Shopping, thrift store style!

I was in the mood to hit some garage sales on Saturday but it was so hot on Friday (about 102 degrees), I think everyone that planned on having a garage sale changed their minds because I hardly saw any garage sale signs as I was driving around. I decided to hit the thrift stores instead and I found some really nice things! I found that planter above. I have quite a few of these in all different shapes and sizes. I get so excited each time I find one! It was $7.99 but everything in the store was 30% off so I got it for $5.59 with tax! I bought that hydrangea at the grocery store a couple weeks ago for $5.99. It was a perfect fit inside the new planter!

I found this white enamel pot at The Salvation Army for $7.50. I love that this can go from stove top, to oven, to table top! I polished the brass knob on the lid with some brass polish but then decided I liked it tarnished better so I didn't polish the side handles. I really love this! I'm going to leave it out on top of my stove for awhile so I can enjoy it!

I was so happy when I found the huge mixing bowl above. I wish it were a vintage one but it's not. It's marked "Made in China" on the bottom. Oh well...it was $6.99 minus 35% off! What a deal! I wanted to bake some bread so I could put the dough in the bowl to rise but since it was 100 degrees outside I decided not too!

I found this adorable blue bird platter at The Salvation Army for $7.50. It's really stained. I thought I would be able to get those stains out with a good soaking but I couldn't. I hung it in my dining room but I'm not sure the neat-freak inside me likes looking at those stains...

It was a good thrifting day...lots of nice things for hardly any money!

I'm joining in on Rhoda's (Southern Hospitality) Thrifty Monday today. Stop over there to see everyone's thrifty treasures!

Regarding my last post about Susan Branch. She sent me an email and said she loved reading all your comments and she would love to reply to them all but she's busy writing her next book. I can hardly wait for that to come out! I just adore her work. I have almost every one of her books and I have her calendar hanging in my cubicle at work! I can't believe I was emailing back and forth with her! So exciting!

I'm a friend of Susan Branch

Did you know that I'm a friend of Susan Branch? Yes...we go way back! Well, not really because she doesn't know who I am but I sort of feel like her friend because of Facebook! You can become friend too if you are on Facebook. It's not like it's just a bunch of fans talking about how great she is, Susan actually contributes! She shares videos and it's sort of a peek into her life on Martha's Vineyard and you know how much I LOVE Martha's Vineyard!!!

If you are registered on Facebook just do a search for "Friends of Susan Branch" they're trying to reach 1,000 members by Labor Day. If you aren't a registered Facebook member it's really easy to register...just don't blame me if you get addicted!

Update: What a great day! Susan left a comment here and sent me an email with some of her personal photos to share with you! Can you believe that? It sure made my day!

I've included her comments below each photo:

Painting for my new book . . .

Light in dining room touching on beeswax and vintage candle holders. . .

Getting ready for dinner under the arbor on Martha's Vineyard, Joe is making swordfish.

My living room looks to me like your cup of tea!

Yes Susan that is my cup of tea!!!! It's gorgeous! All your photos are so beautiful! We're all looking forward to your new book! Thank you so much for sending these photos to share with my readers!

Happy Friday!

Click photo to enlarge

Yes, another mosaic today...at least this one is all my own photos! It's 3:30 AM and here I am blogging...I can't sleep. My car broke down AGAIN! I guess that's what happens when your car has almost 150,000 miles on it! The voltage meter is dropping this time and the battery is just about drained. I'm hoping it's an inexpensive, quick fix like my overheating problem earlier this week!

Update: It was the Alternator! Luckily that was only $250 (I consider any car repair under $300 good)! The bad part is I had to ride my bike to the garage to pick up it up and it's 98 degrees outside! It only took me about 15 or 20 minutes to get there but I thought I was going to pass out I was so hot! All is good now though!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Cupcake Love

click here for photo credit

There are so many beautiful cupcakes on Flickr! The mosaic above is just a small sample. They're too pretty to eat though!

And look at this darling cupcake pin cushion that Esther Sunday made for me! Isn't that adorable! Thank you Esther!

I'm in a much better mood today than I was yesterday. My car is fixed, my cable TV and Internet connections are fixed, my muscles are no longer sore and I got a free pizza yesterday just because I drive a Camaro! Did you hear about the free pizzas that Papa John's Pizza were giving away yesterday if you drove up in a Camaro? It worked out perfectly...I really wasn't in the mood to cook dinner last night!

Beautiful Hydrangeas

I'm posting a photo mosaic again today because it's been a busy week here!

I helped my son Vince move all day Sunday. I left for his home in Davis at 6:00 am on Sunday and didn't get home until 10:00 pm that night. It's less than a 2 hour drive each way but it took me 3 hours to get home because of road work. My muscles are so sore from moving! He had 13 boxes full of books along with many other boxes and he moved into a second floor apartment! It was nice to spend the day with him though even if it involved manual labor in the heat! Actually that day, until the time I left, has been the best part of my week!

On the way home from Davis, while I was stuck in the bumper-to-bumper traffic my car kept overheating so I had to pull over a couple times and turn off the engine and let it cool. I took it to the mechanic this morning and I'm hoping it just needs a new thermostat and nothing major! I really want this car to make it until next spring when I planned on buying a new (newer, not brand new) car! I'm a little stressed right now! I'm on my lunch hour and still no word on what's wrong with it!

Last night I came home and my cable was out....no TV or Internet all night! That was horrible! I felt so disconnected. I'm a news junkie and I hate not knowing what's going on in the world! I'm hoping my car is fixed by 2:30 this afternoon so I can rush home and meet the cable guy! He's supposed to be there between 3:00-5:00. At least they told me there's no charge for that!
So...no car, no Internet (except at work) and no TV and a lot less money in my bank account, thanks to back-to-school shopping, an outrageously-expensive ASB card, school pictures and the high school photography and 3-D Design class fees I know are coming...

Lauren started school this week so it's back to the morning rush to get her to school on time! I'm giving one of her friends a ride to school this year and her dad drops her off around 6:00 AM on his way to work so I have to make sure I'm up by 6:00 AM to open the door for her. I've had no problem with that so far because for some reason I'm waking up at 4:30 AM and not being able to go back to sleep! Ughhh!

Did I just whine about everything? I hate reading whiny blogs! Sorry, but you know I never rarely do that here. I guess I just needed to vent today. Hopefully the "positive-thinking Cindy" will be back tomorrow!

UPDATE: It's all good, I'm in a much better mood now. My car was low on coolant, which didn't even occur to me because I just took it to Jiffy Lube last Friday for an oil change and they told me the added more coolant. Today my mechanic looked for leaks but didn't find anything so I think the guys at Jiffy Lube messed up. My mechanic charged me $47 for the diagnosis so I'm going to call Jiffy Lube...I think they should reimburse me!

I made it home in time to meet the cable guy and he fixed the cable so I now have TV and the Internet again...I'm so happy. The electric company had cut the cable when they were trimming the trees around the power lines yesterday!

Do you see a pattern here....other people's mistakes caused me all this stress! Oh well, all is well now! That's all that matters!

The Beautiful Eden Rose

My all time favorite rose, hands down, is the "Eden" rose, also known as "Pierre de Ronsard". I'm really hoping mine takes off next year! I heard the 3rd year is when they really start to flourish. The photo in the middle of the mosaic is my "Eden" and the other photos are from other Flickr members. Aren't they gorgeous? I could just stare at that photo mosaic all day! If you click on the photo to enlarge it you get the full effect and you can almost smell them!

Do you have a favorite rose? Or a favorite color rose?

When I was in my 20s I hated roses and I dug a bunch of them out and replaced them with junipers...what in the world was I thinking? I'm older and wiser, and have much better taste now!

Making Peach Jam

My favorite jam is homemade peach jam so Saturday when I saw some nice peaches on sale at the grocery store I decided to make some.

You need 6 cups of diced peaches. I think it took about 7 large peaches to make 6 cups.

First you want to peel and dice the peaches. I dip the whole peaches in boiling water for about 20 seconds and then into ice water...this makes them easier to peel.

Next you want to squeeze 6 tablespoons of lemon juice.

Add the diced peaches, the lemon juice and 3 cups of sugar to a heavy pot and add about a teaspoon of butter. The butter is optional but it does keep the jam from foaming and it also makes it nice and clear, which to me looks more appetizing than cloudy-looking jam. Cook the mixture at a slow boil for about 30 minutes.

While the peaches are cooking you want to sterilize the jars and lids. I run the jars through the dishwasher and try to time it so they are finished and still hot when the jam is finished cooking. I sterilize the lids by dropping them in boiling water that has been removed from the heat.

Next you want to fill the jars. I didn't get a photo of that because I was rushing to get them filled while everything was still hot! If you didn't add the butter then you'll want to skim off the foam before you fill the jars.

Rather than canning with a hot water canner I use a steam canner. It keeps your kitchen cooler and it's so much safer than a huge pot of boiling water. The steam canner works well for jams, fruit, tomatoes but you can't use it to can meat...but who cans meat anymore? Mine is called The Ideal Fruit Canner but I didn't see any new ones for sale on the internet so maybe they don't make this brand any longer.

The steam canner is so easy, you just put some water in the bottom, then the rack and load up the jars, put the lid on and turn up the heat and wait for the steam to come out the side vents. Then you turn the heat down a little and set the timer for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes you remove the lid and place the jars on a kitchen towel. Right away you start hearing the lids pop down and you know it worked.

You just want to make sure when you press down on each lid that it firm and sealed.

Then you can decorate them! I used paper doilies from The Dollar Tree on top of mine. I just slipped a rubber band over the doily and then tied on some ribbon and some Mary Engelbreit gift tags I bought at Michaels a couple years ago.

Now I have a special homemade gift ready on hand for my friends. I think I'm going to make more next weekend for us to keep.

Peach Jam

6 Cups peeled and diced peaches

3 Cups of sugar

1 Teaspoon butter (optional)

6 Tablespoons of lemon juice

Bring all the ingredients to a boil in a large heavy pot. Reduce the heat to Medium/Medium Low and continue to slowly boil for 30 minutes. Fill hot, sterilized jars and following canning instructions that come with your canner.

Window Shopping in Silicon Valley

Last evening Lauren and I went to Santana Row for a little window shopping fun. Since I didn't have anything for my blog today I decided to take my camera along to share a little bit of Silicon Valley with you. For those of you who used to live in this area and have since moved away (and I know there are quite a few of you out there), this is where the old Town and Country Village shopping center was located...across the street from Valley Fair Shopping Center. As you can see, it's a whole lot different than that old shopping center!

Santana Row was started when Silicon Valley was in it's hey-day before the big dot-com bust. By the time it was finished it was post 9/11 and companies were laying off and people were moving out of the area. Everyone was wondering how this upscale shopping center would make it but it has, and the restaurants are always packed every time I come here!

On the ground level are restaurants and shops and up above are condos and lofts.

Below is Anthropologie...

Vera Bradley...

A better peek through the window...

Burberry is here...

And Gucci...

And lots of other shops too...

There are even tables set up to play chess...
or you can play chess on the ground...

One of my favorite restaurants...

Lots of pretty plants and flowers...

This is why Lauren wanted to go...

I love seeing the areas around where bloggers live...whether it's a small town or New York city, I find it so interesting! I hope you enjoyed your little window-shopping tour at Santana Row in Silicon Valley!

Celebrating Tablescapes!

Susan at Naps on the Porch is celebrating 52 weeks of her Tablescape Thursdays (which were originally held on Tuesdays). I thought it would be fun to pull some old photos of my tables off my computer and reminisce a little! Most of mine are just centerpieces because I don't set a pretty table very often for just Lauren and I but I do try to update my centerpiece regularly.

Breakfast in bed...it's sort of a tablescape, isn't it?

I hope you didn't mind looking at these old pictures again! If you would like to see even more tablescapes, head over to Susan's Blog ~ Between Naps on the Porch and see who else is joining in!

Lemon Curd Tartlets

Mmmm lemon curd tartlets! It makes my mouth water just thinking about them! I found these little 4-inch tartlet pans at Bed, Bath & Beyond and had to have them. I thought they would be great for little individual-size quiches that Lauren could eat for breakfast on the way to school. Ughh....I'm not looking forward to those rushed school-day mornings that will be starting on Monday! Where did summer go? Anyway...the first thing I used these pans for is lemon curd tartlets! (My mouth is watering everytime I type lemon curd!)

I also bought a microplane which makes zesting lemons a breeze! Don't you just love new kitchen toys? They make playing house so much more fun!

I used Ina Garten's (The Barefoot Contessa) recipe for a lemon curd tart but used 6 tartlet pans instead of one large pan. Lauren and I had one and I took the rest to work and everyone loved them! I will be definitely be making this recipe again!

These actually looked a lot better but I covered them with plastic wrap and put them in the fridge overnight so I could take pictures in the morning when the light was better. The lemon curd was as smooth as glass but unfortunately the plastic wrap stuck to it and messed them all up. Oh well!

Half Moon Bay Part II (and giveaway winner)

Here are some more photos from our little staycation day-trip to Half Moon Bay. As you can see it was a gorgeous day. You may have heard on the news about the big fire near Santa Cruz, luckily the smoke was blowing in the opposite direction so we didn't have to deal with that. It's been smoky in Silicon Valley for the last couple of days though.

This cute little house was just off Main St. in Half Moon Bay. I could move right in there and have a cute little shop on Main St....I'm such a dreamer!

And this church was just down the street.

Some surfers...

The restaurant above is Sam's Chowder House and that's were Lauren and I and her friend had lunch. I want to go back and have a lobster roll there. It was voted one of the best 5 sandwiches in America by NBC's The Today Show.

This antique store on Main St. had a lot to look at both inside and out...

This mural is painted on the side of the building. A tribute to the huge surf competition that is held in Half Moon Bay each year called Mavericks.

While in the antique store I came upon a snack set just like the one I'm giving away. This one had 4 plates and 4 cups and was priced at $48/set. Mine is 8 plates and 6 cups and the lucky winner is: Allison of The Bower Nest! Thanks to all that entered!

Half Moon Bay Part I

I've really been doing the staycation thing this summer. A week ago it was Monterey for the day and this past Saturday, Lauren, her friend and I went to Half Moon Bay for the day. It's only about a 45 minute drive from my apartment.

This was one of the few nice shops there. It's called Quintessence and it's located on Main Street in Half Moon Bay. They also have a shop in Menlo Park, California for those of you in Northern California.

I love French Country Decor! My problem is I like a lot of different styles of decorating! I want them all!

I LOVE this white mirror (above)!!! I didn't even notice it when I was in the store! Isn't it gorgeous!

Tomorrow I share some more pictures from my staycation trip to Half Moon Bay.

Trays you made

Before I begin...if you sent me a photo of your tray and you don't see it here it please resend it to me. I did my best to put these all in a folder on my computer as soon as I received them but I could have easily lost some in my unorganized, out-of-control email inbox!

You may remember my cottage-style tray that I made last month. So many of you said you were going to try this project too so I thought it would be fun to share everyone's projects here on my blog! The first one at the very top there is from "M" at Tales from an OC Cottage. Did you notice the little seashell feet? So adorable!

Mary from Mary's Meanderings made the one above. Love the cherubs, lace and teacup theme...very Victorian chic!
Sandy made this beautiful tray above. I love the aqua color under the vintage hankie and that frame she used is gorgeous!
Here is Donna's beautiful Paris-themed tray! How fun and what a great idea this would be to remember a wonderful vacation.
The tray above is from KayLee from Divine Vintage. I love the colors!!! Those embroidered hankies are gorgeous!

This is from Violetlady at Home. She used a beautiful piece of vintage lace for hers. What a great way to display this piece!
This tray above is from Tinker. She said she chose fabric so she could easily change the look by just changing the fabric. Great idea!
This tray was made by my former mother-in-law's sister, Cathy. The beautiful hankie she used belonged to their mother. Cathy also made this beautiful tray below...
It's made from old photographs of her and her husband Al! The photos in the middle are from the Senior Ball. Cathy and Al will be celebrating their 50th anniversary in October. They sure don't look old enough to be married 50 years!!!
This beautiful tray is from Betty. She used a place mat from the Martha Stewart collection at Kmart for inside her tray. I love the contrast of the dark frame with the white lace! It reminds me of something you would see in an upscale hotel!

Thank you all so much for allowing me to share your trays with everyone! That was so much fun. I'll have to come up with another project and try this again sometime.

I'm off work today and Lauren and I will be hitting the stores for back-to-school shopping! Have a great weekend! Don't forget, today is the last day to enter my giveaway!

Monterey, California

Last weekend Lauren and I went to Monterey for the afternoon. I took the camera so you could experience Monterey too!

Our first stop was Fisherman's Wharf, which is restaurants and touristy-type shops. Not nice shops but type that sells everything you can imagine with "Monterey" printed on it! We went inside every shop there because Lauren was looking for the perfect sweatshirt which she never found!

We had lunch at Isabella's (pictured above) and sat outside, all the way down at the end. It was a beautiful day! It's usually really cool here but it was around 80 degrees the day we went! The average August temp. is 70 degrees.

Lauren ordered Calamari and Chips (french fries) and I ordered a Cobb Salad...and then we ate off each other's plates. We make a great mother/daughter team because we like the same things!

As we were sitting there eating lunch I noticed a crowd forming and they were all looking down...

This little guy somehow made it up on the wharf and he obviously loved being the center of attention!

I heard he finally found his way back into the bay!

Further down the wharf there was this man (above) with his flock of parrots!

He would place the parrot on your hand...it was priceless watching the little kids hold these big birds!

We were considering going out on a whale-watching boat but it's a 3-hour boat trip so we decided to do that another day.

After we left Fisherman's Wharf we drove over to another part of Monterey called Cannery Row. John Steinbeck wrote a book called Cannery Row about this area back in 1945.

Cannery Row is also lots of restaurants and gift shops. One of the shops had the biggest chandelier I think I've ever seen!

If you love chocolate this is the place to be (or not)!

Yummy!!!

It was such a wonderful day and I'm so grateful that my daughter (at 16 years old) still likes to do things with her mom!

It was fun playing tourist in our own back yard! At lunch our waiter asked us where we were from and when I told him the San Jose area he just laughed. I guess he thought we were there on vacation not just for the afternoon!

Updated: I got lots of comments and email about Carmel which is located close to Monterey. I did a post on Carmel in Sept 2007. Click here to see that! I plan to go to Carmel in the next month or so!

Reminder!

Remember awhile back when I did a post on how to make a cottage style tray from an old picture frame? (If not, you can just click on that underlined text and it will take you to that post.)

I was so thrilled that some of you made your own tray after seeing mine! I've already received 4 photos! I'm going to be sharing them on my blog this Friday so send me a photo of yours if you haven't already!

These photos of my garden roses have nothing to do with this post...I just thought they might be more interesting to look at than seeing my tray again!

Email photos of your tray projects to cindy95131@yahoo.com! Even if you made a tray from a picture frame before I did my tutorial send me a photo....the more, the merrier!

The August Giveaway Party

It's time for the August giveaway party! You'll need to scroll down to my previous post below to see and enter my giveaway for August.

If you are hosting a giveaway on your blog please sign up below using your link to your giveaway not just the link to your blog! That way everyone can click over directly to your giveaway!

My Giveaway for August!

My giveaway for August is a vintage snack set. It's clear glass, which is always so hard to photograph! They have a dainty scalloped edging. Each plate has an indentation to hold the teacup.
This set includes 8 plates and 6 cups but I think there must be 2 more cups around here somewhere so I'm hoping I can find them. I guess that's what happens when you have too much stuff stashed everywhere! Maybe I bought them with only 6 cups...I can't really remember???

If you would like a chance to win these please leave a comment below by midnight on Friday, August 14th or if you prefer you can send me an email (cindy95131@yahoo.com). Sorry, but because of shipping costs this giveaway is only open to those in the U.S. and Canada.

Reminder: Monthly Giveaway on Monday!

Just a reminder that Monday is "the second Monday" of the month and that means I'll be having my monthly giveaway again. Now I need to just find something to giveaway!!!

I still haven't mailed out the items from last months giveaway yet! I'm so far behind in everything lately!!!

Summer?

click here for photo credits

Where is summer? It sure doesn't feel like summer in Northern California (at least near the coast). It hasn't felt much like summer for awhile now. Most of July and now the first week in August the temps have mostly been in the low to mid 70s. We even got a little rain! Rain in the summer in California? That's unheard of! I'm not complaining though. I would much rather have this than temps in the 90s or higher. How has the weather been lately where you live?

Almond Joy Cupcakes!

I've had this idea in my head for about 6 months. I spent many of my commutes home from work thinking of how I would make an "Almond Joy" inspired cupcake. Should it be chocolate cake with coconut frosting?...or maybe coconut cake with chocolate-almond frosting?

I finally decided to use white cake with a little bit of coconut extract added. Then add some chopped up Almond Joy candy bars (minus the almond) to the half filled cup...

and then top with more cake batter. I imagined biting into a gooey chocolaty-coconut filling. YUM!!!

This is what I was worried about...all the filling sunk to the bottom of the cupcake! Oh well...sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself when your bright ideas don't turn out so well! They still tasted good...really good!

I added a little almond extract to the chocolate butter cream frosting. I used the frosting recipe on the back of the Hershey's Cocoa Powder box. Then I topped them off with a little toasted coconut.

Luckily my coworkers don't mind my less-than-perfect baking experiments!

The Kitchen Valance

About 4 years ago I quickly made this kitchen valance out of a piece of toile fabric I found in the remnants section of the fabric store and lined it with a solid blue curtain panel I already had. It was supposed to be just a temporary fix until I figured out what I really wanted to do for this kitchen window. Here it is 4 years later and it's still there and I still have no idea what I want to replace it with. One of my readers recently emailed me to ask how I made it. Well...It couldn't be any simpler, it's just a rectangle that I pulled up with two strips of ribbon. I lined it so it would look nice from the outside and left a small section open to slip a rod through and then stitched just below the rod. I still love the fabric and someday I would like to find more of it and make something a little nicer but who knows, that may be 4 years down the road.

Memories of Martha's Vineyard

Three years ago I took my dream vacation! I had been to Martha's Vineyard once before back in 1987 but just for a day. I knew then that I would be back to spend more time there.

Lauren and I went for a week in June of 2006. I used all of my yearly bonus from work for that vacation and it was so worth it. The memories are still with me. I think I remember every single detail of that trip which is saying a lot since I have a horrible memory!

I can't explain why I feel such a connection to that place but I do. I knew I was going to love it there even before I had stepped off the ferry!

I would love to go back again soon but I don't think Lauren is that excited to return. She would rather go to Hawaii but not me, Martha's Vineyard is calling my name! It's just too bad California is so far a way. If I lived on the east coast I would be going there every summer!

I think it would be a lot of fun to have a huge blogging meet-up there! Maybe someday we should do that!

Sorry, I know if you've been following my blog awhile that I've already shared these photos and the memories. I hope you didn't mind hearing about it again.