Friendship-Friendship, Just The Perfect Friendship...

Don't you think these two little Cutie Putooties could be Ethel and Lucy when they grow up?? This is one of my all time favorite pieces of clipart... Two little girlfriends who most obviously LOVE to get into all kinds of mischief together. Oh you know nothing bad just kinda "what do you think would happen if we..." sorta thing. :)



I don't know about you but in the just over the year that I have been a member of Bloglandia I have met so many wonderful people and been blessed with some of the best friendships!! One of these Bloglandian friends is mi "Hermanita" (little sister) Renate of "Put a little magic in your life". Renate lives in Germany which by all accounting is a loooooong way from Mexico. :( It's not impossible (because nothing is) but there is a high degree of probability that we will not be standing behind a fish bowl with the look of "well we only wanted to see what... looks on our faces. Instead we rely on the magic of the ethernet to share our escapades. It didn't take Renate long to learn that I live to Junk. I mean who doesn't??? I also live in a country where flea markets and "junkin" is not a happening thing. Heck you can't even find yard sales here :( . Renate on the other hand lives in a country that has amazing flea markets full of wonderful vintage "junk" Sooooooooo on Sundays when she and Max go to the flea markets she takes me along vicariously to wonder... "what do you think we could do with this?? Heck what do you think THIS is??" :)



When LW and I got to Joe and Mette's I found this most amazing parcel from Renate waiting for me. She had lovingly sent some of her flea market stash to share with me!!! YEAH!!! She also sent a lovely giveaway I won. Look down in the right corner. There are to medallions she made out of resin and a mermaid charm. I'm sorry I need to go back to "photos for blogs 101" cuz the picture of the medallions was unbelievably horrendous and the rest of these aren't much better :)

There are watch faces and watch cases, and watch guts oh my!! Bags of blue and green glass beads.

Look tiny little mermaid charms inside that watch case. A cool tin box. I love small little containers and boxes of any size :) More strings of beads. Down in the left corner are two of her precious beach rock focals. Those are the rocks she collects when she goes to Italy on holiday!! Ohhhh and 3 vintage pins,

Like I said unlike Ethel and Lucy we can't walk into each others back doors with a YOOOOOOHOOOOO any coffee???? But we are still magnificent friends who manage to get into a bit of mischief even over the ethernet!!!! ;) Thank you dear friend for all these wonderful treasures and for carrying me along in your back pocket when you are a junkin!!

Have a most audacious today or tomorrow depending on where in the world you are p;)

A Mini Vacation For My Soul

Ever since we got home from the wedding-family reunion I keep catching myself slipping toward a bit of a Blue Funk :( I'm sure it's because of all the excitement of wedding preparations, running in high gear for 2 weeks, and having all those request to create something for this or that. Then to come home to ......... no one is calling to ask "Mom what do you think, or could you make this". All of the family Christmas gifts were given to them to place under their trees. There are no projects staring me in the face. And Annalise is begging me to slow down on creating necklaces because she says her neck can't hold up with any more weight :( Besides this kinda jewelry is a bit ostentatious for a swimsuit at the beach don't ya think???

Last evening I finished up a necklace and a couple of pairs of earrings and put all my pretty beads away. Yup you can see the bottom of my desk!! :) I'll get some pictures and post them in a day or so. But it was while I was putting things away I finally realized that I was wallowing in that not so good feeling. So I did what any good soul keeper should do for the well being of the soul we've looking after. I took us on a bit of a vacation.

First I put a CD of Vivaldi on to play and fixed myself a lovely cup of Prince of Wales tea

I fluffed up the cushion in my ever so comfy rocker. I love my rocker. It sits in my Little Art Corner at the desk, sewing table, computer desk. I love to rock, it's sooooo medicinal, comforting, soothing and a great activity for those of us who have trouble sitting still for more then 30 seconds!! :)

After I was all tucked in and comfortable I decided to go a-visitin some of my favorite European blogs. By European I actually mean the Scandinavian, French, Germanic country blogs. If you look over there on the right side I have a list of Blogs under Visual Noise, see it?? That's where you will find some of the most beautiful amazing I mean take your breath away blogs. I swear you have to be a genius home DYIer, decorator, gardener, seamstress, and a complete ocd about cleaning house in order to be allowed to blog there!! :) If you haven't visited any of these true pieces of eye candy you really should. Oh and most all of them have translator buttons on them.

This is such a wonderful creative time of the year and no one celebrates or prepares more for the Advent-Christmas season then Western Europe!! :) What you find is one after another sharing their decorating ideas. I dare you to visit 5 and not find 5 awesome projects to want to try!! They are not eye blinding, get in your face, over decorated, loud, how many colors can you shove into a 2 foot square, kind of ideas. They are so much more beautiful in their quite calm simplicity.

For me they are soooooo soothing to my over stimulated soul. The photography is absolutely to die for. I can only hope that one day will lots of practice I can come anywhere close to taking pictures like theirs. Hmmmmm I wonder if you have to take a photo ability test before you can have a blog on thatside of the world???

Of course it's right about now, that little voice in my soul pipes up with how the hell..heck do you think you can live in or maintain an ALL WHITE home??? I mean you can't even be trusted to keep a white tee shirt clean for 5 minutes. OH and ya remember those 5 furkins that live with you??? :) And if I'm really truthful all white environments and my addiction to visual noise (color&textures) tend to be at opposite poles. But that doesn't stop me from drooling over all that magical whiteness!! And I always seem to come away with lots of different inspirations to create. I just have to add a bit of color !!!

Okay, I have my tea, I'm rocking in my big hand carved and painted rocker, Holiday season voyeurism is in full swing what else does my little soul need??? Hmmmmm how about a bit of yarn and knitting needles?? I have always used knitting to calm my spirit, clear out the chaos and appease my tactile desires. Well yes I do live in the semi tropics and yes there isn't to big of a call for knitted clothing, but sometimes in the Winter a nice light throw feels nice. Besides when we were up in the Northland I accidentally stumbled in to the yarn aisle and before I knew it I was touching yarns.... Well come on now you know that's all it takes to stimulate the "oh my gosh I have to knit something" chromosome :) So there I was elbow deep in the most amazingly tactile-y soft--no softer then soft bamboo yarn. OH MY GOD, yarn this soft could have only been created by tiny plump cherubs!!! Heck I don't care if it never gets cool enough to need a lap robe, I GOTTA knit with this yarn!!!!!!!!!!

Okay back on track of that mini soul vacation. There I was last night. Rocking away listening and humming along to the four seasons (NO not the band the man.. Vivaldi), skipping through some of the most beautiful sites in Bloglandia, sipping tea and knitting with the yarn that makes angel wings!!! I'm telling you there is nothing better to lift a soul out of the planet of " wooas me" !!! Give it a try the next time you feel your spirit start down that slippery slope. :) If nothing else take a tea break and visit some of these amazing Bloglandian Sisters' blogs. The pictures above are from Anna Truelsen's blog My Lovely Things She is a writer, photagrapher for a number of Scandinavian home magazines. One is the incredible Jeanne de Arc Living which now by the way is also published in English!!!!! And if you haven't set eyes on that mag you are missing by far the most beautiful Home magazine being published!!! Ha and it's published by two Danish women artist wanting to bring magic and beauty to their homes. But then there's a whole nother post there.

Have a most audacious today or tomorrow depending on where in the world you are p;)

Bugs Bracelets and Revolution Day

Wow if that's not a hodge podge of topics. :) First Bugs and Bracelets. KJ at Silver Parrot has a little son who like all little sons is enamored with those multilegged creatures. For simplicity we'll just say bugs. ;) KJ being the good mom willingly braves multiple bug habitats and hangouts to get the perfect photos for the demanding Bugaphile she lives with!! Hmmm I don't think you can call him The Bug Whisperer because no 6year old boy is physically capable of whispering!! :) Perhaps The Mighty Bug Hunter is a better fit. Whoops I'm really wondering off the trail here. Any how KJ issued a bit of a buggy challenge in honor of TMBH (the mighty bug hunter) She has challenge us to make a bracelet in the colors of a couple of TMBH's favorite bugs. You still have a bit of time to play along. Deadline is Sunday. If you want to check out the bug choices or you would like to see what the challenge bracelets look like head on over to The Silver Parrot.

I decided I'd use the colors that are in the beautiful black butterfly. I love the way the blacks, browns, blue, and tiny touch of white all work together without any one color standing up screaming LOOK AT ME!! :) since this little bracelet is for me I made it very simple to wear all the time. I also thought I would place the birthstones of my three grown up bug lovers in the center of the bracelet along with an exquisite brass mermaid charm my Bloglandian Sister Renate sent to me. OH she sent a whole box of wonderful things. I promise to share all my treats as I get resettled.

The black jet beads are spaced between little copper glass seed beads. The center "stone" is a pearl, for Peder's June birthday. On either side is a ruby for Ander's July and a sapphire for Mette's Sept birthdays. On the outside of those stones I place a couple of smokey topaz, the Mom's Nov birthday. :)

There you go nice and simple with some of my favorite colors to wear and play with.

November 20th is Mexico's Revolution Day. The day is always celebrated with a huge city wide parade. All the schools participate, along with service organizations, military, private sector, government get it.... everyone!!!!!!! The bands start practicing in early Sept.

There are amazing and sorta amazing drum and bugle marching bands And every band has it's own uniforms and flag carriers.

Many dress in period costumes. This was a revolution of the people and women along with men fought for civil justice. There are many family stories where the women fought bravely defending their families and homes. Often if the man was killed or injured the woman would fight in his place.

Many of the schools had there gymnastic athletes marching. Now you tell me the last time you saw a parade up in the Northland where the athletes vaulted, jumped, tumbled and constructed pyramids all the way down the route???? :)

And as always the proud horse riders are always ready for a good parade.

Viva la Revolucion y Tierra para quien la Trabaje (Long live the Revolution & Land for those who work)

Have a most audacious today or tomorrow depending on where in the world you are p;)

The Bestest Birthday Ever!!!!

Things are starting to return to normal around our little yellow casa. We have wash caught up and I've been slowly whittling down the save to do later pile. You know the hem that needs to be mended, button added, setting traps for the dust bunnies behind the bed! :)


I decided to take a quick break and share some of my Birthday pictures. I turned 54 on November the 4th. Some years that date slips by without to much fanfare but not this year. This year I spent my Birthday with the most important people in my life. Yup, it's been a whole bunch of years since all the famdamily was together in one place to celebrate the "mom's" birthday! :) Those of you who have grown kids know just how special and remarkable this feat is!!! Those of you with young families at home will understand what kind of miracle this is in a few short years!!!! Well in an effort to catch up and stock up on Birthday celebrations I used any and all occasions to declare this was a Mom Bday party!!!!


Here are a few pictures of our ever increasing family celebrating Mom's Bday at a local Charleston "Rib Joint" :)


Here he is Little Mister Dylan!!! Who would believe he was a year old on the first of Oct.???? Why, wasn't it just last week when I went to Idaho to welcome him to the family him???

He has teeth, walks &falls and picks himself up all by himself, says Daa Da and has 3 more red hairs then he had at birth!! :)

Nope not Mr Clean, it's Dylan's papa and my oldest son Peder. And yes he and Dylan do have the same hair stylist :) Ahhhh there's Mette my first born, I might be a bit bias but even without makeup, up swept hair, and white gown I think she is adorable !! Now we have one more to add to the family, Joe, I'm not sure he completely realizes just what he has married into--Quirky is a good descriptive word!

Here is Dylan's mom Lindsy and his half brother Christian.

Then there's "Baby makes thre..five" The youngest boy and coincidentally the youngest child, Anders. Trying to sneak out of camera range is the last (at least currently, for 5 minutes anyway, well okay I have a good chance of being right cuz no one has called with the "Guess what Mom???? I'm...") member of the family, Ander's partner Tim. Wheeuugh I think I got everyone in the picture. What???? Where is LW???? He is safely sitting right next to me . Oh and me???? I'm the 54 year old with the huge smile on her face and a heart bursting with love and pride for my not so small or ordinary brood!!!! :)

I have declared tomorrow a create art day!!! I can't wait any longer. I haven't made any art in over 2 weeks and I have all these ideas and tons of lovely new beads just waiting to be let out to play!!! :)

Have a most audacious today or tomorrow depending on where in the world you are p;)

HOME AT LAST & The Faerie Tale Wedding

Yes in deed LW, the two little Chihuahuas Charlie & Ruby and I are finally home where we belong!! :) We have spent the last day unpacking, laundry, putting all our new treasures away and catching up on 900+ emails!!! :( It's hard to believe that a country that boasts about it's technology being soooo advance, has large sections with little or no internet reception. We needed to get back here to our little developing nation before we had consistent internet services!!




I know this is rather egocentric and and ever so boastful but I just have to share some of the wedding pictures. So if ya don't want to see them I'll understand if you move on to someone else's Blog. Oh but if you stay you will see my oldest child and only daughter on her wedding day. A day she and Joe planned by themselves to express their love for each other, and lay the foundation of creating their own little family traditions and memories. :)




Mette with tiny little Susan one of her bride's maids (and one of Joe's sister) You can just see the hands and flowers of her other bride's maid, Jen ( Joe and Susan's sister)

This is my beautiful, loving, and so intelligent it'll scare you daughter, realizing the enormously large step of becoming a partner a soul mate and kindred spirit.

The day could not have been more beautiful for a father to escort his little girl to her new life :)

Instead of carrying a big bouquet of flowers Mette carried, 2 white roses attached to her grandfather's new testament. This was the brass jacketed new testament given to war time "GI"s when they were sent to the battle field. Along with that she also carried a small white handkerchief. When she was born her aunt created a tiny going home bonnet from the hankie, with the idea that when she grew up she would carry the hankie for her wedding . Mette's little bonnet sat patiently in her baby book for 27 years waiting for the day she would carry the hankie for her wedding :)

The groomsmen are Mette's brothers Peder and Anders The bridesmaids are Joe's sisters Susan and Jen :) How convenient is that??? Gives all new meaning to "all in the family" :)

For those of you that have been following our little Wedding saga will remember this is the wedding dress Mette decided she wanted when she was 14 years old!!! It was an old Vogue magazine. She cut out the picture for herself and made me a copy, informing me that this was what she wanted for her wedding dress!! Luckily she found a wonderful seamstress,artist to create it for her :)

The kids are both water babies of the first order. They both work in the kayak, surfing sports world. Instead of a guest book they had everyone sigh a "stand up paddle surf board"

Here again my elegant little girl opted for a three layer cake trimmed with a bit of greenery and ribbon wrapped around the base of each layer. Ohhhhh and speaking of layers. Instead of the tasteless fru fru cakes each layer was a, from scratch different flavor cake. Red velvet ribbon, carrot, and lemon. :)

Have a most audacious today or tomorrow, depending on where in the world you are p;)

PS ALL 20 beach/tote bags were finished and delivered BEFORE the wedding! <>

So This is "Northland"

You know that expression "Hit the ground running"??? Well that has been our life since we stepped off the plane in Charleston. We got in at 11:30pm on Thursday night. Hopped in a rental car and drove to Asheville North Carolina Friday morning. Helped Mette and Joe finish loading and cleaning to get out of their rental house. Everyone got back in the saddle yesterday (Saturday) and drove the 4 hours back down to Charleston for the final preparations for the wedding a week from today. :) While up in Asheville the cable company decided that there was no reason that the kids needed internet the last 2 days which made for a few interesting days. And to think it wasn't all that long ago that no one but the military had internet. Now we are lost without it! :)


I snapped a few pictures of fall in North Carolina. The color of the leaves are beautiful. But I will confess I would much rather enjoy those colors in a sunset on the beach by our house as the sun is setting!! :) For one thing it would be ever so much warmer. Just in case you didn't realise it, It is COLD here in Northland!!! These are the woods just on the other side of the porch at the kid's house in Asheville.

These are fallen leaves on the porch!!! Can you imagine. These are leaves that have fallen off of trees and will have to be raked up!!?? I haven't even seen a leaf rake in over 3 years!!! I think I'm going to decree a new family rule. No weddings, babies or birthdays are allowed in the months off October through April if it means we have to come up here where it is COLD!!! ;)

Here's a little picture of all my cutie putooties when we stopped for lunch on our drive from Charleston to Asheville. But we all ended up in our polar fleece sweaters before we made it to much father.

I'll do my best to post again in the the next couple of days. But I'm telling you right now I'm really happy that I only have one daughter because this mother of the bride business is really a lot of work!! <> Just don't let Mette know I'm really enjoying every minute of it !!! The rest of the kids and grandkids arrive in a couple of days, so making any kind of promises would only be pie crust ones if even that!!!

Have a most audacious today or tomorrow depending on where in the world you are p;)