September in Oz

It's a good thing that my beautiful niece, Bodecia Arietty, sent me ruby slippers, I was swept up by several tornado's in the month of September and with just a click I was able to find my way home. Only I haven't found my new home as my lovely current home has been put on the market, and for that, I am very sad. My beautiful baby girl turned 21, finally got her drivers license, and my big beautiful boy has decided to propose marriage. The pictures will tell the rest of the story.












































And then the proposal...on the beach with a 150 year old ring in an oyster shell with the Pacific giving it's blessing....

She said, "there's no shells on this beach," He said,"look there's one," as he reached down and got on one knee...
He said, "Will you marry me?" She said, "Yes I will"

Top Ten Count Down to Vacation.

For the first time in a very long time, I'm taking consecutive days off from work which I'm choosing to call... "WTF Vacation." WTF = Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I'm going to an exotic, unknown location called..."Myself." I have a list of things to do when I visit myself:

1. Call my sister.

2. Send out my birthday buddies birthday present.

3. Shave my legs and pluck my eyebrows.

4. Restart an excercise routine.

5. Clean out the cupboards in my head and my house.

6. Go to a reading at Readers Books

7. Re-affirm my purpose on this planet. (can that be done in three days?)

8. Lay by the pool.

9. Take Kitty to the DMV.

10. Try not to think about work.

Details of turning 43...

Fresh Parmesan sprinkled over perfectly steamed asparagus. Shrimp with curly parsley and butter, along with a side dish of gnocchi.
Homemade Cheesecake
Cherry Plums
Bouquets of flowers that filled my table. Peonies, sunflowers, daisies and mums. (Thank you Kitty and beautiful boy.)
Filled my office. Gardenia's, Roses and a beautiful Orchid.
Pink and white streamers hanging from my office ceiling from corner to corner.
Confetti covered my office floor and my desk chair and stuck to everyones shoes so it made a Hanzel and Gretel trail of confetti crumbs throughout the halls of the building. Pink and Silver birthday banners on every wall and my office window. Gourmet suckers taped all over my monitor along with a birthday crown. Gourmet cupcakes from the cupcakery with champagne frosting. (Thank you Sarah)

Cherry pajama's, cherry M&M's, and beautiful soldered art... (Thank you Mitzi)

These are the details of turning 43. My cup runneth over...
Thank you to all my lovelies...you know who you are.

And to my birthday buddy Olivia, "Happy Birthday Sweetie", your presents on it's way...

And to the awesomely beautiful "Ms. Graduate Jess" Congratulations!, we're so proud of you...

Birthday Jazz

My lovely Kitty surprised me with an early birthday present yesterday, by handing me a huge bouquet of flowers and a card with tickets to see Diana Krall at the Sonoma Jazz Festival tonight. Even though my birthday is still a month away I have a feeling this is one I won't forget! What a sweet extraordinary child I have! Now, the question at hand is what to wear? Believe it or not, it's only 64 degrees here today and overcast calling for rain...it will be even cooler tonight. I'm contemplating a little black dress, oh, how I wish I had a pair of over the elbow white satin gloves, like the ladies of the 1950's might have worn on a night out to a jazz club with their husband, with a pearl bracelet around the wrist. Did they do that? For some reason I always think of the ladies of the 50's in the kitchen with an apron on. My sweet husband in support of this night out for me, advised me last night that he would be wearing his linen pants with his black silk tee shirt and asked me if we still had that "steam thingy" so he could prepare his clothing. LOL! What did I do to deserve all this love? Not sure, but it sure is amazing. Click on the post title to link to the festival site, it's a wonderful event. http://www.dianakrall.com/

Triple Digits, Roller Derby,Birthdays and a New Family Member

We've had triple digit weather for almost a week straight. We took to living in the pool when we were not at work. Frank Bob the whale has become the newest addition to our family.

Since I last posted, I went to derby, action pictures did not turn out, there wasn't enough photo light in the rink, I did manage a few pictures after, like the one below with Sinfandel and my husband.

My son has since celebrated his 22nd birthday, with two parties in the same weekend. Beautiful boy....wistfully it seems like only yesterday he was a babe in my arms.

Roller Derby Tonight

Tonight I am going to Roller Derby! Yes, you read that right, and I had the same reaction when my good friend and coworker told me she joined the team. (I hadn't heard or thought of roller derby since I was a kid, which was a very long time ago! LOL! )Sinfandel is a mild mannered professional by day, and derby girl by night. She is sweet and stylish and loves to garden, which seems contradictory to this new adventure she has started. Check out her fabulous garden blog.

http://wardroadgarden.blogspot.com/

I'll post pictures of tonight's big event tomorrow.

What are the colors of your life?

I bought this painting at an estate sale a couple of weekends ago. Her thoughtfulness called out to me. The length in her lean forward expresses yearning to me. Lean forward, discover your own life, create it with your own colors....

Spring Swap,Sunday Morning and Beautiful Kitty

I want to host a 4" X 4" canvas gallery swap. I am fascinated for some reason by gallery groupings. Deadline mid June.

I've already had a few express interest. I was thinking groups of nine would be nice, so you would send in nine and get nine back. If you would like to play, please leave me a comment on this post. No boundaries, the continuity I believe will come from the size. I've been experimenting and have posted a few. Although as with my life, all is still a work in progress.

Dimensional, fanciful, simple, layers,

soft, colorful, needful, ecstatic, loud, glory, praying, giving, dreaming, roundness, wholeness, emptiness, grieving, celebrating, grace, these are the boundaries of my life.

My vintage indie,"I dream of spring" swap arrived. It was all so marvelous, and Erin over at "The Classy Rabbit" was so good to me.

http://theclassyrabbit.blogspot.com/

A vintage purse box filled with all sorts of lovelies.

A sweet little McCoy lamb planter that is so humble you just want to hold it and take care of it.

A vintage flower frog that is a work of beauty without it's resourcefulness. I may use it for a paper weight on my desk at work. So lovely, thank you Erin for your generosity.

I had set my goal to post last week, and then I got sick, and with the rest of life demanding my attention, we'll here I am a week later, still trying to recover...but a little better, at least...

Last weekend was filled with Kitty having photo shoots. It was amazing, she is amazing.

She was approached at work by a photographer who had asked if she would be her "subject". Kitty had so much fun and there will be more opportunities. Otherwise known as "girly" by her big brother she had no problem in front of the camera, actually, I don't think the photographer was prepared for her exuberance for life! The women setting up the shoot was interesting and quirky and so extremely nice. I guess life really is like a box of chocolates. You never really do know what your going to get.

I dream of Spring

Vintage Indie, fabulous website by the way, is having a spring swap, deadline, March 1, today is March 1. Ugh! Not very good at my blog post yet, still working on setting mine up to be as amazing as others I see. I hope I'm in time for this and that I do it right!

http://vintageindie.typepad.com/vintage_indie/2008/02/vintage-indies.html

a. What's your favorite part of spring?

Warm sunshine, flowers growing and birds singing.

b. What are your favorite flowers?

Every flower, I can't pick one. If I have to, I love the sight of rose gardens, everyone here seems to have one, except me, I only have a rose bush, but I dream of having one on my little patio with a garden bench in the middle.

c. What types of hobbies/crafts do you enjoy?

Soldering, painting, sewing but mostly playing with paper.

d. What types of vintage do you collect or look for?

I'm fascinated by anything from the "40's,50's,60's" I love the colors, the clothing, how to and

recipe books. Most fun thing of late, we just bought a 1967 Mustang to restore.

e. Any allergies or things that you absolutely can't stand?

Not really.

Perfect Saturday

Kitty and I spent yesterday in downtown Napa, and to our disappointment we realized we hadn't brought the camera. To speak of how lovely it was will not do justice, it was the perfect Saturday. We drove around the square three times and couldn't find parking, we parked a couple of blocks away and walked and didn't mind. It was a beautiful sunny day, the architecture, the colors and the charm kept us company as we strolled in and out of the store fronts. We had lunch at Piccolino's. http://www.piccolinoscafe.com/ It was an amazing experience. Our handsome waiter served us with such grace, we wanted to bring him home with us. It didn't hurt that he could enunciate (perfectly) all of the items on the menu. I ordered a glass of sparkling wine along with Caprese Insalata. (Tomato Slices Topped with Fresh Mozzarella and Basil. Drizzled with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and 17 Year Old Balsamic Vinegar. ) Along with Capellini Al Pomodoro. (Angel Hair Pasta Tossed with Chopped Tomatoes, Basil, Garlic and Extra Virgin Olive Oil) It served all of my senses. It was the perfect day.