Tea

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I was reading Susan Branch's newsletter and she mentioned that she now drinks "PG Tips" tea and loves it!  I found it at my grocery store yesterday so I thought I would give it a try.  It's pretty good and 100% better than Lipton Tea which to me has a bitter taste.  This is really smooth. 
It claims to be England's #1 tea, so please, if you live in England and are reading this let me know if it's true.  Somehow I think that's just a marketing ploy to get us Americans to buy it! LOL!  We know you are the tea experts over there!  
I'm not a big tea drinker although you wouldn't know that if you looked in my pantry. It seems I like to buy it more than I like to drink it!  Now that I'm going to be starting Nutrisystem I need a beverage to replace my glass (or two) of wine every night.  Maybe a cup of tea will do it.

got zucchini?

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I made Chocolate-Zucchini Cake to bring to work today. It's so good! Don't let the 3 cups of sugar fool you...it's not too sweet at all. Click here for the recipe. I left out the pecans because I don't like nuts in baked goods. If you've never had chocolate zucchini cake before I should tell you that you can't taste the zucchini, it just makes it moist. This cake is moist inside but has a crunchy outside...perfection! I think it would be better with some chocolate chips thrown in the batter because more chocolate is always a good thing! This will be the last baking I do for awhile...I just joined Nutrisystem!

The Ainsley House

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Around the corner from the the beautiful shop I showed you yesterday is the Ainsley House. It's home to the Campbell Historical Museum. I wanted to take the tour to show you the inside, which still has some of the original furniture from the 1930s but I just missed the last tour on Saturday. I had planned to go back on Sunday but I was too busy cleaning my apartment and doing laundry so I never made it! I've never been inside so I really need to make time to do this.  In the summer they have live music concerts on the front lawn.  Click here to see how crowded it gets!

This home was moved from it's original location. Guess what is sitting on that lot now? eBay's Headquarters! That's Silicon Valley!!!
Since I'm sharing some of the history of my city, here is an interesting bit of trivia. Fruit Cocktail was invented in Campbell! Canning was a huge industry here back in the day. Even as a child, I remember canneries and orchards everywhere. There are little remnants of it here and there. In the photo below you'll see the Campbell water tower. I remember seeing many of these around when I was a kid. I think this may be one of the few left.
I have to share something with you! I got an amazing opportunity so please visit my product review page to read more about it (Click here to see) You won't believe this!!! This really has been a great year for me!

A New Shop in Campbell!

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There is a BEAUTIFUL new shop in the city I live in and I thought I would take you along to visit. It's called Vintage and Vogue. They sell a mixture vintage and new items. You can click on any photo to enlarge it!

It' located in Downtown Campbell, California which is a quaint little street with lots of restaurants and coffee shops were you can sit outside and enjoy the California weather.

I took this picture standing across the street looking down towards where I live.
If you are ever in the Silicon Valley I highly recommend this shop!

I bought a couple small things and I forgot to take pictures of them so I'll share those later in the week.

Our Favorites!

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I thought it would be fun to see everyone's favorite thing in their home. I know your favorite thing could change from day to day but pick your favorite today and share it with us! It could be one item, a collection of something, a vignette, something big, something small, etc. but it cannot be a person...it must be a material thing. If you would like to join in please leave a comment or email me once you have posted a photo and description of your favorite thing and and I will add it below. Please be sure you give me the link for that post not just your blog link. You can send me your link any time between now and Sunday, July 27th and I'll keep adding them below! I hope if you have a blog you will join in on the fun....I can't wait to see everyone's favorite things! (this tiered dish is my favorite thing)If you would like to link back to this post to let others know, please feel free to grab the image at the top of this post and put it on your blog. To get the link to this post you can click on the date below and copy the web address in your browser window.

Here are other bloggers favorite things (click on the blog names below to visit their blog):

1. The Blessed Nest
   
2. Treasures from Home
   
3. Artsy Fartsy
   
4. Sandal and Daisies
   
5. Pink Slippers
   
6. Take a Sentimental Journey
   
7. Elderberry Street
   
8. Equus Villa
   
9. My Thrifty Victorian Home
   
10. Reminisce ...and this and that
    
11. An Enchanted Cottage
    
12. The Handmade Housewife
    
13. A Cottage Family
    
14. Linda's Blue Gate
    
15. Pale Pink and Roses
    
16. Notes of Sincerity
    
17. Jannet's Country Cottage
    
18. Vintage Vavoom
    
19. The Shabby Bungalow
    
20. Sher's Creative Expressions
    
21. Joy to the Blog
    
22. Party Wishes SCV
    
23. Paintin-Patti
    
24. Down the Road & Back Again...
    
25. Victorian Petals
    
26. Big Creek Cottage
    
27. Right at Home
    
28. Justified Journey
    
29. Living Beautifully
    
30. Fitty's Pinky Rose Cottage
    
31. Rose Vignettes
    
32. Picture Perfect
    
33. Reflections of Debbie
    
34. This is My Life
    
35. Le Temps Jadis
    
36. Many Fond Memories
    
37. Idaho Quilter
    
38. Feeding My Soul
    
39. Decor to Adore
    
40. Sanctuary Arts at Home
    
41. Life at Rose Cottage
    
42. More than Heirlooms
    
43. Lemonade
    
44. Thinkin' of Home
    
45. Our Daily Chocolate 
    
46. Legacies For You
47. Pinecones & Roses
48. Monkey's Momma
49. The Crowned Casa
50. Tales from an O.C. Cottage
51. The Scarlett Rose Garden
52. Joyce's World
53. Casa Maria
54. Csak ugy...barmirol
55. Lady Pamela's Cottage
56. Walnut Haven Cottage
57. A Picture is Worth a 1,000 Words
58. Mountain Woman at Heart
59. Cheap Diva at Home
60. Gracious Southern Living
61. Vintage Vignettes

If you've asked me to add you and you don't see your name here shortly after, please let me know.  Some of the requests are ending up in my SPAM mailbox and some I just missed because I have too many emails in my box!!!

A Beautiful New Blog

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I just found a new blog that I have to share with everyone! I think it's the most beautiful blog I've ever seen! Carolyn's Aiken House & Gardens is a feast for the eyes. She allowed me to share some of her photos here but you must go visit her to see for yourself! She is now on my sidebar under my favorites!
She is located on Prince Edward Island in Canada!
Every page of her blog is like looking through a magazine!

A Quick Project

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I did a cheese server (Click Here) back in Feb. 2007 and thought I would try another one of these easy pedestal dish projects. I started with a candlestick, a clear glass plate and a cheese dome. I bet you could find all these items at almost any thrift store you walk in to and you probably wouldn't have to spend more that $3.00 total. The cheese dome usually comes with a wood plate which you could save and use for another project or use it for firewood! I haven't glued these together yet because I heard there is a special glue for glass that glass artists use. I would like to find some of that. It's a very easy project and it looks very elegant!

Please stop by Vintage Indie she did a feature on me today!!

Updated Mirror Wall

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The mirror wall is finished! I plan on painting this wall some day and when I do I will rearrange these mirrors a bit but for now it's done! Most of the mirror were gold plastic and under $5.00. A few are metal and wood. I have no idea how many cans of spray paint went into this!!

Today should be interesting...it's work in the morning as usual and then in the afternoon the whole Marketing Department is going to do community service. We are going to be restoring a wetlands area. I was joking around yesterday with some coworkers and I said we are probably going to some place where they bus in Silicon Valley corporate companies and let them think they are doing something good by planting plants and then when we leave they rip them up so the next bus load can replant them tomorrow!! HAHA! Maybe I'm just being too sarcastic these days! I'm sure it's all good!

Polishing Silver

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A few of you have asked me what I use to polish my silver. I usually use Wright's Silver Cream because that's what my mom always used and I've always been very happy with the results. Last weekend I was out of it so I went to the nearest store and they didn't carry it so I bought TarnX instead. I could not believe how easily it worked although it smelled awful, sort of like rotten eggs. It was not as messy as the Wright's but when I read the label it was alarming. It has a chemical in it that the state of California has determined to cause cancer!!!! How scary! I don't remember seeing that on my Wright's polish! I was glad I had put on my rubber gloves! Now my silver is all polished and sparkly but I'm going to be reading the back of the labels before I buy cleaning products from now on!

UPDATED to add: I don't recommendTarnX. After just a few days the silver started to tarnish, also many people left comments that it can ruin your silver if you don't rinse it off quickly. I won't be using this product. I'm going back to Wright's Silver Cream. I've been using this since I was a kid when one of my chores was to polish my mom's silver. It worked great then and it still works great!