welcome christmas

a day in the city

On Saturday my brother, Steve, took my mom, my niece, and me to San Francisco to tour the Palace Hotel, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary.  It was an absolutely beautiful day in the city, crisp and clear.  The hotel is fabulous and we had a great tour filled with interesting stories about the history of this SF landmark.  The most beautiful room is a large dining area called the Garden Court that has a stained glass ceiling.

Isn't it amazing!?!?

After the tour, Steve took us to lunch. We had chicken salad sandwiches, cioppino, fruit,  famous Palace biscuits, tea, and chocolate mousse that was so rich we couldn't even finish it!

Click here to the recipe for the Palace Hotel's famous Green Goddess Dressing.

Perri, my niece.

After lunch we toured around the city, saw a photographic exhibit by James Cameron (amazing - not only beautiful photography of nature, but an interesting look at our impact on the environment), and walked through Union Square where people were ice skating and watching the Christmas tree get all set up.

She is quite the photographer!

Dear Santa.....

a beautiful old church

(photo from Palace Hotel website).

It was a delightful day!!  Thank you, Steve.

give thanks

new thanksgiving banners now available in my shop, Bleu Bird Nest and in my craft booth at Cranberry Hill Mercantile, Sunnyvale, CA.

happy halloween

I hope you have a safe and super fun halloween!

all set for trick-or-treaters...

halloween in california

xo

pumpkin babies

I have such good memories of halloween, both from my childhood and from spending it with my son.  This year is, I think, going to be a little hard because my son is now living on his own.  Even though I have a blast spending the holidays with hubby ( or any day, just hanging out!), I do miss having the kids around! I LOVE seeing all the trick-or-treaters when they come to the door.  so sweet.

i love this picture of my little guy when he was 2; he had so much fun that day!

One of our halloween traditions that my husband started with the kids was that they could get any pumpkin that they were able to carry out of the patch.  A few time he had to encourage my son to try his hardest to carry the pumpkin he wanted...

my stepson is looking on in the background, remembering when he was younger and trying so hard to carry a big pumpkin!

My husband's favorite halloween picture of me...this guy's gloved hands were making me really uncomfortable!

My niece, Mia, and my son, Michael, were born just a month apart and they spent lots of time together growing up.  This was one halloween when they went trick-or-treating together.  Mia was a princess (she was in love with all things disney) and Michael was one of the 7 dwarfs (he called his costume a "hi-ho", not a dwarf).

aren't they sweet!?!

Here are those gorgeous kids, all grown up now...

love them! they are both in their first year of college now.

cherish

Carefree is what we claim we wanna be
Free to live the life that we have found

Shame on you and shame on me

It's living when we're laying our lives down
***
People hear me when I say
No one knows the hour or day

Be prepared to live your way
When everything could change
***
Cherish every moment of your life
Don't let the days of good and bad just pass you by
And cherish every moment you're together
Cause you will never know
When your days are gone

(from a song by dana glover)

This past week my mom had a health scare (all is okay now) and my hubby was sick...just so thankful for my family and husband...and their health.  This song made me think this week about all there is to be thankful for and sometimes we take so much for granted when we get caught up in all we need to accomplish in a day.

I'm so thankful for my wonderful husband.

my beloved...love, love, love him

so, my craft booth is doing well!  Lots of Halloween goodies have been selling!

this morning I delivered some more harvest birds for my craft booth...

and some halloween hanging plaques...

This beautiful seam binding ribbon is now available in my etsy shop.

also available are these bird tags...

last weekend I dyed these tags with coffee, almond, and cloves...they smell amazing!!

I've dyed some more smaller tags with the same scent...I'll be adding them to my etsy store soon.

xo

harvest time

i love
this
time of year!

just added these fun halloween and harvest birds to my shop and craft booth...

i love the cream colored one...he can stay up all through Thanksgiving.