'Round Here.

 We are still piecing our house back together, here is the color board I put together. All paints are Benjamin Moore or Pittsburgh Paints. It is so bright and cheerful in every room.

 The Little Girls chose a sweet chandelier for their room. After I put it up they squealed and said they felt fancy.

 More from their room...curtain fabric and their glassed treasures.

Coming soon is the rest of our flooring and baseboards, more sewing for window coverings, bedding etc., the rest of the living area window coverings, the finishing touches on the library and creating a nursery for Baby B. Goodness, I better get to work.

Exposed!

After yesterday's post and many moments of wondering whether or not to share, I have decided to forge ahead.

Except for cleaning out old receipts and gum wrappers, I am proud to say that these items are permanent residents of my pre-Baby B pocketbook.

1. This is my Birthday Bag. My go-to pocketbook color these past 5 years has been this carmel/cognac neutral. Good for all seasons.

2. Band-aides (always needed for both owies and Ivy's cranky moments, cheaper than stickers!), Oscillococcinum (nips flu-like symptoms in the bud, Whole Foods) and Little Girl socks.

3. Lip gloss and Ooh La Lift.

4. Emergency earrings, Ivy's turquoise ring, Magic-Grip Hairpins.

5. Hand lotion, gold headband and favorite writing pen.

6. Wallet (neon pink! a Palm Desert purchase), photo of The Little Girls, coupons and gift cards.

7. Heart mirror compact (from MJ's dollar bins in the SF store!), citrus bunny snacks and Gap City Flats (save my achy feet daily).

Care to share your pocketbook contents? Come on now...I don't want to be the only one! Contact me if you wish to share. Your pocketbook may hold a secret treasure the rest of us girls need in our bags!

Frontier Indeed.

Last October I posted this. 

While browsing the May issue of Glamour Magazine I found this little article.

I had to laugh not only at this dude's comments about his girlfriend's pocketbook but also at the amount of items this bag contains! I want to be standing next to this girl in the event of any emergency be it extremely itchy eyes, thirst, dry hands or major disaster.

Palm Desert.

 We spent a week after Disneyland in Palm Desert. It was lovely. We spent every day the same, fitting in as much time swimming and planning heaps of nothing as possible.

 Every night we took a "night-walk" around the resort and up to the lobby to this bit of deliciousness.

 The desert locals (i.e. cottontail bunnies) were everywhere at all hours of the day delighting The Little Girls who gave them great chase around the golfing greens.

I miss it already.

9 Years Ago...

 ...Tim and I traveled to New Zealand to meet his birth family. It is an amazing story, one that is Tim's alone to tell. I was honored to be a part of that trip and the experience, the classic nurture vs. nature conundrum has often been a topic of conversation when we think about that adventure. The catalyst for our trip to Southern California was that Tim's birth sister Hayley and her family won a trip from NZ to Los Angeles. She contacted Tim to see if he was interested/available for meeting up, an opportunity we never would have passed up. Hayley and her partner Logan have two children, Maia-4 and Nate-15 months. All three Little Girls got along famously while little Nate tried his best to keep up with them. We spent a full day together and at the end, tears were shed (mostly by three Little Girls). It will be too long until we see them again.

Magic, continued.

The real magic of Disneyland begins around 9:30 pm starting with the fireworks. The park empties and the quiet settles in. The lines are shorter, the lights glow brighter and the star jasmine smells sweeter. 

A Small (Magical) World.

 The first day of our vacation we played at Disneyland.

 

  These cast members deserve a raise and respect for playing their Princess roles so poignantly. It brought tears to my eyes to see how engaged they were in The Little Girls' stories and cares.

 

  

I'm not entirely sure who had more fun...Tim acts like Disneyland is his worst nightmare but you could have fooled me based on his running around the park hitting all the rides height limits allowed.

 Tea time. Angela and Addie happily played too.

 

After a dreadful experience on Pirates of the Caribbean (shear panic and terror I tell you, no photos of that obviously), we had to find a happy place for these scared little girls (i.e. four rides on 'It's a Small World' and the carousel). 

Yep. Serendipity.

We left late afternoon, returned shortly before the fireworks.

To be continued...

Catching Up.

 Hello Honey Hutters!
I am back after a much needed, very relaxing vacation/last hurrah before Baby B. joins us. Before we left, Tim and I were out of our minds cleaning and preparing for the interior of our house to be painted after much smoke/soot damage. We came home to a "new" house! Kevin, our neighbor (a talented painter) did a smashing job. Every wall and ceiling is clean and crisp. I'm in LOVE with the colors (I hope to share soon). As for now I am piecing our living areas back together, closets are filled again and some furniture reset, but it is a slow auditing process of what to bring back into the house. I have a mountain of projects to complete and a very short time in which to finish comfortably. I hope to post more regularly here now that the original clean up is over, I hope to share more about our trip later this week.

Yesterday while Tim's Mom and I celebrated Mother's Day by treasure hunting at The Antique Faire, another shopper approached me asking to take Savannah's photo for her fashion blog, Juniper James. Here is the photo she posted on the blog's facebook page.

 Savannah was so flattered she told Ivy she was going to be in a fashion show on T.V. While not true, I was thrilled to see her outfit choice pay off for her in a big way.
 She was hugely proud of herself.