Memories....past and present!

This week my memories spanned many generations.....I loved every minute.

 

I had so much fun with my bestie Annette!  We have been friends forever.  She is doing a spring makeover in her living room and got this amazing rug (bottom right) and we painted her coffee table to match...love it...turned out so nice, but the best part was spending time with her and our girl talk as we worked on our little project.....she is an amazing person! We have many more projects planned and we just have the best time doing anything or nothing!

 

 And remember my bench from last week?  I added a wreath and nest of blue eggs and for our anniversary Annette gave us this 'Seaside Treasurers' box which fits perfectly under the bench and just the pop of color this part of the room needed.....we love it!

 My little guys were into the Leprechaun spirit this week, complete with mustaches and Brody chose to wear his on his shirt....viva la difference!

 When I was a little girl my grandma MaMa Auten lived in a tiny gingerbread house that sat up on concrete blocks and had beveled glass windows (wish I had one!) and crystal doorknobs (have those).  She had to heat water on her stove for her bath (cast iron clawfoot tub) and used a wash board to wash her clothes (I have the wash board hanging over my washer/dryer) and heated her little house with this gas stove with these grates.  When she died in 1976 at almost 94 years old she still lived alone in her house....very independent woman.  I am lucky to have many of her things, her plate collection, her dresser, her rocking chair, her breadbox, etc., Adam often teases me that I am going to recreate her house some day.....not a bad idea!  I am ever so glad that I talked my mom and dad into keeping this stove for me.  I have hauled it everywhere I have ever lived and now that I have a little extra time I wanted to get it out and clean it up and maybe use it on our patio.  When we pulled out the box it was in we found this dusty old jar in the box with it.......

 It had all kinds of papers inside....I knew better to think it was old stocks and bonds like on the tv shows, but I wondered, what could be so precious?

 So I carefully took each and everyone out and some just fell apart in my hands....

 And her treasurers?  Recipes from 1938....love that....she was an amazing cook in her tiny little kitchen and shared love through her food and this just reminded me of that!  We have so many memories of her cooking masterpieces!  My daddy would have been 18 years old when these precious recipes were put in that jar; he died at 92 in 2011.

 And speaking of tiny little kitchens....mine got a work out this week.  I felt very special when Dylan wanted to have his birthday carnival at our house.  Knowing Kristen is so prepared and creative I just let her take it over and helped out where I could.  I tried hard not to twitch seeing my things out of order....and once I dealt with that...it was so fun!

 She made this amazing sign that I thought fit well with the them Dylan chose 'Vintage Carnival'...well he actually chose Carnival, but mommy put the spin on it a bit :)

 A tower of cupcakes frosted with mustaches and carnival tickets trimmed the holder....

 The best gift ever and the only thing the boys asked for was that Uncle Adam come for the party and he did and what would we have done without his help I can't imagine. He just makes everything better!

 What is a carnival without a spinning prize wheel?  Brian and Kristen mastered this!

Dylan checks out the popcorn machine, cotton candy machine, hot dogs, munchies, veggie trays and fruit trays...

 Peanuts!

 So many fun games with prizes.....ring toss, ball toss, shoot the ball off the tee with nerf gun.  I did not get any pictures once the munchkins arrived but there were sack races that all the adults got in on too.  It was so much fun!

 The kids and adults loved this game....can you believe there is 151 gum balls in this?  One lucky winner guessed 131...pretty close!

 Cute extra touches....

 And my circus tent creation was the backdrop for pictures of all the guests holding this dumbbell she made and you can turn the sign for worlds strongest man or worlds strongest woman....how cute is that.  Rocky won that by the way....

 All for this very special boy who baked and decorated his own cake...his great great grandma, MaMa Auten would be so proud! I can't believe he is 8...he is special, amazing, smart, creative, challenging, caring, loving, mouthy, athletic, funny....all things an 8 year old should be! 

Happy 8th Birthday Dylan!

Hardest lesson I have ever had to learn......life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful....I have struggled all my life with perfectionism and  the search for it has been elusive and caused me many heartaches and triumphs....I have seen my son and grandson struggle with the same passion/curse to be perfect....I have seen people that have a carefree attitude and they are much happier than I am.....it is in my DNA and that makes it hard to change....but I am working on it.....working...working...working on it!  I am going to find the beauty in imperfection....I just know it!   BALANCE!

 

Imperfection is Perfect

I have been an off again - on again Pinterest stalker.....I try to stay away from it's temptations and every time I get on it I become obsessed with a project....this time it was a little white bench.....luckily I found one easy on Craigs List and it was an adventure to get it....one for my future book!  Steve is amazed I can cram  place  one more piece of furniture in this house....but I manage!

It is a 1940's piece and marked on the bottom and when I got it home I decided to leave it perfectly imperfect, with all the 'chippiness' it has weathered for the last 70 some years.  Its imperfections make it perfect.  But it looked a little lonely...so I had some left over material from this project:

 and some burlap and an old pillow......

 so a little stitch here.....

 and a little stitch there......

And a relocated blue bird made it a little less lonely!  Now I am eyeing the candlesticks and thinking painting them a robins egg blue might be nice.....hmmmmmmm

 A special friend had a birthday this week!  He is a lover of vintage candy and sparkling apple cider....I whipped this up for him to celebrate his special day as he is special to us!

 We have had leprechaun fever this week!  Brody is doing great with his coloring, he has improved so much and he wanted to color the leprechauns to hang on my fridge, next to the leprechaun his mommy colored 24 years ago at his age!

 Then as we all slept that little green rascal came in and made havoc and left some Leprechaun treats!  Rocky witnessed the whole escapade! 

 And because life has been crazy with Steve's medical tests and undiagnosed pain....we did a getaway to escape life for awhile.....we have long loved Long Beach and have lots of good memories there so decided to head there and meet up with old friends.  One of our friends has a winery in Mexico and supplied this incredible vintage to share at dinner.....

 I was so wrapped up in conversation and catching up with old friends I forgot to take pictures....however, this salute to Bocelli serenade was amazing and I am glad it was captured.

 A special dessert plate was made for us by our friend and owner.....yum!

 We also enjoyed the Long Beach Pike and waterfront.....so sunny...in the 80's!

 And headed to the Vintage Long Beach Flea Market.....love that place.  My favorite item - these....some day I will have these!

 Vintage games and lots of memories.....

 Inspiration for a new project!

 My haul:  crates for Kristen (after lots of pictures and negotiations), a framed French brochure for me and a Goldwater Ruler.....and a million project ideas!

 A close up of my ruler....for my Political Campaign collection.....

 And speaking of imperfection....my attempt at making a big top tent for a special birthday next week....

That should be interesting!

Have a perfectly imperfect week!

Focus in the darker moments to see the light.....

My glaring objective lately:  Focus.....not just focus, but focusing on the right thing!  I have had my share of challenges and obstacles, just like everyone else... I don't have control over how they come at me or why they happen;  I do have control over is how I deal with them and how I focus on the realities of the situation....not being the victim of a situation or someone's attack or misunderstanding....but knowing my own truth and focusing on the positive side of things....easy, no....does it come natural to me....no....am I working on it....yes!

With the continual recovery from Steve's surgeries dragging on....and more test that are scheduled, we declared a get away....Palm Springs is a close by favorite of ours. 

 

We were greeted by this incredible full rainbow outside our room....just spectacular in the blue skies and with the mountain and palm trees.  We  walked and ate and sat by the pool and relaxed and soaked in the sun....PS reminds me of growing up in Phoenix....the smell of the desert, the plants, the warmth of the sun and the beauty of nature.....

 We always get a kick of going by Elvis' Honeymoon house and Nancy Sinatra's mid century modern retreat.  It is like the 60's are alive and well in PS

 This was new....a statue of Marilyn Monroe....it is huge....just look at the guy standing under it to get an idea of scale....

 We like to stay over a Thursday for the weekly Street Fair....they close down the main street and all the vendors come and everyone in town and visitors gather....it reminds me of the Western life of an European Plaza....this food wagon was amazing....

 This artist had some bright and cheerful work!

 I loved this booth of Vintage dresses....this one was adorable....

 My splurge was this rose gold sea themed necklace....hard to see but it has rhinestones on all the figures...starfish, sea horse, fish, sand dollars....etc.  love it

 We came home and I packed up Valentines Day and drug out St. Pats.....

 A few little things to attract luck and leprechauns!

 We had a sleep over with the boys....Brody loves to use the Keurig to make hot chocolate...

 He was so inspired with this cup of warmth he recorded it in his diary, complete with picture of the mug.....he is so dang cute.

 My bestie Annette wanted me to go to a new store opening and of course I said yes!
We got there so early we were the first ones in line and greeted by the CEO of the store, Yoshi, from Japan.  What a gentleman!  He chatted us up and gave us all the scoop about things and there were over 800 people in line when it opened.  It was really fun and exciting, music, drawings, games, etc.  But we were so tired when we got in we were not in the mood to shop....hahahahahhahahaha.....only her and I could talk for 3 hours and never have a quiet minute!

 Right from there I high tailed it to the ball park for Brody and Dylan's game....I love baseball and love that my boys love it....

 They are really improving in their skills and knowledge of the game.....

 Gramps got two tomato plants for the garden and we got those in the ground too....they both love to dig in the dirt and grow things....

 Along with their love of fish.....they are hoping to add to their aquatic pets for their birthdays....

 So we did a little scouting at the pet store.....

Kristen and I also headed to LA to see The Talk, got lots of prizes and drove around our old stomping ground....it was fun to spend the day with her and get my LA fix!

Focusing on the positive and fun things in life.....they far outweigh bad!  Have a great week!