Happiness Is...a Mental Health Day!

I've been feeling a bit gloomy and under the weather so I took yesterday off and spent some time treating myself to:

*a trip to the hair salon where I had my tresses colored, trimmed and styled. Mmm...that scalp massage was so relaxing!

*a visit to the gourmet market for roses, strawberries, fancy water and a fabulous new magazine

*a bubble bath with yummy new soap I bought in New York

*a little afternoon cat nap (kitten included)



*a before dinner glass of wine and some girl talk with Rhiannon at my favorite Italian restaurant

*an evening out with Beren enjoying one of our best friends' band perform at a great little tropical bar & grille



I realize more & more that no one else is going to "take care" of me, I have to do these things for myself. A day of pampering and a bit of self-indulgence really gets this gal back on track....ahh.....I now feel refreshed and ready to return to work this morning!

Happiness Is...

A BIG wonderful, happy package in the mail!! oh, my goodness, I am so excited! You see, the fabulous Cat over at The Vintage Housewife did a drawing for some incredible vintage goodies, and I won!! What a sweet thing to come home to!

She gave me so many lovely vintage treasures, here's a pic of me wearing two of them, feeling quite the little pin-up!

Thank you so much, dear Cat, you have truly made my day and put a smile on this kitten's face.

Tropical Cuteness

I've decided to take another day off from work, am going to putter around the castle for a bit but when my fabulous cleaning lady Josee arrives I'll have to hightail it outta here lest she invite me to scrub the floors with her. *shudder* At that point I will probably run some errands including another trip to Target (do you all pronounce that store's name with a French accent like I do? I thought so, makes it much more elegant and fun, don't you think?) to return the closet organizing items I didn't need.

After that I was going to take my Mom "junkin'"as was our Wednesday morning habit years ago when I was married and worked from home. You see, Wednesdays was 50% off Senior Citizen Day at our favorite thrift store so Mom would meet me there, we'd wander around the store searching for treasures, load up our cars and then celebrate our good fortune and good buys with breakfast at Denny's next door.

Well, Mom has some extensive testing this afternoon and wants to conserve her energy so she declined my offer for a morning of junkin'. That's ok, she promised me a rain check once she starts feeling better and I fully intend to hold her to that. In the meantime, I'll share my slightly-less-thrifty but still fun finds from yesterday:



If you have been reading my blog for a bit, you'll know that Kali's wedding theme was "vintage Florida." She and Kevin looooove all things tropical and her favorite flower is the hibiscus. So, yesterday when I saw these adorable melamie dinner plates and accessories on clearance at Target I had to scoop them up! I purchased the large serving bowl, some plates and some glasses (not shown), two hand towels, 6 wash cloths and two kitchen towels, all with hibiscus flowers on them! Aren't they precious?! I just love that happy little monkey! I plan to wrap them up and have them waiting when they return from their honeymoon, a nice little "welcome home" gift for the bride and groom.

The cost: $2.08 each for the kitchen & hand towels, $1.04 for each salad plate, $5.58 for the washcloths and $5.58 for the serving bowl. While not thrift store prices that's still not a big expenditure for something that I know will put a big ol' smile on her face as it did on mine!

P.S. I took this pic with my new herbs as a background, promise I'll post more on that later..

'Tis the Season

Well, not really but here at the castle I'm deep into my Yuletide shopping! I just ordered these gorgeous sketchbooks for Beren's daughters from Eboo; have any of you shopped there before? They have the most beautiful products for budding artists and writers young and old! I am amazed at the artwork, am seriously tempted to purchase a journal of my own! Today I refrained, though, and limited myself to a sketch book, matching pencil set and diary for each of Beren's daughters. With shipping the total was only $60.00, not a bad deal for quality products! I can't wait til they arrive, will post an update when I see them in person.

Dumpster Diving

My friend Aisling posted about her "dumpster diving" aka "gleaning" experience and asked for similar stories so I thought I'd share mine.

As much as I love treasure hunting, I have rarely found anything in the trash that I've felt worthy of dragging home, or when I do I'm simply to embarrassed to do so. Silly, really, because I think it's awesome when other people turn trash into treasures! I have one experience, though, featuring the chair in my bedroom.


My neighbor once put out a lovely wooden chair that I admired so I went to her and asked her permission to "dumpster dive" from her swale. She was more than happy to give me her trash, said that it had been her favorite chair but her husband was insisting that it had to go. (Her husband was quite happy to carry it across the street for me, guess he really hated that chair!) The only thing wrong with it was the color (a burnt orange) and a little crack in the wood, nothing to hinder it's true quality. I think it might be Ethan Allen as it is the same wood and similar lines to my own bedroom set!

9 years later, I still have that chair in the corner of my bedroom. I've never reupholstered it, just toss a colorful throw over it and am pleased with that look for now. It's become such a part of my bedroom, of my life really, it's where I sit to read, to chat on the phone, and often to work through a problem. My girls will sometimes walk by my room and say, "uh-oh, Mom's sitting in THE chair, what's wrong?" That's their que to check in with me and make sure I'm ok, or that they aren't in trouble!

Does anyone else have such stories to share? After seeing Aisling's beautiful find, I'm suddenly inspired to drive around my neighborhood in search of other goodies!

Santa Baby

Yes, I am one of those people who does holiday shopping early..really early. I usually start by early summer and like to be done by Thanksgiving, then I can relax and really enjoy the holiday season. Well, that hasn't happened in the past few years but I'm determined to get back on track now. I've already started picking up a few things here and there and will share the more interesting finds as I acquire them. (I run the risk of the gift recipients peeking but since my kids rarely venture here, I will take the chance).


I'm going to be leaning toward earth-friendly purchases as well; the first one is a good example, from The Emancipation Network: "a pathway of empowerment and hope in the fight to end human trafficking - the modern practice of slavery. We offer you a way to become involved in fighting trafficking, helping survivors, and educating others about this human rights crisis."

"Whether you are hitting the beach, travelling, or trawling for groceries, you will be glad to be sporting this unbelievably cool recycled rice bag tote bag. Made by girls rescued from slavery and exploitation, Hagar Cambodia."

After seeing this bag featured in a magazine, I knew I had to buy it for Kali and/or her boyfriend. They are both animal-lovers, and her sweetie works at a pet store in the tropical fish department! Since they are also artists and students, they often have to tote around a bunch of "stuff" so this tote bag will be perfect for them.

The bag arrived yesterday and I am very impressed! At $34, it's a bit more than I'd normally spend on such a thing but I feel good about where my money is going and am therefore willing to pay more. Now I see that it's worth every penny. Larger than I expected and the quality and workmanship are excellent, plus it's very cool looking! I think they'll both enjoy it if I can just hold out til Yule and not surprise them with it early!

Treasure Hunt

Those of you who know me in the "real world" are aware of the fact that I hate shopping..at least, I hate traditional mall shopping. From the time my kids could handle it themselves, they have done all of their school clothes shopping on their own. Once she could drive, I would pay Kali to take her younger sisters and I didn't feel a bit of remorse over it. I was happier, and so were they because I am simply no fun to shop with. They can all tell you stories of me having episodes of sensory overload where I'd have to make a hasty exit from whatever store we were in, go sit somewhere quiet and just breathe. I know, it sounds silly, but that's just how I am. Now & then I'll brave the mall if I'm 1) alone and 2) not on a time limit and 3) it's not even slightly busy.

Now, I do love "treasure hunting" which takes place in consignment shops, thrift stores, garage sales, flea markets, even department stores such as Ross & TJ Maxx. I could spend hours & hours poring through those types of places. In fact, I often get so immersed in my hunt for treasures that I lose all track of time. It's like I'm in this twilight zone where nothing else exists except for the baubles and trinkets before me. I always head straight for the housewares first, it's where I spend the most time and money. I adore aprons, old Pyrex, milk glass, cloth napkins, etc. etc. It's just heaven to me! Fortunately Beren shares my passion and when we travel we constantly seek out new shops to visit, rarely leave there emptyhanded. The excitement comes, of course, from the unknown, the surprise of findng just the right item that you might not even have known that you needed! It's just such a thrill, really.

So yesterday I went to breakfast with Lily, Bambi & Sam, then to our favorite thrift store. I wandered the store for an hour, loading my cart with the most wonderful treasures! My favorite find of the day was a gorgeous heavy milk glass pitcher, the kind with the raised bumps all over it. (Sorry I am not a professional collector, I just know what I love!) I can't wait to fill this with iced tea or perhaps even champagne punch for our Mother's Day Brunch tomorrow! I left the store with four bags full of goodies, my wallet only $35 lighter.

A successful hunt indeed!