Vacay Recap

I am back from vacation. I was in the Pacific Northwest for 9 days!

I went for a conference in Portland Mon.-Thurs. and then vacay the rest of the time. Conference was great, learned a lot, and made a new friend.

I am not a great flyer. I was flying since the womb, but as I got older I developed this non-love for flying. My dad is a pilot and my family has flown in everything and in all kinds of weather.

Anyway, I take my seat - always an aisle and near the wing section. Two seats over from me was a really nice lady. We chatted for a few minutes before the center seat occupant arrived. It was the pilot flying the return flight. (A HA! He would be the first to react to anything off.)

We all arrived at our destination safely. That afternoon I went to the Portland zoo for the opening reception for the conference. It was so hot all of the animals had been put away. I don't know where they went, they just weren't any around.

Next morning, conference begins. I get my coffee and breakfast and pick a random table. I exchange a few words with the other people at the table. The lady sitting across from me and I start chatting. Five seconds later I realize it is the lady from the plane! Too funny and small world. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Karen and spending time with her.

Skip to vacay. My husband flew out on Thursday afternoon when the conference ended. Yipee, vacation time! He had never been to Portland before and I knew he would love it as much as I do. (And he did!)

We spent the evening in Portland and then on Friday headed up to Port Angeles, WA. Not a ton to do here, so we took the ferry across to Victoria, BC. Beautiful! Spent two nights there. Great weather, sight-seeing and meals.

On Sunday we got on the 6am ferry, came back to P.A. and then headed to Forks, WA. It is the next town on the map and yes, it is the home of Twilight.

We reached Forks around 9amish and went to the coffee shop for breakfast. We had the best breakfast - yum. I did visit the Twilight gift store to see what they had. I did not go on the Twilight tour though. Actually, my husband offered, but I declined.

Next stop the beaches - we went to LaPush which is also a Twilight location. It is home to the wolf pack in the book. I am from FL. It was not like any beach I had ever been to. I did like it though, it was different and had its own beauty about it.

Next beach was Astoria. Interesting small town, cold, gray and good brew pubs! At one point in the early evening, I had a shirt, sweat jacket and a hoodie sweat-shirt on.

Next up - Gearhart. We ate lunch at the McMenimen brewpub/restaurant at the golf club. It was really windy and really disappointing. I have been to two other of their locations and this sucked. The other locations are hip, revitalized old buildings, lots of character, etc. The one in Gearhart had no life to it. Sad.

After Gearhart, we headed back into Portland. The super high temps had died down and it was great. Had drinks at this restaurant, The Original. They had a hamburger (the Voodoo Doughnut Burger- natural beef patty, cheddar, glazed doughnut) that had glazed doughnuts for the bun. OMG! I did not have one, but the thought of it still haunts me in a greedy way. Dinner was at Mama Mia's Tratorria and then breakfast the next morning was at Mothers's Bistro & Bar. These locations are not to be missed!

We are thankful to have had a safe and relaxing vacation (been too many years) and to have made it home safely.

Stay tuned for more projects and my hotel reviews!

Have a good weekend!

Vera

Happy Friday!

I am posting today about my new love. I got a postcard catalog in the mail this week from Vera Bradley. I have only once purcahsed a Vera product and it was from the clearance. (Yes, I am a cheap-butt) I do have a few other items that were gifts - thanks Cheryl!

Anyway, I have fallen in love with this new bag-

And I love the name - the bag is called So Over It. Hah! That is me on many days...

Do love Vera? What is your favorite bag (doesn't have to be a VB)?

Friday's Fabulous Finds

I was on a mission Friday; fabulous finds. I was inspired by Kristina @ The Purple Pea, she had a great find of a sweet tea pot that cost more in elbow grease than money!

I started at Target, only because I had a gift card from Christmas to use. I found three small pillows for $3.74 each. I love the white one with the green embroidery and green satin ribbon. The other two are fine and will help on the daybed.

Next I found this monkey night light. He was $3 and change, so in the basket he went. He is a rechargeable night light. They also had a blue bird, but it was still regular price at $12 something. (When we have a child, and if it is a boy, then I have a whole animal theme planned. No decor planned if it is a girl, yet. See the fertility doc on Tuesday - fingers crossed for good test results.)

Next I found this necklace. It was marked down from $9.99 to $6.98. I was still on an acquisition buzz when I took this picture, so I didn't try real hard for a good shot.

After work I went to my favorite home consignment shop. I had been on the hunt for a dresser for the blue room. I didn't find a dresser, but did find these two pictures for the house.

A great thing about this shop is that you get 10% off the price every 30 days and I have a shopper card, so I get an additional 5% off. YIPPEEE!

The first picture is pretty big. I had only seen it in smaller sizes and really like it on a larger scale. The second picture is in tribute to my girls - Daisy, Zoe and Guinness. I collect bulldog statues and pictures. (I hate the word figurines, not sure if statue is the right word...)
Anyway, the frame on this is worth WAY more than I paid for the whole picture.

I was still on a find "high" on Saturday, so we went to the once a month antique show. It was fine, not many bargains. I did buy these two prints from an old book. I think they will look nice once they are matted and framed. (Another one of my things - Bees!)

I am off now to figure out where to hang my finds and clean the house. Have a great day!

Project Status Report

I hope you had a great 4th of July!

This is my girl, Guinness. She was feeling in the spirit all of 5 seconds.

Didn't do much at all here. I did think about my projects, but that was about it.

Most of my projects are for my guest room - the Blue Room. This is going to be our nursery - one day, hopefully soon! The room is turning out pretty girly. I tried for a neutral palate, but couldn't find a look without having to repaint the room.
I am torn about what to do with my frame. Here is its latest look:

Okay, not loving it yet. I am thinking about trying it with out the white paper. I would like to have the blue wall show through around the R. Not sure if the frame will hold the single pane of glass or not. More trial and error to come.

The chair is done. I found a cushion at Pier1 that I like and that goes with the room. I sprayed that chair with white gloss spray paint and it looks good to go. I like the flowers with the stripes on the cushion.

I wanted a chandelier for the new light. I wish I had a picure of the old light. YUCK. It was the square glass, boring as ever. The chandelier was out, our ceilings aren't terribly high and my husband was installing it, so he had his say on it.

Here is the new light. I like it and it is SO much better that the old one. It will be as girly-fancy with crystals as I will get, so it stays.

(Overlook the textured ceiling!)

I found this metal shell picture at one of my favorite shops and added it to my beach decor.

Thanks for stopping by and Stay tuned!

All feedback/suggestions welcome people!

Hump Day Slump

Yesterday in my staff retreat at work we had a guest that talked about our Birkman results. (If you don't know about Birkman, here is the short version - personality assessment that facilitates team building, executive coaching, leadership development, career management and interpersonal conflict resolution) One thing that rang SO true was when we don't have or make use of a creative outlet we can suffer in our personal and professional life. AMEN!

I can feel this, for lack of a better word, grouchiness come over me and I start looking around for a project. I have several projects started, but none really completed yet.

Here are some projects that I am working on:

This is for my guest room or better known as the blue room. Stay tuned!

I found this old fan at one of my favorite haunts. There is no off/on switch, you just plug it in. The first time I plugged it in I was so happy that it worked and then I got really excited because it was oscillating. My husband corrected me, it was just vibrating so much that it was moving around on the table. Oh well. Where to put it?

I don't know if I will make it to the beach this summer, so I brought the beach to us!

More to come!

Happy Saturday!

I hope you are having a happy Saturday!
I am so glad it is summertime. It is still busy at work, I will complain all summer about the heat, I will hate mowing the lawn and may never get my garden under control - but I am enjoying the summer!

Things I love about summer- LL Bean flip-flops (hated them growing up), pedicures (current color is chocolate brown), popsicles (sugar-free orange current fav), fruity adult beverages (this summers is lemonade, gin, strawberries and basil), planting a garden, the hammock, cooking on the grill, eating outside, evening walks with my husband, vacation ( or dreaming about one), summer Friday's at work, yard sales/antique markets, all those projects I have been putting off.

I am sure I could go on~!

Counting the days till March 21st

Can't wait till Saturday! Not only is it the first day of Spring, but the Twilight DVD comes out. I am having a bloody Mary brunch on Sunday to view the DVD with my OCD (Obsessive Cullen Disorder) friends. I haven't had this many folks over since before we did our renovations ( or survived our renovation nightmare!). I think I decided to host the brunch in January, so the DVD not coming out till 3/21 has given me time to think about those lingering projects. I was surprised how many there are - some newer than others. I have two old mirrors that I have had sitting in my bedroom closet for almost a year now. One I got a antique store and the other was a salvage piece from a funky interior designer cast off store that is only open a couple of times a year. The smaller, antique mirror got hung last weekend. That was the easier of the two projects. The larger one involves hanging picture molding in the bedroom, so not sure when that will happen. Plus, I am a little nervous that the mirror is going above the head of our bed and it is a substantial mirror. Possible head injury vs aesthetics?

Here is a picture of the finished antique mirror-

Back to Twilight -

I can't tell you how much this book has done for me and my OCD work friends. It has been a great source for a light hearted, informal book club at lunch and in the hall. Silly reminiscing about first loves, lost loves, why men aren't (and can't really be) like Edward Cullen.

The beautiful lullaby in the movie that Edward "wrote" for Bella is based on a piece by Yiruma. Finding Yiruma's "A River Flows in You" inspired me to start playing the piano again. (A doctor in my piano class says that this kind of activity helps with brain function and flexibility - I wonder if I can list this as my exercise when I go for my physical?)

And most of all, I am reading again! Yippee! I go through periods where I just don't read. I was barely reading magazine articles. Since I started reading the Twilight books, around 12/28, I have probably read 13 books. Granted, these are not major works, but I am reading and enjoying it. I just finished the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris. The HBO series, True Blood, is based on her books. They are great, fun and easy reads. (Secret confession - I may - may love these books more than Twilight - shhh.) (I Vampire Eric!)

The next one in the series won't come out till May, so I am going to read some of my old favorites - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Rebecca byDaphne du Maurier.