I have a problem...continued...

Here is the latest object of my concrete obsession.  She lives near me.  I visit her before I pick up my son from school.  She is angelic and serene.  However, in this light, some might think she is a little creepy.  Perfect for Halloween.  She told me that Snickers bars are her favorite, so I put a few in the basket on top of her head.  Happy Trick or Treating!

Road Trip to Yakima (Part 2)

This post could also be titled "The part where our heroine finds many vintage Christmas goodies."  Last week I told you about the trip to Yakima that I recently took with my husband.  I brought back bags of stuff.  Big bags of stuff.  Pictured here are the holiday gems gathered together.  Have you ever seen so many mindless smiling faces in one place except at a Sarah Palin rally?  We have a Made in Japan snowperson family, 3 Dakin animals, a bespectacled elf and a package of candy cane wrapping paper.  

My favorite finds were the vintage Sprouse-Reitz holiday card baskets. I found 7 of them at the Sal Army.  Once I got them home, I realized they needed some embellishing.  Enter old glass ornaments, trim and the hot glue gun.  Sorry, I don't have a "before" shot of the white one. Trust me when I tell you it was a little dull.  But now...

Green Santa basket before:

Red Santa basket after:

It's feeling Halloweenie around here...

I don't dress up that much anymore for Halloween.  I do, however, adorn the mantel!  

I'm an Obama Mama!

As of today, we have raised $1002 in bagel sales for the Obama campaign!  As I mentioned here,  my family is doing a weekly fundraiser for Obama for America.  Here are photos from today's event:

Keep the faith! VOTE!

Fall color in our garden

I could eat that!

There is a new French bakery near us called Petite Provence. 

                                             

     Les patisseries!

              Les Gateaux! 

         Emma and Charlie especially loved these meringue puppies...

This place is so authentic, you can smell the baking butter and sugar from a block away.  The only thing missing is this. I may have to stop by this morning for a little je ne sais quoi!

Behold Glorious Yakima

So my husband says to me last Monday..."I have to go to Yakima for a meeting tomorrow, you want to come?"  Now, I don't know exactly where it is, but I do know that Yakima is very, very far from Portland.  And frankly, even the sound of the place  - Yakima - is not appealing.  So I respond: "Why in the world would I want to do that?"  Being the excellent sales person he is, he replies: "Well, while I am at my meeting, you could go to the thrift stores..." All I heard after that was "blah, blah, blah, blah..." It was sort of like how Charlie Brown's teacher talks in the old Peanuts cartoons.  Needless to say, I was on board.  I hastily made arrangements for the kids and the puppy and packed my bag with many one dollar bills.

This was how it looked on the way:  

I started to worry.  But, it turned out okay.

The cashier at this Cancer Society Discovery Shop gave me a Senior discount.  I was so shocked, I didn't have the presence of mind to take her picture.  I did, however, have the presence of mind to kick her in the shin.  

Any-who, here is a shot of some of my loot:

More about all the Christmas booty in a future post.  Think it was worth 8 hours of driving in one day?  I say YES!

Ding Dong ~ Avon Calling! Junkin' for Sarah Palin (Part 2)

Gail and I saw an estate sale ad in the paper for a "50 year accumulation...tools...books...1000's of Avon products...."    They weren't kidding.  All in the original boxes.  First we found a cologne bottle in the shape of a gun. Really. It was one of a SERIES.  Who knew? In the 1970's, apparently Avon had a marketing plan for frustrated, suburban men who really wanted to go out and shoot something. Next up, we found aftershave for a moose and the bottle with a polar bear nestled on top of a (melting) glacier.  Now I am on the hunt (pun intended) for the most delicious moose stew recipe I can find...thank goodness it's estate sale day tomorrow!

Remembering Lisa

Today would have been my friend Lisa's 49th birthday. This is one of my favorite pictures of her. She is with my husband (she used to call him "our" husband) on the Oregon Coast 4 years ago. This was the first and only time she had her skinny feet in the Pacific Ocean.

We met 20 years ago when we worked at the same TV news station in New York City. Her first words to me were: "Oh, no you don't!" when she saw I was getting too close to her People magazine. We were total opposites in personality. She was a clean freak, my housekeeping standards are dangerously low. She was a runner, I am a sitter - preferably on a large cushion. She was shy, I am embarrassingly gregarious. I love to travel anywhere, she refused to leave her upper east side neighborhood. And yet, we knew the universe brought us together for a reason. Our long term plan was to grow old together in a cottage in Santa Barbara. Two crazy ladies in a house covered with bougenvillea.

Lisa was the gal who was with me during sonograms when I was pregnant with Emma. She was the gal who marched down to Bloomingdale's to buy me a nursing bra when I couldn't leave the hospital after a c-section. She gave unconditional support and love during the most difficult time of my life. This was the gal who gave the best gifts to my kids and wrote them letters. Not e-mails. Letters. She was loving, loyal, smart, complicated and had more integrity than anyone I have ever known.

In July of 2007, she called from New York to tell me she had been diagnosed with kidney cancer. She had not been feeling well and was losing weight, but had chalked it up to depression. Her prognosis was a year; she was gone 2 months later. I was with her in the hospital for a few days just before she died. It was wrenching and awful and such a gift.

I like to think she would have been with us today, on her birthday, visiting Oregon again on this gorgeous, crisp, sunny Sunday. We would have gone back to the beach or maybe to the pumpkin patch. She would have been in the back of the van, laughing with the kids, and loving them with her whole heart.

Happy Birthday, Hon!

Concrete Urn Readies Herself For Fall

     

           Before:

          After:  

Junk Becomes Useful ~ Part 4

Anyone out there not love these vintage beaded necklaces?  That's okay, I have enough love for the both of us.  I see them...I must have them.  Pictured here is just part of my collection of the necklaces that used to belong to your great Aunt Edna.  But I don't buy them just to have and to hold, although I have been known to nap with one or two of them.  I especially like to buy broken ones.  They usually cost a dime and it is much less heartbreaking to take them apart to make these:

Running Down Matt Santos

Gail went to L.A. last week to see her daughter Valerie.  One day, Val was attempting to parallel park in Brentwood.  Not an easy task.  As Val begins to back into the space, the girls hear a loud knock on the rear window.  Val slams on the brakes and to their horror, the girls see that they have just about run over Jimmy Smits.  He gives them the stink eye and heads into a trendy cafe. He comes back out a moment later and begins to cross the street.  In her continuing attempt to park the car, Val almost runs him down again. Only this time, she's going forward. Gail lowers the window and calls out good naturedly: "I guess we're gonna get you one way or another!" Mr.-Hottie-Would-Be-President was not amused.  I think Val might still be trying to get into that parking space.

Puppy Love

My daughter Emma fell asleep with Hazel, the newest member of our family.  Hazel is a 10 week old Cockapoo.  She thinks day is night and night is day, poops everywhere, hops around the yard like a rabbit and we are all just besotted.

My Mascot

Perhaps you have been wondering who is the lovely gal featured in my banner.  I call her "Joan, the patron saint of garage sales".  I found her a few years ago in a pile of garbage at a sale.   Tossed aside she was, like so much stained tupperware and smelly yard debris.  It just about broke my heart. Now she lives in our front garden.  This was how she looked during our snowstorm last December.  She got a little cold, so I made her some hot chocolate, and all was well.