Monday, November 30, 2009

Paperwhites!

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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!

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Show & Tell Friday

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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!

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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!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Thanksgiving Past

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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.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

New Finds!

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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.)

Monday, November 23, 2009

Vacation!

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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!

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Show & Tell Friday

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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!


♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

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!

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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!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Vintage & Vogue Christmas-Part III

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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.