Remembering my grandmother

Hi all

Today I started to fill out a memory book of my family history and it was asking for such things as:
What do you remember of your childhood home?
What was your bestfriends name?
What was your grandmother like?

and for some reason I decided that I didn't want to fill it out after all, lol, but it did get me to thinking about some of my childhood memories which got me to thinking about my moms mom, my grandmother.
Even though she hasn't been here on this earth for many years now, I still miss her and I wanted to show a few photos of her.

Didn't she have the cutest round chubby cheeks (which I also seemed to inherit) and I'm sure that expression of hers made it hard for anyone to say "no" to!
Of course, her expression in the second photo
puts no doubt in my mind that she must of had some what of a mischievous spark behind that cuteness!

But my favorite photo of them all is this 1920's shot, of her dressed in her wonderful sense of style.
Did you notice the tie?

Even though my grandmother was a proper lady of her time she also was a rebel and was the first woman in her small little town to wear a pair of pants!!!
Ohhhh, the scandal!

And as I was pondering this scenario I had a lightbulb moment of my own history.

When I was in Junior High (yes, a long time ago, lol) there was a rule in our small town, that girls were not allowed to wear pants to school.
I thought it was a ridiculous rule because we lived on the coast and during the winter it was foggy and cold all day long, so one day I decided that I would wear pants to school.
My mom said it was my decision (yep, she is a rebel too, lol) and so I ventured out in all my independent glory wearing "pants".
I did feel somewhat anxious the whole day but no one said a word to me, until my way out the school doorway at the end of the day.
I was told in a very clear and loud voice by the school secretary to never go against the school rules again and the glare she gave me, put fear into my little soul!
That's all I needed, a severe reprimand, but guess what happened a year later?
The school rules were changed and girls would be allowed to wear pants whenever they
wanted!!

My grandmothers birthday is Monday and I will be thinking of her as I go through my day.
I will think of her independent spirit, her strength and most of all, how she is a part of me to the end of my days.

talk to you soon,
deborah

Oh oh, the home decorating bug is biting!!!

Hi all,
I don't know about you , but I know that spring is approaching when my mind starts
to meander into the home decorating realm!

I love it though, because decorating is probably my biggest passion. Even over art!
Of course I think of decorating as a kind of art too, so I get to combine both of my passions in one full swoop :)
I've been wanting to repaint my master bedroom for a while now and I am determined that it will happen this year! I'm keeping to the same color scheme of cream, but I want to paint the walls in broad vertical stripes. Alternating each stripe with a flat finish of cream paint and then a semigloss stripe of cream paint.
Subtle but elegant.

There's just something that I find soothing about a white bedroom, maybe it's the purity of it or the crispness. And when the sunshine streams in onto the cream colored walls, it is just sooooo beautiful and romantic.

Of course if I could have the view of the above photo then I would probably never leave my room no matter what the color!

Throw in a glamorous crystal chandelier and maybe a gold
carved mirror and voila, the perfect bedroom!

A girl can dream, can't she?

talk to you soon,
deborah

Hi all, I have been honored with an award of having a charming blog!
That just makes my day!!!

Thank you to Kathy of Catnip Studio for such a sweet compliment.

The authors of this award say that blogs who receive this award are exceedingly charming.

"This blog invests in the PROXIMITY in space, time and relationships. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that even more friendships are propagated."

I love this! That is truly one of my goals, to be a friend and to promote kindness through my words. It's what makes the world go round!!!

The authors ask that when you are awarded this award that you then pass the award on to 8 other bloggers that you admire and include their links and notify them to let them know that they have been awarded.
So without further ado, here are my 8 fav bloggers and their links:

my little life
The Seasonal Cottage
EDDIE ROSS
persistingstars
keepingupwiththetatums
mytangerinedreams
myromantichome
sweetrepeats

Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

talk to you soon,
deborah

Yesterday and the future!

Hi all,
I still am on the happiness vibe of yesterday!
So many wonderful historic moments and so many emotional ones too.
The speeches, the dancing, the people and most of all the man!
The man and the woman. The leaders of our wonderful country.

I am proud today, I am joyful today, I am hopeful today

deborah

My latest project

Hi all,
I wanted to give you all a little sneak peek of my latest art project.

My heart has really been longing to get back to my love of painting lately and last month during my blog tea party I was soooo in love with this tea cup photograph from the etsy shop, couragemylove.etsy.com and I just couldn't get it out of my mind!
And one day it just came to me that I should design a painting around the photo, and this is what I have so far.
I haven't decide whether to add fabric to the piece or not, but I have added a piece of vintage paper below the stack of tea cups.
Of course, I am only in the beginning stages of my work but
the wonderful thing about starting this art piece is that when I picked up my paintbrush and started squeezing paint out on my palette from the paint tubes, such a wonderful feeling of joy flushed through my heart and soul.
You see, I am really a painter, and as much as I love my crafting, my heart really belongs to the medium of paint.
There's just something so amazing in that feeling of holding a paintbrush in my hand and applying the paint to the canvas, that is so part of my being.
I have let that go lately and I have really been missing it, but no longer!
Of course, I will not leave my collaging and crafting behind but I will definitely not be putting my painting creations on the back burner any longer.

Now, if any of you have any ideas on how I could create more hours to the day please let me
know!

talk to you soon,
deborah

Ringing in the year with grandchildren!

Hi all,
Just wanted to show you a few photos of the newest addition
to our family.
Her name is Madalyn Jane!
Here are all three of my children holding her at various times.

The handsome young man with the glasses is the proud papa of Madalyn and I took the photo during a walk after New Years on the Yuba river hiking trail.
As you can see by how the baby was dressed it was pretty brisk outside that day! but it felt great to get out into the winter air and view the scenery.

The other handsome young man is my other son and proud Uncle of baby Madalyn.
He loves getting to hold her every chance he gets.

And the young lady in the pic is my daughter and she is the proud Auntie of Madalyn.
This is the first chance she has gotten to see the baby since she was born in September, so it was super special to see them together.

I couldn't of asked for a better start to the New Year!

It was filled with family and fun and many blessings.
May this 2009 year also bring you the things and people that fill your heart full of happiness and peace.

talk to you soon,

Happy 2009!

Hello to you all and Happy New Year!
I hope the new year brings you all happiness and health and most of all
peace in your soul.

One of my major goals for this new year is to do alot of corresponding through handwritten notes and letters to family and friends.
Don't get me wrong, I love the world of emailing and blogging etc. but I think there's nothing like opening up your mailbox and finding a little note or card from a friend.
Knowing that someone would take the time to get out their trusty pen and pretty paper and set apart a little bit of their day to talk to me is just soooo
wonderful and joyful.
So, I want to bestow that same feeling upon others this 2009 year.
So don't be surprised if you open up your mailbox and find a little note from my home to yours :)

Talk to you all soon,
deborah

It's a coming......

Hi all,
Just wanted to say "hope you're ready, because 2009 is speeding
our way".

I don't know about you but I have all kinds of ideas swirling around in my brain for the coming year.



Here's a bit of my list:

Organize my photos
Paint and freshen up the my Mstr. bedroom
Stock my lollishops store with "all things tea"
Create new collages, with more of my painting designs
Write more hand written letters to friends and family

Well, that's just a bit of my swirling ideas, now if I just don't procrastinate too long, I'll get them
all set into motion before 2010 comes along, lol.

But before the New Year is here, I need to get ready for the New Years celebration at our house.
We are having about 16 people come over to greet the new year and it will be loud and crazy but soooo much fun!
So, I'll put away the 2009 goals for now and concentrate on the preparations for Wednesday night and I'll be back in the New Year to say hello :)

talk to you soon,
deborah

Which one are you?

Hi all,
Santa wants to know if you have been naughty or nice this year!

Lollishops is waiting for you!

Hi all,

What is pink all over and sparkles on every page?
Well, it's Lollishops, of course!!!!

If you haven't checked out the new fav thing, then hop right on over to Lollishops and you'll be so glad you did.
One of my fav shops on lolli is called, Sweet Necessi-Teas.
Since my new shop on lollishops is going to be all about tea, this shop just caught my eye with the beautiful tea cozies.
Isn't this one darling? Looks like a victorian dress.

My shop is called thefrenchteacup and will also be filled with all things tea. Lots of tags, cards and collages and more. So look for fun tea stuff as the new year begins.

In the mean time, check out Lollishops and all it's fantastic vendors, and you'll be sooo glad you did.
Talk to you soon,
deborah

Pretty Petals is having a blog Christmas Party

Hi all,
Just wanted to let you know about a lovely Christmas party that is being held today by Pretty Petals.
It's a blog party and there are oodles of people who are
participating.
So if you'd like to see all the pretty ideas, foo foo decorating, and much more, then
go to Pretty Petals blog and scroll down until you see the list of party attendees.

My Christmas pretties that I'd like to show for the party are my collection of snowmen.
Every year for the last couple of years I've been adding to my little friends.
Some of them are handcrafted by a local woman and they just have so much personality.
And a couple of my other little Christmas friends wanted to be in the photos also, so there are a couple of their sweet faces peeking into the camera too.

Okay, I am off now to look at all the pretty petals Christmas parties that are in full swing!
Talk to you soon,
deborah

And the winner of the Tea Party Tea Cup is......

JoyAnna!!!!

You are my tea party giveaway winner!

I reached into my little vintage tea pot and pulled out your name!
So, keep an eye out for a package to arrive in your mailbox soon. :)
Hope you enjoy the tea cup and goodies.

JoyAnna.etsy.com also has a wonderful shop over on the handmade site called etsy and if you get a chance make sure you check out her shop!
She creates some of the most wonderful totes and purses. My fav in her shop is this black and white french toile bag. Isn't it darling?
So, scoot right over there when you get a chance, you'll be happy you did.

Toile Country Shoulder bag

and for those of you who stayed til the very end of the tea, you got a chance to win this cute little tea bag holder. Only three of you took on this challenge, lol. It involved counting!
Even I had a difficult time with this one!
So, how many times did the word Tea appear in four of the posts?
Welllll, it was 82.
And the winnnnnerr is.........

Yippeevintage!!!!!

She guessed 84, there were two other guesses of 78 and 79! So, everyone was really close.
Soooo, yippee for Yippeevintage :)
Expect a package in your mailbox soon, yippee.
Yippeevintage.etsy.com also has a shop on etsy, where she sells beautiful vintage jewelry, so make sure you get a chance to check out her shop too.
Here's one of my favs from her store.

filigree and rhinestone... ring

Hope you all had a fun time at the tea party. I sure did!
We had 15 guests at the actual tea and a few others who came later, so it was a
very fun party.
I'm thinking of giving another tea sometime in the Spring, so if you couldn't make it this
time, maybe you'll be able to join us then. There will be fun giveaways too :)

Remember to take a little time out of your busy Christmas season to partake in a bit of tea and ponder on all of lifes blessings.
Talk with you soon,
deborah

Thank you all for such a wonderful tea party day!!

Thank you ladies, for giving me such a wonderful, glorious tea party!!!
Here's to you all,
MiMi, Popalicious,Bevie,Tracy(Tiedupmemories), Monika(myeuropeantouch), Artsparker, Tam(BarkerBell), Glenda(Twocooltexans), Kathy(Catnipstudios), Yippevintage and JoyAnna. And due to computer error, I lost a page today and it showed up on Etsy cottage Styles blog, so here are a few more ladies who joined the tea today via Cottage Style. Tracy M, Lynn, EnglishcottageRose, and Sherry.
Your comments made me laugh and teary eyed all at the same time and I felt so blessed to have you all for my guests.
I could go on for days with things all about tea, but must bring the party to an end and go and get ready for a real world ladies tea this evening.
Hope you all got to take a little time for yourself and that the tea party also brought a bit of
fun to your day and heart.

In a bit I will announce the winner of the tea cup giveaway, and also for the tea bag holder.
And don't forget, if you would like me to send you a tea party favor, just email me at 1starrydeborah@att.net or convo me on etsy. I would love for you all to have a memento of the party.

I will leave you with this quote :

Tea pot is on, the cups are waiting,
Favorite chairs anticipating,
No matter what I have to do,
My friend there's always
time for you.

Anonymous


Until next post,
deborah

Tea party is in full tea mode!!

Yes, we are busting at the seams in my little cottage.
Tea is flowing and conversation is lively and I am loving it,
I believe one can never have too much laughter or tea in their life.
Did you know the more you laugh, the healthier you are? It's true!

I just wanted to recommend a great little book called "Time for Tea"
Tea and Conversation with Thirteen English Women, by Michele Rivers.
It has the most wonderful articles on each of these women and how tea is such
a big part of their lives. And the photography in the book is just gorgeous!
It includes favorite recipes from the women and little peeks into their daily lives.

Hey, Christmas is coming, add it to your wish list, you'll be glad you did.

********************************************************************


For those of you with sweethearts, don't forget to include them in your tea ritual.
I have a brother in law, that just loves to drink tea, and he even picks out a fine china tea cup
to drink it in.
Soooo, brew your sweetie their fav flavor of tea and take some time to
just sit together and reconnect during this busy season.












Here's another quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I got nasty habits; I take tea at three."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mick Jagger

Ooooohhhh, I hear someone knocking on my door, who could it be?
Well, hello Monika, from myeuropeantouch, I'm so glad you could make it here to the tea today.
We are having a wonderful time getting to know each other. I hear it's raining out your way, so hope you can warm up with a bit of tea and relax.
I added your name to the teapot too :)


I was just about ready to announce another little giveaway.
Whoever is the first person to give me the correct count on the word of "tea" from the last four posts, will go home with this darling little tea bag holder (well, I'll actually have to send it to you, lol).
Just leave me a comment on your guess.

Ohhh, there's another knock at my door, and I see it's Denise, come on in sweetie, there's still goodies left and the tea is steaming.
I'll add your name to the teapot!

Look whose joined us for tea today!

Welcome ladies,
So lovely to have you join us today for tea.
I see that MiMi is having a bit of Chamomile tea and enjoying the lovely falling of rain outside her lovely home today.
and Artsparker is enjoying a bit of Jasmine tea.
And ohhh, look another tea guest just arrived, and it's Popalicious, and she's also gazing out of the window on a rainy day, her tea of choice today is Hazelnut Chocolate!
My sister in law also stopped by for a quick cup of tea before she had to run off to work.

I'm so thrilled to visit with all of you ladies and that Hazelnut Chocolate sounds delicious!
It's a sunny day here in California, but rain is in the forecast for this weekend and it's even predicted that we'll get a bit of snow too. I can't wait. And you can be sure that when it rains I'll be snuggled up on my loveseat with a cup of tea enjoying the pitter patter on the rooftop :)

Looks like the tea pot is starting to fill up. I wonder who will be the lucky winner?

Tracy, from Tiedupmemories, has just joined us too.
She's had trouble leaving comments on my blog, so I am chatting with her via convo on etsy.
She's having scones and lemon curd with her tea!!! Doesn't that sound delicious!

OOOhhhh, someone else is at my door, and it's Yippeevintage!
I see she is having orangespice tea with us today. I think I can smell the spices as I type!


The table is filling up quickly now!
JoyAnna has joined us and is brewing a bit of English breakfast tea and also enjoying the rain and Tam/BarkerBell is enjoying sugar and cream in her tea, she must have a sweet tooth like me!
And Bevie is joining us today along with Kathy of Catnipstudios. Kathy did you say you can smell peaches? Well, so can I!

Now the teapot is really filling up:)

Here's another quote:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Somehow, taking tea together encourages an atmosphere of intimacy when you slip off the timepiece in your mind and cast your fate to a delight of tasty tea, tiny foods, and thoughtful conversation.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gail Greco


For those of you who would like me to send them a tea party favor, just leave your home address on my etsy convo or email me with it to 1starrydeborah@att.net.
I've sent out six to already and would love to send out more.

I just found this lovely photo of teacups and rain on an etsy shop called couragemylove.etsy.com isn't it beautiful?
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=18541841

Tempest in a Teacup

Christmas Tea Recipe:
____________
2 cups boiling water
6 black tea bags
1cinnamon stick
2 whole cloves
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups cranberry/raspberry juice cocktail.
In a teapot, steep tea bags and spices with water, 5 to 6 minutes.
Heat juice to nearly boiling, stir in sugar.
Add hot juice to teapot.
Serve! and Enjoy!


We have another guest joining us today, it's Glenda of the Etsy shop TwocoolTexans and she is one of my most fav artists on etsy!
I'll add your name to the teapot Glenda.

Here's a bit more of
Did you know?

5. It's important to dip your tea bag up and down about 10 times in your hot water,
because it releases special antioxidants.
6. Antioxidant-rich black tea may help lower cholesterol, a major risk factor of heart disease.
7. Tea labeled organic does not ensure quality, but does certify that the tea is grown without
using any chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides for at least three years.
8. A 2006 study showed that elderly Japanese people who consumed more than two cups of green tea a day had a 50percent lower chance of developing cognitive impairment.

So drink up everyone!


Here's some pampering for your face.
A Tea Facial!
1 chamomille and 1 peppermint tea bag
3 cups boiling water
Place tea bags in a large bowl, add boiling water
and cool for two minutes.
Place a clean towel over your head and bowl.
Keeping your face at least eight inches above the water, steam for ten minutes.
Then add your fav skin cream and viola very soft skin!