Noritake China

So after weeks of agonizing over which pattern, style, and color to pick, I have finally decided! I am so, so, so excited and can't wait for these to arrive.

It's possible they will be on back order which sucks, but I can wait for them, that is much I love them! I hope they are true to the picture as far as color goes.
Check it out the Kealia Green series! I am so in love with this. Sorry for the small picture, I couldn't get the large one to save for the life of me!

Hutch & Dresser Love

I am so excited, I will be purchasing my first hutch on Thursday, for my first furniture redo! I have always been a little intimidated at the thought of painting furniture, but after seeing so many great redos out there, I am finally biting the bullet.

The price on this is great, they are asking $60 and I am getting it for $50. The only negative is the back part of the hutch is mdf, looks like the original back was replaced. However, I plan to cover it with either beadboard or paintable wallpaper so I am not too worried about it.

What do you think? Doesn't it have great potential?

I also hope to be picking up this dresser at a thrift shop on Thursday. It is an ugly color of green but I fell head over heels with all of the detail in the wood. I plan to paint it black and will probably place it in my living room. So excited to see what these will look like after some love!

What color do you think I should do the hutch to match my kitchen? I have been thinking about black, because I had planned on painting my kitchen table black.

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

I am so excited to announce The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf as one of my new affiliates!! Why am I so excited? Well, let me tell you, I have the most amazing story about my last time there.

When I was in Los Angeles last year, I attended a media panel for Paley Fest for the show True Blood on HBO, which is one of my all time favorite shows. As I am sure you have all figured out by now, Alexander Skarsgard is my favorite actor. Anyhow, I had the extreme pleasure of meeting him briefly while I was down there and have a chat with him after the event.

A few days later before I left town, I had the utmost pleasure of meeting his BFF for coffee at the Coffee Bean before I left Hollywood. He and I had been in contact over the prior few months regarding a movie he and Alexander had filmed in Sweden, a short documentary that was absolutely amazing. We tried to meet up a few times while I was down there that week but he was under the weather at first and wasn't able to make it to Paley, so we opted for coffee the Monday before I left.

I met him near where he was casting for a movie he was interested in directing and we had such a great visit. When he pulled in my heart did a little skip-a-beat because he drives the exact same car as Alex. For a second I thought he might be with him, since the windows were so dark I couldn't tell. I have to admit I was a bit relieved that he wasn't! Even though it would have been an awesome adventure, I so wasn't looking hot that morning. Anyways, BFF was handsome, kind, so open and chatty-honestly, it was seriously almost the best part of the trip. He bought me a super yummy pom-blueberry smoothie and himself a skinny latte. I teased him about the skinny part because it is such a Hollywood thing to order and really, he didn't need to worry about his weight.

While we were waiting in line I realized we were standing next to Ashton Kutcher. Honestly, it didn't even phase me in the slightest. I was having such a great time chatting with his bff that I couldn't have given a rat's hiney about Ashton. We were probably near him for about 15 minutes before we grabbed a table on the patio but I didn't care.

I loved the atmosphere of the Coffee Bean, was surprised by all the celebrity sightings- at the time I didn't realize it was a mecca for the young and famous-and truly just loved my conversation. BFF was brilliant, funny, inspiring and just an all around genuinely nice person. We joked about how different LA is from Sweden and I told him about myself, what I do for a living and the area I am from.

He also had some amazing tips on publishing, things that had never even crossed my mind prior to my conversation with him, so once I get my first book published, I am going to owe that to him. If he hadn't lit a fire under me with his suggestions, I wouldn't have come back home and started writing like I have been over the last several months.

I do regret not getting a picture of the two of us together, but I really didn't want to seem like a fan girl, although it would really have been something nice to have for memories sake.

BFF on the left and Alex on the right

One thing that really struck me, and I noticed this with Alex, too, is how incredibly humble he was. I don't know if it is a Swede thing or maybe just the circle of people they run in, but they are some of the kindest, most down to earth people I have ever met. They are both obviously on the rise in Hollywood, but I would be sincerely surprised if it ever went to their heads. As BFF laughingly said,"Alex puts his pants on one leg at a time...unless he jumps into them."

We only stayed for about a forty-minutes, since he was on a break from casting and had to get back, but I really appreciated the time he took out from his busy schedule to come and sit down with me, have a nice chat and enjoy some seriously good Coffee Bean drinks.

Check out their site for awesome home delivery and they have some really good sales going on right now!

Kitchen Love

I have been itching to share my kitchen with you all for ages, but really wanted to wait until it was better organized.

My house was built in 1950 and my mom's parents lived in it until early 2004. They moved into a retirement community and I was lucky enough to move in after them. My mom was raised here and I have many, many fond childhood memories as well.

Since it is an older home, it needed some good all around TLC, which I have slowly but surely been providing over the years. The living room, kitchen, bathroom, garage and bedrooms have all been re-done for the most part over the last couple of years and today I am going to share my kitchen with you.

I love my new floors!

It has the original green tile and wood cupboards. I am a more modern girl, so it has taken some time for me to adjust to it and make my style mesh. I repainted the kitchen a lovely color and had new vinyl put in, which I just love. It is the perfect modern mix for me, with coloring that pulls everything together. I would eventually like to get
the tile and cupboards re-done... I know, I know! I can hear you gnashing your teeth at the very thought! Maybe if I change out the hardware I will be happy, but for now, it works just fine for me and I do have great memories of this kitchen.

I don't know if you can see the tiny tin cup sitting up on the third shelf in the first picture above the red pitcher, but that is probably one of my favorite things in this kitchen. When I was itty bitty, probably around 3 or 4, my grandma used to pour some chocolate chips in there for me to munch on. I loved that little tin cip, and it was always in the second drawer to the left of the sink. It is super old, I wouldn't be surprised if it came from my Grandma's parent's household.

All right, enough rambling from me! How would you like to see my latest project in the kitchen? I warn you, I am just in heaven over it. I was inspired by another blog, which I did not bookmark so I can't give her the proper credit! But if she happens to read this, please leave me a comment so I can link to your blog, because truly the shelves you put up in your kitchen gave me the inspiration for this!

Sunday my brother and I took a trip to Ikea, he was looking for new bedroom furniture and I was looking for the finishing touches to my office and my kitchen. I will share my office with you next week. ;o)

Heaven! I am in heaven! I love everything about these shelves. This entire wall was blank before yesterday.

As you can see, I found a lovely home for the gorgeous teal Ball Mason jars I found at a garage sale a few months ago. I love being able to display them like this!

The little tree next to them was $7.99 at TJ Maxx and the little silver pot it is sitting in was $.79 at Ikea. The tall skinny mason jar on the far left is also from Ikea, and it holds my whole wheat fettuccine perfectly. I believe this jar was $3.99.

Note: The rail is the exact same length
as the shelves. I tightened it too much so that
is why it looks short. I will eventually loosen
it and remount.

On the second shelf, the mason jar on the far left is also from Ikea. The middle is a cute fake grass plant I picked up as well, for $3.99 sitting in the $.79 pot. The jars sitting on either side of the grass plant are from the dollar tree! Such a good deal.

You might recognize the white dish on the far right as the one spray painted white for Christmas as a refurb. I love having such a great place to display it.

The two shelves are Grundtal 31.5", one Grundtal 31.5" rail, Grundtal S hooks and the Grundtal spice rack. The spice rack actually is supposed to be mounted to a rail that hangs from the rail above it, but when I put the spice rack together I was disappointed to discover that the spice rack rail was bent! I am not close enough to Ikea to exchange it, so I chose to mount the spice shelves directly to the wall and am very happy with how they turned out! Note to self, next time I go down I need more of the S hooks. I only bought a package of 5 and I really wish I had bought one more package.  I figured I could just purchase more from their web site if needed, but unfortunately they do not sell these online! *sniff* Eventually I will put all of my spices into the jars that are displayed on the first shelf. I have had these for several years and found them at Bed Bath and Beyond. I hope they still carry them!

Next to my stove is my little "island", which is wall mounted. I installed the shorter Grundtal rail and hung the spice rack mounts on it. I was able to bend them enough so they looked okay and I put some of my favorite magnets on it.

The 50's style "I used to care" one I got at the absolute cutest store when I was in West Hollywood last March. The "Chicks Rule" is from my late friend Missy, whom you have heard me talk about on many occasions.

I used two Grundtal S hooks to hold my most used whisks. The super cute cupcake potholder was a gift from my littlest little sister Katy, which is clipped onto the rail with a magnet.

The wine rack was $9.99 and I have been wanting to get it for awhile. I have eyeballed it on my last few trips and wasn't sure where I was going to display it so I always passed it by. I am so glad I didn't this time. I know my display is a bit sparse, but don't worry, I plan to fill it up next time I go shopping. ;o)

The three frosted canisters are currently empty, but I plan to fill them soon. Also from Ikea.

Didn't this all come together so wonderfully? I know I keep saying that, but seriously yesterday after all of this was installed I just sat at my kitchen table and stared it happily for at least an hour. I am just in love. This whole entire side of my kitchen was completely bare before I hung these shelves, because I just didn't know what to do with it. I will put together some cute Eat, Drink, Bake signs and will be hanging those soon. Don't worry, I will share these of course!

And last but not least are the shelves I hung over my portable dishwasher. My kitchen counters are so narrow I can not install a built in dishwasher. My cabinets are also not very tall or deep, so I can't fit cereal boxes inside.  This area is no where near as pretty but it is so functional!

I still need to organize it a bit more, but I just love what it is doing so far.  Everything on these shelves were on top of my fridge, except for the knives, which were just looking ugly on my little island.

Ikea actually sells a magnetic knife holder as part of the Grundtal series and I wish I would have picked it up when I was there.

Oh well, there is always next time!

So tell me, what do you think of my kitchen redo? Thank you for reading and I am so happy to share this with you.

All of my best,

Linking up to all of the usual suspects, as well as Common Ground

Kitchen!!

So I just finished having my shelves hung in my kitchen...I can't wait to share this blog post with you! Look for it within the next week. I am just so tickled with how it turned out!

My Office Space

Look for my post tomorrow or the next day showing the before and after of the office!! I got it all done today! So excited to share it with you and to start writing in there. Yippee!

Update

Hi, everyone! Thank you for sticking with me over these trying times! I know my blogging has been few and far between and I appreciate all of your comments and daily checks backs to see what I am up to!

Today I am finishing up my office redo. I will be photographing it so you can see the before and after. It's mostly done, I just need to put things away now, but I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about how it looks!

My brother and I went to Ikea on Sunday and picked up the finishing touches for it, I spent yesterday putting them together and last night set them in place. I am so excited!

Finally, a good place for me to work on my book and blog, as well as a dedicated spot to craft (once I get a table in there for that LOL ).

On a personal note, things have been hectic. My poor Grandma developed a pulminary embolism after her hip surgery and a terrible case of C-Diff. It's hard not to be angry at the rehab hospital about this, since the only way she got it was a staff member not washing carefully. I will spare you the details of the C-Diff but it is causing her a huge amount of pain and her skin is raw, it just breaks my heart!!

My Uncle is doing well after his stroke. He is undergoing physical therapy and I pray he will be back to his robust self soon!

This is a terrible picture of me, but the only
I have of the two of us!!

Heidi went home on Saturday, which made me very sad. It was past time for her to get back to her normal life, her house and her furrbabies, but I am a bit lonely without her! We still text and fb chat, but I have to admit it was nice knowing she was a short drive away. Guess I will have to plan a trip soon to Fresno!

Before she left, we went quilt supply shopping with an old friend of ours, Cindy. Cindy came up for the funeral and for her Grandma's birthday and I hadn't seen her since our ten year reunion! It was so great spending time with her! We hung out the night of the funeral with another friend , Erin, and then last week the three of us had lunch and purchased the supplies for the quilt.

I know have everything I need and I can't wait to get started!!

Once I get my laundry room and office into shape, I will be putting my focus on the quilt. Oh! That is another post I have to share with you! My laundry room before and after. So excited about that as well.

I am going to sign off for now, I want to get into my office and get it whipped into shape! I haven't worked on my book for over two months and I am itching to get to it!

All my best,

Tips for Thoughtful People II

Image Orkut Wala

Dealing with a loved one who is dying or who has recently passed is a gut-wrenching experience.

I know from recent experience with my friend Heidi- who as you know lost her mom to cancer on New Years Day- how little comments that seem harmless might be bothersome or add additional burden to the loved ones who are trying to hold things together by a tiny thread.

The following are things not to say. Don’t worry if you have said them in the past, we all have. Just try not to say them again or any version of them.

"Why didn’t you call me?"

"I wish I had known!"

"I understand exactly how you feel- (and then go on to offer a non-related illness story *note- if you have lost somehow to a similar illness, feel free to be compassionate, but don’t compare unless it is asked for, it just weighs down the person you are talking to)"

"Please call me if anything happens." Chances are the family has a list of people to call and unfortunately not everyone can be notified. Again, their primary concern is their loved one.

Things not to do:

Do not push yourself onto the family. No matter how much you might want to see the dying person, this is not about you. If the family feels like the ill person can handle a short visit, be considerate and keep it at that.

If the family says no, we are not accepting visitors, respect that! (Yes, this did actually happen and no, not everyone respected it!)

We have all seen how people come out of the woodwork when someone is ill or has died. Many are long lost friends who truly having compassion for their ill or passed friend. The family understands you once had a close relationship with the ill person, but if it hasn’t been there in many years, don’t come in expecting special treatment.

There are, of course, the lookey-loos. Please, please don’t be a lookey-loo.

I watched Heidi deal with a few over this very trying period and not only did it distress her, but it emotionally and physically drained her. The little energy she did have from taking care of her mom night and day for the last six weeks did not need to be wasted on trying to “coddle” people who had no right to be coddled.

I know this may seem harsh, but this is how I look at it. This is not about us; it’s about them- the family and the person who is dying. Dying is the most personal thing someone can go through and they have the right to do it as they choose.

Now don’t get me wrong- being there for the family and offering a hand when needed is valued and not something you should shy away from doing.

Little things like running errands, taking in prescriptions, picking them up, delivering food, offering to clean the house, and many other things will be accepted happily.

There have been times over this last month where I have just dropped off food for Heidi, a prescription, or whatever she has needed, given her a quick hug and been on my way. There have been other times she wanted me to stay.

My job as her friend is to be there for her the way she needs me to. 

Do you have any suggestions on things that have been said or done that you would like added to the list? Let me know in the comments.

Happy Belated New Years, my friends!

I know, I have been a terrible blogger these last few weeks. My sincerest apologies. Things have been very hectic with the holidays, as I am sure all of you know and with family.

I am so sad to say that Heidi's mom, Ursula, lost her battle with cancer shortly after midnight on New Years Day. It's been a rough time for Heidi and her family, getting things together and planning the memorial.

Yesterday I went over to help her sort through her mom's clothes, which was the thing she was dreading the most, probably also the most painful. I was over there for about 7 hours, sorting and visiting. We quickly found that there were some, several, items of clothing Heidi is quite attached to and just not ready to let go of. I suggested she make a keepsake pile and that I could do something crafty with them. It quickly grew and I remarked that I could probably make a quilt! She loved that idea so when I left last night I took four cloth Trader Joe bags full of clothes, as well as the boxes to donate.

This morning I called my step-mom, Gale to see if she would be able to help me start putting this together. She told me to come on over and we began to sort through things. She started to giggle as I explained to her my idea and how easy this would all be to do. By the time I was done, she was wiping the tears from her face, holding her tummy and rolling on the floor laughing. You see, I have no experience with quilting and haven't touched a sewing machine since Home Ec in the 9th grade.

Looks like I bit off more than I could chew! Not all of the fabrics are easy to sew, some of them will need to be mounted onto a backing. Thankfully Gale has plenty of sewing experience and her neighbor Marilyn is quilting queen, so she buzzed right over to give us all sorts of tips.

I spent the day today cutting off collars and sleeves and making each piece into a flat edge. Then I ironed them all. It looks like I will have 10 inch squares and they will be 5 across and 7 down. I need to pick up some things at the store in the next few days and Gale will help me start cutting down the squares.

Tonight I swung by my mom's on the way home and picked up her sewing machine. I let Heidi know via text tonight it might take me a long time to make this quilt, but I would get it done fo her. I think it is a lovely idea, being able to snuggle up with things of her mommys. She is very appreciative.

How did you spend your New Year this year? I was with my family, enjoying a good movie and a nice glass of bubbly.

Update

Hi, all!  I hope to be back to regular updating soon. It's been quite a week with my Grandmother's surgery and then I was knocked off my feet even more when my Uncle Ron had a stroke Wednesday afternoon. Thankfully my Aunt acted very quickly and they were close to a hospital and he was treated promptly.

So, needless to say I have had a lot going on this week that has kept me from blogging. I still have some great projects to share with you all and can't wait to do so.

Thanks for hanging in there and any prayers would be appreciated.