Monday blog love

belle blanc
casey's musings
Cornflower Blue Studio
Design Lovely
feffakookan
Ivory Blush Roses
liebemarlene vintage
Loveology
miesmama
Ottilias Veranda
The Lone Beader
Thread Medley
Vintage Home

Friends don't let friends drive to the bookstore

Hi my name is Sally and I'm addicted to magazines. (and books). (and chocolate).

I probably shouldn't really leave the house. Ever.

Mimi Kirchner and some Friday fun

The wonderful Mimi Kirchner is having a giveaway of one of her charming tea cup pincushions. Additional details here. This video is a delightful look into Mimi's background, her artistic process and a look inside her studio.

(Yippie! Magically the video works now, hurray hurrah! If for some reason it changes it's mind and goes poof again teehee, you can watch it on You Tube.)


I went to the needlework store yesterday, looking for cross stitch patterns for Halloween ornaments. They didn't have the Prairie Schooler pattern booklet I was looking for but I found something even better! I keep reading about everyone's love of Blackbird Designs and yippie, they had a booklet of Halloween mini stockings. Came home with some other fun patterns too - better get stitching!








And I found the latest issue of Living Crafts at Whole Paycheck (!) this morning - there's a really cute gnome and toadstool pattern in the issue. Here's a tease ...

Swimming with the big fish

Oh my! We had breakfast at a new restaurant in town this morning. I'm so silly. I had read about it in the paper. I knew it was yet another restaurant by a very well known and much lauded chef/owner and yet it didn't dawn on me that it would be quite so elegant. D'oh.

So off we went in our typical jeans attire. It looked perfectly "regular" when we walked in and saw some tables - turned out that was just the Cafe and Take Out part of the restaurant. Geez. Then we were led to this lovely sunny posh room at the back for the full service breakfast.

I felt like such a slob. Ay yi yi. There were three or four other tables occupied by very well dressed and spiffed and polished up men, the movers and the shakers, taking calls and talking about money deals and bottom lines. And us. So very much not, the mover and shaker types. Thank heavens for us, L.A. is pretty forgiving in the sartorial department, with not much adherence (or reverence) for dress codes.

Then we went on our way to the Getty Museum (we had made it to the Getty Villa earlier in the summer but not to the Museum yet). We saw a lovely, albeit teeny tiny, exhibit of French landscapes (Capturing Nature's Beauty: Three Centuries of French Landscapes), a very small photography exhibit (In Focus: Making a Scene) and lots of French bronzes (Cast in Bronze: French Sculpture from Renaissance to Revolution).

I was really looking forward to seeing the illuminated manuscripts because it was my mother and my favorite. We used to go every couple of months and see the new exhibit of manuscripts. The amazing beauty and artistry and perfection of the calligraphy, delighted us. Unfortunately the exhibit was closed to make way for a new one to open in September. But then that is as it should be - September is the 13th anniversary of my mother's passing and I will go and think of mom and share the latest with her.

(Capturing Nature's Beauty: Three Centuries of French Landscapes)

(Cast in Bronze: French Sculpture from Renaissance to Revolution)

(In Focus: Making a Scene)

Fare thee well

The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die ...

Monday blog love

52 Flea
Beantown Baker
BibliOdyssey
casey's musings
Corinne Phillips
Evening Gatherings (Вечерние посиделки)
Fantasy and Fancy
Is there any paper around here?
konnykards
Let Her Bake Cake
Loley's & Co.
Love Stitching Red
mouse notebook
Pip Stitch
Pretty Gingham
Queen of Nostalgia
Recycle LACMA
Rosa's Yummy Yums
Small Measure
the artist side of vivienne strauss
The Persephone Post
thoughtful day
Thoughts and Ideas
wish studio

I used to have two gorgeous (and crazy and rambunctious!) Siberian Huskies many years ago - one was "wolf" and white, with blue eyes and the other was copper and white, with blue eyes. These little tykes brought back so many memories.


see more dog and puppy pictures

When they ask what's for dinner ...

'Hungry husband due in half an hour? Serve "He-man" Ham Buffet!' hahahahhahhahahha!

From Fleischmann's Yeast ad in November 1957 issue of Western Family Magazine I found at my parents.

Wizard of Oz Gala

The darling Twyla and Lindsey at Two Crazy Crafters are throwing a wonderful party today in celebration of 70th anniversary of the release of the Wizard of Oz.


Alas, time ran out so I didn't come up with any crafty fun for the day so I'm just a wannabe participant, a gate crasher, fly on the wall.

When I was growing up, The Wizard of Oz was only shown once a year on television. It was a big event and very fond memory of my childhood.

I can remember the very first year that I actually got to see the "horse of a differnt color", change colors - because we had gotten our first color television set! Can you imagine now that there was a time when there wasn't color TV?!

I'm posting a photo of a collector's plate that I inherited from my mother. She seems to have only purchased the one in the series, which is rather odd.



I also inherited several sets of the Robert Olszewski Miniatures from my mom and one of the sets was The Wizard of Oz. (I've grabbed a photo off the internet as mine are all packed up, not having room to show them off. WAH!)



I'm hoping to get to see The Wizard of Oz on the movie screen for the first time in September. What fun that would be, huh?! Everyone singing all the songs and people in costume. Fun fun fun!

A big thank you to Twyla and Lindsey for going all out and making such a fun day and to all the participants, remembering and making magic today! (There is a list on Two Crazy Crafters of everyone that is participating)!

How about some walking around food?!

Oh my goodness! Pie on a stick! Could life get much better than that?!

These charming little pie lollipops originated at, Luxirare.


(photo from the gorgeous Luxirare blog post)

Inspired by these, Bakerella has made them into little heart shaped delights.


(photo from Bakerella pie pops post, say that three times!)

A day in which I try to cram yet more books into this house

Yippie yippie yippie! My Amazon order finally appeared yesterday ... the delightful Amanda Soule's new book, "Homemade Home" and the charming Tone Finnager's latest Tilda book, "Sew Sunny Homestyle". AND the complete DVD sets of Twilight Zone and Outer Limits for the hubs, a tardy birthday present.

Darling Charlotte, at House Wren Studio is having a giveaway of Amanda's book, so be sure and run over there if you haven't already and sign up for the drawing before it's too late.

Public Service Announcement: Beware. Beware book lovers.

We packed our books away, all snug in boxes, while we had the living room painted. Well ... somehow our books have mysteriously multiplied - or put on weight (!) while in their boxes.

They no longer fit in their former homes and are driving this book mommy insane. I squeeze and I beg and I tickle and I smoosh and they still don't fit. I think they have invited the neighbors books over to join them. That must be it.

WAH!

Everything but the kitchen sink

Yesterday we drove out to Sylmar to see the antique automobile collection at The Nethercutt Collection.

My husband had been wanting to see a "Tucker" for years.

It was supposed to be at the Petersen Automotive Museum. We had gone there especially to see it a few years back and it wasn't on display. It was either in storage or on loan for an exhibition, I can't remember now what they told us about it's absence.

This summer we remembered that we had seen a show (another Huell Howser episode!) on PBS about another auto museum in the San Fernando Valley. Husband looks online, yes they have a Tucker.

WAHOO!

Off we go.

No Tucker.

WAH!

Turns out their Tucker is housed in a second museum across the street. You can only get into the second museum Thursday - Saturday and you must make a reservation two to three weeks in advance. (plus they limit the reservations to fifty people) I felt so sad for the out of state and out of country visitors that so wanted to see the second museum and were out of luck.

So no Tucker but we did get to see lots of gorgeous (!!!) cars (and so many names we'd never heard of before - Dort, is the only one that comes to mind right now) and a fully restored Pullman sleeper car and a steam engine. Toot toot!

Then we ran over to Tia Chucha's, the bookstore and cultural center owned by author and poet, Luis J. Rodriguez. We had always wanted to go since seeing him on television (another PBS show) and we were literally minutes away.



I picked up the most charming book at Tia Chucha's about Dia de los Muertos, "A Gift for Abuelita" by Nancy Luenn. It is illustrated with the most amazing cast paper artwork by Robert Chapman. I love the ritual of Dia de los Muertos and the honoring of those that have passed on, the talking about them and remembering. We even made our first altar last year. This year I want to try and make sugar skulls and pan de muerto.



Wait, don't go. There's more. Remember, everything but the kitchen sink. :)

This morning, I made huevos rancheros with soyrizo (we're vegetarian), that I had seen on one of favorite food blogs, Lemonbasil.

So yummy! Thanks so much for the idea Oakley! I made my own red sauce from a recipe from an old Jane Butel Tex Mex cookbook that I've been making for years and sauteed some red pepper and onion, browned the soyrizo, threw in some sauce, placed in it all in a ramekin, topped with eggs and cheese, baked for 350 degrees for fifteen minutes and nummers! So good.

Thank you Elizabeth!

I was just in my first swap ever! I had such a wonderful time.

The hostess and instigator of all the fun was the delightful author of Creative Breathing, Elizabeth. Those wishing to participate were to make one banner block for Elizabeth and she would make one in kind for them. We all had it easy, one block - Elizabeth made something like thirty plus!

Yesterday my darling block arrived, Elizabeth. I love it so!!! Thank you so much for letting me join in the fun and celebrate your blog-a-versary!

Please forgive me, I have purloined your photo of the block you made for me from your blog - I can't take a photo to save my life today it would appear and my scan was down right pathetic - half blurry, no matter what tricks I try. I must not have loaded up on the caffeine sufficiently. ;)

Thank you thank you thank you for my darling block! The details are so enchanting, the buttons and oh!, the glitter! so much fun!



And here's the full reveal of mine that I made for Elizabeth - I only have a rather sad scan of it. I also made a little envelope (oh geez! no, it wasn't huge like that - that's just a close up, thank heavens), with a note enclosed and attached it to the back of the block - to commemorate the occasion.

Flick fun

Oh boy! We saw two great movies in the past couple of days! We saw "District 9" and "Ponyo".



"District 9" was excellent! Terrific sci fi futuristic tale, cleverly told and so fully realized.



Oh my heavens! "Ponyo"! Unbelievable. So very precious. If you're a big person with whimsy in your soul or a kid at heart and enjoy animated movies, you've got to see this one.

Happy Birthday to my sweetie pie!

(video from the adorable AugieDoggy)

Honey picked this one out for you sweetheart. Woof woof! Happiest of birthdays! I love you!

Monday blog love

a view to
Blue Bird Lucy's
buttons magee
Dana Treat - Treat Yourself
Design Crush
EpiCute. The Cute Food Blog
flour on her nose
forty-sixth at grace
Make Room for Living
Petit Plat
Playing House
Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy
Sunday Suppers
The Simple Things
Thompson Family-Life
vague theater 2
Wunderments

Heart-kun and Love-kun

In case you missed this on Cute Overload - a breeder has had two puppies in two different litters, born with heart shaped patches in their fur. So very cute. Heart-kun was born in 2007 and Love-kun in 2009.

Cute overload blog post
Los Angeles Times article
& yes, it's true, not hoax, Snopes verified

The game's afoot

Do you like (love!) mystery books?

My mother adored them and so I became hooked at an early age. And we loved mystery movies too! Perhaps that will be a topic down the road.

When I was in my twenties, there was a wonderful bookstore called "The Scene of the Crime" nearby and we'd go and get piles of books. Smiles from ear to ear. We had a mission to collect all of Agatha Christie's books - I think we accomplished that, if memory serves??? Well certainly, nearly, at any rate.

They had book signings at the store and I can remember going to see Dick Francis one time and then Jonathan Gash another weekend. Jonathan Gash came with the dapper and charming Ian McShane (who was with his beautiful wife). Jonathan Gash's current book must have come out during the time the series (based on his lead character, the antique dealer), "Lovejoy" was running in England, I don't think it had appeared here on A&E yet.

edited to add: I reread the above paragraph and realized that I neglected to say that Ian McShane starred as Lovejoy in the Lovejoy series - hopefully now it will make some sense that I brought up Ian McShane. Sorry. My typing fingers get ahead of my brain.

(sidetrack: Remember the good old days when A&E used to show wonderful British shows?!!)

Anyway, back to the topic at hand ... although I love to meander and wander all over the place ...

There was a glowing book review for a new mystery, "Wife of the Gods", in the Los Angeles Times this past week. So you know what's at the top of my to do list this weekend - hit the bookstore.

Something wicked this way comes

It's getting delightfully scary out there.

Matthew Mead has a wonderful new Halloween book.



There are some spooky Halloween crafts in the first of the holiday season, special edition magazines from BHG.

Johanna Parker has these wonderful candlesticks in the issue I'd like to try my hand at. I've never attempted anything like that before.



And look at this ad in BHG - there's going to be a new Halloween magazine out. I'll be haunting the bookstore for it bwahahahahhahha.



And even bat tofu - found via the so very cute, epi cute blog.

woof woof

To know me is to know that I love dogs. Truth to tell, possibly more than people.

I had rescued my first Golden Retriever (hard to believe that was 16 years ago now) and one morning we were out for our walk around the neighborhood. I think Golden Retrievers may well be the Ambassadors of Good Will and Kinship in the world. Wherever you go with a Golden, good cheer ensues and smiles abound.

Anyway, back to this walk Holly and I were enjoying one morning. An elderly woman was approaching us from down the block and as she came up to us, she asked if she could pet Holly. I said of course she could. Her face lit up and she began to pat and stroke Holly's head. She said to me, in a tone just above a whisper, "They're all love you know. Pure love."

Pure love.

Caring for a pet has been proven to reduce stress and lower blood pressure. They give us unconditional love and ask for so very little in return.

Pure love.


A couple of days ago I was clicking on links and one lead to another and another and I've forgotten how I ended up there, but I landed on a blog of a veterinarian. Now you're talking! (How could it get any better you ask?! Well ... she has a tender spot for Goldens too!)

You may have guessed by now that I don't stop at one blog, I've got to see a bazillion more.

arf arf! Doggie links, let the tail wagging begin! (Please note I have some rescue organizations listed already on the sidebar.)

1000 Goldens
AugieDoggy
Barkability
ohmidog!
Pawcurious
Phetched
Rescue Me
Sophie Rules the World
The Four Musketeers
tilda in the burbs
Velcro the Australian Cattle Dog
Dog biscuit recipe
Doggie ceramic tiles on Etsy
Labrador Retriever goodies on Etsy

edited to add: I just found "Dogs with Blogs" - hot diggity, um, dog! I may never leave the computer again.

A peek for Elizabeth

I'm in my very first ever swaparoonie. Shiver shiver shake. This is a little tasty tease for this darling blogger. It may not be a terrific meatloaf Elizabeth, but I'm hoping it's a pretty good appetizer.

Monday blog hopping

I woke up at four o'clock this morning - in anticipation of the painter arriving this morning - at EIGHT am. geez Louise. Such is the life of the tightly wound anxious Sally Annie sort, I guess - whine, yawn, zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

It's Monday and time for more wonderful blogs:

Accept All Offerings
An Apple A Day
bash - eco events
Inn Cuisine
Jane and the happy crow
Mae Bird
Snippets
Sprouted Kitchen
The Wife of an Artist
This Good Day
Tinsell and Whimsy
Vintage Home
William Bezak the Artist

Twenty one boxes and counting

(very cool video!)

And that's just the living room bookcases. Teeny tiny house, (lovingly) stuffed with books.

Oh what fun I had yesterday - packing up cookbooks and craft books and excitedly muttering, "ooooohhh! I had forgotten about this one" and "ooooohhh, this is a good one!" My husband saying dreamily, "I just want to read now".

It was tough going, not lingering, trudging on, closing up boxes. Today will be the big push, finishing the packing and some moving of furniture. YIKES!

But first, breakfast out - a beloved Sunday ritual, good food, the newspaper at hand. And then, we're joining the ranks of iPhone owners. Oh me. I'm probably the only person on this earth that rarely uses their cell phone. But Apple beckons, with it's come hither eyes and I follow.

Julie & Julia and Blogging For Bliss

Yesterday we saw the movie Julie & Julia. Loved it! Now I'm obsessed with Julia Child and want to read her biography and I also want to read Julie Powell's blog from beginning to end (or at least take a stab at it).

Here are the links for Julie Powell's blog on the Julie/Julia Project:

First entry
Last entry
Julie Powell's new(er) blog



And since Barnes and Noble was just next door, I picked up a copy of the new book, Blogging For Bliss, by Tara Frey.

Lots of lovely surprises enclosed for me! There are more blogs mentioned inside that I've never heard of. Stunned to think that for all the hours my backside has sat in front of the computer, merrily clicking on links, that I haven't yet exhausted the supply of fun out there.

I'm looking forward to reading it. I guess I'm not quite sure yet what I'm doing here in blog land or what the heck my "voice" is??? It's certainly a goofy one, that's for sure.

Anyway, I'm having fun and if anyone is listening, I hope you are too!

For the love of books

I was at a loss about what to write about today. But inspiration was close at hand - my eye fell upon the boxes of books taken down from the bookshelves, in preparation for the painters visit on Monday.

A love of books, passed down from mother to daughter. A love of books, shared between husband and wife.

So many books. So many memories, filling me up, as I dip in again for a moment and place them in their temporary homes.

A few beloved ones that were close at hand ...

Barbie Wednesdays and other good stuff

I noticed that my new blog friends at Two Crazy Crafters (waving hello to Twyla and Lindsey!) have a fun thing called Barbie Wednesdays. I'm embarrassed to say that I don't know all the ins and outs of Barbie Wednesdays (please forgive me Twyla and Lindsey) but I thought it would be fun to show this old Barbie book of mine I found at my parents house. I love the graphics on the inside. I also found one of the old catalogs that came with a Barbie or when you bought an outfit or accessories but I've forgotten where I put it for safekeeping. Woe is me and the middle aged brain.

Well someone out there must have heard me bemoaning the high cost of blinds and shades yesterday because ... I received another delightful email communique detailing yet another windfall that could be mine. Someone's sure looking out for me these days, huh?!

Hello,
I am a staff of Euro Million Lottery.I am contacting you to soliciting your assistance for a swift transfer of 4,528,000 GBP, should you be willing to assist me in this project, I will be taking just 50% of the above sum. As brief, all i require of you is to register online, with my position in the company I can make it happen that you would .be a winner of the above stated amount. Naturally, every body would like to play a lottery if they are assured of winning. I am assuring you today to be a winner, please do not take for granted this once in a life time opportunity as we both stand to collectively gain from this at the success of the transaction. Should you be willing to assist me on this transaction,write me back ASAP.

Speaking of our window treatments, the sales rep came out today and measured and gave us the quote. Thankfully it was a little less than the ballpark figure given earlier, after factoring the manufacturer's discounts being offered in August. But still - holy moly! I don't know how people manage to decorate or upgrade these days.

You can write us in care of our new address at the Poor House, as it looks like we're going to sign the contract and be the proud, albeit impoverished, owners of new window shades.

Oh! The husband ran over to the paint store at the crack of dawn this morning to obtain paint color number seven in the "let's drive this couple around the bend, color choice derby". He painted a new splotch on our wall and Eureka! Lucky seven is the one. Hurray hurrah!

The good news, the completely out of left field good news, is that we left to do errands after we received our quote for shades - when we got home, she had left us a message saying that the owner of the store wanted to pay for our parking ticket we got outside of the store.

Huh? What?! Pick me up off the floor. Can you believe that?! I think it may have been because I told her that I had bought my draperies from them nearly twenty years ago (I left out that my mom had bought her draperies from them thirty five years ago and more later on). Isn't that nice of them! Our getting a ticket had nothing to do with them at all, completely our fault and responsibility.

So now I've just got to contact the man about my millions of British pounds and all will be right with the world teehee.