Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Cool stuff.... :)

 I started writing this and it occurred to me that I'm not sure I've
ever actually said my hubby's name on this blog!!
What the??
This is Rog, short for Roger.
 I call him Love or
Lovey, or Lovekins or Love of my Life or Sweet Cakes
or some other ridiculously mushy name I can think of:)

Rog and I often talk about how we would have been best friends 
when we were little. He loved building card houses,
 and I loved making Barbie
beds out of shoe boxes:) and we both loved what we call
"cool stuff". 
I'm not sure how to describe "cool stuff" but it's just stuff
that we find cool that maybe other people might find
not so cool??


Doing what we do with houses and all, we've come across some really
cool stuff. I love how Rog will bring home things from our houses
that he rescues because he knows I would love them.

Like these huge rusty nails:)
I have no idea what they were used for, but they were in a pile at our
Via Baja property and now they are all happy and snuggled
together in this wooden bowl from Target:)


And check out this perfectly washed out and rusty pulley thingy
that is used on double hung windows.
Rog found this cool thing in the garage of our Coronado property.


And what's not to love about rusty old pencil sharpeners?
One came from our Grove property and the other came
from Via Baja.


"The average pencil is seven inches long, with just
half inch eraser-
in case you thought optimism was dead."
         -Robert Brault


More Via Baja goodies:)
The coolest metal basket and rusty bucket.


Then there's this adorable little thing.
I found this in the garage of one of the historic houses
we did in AZ. Even after scrubbing it, it still
has a hint of oil smell from the old bits and screws and
garage stuff that was inside it.


I don't mind it. I imagine some sweet old man with
crinkly hands opening and closing those little
drawers looking for just the right little screw for his project:)

It houses my baubles now.



And that my friends, is today's lesson in  
what Rog and I like to call
 "cool stuff".

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Mama wants trout.... :)

Look at my adorable mama and my 
adorable baby girl. These two share a January 13th
birthday. For two years in a row, I've been lucky to have
my mom come and visit and share her special day with us:)

This pic was taken last year when we took her out to eat her
favorite thing ever- trout.
My mom LOVES trout.


This year when I asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday,
she said "I want to stay home.... and eat trout."
Oh my gosh she cracks me up.

I totally thought we were going to go OUT for trout. 
But stay home it is!!

My mom loves the color blue, and Rio loves gold. So I 
scrounged around between Rio's stash and mine to 
come up with the table setting.

I found an old curtain panel that was the only blue thing in my 
house, so I used it for the tablecloth.
The dinner dishes are Rio's. They are vintage Haviland given to 
her by Chase's sweet grandma. 
The small plates and glasses are from Target:)


I remembered there was this bush behind the church across the street from
my house that has these perfectly blue colored berries on it.
So I went and clipped me a few:)








I thank the heavens I have Chase. He loves to cook, so we tag teamed this one.
He cooked up the veggies and those trouts with the heads and the eyes
because....ew.
I made the salad and the mushroom quinoa and my sweet hubby
grilled up the crab legs.


And just look at that smiley face!
She was so so happy with her feast.


Good thing I'm a napkin hoarder and can afford for a 
few of my white ones to get completely destroyed
by the black char on the crab legs!
It was worth it though, they were sooo tasty!!


We finished our feast with an incredible gluten free 
strawberry chocolate cake from Lilac Patisserie in Santa Barbara.
If you're ever in the area and want some amazing gf food?
Lilac Patisserie is where it's at. Everything on the menu is gluten free!




I put 8 candles on the cake because Rio turned 28, 
and my mom turned....
80!!!
Yeah I know! She looks amazing huh?
There must be something in that trout!

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Back soon... :)

 I'm showing you this seriously cool green car because...
it's seriously so cool!!!

Truth is, my hubby's adorable sister and her beautiful girls
are here for a visit, so I've been busy collecting memories
and laugh lines...


and just not had the time to think about this ole blog...


and I'm totally ok with that:)


They all leave today, and my mom comes in this afternoon!!
I love my family to pieces and just want to spend every minute I can
with them:)
I'll be back next week!

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Show and tell..... :)

Did you LOVE show and tell as much as I did as a little girl??
It was seriously one of my favorite things about school.
Lord knows it wasn't math.

I remember being fascinated and so excited to see what
others thought worthy enough for show and tell:)

One year I brought my prized Baby Brother Tender Love doll. He was 
anatomically correct and now that I think about it, that must have
been quite the controversial doll back then!

I got him for Christmas that year and I loved him. 
 He wore adorable blue shorts and a striped blue shirt. He came with
a bottle and after I fed him I could squeeze his tummy and 
he would pee. AWESOME!! I tell ya!!

I still to this day cannot believe my very conservative mother bought that for me.
I'm sure she was sick of hearing me beg for it.


Fast forward 40+ years.
Let's play show and tell and I'm gonna show you my most favorite
Christmas present this year.

Check out Puff Daddy people.
Is he not the gnarliest most awesome thing you ever did see?!

I spotted him in a store downtown within days of moving here a 
year and a half ago.
 It was love at first sight for me.
But just as you would imagine with a moniker like Puff Daddy, he
was super pricey. I settled for buying the much less expensive Puff Baby
you see sitting on the left.

 I never forgot about Puff Daddy though, and I made sure to mention him
like a million times to anyone who would listen over the last year
and a half so they wouldn't 
forget about him either:)


Well wouldn't you know that keeper of a man of mine bought me
Puff Daddy for Christmas!!
I'm pretty sure I squealed like a little school girl.
No I'm certain I did.


Now Puff Baby has his Puff Daddy.
They both however have mentioned they are not complete without....
Puff Mama..... :)

there WILL be more to this story..... :)