Poppy and Ivy

My heart pittered AND pattered

Today Laurie came in and brought with her some of her hand glittered bunnies. If you don't smile when you see these it will make me think you kill kitties in back alleys late at night. I mean it. I am not trying to judge you....but REALLY. These are the best things ever.

The vintage signs came in for the auction decorations. LOVE how they turned out.

The weird dreams are starting...the dreams where I show up in a bathroom at the auction (haven't REALLY chosen an outfit yet) or that I printed the wrong date on the invites and it's just me and the co-chairs...and my parents. Oddly...I didn't even see JOHN in that dream. That seems bad.

But it's ALL good. I feel proud. Nervous...but proud.

Happy Wednesday! 

My head is all over the place.....

I have been SO bad about the shop. This is CRUNCH week with the auction. We are talking loose ends to tie up left and right. Again...it couldn't BE a more amazing team. I couldn't have hand picked such a  great group of people with level heads to boot.

Since I have been so lackadaisical about the shop...let's go back in time....For fun..I am going back to this time last year.

How exciting...all that stuff is gone...LOL..

Look, in the days that I had time to SEW...

JOHN trying on a suit he had just brought home. I love the paint by number Last Super behind him. And the fact that he has half of a face...LOL...JOHN is worse than ANY girl when it comes to new clothing. I had to "approve" 4 times. Sheeesssh......

 

Ohhhh...we were in Vegas last year at this time. The same convention (JOHN'S!) moved to Miami this year, but I had to stay home this time :(((((

The view from my bed...literally....

Ahhhh....the good old days. I hope JOHN takes me away again. JUST us!

This is REALLY our backyard! My son took this photo...Mr. Audubon.

Back to auction crap. I mean Important Auction Items of Business......Have a beautiful Tuesday. We are being spoiled rotten in the Pacific NW with the weather. Just lovely as all get out. I know because I have a window next to my computer :)))))

Old Books!

I am a FOOL for old books.

Make it a child's book? Get OUT!

I have scored....

 

The book plates in these books are amazing.  The colors are incredible, no smells, no "funk" as I like to say...so exciting. I Googled them and the prices are OUT OF THIS WORLD...but I will remain honest (gulp) and just price them as I need to price them. So my incredible find is your incredible gain.

I never want to be "That store on Fremont that is so over-priced". So far all the feed back is that we are SOOOO well priced. Woo-hooooooo.

Next Saturday is the Alameda School Auction. I would be lying to say I am not a wee bit nervous, but I am so proud of how the team came together and how the community gave so much. BUT....my daughter's middle school came to me today and said "We have no co-chair and only 3 weeks until the auction...please help us". I had a deer in the headlight look....I am SURE. I would have helped them WAY before I helped my son's school. SO MUCH GUILT! So....I will assist and give advice, but it sounds like they are so far behind.

Poor Oregon Parents! If we had the right assistance at "The Top".....we wouldn't need to do all of this! We live in areas that are taxed up the WAZOOOOOO and we still can't cover our bases! But...I am not the parent that says "That is Oregon's problem"...then you have burnt out teachers, administrators, superintendents....so we will all trudge forth and make of it what we can.  I worry so much how this will effect my kids getting into colleges...but you just have to take a breath and hope for teh best. What else do we do? Leave the state we know???? So sad.....

Happy Weekend to you all!

Re-entry...

We are back. That was one unbelievably LUCKY weekend. The Oregon Coast was very warm, sunny and NO wind. Just insane.

We played all day and all night on the beach.

We'd make impromptu journeys out to the beach at all hours. 

I took my dog out to go potty at 2:10am and felt so safe and at home. I have always had a thing for Cannon Beach. My BIG dream is that we someday live there after we retire and have a condo in Portland so we can shop and enjoy the city. 

I love both extremes...the downtown traffic, honking and four-way stops of Portland and the quiet, shut-down-at-7:00pm life of Cannon Beach.

Both lives have their place.

I found a shop that made me green with envy. Sesame and Lilies in Cannon blew me away.  I went back three times. They felt like me on crack on the main floor...then the upstairs showrooms are me in 6 years...if it all works out the way we plan! LOL...

I carry 6 sets of decorative matches that I just love...they carry 14 designs...that I SAW. They had mixed up chandeliers for lighting....but they had about 20 where I have 6. They took my breath away. Fewer estate items than I have....but MAN....my heart was a' twitter.

I came home to several great e-mails. Lots of good news, then one that mentioned they'd found my blog through this site.  Shop Vintage Portland is on the newer side I THINK (okay...newer to me)...and oh-so-cool. She has a previous blog/site before that I kept getting wind of, having her cards handed to me...then we met at the Kennedy Bargain Hunting 101 Sale and she came and checked me out. While I was gone...of course. At the new spot I have been gone all of about 7 hours and she came during one of those hours!

So much more to show you all...but my eyes are heavy. Happy Wednesday!

I am here.....

 

I am getting a much needed break! And it's the first time my NUTTY dog has ever been off a leash...and came back.

She is in HEAVEN. I think she might sleep for the next 14 hours. And so will I! Happy Sunday....

Dinner Group, new stuff and the Beach

We had dinner group Wednesday which in the BIG picture was hilarious. 4 of the 12 of us are the co-chairs of this auction. We're exhausted, we're out every night doing auction meetings and one husband said to one of the chairs "You're crazy...stay home and relax" and her reply was "Oh...and miss dinner group? Where dinner will be provided and I don't have to clean up???".

See how 60 hours of volunteer work a week CAN have some pay-offs?

I have all my new shop stuff out. It looks so amazing. JOHN worked for me (so I could attend an auction MEETING) and he was surprised at all the new stuff.

This didn't turn out so great in a photo. It's a distressed Terra cotta mushroom for your garden or indoor area...just darling. I will have mine in the garden after I remove all the crazy weeds. Seems one week of nice weather made them TAKE off!

I took my Valentine window out and replaced it...

On the "INCOMING" front..I have new Sublime Stitches coming, new Curly Girl cards and some brand new wall art coming in the next three weeks.

But...more importantly...the family is heading to the coast for a mini-vacation that we deserve SO MUCH I cannot tell you. My husband and I were doing the math and we think the last overnight as a family was 2 years ago. HOW bad is that? JOHN and I head to Vegas for 2 days here and there for conventions, but not family things for some time. I don't count the Christmas trip to Black butte. That was required family stuff...I don't think I personally took a breath and enjoyed 5 minutes of that miserable trip. It was comparable to sitting in a  room with your hand in a blender and seeing if some crazy fool would hit the "on" button. Not kidding..my M-I-L is a loose cannon! She is the blender.....

So. Off I go to pack and do laundry. I am so excited. Mama needs a break!

All of YOU have a lovely weekend. So many of us have a long weekend and others of us...are just going into temporary hiding:))))

Boxes are multiplying like bunnies....

I STILL have that school auction catalog dangling over my head and the actual event date is coming at us like a freight train. If you ever want to test your nerves...agree to help steer an auction that usually takes 3o weeks to prepare for and get it going in 6 weeks. I really hope JOHN doesn't read this...he might mock me. This week has been trying to say the least. And the worst part is how weird the other parents get. They don't want to run it, but they sure want to give their 2 cents worth and all you do is walk around with a plastered smile on your face. The actual planning, catalog, working out figures is a blast to me...the personal part...not so good.

Back to the BOXES...they never ended. I think that they made more boxes after I turned off the lights and went home last night.

Velvet birds ...don't worry...there WILL be about 40 other picture of them because I love them SO much I could cry. I want to hold them, feed them and keep them forever. And yes...I know they are not real.

French glass votives with wire and beaded flowers.

I ran out of Happy Birthday cards today, so I figured I should make more, but somehow a BOMB went off in my craft area (and he's about 9 years old.....thank goodness he's cute) and this is my space right now..

That's just ugly. I think my Friday night will be spent telling my family to let me be alone for an hour in there CLEANING out. This is insane. I have about 5 X 8 inch area to create on an 8 foot by 6 foot table!!!

I got a bit of Easter up and running...I can showcase my DARLING lamb collection even more thee next few weeks. Easter comes EARLY this year!

I might have shown them earlier this week, but they make me SO happy all together! Those faces make ME smile!

On Wednesday I woke up and I warned my family that unlike their last 20 (husband), 13 (daughter) and 9  Valentine Days (Son)...I would NOT make pink hot cocoa, heart pancakes, heart turkey meatballs or heart pizza. And there would NOT be a basket of heart boxers, heart sunglasses, and fun red clothes to wear. I also told them the last 3 days have been INSANE and JOHN has been out of town, so my special Valentine gift to them was that this week I did their laundry and made dinner for them when I truly thought it would be impossible. 

But I was still somewhat sad to find no glitter cards, thumbprint hearts cards or anything pink, red or glittery around the house for me this morning. I'll admit it. I was kind of ticked. I LOVE Valentine's day!

I got to the shop, got all set-up and then I looked down by my register and there was white box with a big red bow. And it had MY name on it. And inside....I got something PINK and shiny! (JOHN says they don't make these "glittery" so this is as close as he could get. I can deal with that).

A pink Nano! a BIG one! I can download Jon Stewart on this one...teeheehe.....and I no longer have to share my iPod with my son. Because when I run and hit my "power song" to get motivated and Little Mermaid's "Kiss the Girl" comes on -or worse...Aly and AJ... I don't want to RUN so much.

My current iPod is probably considered "old", but one of the happiest things I own. When I hear people DON'T have an iPod or Itunes account...I KNOW I shrink back in horror. I don't mean to...it just happens. I love music....I can't imagine not having one of these...but PINK? SHUT UP!

Happy Almost Weekend to you all...hope your Valentine's Day was all you wanted and more.

Happy Valentine's Day to you!

May your day be filled with lots of pink, red & heart shaped food and glitter! But don't eat the glitter...that's yucky.

Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

New Stuff is Fun

I couldn't belive the timing. I had to type up a pretty important document (one of many) for the school auction catalog. Umm...they've been waiting on me and that does not feel good. I typed for days, took a mini half day break yesterday and felt that I paid for it ALL day today! And then...the UPS man walked in with 4 boxes from a company I have wanted to carry for 15 months! Ahhhh...

So, I had to pretend the boxes did not exist.

WHY, WHY, WHY did I watch Rock of Love and Snoop Dog on VH1 instead of writing that up last night?

Stoo-pid, stoo-pid, stoo-pid....<banging forehead with fist>

I DID open Valentine items, because I think it's safe to say...that needed  to get out SOONER than later.

And because...I have waited TOO darn long to have this honor!

Love bird clips...

12 yards of tinsel on a gorgeous wooden spool...I have visions of many fun projects:)

Easter tree....but it looks really cute with the Eiffel Tower book too!

Shutter birdcage...so cute

Oh dear...I have so much shop stuff to do tomorrow. I think I for see a big flip-a-roo of goods! I have only unpacked ONE box!

Photo Frenzy

The shop is busy, life is busy, special orders are rampant and the best part...I FOUND MY KITTY! She walked up to our car as we returned home from dinner Sunday night like nothing had happened! She probably wondered why we were all crying....but life is good again! She looked great but she has eaten NON stop and has slept quite a bit.

Here are some new items that I unpacked yesterday.

 

Some new cards....

My windows...

I love my little stretch of street so much. I come out and peek down to my left and right quite often! SUCH a lovely change! Clean, green and oh-so-pretty!

Happy Day to you!