My Very Own Posie

Imagine my excitement when the mail came today! My little package came from Alicia Paulson. I am now officially the proud owner of my own scrumptious posie!

I love the red polka dots and sweet strawberries. What a great accessory for summer! They're offered in many different colors. Go pick one out for yourself or as a sweet little gift for someone dear to you!

Alicia's attention to detail is evident even in her packaging. She also sent one of her beautiful, excellent quality postcards! Thank you Alicia!!

I hope the start to your week is as wonderful as mine!

Cupcake Swap Update

Yay! Ele has received the package I sent her for the Cupcake Swap. It was sooo exciting putting it all together! What can be more fun than cupakes?? I thought for someone as creative as she seems to be, I'd put together some crafting fun. For more pics you can look here, here,and here.

Card Creating Kit (directions and recipes included)

Cupcake Baking Kit (recipes included)

Sewing Fun Kit (Ele is on her own for this one!)

Someone as wonderful as Ele needs some pampering now & again!

A place for her to write her ideas down
I just know she'll make great things with these! I can't wait for another swap. They're so much fun! And if you haven't done one, yet - it's a must!!

Come Tour With Me...

If you're anything like me, you enjoy getting glimpses inside other people's homes. I just came across a cd of pictures I had taken at a historical home tour in Mesa, AZ this last February.

I've enjoyed looking at them again and thought you might, too! So I think it would be fun to feature one home a day for the next 3 or 4 days. Is that okay? Please ignore the people inside as I wasn't the only one going on the tour and couldn't just ask all these other paying people to move aside for me to snap away!

In the first picture, I love the simple beauty of her collections.

Clocks in the nook, plates on the wall, tureens on the stand.

More collections...

Simple cottage kitchen - glass cupboards, simple color palette.

Another view of the kitchen - LOVE the Stay For Cake sign.

Very whimsical!

Outside of this sweet home - darling sloped roof.

Thanks for tagging along! I hope it was worth it...

Weekend Finds

Here are a few things I found this weekend either at Our Secret Garden or an antique store in town.

I think these will look so sweet in a child's room.

A great little jar for whatnots...

A very darling children's book

Isn't it precious?
Love this picnic basket - it's been on my list of things to get. When I've looked on Ebay at them, I've never seen one with handles going this way. Unique! I'd like to maybe paint it a pretty color and sew a liner for it. I saw one somewhere recently on someone's blog that I fell in love with! I'm going to try looking for it again...

We're driving to Portland, 1 1/2 hrs south of us, to pick up my oldest son from the airport. He's been in AZ visiting his grandparents for a week. It's been nice having a break from that much more laundry and I can't seem to keep him fed! I have heard that's what teenage boys are all about, and now I know it's true!!

Hope your day is full of sunshine!

I've Been Tagged - Twice!!

Okay, I've procrastinated enough...I was originally tagged by Ele and now Kim. Thinking of 7 weird things is almost more than I can handle (although I'm sure my husband/kids can easily come up with at least 14) so I'm going to do it all in one if that's okay! Here are the rules…. each player starts with 7 random weird facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. At the end of your blog, you need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog! I hate crooked pictures. I have to always straighten them even if they're on a store's walls! If I'm in someone else's home I'll straighten, but only if they're not looking - because even I'm not that tacky. But it will drive me crazy if I can't. I'll keep looking at the picture and think how much better it would look straight. Sounds a little obsessive! I pick things up off the floor all the time with my toes. Drives people crazy. Not that I'm lazy...just why waste a talent like that?? When I'm upset about something, I automatically start going around the house organizing and cleaning. I think much better that way! I'm a theme type person. When I decorate I have to do themes, whether it's subjects or colors. Example: Bees, daisies, yellow, green OR red, white, strawberries, retro OR aqua, pink, beachy. But then after a few weeks I like change and love so many colors, that I'll want to totally change everything around. It's horrible and drives me crazy, but I love so many things and enjoy decorating so much. I've thought of opening a shop so I can constantly be doing displays. It's a standing joke with my family that they'll come home and everything will be different or totally rearranged. I wish sooo much that I could just put everything together and not worry about my stuff all coordinating! Is there a help group for this sort of thing?? I've started doing each room one theme, that way I can have it all! But then my house won't "flow". I get very motion sick and always drive. My husband has learned it's for the best... In southern AZ, everything is straight and flat but then I got married and moved to western WA where everything curves and goes up and down. I DESPISE the 360 degree off/on ramps. Besides, I love to drive! I type in my dreams - now that drives me crazy!! Ever since I was a sophomore in HS typing class, I've typed out my thoughts and nighttime dreams. That's 17 years of constant typing. I think it's what helped me be a really good and fast typist. I was even recruited from my class at age 15 to work for a car dealership because of my typing skills. We don't have a TV in our home. So many other things for us to be doing and we can hardly find the time to do them as it is! We really don't miss it, either. Now I'm supposed to tag 7 more people, but most blogs I read have already been tagged. So I'm not tagging anyone specific, but if you haven't been tagged yet please consider yourself TAGGED!!