Paperwhites!

Have you planted paperwhites yet? Forcing paperwhites has become a yearly holiday tradition for me!

I love watching them grow! It's so amazing how fast they sprout up!

I plant mine in soil and I like to cover the soil with moss and a sprinkling of plastic snow! Plastic snow has really grown on me over the years. I used to think it looked really tacky but now I like it! The paperwhites below are just about ready to bloom...

I would like to thank everyone for the nice comments and emails about my health! I'm feeling a lot better but I still have some pain remaining. I think I must have pulled or strained something in my chest when I moved a very large planter in my patio when we had our new windows installed. I moved the planter on a Tuesday but I didn't feel the pain until Saturday! I'm still not sure if that's what did it. I'm always moving heavy things around so who knows what it was! At least I'm feeling better! In fact I was even able to decorate for Christmas over the weekend!

Show & Tell Friday

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!! I'm breaking the rules of Show and Tell a little today and sharing something that is not from my home or garden. This is where Lauren and I had Thanksgiving dinner today! I know...not a very traditional Thanksgiving but it was nice!
It's the Dolce-Hayes Mansion in San Jose, California. It's a hotel and conference center. I bet everyone that works any where near Silicon Valley has been here before for offsite meetings! I've been here quite a few times with different companies over the years.
For Thanksgiving they had a big buffet and it was really good! They had the traditional Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, etc. but they also had so much more! There was a cold seafood bar with raw oysters, prawns and crab legs and a huge dessert bar. You can see the menu here. I didn't feel comfortable taking photos inside the restaurant so I'll just share the outside with you...

This is the most nontraditional Thanksgiving dinner I've ever had. It's very different eating out at Thanksgiving but I'm thankful I won't have a fridge full of leftovers! I don't need that!!!
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If you are joining in on Show and Tell Friday, please remember that your Show and Tell needs to be something from your home or garden. Please read the Show and Tell Guidelines for step-by-step instructions on how to participate.If you would like to join in, please enter your name and leave your exact Show and Tell blog post link, not just your blog link and as a common courtesy link back to my blog. If your link has been removed from MckLinky, please re-read over the guidelines before re-posting, or e-mail me with any questions.

Thank you! I look forward to seeing everyone's posts...it may take me awhile to get around to visit everyone since I work full time but I'll do my best to get to your blog as soon as I can!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I wish all my U.S. friends a very Happy Thanksgiving! I'm so thankful to have "met" you all! You really have enriched my life!

Thanksgiving Past

I'm still not feeling well at all, in fact it sometimes feels like I'm getting worse not better. The mornings are the worst. When I get up in the morning it feels like I've slept with a pile of bricks on my chest! The pain goes all the way to into my back! I really feel for people who have chronic pain, I just can't even imagine living like this all the time! This is day 5 of this and I'm going crazy not being able to get things done on my week off! I just wish I knew what caused this or even what it is! I've never had chest pain that wasn't related to respiratory problems before. I go back to my doctor next week for a follow-up appointment and I'm hoping I can tell her that I'm feeling better! I'm thinking positive thoughts...
I'm not having Thanksgiving dinner at my house this year--and given the pain I'm in, I'm so thankful for that, but thought I would share my table from last year (I don't even have the energy to take photos of anything new). I may be playing reruns here until I get better. I hope you don't mind!
I do plan on taking some photos of the very nontraditional Thanksgiving dinner we are going to this year though. I'm going to share them for Show and Tell Friday, so I'll be breaking the rules this week since it won't be something in my own home. Feel free to do the same if you want to join in!

UPDATE: Just to clarify, I have seen a doctor already, my appointment next week is a follow-up appointment. I've had a chest x-ray, an EKG and a blood test to test for blood clots. Everything has come back negative...thankfully. It's not pleurisy because I don't have pain breathing. My doctor thinks it's some sort of inflammation in my chest so she has me taking 600-800 mg of Motrin 3 times a day to reduce the swelling. The first few hours after I wake up I have constant pain, now that I've been up for a few hours the pain is just when I move certain ways.

New Finds!

Thank you for all the nice comments yesterday. I went to the doctor, had an EKG, blood test, and a chest x-ray and they all came out good so my doctor thinks something in my chest is inflamed, either cartilage or tendons or something... I have to take Ibuprofen (Motrin) 3 times a day for awhile and then I'll have a follow up appointment with her next week. Hopefully it will be gone by then! I woke up last night in extreme pain! I think lying down makes it worse! I can breath fine and I can walk around and do things, it's just when I move certain ways I have extreme pain. At least I'm not in constant pain!

I thought I would share some more new things I've found. I bought 2 of the small plates above on eBay about a year ago. Recently I came across this large celery dish in the same pattern on eBay and I put in a bid of $11 and told myself I wasn't going to go any higher! I got lucky because a few other people bid on it but I won and got it for $10.75!
I also won 3 of these pink "Bridal Rose" plates that are made in Bavaria on eBay for only $5.99!

I'm so addicted to thrifting that yesterday I left early for my doctors appointment so I could stop in a thrift store near my doctor's office. Even pain won't keep me away! I was on my way back to look at the dishes when something caught my eye on a clothes rack...the next thing I know I have a Juicy Couture sweater in my hands! This sweater sold for $168 new...I did a little research via google to find that out!! I paid only $14.99. I just knew Lauren would be thrilled...she loves Juicy Couture but not this sweater! Good thing I like it!
Then I found this Jones of New York navy polka dot shirt for $9.99. It's really cute with a tie at the waist. It's a little tight now but by spring I hope to be wearing this with some white capri pants! I'm not usually into anything with polka dots but I liked this!
Then I found this Jones of New York tunic for $8.99. I don't usually wear animal prints either but I tried this on and loved it! It's so much cuter on than it looks here!

I used to never buy used clothing until I realized what great stuff is out there...at a fraction of the cost of new! I only buy the good name brand stuff that is in perfect condition though. I did have one very embarrassing moment with used clothing. When Lauren was in kindergarten she was in a school program one evening. When they were all finished the kids filed down off the stage and down the aisle into the audience. Lauren spotted me in the crowd and yelled out "Hi mommy! Is that the new dress you bought at the Goodwill?" EVERYONE turned around! I have never been so embarrassed in my life!!! It was pretty obvious I was her mother since we were the only two redheads in the place! I'm sure my face was red also! We still laugh about that now!

Anyway...I spent so much time looking around that Goodwill yesterday that I was almost late for my doctors appointment! They had so many great things in there! I also bought a cashmere turtleneck sweater that I forgot to take a picture of. I think that was $9.99 (For those of you in Silicon Valley, this was the Goodwill in Mountain View, next to the Ethan Allen furniture store.)

Vacation!

photo credit: Flickr

I have a week off of work and wouldn't you know it...I'm not feeling good! I had a coughing attack on Friday night. It only lasted a few minutes but my chest has been so sore since Saturday morning so I'm going to the doctor today just to be safe. Hopefully it's just heart-burn or something simple. About 5 years ago I thought I was having a heart attack at work. I was rushed to emergency and it ended up being heart-burn. I was so embarrassed! I never get heart-burn so I didn't know it could be that painful! I felt a little foolish! This pain is different though. It hurts when I move. It really hurts when I move my arms forward or backward....any doctors out there? haha! Just kidding, I'll be calling the doctor's office this morning.

I have so much I want to get done this week so I'm hoping this goes away quickly!

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There is still time to enter the Lavender Fields Giveaway. Click here to enter!

Update(3:40pm) : I went to my doctor today. She did an ekg which turned out great...what a relief. She was also concerned about blood clots because that runs in my family. I had to get a blood test and a chest xray and I'm still waiting for the results on those. No news is good news....she told me if she calls me back today it means I have to get to the emergency room right away! I'm hoping the phone doesn't ring! haha!

Show & Tell Friday

It's time again for Show and Tell Friday!

This week I would like to share my items I got from Vintage & Vogue. If you haven't been to my blog this week, please scroll down to my posts I did on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to see how beautifully this shop is decorated for Christmas!

I fell in love with these two cherub ornaments with the hanging crystals!

Everyone needs a castle! The colors on this one were perfect for me!

I not only love castles but cottages too! This Bethany Lowe ornament had to come home with me!

This was a gift from Linda and the ladies at Vintage & Vogue! I almost bought him when I was in there last Friday but decided that I had already spent enough with all those ornaments so I put him back! When I went back in on Sunday to take photos to share with you they had him all wrapped up for me! How nice was that!

Here's a photo of everything together! Every year I add to my collection of Christmas decor and now I have quite a bit! I can hardly wait to start decorating! One of the radio stations here is already playing Christmas music around the clock and that really got me in the holiday spirit! I think I may have mentioned that my company is having a shut-down next week so I'm going to start decorating really early this year since I'm not working!

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If you are joining in on Show and Tell Friday, please remember that your Show and Tell needs to be something from your home or garden. Please read the Show and Tell Guidelines for step-by-step instructions on how to participate.If you would like to join in, please enter your name and leave your exact Show and Tell blog post link, not just your blog link and as a common courtesy link back to my blog. If your link has been removed from MckLinky, please re-read over the guidelines before re-posting, or e-mail me with any questions.

Thank you! I look forward to seeing everyone's posts...it may take me awhile to get around to visit everyone since I work full time but I'll do my best to get to your blog as soon as I can!

Giveaway Fun!

What a fun day! I get to announce the winner of my monthly giveaway and the winner of the Pfaltzgraff giveaway and also announce a brand new giveaway!!!

First the winner of my monthly giveaway for November is Laurie from Bargain Hunting with Laurie.

and the winner of the Pfaltzgraff Holiday Dinnerware is Evelyn (no blog), she chose the Winterberry pattern.

I'm also pleased to also announce that Lavender Fields is hosting a giveaway on my product review page. Please click here to see what TWO lucky people will win!

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Reminder: I will have the Show and Tell Post up tonight for those of you that want to join in!

Vintage & Vogue Christmas-Part III

Here is part 3 of my Vintage & Vogue posts. I still have more photos but I think I'll save those for next week.









Isn't it all so beautiful! I love all the different themes they have going.

Vintage & Vogue
241 East Campbell Ave, Ste A
Campbell, California

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I now have new windows in my apartment and they look so much better! I can even feel the difference. Usually when I walk downstairs in the morning it's a lot colder down there and it wasn't this morning! They also keep so much more noise out!

More good news! My landlord said she would get someone to paint my stairway walls. It's the only place I can't paint myself because the ceiling is two stories high. I think I'm going to paint it white so it will be lighter and brighter! Maybe next year I'll get lucky and get the wood laminate floors put in! She's put them in 2 out of the 4 units and they look great! I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

I'm behind in posting my giveaway winners but they will be announced soon! I thought I would be able to do it yesterday but I had to hold Beau all day so he wouldn't attack the window installers.

Vintage & Vogue Christmas-Part II

Are you ready to see more of the beautiful things at Vintage & Vogue?

Every time I look at these photos I see something else I want to go back and get!!!
I did buy some things when I was there and I'll share those this Friday for Show and Tell.






How cute is this...
and this...
I'm really in the mood to decorate for Christmas now! My company is having a shutdown the week of Thanksgiving so I'll be home all next week! I can hardly wait! I going to start decorating early this year!

Vintage & Vogue

241 East Campbell Ave. Ste A

Campbell, CA

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I'm off work today! My landlord is having new windows put in. I'll be saying farewell to the 1969 ugly aluminum windows and hello to brand new double pane energy efficient windows today! They are putting them in right now. I didn't realize they have to break the stucco off around the back sliding door. The cabinet I have hanging on the wall with all my chintz is on that same wall...Oh my gosh...panic! All the china started rattleing around. I had to quickly move it all at the same time I was holding Beau because he wants to attack these guys! I don't speak Spanish but I did make out that he was telling his guys about antiques. Hopefully he was telling them to be careful! haha

Vintage & Vogue Christmas Part I

This weekend I was at my favorite store, Vintage & Vogue not once, but twice! I went Friday night for their Christmas celebration and then I went back on Sunday to take pictures!

The farmer's market which is every Sunday in downtown Campbell was still open when I took these photos which is why you can see canopies reflected in the window above.

The store looks amazing!

All these photos were taken just as you step in the door! I have many more to share with you throughout the week. I also have a great giveaway coming up later this week! I think you will really like this one! I'll also be announcing my other giveaway winners later this week.

I had such a busy weekend! I started a second supper club and this weekend we had our first dinner on Saturday night and my other supper club met on Sunday night! I made poached pears (in wine) for Saturday and a kale, pancetta, and butternut squash pie with a phyllo dough crust for Sunday! They both turned out really well. I'll share the recipes later. And yes, I'm still on Weight Watchers! haha!

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Vintage & Vogue

241 East Campbell Ave. Ste A

Campell, CA

Show and Tell Friday

This week for Show and Tell I'm sharing some dishes I found at the flea market last weekend for $2 each.

I bought 2 of this pattern below. They were made in Bavaria. I love the roses on these, they remind me of my absolute favorite rose "Pierre de Ronsard", also known as "Eden."

From the same vendor and also $2 I found this Limoges Haviland & Co. plate below. It has a few little chips around the edge but for $2 I couldn't pass it up!

I just love old dishes! I have to say one of the best things about blogging is finding out that so many of you feel the same way!

For all of you who are in the San Francisco Bay Area, Vintage & Vogue (downtown Campbell) is having a Holiday Celebration Friday, November 13th 10:00 am-9:00 pm and a 15% discount will be offered all day! I drove by the other night and all their Christmas decor in the window looked so beautiful!

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If you are joining in on Show and Tell Friday, please remember that your Show and Tell needs to be something from your home or garden. Please read the Show and Tell Guidelines for step-by-step instructions on how to participate.If you would like to join in, please enter your name and leave your exact Show and Tell blog post link, not just your blog link and as a common courtesy link back to my blog. If your link has been removed from MckLinky, please re-read over the guidelines before re-posting, or e-mail me with any questions.

Thank you! I look forward to seeing everyone's posts...it may take me awhile to get around to visit everyone since I work full time but I'll do my best to get to your blog as soon as I can!

My weekend walks

On the weekends I like to walk this trail that is close to my apartment. I brought my camera along last weekend so I could share it with you. I walk about 3 miles. Are you ready to go?









There's a lot of wild life to see...
Those are stray cats but some lady comes out and feeds them regularly.

This trail goes all the way to those mountains you see in the background (up by Lexington for those of you locals)! When I was in better shape I used to do that end of it. It's a great workout climbing those hills! Hopefully I'll be back up there soon!
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I'll have Show and Tell Friday up by 8:00 pm PST tonight for those of you that want to join in!

Eye Candy from Flickr & more!

(click here for photo credit)

I can't tell you how many times I go to Flickr and look at all the photos that I've marked as my favorites. It's the place I go for inspiration!

(Click here for photo credit)

Look at all this beautiful inspiration! Can you tell I love soft colors? Each one of these photos is breathtaking to me and when I put them all together in these mosaics....it's just pure BLISS!

(click here for photo credit)

I can't get enough of pink old English roses!

(Click here for Photo Credit)

I think going through the photos on Flickr and finding my favorites has really opened my eyes to what I like! I think I like pink more than I ever realized!

You must go visit Jermaine at French Kissed. She has set the most amazing table (sneak peek below) and she has dedicated it to me! It is so stunning!!! Her blog is just filled with eye candy!!!

Want some more eye candy? I love this new song from Michael Buble!

My New Toile Pillows

I was at Marshalls a couple weeks ago and spotted these toile pillows! Love them!!! I wanted darker blue pillows for Fall and Winter and these are perfect! (I just changed my slipcovers on my sofa which is why they looked so wrinkled in these photos. It takes a day or so for the wrinkles to relax)

Beau likes them too because they are filled with feathers and nice & soft...

I also changed out my pastel colored plates that I had over my mirror with blue and white but just for the holiday season. In Jan. I'm going back to the softer colors which I like better.

The pillows were only $19.99 for two so I bought another set so I can have an extra set of covers. With a dog and teenagers hanging out on the couch I've learned that with multiple washings they start to look a little tired after awhile so now I'll have a back up pair of covers. I'm going to make covers for this other set of pillows for Lauren's bed but for now I have them in my wicker cart...

This cart is on the landing of my staircase...

Kelly at Rose Vine Cottage Two bought the same pillows in red! We both have the same Ikea sofa too! Click here to go see hers!

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It's not too late to enter the Pfaltzgraff Holiday Dinnerware giveaway. Click here to go to my product review page.

Monthly Giveaway Party

It's time again for my monthly giveaway party. If you are a blogger who is hosting a giveaway on your blog, please sign up with MckLinky below. Also please make sure you link back to my blog so your readers can enter the other giveaways!



NOTE: MckLinky is only used if you are having a giveaway on your blog! If you want to enter to win my giveaway please scroll down to the next post.

My Montlhy Giveaway!

I found this cute little plaque with the bird on top Marshalls. I bought one for me and one to giveaway on my blog! I'm also including this book titled "At Home with White". My friend Lorrie sent me two of these awhile back, one for me and one to giveaway!

It has some beautiful things...I love this dresser!

I'm also including a silver-plate candle stick and some Strawberry-Rhubarb tea light candles.

If you would like a chance to win, please leave a comment below. If you don't have a blog, make sure you include your email address so I can contact you. Because of shipping costs this will be open to those of you in the U.S. and Canada. Deadline to enter is Sat. November 14th at midnight Pacific Time.

Show and Tell Friday

Welcome to Show and Tell Friday! This week I'm going to share some beautiful gifts I got from my blogging friends.

These beautiful cards above are from M ~Tales from OC Cottage. They are from photos she took! I think I'm going to frame the one with the stacked teacups! She also sent me some more glittered starfish! I love these! That German Glass Glitter really sparkles! Did you see the great magazine she found? She wrote about it on her blog! It looks beautiful!
Next up is an adorable Halloween necklace from my friend Joy~Cupid's charm! I enjoyed wearing this for a couple weeks before Halloween and now I have to wait until next year! Joy has such beautiful jewelry and I have quite a collection of it now!
This pretty Cookie Lee bracelet was a birthday present from Stephanie. She knows how much I love shells! I love this!!

Thank you all for the beautiful gifts!

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Just a quick reminder that Monday will be my monthly giveaway party. I'll only be continuing this through the end of this year! There will still be plenty of giveaways...they will just be at random times!

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If you are joining in on Show and Tell Friday, please remember that your Show and Tell needs to be something from your home or garden. Please read the Show and Tell Guidelines for step-by-step instructions on how to participate.If you would like to join in, please enter your name and leave your exact Show and Tell blog post link. If your link has been removed from MckLinky, please re-read over the guidelines before re-posting, or e-mail me with any questions.

Thank you! I look forward to seeing everyone's posts...it may take me awhile to get around to visit everyone since I work full time but I'll do my best to get to your blog as soon as I can!

Beau knows!

Beau knows where the softest, most comfortable spot in our home is!
He doesn't even mind that it's a very girly bed! Sleeping is his favorite pastime...along with barking!
He thinks this is his bed and he just shares it with me to be nice!

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Don't forget to enter my giveaways, if you haven't already!

1. Click here to win Pfaltzgraff Holiday dinnerware on my product review page.


2. Click here to win a $50 Target Gift card by leaving a comment on my interview with Houzz.com
   

Meat Love

In our family we call this Meat Love, not Meat Loaf! That's because when Vince was about 3 years old he asked me one day if we could have Meat Love again for dinner! It took me a few seconds to figure what he was talking about! Ever since then Meat Loaf has been affectionately called Meat Love in our home!
To me, this is the ultimate comfort food-- meat love, roasted-garlic mashed potatoes with chives and roasted brussel sprouts!!! This is the meal I chose as my final meal on Sunday night right before I started Weight Watchers on Monday morning! There won't be any meat love and mashed potatoes for awhile but at least I can still eat brussel sprouts! (Actually, I can still eat meat loaf and potatoes on WW, just not very much).

Here's the guy that made meat loaf so much more fun! This photo was taken last weekend when he was out fly fishing....a major passion of his!
My (very simple, but good) Meat Love recipe:
2 lbs ground beef (or a equal combination of beef, pork, & veal)
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
fresh ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
1 finely diced onion
2 slices of bacon

Preheat oven to 350. Butter loaf pan. Mix all ingredients together (use your hands) except for the bacon. Place meat mixture in loaf pan and lay slices of bacon on top. Bake for 45-60 minutes. Remove from pan and place on serving dish. Serve with ketchup!

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My Current Giveaways:

It's not too late to enter the Pfaltzgraff Holiday Dinnerware Giveaway, just click here to find out how.

There's also still time left to win a $50 Target gift card over on my interview at Houzz.com. Click here for details.

A New Find and a Giveaway!

Back in May I showed you this Pfaltzgraff teapot (on the right) I've had since 1979! Back then, when I was only about 20 years old I really wanted the large coffee pot that matched it but I couldn't really afford it. Well, 30 years later I'm really pleased to say I finally got it! It's the large pot pictured above! I went into a thrift store awhile back and found it for $15 and found out everything in the store was 30% off! Score!

Guess what? Someone from Pfaltzgraff contacted me again for another great giveaway! This one is perfect for your holiday entertaining! Click here to go to my product review page to see what you can win! It's good!!!

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Also, it's not too late to enter to win a $50 Target gift card...just leave a comment on my interview at Houzz.com, click here.

A new little teapot

First I need to mention that if you are having trouble loading my blog it seems to be a problem with Internet Explorer 6. If you are using this old version it is advised that you upgrade your web browser. Hopefully those of you that are having problems will see this before you get that annoying "not responding" message. I'm getting a lot of email from people saying my blog freezes when they open it. One of my readers said once she changed to Firefox she was able to view it again. Now that we've taken care of that business...on to the cute teapot/cup. This was a gift from Susan, one of my readers. She was out here from Arizona (I think) and went to Carmel and then came to Campbell to see my favorite store, Vintage and Vogue. Unfortunately she was there during the week while I was at work so I wasn't able to meet her so she left this gift for me to pick up.

It's a cute little teapot on top of a cup and this beautiful box of Earl Grey tea! Thank you so much Susan, I LOVE it! I'm so sorry I wasn't able to meet you there!

Also, it's not too late to enter to win a $50 gift card from Target by leaving a comment on interview at Houzz.com. Click here to enter!