Friday, July 31, 2009

Orchid Lady at The Farmer's Market

Welcome to Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly at How Sweet The Sound. I hope you enjoy this picture of the "Orchid Lady" at our local Farmer's Market.
Thank you for your visit and I wish you my Pinky Best.

Belle Pottery for The Color Carnival

Happy Friday and I hope everyone is having a delightful week.

For the Color Carnival, I wanted to share a couple photos of my recent visit to the studio of artist, Melanie of Belle Pottery. She lives nearby in Santa Clarita and I met her this summer at our local Arts and Crafts Fair. I fell in love with her work and I wanted to purchase more of her colorful, engaging, highly functional, and very attractively priced pieces, including an incredible assortment of housewares with food safe bowls, trivets, and platters. She accepts special orders and is making me a scrub brush/dish soap holder for my kitchen sink and a leaf shaped platter similar to the blue one on the bottom left hand shelf visible in this picture.

Melanie also makes jewelry and is a gifted beadsmith. Here are some of her pendants ready to be placed on necklaces.

Melanie is providing a pendant necklace as a giveaway that will soon take place on the All Thumbs Review blog. She is also offering Free Shipping from her Etsy shop if you put in the message "All Thumbs". I will keep you all posted about the giveaway but in the meantime, I hope you enjoy the pictures of her work.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Family from Philly

I will be in bloggy posting and comment slow-mo for the next several days as my dear sister and her family from Philly are visiting. We have lots of fun things planned including a visit to Santa Monica Beach and 3rd Street Promenade, dinner reservations at wonderful Rivera restaurant, yummy meals out and in including steak and grilled veggies on the BBQ, homemade quiche with squash blossoms and heirloom tomatoes compliments of my darling hubby, a boat outing to a local lake, and a minor league baseball game for the fellas while my sister and I antique or attend a hot air balloon festival. I am looking forward to our visit as we don't get to see each other often enough living on opposite sides of the U.S.

I hope you have a great rest of your day and week too, thanks for stopping by.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Two Hooded Car and Is This Even Street Legal?

This car eliminates the pesky issue of back seat driving.



Mid 1970s Datsun/s? spotted in Old Town Newhall, California.

Happy Ruby Tuesday and Midweek Blues! Any crazy cars in your neighborhood? Thank you.

Fashion at the Farmer's Market

I love our weekly Farmer's Market not only for the bounty of incredible produce but also for the great people watching and fashion sightings. (Please double click photos for a closer view. Thank you.)


Prints are very popular this summer and really punch up an outfit. This combination of grey and yellow on this woman's top is very eyecatching.

I love prints in bright summer colors like this orange/pink dress, but I do NOT Get Maxi dresses. I cannot walk normally with that much fabric flowing around my legs.

This dark haired young lady was the highlight of my fashion scope out. Her hair is tinted blue and she was wearing a pink crinkled shift underneath a long black tshirt with holes cut out all over creating a lacey effect. She accessorized the outfit with club entry wristbands. She owned it and looked great.

Our club going blue haired beauty needs to teach her mom how to dress and avoid light blue mini skirts and too tight shirts after the age of 22 y/o. There is nothing more sad or pathetic than seeing an adult, male or female, dressing like they are 16 y/o when that was 30 years ago. Not to say you can't be fashion forward at any age, but Fabric and Fit Matter!! And don't get me started on the Two Toned Skunk Hair with the bands of blond and dark brown. Did they run out of hair dye at the drugstore?


Have you seen any Great Fashion Finds or Faux Pas in your community lately? Thank you so much.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Hot Pink Flowers in the Garden

Greetings from North Los Angeles County where the air is hot, the smog is thick, and the flowers love to show Off in the Garden. For More Ole to the color Rose, please visit Pink Saturday.


Wats nu

I am sparing you any more vacation pictures, well, at least for a post or two. I don't want to be like a colleague's husband who sat down next to me and my husband at their house and DESCRIBED to US Each and Every Picture from Their Honeymoon in EXCRUCIATING DETAIL for like, oh, 45 minutes. I still want that Time Back, Please, Thank you Verrry Much.

Our sons have been away at Scout Camp this last week and we miss them like crazy. They called last night homesick and it tugged at my heartstrings so badly I wanted to jump in the car and drive three hours to see them. Thank Goodness they will be home tomorrow afternoon. Our dog, Charley, who thinks All Children were put on this Earth to play with him and is very close to both boys, misses them too. He nudged at our oldest son, D.'s bedroom door and went in to see if D. was there. Really cute and touching. The cat and dog have been cuddling each other to make up for the Attention Deficit Disorder they are experiencing with the absence of children.

This is the first time in almost fifteen years that it's been just the two of us. I have been enjoying our time together and my husband, K. has been spoiling me rotten with wonderful meals including blackened scallops and salmon served with sauteed baby zucchini and angel hair pasta. Bellissmo! Tonight we are having a dear friend and her daughter over for Tri tip and asparagus on the grill, bruschetta with heirloom tomatoes, and for Dessert, Grilled Lemon Pound Cake with Nectarines and Whipped Cream. XXX K!!

My neighbor is a WIENIE. He put a TV satellite dish right outside my home office window which essentially blocks my little view of the Santa Monica Mountains. I went over to ask him to Please move it and the TV Satellite company WILL DO THIS Free OF CHARGE, (I checked, of course!), and he told me some B.S. about "costing him Time and Money." It will cost your more than that Neighbor in the long run, that's for sure. My husband is going to talk to him soon because sometimes it's better for the Menfolk deal with it. Men have a harder time saying "No" to other men.

To say I'm Annoyed is an understatement. However, after a few days of pouting, I made a choice, a conscious decision to Not Let It Ruin the Enjoyment of my wonderful home. This wienie also gave me a gift, he showed me how he really feels about me, us, our neighborhood. I get it. It has also given me a kick in my complancey booty when I realized how twisted up I was about this and opened my eyes and heart to the issues of folks in blogland and IRL who are dealing with huge stressors and this includes the Wienie. Also, that overall, he is a quiet and clean neighbor which is a Huge Blessing especially after learning about what other folks have to put up with their neighbors including threats of violence and restraining orders. So, this perspective means my problem won't matter in five years.

In addition to my major Attitude Adjustment, I've also put in some Feng Shui fixes to decrease the poison arrow effect of the satellite by placing a couple crystals from my rock collection including Fluorite and amethyst and a prism that belonged to my late brother next to the window on my desk that faces the dish. I am also planning on getting wind chimes to help create more positive energy. It's either that or I'm getting out the B.B. gun. Just kidding. No, Really, I think this Feng Shui stuff is helping because it gives me a miniscule feeling of control. Either that or I'm hoping the Wind Chimes will annoy the eff out of Wienie.

On more upbeat news, I found a wonderful new hairstylist. (I guess the term, hairdresser is out of fashion? Hmmm.) My other "stylist" moved to Scotland, (Talk about climate change from Sunny SoCal to Misty Scotland!!), and I have been on the lookout for a new one. I tried one other stylist a couple months ago and she couldn't get my bangs right. I have some curl in my hair and I ended up with "wings". That was okay in the 1970s, but not a good look at almost 48 y/o. This new stylist has long hair and bangs and she got my bangs to cooperate, so I'm good to go. Finding a good hairstylist is like finding a supportive, affordable, and Most importantly, a comfortable Bra that you stick with that brand and style Forever.

For someone who is Not A Shopper by Nature, (I know, I know, I'm sick or something), I have been doing quite a bit of shopping with the boys at camp. I realize this is a distraction technique. K. and I went out and ordered a new couch and loveseat for our den and I've been hitting the thrift stores pretty hard. I've scored some Killer Finds including a pair of nice Levi's jeans that my friend's artist daughter is going to embellish with her anime style artwork. Also, an Enormous, brand new ceramic bowl, and lots of great beads and vintage jewelry parts and single earrings for refashioning into necklaces and chain belts. I have been inspired recently to exercise my creative muscle with some beading and jewelry making for fun. I had forgotten, (because it's been so long since I've done anything the least bit crafty), how much hard work goes into it - the designing, the color choices, the multiple trips back and forth to the craft store, the redoing of my crappy wire wrapping, etc, etc. I am enjoying it and am almost done with an embellished chain belt for a friend of mine. I shouldn't be too embarrassed that I won't post Before and After Pictures of my efforts.

Thank you for seeing What's New with me. I appreciate it and I have to say this is one of my longest blog posts ever. I need to vent more often. Happy Friday to you and yours and What's New with you?