Heirloom Party

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I'm late to the party but I'm here now! I'm joining in on Marie's Heirloom Party today! There are now over 80 others at the party too so be sure to stop by Marie's blog to see who else is joining in!

I don't really have any heirlooms that have been passed down through many generations but I have a feeling that I have many things that may become family heirlooms one day! That is if my kids will even want all my "junk". Right now, they have no interest in it at all but neither did I at their age.

I could see this cabinet that my wonderful dad made me becoming a family heirloom one day, along with all the chintz I have filled it with! This cabinet and one particular piece of chintz in it are very special to me...

My mom bought this chintz cup and saucer in the 1940s while they were visiting Niagara Falls. My mom had kept it in her china cabinet throughout my childhood and I always loved it so a few years back she gave it to me! I have since bought another one on eBay but this is the special one!

Another heirloom that I hope gets passed down for many generations is my mom's tiered dish...
Even though it's in my home I will always think of it as my mom's. I can't tell you how many emails I've received about this tiered dish! I've even had offers from people that want to buy it. I won't ever sell it though because it's so sentimental to me. I know some of you have already heard the story behind this but if you haven't this is it... My mom bought this in a cute little shop in Disneyland (of all places) in the 1960s. I was around 7, 8 or 9 years old and I remember her buying it! It was a big splurge (around $100) for my mom back then but she fell in love with it and had to have it. I remember my mom and the sales clerk removing the ceramic lemons they had displayed in it. My mom loved the lemons but it was too expensive to buy those too. The funny thing is my mom doesn't remember the lemons at all! I guess it all made a lasting impression on me because that memory of being in that shop is so vivid! I think that's what makes the dish even more special to me...the memory of it all.

So, I'm hoping at least one of my kids will appreciate my things and consider them family heirlooms...who knows maybe they'll even be arguing over them someday, although I hope not!

Vintage & Vogue

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Last weekend I went to Vintage and Vogue to take some photos for their new website. I thought I would share a few of those photos here...

Each time I visit I see lots of new things!

Silly me, when they told me they were going to have a website, my mind heard "online store" but it will just be a website for the store. Who knows...maybe someday they will have an online store!

Update: They will be selling a few things online!

Vintage & Vogue

Downtown Campbell, California

Meet my Camera

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I got quite a few emails yesterday asking what camera I use so let me introduce you to my new love! Well, it's not that new, I've had it over a year now. It's a Canon Rebel Xsi. It really is a wonderful camera and I don't even use it to it's full potential.


I bought mine through QVC on their easy-pay option which spread the payments out over 4 months. Although now it looks like they are only offering 3-month easy pay. I got it about the same time I put the BlogHer advertising on my blog so I used my advertising revenue towards it. It was one of the best purchases I've made! I had been borrowing a Canon Xt from my work because I had to learn how to use it once our Graphic Designer left and they weren't going to replace him. I loved that camera so much that I knew I couldn't go back to using a cheaper camera. I was spoiled at that point!

Another trick I use is to boost the color using software. I have Photoshop but that is really expensive but there are free online places you can do this. Picnik is a great free site to enhance your photos. If you have another photo editing site that you like just leave a comment below so others can check it out.

Another trick I've learned is to not use my flash even indoors. Photos look so much better without a flash. If your photo turns out too orange without the flash just use the photo editing software to cool down the color.

It's amazing the difference a good camera makes. If you want to see how bad one of my old cameras was just click here and be taken back to December 2006 when I had the worst camera ever!

Let's go to the Farmer's Market

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Sunday morning I went to the Farmer's Market in downtown Campbell, CA. It's a great outdoor market that is open year round. They close down the main street to cars and the vendors set up their booths on each side of the street. There are a lot of Farmer's Markets every weekend in Silicon Valley but I think the one in my city of Campbell is the best! If you don't go early then it's shoulder to shoulder people. If you don't believe me, just click on that underlined text above to see the photos! It gets crazy-crowded!

My first stop is Starbucks to get a cup of coffee and then I stroll all the way up the street before I buy anything. I like to scope it out first...I should have bought some of those red bell peppers. I love to roast them and put them in salads!

Most of the produce is organic but the prices are a lot less than what they charge for organic in the grocery store. There is even live entertainment for your shopping pleasure...

Berries galore...

And friendly faces...

Look at the color of these cauliflower...

Fresh cut herbs...

even herb plants...

There's not just produce but meat and fish also. I didn't want to be tempted so I walked past all the beautiful pastries as fast as I could so I didn't get any photos of those! Lots of flowers...

Here's what I came home with...

Two types of very fresh lettuce (romaine & red leaf), beautiful fragrant peaches, lots of summer squash, and some tomatoes, all for about $13.00

As I was asking a vendor if I could take photos of their produce for my blog, one young 20-something girl said in a very condescending voice "how cute...you have a blog!" The she went on and said "Ahhh...what do you do, take pictures and tell your friends...look this is what I did today!" and then she laughed! So I felt the need to put her in her place and told her "yes and I have over 3,000 friends from all over the world that come to see what I do every day!" I walked away before she could say anything else. I know...I know...that was not very mature of me, was it?

Also, just a reminder, if you make one of the picture frame trays send me a photo so I can feature all of them together in an upcoming post! I'll probably do it in early August. You can send it to cindy95131@yahoo.com Thanks!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

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Can you believe that I've never once had Red Velvet Cake until last night? The thought of all that red food coloring just never sounded appetizing to me. I would have probably gone my whole life without eating it but it happens to be a favorite of one of my co-workers and she put in a special request with me for her birthday. It's her favorite!

When I went grocery shopping on Sunday afternoon I realized I forgot to write down the items I needed to make these. I knew I needed red food coloring, cake flour, cocoa powder and cream cheese so I picked those up. Last night at 8pm when I sat down to read the recipe before making these I realized I needed buttermilk. I know you can make buttermilk with lemons and milk but I didn't have any lemons either. So back to the grocery store I went to buy buttermilk. I started making the cupcakes and realized that my baking powder was really old...I'm embarrassed to say that it expired in 2006! Yep 3 years ago! I know for a fact that it wasn't that long ago that I bought it! I really need to start checking those dates before I purchase! So back to the grocery store I went....good thing it's just right around the corner. I come back home and start where I left off and then I see that I need TWO BOTTLES of red food coloring!!! Yep...back to the grocery store for the 4th time in one day! I've learned my lesson...S L O W D O W N, read the directions all the way through, make a list...

Well, I must say that it was worth it because they are so good! I found the recipe by doing a google search and at the same time found a really good food blog "Pinch my Salt".

SaveOnCrafts...have you been there?

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First off, I should mention that this is NOT a paid advertisement. I'm just passing on a great website that some of you may not be aware of. It's SaveOnCrafts.com and it's part of Beverly Fabrics.

They not only have a lot of beautiful things to buy but they also have a section called projects & inspiration ! Instructions on how to make the beautiful lilac bouquet above can be found there.

If you are planning a wedding any time soon, this is the place to visit!

The have lots of apothecary jars and also one of these beverage servers pictured above on sale right now for only $32.99 which is less than I paid for mine!

There are lots of decorative birdcages, nests and eggs too!

And mint julep cups for making pretty flower arrangements!

Just a warning though...a person could spend way too much time looking at everything there! I know that for a fact!