Fieldtrip Friday...a little early.

The tea party was a great success (many thanks to all who commented!) and I love visiting all the other blogs (I'm still in the middle of the list if you can believe it...there are so many!).

I'll be posting the winner of the giveaway on July 1st. I suddenly wish I had 116 of them so I could give one to everyone! I'll have to do a few more giveaways soon!

Sunday the heatwave broke and we treated ourselves to Joe's Crab Shack for lunch. We'd been meaning to go for months now for my birthday, but never got around to it, so really we celebrated three birthdays and father's day all in one meal. lol Mmm, snowcrab legs! They were wonderful.

Then we stopped by St. Charles for some tea and other things. St. Charles is a great place to visit if you are ever in Missouri. The historic mainstreet is FULL of fun stores to visit.

They have crafty things, quilting shops, embroidery shops, gift shops, tea and spice shops, ice cream parlors, popcorn stores, etc. etc. etc.! The streets are cobblestone and the sidewalks are always crowded with people eating ice cream cones and juggling lots of bags. There's usually a horse drawn carriage and people bring their dogs and just enjoy walking up and down the streets to see the sights. They have fun events like Tartan Days, Festival of the Little Hills, quilts festivals, art festivals, etc.

My mother bought tea (peach, raspberry and strawberry) as we were running low and a whole batch of spices. I love it when you enter a store and you are immediately welcomed with the smell of all those fruity teas and exotic spices - mmmm, the smell is worth the trip alone. But I didn't go to any of the stores this trip - sadly my back makes it impossible to stand or walk more than a few minutes at a time so I stayed in the car and watched people walk by with their dogs and dripping ice cream cones. My dad was kind enough to offer to take some pictures, though, so here's a little eye candy!

The buildings and stores are all very cute and old fashioned (though sadly not wheelchair accessible or I'd have rolled into one, darn it). It is an absolute MUST for a shope to have a cute old fasthioned sign. I love the sheep sign above and the rockinghorse.

The printer has a printing press on the sign - oh so cute!

And the quilt shop. The Patches etc. sign with the quilting on it is cute, but you can also see on the left a little sign with a big button on it! That's even cuter. Sadly, men do not find button signs cute or my father might've taken a better picture of it. ;)

And there are all sorts of old buildings and historical points of interest. It's an important part of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.

Shops are always going in and out of business on the main street, but the best addition in my opinion is Alice's Tea Room. What a coincidence - Saturday I have a tea party on my blog and Sunday I see the Tea Room sign. LOL

And the addition next door, Through the Looking Glass which has miniatures on display and gifts, etc. I walked through it once while it was still under construction and I guess it is now finished, but I'll have to wait to visit it myself.

Which brings me to the bit of news I mentioned a few posts ago. I found out on Thursday that my operation has been moved up from November 2nd to August 17th. Yikes - I knew it could be moved up, but that's even sooner than I'd hoped/dreaded/feared. I'm happy to get the operation over with, but a little nervous about it being so soon and now I have to rush about to rearrange and schedule dr. appt.s, etc. and my family is rearranging all their schedules to fit it, too. I have to ask family and friends to donate blood for my operation (last time I went through quite a bit) so I feel really weird asking members of my family for their blood and a few of my mother's coworkers, too. lol I feel like a vampire all of a sudden.

The surgery is not minor, they will be really working on the spine itself and adding bone chips, etc. to straighten and fix it into place and lots more metal rods and screws and bolts, etc. being fixed and added. It's quite an ordeal I'm facing and I'm trying not to freak out. I got through this once before when I was 12. Surely at 30 I'll be able to handle it even better, right?

Anyway, it is a big thing on my mind these days so I'm trying to distract myself with blog posts and crafty things. We're also redoing a bathroom on the main floor of our house right now since I'll be needing it when I come home from the hospital. So there is no floor in that bathroom now, no sink and no shower or tub. Lots of debris and gaping holes and lots of work to be done in the next month or two. Just so much going on... So please forgive me if I miss someone's post or comment or seem distracted. It's just a lot on my plate.

And to all you lovely blog friends out there - keep posting your lovely pictures and stories - I love visiting your blogs and getting away from my own RL for a few minutes. Gee - this blog went from cheerful to depressing really fast, didn't it?? Sorry!

A Mad Tea Party at 58Cherries...

Are you in the mood for a tea party?? I am!!

It all began when I took out my cherished (and very heavy) copy of Lewis Carroll's works.

I was just at the point when Alice sits down at the table in her big comfy armchair when...

I fell asleep in the sun and dreamed my own version of the tea party...

It all begins with a generous spread of sweets and teas all laid out just for me...

There are several different kinds of tea for me to choose from - mango, raspberry, strawberry, and peach...all perfect for a lovely summer day. I took my time choosing.

But as I looked closer I realized there was a tiny little tea set laid out next to my little pot of peach tea and cup. And a spotted mushroom had sprung up between them, too - perhaps the warmth of the tea had helped it grow, but whoever could be needing such a tiny little tea set?

I helped myself to a croissant, but then noticed the wonderful iced cupcakes

laid out and quickly helped myself to one of those, too.

Mmm, they have lemon icing and fruit flavored sugar:

lemon, orange, raspberry and wild strawberry. Delicious!

I also noticed bowls full of ripe strawberries and

cherries and decided to help myself to a few of those as well.

And it was then that I noticed the chessmen and women had come out to play. They argued over whose turn it was to roll the cherries across the table and the Black Knight was very sure that it was their turn.

And just as I began to realize it was getting late and I must get back,

I asked the gnome what time it was according to his watch.

It was with a heavy heart I had to bid adieu,

but I promised to come back again and I hope you'll come with me, too.

Thank you very much for visiting my little party. I had a great deal of fun and I'm eager to visit everyone else's party, too. I promised a giveaway so if you'd like a little silhouette from my shop.

Please leave a comment here and I'd love it if you'd come back and visit me again in the future. I'll announce the winner on July 1st to give people time to sign up. I also will have a bit of news to share then.

Have a great weekend!!!

Party Countdown - One Day Left!

Still feeling the heat, but I'm not about to be stopped from partying so the party is moved inside most likely. For anyone else in this heatwave, try to stay cool and drink plenty of liquids. Like say, lemonade:

Too cute label on Trader Joe's lemonade. It's a fizzy lemonade, though, I prefer homemade but couldn't resist the pretty packaging - shame on me.

And eat cool meals to avoid turning on the oven. This delicious meal was made after a stop at the Italian store near our house. Feta, calamata olives, cold cuts, fresh baked bread, and some fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions garnished with fresh mint from my herb garden. A few plums, a rose from my Don Juan rosebush.

Mmmm...and the best part, peaches from my tree.

Yum! Eat up!

And perhaps the most important part, make sure you find somewhere to sleep that's cool.

An old picture I think I posted before, but too cute to resist.

So don't forget - Saturday is the Mad Tea Party. There will be sweets, tea...and a giveaway. :)

Hot Sticky Days and Ruined Plans

Oh, Vanessa, whyever is the party in the heat of June??

I love A Fanciful Twist's Mad Tea Party, but it is so HOT that my plans are getting ruined. It's too hot to think, much less go outside and do party things. I just went out to take a few pictures for my party post and my shoes were actually melting onto my feet in the sun. And tomorrow is only worse!! Maybe this party would be better in May??

But even in the heat you can find beautiful things growing. My peach tree is brimming full of fruit. I cannot wait for them to get a little bigger so I can eat them!

As you can see, my tree is under full lock down with netting, it also is encased in a metal clasp at the base of the tree as the plastic ties were constantly being chewed through. Last year I got only a handful of peaches and then the next morning I rose to pick more and the whole tree was bare. Completely empty of peaches. Aaugh! We still aren't sure who was the culprit - man or animal? The pits that we found were completely stripped bare, not nibbled on like a squirrel would. One farmer suggested a raccoon or possom, and I know we've had possoms in the yard so we've protected our tree as best we can and crossed our fingers. Now if only I can get my blackberries covered, too, and fast.

And a tiny glimpse at my studio so far. It is white. It is very very white. Mostly out of neccessity of supplies and partly as a blank canvas for artwork on the walls and to keep things light and airy. We are slowly moving furniture in and I can finally put my supplies in the big closet and out of the dining and living rooms, yay!

White door, white woodwork, white ceiling and white walls. Blinding! Still, it looks so nice and fresh and clean in that room. This was a basement den room that was totally and utterly neglected since at least the sixties or seventies. Fake wood paneling buckling off the walls with insulations peaking out and falling down ceiling and filthy carpeting. It was so gross!!
My father completely gutted this room and started all over. The walls are prepainted beadboard. Not the first choice, but drywall would have been more of a pain and these walls are more resistant to dampness which is always a good thing for basement walls.


Aren't the windows gorgeous? Our house is over a hundred years old and has HUGE windows throughout. The ones in the living room are about 7 feet tall - a man can stand in it easy and lift his arms up. Finding curtains that fit any of our windows are a pain and we'll just have to give in and find time to make some. This room actually had a door to the outside, too, but we walled it off to have more wall space for shelves (which we still need to do). The connecting room is a second kitchen and it has a door outside so there's no need for two. I just love this room!





Here's Fox looking a little confused as I snap pictures:

Aren't we going outside??

You promised me we'd go outside and chase squirrels!!

Happy Father's Day

Okay, slightly late. But better late than never. We are very nearly done with the studio and can begin moving things in, yay! And the evening was spent at the pool. The heat index is in the 100's here - supposed to be 110 tomorrow so it is very nice to cool off at the end of the day.

Back to Father's Day - my dad is a computer whiz and spends all day working at a non-profit organization for poverty in the city. But at night - he's a magician! He's always loved magic since he was a kid and as a teen he performed for lots of audiences, including sick kids at the hospital.

Cute and cuddly rabbit, straight from the hat...

Yes, even the sick kids at the hospital weren't safe from the guillotine!

There's nothing like a bit of magic to help forget your troubles for awhile. Even if your head's being chopped off. I assisted him as a kid and he made me disappear once. lol

Happy Father's Day!! Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Fruity Friday - Today's Post Brought to you by the Cherry

You might remember a previous post brought to you by the tomato. Today's post is brought to you by the Cherry!

It's probably no secret that we at 58 Cherries have a passion for this particular fruit. My mom and I eat bowls of this delightful fruit every time it's in season. We even bought a cherry tree for the backyard, but though it is growing well, still no signs of cherries. *pout*

And we tend to have a few items around the house with cherries on them at any given time...

On the teapot.

On our towels. My favorite is the one from Kmart - all the different translations - ciliegia, cerise, kirsche, cereza, cherry! Yummy no matter how you say it.

On our kitchen window.


Wouldn't you like a cherry now?







And a gratuitous photo - no cherries, just the same color scheme of red and white I love so much:

Happy Friday!!!

Sylvie and Isabel

I just finished this little painting:

Sylvie and her kitten, Isabel

And oh how I love this fabric at Ink and Spindle!

I could think of a million things to use it for, but for some reason I'd really want it for lining a purse. I would love to have a purse that has a pretty inside so whenever you open it you just smile - is that weird? Anyway - I wish all keys these days looked like that. I so hate my real housekey - so boring!!

Monograms and Etsy Update

I just love typography and monograms. Like lots of other collectors I like to look for my initials or favorite letters and numbers to display. And I just made this little framed initial for my bedroom - isn't it cute?

I stenciled it on vintage sheetmusic and the frame was a rather ugly dull bronze color that I painted white with a hint of pink. It's so cute I've temporarily put it on the mantle in the living room to enjoy, but it'll likely end up on the wall in my room. I have collected a few different interesting stencil fonts - Olde English in two sizes, a 17th century font, an Early American font, etc. I love to make signs or monogram items.

I made a little box for the shop:

It has the fancy Olde English E on vintage French text paper. So cute. I can make custom ones for another initial - convo me at my shop if you interested.

Also just listed is anothe print - this time of the Folk Art Flower Pot:

Happy Thursday!

Indulgence

I have been a good little girl shoppingwise the last few months so I decided to splurge just a little this last week on items I just had to have. I consider them late birthday presents...and early Christmas presents.

One, for the summer days - a little pendant to wear:

I've been wanting this for over a year now so I thought I'd treat myself. The flapper era girl in an old fashioned swim suit just looks so cute! I got this from ArtsNcharms.

And the big purchase - a doll from Du Buh Du Dolls!!

I knew as soon as I saw this doll I had to try my best to get it. Can you believe the detail in the face?? How does she paint so well on such a tiny surface?? My doll looks like $&%* next to that. She is amazing!

I woke up early Saturday and paced around the room waiting for eight o'clock to approach and then with three minutes to spare I decided I had to go to the faster computer downstairs so I ran down the stairs and frantically refreshed the browser until the doll showed up and then raced to get it in my cart, log onto paypal and pay it before I lost it...I was so excited I was shouting at my computer, faster, faster - come on move it! I had to check three times that it actually had gone through and the doll was definitely mine before I believed it. Whew! Now I will eagerly wait by the mailbox for it to arrive and hound and harass my mailman until I get it. ;) I will treasure this doll for sure - thank you, Christine, for making such beautiful dolls!

And then, I realized I don't have Like Water for Chocolate on DVD, only a bad copy saved on video, so I decided to buy it on Amazon (a steal for only 6.99 just in case anyone else wants to buy one). So as I was looking around on the site I discovered my favorite author, Diana Gabaldon, has finally finished another book and An Echo in the Bone comes out September 22nd! Yay! I love her books and I have reread her last one to death and can repeat it by heart by now so of course I had to preorder that book, too. LOL

I'm done shopping now! Don't tempt me any further shopping gods! But then, I was a good little consumer, wasn't I? I stimulated the economy like they tell us to do so that makes it okay, right? Of course it does... At least I can console myself that I bought two handmade items and supported two fellow artists so really it IS a good thing. Amazon doesn't need my help quite as much, but I'm sure they appreciate it.

Tell me, what treasures have you bought or are saving up for now?

Edited to add: Wow, my doll came today already! Super fast shipping, thanks, Christine!! It's even more beautiful in person. The quality of the doll and the size is just amazing. I can't stop looking at it. ;)

Can Your Grandma do That?

Mine can! Or at least she used to - here she is performing on her horse, Patches. Cool, huh? She used to ride horses all the time and she did tricks with them - just for fun. I think she should have run away to join the circus or something.

She's laying down on him here - very brave if you think about it - the horse could be startled and start running at the slightest scare. Yikes! Also...I wouldn't want my head anywhere near that part of the horse - just saying.

And this photo is just too cute. I think I'll frame the first one and this one for my wall of photos. So sweet. ;) Right now I have a picture of her from when she was a nurse up on the wall.

So instead of running away to join the circus, she became a nurse and she worked in the polio ward. She has lots of pictures and stories of that time with the patients. Heartbreaking stories.

Just thought I'd share that bit of family history with you today. I'm also updating my shop all day today - a few new items up already and more to come.

Happy Friday, everyone!!