Charming Day!

Saturday- yesterday!

No State Fair though :(

I really wanted to go, but it was no cooler there than it was here. Since 85% of the fair is outside, I didn't want to be miserable...... Sooooooo I opt to go to the Bay. Stephen suggested to take me back to the little bakery Miette. We visited them in the 4th of July and they were closed, so that was sweet of him to take me back. So I filled up my bag with goodies... though I regret not picking up some homemade mallows. But that'll give me a reason to return
::wink.wink::


I'm quite humbled by their pretty wrappings {sigh}
I picked up this little lemon frosted tea cake. I can't get myself to eat it though, it's so, so pretty!

They make the best-est, yummy-est Macaroons! These are my two favorites. If you've never tried a "Rose" cookie, you must!




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Our next stop was a "Brew your own beer" shop, Stephens new "trip" is brewing his own beer.
:P
{{boring}}
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But I do drag him around everywhere I want to go and he never complains.


SOOOOO.....

Next was a visit to Paxton Gate. My first time. AMAZING!
I picked up this little guy, a living rock. I was mesmerized with him, so now he resides here with us.

This stray mama cat was quite interested in what I was doing outside. She has a bunch of tiny kittens running around my yard! Eek!


She takes a pretty picture though!

Furry & Not So Furry Friends

I have owned alot of pets in my life:

1. dogs
2. cats
3. rats
4. hamsters
5. ferrets
6. fish
7. birds
8. snakes
9. lizards
10. frogs
11. spiders
    
12. turtles/tortoises
13. chinchillas
    

That's over a twenty year span, I can't imagine owning them all at once{lol}.

It all began working in a pet shoppe during high school.

One pet I haven't owned and want to.. is........

....chickens!!

I really want chickens!!!
Yes, chickens to love ;)
Not to eat!
I found the sweetest old wire egg basket, which I'll be listing in the shoppe. But I have wishful thinking of gathering fresh little chicken eggs with it for mornings breakfast.
Stephen wants them too. Just a few little ones, miniature chickens{hens}. He'd actually like to have a rooster, which I'm sure is a NO.NO since we live in a "town". Heck... I don't even know if we could own chickens because we don't live in the country. But when we visited the wine country, a few weeks ago, we found a little old man that hand-made coops, from re-purposed redwood. They were so charming!

Perfect!

{My} Friday Favorites

Shopping etsy today and came across some lovely shops along the way!

A little bit of randomness....

Darling Little Jack-O-Lantern
by: Pumpkin Hollow
I adore this little shop!

Pretty Jesus Statue
by: Jeepers Creepers

2 Metal Hands
by:Vyeshi

Vintage Brass Perpetual Calendar
by:GreatFindz



Vintage Class Photograph
by:KellysStreetVintage

My plans include visiting the State Fair tomorrow.
See ya soon...

Happy Friday Dear StoryBook'ers~
xo

Wrapped.Packed & Ready To Go

hello.


These last few weeks have been a little dilemma in my little two story cottage.
My formal dining room has become my "Shop". Shipping & Receiving! I was having difficultly wrapping and packing orders, while still having a "living" room. Well.... not anymore. I have now made my own work space for all the fun stuff.
Just what I envisioned!
Originally my idea was to have a little vintage table for wrapping and for my supplies, after hunting and hunting and no luck and just about to give up. I decided "Forget this", "I will never find what I really want". So I said to myself..."I'm just going to ye ole Home Depot and just buy a plain old folding card table, and just add a vintage tablecloth".
Well, just as I thought this and got in my car from my favorite thrift store. I drove around the back of the store {where donations are dropped off} and what to my wondering eyes did appear?
I swear it was fate.... I'm not kidding.
Right in front of me and my car was this old, very old folding sewing table!! She was meant to me mine. The timing of course, not better. I love it when things happen for me like this. And it's not too often, but I admit I do get lucky at times and I'm always extremely grateful.

And at only $9.99
And 40% off of furniture that day.... ONLY 6.49?
Can't explain how happy this little table made me that day!

Isn't she pretty?
Lovely wooden top and she's really heavy. Very well-made! I picture her being used in WWII, in sewing rooms, I can just see little 1940's ladies sewing for the soldiers on these little tables. There's a little punch out {for the sewing machine} on the top {that opens & closes}, that you can't see very well in my pictures.

Over the last 6 months or so, I have been collecting all things vintage for my shipping supplies.
Just about everything I use is vintage, wrapping materials, string, stamps. My large old picnic baskets are for storage. Those old file cabinets have come in handy.

I got lucky one day.
I think a flower shop had gone out of business and donated lots of supplies like this wrapping paper holder and spools & spools of vintage ribbons and things. Hooray for making orders look pretty!

I've owned that little sewing-tape-measure for years, one of those things I have a strange attachment to :)


A couple of Etsy Purchases for my table.

An adorable brass clip-y holder{above}.

This stamp holder is perfect{below}. Also an Etsy purchase.

More supplies and things collected!

Happiness!!

I also landed a cool estate sale this morning, and a brand new thrift store opened.

I have some cool things coming soon. Like this sweet little baby bear. A little shabby chalk ware piece that has seen better days...... I love them chippy. I think there even more special.

A Gentlemans Tweed Vest

hello.

Been awhile since I've posted my "What I'm Wearing".
Such terribly hot summer weather in my neck of the woods, all I want to do is live in my PJ's!
See my dark living room over there, I'm pretty much a Baby Bear hibernating in the winter. I keep all of the shutters closed tightly, they're only opened in the morning when it's sorta cool.
Which drives me bonkers, I love my windows opened with lots of light.
But....
fall is in the air, I see it in the stores. The clothing, the pumpkins{already?}.
I don't think there's been a summer yet that I haven't look more forward to fall/winter.

Top~H&M(thrifted)
Gentlemans Vest~U.O.
Denim Cutoff/Shorts~ Gap(old)
Ballet Flats~Sam&Libby

I {heart} this vest!

My vacation is coming to an end!
Back to work tomorrow!

{Ugh}

A Summer Saturday

Carmel-By-The-Sea

Distinguised little coastal town, with European Style Architecture.

This little cottage {below} we parked in front of, as we headed down to the beach-y sand.
Oh to be this lucky homeowner....eh?

Can you see that crooked chimney? {sigh}

Charming

StoryBook Charm ;)

Little carrot tail .aka. Meg, loved the sand and water.

View from the car.

The air of course, amazing... crisp and salty.

So.Very.Pretty.

...goodbye warm sand. goodbye cool waters... I'll miss you.

...so when I win the California Lottery, this is where we will move.
Which of course is a long stretch, because you have to actually play the lottery to win the lottery!

Hope your weekend is ending nicely!

Succulents & Victoria

Good Morning, Morning!

I love succulents! Whenever I see them lined up at the nurseries, I can't help but pat them on their heads. They always make me smile.

I have them everywhere in my garden.


Here is the most quirky and silly of all plants that I own.

As if it's from the land of the Lorax!

And...
I'd like you to meet one of my sweet pets.
This is Victoria, she's a Leopard Tortoise. She is a approximately 9 years old. We've owned her for 6 years, she was pretty tiny when we first got her, measuring about 4 inches or so. I haven't measured her lately, but she might be almost 12 inches now.
She's gotten so big!
"Say Hello Victoria"!

She hangs out with me, when I'm watering, when it's warm outside, which is like everyday!
I have a little baby pool and she basts in the sun, snacking on leaves and flowers from my geraniums, Nasturtiums, strawberries and roses from my garden {she loves flowers}.
We'd love to build her own pen one day, when she's too big for a hawk to pick up and take away.
We have hawks, vultures, possums and raccoons in the neighborhood, so it's not all that safe.
She's still to small, in my opinion.

She's so pretty, reminds me of a Butter Ball Turkey. It's her shape and beautiful color.
{lol}

Projects & a Picture

A little project I wanted to share today.

While thrifting the other day... I found a really neat floor lamp for $13.00, it has a beautiful ornate marble base and I was so lucky because it was already rewired.
The following day, I was on the hunt for a lamp shade, and came across this one.
Which is not near as old, but for 89 cents? I couldn't pass it up, I had ideas for it.

Today I visited a local craft store and picked up some "vintage-inspired" fringe.

Hot glue and a few burnt fingers later :(

I stood back and scratched my head...Hmm... thought it was missing something, so I hot glued some of my many vintage buttons to the top of the shade. Some of the prettiest ones, some of my favorites. I stand back and look and think, Is it to much? Too busy? Hmm... I'm not sure...I'll live with it for a little while, I can always remove them and add a trim or something.
We'll see :)

AND... I wanted to show you an "AFTER" picture, of this GINORMOUS footstool that I found for
$15.99!
I really meant to take a "BEFORE" picture, but I forgot :(
You would never in a million years believe how it used to look. An ugly peach and green plaid!!!
But now, with it's very pretty nail-heads and pretty blue velvet... I couldn't be happier.
The little chubby legs were like a whitewash, sorta. Now they are a pretty dark Mahogany.

In this post, months ago, I shared how I was in love with Kate Winslet's Cots Wolds cottage in
the movie,"The Holiday". So when I found this icky, ugly ottoman I envisioned it.

Of course I can't take the credit, but when I picked it up at the upholstery shop, I just about jumped out of my socks :)

OH, and I picked up this large tin framed photo today, I was going to list it in the shoppe. Although I do pretty well not keeping too many things for myself while thrifting. Every once in a while I find something mesmerizing, like this photograph! Something sort of haunting, yet, enchanting about it.

Today...

is...





:D


"The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age". - Lucille ball