Tis the seaon to create your own reasons

As the holidays come into full madness I always discover myself watching from the outside but not for the obvious reason. You may or may not know but I've been in retail for 25 years. I've been ordering Holiday motif merchandise in July, figuring displays out in my mind in September, working like crazy from Halloween until January & poof my holidays have always been after everyone ceases shopping at the end of January. Christmas & Co have been my business & for that reason I see it quite differently.

I appreciate the gentle snowfall at midnight when I drive the empty streets home, lights twinkling, carols on the radio & the true peace of it all. I know my few gifts of thought always outweigh the mountains some think matter more. My perspective is the greatest gift of the season.

Worry not about perfect cookies. They last longer in the mouth than on the eyes. Forget about finding the perfect sweater for your best gal. Instead invite her out to lunch & shopping when the malls have quieted down. It will be a greater treasure. Allow yourself to be human. You'll forget, burn, miss & all the other wonderful traits that make you flesh & blood but promise me no tears.

I have seen it all fighting, crying, sadness: you name its occurred in front of my eyes. I've always reassured & yes sometimes they listen not just hear but more often than not they embrace the blue that the season of red & green can cause.

There are so many reasons to love the season: family, friends, treats & yes even gifts but if the year has been filled with illness, unemployment, economic issues, heck even just stuff I hope from one side of the counter to the other I hope you can find a reason to celebrate just being alive & loved. You see all that stuff you fight & worry over, we'll pull it out of a box again next October. Its really not that important. The love which is the reason, I believe, for the season, its always there.

P.S. Grant & Hailey are coming this Tuesday for 2 weeks. I get hugs, hand holding & kiddie kisses. Really who needs more.

Merry Christmas to you & those you love!!!!!

Ya give me fever...Valley Fever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sick as I've been I'm happy to pass on that I've been diagnosed with Valley Fever, a spore that lives in the AZ desert & yup...its in my lungs. Blood tests came back positive & now I'm just relaxing away. I did have pneumonia, often a symptom but the fever explains the enlarged nodes & while a follow up CT will be required this 99.9% explains the abnormal nodes & dismisses cancer. An anti fungal drug is only used in severe cases & knock on my wooden head I got it good but not that bad so rest, sleep, eat well & months of slowly getting better will do me just fine.

Thank you for all the love & support. Its made me feel so loved& we all know that's the best medicine.

I'm so looking forward to getting back to blogging in the next week or so. I have missed you all so very much.

By the way the images are my favorite flea market painting & then tole tray for my autumn transformation of the house. The tray was at the Ann Arbor Antiques market: last hours of a double weekend & tucked at the back of a display. Paid half price at $60.00 & the picture doesn't do it justice. It also big at 24"x20". All my years in the antiques world taught me many tricks of the price trade, which I'm thinking could make a good post. I can tell you that wherever I go Ann Arbor to Rose Bowl my compadres make me do the purchasing. The painting was from another fabulous Alicia at the Royal Oak Flea in tiny Royal Oak Michigan. Another photo that doesn't do it justice.

In my old home it hung over the fireplace mantle for the autumnal season. By the way I do have MVD: mantle vignette disease...dressing it for the season but think Martha or Eddie Ross. Natural resplendence I call it. With my closet full of decor my mother calls it nuts. Hey I was in high end home decor retail for 10 years & paid wholesale: NDI, I really miss you. :)

Happy weekend!!!!!

I haven't fallen off the Earth but I feel like it.

Flu, flu, work, work, flu then to the hospital...double pnemonia. Yup thats my life the last 6 weeks. I"m in my second week of recovery & to make matters even worse on my CT scan my lung lymph nodes were enlarged beyond what illness should give me so naturally the resident gives me a list of reasons that includes cancer but thats the only one I heard. The odds are small but frankly any odds just aint delightful or delovely. I'll have to be re scanned & if I dont get ship shape sooner well then everything will just be pushed up but forgive me if I'm not in a blogging mood. I'll be back soon. I just need to veg, rest & find my usual kickin ass character again.

I hope everyone is having a fabulous Halloween week & enjoying the bounty of Autumn that I miss so very much. See the leaves, wear a sweater & pick an apple for me. I threw an amazing picking party eons ago back in a friends orchards in Michigan. Think picnic tables covered with vintage plaid blankets, baskets, vintage enamelware and a killer tablescapeof pumpkins, apples & straw/ Why oh why could 1994 not be a digital year??

Love to all.

Cupcakes for a cause.....

6 days a week, 10 hour days have left me little time lately to breathe much less blog & for that I'm sorry. Once we fill a position at work, I'll be back. Heck I've even some killer recipes to share. ( Proscuitto, chevre pizza with fresh greens & my fig balsamic glaze...pizza!!)

For the moment I ask you to bake an ecupcake. Yup!! Design one, send it your friends & 1800FLOWERS will donate a dollar to Cancercare For Kids, a norganization that provides support for families of children with cancer. They've only had 2400 cupcakes sent??? So with $2600 dollars still up for grabs I figure the blog world can kill that in a few hours.

Now go bake a Cupcake for a Cause & yes I shall return.

When ones vacations, one works upon return

I know, I know I've been silent since returning but in my real life, not the vacation life or blog life, I returned from the Lowcountry to a madhouse at dagnabit...work. In my pre economic crash life of boutiques it would be smooth sailing into the Holiday season but in the post layoff world of wholesale auto parts (we sell to the guy who fixes your car) its been crazy. People have less for new so are reinvesting more in the vehicle they have & blend that with the dog days of Arizona summer...well its a madhouse.

I'm off to spend time with my parents for this weekend the first since I've returned but I'll be back hopefully end of this week. I have so many wonderful places to show you. I found gems.

I hope you enjoy one of my shots of Forsyth Park in Savannah. I leave you with my blessing a.k.a Grant & Hailey, taken at Elizabeths on 37th on my birthday. Yup the pink was Haileys idea for a bit of fun.

Have a lovely time with your families & see you soon.....

Back again but home was left behind.....

Yes I have returned to Arizona but after merrily making my way from Svannah to Charleston & gracing points in between I do believe I left my heart in Charleston. I have much to mention but with unpacking, working until Sunday & I leave you with this gorgeous tidbit of a home taken in historic Summerville... naturally with more to come.

Adieu for a few weeks my dear friends...& a piece of sarcastic but accurate advice.

Wow, when you work like a dog in the 115 degree heat for 2 weeks it really flies by.

In a few days I'm off for a few weeks. Savannah, GA, Low Country Beaufort & Charleston SC to spend happy times with my beloved Godchildren Grant & Hailey. Having barely spent anytime with them the last 15 months after helping raise them for several years & loving them as if they were my own, this vacation has been long overdue & will be truly wonderful.

Besides sightseeing, beach combing & shopping, we will be celebrating my 43rd birthday next Monday with a 7 course tasting menu at Elizabeths on 37th. I'm also bringing back a few goodies to giveaway...& I give killer gifts!!! Oh & a few vinos tastings are on the agenda too!!!
Until we chat again take care my dear friends. Relax. Remember all those rude people you've been emailing me about well I leave you with a sarcastically accurate tip that I've been passing on for years. 25 years in retail I've seen everything...& been called it too. This popped into my head 'cause I am a bit nuts & I've been using this ever since. When that person is acting like a moron, a cretin, the devil or honestly just obnoxious look deep into their eyes & remember to thank God you don't have to have sex with this person!! You laughed!! I know you did. People always do. If this is how they act over trivial issues, because it always is trivial that is, imagine how they behave when its important. Yup you'll laugh & the frustration will disappear & there seems to be a lot of that these days. My final words are from the smart ass side of my soul.... its a great side to keep ya young!!!

Reign drops keep falling from my head...

"precipitation"

one drop was all this took

drizzle then showers

all the sky a blue fighting low grey clouds

quenching an arid plot of long lost life before rainbows

me with colorful high hopes

falling

tears, rivers streaming through gutters, winds blowing

and without an umbrella relishing the wetness of my cheeks

my hair disheveled, my heart on straight

liberated

saturated

cultivated & sprouting

drenched to my bones & singing in my reign

Despite a monsoon season, I miss the rainy days of Michigan when clouds overcast all, the world's silent save for the drip drops of delight that sing to me all the day. I adore these days & will tell you that a walk in the rain is my favorite way to relax. I'm also the one you'll never see running from the car to wherever. I get wet, cause I do dry. My favorite drenched memory was 3 years back. Hailey was 4 Grant 7 & while in Target it was sunny. So as I pushed a cart of kids & dids & the rainy began gentle...yup they protested. Off came my raincoat & over the cart it went.... 10 steps out the door & it went torrential!!! Crazy heavy straight rain, children laughing as I get soaked & me....doing Gene Kelly imitation with a cart!! Yup they were safe, dry & I squished in my seat the whole way home but the giggling...thats what now keeps me quenched.
Please forgive the naughty blogger I am. I'm working up a storm to make up for the 5 months off recuping & the 2 weeks vacation to be with my little rain buddies...which occurs in 2 weeks. I haven't been with them since January. Once I return I'll be back to my 2 plus a week, but for now enjoy the rain I'm praying you get to cool & nurture you. Allow a few to hit your tongue for me.

I'll leave you with the 2 best reasons to be a bad blogger......

My tropicool bedaway

Phew!!!!!!!!!!!!

Between the heat & working crazy I'm ready for another getaway.... in my imagination.
I hope everyone gets the chance to chill in this Sunday.

This is my read for the weekend...how appropriate!!!

Add in this cool man... & my getaway in bed is complete.
Dinner is mango mojitos & two great recipes from the New York Times Recipe for Health series...Grilled Pacific Halibut with Mango Salsa & Cucumber Salsa salad. They have some great recipes. Check them out.

Finally fresh pineapple sorbet. Love to everyone & thank you for the lovely compliments...you really made my week.

Images courtesy of NYT & Amazon

You burn, scorch & scar but you will flower again...

So many woes, so little time to soothe.

You see I'm a soother, a mother to anyone in pain. I have had great pain in my life & through this my empathy is off the charts. Not my words, my friend's. She always know when she calls me she'll cry because I encourage her to release if only a trace of the pain that weighs her down.

With all the economic, health, family & other woes I've heard lately a friend told me Monday that she feels like her life has jumped from the frying pan into the fire. Today I tucked this in a pretty card on her chair at lunch.

fire lily

from above an explosion, a racing fury that penetrated

creating a human charred

scarred & seemingly disfigured

I released my woman from beneath it all

within acres of black burnished flaking crusts of

hideousness & nonsense

disaster to the masses

came a warmth steaming & behold myself expressed

arising in a manner only tragedy can impress your core

crumbling

the pain of erosion & winds discerning

I heard a scream across my skin

but despite the ache great, nature, my creature

we insisted upon the self

somehow through the relics of such combustion

I had the graceful nature to break through

phoenix towards heaven

willowing

billowing

my species coming into her own

my reign, concocted tears, convoluted years

aggressing to floods of emotion

rinsing away the filth, my debris

my strength dormant now a tendril growing

deeper a shade of green

than the blackest nasty ashy days of but a flick of ignition ago

encrusted once with withering this & dirty clung on that

now I flourish

burning bright

delightfully trusting

thanking the fire that raced across what I once was to create the fire I am

Hang in there my loves.... you shall flower again.

The rush to blush, my cheeks & everywhere else!!!

Loving what you do for me is truly enough so this past week when Julie at Being Ruby & Pink Martini & Pearls presented me with lovely blog awards, I was honored, giddy & girly giggly. Tee hee, tee hee, so sweet, a treat, I blush at the praise. Blush pink ever so sweet & innocent: the best of all colors because its genuine, in my soul the most sincere of colors. Don't think, feel, blush.
No wonder I adore the delicacy of this hue of pink. Baby soft, gentle, a whisper of pink I've seen it described so many ways but all are a lullaby. It morphs into so much pleasure.

Marshmallows, confections & even a glass of champagne or rose. Oh please forget the pink zinfandel swill, PLEASE!!! (Snoqualmie Chenin Blanc: fruity, light far superior.) I also like a pink bonnet: gin, creme de framboise, simple syrup & egg white... voila!!!..inhibition releasing libation.

From my tongue to my skin well of course blush & balms but creams, soaps oh the most fun in a pink bubble bath & yes my Perfumeria Gal currant gloss is never far away.

Clothes, shoes, baubles, cashmere, especially my cashmere, all somehow feel softer, bubbly & even at my most wise ass moment, I feel like Princess Grace in blush. My greatest moment of blush...my Vera Wang bridesmaid dress for Katie & Brad's wedding, worn more by my petite Hailey & then donated to the Glass Slipper Project to pass along the love of blush & self.

Home...one woman. Phoebe Howard. Her pink rooms are legendary in the blogosphere, shown time after time for the very obvious reason that her design is timeless. There are others that have me at their beckon call: notions, potions & other bewitching spells they whisper come hither & of in a zither I fly to lay at their feet & idolize.

Katherine Houston's genius will make its way into my home. The hints of the palest pink just make this even more visionary.
When I do invite you to partake you'll likely receive an invite via Sarah LeClere or William Arthur. If the butterfly gave anymore delight I likely will take flight from sheer giddiness. A garden without such subtle shades is nothing. Blossoms anew in spring, heady roses of summer, even the aptly named Blushing Girl all lends to blowing bubbles, rings around the rosies & care free days.

In these vinegar days of economic greys, I'm so grateful for a little blush from nature, nurture & gestures of sweet compliments. As the week draws to a close I hope your weekend is filled with cotton candy moments: sweet, airy & a whisper of pink.

Images courtesy of Country Living, House Beautiful, Martha Stewart