Tsunami Saturday...

Lovely day
(only a mere 98ish)

Lovely Festival...

Rich, Ms. D, Niko, Pink Tink and I toodled down to the square for the big kick off parade...which I had never actually seen before, bad Tsunamier (yes, that's a word) There were representatives from each performing group in the parade...



We had a lovely day...with a few of the group dropping out here and there, which means I got the kiddos all to myself for quite a while...which was fine by me.


We went from stage to stage (as there is a second one set up just for kids as well as the main stage) and wandered about...stopping to play with the hula-hoops...And you can bet I picked one up, as it's been years since I played with one because I don't quite um, have the center of gravity that I once had? These ones were extra large however, and worked great! I can't tell you how much fun it was to have it work and actually use one again!




Ms. Pink got her face painted with butterfly wings, while Niko looked on from a super comfy chair they had set up...


Both the kids were their delightful selves...and we had a wonderful time. Niko and I even got to sit up super close on the stage for the Tucson Puppet Works funny pirate performance...of which the boy was absolutely enamored, sitting riveted and laughed all the way through...




He was also quite mesmerized by the Indian Temple Dancers, and sat quite still to watch them...I am always mesmerized by them, but it was a surprise to watch him sit so still and watch. There is something so ancient about this particular dance style...and they stop quite often to pose like you see on their drawings and temples. And, I get a little frustrated with myself because I know they're telling a story, only I don't know the language...

And yet, it all seems so familiar.

We all went back for the night time performances...only with the lack of space, and crowds, and the allergies being what they are this time of year...I was left quite alone.

Which was fine.
No, really.

I look forward to this festival all year, and I feel so inspired and excited to see the last few acts...it helps to carry my creativity through...



There was an amazing black light dance performance...and of course, Flam Chen (there's some video links for you) Their performance this year was called Kaboom! and it was breath taking...

At the very end, Kali came out to tell us how amazing it has been for them to perform every year here in Prescott...and after performing all over the year, how special Tsunami on the Square really is. She envisions this kind of gathering as what is real and sacred in life now, and was humbled to be able to perform for us...

It was a wonderful reminder of how lucky we are in our little community up here to have such an amazing venue for us to experience different people's unique expressions of their creativity.

Cause' sometimes?
I forget how to look around and see how lucky I am...
because I get sucked up into the little details of my everyday life...

and sometimes?
I forget how to be inspired.

Thank you...

Let the Flood Begin...

...Or...

let us not accidentally burn down the town square tonight with the amazing fire performance...

Cause it's Tsunami time again.

An entire day devoted to fun and sometimes arty performances. I believe I've only missed one year of this festival...

And, my favorite (like a lot of people's) is Flam Chen. Of course, the Indian Temple dancers are back this year...

And you can believe I was up early this morning, like a child on Christmas (I do that too still, by the way, I can't help it...the giddy anticipation of totally enjoying another day in my life is too much to bear sometimes) Plus...I got an email from Tsunami last night that explained that they would, this year, be letting people with smaller chairs and blankets get first dibs on the grass...so, I HAD to get up and sew the blanket binding onto the last piece of 1070's toweling I had...you know, cause' I've been meaning to do it forever...and I thought...really, why limit us to the choices of REDS on a blanket, when I have BLUES and GREENS just begging to be finished?

You can see my dilemma...

no?
You may have heard my grumbling and cursing as I attempted to sew the binding on?
stupid tension...

no?

I'm off to pack it all up (water included cause' you know it's supposed to be 98 today) as a huge group will be coming over for celebratory guacamole, chips, veggies and grapes...

Friday Love...

Or...Everyday love really...

Isn't that how it is somedays?
Especially around here?

I was out in the yard watering (diligently during this the AZ drought, so that everything living outside won't die a horrible little dusty death) and spraying the various spider webs away (because they DO seem to crop up over night...of course, that's the spider way isn't it?) and what do I almost decimate, but this amazing web...

Of a Heart...
(can you see it there to the left of the bird bath?)

Now, if you know me well, and we'll assume we all do at this point...you'll know that I look for and see signs. Signs of all sorts of things...and most often lately it's been hearts...and hearts have been found popping up quite a bit in my life lately. Now, I don't pretend to know what all these signs mean, but I do happen to find comfort in them...like a special little gift, a reminder if you will, from the universe at large.

So...I'll guess it's a little special love, a spider kiss...how nice really, as it's coinciding with everything of late. And it does put a little spring in my step and a bounce in my smile...A reminder of all the love out there in the universe...
waiting to be had...
embraced...

And, we won't even go into the incident of me having a near miss with a red-tailed hawk almost flying into my head on my walk the other morning...
(leaving me to gape open-mouthed in the middle of the street)

Cause' we all know what that means don't we?

Reasons I Need Thearapy...

Because I waited until my latest therapy session to don my new capris from Anthropologie...



3 days after actually purchasing them...



just so I could show my therapist...









because we both happen to like fashion, and Anthropologie.



Good lord...



May the eye rolling commence.

In Need of...

Alone...

I had an amazing weekend. Truly incredible, one that made my head spin with all the fun I had, and all the things I got to do.

However, on the way home Sunday evening, I started feeling a little "off"

Luckily, with phone calls to and from a couple of friends ("...please tell me everything is going to be OK") I made it home...


In enough time to drop into bed...sleep a little bit, then make a running jump out of bed for my early morning walk and off to start the work week again.

There has been a lot going on in my life lately...plus, I've been having a few extra worries, ideas, and thoughts roaming around.

Some new, and some old...but all my stuff,

really.

And yes, I did have to work 6 days in a row due to an illness in the family...which happened to coincide with my trip away for the weekend (where some of the tired could certainly be coming from eh?) Plus, I've been noticing lately that I feel a little like a guest in my own home...like I can't quite get comfortable in my own space.

And, while the weekend was fun and exciting, honestly it was...

I am just feeling run down...

And overstimulated...

Both of which quickly lead to confused and sad as well.

Lucky for me...I seem to have a lot of help in my life (let's be honest though, everyone does...you just have to ask for it and start looking around)

First off, Monday was deliriously overcast...cloudy, breezy and cool...the perfect day to look for rain (we didn't get any, but it was still appreciated)

And second, I happen to have an in to one of the loveliest backyards in our town...

Which, after much begging and pleading (OK, I just made a small request and my wish was granted) I wrangled and invitation to park The Honey, and walk away.

Alone...

All by myself...

Into the rocks.

Where I walked and ran and jumped around for the better part of an hour.







I sat quietly and listened to the sounds of this place, the same ones I've been hearing for the better part of 27 years...marveling and wondering if I ever leave...

will the sounds come with me?
Will they ever leave me?
Does every place have it's own unique sounds?

Like when the birds sing at the first light of day, or when the wind makes the trees talk to each other...

How does it smell when rain falls?
Does it ever smell like snow? Feel like it?
Does the sight of lightning make other people want to run and laugh and play...trying to get to the highest point to be totally exposed?

All the while, I climbed and jumped and walked along the edges of places just a few weeks ago I would have found myself afraid to go, collecting the thoughts that have been flitting about. And, then I sat and looked at the lake, soaked in the pure beauty of all of it and cried for a long time...


And picked myself up, dusted myself off, and realized...like a million times before...

If I follow the same path again and again, walk out to one point, then follow the same path back to where I started...without looking around for something totally different, a really different way of walking this...how will I ever know what I'm really capable of? How will I ever know, what it is that I can really do? Or who I can really be?

Oh yes.
me.
again.

And, then I smiled...feeling calm, beautiful, alive, and totally full again, and walked back into the world, using a new path, one that I looked for and watched it show up...

just for me.

And The Sunday Was...

Amazing too!

Seriously...

I woke up to start my Sunday by running to Ling-Ling's, the Asian market close to Carol's house, where I completed a quest to get Bean Curd Papers (for a friend who requested them...I like to make people's dreams come true...what can I say?) As a reminder to myself: do not travel to an Asian market on an empty stomach...the smells and live fish and various other organs and whatnot are a lot to handle. As always though, I wish I had enough time and education to really browse and do some serious shopping...I was also looking for some craft magazines, but did not see any. What a disappointment, as both my mother and I have been coveting them, but do not necessarily want to shell out the big bucks to Superbuzzy to get any.
Sigh.

Before I went to meet Rusty for our 22-year-later-world tour, I happened to have an hour to spare...a hungry stomach, and I was just up the street from The Scottsdale Fashion Square (how convenient right?) I was really just intending to run in to PB Loco and get a yummy PB&J, but had to walk right into...I mean, by Anthropologie, where they seemed to be having a sale of epic proportion. I bought a little something for myself...these lovely madras plaid, gingham checked, and eyelet patchwork capris (oh, a child of the 80's am I)


Then off to the hotel to meet with Rusty. We had a wonderful afternoon together, laughing so much our little sides hurt, and I think we may have cried off our makeup as well...which is OK, because her darling daughter entertained us with applying makeup to herself...

Rusty and I haven't seen each other in 22 years, and a lot has happened in that time, but we spent the first part of our visit pouring over old notes she'd found from Jr. High and High School...complete with rating systems for certain boys we knew and a word jumble she'd made titled "people of our lives"

Good lord

It's funny, both being natural blonds, and then finding ourselves red-heads...the mutual love we have for many things vintage...It was a pleasure to catch up, as Rusty has always been one of the funniest people I've ever known and could crack me up in about 2 seconds! (plus, she just wrote to say they may come up today as well...lucky me!) Then it was outside to take a couple of pictures...the second one here was us trying to duplicate this one...

I'd like to think we look better here, but I'm wondering if in 22 years I will look back and cringe...hey, at least I'm not wearing the lavender jacket...

Then it was into The Honey of a Car an up the hill...the car did great the whole trip and was a pure pleasure to drive, the air is so cold, I kept it on low the entire time I was down in The Valley, and was nice and chilly...

And, Rich was just dropping Kesley off at the airport the same time I was leaving, so I think we were about 20 minutes apart the whole ride home...

I'd like to report an exciting secret rendezvous at Sunset Point, but alas, both of us were dead tired from all the fun, and sniffling from some sort of allergies/pollen/Phoenix/AZ air thing

(oh no...please tell me I'm not getting too old for a secret rendezvous...sigh)

We did call each other and check in on the phone and talk quite a bit during our driving, as we had both been so busy with fun separate stuff during the weekend, we didn't get too much face time...

And, as I was speeding down the highway during the last leg of my trip, I was instantly attracted to the clouds in the sky...so I pulled out the camera on the seat, and snapped a couple of these beauties...

Can you explain to me, how I can take a clear picture of something in a moving car, and yet, I have a hard time standing still and taking a clear picture?

Maddening...

And The Saturday Was...

Amazing!

Of course, really...were you expecting anything less?

First off, I had to work on Saturday, so I decided to start the day off with a little treat in the form of a coffee at The Raven Cafe, where I was sweetly surprised by Rich and his visiting friend Kesley (a great way to start the day) I have been looking forward to meeting Kesley, as I have been privy to a few one sided phone conversations, and was not disappointed...I was telling Rich that there was a part of me that was quite a bitty-bit sad that I was going down to The Valley, as it is indeed hard for me to pass up the chance of intelligent conversation with anyone (rats...hopefully we can get together soon) even though I was rushing down to do just that with another group...

How wonderful is it to be greeted by Carol, Norma, and Ruthie...a cosmo in hand, and many kisses and hugs...laughing and clapping of hands....and the food? Oh yes, one can never go hungry with this many fun-loving women around. I wore this little outfit for about 5 minutes before I ran and changed into my monkey lounge pants...because, that's what kind of night it turned out to be...Like a high school slumber party, only with no nail painting and lots of fruity drinks...wait, that's exactly like a high school slumber party!

We had so much fun together. I was marveling over the fact that you get any group of women together, and inevitably, there is side splitting laughter, making you gasp from breath to breath, wipe the tears from your face, squealing and shouting with pure joy...the accidental sharing of secrets (making one put their hand over their mouths quickly...always a dead giveaway that something momentous has just slipped out) and there are always tears...

The tears of joy you wipe from your face with the back of your hand, after laughing so hard you wonder how your stomach will feel in the morning, the healing tears that come with sharing and memories...the tears that leak out in empathy and understanding...the tears that come with reliving personal stories of the past...hard and easy...the gentle rhythm of a group of women is an amazing thing to behold, and I feel so grateful to be a part of it...as always. There's just so much more to these get-togethers than what is on the surface, and it's something that I need in my life to give me gentle nudges and reminders of who I am, and this amazing tribe that I belong to.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you...

Carol was so very generous, as was her sweet daughter, who let me sleep in her bed for the evening, which was fortunate because as you can see, if I hadn't grabbed the bed...it would have been the sink for me (this is Bella) and I was kept company all night by Carol's sweet sleeping doggie Ross (who I did not snap a picture of, but was indeed a gentleman the entire night around this group of ladies)

I'm off for the day...I will post about Sunday tomorrow, as I stupidly forgot my camera, and I am waiting for Rusty to send me the pictures we took of our visit...

I'm Outa' Here...

Ahhh...the weekend has arrived for me to jet off once again...Which will also be the very first trip Honey and I will take together...

(Note to self: must remember iTrip and Tiny Sweetie Ipod for good road-trip er, road-jaunt music)

To visit this beautiful girl (the one I haven't seen since the beginning of our first year of high school, who just tracked me down via flickr) and you can bet the high school year books are set out and ready to go...cause' there's nothing more fun that playing, "whatever happened to so and so" or "you'll never believe what so and so turned out to be!" (oh dear)

And, I get to stay with...and party down (tee-hee) with these lovelies...all the Ya-Ya's together, minus one Ms. Dina, who will be fulfilling other obligations here at home.

Plus, there's the highly anticipated side-trips to both Trader Joe's and Wild Oats.

So, I leave you with the picture of my Squinchy Face...taken by one Rich, on a recent little boulder hopping we undertook...and, who I will be leaving for the weekend up to his own devices with a good friend...luckily, not only is he one to keep in touch throughout the day, but he's promised to take lots of pictures...which is good, because I hate to feel like I'm left out of anything (like, how could anyone have any fun without me around? Well, someone has a high opinion of herself)...

So, in the spirit of no one feeling left out, I will promise to take lot's of pictures of my weekend as well...that way, we may all stay well informed of fun happenings.

Deal?

I'm off now to pack, prepare and primp for the weekend...

Happy 4th!!

...um, yeah,

A little early here right?

This gives me visions of being a child, running around the house pleading with my mother (a can of spray snow and window stencils in one hand, and some twinkling lights in the other) to please let me decorate for Christmas...

You see, my mother is not a huge decorator...or rather, she has all the wonderful things to decorate with, she just prefers to wait. Could it be because she was a single mom with 2 kids and there were more important things to do? perhaps. Mostly though, I think it's the fact that she really enjoys all the holidays in between the holidays...earth based celebrations as well as the changing of the seasons.


And just because she had an overachiever first born running around with the idea of, "if I'm gonna' decorate, I'm gonna' put it up as early as possible so that I can enjoy it!" didn't sway her, and it still doesn't. Even now, I go over to her house and try to get her to decorate early (and please realize that most of the time I am a strong starter and a weaker finisher...I, of course, blame that on being an Aries)

And, can I help it if I'm a neurotic um, enthusiastic person?

Or, that the marketing people are putting more and more decorations in the stores earlier?

Or, that I own a store, and that in the spirit of all holidays, I need to decorate early?

How about the fact that I live in the town that boasts the World's Oldest Rodeo?

Maybe it's just the simple fact that I enjoy creating things for my home and then decorating. There is nothing like the sight of red white and blue buntings hanging outside a historic home...it's just beautiful, and brings back the memories of a simpler time...

Like when I used to wrap my own Christmas presents as a child...

you know, so the presents would be under the tree in time for Christmas?

( What?! I never looked at what they were, I hate to ruin surprises...plus, I got to set up a little wrapping station in my bedroom at home, it was sooo fun!)

A Bit of a...

spring zephyr

(As they would say in Winnie The Pooh...of which I am a big fan.)

Ah yes, there has been a wind a blowin' through Northern Arizona lately...making everything dry out a little more.

And why am I surprised?

After all these years living up here, you think I'd be used to it, or at the very least, I would remember that it does indeed do this every year at this time...and usually for quite a while as well. Just enough to make you think you may go crazy, then it stops...

and gets hot...

That's AZ for you...

But, the best part is, it's blowing clouds in (and right back out again quite fast) and lately, when I come home in the afternoon, it is quite cool in the house, and I don't need to put on the window fans...

Have I mentioned that I don't have air conditioning? Most of us locals do not have air.

We're tough.
We like to sweat.
We like to complain incessantly to anyone who will listen:
"it never used to get this hot"

Another good thing is that I have a swamp cooler in the shop...which is where I spend most of my time during the days anyway. And the swamp cooler works great...

Until it gets humid...

(then we start complaining about how it used to rain more too...and that you could set your watch to the clouds moving in...and the monsoons)

It's tough living in paradise.
(snort)

Girls With a View...

Last night was spent immersed in a girlie evening with Ms. Dina...

The first one for both of us in a long while. You see, we've both been a bit distracted/busy/overloaded with many life changes...don't worry though, most of them are quite good.

This is a view from the window of a new home that the girl will find herself in soon...much like my house, with trees all about...often, my house reminds me of living in a tree-house, with the leafy greens views peeking through most of my windows...






But, where my house only has the large front porch, this place has a large wrap-around deck with beautiful views...

of the sunset...

the trees...

the twinkling lights of the city...

The absolute perfect place to enjoy some girlie giggles, the dissection of many current life adventures and a bit of red wine and chocolate.

Oh yes, I can see a few more summer nights like this in my future...

Packing It Up...

Sunday found me...
Packing Dishes.

Or more specifically, packing up my Eggshell Nautilus Apple Blossom patterned china. In between baking and making salads, putting up a few 4th of July decorations (we lay claim to The World's Oldest Rodeo here, so the 4th is major...but that's another story) and going through ton's of stuff I've um, been hoarding...I finally packed away this china that I "inherited" from my grandmother (I say inherited because she's not dead yet...she just wanted me to enjoy it as soon as possible, which is nice because she gave it to me before I got married, and if I had to wait to actually inherit it, I wouldn't have gotten to use it...oh, the 2 times I've drug it out. I know, sigh.)

I was down in the coolness of the basement tackling this project that I've promised myself I'd get to a million times, and never have yet, but I received some wonderful dish storage for my birthday, so it was high time...and I say to myself I am super lucky my grandmother can't climb up and down the stairs, or doesn't read this blog, because if she'd seen the way I'd been storing the china I'd be in super big trouble...
You see (Oh, here it comes...skip ahead if you don't want to hear me justify my laziness) I don't have a dining room, nor have I ever in any of the homes I've owned, and absolutely no way to display my china, so it's been sitting in boxes sandwiched in between what appeared to be napkins from various past family weddings and some super old paper towels with Abraham Lincoln on them (which are probably worth something, so if you're in the neighborhood you can stop by and rummage through my recycle bin)

Now I don't have to worry anymore because it's all packed away very well, thank you.

I was also amazed to find that she'd saved the original paperwork in it's crunchy little envelope and had enclosed a handwritten note for me (which would have brought a tear to my eye if I wasn't feeling so darned guilty about not taking care of this storage thing years ago)

"The Joys of Nautilus"
from The Homer Laughlin Company

And on her note she said that she'd treasured this china for 50 years (sigh...) and that there was only one chip in a piece and was in the platter, put there by "...a dear friend" Yeah, right...my grandmother was and still is extremely particular with her belongings, and I've been listening to the story of "ole' so and so, who chipped my platter when she came over for dinner" as long as I've been alive and she used this set. My grandmother is also an amazing cook, and gave huge parties...and seeing this set always reminds me of how much fun we used to have...now none of us have a house with the space to even have a dinner party inside...or a dining room table, without having to clear out some furniture.

I also discovered I have a service for about a thousand. I feel so guilty because it's such a beautiful set, and paired with my set of sterling silver flatware my father gave me years ago...

I could certainly have a dinner party of epic proportions.
(if only I knew that many people)

Sunday June 3rd....

After a quickie walk around the neighborhood (I was going to Peavine it sometime this weekend, but alas, I have not the time nor the energy) trying to beat the daytime heat...and I almost made it, but it was a little warm yet...I popped over to my mother and Rozzie's to pick up a bundt cake pan. Now, I know this may surprise you....me being the entertainer and wanna' be Martha (although, I don't want to be Martha per se, I just want to bake and decorate and craft, and well, um get paid that kind of money and whatnot) I do not own a bundt cake pan. Plus, after growing up in the home I did, using all the vintage mixing bowls and vintage cake and muffin pans to learn to bake and create things in...It's super hard for me to buy anything new...So, I usually bide my time until something old presents itself to me for purchase (i.e. yard sales and thrifts)

And, isn't her Swan Flour cake pan just gorgeous?
(You can now see why it's so hard for me to go into a regular store when I have these memories to live up to!)

I especially love it because when I ask to borrow something, she says, "...Ok, but it's that old.......I always use" then she'll pull out some fabulous thing she's used for years, and someones mom used for years before that...Plus, everything at the store is now silicone...who bakes in silicone? I mean while lovely (and the red would certainly match the kitchen) with all the special adjusting I do to recipes making sure not to aggravate anyone's food allergies...is cooking in that form of plastic really safe?

Tonight Rich and I are going over to Ms. Dina's for a bar-b-q...so, yesterday, I made a potato salad...potatoes, green beans, peas, shredded carrots and hand made Italian dressing...I will be making a fresh tomato, Euro. cucumber, olive and marinated artichoke heart salad right before we go...And I am bringing a vanilla iced applesauce cake with fruit for dessert.

This is the first time I've personally made this cake; however, my mother's been making it for years. It is the applesauce cake recipe from Joy of Cooking, BUT using organic ingredients, spelt flour, raw cane sugar, and 1T. soy flour-mixed with 1T. water (to replace the egg) I decided to mix the raw sugar with half the amount of applesauce the recipe calls for before I added it to the shortening because sometimes when I use raw sugar, it doesn't dissolve quite properly, and it makes whatever you're eating crunchy...

And, no one likes crunchy cake.

And, luckily with my mother having tested all these recipes out for years, I can just throw out any food allergy problem, and she magically has a substitution solution, it makes it so much easier. Plus, I realize that this is the first time in a long while I've actually felt like baking or making things...

So, I'm either feeling better, or I'm trying to impress someone...
(I think it may be a little of both)

but really, when it comes to cooking and baking...
everyone wins

Don't you think?

Once In a Blue Moon...

Last night I received an invitation...

To view both the sun set and then the moon rise from the tippy-top of a large pile of rocks in the Dells.

Being the gal that I am...and up for what sounded like an adventure, and a bit of a romantic one at that, seeing as the second full moon in a month (known, of course, as a blue moon) doesn't happen often...And, the opportunity to see this phenomena from the top of the Dells has never happened to me...I jumped at the opportunity.


As of a couple of years ago, I was not that active. Which meant no walking about, hiking or jumping up on large piles of boulders of any sorts. You see, as a child I was led to believe that I was not good at any of these things, and was totally clumsy...so, I decided at some point to be quite afraid to do anything like this at all.

Mostly too, because I was afraid I would slip and fall.

And you know what?


This is the second time this week I've been out here hopping around. And, I haven't slipped once (OK...no jinxing myself for the next time either) so, I'm starting to feel more comfortable.

Plus...I am getting the chance to experience the place I've lived for the last 27 years in such a fresh new way, since I've been invited to do these things by someone who's just moved here, and is totally enthusiastic about the whole place...



...And since the lighting is in the entirely wrong spot here, there are no details of the catalyst for all of this...sorry about that.

So, we watched the glorious sunset both documenting it with our cameras every few minutes, and I was made to laugh uproariously by Rich with the idea that the moonrise was certainly a bit later than predicted, an idea to which we both agreed quite seriously and soberly (laced with giggles and guffaws) was so much more important than that pesky global warming thing we've been hearing so much about.

Rich had his tripod set up so he could get all the perfect shots...and it has been suggested, that my camera sucks. I heartily agree...Luckily he's also suggested the camera I should be saving up for (so that is finally in the works)

If you would like to see some amazing moon shots...you'll have to pop over to his site, cause mine were too blurry...It was windy up there and a little chilly and my camera bites (OK, that's three excuses) But, it was an amazing fun adventure, the kind that takes you out to the end of a pile of rocks so that you can hug yourself as a reminder that you are still alive and lucky to be witnessing something so amazing and soak in all the beauty that is.

And, you know what?
When we descended from this pile of rocks in the near dark, me carrying a small tripod in my hand...

I didn't slip one bit.

In The Red...

...And, with the advent of the Red Kitchen Aid, it began

The matchy - matchy red kitchen.

OK...to be honest and fair, the real red matchy began when I moved into this house. You see, at some point during it's wonderful history, someone somewhere decided it would be a marvelous update to put in red counter tops. When I bought the house, everything was painted white with grey trim...and the red was not too good...I was nervous. Then, I started my own decorating and colors, and the red was perfect (does it help that red is my favorite color also?)

So, last summer out yard saleing, I spied the LeCruset heart shaped casserole dish (and it's been about hearts lately hasn't it?) Plus, I've always had a little secret crush on LeCruset, so I snapped it up. My mother rolled her eyes because I don't make casseroles (too much dairy usually) but, I use it for salads...and since it has a lid, it's perfect to sit on the table outside without collecting bugs.

Then...in a sweet twist of fate (cause' fate totally works that way) I stumbled upon these 2 Red nesting LeCruset mixing bowls.

Let's see...
Red...check
LeCruset...check
mixing bowls...check

That about covers 3 of the many obsessions doesn't it? Now, if I could only convince myself to buy this pitcher...Or, these heart shaped ramekins, which wouldn't really be hard to do, because not only do I need a water pitcher and heart shaped ramekins, but I am the queen of justifications...

Happy Blue Moon!

In The Perfect Place...

I've been thinking a lot lately about where I'm at.

Or more accurately...where I've landed.

At one point in the description of sorts, about myself in this blog...I wrote, "I am not exactly in the place I ever thought I would be in my life..." I'm wondering now if I should erase it? I'm wondering if it sounds whiny? You see, I started this blog sometime after my divorce from a man, whom I was naive enough to think was my soul mate. This is, of course, before I changed my definition of soul mate to include anyone who's ever meant anything to me in my life...or anyone who's brought any illumination to my journey. Cause' honey, if we only get one chance at a soul mate, and that was it...

I'm screwed.

And...it took a while. A while of crossing my arms and stomping around in frustration and anger pursing my lips and pouting mostly because this wasn't how I pictured it turning out.

This was not my life.
No sir.

Only, it was.
And, it is.

I had no choice but to embrace my moment. To stop, in my tracks and change my direction...to finally reinvent myself again. What's the worst that could happen? To me, it already did. Now sometimes, I chuckle. I chuckle because I've landed on another side of this thing called life. Once I stopped struggling and sat down and faced it, stared it down and blew it a raspberry...well, it changed. I've recently slowed down and started to look around at where I've landed.

I've come to realize something,
just because I didn't plan this...I didn't predict this part...heck, I didn't even know it was coming,
doesn't mean it's bad or wrong...
It means I get to experience something I didn't know existed for me.

Last night when I was at my mother's and we were having this conversation (again) there is this part of me that yells, "There must be a reason for all of this...for what has transpired!" (all the while shaking my fist to the heavens) This was supposed to happen, right? Cause' there are no refunds if it doesn't work out...No returns if it doesn't fit right...

And, perhaps
just perhaps,
this is exactly where I am supposed to be in my life...
I just didn't know it.


And, perhaps
just perhaps,
I've landed in the most perfect place of all...
right in the middle of my life.


(and for those of you who know me...and are perceptive, you may have realized something is a little different in my life lately...more lightheartedness and fun...and I've been out and about with someone, but not mentioning names...if you skip over here...since he's "officially" outed us...lol...you'll see who I've been spending a fair amount of time with)