Road Trip to Santa Barbara

I recently went on a road trip to Santa Barbara with my girls to celebrate a special lady's birthday....


She has a deck of about 100 sq ft and it is filled with a beautiful collection of Cactus & Succulents!







This gal's collection inspired me to expand my own collection!





I fell in love with this rustic stool...


Apparently it has some history to it.

Cruzing through downtown we stopped under a huge tent filled with Indian goods...


I've always wanted to purchase a few pairs of these fabulous slippers and have guests slip them on when visiting. Wouldn't that be awesome?

On our last day, we had an opportunity to visit the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden...




There's something about acorns....

We were also able to visit Lotusland Ahhh! What a dreamy place to visit. Although I forgot my camera (a blogger's heartbreak), I'm hoping to receive pictures from my girls soon to show you. If you ever find yourself in SB...please go to Lotusland!

Shout Outs: Margarita & Dave You guys are the ultimate Hosts!
Jen thanks for finding a great place to bunk at!
Lorena Wow, it would of been hard for me to stay awake in the front seat! You're awesome!
Pam I love your boldness! and the presentation of food was great!
Santa Barbara folks your hospitality rocks!
Poli and Valerie we missed you both!

"It was a great trip"
~ Lorena Gorshe

Polaroid Tuesday :: Week 2

"A wonderful bird is the pelican
His bill can hold more than his belican.
He can take in his beak
Food enough for a week;
But I'm damned if I see how the helican."

~ Dixon Lanier Merritt

Polaroid Tuesday :: Week 1

I'm jumping on the bandwagon and following the footsteps of Cakies blog. I am making an attempt to share a polaroid every Tuesday.


This is my friend D (thanks for your permission D) in Kauai last October. Doesn't that mustache just go with her shirt? Love it!

"Shady as a lady in a mustache."
~ Sly Stone

Not Your Typical Tuesday...

I spent a very lovely birthday in Napa, California...

Starting with lunch at Bottega.

Driving towards Calistoga, California...

We drove into a castle!

We found our destination...



We hopped on the tram...



Breathtaking...



Bidding farewell to the grape vines...



"For when the wine is in, the wit is out."
~ Thomas Becon

What The Weekend Consisted Of....

A trip to Castle In The Air, Berkley...



Inspiring...


A trip to Bell'occhio, San Francisco...

Unfortunately no photos could be taken here but oh, how they wrap the purchases!

Lovely!

A sugar fix trip to Miette, San Francisco...







And a Moulin Rouge party...





What a fabulous weekend right?

"Always strive to excel, but only on weekends."
~ Richard Rorty

P.S. Thank you Andy for being an awesome chauffeur and for the candy photos!

:: Meet Marvolo & Chris Farley ::

We were finally able to name our massive pumpkins! This is Marvolo...my pumpkin.

I'm afraid we pruned a bit to much. Although he's still hanging on and I'm hoping he'll come back with a vengeance! He probably weighs about 25 lbs as of last Sunday.

My brother has the lucky green thumb this season!

This is Chris Farley!

Chris Farley is weighing in at about 70 - 75 lbs as of last Sunday! My bro definitely has tricks up his sleeve!

"Ask not what your Pumpkin can do for you, ask what you can do for your pumpkin!"
~ Unknown

Shake It Like A Polaroid Picture!

Did you know Polaroid Cameras was discontinued in 2007? Yup! I couldn't believe it. After I received this news I immediately became obsessed with finding a camera and film. During my search I found a FREE down loadable program that won't replace the camera but is a huge runner up.

It's on the website Poladroid. You can convert your digital photos to look like a Polaroid picture (as seen with Mochi's picture above). You can even "shake" the photo with your mouse just like you would with a Polaroid. I love it! Yes, and it's FREE although, donations are gladly accepted! I hear iPhone also has an application for this.

However I still wanted the real thing. I end up finding one on craigslist for 15 buckaroos. Now, I'm waiting with my fingers crossed for the film to arrive and hoping to see if the camera functions properly. Did you know the batteries for a Polaroid camera are located in the film pack? (Hence the crossing of the fingers).

"Shake it, shake it like a Polaroid Picture, shake it, shake it
Shh you got to, shake it, shh shake it, shake it, got to shake it
(Shake it Suga') shake it like a Polaroid Picture"
-OutKast in Hey Ya

Mica Mineral Makeup

A few weeks ago my Sister•In•Law taught us girls how to make natural Mica Mineral Make-up. I was lucky enough to have an empty garage for the day to set up our little workshop. Of course I included the paper honeycomb balls in my decor!


We had a ton of color options to choose from!

The ingredients: The base powder (Kaolin Clay?) and Mica (color of your choice)

Here are some completed colors

The make up lasts forever, since you only need a little to make a statement. Not to mention we had some fun girl time!

"A clown's makeup and character, that's all he has to sell. He loves and believes in that character."
~ Emmett Kelly

Massive Pumpkin Update!

Over the weekend I spent some time with my pumpkin and I'm getting pretty excited! After deciding which pumpkin is going to be the winner I cut the rest of the runner ups off the vine. Here they are in above photo. You can see the pumpkin I kept in the background. You can see a smidgen of my brother's pumpkin on the right corner.

Here's the one we hope is the winner! I haven't thought of a name for her yet. If you have ideas please post them in the comment section! We did some pruning on the vine and I'm a bit worried that we pruned too much! I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

I also did some estate sale shopping this weekend.

another box full of costume jewelry pieces previously owned by a model from the 40's.

My favorite piece (because I always have a favorite)

Duel perfume bottles with a funnel! I absolutely adore this piece!

By the way, Mochi is not the only one enjoying her doggie pool

This is Mr. Kwong. Before he decided to go for a swim in the pool he was nipping at the pumpkin plant leaves!

"It is not the strongest pumpkin grower that survives, not the most intelligent, but the grower most responsive to change."
~Charles Darwin, Theory of Pumpkin Evolution

Enjoying Summer...

This was the only semi-good photo I could get of her holding still!







Need I say more?

"Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability."
~ Sam Keen

The Great GIANT Pumpkin

Remember when I started to write about the GIANT pumpkin here?



Well, my brother and I decided to join Yamagami's Pumpkin Contest this year.



We attended a seminar at Yamagami's given by Stuart Shim back in April. After sprouting the seeds we then transplanted the wee plants on a full moon in May. We are lucky enough to actually plant them in a greenhouse. However as it grows (like seen here) we are training the vines to grow outside. This way they can receive the overhead watering (hopefully this won't cause powdery mildew).



Last week I found this little guy forming! Oh, the excitement!!!! Let's hope this little one is the winner!

"Pumpkin light, Pumpkin bright, first pumpkin I see tonight. Wish I may, wish I might, Wish I had a prizewinner tonight."
~ Unknown