The Wrong Trousers

I wanted to share some news about a 3 piece band from my daughter's high school.The first time I heard them live was about 2 years ago, and I was just amazed at their talent. They were probably 15 years old at the time. I was truly impressed!

"The Wrong Trousers" have been invited to perform at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival.They are holding a local fund raiser on June 14th to raise money for their tour.
The band is comprised of one present CoSA student (Joe Lorge) and two former CoSA students (Mack Leighton & Kelsea Little). Check out some of their beautiful music here: http://www.myspace.com/thewrongtrousers

They sound a little bit country, a little bit rock and roll. Acoustic, pop, classical, bluegrass. Plus a little bit of everything else.
Everything All is my favorite song at the moment. Kelsea plays the harp and sings..she has the voice of an angel.

Featured on Craftster

Miss Jenn was thrilled to tell me that her dress is featured on the front page at Craftster! She finished this dress a few days ago...I took the photographs, but she never told me she was going to submit it. Another project of hers that I'm so proud of. She worked really hard on this dress, so if anyone want to give her a vote of "This Rocks", we would both appreciate it!

Fashion design is her passion, and she hopes to make it her career. Although still undecided on which school to attend, I secretly hope she stays in California. I would miss her terribly, but a dream come true would be for her to attend Parsons in New York.

Senior Prank

Its that time of the year again, Senior Prank Day! Senior pranks tend to be a unofficial tradition at most high schools. Every class wants THEIR class to leave a lasting memory for other students, teachers as well as themselves. When I dropped off Jenna at school today, I was giggling like a school girl when I saw that the students had turned their entire grass quad eating area into a used car lot. The cars had streamers and writing on the windows.. and right before the first bell rang, all the car alarms went off. Oh those silly kids. I guess the Vice Principal didn't think it too funny because she threatened to have all the cars towed if they were not removed within the hour. Other than that, I saw that they had Saran wrapped all the stairways leading to the upper level classrooms, and stacked the lunch tables as high as they could. The students will have to do the clean up...FUNS OVER! Does anyone remember what their Senior Prank was? It's been a looong time since I was in High School, and I seriously cannot remember anything more than toilet papering the hallways..wow, talk about no imagination!

Remember Them

Whatever else you do with your free day...
Remember Them.
It only takes a moment. But Remember.

12 New Items Just Listed...

Come on over to see what's new at the store. I'm offering 50% off the quoted shipping this Memorial Weekend.

My daughter has been a busy gal the past month, and although her web site is not complete, she has asked me to add this creation to the my store. She tells me that she feels bad always asking me for money...Wow! Am I dreaming? Hahaha..

So here's a peek at her first Fascinator hat.
It's her very own design. I'm just as proud as a peacock, and so is she. :)

It's Friday..I'm in Love

Today has been windy and rainy..so gloomy out. I putzed around the house...started organizing my crafting supplies...took some pictures of the new stuff for the web site, and then got on eBay and saw this sweet thang. I think I'm in LOVE people.

Oh my...if only this were in California. Why is it that all the great antique sofas are so far away? This one sits in Louisiana. My daughter says, "why can't we just rent a truck and go back there to get it?" She's so cute. Anyone out there reading this..If you are driving from LA. to CA., email me! I have a proposition for you!

Window Shopping in Coronado

If you happen to visit San Diego this summer, you must make the trip over the bridge to Coronado Island. You can spend an entire day shopping, enjoying the beautiful beach, visiting the Crown City Tea Parlour and the historical
Hotel Del.
I drive down this street twice daily on the way to and from taking my daughter to school. I love the shops along Orange Ave, and today I decided to take a short stroll to window shop. It was 8am, so nothing was open. Probably a good thing for my wallet. :)

First stop is Kippy's , which I can remember going to as a child. My mother used to shop there during the 60's , but it's changed a lot since then! I just love the mermaid in the window.


She's quite glamorous wearing all of those rhinestone belts. Kippys belts and accessories are hand-crafted in the USA using the finest Italian leathers, Swarovksi crystals and Italian silver buckles.

Next is La Provencale. A lovely shop specializing in products from France.
Provencal Linens, Glassware, French soaps , Candles and Flowers are in abundance.

Charisma (formerly known as Plums) has been a long time favorite shop of mine, and I have a good friend who works there part time. They recently re opened after a complete make over. They carry a nice mix of home decor, women's clothing and handbags. I must say it looks mah-valous darling! You should see the floor...it sparkles!

Dale's Swim Shop is the place for beach wear. Love the colorful green and white display. The mannequins make me smile.

Seaside Papery ~ Celebrating Life's Events

You can spend hours in this shop..stationery and cards galore! This store always has the most incredible window displays. Hundreds of butterflies floating in mid air, and I have to look at it every time I drive by. If you think this is beautiful, you should see their Christmas display.


(Click on photos to enlarge for better viewing)

Vintage Indie

I'm thrilled to have my web site featured at Vintage Indie Magazine, your online source for living a Modern Life with a Vintage Perspective. I just discovered Vintage Indie today, and hope you'll pay them a visit soon!

Oprah's Top Picks For Summer

I was watching the Oprah show yesterday , and it was Oprah's Favorite Things show. What a lucky bunch! So she raved about a turkey burger she had ordered at Mar-a-Lago, The Donald's private club in Palm Beach. It looked quite tasty, and the chef wasn't too bad himself. I have plans to try out the recipe one day this week. Here's the link to the recipe in case anyone missed it. I wouldn't mind hiring that chef to cook for me `)
I'm kidding girls!

Missing it now more than ever...

The Attic was my home away from home until last May 2007. I loved that store as much as my friend Jane, who owned it. Working there for almost 3 years, it never felt like a JOB. I was like a kid in a candy store..arranging furniture, creating vignettes, and wanting to take it all home! We also carried "new" home decor too, and it was always fun to order from the catalogues. It was always stuffed full! I can remember the owner calling every couple of days to ask, "Do you think we can fit another piece in?"


The Attic was located in Coronado, just a few blocks from the beautiful Pacific ocean. It had been a popular shoppe for nearly 10 years, and I always enjoyed chatting with the locals as much as I did the tourists, who came from all over the world. My favorite times of the year were the summer months and December. The annual Fourth of July parade looked like something straight out of a Norman Rockwell portrait. At Christmas time, all the shops would decorate the windows in hopes of winning 1st Prize for best window.


Sadly, the business was sold last May and I've missed it ever since. The new owners made some dramatic changes. New laminate flooring replaced the old cement floors and purple paint covered our serene beach palette. It's now a baby & kid's clothing shop. It's a cute shop, but the neighboring shops tell me that even after a year, the tourists still come by looking for The Attic. I'm not at all surprised. It was a landmark!

I'm hooked on Naked

Pomegranate Blueberry Juice, that is.

Both the pomegranate and the blueberry are well-known for their antioxidant content, making them super-duper disease-fighting foods. That's not the only great thing..it tastes delicious! It's my new favorite naked flavor.

Mother's Day continued...

Thom the Grill Master (Mr.Shab-n-Chic)

Megan caught in the act!

Megan with Lily...much happier!

Jenn made the Cheesecake...and the hat :)

Jenn and my Mother



What?!! No picture of the blogger?
They were accidentally deleted. Oh well.

Mother's Day Weekend

I had a wonderful weekend surrounded by family, friends and too much food!
I took a short little trip to LA on Saturday with my daughter and her friend.First stop: Dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and then on to our friend
Elizabeth McGrath's art exhibit, "The Secret Party"

Jenna with her best friend Beth arriving at the art gallery.

A wall of the cutest little watercolors by Liz, all sold before it even opened!


One of our favorites!

Jenn and Liz


Beth, Jenn and friends from the band Miss Derringer.
Saying our goodbyes..it's back home to San Diego.

Sunday was spent with Mom and family at home. We grilled outdoors, ate too much and had lots of laughs. So many pictures that I still have to sort and post...I'm tired, but it's a happy tired! Here's a picture of my Mom taken in 1945 with her first little one, my brother.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day!

A Mother's Letter

My Mother has had this sweet little wooden dresser sitting atop her chest of drawers for as long as I can remember, but yesterday it was sitting on the kitchen counter. She told me that she wanted to give it to my daughter Jenna. The little chest was a Mother's Day gift from my father to his mother in 1941. It was filled with chocolates and tied with a pretty blue satin bow. Over the years it has traveled many miles and has suffered a few injuries along the way. The mirror is loose and one drawer was broken and repaired, but we're happy it's still with us. Inside the box were mementos that she kept from my father's time spent in the military. When my grandmother passed, my father brought it back home and placed it atop his dresser where it stayed until now. Inside one of the drawers was letter that my father had received from his Mother in 1942 while serving in the Army. A mother writes...



My Dear Son - Will write a few lines as I just got your suitcase from the depot. The charges were $1.72 but was glad to pay it. It is such a beauty. I can't open it until I get a key made for it for I don't know where your key is. This has been a rainy day. Have had so much rain this week, water standing every where but it's good to have rain again after so many dry years. The grain and pastures look fine. I came to town with Dad this morning and just rained so we are still here. Don took us out to his place for dinner.We are at the station now. Everyone sure admires the little dresser. I won't eat any of the candy until Mother's Day. Will think of you with every bite. Wish I could send you things, but others say you won't get things until they are spoiled.
Good Bye Dear, and write often. Mother

Wild Parrots

Every year, about this same time, they arrive. A flock of 3-6 wild parrots make their home in our front yard, high in the tree tops. They feel right at home in the hundred year old date palm trees. You can see them feasting on dates & squawking..and boy are they loud! If you gawk at them too long though, they seem to shy away and fly off to the next tree. I've made many attempts to place diced apples and cantaloupe on top of a wall near the tree, but they have never ventured down to eat. It was difficult to photograph them without a proper camera, but if the picture turns out, I'll post it later on.

I've read that California is now home to at least 7,000 parrots who are living wild from San Francisco to San Diego. They are beautiful birds , quite colorful with their crested red heads. Here's a picture that was taken by a photographer in San Francisco. It gives you an idea of how lovely these birds are.

Unfortunately, most of these birds were smuggled into the United States across the Mexico-US border. They get stuffed into boxes and hidden inside car trunks and truck beds. These parrots are usually captured in the tropics of Southern Mexico and sold to US pet shops and even sold at flea markets. It's not uncommon to find 50-100 of these gorgeous wild birds in one smuggler's possession, and many do not even make it out alive. A few may have been pets who were let go because they were "too much trouble", or escaped on their own. These are the sad hard facts, but as I watched them fly off, I can't help but be amazed at their beauty and to be happy that they are at least free again, even if not in their native habitat.

To Paint or Not To Paint...

I went to my favorite thrift store the other day, and my first stop is always the unloading area where there are usually at least 4-5 other people hanging around, mostly men looking for electronics and tools. So I see this piece being unloaded, but I'm not quite sure what it is because it looks like it should have a base to it. As I got closer, I just held my breath because I knew, I had to have it. I also knew it would fit in the back of my Highlander, perfectly.

I tend to get excited when I find something like this, but I had to keep my cool when I asked " So...how much?" I would have probably paid double. Now it sits on my patio until I decide what to do... It's solid oak and I'm sure with a little TLC, it can be brought to life, but sometimes I look at it and envision it painted. The doors have the original old thick wavy glass.

It's missing a bit of the fretwork but who cares..not me!

Oh...the things I could put in this! My first thought was over a desk...it can stand or it could be hung. And then, the more I looked it, the more I thought how perfect this would be in a bath! Filled with towels and toiletries. Of course it wouldn't fit in our bath, but it might be worth adding one just to make this work!
So what would you do with it?

05/09:
I appreciate all your votes everyone, and as you can see, it's a close one!
I tend to agree with my friend Gloria who wrote "Unless you have a perfect spot for it right now, I wouldn't paint it. Who knows, maybe when you get ready to add a bathroom, you will know whether to paint or not."

As of now, I would have to remove a large piece of furniture to hang this on the wall, and I'm not quite ready for that. So for now, it will find a place in the garage until it's time to bring it in. We used to keep our cars in there.Imagine that! I'll keep the poll open for now. :)

Paint It or Leave It?

• 
  
  Paint it white


• 
  
  Paint it a color other than white


• 
  
  Leave it natural oak

view results
Free vote poll

$325 or $1.69...A No-Brainer

I'm a bit embarrassed to blog about this , but what the heck!



I've been on a cleaning rampage the last two days, specifically my tile floor that runs from the entry door down the hallway and the entire kitchen. It's about 200 square feet or so. The grout was so dark..okay, it was dirty. Using a wet mop weekly was not cutting it anymore! I had an estimate handed to me on Thursday morning for a professional to steam clean the grout. After seeing it in black and white, $325.00...I decided it was time to get the bucket, scrub brush and do it myself. I got started on it within 15 minutes of seeing that estimate and spent nearly 3 hours on Thursday morning...



And 2 hours on Friday , and I AM DONE! Nothing personal, but I don't want to be your friend anymore Mr.Barkeeper. You did do a wonderful job at getting the grout back to it's original color...and it only took one can for $1.69. It's like a brand new floor, but I'm so tired of the tile color...I have lived with it since the 80's! Now it's hubby's turn to seal the grout, so it will hopefully stay nice and bright. I am not cooking tonight. Heck, I may take the entire weekend off.