorgeous shabby patina:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/120542806/vintage-white-cream-shabby-chippy-patina

A beautiful carved Mother of Pearl necklace with a rosary-style chain. This would be so pretty on a bride! Love the glow from Mother of Pearl.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/120725277/vintage-antique-mother-of-pearl-rosary

Two different sizes of new old stock vintage German pressed glass buttons:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/117480631/vintage-glass-buttons-white-and-gold

https://www.etsy.com/listing/117754018/vintage-glass-buttons-white-and-gold

And a vintage aluminum Cuban cigar tube filled with vintage Mother of Pearl buttons:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/58803203/vintage-shell-buttons-in-a-vintage-cuban

I've brought up my inventory boxes from the basement and I'm hopeful that I'll be more likely to get it listed if it's staring me in the face, so to speak, rather than buried down in the cold basement. Wish me luck!

My new obsession: My Flat in London

2013-01-16T05:00:00.000-07:00

If you're a long-time reader of this blog, you may already know that I'm a total Anglophile. I spent a semester in London when I was in college. I can look up from my computer to see the darling Union Jack bunting that I bought on my most recent trip back in 2010 when I got to visit with my mom, and turn my head slightly to the right to see the "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster I picked up in the Cabinet War Rooms museum. If I turn my head left, I see the Union Jack pincushion, framed London postcard and gorgeous velvet bag all from one of my favorite British designers, Cath Kidston.

So it may come as no surprise that when I stumbled upon the new My Flat in London line in a Brighton store right before Christmas, that I was instantly smitten!

During our little Vegas getaway we happened upon a little boutique that sold Brighton that had a big MFIL display right in the front of the store and we got some background from the saleslady. My Flat in London is a line of mostly handbags and some other clothing and accessories by designer Jan Haedrich that she produced from 2002 to 2007. Ms. Haedrich lived in Germany while working for another designer but would escape to her flat in London on weekends to get away. In London she found inspiration for her own line that became the first MFIL products. She retired the line in 2007. Last year, the founder of Brighton approached Ms. Haedrich to relaunch the brand exclusively in Brighton stores and it was released in Fall 2012.

I'm not really a handbag kinda girl but I LOVE charm bracelets and charm necklaces, I LOVE pink and I LOVE London, so the MFIL jewelry is right up my alley! When we were in Las Vegas I bought myself a little treat:

When I came home and showed my Mom she fell in love with them too, and the next week while on vacation she bought herself some baubles:

When I saw the little pink phone box I HAD to have it! It's all sold out in the stores around me, but the kind folks on the Brighton Facebook page directed me to a Brighton store in a mall about 45 min. north of me and yesterday I went to get it. Now my pretty necklace looks like this:

And then this morning, I found on eBay the exact same pink phone box charm for $3 less than retail and free shipping! Darn it. Right now, the My Flat in London line is sold exclusively in Brighton stores and some Brighton authorized retailers, but not every Brighton store or authorized retailer even carries it. Apparently the line has been very popular and many items are sold out in individual stores but I can tell you that the store I visited yesterday had a fantastic selection! You can call Donna at the Flat Iron Crossing Brighton store at (720) 887-9222 and she can help you out and even mail items to you. The charms are my favorite, but there are also many different necklaces, bracelets, earrings and handbags that are just darling. Very girly, lots of pearls and sparkly rhinestones and cute British motifs. I love it all!

On the Brighton Facebook page they mentioned a Spring line coming out sometime soon and maybe even making the MFIL line available online. They haven't said exactly when those things will happen so for now, I'll be saving up my pin money so I can add more charms to my necklace!

Snowflakes

2013-01-15T05:00:00.000-07:00

If it was over 10 degrees here yesterday, I'd be surprised. Brrr! I mentioned last week that it was COLD when were visiting in Utah. On one of these frigid mornings it started to snow but because it had been so cold overnight and was still so freezing, the snowflakes didn't melt when they hit surfaces. My brother-in-law Jean borrowed my camera and braved the cold to take some really marvelous close-up photos of the snowflakes. They show up so well because they're on the dark-tinted windows of his car.

The photos are really extraordinary and I encourage you to click on them to make them larger so you can really see the details. What beauty is in nature!

Weekend Junk Finds

2013-01-14T05:00:00.000-07:00

Full disclosure: none of these things were actually found this past weekend. The temperatures here were of the frigid variety and The Mister had to work so I never even made it out of the house. And honestly, I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed by the amount of STUFF in my house right now, so I really don't have any business bringing in more. I do have a few older finds to share, though!

When I was in Utah after Christmas, my Dad and I went to explore an antique mall recommended to me by Shirley of Zetta's Aprons. I had really hoped to find some awesome post-holiday discounts on vintage Christmas stuff but only one booth had anything marked down, and they didn't have anything I wanted! Disappointing, since the dealers in the big antique malls around here have awesome sales after Christmas. I did manage to buy two baggies of old mercury glass beads. I love to use them in my crafting and these are about the size of marbles, which is larger than any I have in my collection.

I also found this cute 1960s Hearts game.

I thought the box would be so fun to display at Valentine's Day, but I also love the cute lettered dice inside!

This globe is from a fun trip I took back in November with some friends. We junked until the car was completely full! I found this beautiful old globe on a really fantastic wooden base. There are websites you can use to help you date your globe based on the names of the countries shown, and this particular model dated to 1939! I sold it in my Etsy shop.

Not too exciting, but I just can't pass up LuRay when I see it! Even though I have ZERO use for teacups.

Last, this cute vintage Bobbsey Twins book was the perfect pre-Christmas find! It's a lovely shade of green with red lettering and white snowflakes all over the front. It was just the thing to use in my Christmas decorating this year.

Did you make any fabulous finds this weekend? I'm linking up with Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday.

Las Vegas getaway

2013-01-11T05:00:00.000-07:00

For Christmas, The Mister surprised me with a trip to Las Vegas that he'd sneakily planned and coordinated with my parents. Las Vegas is a six-hour-drive from Salt Lake City and my parents graciously allowed us to leave the kiddos with them for a few days while we had a little getaway!

Because we flew to Utah, we had to rent a car and ended up with a gray version of this beauty:

Pity that it was 20 degrees for most of the way down so we couldn't take full advantage of the convertible top! We did, however, lower the top (and crank up the heater!) on the first evening as we drove down the Strip. :)

We stayed at the all-suite Palazzo, which is attached to the Venetian hotel. Our room was on the 36th floor and it was absolutely gorgeous! It looked exactly like this one.

The room was huge! Easily bigger than my kitchen and living room combined. The living room area was sunken down a few stairs and the big window had shades and curtains that we maneuvered with a remote control. Our window looked out on the back side of the Strip--we had a lovely view of the airport, LOL. But I can imagine having that huge view of the Strip all lit up at night would have been pretty impressive!

Even the bathroom was huge and beautiful. Ours looked just like this, only flip-flopped (the tub was on the other side). I fell in love with that little red velvet bench where I got to sit while putting on my makeup and jewelry. And we watched TV in our bathroom as we got ready, just because we could. ;)

Our trip was a quick one. We arrived on Wednesday afternoon and had a fancy dinner that night at a restaurant in the neighboring Venetian called Valentino. The Mister ordered black spaghetti in curry sauce, which I have to tell you looked for all the world like a pile of black worms. He said it was delicious, despite its horror-show appearance!

On Thursday we at pizza for lunch at Grimaldi's (who say they've installed special water filters in all their restaurants so that the water used for the dough is the same as they use in Brooklyn) and spent the afternoon at the Fashion Show Mall across the street from our hotel. The mall is a mix of normal mall stores (The Children's Place, Bath and Body Works) and some very upscale stores (Kate Spade, Henri Bendel). I think that Vegas started to get to me after shopping for a while because I started to wonder why exactly I don't own a pair of sequined hot pants. It seemed like every other store we visited was carrying a few. Do that many people really wear tiny spangled shorts? If so, where are they going in them? And in the winter? (even in Las Vegas, it was only in the low-50's. Pretty chilly for hot pants) It was baffling.

That night we got dressed up again and walked across the street to The Mirage hotel, where we saw The Beatles LOVE Cirque du Soleil show.

We had fantastic seats! I will tell you, it was not my favorite Cirque du Soleil show that I've ever seen. I'm a huge Beatles fan so of course the music was AWESOME, but the storyline was just plain weird! I know that's generally the case with CdS shows but it's never bugged me before, mostly because the acrobatics and other performances were so jaw-dropping that it never occurred to me that there was a storyline I was supposed to be following. There were talented acrobats and aerialists at The Beatles LOVE show, but not as many and not as impressive as some of the other CdS shows I've seen because I think they relied more on the music and visual effects and costumes. If you're a big fan of the Beatles' music, then you may find enjoy it; otherwise, I might try out a different CdS show as there are several playing in Vegas.

Our little getaway was such fun--we have no family nearby and so we don't ever get to go away without our kids (the last time was back in July 2011 when we went to Washington D.C. for The Mister's graduation) so it was a real treat to get to do that! I know my kids LOVED every second of all of the attention and spoiling they got from being under their grandparents' care without their parents around enforcing rules and bedtimes and stuff. We may not have gambled on our trip, but I know we were winners all around!

The Nutcracker

2013-01-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

One of the things I've been looking forward to as a girl mom is taking my daughter to see "The Nutcracker" ballet. I have fond memories of getting dressed up in my fancy Christmas dress and going to see it when I was younger, and I even danced as a Mouse in the Nevada Opera's Nutcracker!

This was the first year that I've felt like Maren was old enough to really enjoy and appreciate the ballet (given the cost of tickets!) but I just couldn't find a time for us to go before Christmas, and then we were headed to Salt Lake City directly after the holiday. Then I realized that Ballet West's performances of "The Nutcracker" extended beyond Christmas and even better, going in Utah meant that my mom could go with us!

We started our outing with a ladies' lunch at the very delicious Blue Lemon and a walk through the new City Center shopping mall, with a stop in Nordstrom to check out the lipsticks at the MAC counter.

From there, it was a short walk to the Capitol Theater, where we posed for pictures before heading into the opulent red-velvet-and-gold theater to watch the performance.

One other nice thing about going after Christmas--the theater was fairly empty so it was no problem to get great seats! We were very close and a had a great view of the show. I purposely chose a matinee performance because I didn't know if Maren would be able to stay awake in an evening show, and it was a good thing because it wasn't too far into the second act when her eyes got heavy!

It was such a fun occasion, one I hope we can repeat for many years to come!