Tea

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?

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

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!

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!

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

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

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

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

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!

Relax

Relax, originally uploaded by Romantic Home.

I should be cleaning house but I'm playing with all the fun toys at www.bighugelabs.com

Another fun toy

My creation, originally uploaded by Romantic Home.

Here's another fun thing you can do at www.bighugelabs.com

I Painted the Chandelier!

Remember the chandelier I got on Craigslist that I said I wasn't going to paint? Click here if you don't.  I rewired it to make it a plug-in and hung it in my bedroom.  I lived with it for awhile and decided I didn't like the brass color in my room...at all! So I painted it with RustOleum spray paint in "Heirloom White" (first I used a white spray primer).  I LOVE it now.  I bought a dimmer switch that you plug the chandelier into and then plug the dimmer into the wall so I can keep it nice and low or bright, bright, bright!  
I hung it over the end of my dresser as you can see in the photo above.  (You can click on any photo to enlarge it)
Okay, I cannot add another thing to my bedroom.  As I'm looking at these photos I think I have too much clutter.  I think I better start pulling a little back in here!  
There's that chair that still waiting for the makeover!!!!  Maybe I'll work on that today!  
My week off is almost over and although I didn't get much done it was a wonderful break!  The weather could not have been any better.  It's been right around 80 degrees all week.  

Have a great weekend!

Shabby Chic

Have you seen the Rachel Ashwell, Shabby Chic DVDs?  I bought all three of them when they first came out in the spring.  I didn't realize when I bought them that they were from her old show she had many years ago.  I used to get up every morning at 5:00 AM just to watch it!  There are 3 episodes on each of these DVDs.  You can click on each of these titles to read more about them.   Shabby Chic Treasures, Flowers, Petals & Gardens, Gifts, Sentiments & Romance

A Living Wreath Project

Back in May I started this living wreath project.  I originally purchased this wreath form to make a succulent wreath but after I realized how much money all the succulents would cost I decided to use different types of ground covers instead.  
The wreath form came pre-stuffed and was well worth the extra money.  I just had to poke holes in the form with a pencil and insert little plugs of ground cover.  I divided up each plug of the six pack into smaller pieces so I could slip them into the small holes.  I just pushed the roots in with the back of the pencil.
It's been about 6 weeks and it's starting to fill in nicely.  I'm sure it's going to look really nice once it's completely covered.  The baby tears seem to be doing the best.  I think most of the scotch moss has died.  I bought my wreath here and the quality is outstanding!!! 
I'm still enjoying my week off but I haven't been doing much except relaxing.   Today Lauren and I are going to a gelato shop in downtown Campbell that she went to with her friends and she said they have GINGER GELATO!  Have I mentioned I LOVE anything with ginger in it?  When we were in Martha's Vineyard two years ago I had ginger ice cream  and loved it so much I ate in every day!  I still talk about that ice cream!  I can hardly wait to try this gelato!

Update:   I just spray the wreath with the hose to water it.  This pre-stuffed wreath really holds the water unlike the ones I've tried to stuff myself.  

Awards and garden flowers

Jen R. ~ Sanctuary Arts at Home gave me the award above.  What a honor!  If you want to see some amazing furniture makeovers just visit her blog.  I need to pass this award on to one other blogger and as you know, I don't usually forward these type of things on because I think there are so many awards being passed around blogland and they sometimes take over.  I appreciate the thoughts behind awards but I would rather see content on someones blog rather than seeing award after award on almost every blog I visit.  With that being said, I think this award is different so I really want to pass this one along.  I'm supposed to give it to one person but I'm passing it on to two amazing women who really  know how to makeover furniture better than anyone!  

1. Savvy City Farmer (She has another blog with her furniture makeovers Stuff in the Burbs)

2. Notes from a Cottage Industry

The Award below came from Amy ~ Winterberry Creek

Thank you for thinking of me Amy!!!!  I'm not going to pass this on because I've seen it on so many blogs lately and it would take me forever to find someone that hasn't received it. 

Here are some photos I took in my garden yesterday.  It was nice to have time just to play with my camera.  I haven't started any of the projects I have planned for this week. Maybe I just need to slow down a little.  After all, isn't that what vacation is all about?

My lilies just started blooming.
This delphinium is getting ready to bloom.
Soon it will look like this...

A Great Flea Market Trip!

Yesterday I went over to the Santa Cruz Flea Market with my friend Nelson.  I cannot believe I found these Chintz salt and pepper shakers for $8.00!!!!  I knew they were worth so much more.  I came home and looked through my chintz book and saw the exact same pair.  The book says they are worth $100-150 but I know that the value of chintz has come down a bit since this book was published but they are still worth quite a lot!  I was so thrilled with this find!!!!  I'm going to keep them and add them to my small but growing chintzware collection.
I also found this beautiful silver-plated tray.  It's over 2 feet long!  
I put it on my coffee table with some shells and candles.  This was marked $15 but I got it for $10.   I love the detail of this piece.
I also found this little pot below for $4.  When I see these I really have a hard time not buying them.
Here is my collection so far but I'm sure it will be growing.  They are made Spain.  
I'm on vacation this week but just staying home.  It was great not having to get up and go to work this morning.  I could get used to this!!!!  

Gifts, Awards & Tagged!

Debbie ~ My Vintage Daydreams sent me these beautiful plates! It's so exciting to get unexpected packages! This picture does not do them justice, they are so beautiful! These will be great plates to serve appetizers on! Thank you Debbie!



I was tagged by Nancy Jane ~ At Home in the Hills. I have to list 6 unimportant things about myself. It's getting harder and harder to think up new things to share. I sort of feel like I've spilled out my whole life on this blog!!



1. I don't date now because I have my daughter full time but years ago I would go out when she was at her dad's house. During those years I tried it all; online dating services, speed dating, even hanging out in a few clubs. I met a couple nice men, my friend Nelson being one. I know when I mentioned him a couple weeks ago some of you were curious who he was. We dated way back in 2000 after meeting on the Yahoo personals and although the romantic relationship only lasted about a year, we've been friends ever since.



2. Speaking of dating. I never thought I would say this but I'm actually looking forward to dating again when Lauren is grown. She's 15 1/2 now so in about 2.5 - 3 years I'm hoping to be back in the game! Let's hope the players are better than they were last time I did this!



3. I really believe in "The Secret"! I think I've mentioned here before that I won $40,000 in 1994 at a Company picnic. A couple months before that I had a feeling I was going to win it and I told everyone I know I was going to win it. I acted like I had already won it. Guess what...I won!!! The Secret (the book and the DVD) came out many years after that and the first time I watched it, it all made sense to me. It was the "Law of Attraction" at work! Okay, I know I probably just lost about half my readers because they think I'm some sort of new age weirdo but I'm not. If you are a believer in "The Secret" you have to leave a comment and back me up on this!!! To me, it's just about positive thinking and nothing weird or dark.



4. I hate flying and I get really nervous on a plane! I won't let it stop me from traveling though.



5. After reading #4 you probably won't believe this....I went bungee jumping for my 30th birthday! I did it twice!! And I have it on video!!!



6. I LOVE jury duty! I never met anyone else that likes jury duty. If there were a career as a juror I would have done it! I've only been summoned once in my life but I got lucky and was picked. I found the whole experience so interesting. It was a felony hit and run and we found him guilty. It was a 3 day trial and I was sad when it was over. I wouldn't want to be on a trial where it was a crime against a child though. I know I wouldn't be able to handle that.



Okay, probably that was TMI (too much information) but as you can tell, I'm a very open person.


Next on the list, Sheila~Note Songs gave me the Arte Y Pico Award. Sheila is a sweetheart...You know when you first meet someone through their blog and you get that feeling that they are a genuine person? That's how I feel about Sheila! When you see her profile picture you'll see what I mean. I KNOW she's a happy person just by that photo! I think I need to change my profile photo to a happier one too! Thank you Sheila, I'm happy that you joined the blogging community!

My Own Magazine!

My creation, originally uploaded by Romantic Home.

Just kidding! You can make one too with Flickr Toys!

Fresh Banana Cake

Made from scratch~ fresh banana cake with cream cheese frosting~Yum! This was baked last weekend, BEFORE the heat wave hit! Baking is the last thing I want to do now! It was 102 degrees yesterday and it's supposed to be 103 today! Lauren and I had to camp out in the living room last night because it was too hot upstairs to sleep. She got the couch and I slept on the air mattress on the floor. Luckily this heatwave is supposed to end this weekend!

Okay...back to the cake! Click here for the recipe. I use A TON more powdered sugar in my frosting than this recipe calls for and it isn't too sweet (a whole box of powdered sugar and then a little more from another box.) Also, don't over bake it because it will DRY out~ trust me on that!

Lamp Makeover

This is a lamp I made over last weekend. I'm happy with how it turned out! (Notice I moved the hand painted plates that I had in my bedroom downstairs on my hutch now?)
This is how I found the lamp at the Goodwill. I think it was around $9. I had the lampshade (from Target) below but it was really plain so I made a slipcover out of linen I already had for it.
It was easy...sort of. As you can see in the photo below, my sewing skills are a little rusty ~ I sewed the bottom ruffle on the wrong side. When I saw what I had done I wanted to throw it away and just walk away from this project. I hate sewing ruffles and the only thing worse than sewing them is ripping them out so I wasn't about to do that! I ended up just sewing a zig-zag stitch over it and left the raw edges on the top of the bottom ruffle as fringe. It sort of looks like I planned it this way but you know the truth now.

The good thing about these little slipcovers for lampshades is that you can wash them!

Flea Markets, Thrift Stores & Estate Sales OH MY!

I haven't shared some of things I've found lately so I'm showing it all at once today! The blue hand painted plates and the cherub I found Saturday at the DeAnza Flea Market in Cupertino. I fell in love with these plates. The larger one was $5 and the smaller one was $4. The little cherub was only $5 and he is so adorable!
Above are some things I found on one of my visits to the Salvation Army Thrift Store. Each of these was only $5.50 each. The Spode plates are brand new. I see these at Marshalls sometimes but I think they are more than $5.50. I needed just a couple more blue transferware plates to complete the border around the ceiling in my kitchen. The little tiny teapot is from Germany.
I also found this silver platter at the Salvation Army. It's engraved: California Mixed Foursome Golf Championship, 1956 Class B Net Winner. I love that it has the date on it and that it's older than me! I got the little wine coaster for $1 at an estate sale. I've been looking for one of these for awhile. I also bought an electric knife sharpener there for $3. I had one just like it years ago and let someone borrow it and I never got it back. I found this adorable old cherub at the flea market on Saturday. He is so heavy and I lugged him around the whole flea market with me and broke out in a sweat doing it! He's not that big but he weighs a ton! Poor thing, it looks like he broke his neck at one time but I just loved him. He was $8
We are starting another heat wave here in Northern California. It's supposed to last all week. I sure hope it cools down next week because I'm taking a week off work!

Happy 4th of July!!!

This is one of my favorite pictures of my kids!  Aren't they adorable? Look at the firecracker in Lauren's hand.  My dad made those every year to sell at the flea market.  This photo was taken at my parent's booth there one 4th of July weekend many years ago.  
I was going to put out a couple 4th of July decorations and the next thing I know I've torn the whole house apart looking for red things.  Finding anything red in my home is like looking for a needle in a haystack!!!
Now I'm going to be on the look out for some more red and white transferware for next year!

Notice that I added appliques to the hutch!  You can click on any the photos to enlarge.

I hope all my American friends have a wonderful and safe Independence Day!  I probably won't be posting here again until Monday.  

Hiding the Ugly

Melissa at The Inspired Room did a post on Monday about "Solving Flaws: Creative Concealment". I thought I would share some of my "Hiding the Ugly". See my kitchen chalkboard above? It covers up the ugly circuit box (or whatever that thing is called).
This thing is so ugly and they didn't even put one in with a cover over it. I guess they felt if you lived in an apartment you didn't care about how things look!!!
My next "Hiding the Ugly" is right around the corner from the chalkboard, in my dining room. See that carrot mold? It's actually there to hide my thermostat!
As you can see below, this just doesn't go with my decor! I used to have a beautiful blue and white ceramic mold covering this but I dropped it once when I was turning up the heater and it broke! I had this carrot mold but it was copper and really didn't match with everything so I used silver Rub n Buff paint which worked great! I would like to find something a little nicer to cover this but until I do, this does the job.
Even though I've covered the thermostat it still works. I was worried the heater wouldn't come on with this cover on it but it works just the same as it did without it!

You can see some other great creative concealments on by clicking the "Mr Linky" at the bottom of Melissa's post.

Notice something different?

The appliques are on the chairs and I painted the back of the hutch blue!!! (you can click on the photos to enlarge) I was really busy last weekend! The hutch had been painted white but I never did the rest of my steps with it (sanding, distressing, glazing and waxing) until last weekend. It looks so much better now that it's not stark white! I painted the back with Behr paint, the color is called Sonata. It was way too bright blue so I mixed some brown paint and water and washed it over the blue (once it had dried) and wiped it off. I love it now! I'm now adding some appliques over the glass area of the hutch.  I should have this project all finished by this weekend!
It's all coming together now...I can't believe the difference the new table made! It dressed up the whole living/dining area!  I also got all the chairs covered with the new fabric but I forgot to take pictures of that!
You know what I love about all this?  Everything in this photo either came from craigslist, thrift stores, flea markets, eBay, garage sales, Marshalls or was given to me by friends and family or made by my dad.  The only exception is the sofa came from Macy's.  Who says you need to pay full retail price at high-priced department stores to have nice things?  You really don't!!! 
I think the secret to having a lot of white is to also have a lot of texture. I love all the textures in the dining room; the lace, the shells and the appliques & the cane back on the chairs. You really see it more in person that in the photos.

I hate my navy blue sofa. When I bought it three or four years ago I was going to change my decor to a nautical Nantucket-type casual look. You know...sailboats, oars, and red and blue. Sort of that Ralph Lauren Red, White and Blue look. That is so not me but for about 2 months that's what a wanted and that just happened to be when I bought my sofa! I can't afford to buy a new one now so for a change I just threw a white bedspread over it. I also changed the plates that I have on each side of the mirror above the couch. I had blue and white transferware but I'm slowly starting to go to a lighter, softer palette of blue in my apartment. It's amazing how just changing the plates and putting a cover over the sofa softened the look so much!I put this little nest in this little glass house.