And more to make me have the giggles...

More of my purchase from Etsy. I LOVE Etsy and all the wonderful crafters/shops!

*Lovely fun tote bag
*Hot pink crystal earrings to match a ring from a different Etsian

*Beatles lyrics ink printed on a very old dictionary page

For some one (such as I) who once was a once a week shopper, I have since mended my ways to only every so often of shopping bag bliss. Besides the monetary advantages to this practice, the healing part of realizations on not holding on to material 'things' has been quite an eye opener.

~~~

Until that shopping bug bites you in the ass and says "Hey chica, where the hell have you been?! We've missed you and get your nice little charge card butt over here!". No, no worries of a shopping addiction, (wink, wink) it's just nice to spend that little bit of cash on me instead of housemaking and humans under 3 feet tall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

***Monica, don't laugh. I swear to you I don't have a problem.... well we know I do, but not shopping! Ok, Ok.... I will admit to a wee bit of over indulgence in this instance, but can you blame me? No, I know you can't. ;) Love you!

A few splashes... lovely finds on Etsy.

Rewarding myself on taxes done well before the deadline, I treated myself to a few of my 'faves' on my favorites list on Etsy. Besides buying a beautiful Japanese geisha-esk print and that being gorgeous in itself, it was a more impressive start to have such a beautiful package arrive on the outside! Oh, I wish I could put ink on paper as pretty!

~~~

And these delicious Japanese fabric magnets to make those boring ol' fridge doors look better!

~~~

More to follow...

Mini-Vacay Day 2---Let's take a drive and get some pizza.

More pictures of a wonderful, fun wee one. Taking a few minutes of time to have smiles and drools and laughs before shopping and naps in a stroller take place. And oh! The shopping! It was so fun to find some new pieces to add to my non-existing-woman-stay-at-home-mom-only wardrobe. Seriously, some cute pieces.

After exhaustion from stores and changing rooms, wearing one of those new outfits to drive through downtown Portland and head to a different location for a hip pizza joint. I love the entrance from the freeway tunnel to downtown. It just pops up, boom.
~~~
I remember the last time I visited during a Thanksgiving holiday and how an afternoon was spent walking the streets downtown with the Christmas decorations and holiday music just starting up. The streets were alive and bubbling with the first hours of holiday shopping.


Half way there... being stopped at a bridge to let a boat through. How exciting!!! I have always wanted to be stopped like this. Alas, though, we were a few cars too many behind to get much of a view.

On to new types of pizza and conversations with strangers. More laughter and stories of funny daily lives. A two hour dinner with memories to last a lifetime.

~~~

Back at the house, stepping outside to drink in some fresh night air, I noticed that the landscaping takes on such a wondrous night life all its own. A little up-lighting here and there and smells of blooms still holding on pushing the limits of Summer gone by, sure can bring a nice calm breath to a tired mind and body.

And tomorrow... the beach.

Like No Time Apart

Nothing can beat a few days with a great friend, and her wee one.

Spending time, hanging out, laughing and talking.

Of course adding the little bits of shopping in the mix.

Enjoying the sunshine with two wonderful kids running around.
Conversations that never end .

Monica and her pretty hair.

Mixing drinks and playing games. Realizing that even though the time apart

has been almost a year, it doesn't feel like a day has gone by.

More sun with squeals and giggles mixed in, by both tots and adults.

Lounging by the pool and wishing for just one more day for the laughing

and stories to continue.

Until next time...

New Purse Love and a Special Birthday

I'm loving the new purse that I bought from World Market. It's from India (yeah, I pretty much love anything from there) and I'm calling it my cafe bag. Perfect for a date night movie, or meeting a friend for a little cuppa.
~~~
My wonderful, loving, Uncle Greg would have been 60 years old yesterday. He was such an amazing person with love for life even in his trials and tribulations. When his tour of duty was done in Vietnam, and gathering at the old swimming hole, a group of friends and him decided to play the 'last one in is a rotten egg!' game. Unfortunately for my Uncle the river was not as deep as it had been the last time leading to an accident that left him a quadriplegic for the rest of his life. But even with this, and surviving well past the years Doctors told him, he always had a smile on his face whenever we would visit. I have so many fond memories of spending the weekend or camping or riding on his lap in his wheelchair, and even though he has been gone for many years now, he is still there, in my heart.
~
Love you forever... Mick the Rat.

A Tiny Buying Frenzy

With this complete overwhelming desire to change the colors in my life, I have been on a shopping frenzy. Mostly in my head, but with a few actual pieces. Here is a scarf from Afghanistan that I found at a garage sale. The lady of the sale was donated items to raise money to adopt some children from Ethiopia. Her sister is in the Air Force stationed in Afghanistan and sent her lots of scarfs from the local market to help her raise money. Man, I seriously could have bought all of them they were so pretty!
=======
I bought a new blanket for the back of the couch and a lamp shade to match. We found some serious money-off tree photos for a wall that I used the original photos to decorate Fritz's room with. The wall was looking empty but the Hubs and I have serious opposite tastes when it comes to decorating. Luckily we both liked these ones!
=======
That is part of the re-decorating-new-color-scheme thing for me, the different tastes of me and the Hubs. I realized that I was decorating the house in colors that we both liked, but the items or knick-knacks, if you will, were not my 'taste'. Not true to how I like to express myself with my surroundings. And since I am here with Fritz almost 24/7, I decided screw it!!!! I'm going to decorate the damn house to more of my liking! But, I am also not completely throwing my Hubs ideas out the window. I am still letting him help with some of the things. ;)
=======
Anywho, the house is feeling much more me. With new rugs in the kitchen and some items awaiting from a seller on Etsy, I am very excited with my house now.

Garage Sale Fun

Once a year, my hometown has a town-wide garage sale day where around 30 households have sales! It's a big event that draws in people from other towns as well. My parents participate every year and although it is quite a lot of work (my parents have a TON of stuff to sell) we always end up having a lot of fun. This year I had planned on not going to any other sale as I really didn't want to take home more stuff than I had brought, but... I just couldn't resist one sale.

A lovely large light aqua blue glass bowl. For only 25 cents!

This fabric is of curtains. I have no use for curtains currently, but could not pass up the lovely red stitching. I'll change this into something sometime soon!

A glass candy dish. My mother has one of these that she would always bring out for Christmas and fill it full of Christmas candy goodies. I have wanted one for a long time, but never have been able to find one. Who would have thought it would be one of her neighbors who had one!

A few hankies. Again I want to turn these into something fabulous, but what? Hmm.. I have no idea yet!