An Award Post in Which I share 7 Things about Moi

I blow at memes and awards and I am having a blog button made with a tornado symbol that reflects this. However, I do appreciate and I am always kindly touched by my dear fellow bloggers who think enough of the blog version of me to give me this Kreativ Award. (What's up w/the spelling btw? It's the one Grammar skill I am good at!)
I am so pleased to receive this Award from 2 bloggers, the Adorable and Correctly Spelled Creative Dawn of Lydia and Pugs and the Original Prep, Beth at Social Climbers.

The next task at hand is to share 7 things about me that won't bore you to death. Okay, this is the part that always tricks me up with this whole meme/award stuff, so much pressure!!! Okay, here you go and I hope you just drank a caffeinated beverage.

1.I am an upbeat, easygoing, and optimistic person despite my Ripley from Alien moment four days ago.

2.I have lived longer in Los Angeles than anywhere else including Ohio, N.J., and Florida.

3.I dislike shopping. Please, do not confuse this with not appreciating or enjoying nice, new things. I just rarely want to be involved in the Procurement process. I have to be in the mood to shop. Whether in groceries or clothing, I like to buy in bulk.

4.Having grown up in the Art and Antiques business, it still amazes me how much I learned and assimilated from being surrounded by it my whole life. Same thing with music, and for these gifts, I am eternally grateful to my dear Parents who I am blessed to still have with me and well.

5.Aging doesn't bother me. (My creaky knees bother me on cold mornings hiking, but aging, no.) I learned very young when my brother died at 24 y/o, aging is a gift. I take care of myself and I feel beautiful at 48 y/o. I made a decision not to worry too much about stuff outside my control, and this is waaaay outside my control. Stuff I can control, like a healthy diet, exercise, sunblock, well, that's what I put my energy into and it's paying off for me. Plus, living in Los Angeles, the land of the plastic fantastic faces, I appreciate Real faces of all ages, including my own.

6.For the first time, I met a blog friend IRL! My family met Jason of The Jason Show and his beautiful family at our local Church Festival a few weeks ago, and we had a great time. He is as delightful in person as he is online and it was so sweet to see our boys together. Thank You, Jason and Giancarlo.

7.I am also looking forward to meeting another dear blog friend, Mrs.Spit and her husband, Mr.Spit when our families will meet up in Las Vegas in a couple of months.

Whew, 7 hopefully not too boring facts about me.
Now to pass on the award to some other bloggers and I am just pulling alphabetical names for some more victims, I mean Awardees!

An Eagles View - Tell the Head Eagle, Martha says Hello! She will insist on it actually.

A Suburban Stay At Home Mom - Ruth is a scrapbooker and mini book maker par excellence!

Beauty Be Good - Randi is good, actually She's Great, funny, warm, and wise about all things beautiful, just like her.

It Must Be A Full Moon - A Howl to Michele Renee, no matter what phase of the moon.

Life At the Gables- Liz is Ruth's sister and also wonderful needle artisan and sweet like her sis.

Mrs.Spock who is a Wife, Mom, Nurse, and kind.

Momma Val is funny and kind, but not a nurse. She's a LEOW, in other words, a cop's wife.

(FYI, for everyone, this is a DIY Award Zone, bask in the love and appreciation of this Award, and then do with it what you will, post it, pass it on, or just please enjoy it!)

Thank you so much for sharing in this blog Award Fest and regardless of whether I tagged you or not, please let me know something cool about you And/Or a favorite blogger we should all visit! My best to you, Martha

Pink Bras for A Cause

Last Sunday, I went to a Soroptimist Bras for a Cause Breast Cancer charity luncheon. A friend and I went to support another dear friend who is active in this organization and a 7 year survivor of the disease. (Disclaimer: This is my one and only annual charity luncheon, I am not a lady who "lunches" but this particular charity is near and dear to my heart. Actually, breasts are near all of our hearts!) This is a fun affair with a delightful silent auction, delicious food, spectacular scenery, and enjoyable company. Plus, it does give me the rare opportunity to dress up which I often think I have forgotten how to do!

The signature silent auction items are the Bras decorated to reflect the Overall theme for the event which this year was "Sisterhood of the Traveling Bra", featuring bras from around the globe.

Here is the Geisha Bra from Japan.
This feather embellished bra represents Venice, Italy.
This bra is Gay Paree, the City of Love.
And here is France herself, complete with The Eiffel Tower on her shoulder.
A much more local entry, let's give a shout out to my favorite park, Placerita Canyon in North Los Angeles.
And to finish our tour of the pink bras at this luncheon, what would be more perfect than a slice of Pink Bra Cake?
Please check your breasts or have your partner do it! You fellas too! (Men can get breast cancer.)

Thank you to the gracious host of Pink Saturday, Beverly who requests that we bloggers mingle and link up to a newly found blogger each week and I would like to introduce the mouth watering inducing blogger, Mimi from Our Family Attic. Her food photographs cause an immediate Pavlovian response, amazing.

As a special thank you to my bloggy friends, I am having a Giveaway of your choice of a handcrafted pair of earrings or bracelet made by yours truly. Please enter if you would like a chance to win.

Thank you so much for your visit, Martha

Don't Mess with A Jersey Girl

This is incredible and it boggles my mind even though I experienced it just 4 hours ago, so here goes. We got our son a new bike about 5 months ago to replace a bike that was stolen from our yard. It was upsetting needless to say, but you move on. This new bike was very nice and our son rode it to his new high school last month. It also got stolen when he forgot to lock it up on the bike rack. We were all upset and filed a police report with the school and our son was told to "keep an eye out for it". We were all pretty down about it (especially my son who felt anger, loss, upset with his actions, guilt, and what really stung my heart, the complete sense of the injustice and unfairness keenly felt by him.) I came to view it as an expensive lesson learned for all of us. Again! It really weighed on me for a few weeks and then finally, a couple weeks ago, I had to let it go. I never really stopped looking for my son's bikes and everytime someone would ride past I would look at the bike hoping to find one of ours. I was, however, resigned to the fact that both bikes were gone.

This afternoon, I had planned on making my son, D.walk to his soccer practice near our home. I changed my mind and decided to drive him since I had to run an errand. I dropped him off in front of the gate and then instead of making a U Turn on the street to return home, I decided to be a good citizen and stop at the stop sign and make a turn at a dead end street there. I made the stop and the left turn, and what Beholds My Eyes, but 4 teen boys about D.'s age of 14 and 15 y/o and One Of Them Is Sitting On My Son's Bike! (It is a very distinctive Neon Blue color and type bike.) I pulled over to the curb, jumped out of the car and said, "I'll give you a $50 reward, that's My Son's Bike Stolen from the High School over a month ago." The kid put up a lame protest saying that the bike was his. I told him I had the receipt with the serial number and a Police report had been filed. Another of his group started to mouth off to me, asking my name and threatening to call the cops. I told him, "Please do, and my name is Martha". I then, literally grabbed the bike out from under this kid and threw it in the back of the minivan. A couple of the kids started to mouth off with weak noises about Me Stealing the bike. After I started to pull away, I rolled down my window and looked the kid in the eye who relinquished the bike and told him, "You did the right thing. Go home and Thank your Mother."

I can't believe I literally grabbed the bike out from under this kid. I was that Pumped Up, it was GAME ON. I was like the Incredible Hulk crossed with a Momma Bear and those kids were like, Whoa, a Mom outta control. It's good to be from Jersey where you don't take crap. I thanked my Mom today when I recounted this story, she's from Brooklyn and you don't Ever Want to Mess with Her, Ever! Trust me on this.

I came home and my heart started to race, I thought, "What if it isn't D.'s bike?" Luckily I had the bike shop receipt with the serial number which matched. The bike is in good condition, even has a new wheel. I can't believe the stroke of luck, of timing, how incredible and infinitesimal the chance of ever seeing the bike again. Wow, just wow. Also, I am incredibly lucky that no physical harm came to me and I did not lay one hand on that child, just my son's bike.

My family is thrilled, especially D. He had thanked me profusely, hugged, high fived, and fist bumped me. He said tonight at dinner, he wants to be just like Us. (Me and his Dad.) Just doesn't get any better than this. Pretty cool. Wow. Thank you for allowing me to share in this.

Street Chalk Art Fair for Almost Wordless Wednesday & The Color Carnival

Time
Becomes Meaningless
In The Face Of
Creativity









Thank you to Martha of The Menagerie, our host for The Color Carnival.
Shameless Self Promotion#1- I am the host today at the new, interactive blog, The Motivation Station where you can get your MoVo On!

Shameless Self Promotion numero dos- Please visit my bloggy booth at The Country Fair and you can enter for a chance to win your choice of a custom made bracelet or pair of earrings.

Thank you so much and That's All, Folks!

Country Fair Blog Festival with Jewelry Giveaway

Welcome to A Country Fair hosted by Art's Chili Pepper. In this Bloggy Country Fair, you can share your creativity and talents, whether they be sewing, canning, painting, drawing, photography, baking, scrapbooking, needle arts, etc. I love a Country Fair, so here please are my entries for your perusal.

I enjoy photography and consider my strength to be composition and sheer luck like in this beautiful pink sunset next to the Lombardy pines.

This sillouette of a guard dog in training also was a lucky stroke of the shutter. (No, my dog will not be playing with you today!)


Decoupage is very rewarding and I have been doing it since I was a little girl with my Mom. I bought this adorable small trunk for storage for my powder room. However, it had a hideous Sunflower design on it which I covered and applied vintage postcards, gold leaf, and accented the trim with paint and fleur de lis. Tres facile!


I love to garden and I am so lucky to live in Southern California with its Mediterrean climate in which so much grows so easily! We are in a long term drought and I was happy to exchange my water thirsty strip of grass for this rock and periennial flower garden I designed and installed myself.


Baking is another love of mine and I think it has to do with the fact I LOVE TO EAT The END Results!!! This strawberry whipped cream cake was made for a friend's son's graduation party.

I have recently discovered the joys of jewelry making and here are a couple pieces I made for some dear friends.
I call this a Goddess style necklace and it has the anniversary month and birthstones of my friend, her spouse, and their children.

Here is a birthstone and anniversary month bracelet with a charm that reads, "You Are My Special Angel".

I love embellishing, reusing, and repurposing jewelry including these three single earrings in a bag of beads from the thrift store.

Before:
After:

Chain belts are a personal favorite and I embellished both this silver chain belt from the thrift store and an old pearl belt of mine. I used ribbon and old and new beads and charms for the chain belt and jade beads and a vintage button to dress up the pearl belt.

Before:
After:

I am blessed with a very artistic and musical family, both the one I was raised in and now my own family with my husband and our two sons who both inspire and support my creativity. My sincere thanks to them and to you for stopping by my little booth at The Country Fair. As a special Thank you to all my dear Bloggy friends, I would like to Giveaway Your Choice of Either a bracelet or a Pair of Earrings Custom Made Just For You! To enter, please just leave a comment telling me you would like a chance to win. That's all and please leave an email or link to get in touch with you. This giveaway will end at 12 MN Pacific Time October 12, 2009. Tax, tag, title not included. (Kidding, just wanted to see if you're paying attention.) Thank you again, my best for a wonderful day and week too.

A Plethora of Pink at The Church Festival

Welcome to Pink Saturday a virtual "Ring around the Rosy" in blogland. Today, Pink Saturday is brought to you by my local Church Festival where there was a plethora of pink delights.

What's a Festival without a Giant Slide?

I just love, love, love this neon, glowing pink sign advertising the Face Painting Booth.

My most favorite thing about this annual Church Festival besides the fun times with family and friends is the Silent Auction. These two little girl dresses complete with bouquet basket and parasol where part of the auction items.

Thank you to the Beverly for hosting Pink Saturday and to you for sharing in this Pinkalosity! Also, I visited a new blogger, Tami and invite you to visit her delicious blog, Pink Butter Cream. Thank you again, my best for a view through Rose Colored Glasses.

Fashion Don'ts for The Color Carnival

Welcome to The Color Carnival and buckle your seatbelts, there is a whole lotta questionable style choices going on in LA!

This bright tie dyed skirt and orange tank top are almost as colorful as the rides at the local Church Festival where I spotted this woman. The straw hat really gives this outfit a certain panache and Screams, "TAKE ME TO AN ISLAND RESORT", (where people drink alcohol all day and won't notice this fright.)
A close up view because it's kind of like a train wreck, you can't look away.
I happen to know as a verified fact that they sell jeans for all body types that actually fit and flatter. I guess this lady did not get the memo or mistakenly wore someone else's jeans, because clearly THESE DO NOT FIT. Also, you might want to stay away from bringing attention to the widest part of your anatomy with embroidered rear pockets.
I kept waiting for a small rodent to crawl out of this woman's hair. How long do you think it takes to tease this literal rat's nest? Hey, Lady, The Eighties called and they want their Aqua Net and teasing comb back. Whoa, time to invest in another mirror so you can see back there.
Okay, Okay, I know, Bad Blogger Martha, Bad, bad blogger for combining the joyful meme of The Color Carnival hosted by dear Martha of The Menagerie with some misguided Fashion Choices of women who had the unfortunate luck of crossing my path while I had my camera. I hope you enjoy as much as I did seeing these Fashion Don'ts. My best to you and yours for lots of Fashion Dos and a wonderful weekend too. Thanks for stopping by, let the public flogging begin...