Happiness is...

...a good movie


Saw the latest Harry Potter movie with my family. An excellent adaptation of the book this time around. Alan Rickman as Severus Snape thrills me. I would pay good money to just sit and listen to him read the telephone book to me. That voice of his...such bliss.






...a trip to the bookstore



Went to Barnes and Noble and picked out a few new books to read next month while recovering. A new Tudor book, of course, on Jane Boleyn, and two Julia Child books since I'm looking forward to the Julie/Julia movie. I wish I'd felt better so I could have stayed longer to look through some other books, but I was hurting and quite tired by then so we went home before I could max out a credit card on all those great books I found.



...and a good meal.

We then went home and made some homemade pizza and enjoyed a little glass of wine, too.

All in all, I had a great weekend. It was finally warm enough again to go to the pool twice so I managed to get some good exercise, too. I feel much more relaxed and at peace.

Hope everyone else had a great weekend.

Gratuitous Vintage Rabbit Pictures

Because fluffy bunnies always cheer me up...

These two really crack me up...

An old primer - such a pretty illustration!

And thank you for the good wishes, everyone! I had a wonderful day at the pool. The weather finally warmed up, though the water was rather cold. I also got some craft supplies through the mail and am very much inspired for new projects. I'm in a much happier mood and promise no more dreary posts. :) It's all sunshine and smiles from now on. And crafty, vintage-y posts, of course.

Have a GREAT weekend!!!!

Time Flies...

...even when you aren't having fun. A whole week goes by without a post - I've been a bit preoccupied. Wednesday was spent all day in the hospital for pre-op tests (CT scans, blood drawn, x-rays, etc. etc.). I've been x-rayed so much I no longer need a night light - I'm glowing in the dark. The worst part of it all, though is being in nothing but a flimsy hospital gown while one doctor examines me and three more plus a nurse stare at me like a specimen beneath their microscope. Actually it was better than last time - then there were four observing doctors with the nurse and surgeon - all in one tiny little exam room with no room to spare and everyone shuffling around when I'm requested to walk on my tippy toes and then heels and get onto the table. My x-rays were up all over the room like wallpaper for them all to enjoy. Just about the worst nightmare for someone as shy as me. I'm just so darn interesting of a case, the nurse told me. I'm so thrilled to be so interesting...never mind my feelings, doctors. By all means, talk about me like I'm not there. The nurse was the only one that could tell how uncomfortable I was - she was nice. When another person knocked on the door and tried to enter she actually told him to go away - there's no more room! lol

Anyway - enough complaining. I do so hate dreary posts, but I hope you'll forgive me if I felt the need to vent - it was a really awful day. I'm defintely in the mood to forget about the all too near future and focus on some inspirational ideas and photos.

First, Black Apple's post on her Renegade booth - oh how I love her set up. Just the kind I've dreamed about having one day. I covet her vintage red suitcase the most...seems too good to be real...maybe a reproduction?

detail from Black Apple photo - see her blog for more

Which of course got me looking for red suitcases. I'm just drooling over these:

Handmade luxury suitcases from Globe-Trotter

This one, though I forgot where exactly I found it...

Red is one of my very favorite colors...I hope I find a cute vintage suitcase in that color one day. My other favorite for suitcases is maybe white...or green...or, well who the heck am I kidding? I love vintage suitcases, period. :)

Happy Friday, everyone. I hope to finally get to the pool again this weekend - it's been downright cold this month - 70's in July in St. Louis?? Unheard of - it's a conspiracy to keep me from the pool, I tell you.

Squirrely Friday

Last weekend we went to a little flea market and the only thing we brought home was this little guy:

My mother fell in love with it, but my first thought was, this squirrel looks like he's on crack. lol

But the more I looked at it the more I realized he reminded me of the squirrel in Over the Hedge.

Doesn't he look like Hammy?

I loved that character in the movie, Hammy totally stole the whole film - I thought the rest of it was quite boring, but whenever Hammy had a scene I was laughing hysterically. :) They should do another movie with a much bigger part for him.

Just thought I'd share my vintage Hammy with you. Happy Friday!

Getting Closer...

As my operation looms closer it's becoming more and more real to me and just a little bit, okay - a lot - scary. I've had to ask relatives and friends to donate blood for my operation as I will need quite a bit so I'm beginning to feel like a vampire. Give me your blood!! And on Wednesday I go in for a whole day of tests and doctor visits. I'm having a CT scan, blood work, EKG, a bone density test, a visit with the surgeon, and a visit with my anesthesiologist. Whew, that'll be a fun day.

So, to cheer myself up, I bought my first Black Apple print. :)




I'm thinking of maybe taking it to the hospital to have something pretty to look at. And with all that morphine I'll likely have some interesting dreams about the little couple in their terrarium and the house that is too small for them. lol

Off I go to finish painting the pew...it's coming along quite nicely, as soon as it is finished I'll try to take a good picture.

Happy Thursday!!

Inspiration Tuesday: Cottage Style Bathrooms

I love the Cottage style. You could call it a Country Style, Shabby Chic, etc., but it all boils down to a few simple elements that make my heart go pitty pat:

Vintage furniture/decorations

Light and airy colors (pale pink, blue, yellow, etc.)

Various shades of white (painted furniture, bowls, shelves, etc.)

Homey touches (which some might call clutter)

Beadboard or wainscoting

All of which you can see here:

Oh how I love the idea of a large armoire in the bathroom holding towels, soap, etc. I envy people with large bathrooms where not only an armoire can fit, but maybe even a chair!

The glass jar with soaps - so cute! The vintage mirror - adorable, but whyever did they put the towel bar there and then the mirror is so high up no one can even look in it?? I like mirrors on walls simply to bounce the light off of, but a mirror like this definitely deserves to be looked into.

Cottage style can be divided also into different country styles - French, English, Swedish, etc. This French Cottage bathroom is so cute!

image from housetohome.co.uk

I absolutely could not live in a house with a modern style. So as we start to pick out things for our new bathroom (still in its gutted stage so far) we absolutely HAD to find the right vanity to suit our taste. My first thought was that I don't want the typical modern vanities on sale at nearly every hardware store or cabinet place I can think of. I want something that looks like old furniture, so I thought of using an existing dresser from our house or a flea market or something and altering it. But then my operation got moved up and our deadline is on the horizon so we swung by a hardware store just to see what they have.

At first it was the usual typical ultra boring vanities, and then super duper modern minimalist vanities...but then I saw this!

You'll have to trust me when I say in person it is even more beautiful. It definitely fit the bill of looking like a small victorian cabinet repurposed into a vanity. I was far more interested in this piece than anything else in the store. And the best news is you could upgrade it to a bigger sin Which looks like an old desk! It holds two sinks - and yet another style

So lovely! But the more I looked at it the more I thought, it's gorgeous, but it's so dark and ornate...does it really go with the Cottage style we were hoping for?? Then I saw this one:

Same company, but this one is more Cottage style and the vintage white color is just right! It also comes in larger sizes like this: And the best part is it already comes with the counter top and sink so no need to search for those things to fit it - perfect. The pictures really don't do it justice so if you'd like to see them in person you can go to the store or website and zoom in on the pictures. All cabinets are found at Lowes.

So now we must pick out flooring and tile for around the tub. I'd like a nice tan/off white stone kind, similar to the one in our kitchen backsplash. The color of the walls I'm not sure of yet. Mom likes sage green so far.

Field Trip Friday

Last time I featured St. Charles, MO as a great place to visit and shop, but this time I want to introduce the Missouri Botanical Gardens. Once called Shaw's Garden, it was created by Henry Shaw and they have just celebrated their 159th anniversary last month.

These are some of my favorite pictures from their historical records - they have a much larger lily pond now, but in this one back in the early days they like to demonstrate just how strong those pads can be:

photos from MBG archives

Both ladies are standing unsupported by anything but the lily pads. The second picture looks almost ghostlike as she plays a violin. This is but two of many, many historical pictures available to look at in their archives. The Henry Shaw house is inside the MBG and you can tour the inside of his house. This really is one of the best places to go in our city!

Please do go to their website to see some beautiful pictures of the current gardens (go to Now in Bloom for the lastest pictures taken of new flowers blooming, constantly updated week by week)

There are several different gardens and they are constantly adding to them - my cousin got married in the Japanese garden a few years ago. It's a 14 acre garden and my absolute favorite. As kids we used to love to visit and stand on the large curved bridge over the pond and feed the many brilliant colored koi fish.

My mother used to work there as the Project Coordinator of Ecuador, involved in the work of cataloging and storing the plants from that country. MBG is a very important research facility for plant specimens collected all over the world. It's a truly amazing place and I'm proud to say I worked there too, briefly, in an internship a few years back, I created the intranet for their HRM department. Nothing as cool as my mom's job, but it was so nice to be able to work there. I only wish it had lasted longer.

Every summer they have a Japanese Festival and I used to love to go and listen to the Taiko drummers and now they even have a sumo wrestling demonstration, though it was so crowded last time I went I couldn't even get close enough to watch.

photos from MBG

I was once photographed as a little girl at the Japanese Festival because I had a Japanese parasol and was standing in line for some lemonade. I guess the photographer thought I looked cute, but all I saw (so cynical of an 8 year old that I was) was a creepy guy taking my picture so I frowned. Sure enough - my picture was in the newspaper, frown and all. I was so embarassed! I actually drew a smile on my face to try to 'improve' the picture for my mom. Luckily she managed to get another copy after I ruined ours. LOL

Happy Friday everyone!

Hi Ho Hi Ho

It's off to work I go...

We have an old house built in 1906, which makes it Edwardian, I guess, in style? Anyway, the architect obviously didn't believe in grand hallways as it is rather narrow and dominated by the staircase as soon as you enter. We always wanted a bench that would be narrow enough to fit there, but big enough to actually use and maybe store things under. Well, last weekend while walking the dog we found this:

It's a church pew. I know it isn't for everyone, but it's vintage, the perfect size and length for the hall, and well...it just suits us. I love the details on the ends, the little rosettes on the arm, and the pointed arch on the side, plus there is plenty of room underneath to tuck a few baskets with scarves, hats, etc. under the seat.

But I don't like the color at all. It's chippy and worn and in need of TLC, I think. I'm planning to paint it. Not everyone in my family agrees, but I think it'll look MUCH better. I also think it needs a few flat cushions as it is a little hard to sit on. And when it's done it'll go with that shabby chic cottage style I love. :)

What do you think? Anyone else have an old church pew they've adopted?

And now it is off to work I go to crack open some paint and grab a few brushes. Hope everyone else is having a good week...

Happy Fourth of July!!

Prowling through Etsy tonight in a Red White and Blue mood.

I'm kinda sick of Old Navy flag t-shirts so I thought this was a cute alternative.

And these are kinda dangerous to keep around kids...soaps that look like rocket pops. Just looking at them makes me want to eat one.

I'm hoping to catch some fireworks tonight and maybe make some chocolate chip cookies and relax. Hope you all have a great (and safe) Fourth of July!!!

And the winner is...

A Forest Frolic!

Thanks to everyone that commented. I hope you all had fun and I really look forward to next years tea party!!