Happy Mother's Day

What an awesome Mother's Day!!! I am so thankful for all of the blessings in my life.

My day started off with a card from my son along with two Mr. Goodbars {my favorite candy}.

Dear Handyman threw together a breakfast of sausages, bell peppers, hash browns, English baked beans and scrambled eggs. Perfection without the restaurant crowds.

We worked a little on our new {to us} RV. We named this RV, Lucy after Lucille Ball in the movie, The Long, Long Trailer. I will add photos of Lucy another time.

Mid-day we went to a Japanese bakery that had the best cream puff pastry with fresh strawberries.

The bakery is called Cream Pan in Tustin, CA. In the time it took me to take this photo, Dear Handyman ate two of the pastries. They aren't very big but they are delicious!

I wanted to go to the scrapbooking store but they were closed today. I will treat myself next weekend.

Then we went to Fashion Island in Newport Beach, CA. The weather was warm and it was a beautiful day to walk around the stores.

It is always fun to people-watch especially at Fashion Island. I love the koi pond and watching the little children fascinated with the koi fish.

This shopping center is so high-end that I can't afford to buy anything except in the book store. I treated myself to the current issue of Where Women Create, Business. There is an wonderful article about my friend, Eileen Hull and her Paper Trails adventure. I also bought a book about modern calligraphy. I want to improve my calligraphy skills.

Finally, dinner was cooked by Dear Handyman. It was a feast of shrimp cocktail and crab legs. We devoured a pound of shrimp and a pound each of crab legs. I feasted like a queen!

What a perfect day! I couldn't ask for a more relaxing day. I truly am blessed and so thankful for my life.

Happy Mother's Day to all of the strong and brave mothers out there. Hope your life is blessed today and every day.

Living With Less in 2015!

2015 started off with great intentions. My 2015 goal is to Live With Less beginning right now.

Well, that was my intention on December 31st around 8 p.m. I started cleaning one part of my Studio. I was quite happy with the results.

Good News: Creative Life Update

I haven't posted anything creative or thrifty in quite a while but that is only because I haven't had time to create or thrift in quite a while. Sometimes the Universe just throws so much at you all at once and things just have to fall off your plate.

My Life in Brief:
Work: Finally got a promotion! It is doing all of the same things I was doing before but now getting a bump in salary. Woo hoo! I tend to take on any impossible project they think up and then get it done. A catalog created in 12 working days, Sales presentations with over 200 mockup packaging samples, A year's work of rebranding exercises... I'm on it!

Other Work news:

Design: My die designs were introduced at the Fall International Quilt Market. My Fox die was the Sizzix Number One seller at the show. My Monster die was number two.

My Reindeer die also sold out. {I created these examples of how to use my reindeer die. The top reindeer is me with the heart antlers. The left one is Dear Handyman. He's British so his antlers are a little different. The right one is my son who loves to tease Dear Handyman.}

Freelance: I have also been doing a massive number of freelance hours. I really enjoy my freelance. It is a great opportunity to do some creative designs but I can't share anything here. I can tell you that crafters love them. I just don't have my name on any of them but that is okay.

Thrifting: I've been to only a few estate sales but just haven't had the time to post anything new to my Stuff to Treasure store but it is still full of unique vintage treasures. The holidays are coming so you might find that perfect vintage gift for someone.

Personal: I am taking an emotional and mental break for a few days. I am being harassed by my Home Owner's Association which is stressful. Life is so crazy at times. When the Universe throws stuff at me, I need to stop taking it personally and just walk away. I am okay. People I care about are okay. Life is about the here and now and that is okay too.

Back to Nature

I finally returned to the vacation spot that I loved as a child. I hadn't been back in 24 years but it felt like home again although there were a lot of changes.

My parents used to take us camping and fishing almost every Summer near the small town of Bridgeport, California. Just off Highway 395 and into the Eastern Sierra Nevada range are the Twin Lakes that I love. My father taught me how to fish and my mother taught me how to clean them. This is a little bit of paradise to me so I was thrilled when Dear Handyman suggested that we spend a week fishing and camping.

My first surprise was how dry the mountains were. When we arrived there was no snow pack on the peaks and the water level was low. The locals told us that it had been two years of almost no snowfall. While we were there they had the first two storms of the season.

My second surprise was how tame the deer were around the campgrounds. They would come up to the campsites and eat out of your hands if you offered them food.

Most of the time we saw females with their young but once there was a group of three bucks feeding in the next campsite. They all seemed so cute and friendly at the time.

The weather was unpredictable with days of blustery winds, heavy rain and surprising storms dropping snow on both the higher peaks and around our campsite. It was all just so awesome.

We only had one day of great fishing and Dear Handyman did really well.

The most surprising story of this entire trip happened on our last day there. We had walked out to the grassy peninsula situated between two docks to enjoy the sunshine.

While we sat and enjoyed the sunshine a group of people came out to the peninsula to have a picnic. The food attracted the deer and soon a small herd was standing between us and the only way off of the peninsula.

My dog Carly was fascinated by the deer but we were told that the deer can be very dangerous to dogs if they felt threatened. The doe must have felt threatened because she came walking over to protect her young. Dear Handyman had control of the leash so he was trying to get Carly off of the peninsula and away from the deer. I stood between them to try and scare off the mother but she came closer until we were about five feet apart. I was basically eye-to-eye with a mother deer trying to protect her young. Luckily we were able to get Carly off of the peninsula and nothing happened but I'm not sure what I would have done if the doe attacked. Now I can say that I've stared down a coyote AND a protective doe.

What an amazing vacation with all kinds of wild weather and wild animals. It is great to be home although I am mentally still on vacation. Even the local weather feels like Autumn since we've returned.

Racing Family Weekend

We didn't get to do much thrifting this weekend because it was my son's first official race with his Competition License. It is getting much more exciting and much more expensive but I couldn't be more proud of him. Since the day he could actually hold something in his hand, he has always loved cars. And thanks to the additional love and support of Dear Handyman {a total motor-head himself}, my son has the opportunity to chase his dream.

It was all worth it because this was his first competitive race and the Rookie won third place! Now he's holding a trophy instead of toy cars!

But to get that trophy we had a few sacrifices. Anyone who has gotten up early to go to an estate sale knows what it's like to give up the opportunity to sleep in on a weekend morning. In our case, we were actually in the pits before the sun was up.

Early morning and the Boys were busy prepping the car. Yes it was cold.

There's my race car and driver on the track!

Prepping for another qualifying race back in the pits.

And out again.

I may have missed out on some amazing thrifting opportunities this past weekend but I was a part of some magic instead. When someone is realizing their dream then it is truly an awesome experience to be a part of that.

It was an exciting weekend and we were all very tired on the long drive home.

Sadness and Grief

I did not know them but I am a Mother and I feel the collective grief of all Parents. I will honor the angels and not waste a moment of my time on any publicity given to the shooter. I do not want anyone to believe that by doing the unthinkable they will get more attention. 

- be kind -