Heirloom Party

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

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

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

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

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".

We can help!

This very tragic story was recently brought to my attention by one of my readers. This beautiful mother of 6 young daughters was recently killed along with her 7 year old daughter when a 2 foot wide tree branch fell on their mini van during a storm.

You can read more about what a wonderful mother and person Kelly Murray was on Beth Jansen's Photography blog here. She is the photographer that took these beautiful photos of Kelly and her daughters. At the time she took these photos Kelly had 5 daughters and since then had another.

There is a memorial fund set up to help with the education of the remaining 5 daughters, Jillian, 12; Meghan, 11; Maeve, 6; Quinn, 2; and Kieran, 10 months. Payments can be made to the Murray Girls College Scholarship Fund (send checks to Kelly McMahon, Attn: Murray Scholarship 3908 Leland St, Chevy Chase, MD 20815). I know how much impact bloggers can have so lets all spread the word and help out this family!

There is also another article from the Washington Post but I couldn't even finish reading it because I was crying so much. You can read it here.

This really makes you realize how precious life is and how it can all end so suddenly! We really need to cherish each day!

SaveOnCrafts...have you been there?

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!

The winners of my July Giveaway!

Finally, I randomly chose the winners of my giveaway! The teapot goes to Holly ~Girls at Heart!

And the winner of the garden angel (donated by Jen at Vintage Home Interiors) is Kim ~ Starshine Chic

Thanks to all of you who entered! I'll be having a giveaway on the second Monday of each month through 2009 so you'll have more chances to win!

A Blue Mosaic Monday

I'm joining in on Mary's Mosaic Monday today! Also, since my mosaic is all blues I thought I would join in on Smiling Sally's Blue Monday.

It's getting harder and harder to come up with new things for my blog. I'm not going to give up though. I've had this blogger's-block before and I was able to get through it! I think part of the problem is the weather. It's too hot to do any new projects. I have things I want to do but not in 90 degree weather! Instead of shopping for my home, I've been shopping for clothes which I desperately needed and I've been getting up early and walking 2 1/2 miles every day. So I feel like I'm spending more time on me and less on my apartment. I think that's a good thing though...I had sort of let myself go.

Did you all have a good weekend?

What a night! The good and the bad!

Yesterday I took the day off work for a mother-daughter day. It was a fun day of shopping and then off to lunch at Lauren's favorite restaurant, The Fish Market and then a little more shopping! Then about 4:45 we headed to San Francisco to see Wicked which started at 8:00 pm!
I mentioned yesterday that I really don't like driving in San Francisco and yet again I had another bad experience! First off, I should say that I live in Silicon Valley and I'm used to traffic, crazy drivers, etc. but it's nothing like driving in San Francisco! When you come up to the traffic lights there are lanes just for taxis and buses and another lane for the automobiles, with an island area in between them. Sometimes the taxi/bus lanes are on the right and sometimes they are on the left so you're always having to look at the signs while watching to see if the light is green, yellow or red. At the same time there are masses of people walking and riding bikes so you have to look out for them. These people walking and riding bikes must not see cars because they will step out directly in your path...you must somehow predict that they are about to do this! I need to get better at that! Also, you can't make left turns on most of the streets so if you want to turn left you have to turn right and then left and go around the block and make a big loop. The only problem is a lot of the streets are ONE-WAY streets. So not only are you looking out for people and bikes that suddenly jump out at you, you have to make sure you don't turn down the wrong way on a ONE-WAY street. Ummm...a trip to SF wouldn't be complete without me turning down a ONE-WAY street and seeing cars coming towards me in all the lanes! Luckily I had Lauren screaming at directing me not to turn down that ONE-WAY street!!!

We finally found the Theatre. Yay...but where is the stinkin' parking lot? Now, in Silicon Valley all the theatres have their own parking lots but not in San Francisco! You have to drive around to find a place to park! Again...we go through all the above steps with the taxi/bus lanes, people, bikes, ONE-WAY streets to find parking! Finally about 45 minutes later I found a garage close enough that I would feel somewhat safe (not really though) walking to after the show in the dark of the night. It's about 2 long blocks away. I drive in and park, and then I couldn't find my way to get back on the street so I ask the attendant. He asks me how long I'm going to be parked there which I thought was a really odd question since I'm paying $3 for every 20 minutes...what difference should it make! When I tell him he informs me that his STINKIN' garage closes at 8:00pm! At this point I was ready to just go home. I ask the guy where should I park if I were going to a show at the Orpheum Theatre and he told me there are two places down the street. I find them and they are right across from each other so I choose the one on the left, go to pay and it's only $5...Yay! But they only take cash and the machine doesn't give change and I only have $20 bills on me but luckily the lot across the street takes credit cards so back in the car and across the street we go! Finally we are parked and ready to eat. I figured there would be lots of places to eat around there but there wasn't and we were running out of time so we ended up at a BURGER KING surrounded by homeless people. As we were eating our meal at a bar that looks out onto the sidewalk there were homeless people watching us eat! It was horrible! It's funny how things work out though...we peeled back the little tag that came on our drinks and Lauren won a free milk shake and I won a free Whopper so we went up and got them and gave it to a very scary-looking but very grateful man that was digging through the garbage. That made it all worth it! He said this would be a lot better than garbage food. I walked away with tears in my eyes!

Oh, I almost forgot...Wicked was GREAT!

A day off

I took a vacation day today! Lauren and I are going to see Wicked in San Francisco tonight. I bought these tickets months ago and I'm so excited the day has finally come. San Francisco is only an hour away from us but I really don't go there very often. Probably because I have a car with a stick shift and I always end up in a panic on those San Francisco hills! My next car will be an automatic!!! We're going to go up early to beat the commuter traffic and have dinner up there. It will be nice because it's been close to 100 degrees here and it's supposed to be in the low 70s in San Francisco. The SF Bay Area has weird micro climates so you can drive an hour and the temps can be close to 40 degrees different!

Thanks for all the nice comments about the tray. I'm so excited that so many of you are going to make one for yourself! If you do, please email me a photo. I would love to do a post with every one's creation! If I get enough photos I'll post them sometime in early August. I think it will be fun to see all of them together.

Also, you still have time to enter my giveaway. I'll be drawing the name on Thursday evening. And to "Mad in Montana" and "anonymous" (who I'm pretty sure are the same person), you said my giveaway is cheap, I would just like to say that this same teapot is selling on eBay for over $50 with shipping! I don't think that's cheap. Also if my ads on my blog make you that mad just don't visit. Those ads bring in money for my family so they are staying! I didn't start my blog to make money and I blog because I love it and making money while I do it is like icing on the cake! My thanks to the 99.9% of you that are so wonderful and so nice and come back here regularly to read my blog. I really appreciate it!

Note: Sorry, I don't know what happened but the Mr. Linky link on my giveaway post is not working any longer!

A shabby cottage tray project

In a book about cottages that my friend Lorrie sent me recently I saw a beautiful tray made with an old picture frame and vintage hankies. I couldn't wait to make one of my own!

I found this picture frame at the thrift store for just $4.99 and knew it would be perfect!

Then I went to the hardware store and bought some wooden knobs to use as feet. I glued them to the bottom corners of the frame and then painted it all white.

After I sprayed it and let it dry I used some Rub n Buff in Spanish Copper to give it a shabby look. Sorry, I forgot to take photos of that step. Rub n Buff can be found in the paint section of most hobby stores and some hardware stores. You just put a little on the tip of your finger and rub it over in small areas. You can see the Rub n Buff in the photo below. The Spanish Copper color is my favorite to use. I love the distressed look it gives. You could also sand it but I think this looks better.

Then I arranged the linens I was going to use on top of the cardboard backing that came with the frame. I used some vintage napkins and a vintage hankie.

Then you carefully put the glass over the linens and drop it back into the frame.

That's it! Now you have a cute shabby chic tray that you can use in just about any room in your home! The total cost was less than $10.00 since I already had the linens.

Instead of vintage linens you could also use fabric, scrapbook paper, old postcards, wallpaper, ribbon, old photos, dried flowers...the possibilities are endless! Now I want to make more!

Monthly Giveaway Party

It's time for my monthly giveaway party! If you have a blog and you have a giveaway on your blog please sign up with Mr. Linky below so others can visit you.

If you are here to enter my giveaway just scroll down to my previous post and leave a comment there if you want to be entered to win.

Update: If you want to see who's having a giveaway on their blog, you'll have to click on Mr. Linky below to see the list. I don't know why I've keep having this problem with it showing up on another page.

My Giveaway for July

I have 2 items I'll be giving away this month! First up is a Cath Kidston teapot that I bought at a thrift store awhile back. I remember how excited I was when I found this. I couldn't believe that someone would give away a Cath Kidston teapot! I loved it but it's been tucked away behind closed doors in my china cabinet for awhile and it's time to pass it on to someone else.
The next item I'm giving away was donated by one of my readers, Jen from Vintage Home Interiors. She sent me one of these adorable garden angels to keep and one to giveaway!! Jen also has a blog and you can also see her garden angel there. Her photo looks much better than mine!
Would you like to win one of these items? Here's how it works. Leave a comment below and let me know if you would like to be entered to win the teapot or the garden angel or if you want to be in both drawings that's okay too, just let me know. I'll be picking one random winner for each item this Thursday, July 16th around 9:00 pm PDT and I'll announce the winner on Friday. Please make sure to leave your email address if you don't have a blog so I have a way to contact you!

Found Alive!

Many of you asked me to update you if I found out anything about the missing man in my city and I'm happy to report that he's been found alive! He's been missing about a week and a half and they found him in a dry creek bed in Saratoga which is walking distance away. The news report says it looks like he has been there awhile. He was dehydrated but otherwise okay. I'm so happy for his family!!!

More info here.

Update: Here is a picture of Ross at the hospital with his family. Click here.

Ikea Sofa Review

I've been getting a lot of emails and comments lately asking if I'm pleased with my Ikea sofa that I bought last March. It's been 4 months and I still love it! I've washed the slipcovers numerous times and they look the same now as they did when I first bought them. I'm glad that I bought an extra set of slipcovers because you can't put them in the dryer and they take a least a day to air dry.

I'm still amazed at the quality of this sofa for the price. It's only $399 and the extra set of slipcovers is only $49.

If I had room I would buy the matching love seat but I think it would be too large for my room. I am considering buying a chair though. I have wicker chairs in my living room now and they really aren't that comfortable so I would like to replace one of them, maybe with one of these:

This chair above is $249 in white but if you want it in pink it's $349! I'm not sure why pink costs $100 more??? Pink wouldn't look right in my place so it doesn't really matter to me. I wish they had it in light blue though.

This chair above is only $199.

Which chair do you like better?

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Don't forget, I'll be hosting my monthly giveaway party on Monday! I'll have Mr. Linky up sometime Sunday evening if you want to join in and have a giveaway on your blog.

Flea Market Finds

Lauren and I decided to go to the DeAnza Flea Market last Saturday. We got a late start and didn't arrive there until about 11:00 am. Because it was the 4th of July there was about 1/2 the amount of vendors there usually are. I walked around 3/4 of the flea market and hadn't bought a thing!

Luckily as I got close to the end I found some great deals. I got 11 of those cute little juice glasses for $8.00/set. They have such cute little detail around the bottom. I just love glasses that have a little pedestal!

I also found a vendor with lots of tables filled with brand new jewelry from Macy's! Lauren and I had so much fun walking up and down the tables looking at it all! The prices were amazing. The most expensive piece I bought was $4 and that was for the necklace with the bright orange bead. The rest were all either $2 or $3. He said he'll be there next month so I'm going to get there early to find some more!

For those of you living in the San Francisco Bay Area: Please be on the look out for Ross Abinanti who disappeared over a week ago from Campbell, California. He's 63 and has dementia and may be confused.

His wife went to get gelato in downtown Campbell and left him and her brother-in-law, who is disabled and in a wheelchair in the car while she ran in the gelato shop. When she came out her brother-in-law said Ross had gone to find her. He hasn't been seen since! I can't even imagine what his family must be going through right now! You can read more about it here.

A New Shell Wreath

I made another seashell wreath! You may remember I made one of these last year and I donated it to the Nie Recovery Auction. I was very pleased that it raised $100! It felt so great to donate it but I also missed having one of my own. Last week I finally got around to making another one!

The foam wreath came from the Dollar Tree store as did most of the shells so this is a really inexpensive project. You could even buy the ribbon at the dollar store, but I used ribbon I already had.

If you want to make one for yourself you can check out my post titled How to make Seashell Wreath I did last year. They are really fast and easy to make!

Reminder: Monday I will be hosting my monthly giveaway party!

My new apothecary jar!

You may remember this beautiful apothecary jar from my previous posts about my favorite little shop, Vintage & Vogue in downtown Campbell, California. I stopped in there last weekend and was I ever shocked when they told me they had something for me and then walked out with this!!! OHHHH MY GOSH...I LOVE IT!!!! I brought it home and filled it with lemon drops! It's so beautiful!

And guess what else I found out on my visit there? They will be opening an online shop soon!!! Now you will be able to shop at Vintage & Vogue too! I'll be sure to let you know as soon they are open for business!

A morning at the beach

I spent yesterday morning over at the beach. It's amazing how just a few hours walking around can be so relaxing when the scenery is so beautiful and the air so fresh.

I fell in love with this little white cottage. It's right by the Santa Cruz Harbor!

Not only is the house white but all the flowers are white too! They had beautiful white hydrangeas towards the backyard but I didn't get a photo of those. The backyard had about 8-10 of those white patio umbrellas back there. It was gorgeous!

Here's what you see when you walk across the street from the white cottage...

I hope you enjoyed your morning at the beach!

Updated: You have to check out the fun beach blogging neighborhood that Dianne dreamed up on her blog today! It's just so much fun!!! She even found a beach cottage for me and it's blue!

Have a wonderful 4th!

I have the day off work today and it's been so wonderful and it's only 9:00 am! It's so nice to have a leisurely morning instead of rushing around getting ready for work! I got up and made a pot of coffee and went out in the garden and picked some flowers for my dining room table. I hope to go to the beach tomorrow or Sunday. I'll be sure to take my camera if I do!

This weekend is also the DeAnza Flea Market (Saturday) and the Alameda Flea Market (Sunday) for those of you in the San Francisco Bay Area. I'm not planning on going but you never know...

I hope all my U.S. friends have a wonderful and safe 4th of July weekend!

Book Alert!

Have you seen the new book that is coming out by Barbara Jacksier? I can hardly wait to get my copy!!! Barbara has shared some sneak previews of it on her blog the last few weeks. You can order autographed copies from her website Waterside Cottage Styles. I've already ordered mine!

Barbara, for those of you that aren't aware, was the former editor of Romantic Country Magazine so you know this book is going to be great!