Bridal Shower #2!!

It was a glorious day in Newport Beach for a bridal shower. Tiffanys brides maids came together and hosted such a lovely afternoon showering the bride with food, Tiffatini's (so yummy) and gifts.

Tiffany's long time college friend Jean hosted to shower at her newly built home in Newport. Jean's profession as a property developer really shined as she shared with us her new home. The design is Classic Industrial Chic. Complete with one of a kind lighting fixtures throughout the house rough hewn hardwood flooring, soapstone counter tops open walls throughout allowing the outdoors to come in!

The living room ... the doors to the right open up exposing the living space to the front patio ...

Another shot from the living room through the open doors out to the courtyard in the center of the property. The patio cover above are bedrooms ...

This shot is from the courtyard patio looking in to the living room. The set of doors to the left also open just as the doors do that can be seen all the way through the living room ...

The home is laid out in a U shape with the court yard in the center of the U.

The bar is inside with a wall of double doors opening to the patio ... Fresh Tiffitini's and Lemonade were ready and waiting for our arrival ...

The kitchen ... this is a cooks dream! Double ovens, Viking 8 burner stove, beautiful farm style sink and covered in soap stone counter tops. The chandelier light covers are vintage electrical insulators. So cool!

FOOD!! So beautifully presented!

These cupcakes were divine ... fresh lemon and decadent chocolate, my favorites!

Colorful gifts .....

A happy bride ....

This pillow says it all ...

A negligee in her favorite color!

And of course a Tiffany blue gown .... So pretty!

 The final gift she opened was so cleaver. Erika, one of her "maids" filled a basket with bottles of wine to commemorate the couples firsts ... i.e., first Christmas, Reindeer wine with bright red panties tied to the bottle ... first Valentine's day, first baby was a bottle of sparkling cider with fuller brief panties - hehe. My favorite was first fight ...

A basketful of firsts ... So darn cute!

This was awesome .... a bottle of Angry Orchard Champagne with a black sexy garter belt wrapped around the bottle! Oh my, maybe to much for this mom's viewing!

Some of her bridesmaids ... Lindy came down from Sacramento for the big party.

Jean, the home owner and hostess with the mostess. You can't tell but she is 7 1/2 months pregnant!

Erika, the creator of the "Firsts" basket ...

Sara aka Petey came in from Hermosa Beach and of course the bride!




Eirka was in charge of the rehearsal bouquet!

Auntie Tanya and Me!! Enjoying a Strawberry Tiffitini!

It was such a wonderful day, thank you ladies for loving my daughter as you do!!

Everything is Awesome ...

Last weekend we celebrated our last and final Christmas for 2013 .... yes, yes I know it's 2014 but we just got together with my son and his family to celebrate the season.

They all arrived on Friday night so we gathered together Saturday afternoon. Here are a few pics ...

9 year old Austin and a crazy ski cap ...

Karlee has a new sparkly top ... She loves sparkles!

Mom Lacey with her Tarina Tarentino jeweled earrings and bracelet ....

The girls with their French Bull dog brush and compact ... We love our bull dogs!

This is my lovely foot modeling Alexia's new booties!

 Austin is an avid Lego fan, so he and his sister

Karlee and I headed off to see the "Lego Movie." It was awesome ... both children and adults will love what this movie has to say!

After the movie was over we headed to Toys R Us so Austin could pick out his Christmas gifts from grandma. Yep, you got it, he picked out some of the character's from the movie.

Meet the star of the movie - Emmit the master builder complete with his instruction manual ... so very important for every master builder!! All those peeps behind Emmit are a small group in the cast of characters this movie offers.

This happy fella is the pirate metal beard. Check out the skull and cross wrenches! They spare no expense to details. You need to see the movie to understand the story of this pitiful pirate!

And finally the Ice Cream truck aka rocket!

 Thank you for sharing my family Christmas! Now load up your car and go see an "AWESOME" Lego movie!

Rest in Peace sweet Shirley

My mom and Shirley Temple grew up together. On screen that is! So when I was just a small girl my mom sent her treasured Shirley Temple doll to the local doll hospital for a make over. She got a new wig and her make up was refreshed. They replaced all of her elastic bands that allowed movement of her arms and legs.

Once she returned home she became my cherished doll. I grew up watching her old movies like so many of my friends. 

Many years later Shirley would find her way into my own daughters heart and arms. I purchased her old movies on DVD and on long rainy days I have been known to pull them out and watch them. Like was so simple then. No one could tap dance like that little girl with a head full of bouncy curls.

Shirley Temple was a rarity in so many ways. She left show business at just the right time, married her sweetheart and for many years she disappeared from public life. Years later she would become an Ambassador for the United States. Can you imagine any one better to be our Ambassador? We could use a whole passel full of Shirley Temples in today's crazy world. 

What she could have taught other child star's like Lindsay Lohan or Justin Bieber to name a few if only given the chance.

After 85 years she has now passed from this world and on to another. 

Rest in Peace sweet Shirley, Rest in Peace ....

The License ...

Well this weeks wedding festivities are calming down ... at least for a few weeks anyway!

Monday afternoon Shawn and Tiffany headed into the heart of Orange County to the historic court house to get their marriage license.

Most of the buildings around us are new and modern, so to have this beautiful treasure still in use is a treat.

Tiffany is proudly displaying their information and another receipt to add to the growing collection!

Are weddings a write off??? Just kidding!

Invitations are OUT!

I am happy to report that the wedding invitations are completed and in the mail! What an ordeal. There are 1000's (literally) to choose from. Once that's done then you have to select the font for the printing. Your verbiage has to be done and then they finally go to the printer. Once they arrived Tiffany made a trip to the Post Office to weigh the invitation and purchase the "wedding" stamps. Yep, they have special stamps for weddings these days. I was then in charge of collecting all the addresses and getting them to the calligraphy printer. Again, I have to select a font, proof the sample and finally they are done. Holy Moly, this is just too much for this old gal!

Here we are, folding, stamping, tying ribbons, licking, sticking and finally the final stamps! See that glass of wine?? I think I had three of these ...

I am proud to report these babies were dropped in the mail box on Sunday morning. Check that job off the list!

Today I found myself winding up and down the aisles of the local Hobby Lobby. I found Tiffany Blue netting for $1.00 a yard!! AND I was able to use my 40% off coupon on all 13 yards ... cheapest yardage I have ever purchased. They were also featuring their entire wedding collection at 50% off!! I found the perfect bejeweled cake cutting set. Check, check! Yet to do ... get my dress hemmed, get a "proper" bra and a trial run on the hair do. Oh my, this is a lot of work. Have I already said that like a million times???

Let the Festivities Begin!

My daughter will be getting married April 6th ... less then two months away and the festivities have begun.

Her co-workers from Wells Fargo bank hosted her first bridal shower this past Saturday. Being that Tiffany is an Angel's Baseball fan the girls decided to have a baseball themed shower. So I dug out my Angel's jersey and dusted it off so I would be in "character for the big game.

The girls went all and stayed true to baseball. We had peanuts, Cracker Jacks, bubble gum (lots of bubble gum!!) Baseball cupcakes and pizza etc. Just the goodies we enjoy at the game.

So I put on my Angel's Alex and Ani bracelets ...

Headed on over to the Edson Stadium ... so darn cute. The hostess' last name is Edson so she named her home Edson Stadium! Loved it. She went on Facebook and printed off a lot of pictures of my daughter and her fiance and had them sitting all over the house ...

There was red licorice, my favorite, bowls filled with balls ...

Even a glass case filled with used tickets!

 Bottled Tiffany water ...

 After we were all stuffed with snacks, pizza and salad, cupcakes and crispy squares we played some games! I love games, I don't usually win but I still love to play them. First up was Bride Bingo ... The cards were customized for the bride ...

 

Some of her favorite things ... Baseball, Disney, makeup, things that sparkle and SHOES!!

Another game was designed for Tiffany to answer 13 questions about Shawn or weddings. For every answer she got wrong she would have to chew a piece of bubble gum ...

Oh my, that's a lot of chewed bubble gum ... she missed 11 out of 13 ....

This wad was about 8 or nice, notice the two not even chewed yet!

All 11 in her mouth. She was not a happy camper, can you tell!

A few of us in our team uniforms. Tiff looks beat! Her skirt is dragging to the left, her jersey is partially buttoned and she ha lost her shoes ...

Then it was time for my next favorite thing ... presents!!! 

An adorable apron made by the hostess ..

Angel's jammies including an eye shade!!

A loaf of bread from her mama ... oh ya, and an Angel's toaster. When the toast pops up there is an A toasted onto the slice of bread. So cool!

Two year old Isabel was her assistant. She was just the cutest little thing at the party!

It was a wonderful day, it gives a mom joy to see her daughter so happy and enjoying the wedding experience.

The Wells Fargo Orange County development team! Thanks ladies!!

Dear Jane ...

If you are a Civil War quilter the name Dear Jane will either strike terror in your soul or bring joy to your heart! For me ... I am stuck somewhere in between.

My very sweet friend Paula sent the "Dear Jane" quilt book to me several months ago as a gift. The idea was the two of us were going to make this together long distance. Today my dear friend came by for lunch and a visit and we reviewed the book to see what we felt we could reasonably tackle to create a "Baby Jane" quilt. What is a baby Jane quilt??? This is when you take blocks of your choice and set them in a creative style of your own. The original Dear Jane quilt was created in 1863 by Jane Stickle. This amazing quilt uses 5,602 pieces of fabric to create 225 patterns! Right there is enough to make my heart stop inside my chest. But, the complexity of many of these blocks is overwhelming!!! AND keep in mind, this was all created entirely by hand! 

So lets move on and I will show you what Ms. Jane created so many years ago and what creative quilters today have done using her amazing work as inspiration.

This is a picture of the original Dear Jane quilt created in Vermont 1863

Quilter and designer Brenda Papadakis took inspiration from this Civil War time treasure and re-created every block into pattern form to allow quilters far and wide the ability to create their very own Dear Jane quilt.

My very own signed copy from Brenda!

This Baby Jane quilt was inspired by using the boarder triangle pieces ....

Another design from a quilter in Japan!

 

 The creative uses of this 1863 inspired quilt are endless. What will Paula and I create?? Who knows, the more I look at it the more I tell myself "I can do this, even if I do just 10 or 20 of these treasure blocks I will be proud of myself!

Before I sign off for tonight I want to share and primitive heart Paula presented to me for Valentines Day 2014!!

 

My Heart of the Home!