What do you title a post to a friend who can no longer read it?

How about...I miss you? or how dare you? or omg...or you can't leave yet...I have so much to say to you...or why you? or wait...don't go...oh Chuck! You are so loved....yes! that one.

In one moment and with one phone call...

so much can change. We have just lost one of our dear friends of 35 years or more. There were a bunch of us who taught together, hung out together, supported each other in tough times and celebrated each other's good ones. We loved each other unabashedly. I guess I thought we'd all live forever. Hug your family and bless each friend you have. In one moment with one phone call...

It's Sat morning in Paradise

Kristen put off her garage sale until next weekend, so E and I have today to ourselves. As much as we love family and friends, having a day together is nice! I'm off to yoga on the beach soon and then home to relax with my honey.

Meanwhile, here a couple of my favorite photos from playing with our little grandsons yesterday.






We were invited to a pool and cook out party at our friends' Bob and Becky's last night. Bob's brother, Ben, is in town visiting from CA. The chicken was amazing...the bbq sauce was kind of caramelized and the inside meat was moist and tender...way to go, Ben! And it was good to see everyone!





Hope your weekend is a delight and happy Memorial day...saluting all our military past and present and thanks for your service to our country.

Well, one of the three was having fun...lol

and, of course, we bought them hanging bucket swings for their birthdays...lol.

Off to pool and dinner party. Later gators!

Better blog now...busy weekend ahead

We are heading into a busy busy time and I'll blog while I can. We are setting up our house sitter for three weeks in June and two and a half in July. Who knows what Aug will bring...lol.

Today is our little guys day. We've become 'waving pals' with another grandparent couple in the kids' neighborhood. Their little grand daughter is about 18 mo. We all seem to take the morning walk about the same time and have been waving at each other for about 3 weeks now. Perhaps some day we'll all walk up to the playground and met and talk.

Tomorrow, Kristen is having a garage sale at her house and E is taking over the remnants of the last craft one we held here plus some household items we no longer use. While the two of them have the garage sale, I'm off to Sunset Beach for yoga. Because of my workshops at Posh Scraps, I haven't made many of the classes and the instructor is great. While the playing dolphins and the board surfers are a bit of distraction from time to time, the practice is invigorating. I've missed yoga.

Sunday, after church, the kids will bring the boys over and we'll watch them while they go car shopping. With Baby Oops on the way, they need (much to Kristen's dismay) a mini van. They can't test drive any with the boys so we'll play here.

Monday we are having our family get together for Memorial Day. It is a day of reflection and, although we have not lost anyone in any of the wars in our family, so many members have served in the Armed Forces. Hope your weekend is a good one!

Dragonflies, day lillies and our neighbor's cat

Our neighbor's cat has taken to napping in the morning on the chair on our front porch. He takes a nice, long, leisurely bath and then curls up and dozes. The poor little fella lost one of his owners about a month ago and the other owner seems to be gone more than usual. I think the little cat is lonely. I look out my window at him and he looks back with his huge golden eyes. He blinks once or twice and then sleeps for a quarter hour or so.

This morning he had company. You have to look fairly carefully in the upper right hand pillar of the front porch to see the squirrel. Then our cats joined in on the mornings stare contests. One stared at the squirrel and the other at the cat on the porch, who was totally oblivious to either our cats or the squirrel. Finally, the 'love fest' ended when the fence guy arrived to start the installation of of our baby safe pool fence.




Jacque and Diane came over for the day yesterday and we played with Picasa and Picnik on our laptops. E fixed us muffalettas and we walked down to see the garden. The day lily plant that we thought for sure we had lost in the frosts of last winter is not only back but blooming more profusely than ever. While I have not seen our little hummingbirds yet, our yard is filled with the most beautiful iridescent dragon flies flitting about. The Meyer lemon tree has one huge lemon on it and we're hoping it (and others) will mature before some of the wild life find it. We have a marauding raccoon who takes delight in tipping over our garden gnomes and stealing our lemons. He'd best take a lesson from what happened to the armadillo!

Hope you have a wonderful rest of the week and a delightful weekend. We have plans afoot for Memorial Day with the kids and, of course, tomorrow is our play day with the little guys. And Sat. I am finally able to get back to yoga on the beach...it is serenity at its best!

What a great weekend

Friday was our Nana/Papa play day with the little fellas. We only have three more Fridays with them before school is out for the summer. Of course, we'll have them over to swim often and we'll be helping as much as we can so Little Mama can get some rest.

The boys were having more fun putting the colander on their heads and playing peek a boo through the tiny holes. My own son was far more interested in the box a gift would come in that the toy inside. With Kristin, it was the ribbon and paper wrappings...lol

We met up with Suzie and Justin, Bob and Becky for cocktails and then on to a great Mexican place for supper Friday...perfect start to a busy weekend!






I presented my two workshops at Posh on Sat and did a little retail therapy myself...
picking up some of the new Oct. Afternoon papers and embellishments for some little boy layouts.

Sat. June 4 are the last two workshops. The morning workshop is on Image Transfer Techniques and the afternoon session on foils and leafing techniques. The entire series will be repeated next Fall by request (yeah! )

Yesterday, E and I spent on phase two of the front of the house in prep for painting this fall. Our house color is washed out and we've never been fond of it to begin with. We are looking at a teal or a light chocolate. Meanwhile, we moved some plants, have made arrangements to have a dying palm cut out soon, took out the hideous hedge, planted flowers and plants and mulched (mulching was yesterday after our bike ride into town). We created a flower planter at one end of the porch and put out the new cushions for the wicker set. I slept so good last night...lol.

Today we have the irrigation guy coming by to extend our system so we don't have to drag a hose down to water roses etc. in the back. We have company coming for dinner and hopefully soon the fence guys will be here to install our safety fence.

Got Janet M and I registered for the big Krop for Kids in Oct. This crop fills so fast. We'll be meeting up with our friends Beth, Jacque and Di...come join us? The money goes to a good cause and Jacque and Di have been raving about this event for the past couple of years.

More mulching on the agenda for today and more pool time. Hope your week is a great one!

It is my dear friend, Janet Miller's birthday

And there is no more fitting a way to help her celebrate than a little toast and roast, right?

So, dear Janet, here is the toast...from all the Luscious Lushes to you, we raise our glasses on high and wish you the very best possible birthday (even though we won't be with you)!





I have known my friend, confidant, co conspirator and all around fun gal pal for probably about ten years. We met on a scrapbooking message board, met for the first time in real life at a winery (of course) with our friends from Cleveland, Pete and Moni, and we have never looked back.


Janet and I have had lots of interesting times together, most of which, I had to admit were her fault (borrowed that line from a card and love it!)but it is true! lol




Janet has the biggest heart, the most wickedly sharp sense of humor and is loyal to her friend in a compassionate caring manner. Can you see why we love her so?

And if not these attributes, her impeccable taste in hats is enough to endear her to anyone!



My only words of advise to you on this, your SPECIAL DAY, dear friend, is this:





So please join me in wishing Janet the happiest of b'days. Head on over to her blog and leave her a b'day greeting or leave it here and I'll pass it on to her.

Dear Fresh Market,

Your store is a sensory delight: the colors, the shiny fruit and veggies, the aromas of the freshly baked breads, the choices of wines and exotic sounding ingredients...wow. And I don't even cook!








Love,
Jules

Curley Girl designs

Rather than a maker of cards, I am a collector of cards. When I find ones that speak to me or make me laugh or hit wonderfully close to home, I buy them. I have three favorite companies, Dali Mama, Quotable Cards and Curly Girl Designs (www.curlygirldesigns.com). I have trouble parting with these cards so I frame them instead and hang them around my room. I change them out from time to time. These are three of my favorites of the Curly Girl Designs company. Hope you agree...now, go buy your own! lol

A Cherry on Top May Reveal

For my reveal this month, I used My Mind's Eye's Lime Twist line of papers and embellishments. Love love love the bright, summery colors. I did 3 layouts of my grandsons and one of the Luscious Lushes! To see my entire article, click here.






Thanks so much for looking.

Jadee's last day in Paradise

We started Sunday with a ride through the North Anclote River Park,onto the Trail and into Tarpon Springs for breakfast. No visit to our home is complete without going to Toula's Trailside Cafe for breakfast. Jadee got a wonderful French toast stuffed with lots of goodies, E had the Redneck Eggs Benedict and I had the Cajun crab cakes Benedict that has become my favorite. And, of course, we all had to have the trailside potatoes! Be still my heart.

We walked up to the Farmer's Market which was missing several of the vendors and then through main street of town back to our bikes and back home. Jadee packed and got ready to go to the airport but the day was young and her flight didn't leave until 6pm.










We put the top down on my car and headed out to Miss Vickie's on the river for some boiled peanuts and cold brews. The weather was perfect with a lovely breeze and the dolphins put on a show worthy of Sea World (well, almost). A few friends joined us and we relaxed and wiled away a couple of hours.




Then it was time to head home for some of E's muffalattas and then on to the airport.




Jadee, we miss you and enjoyed every minute we could spend with you. Hurry back when you can...much love to you!

After E's baked apple pancakes with caramel sauce, roasted pecans and a scoop of ice cream, we got cleaned up and I took Jadee on the 50cent tour of Tarpon Springs. We headed next to Posh Scraps and then to Dunedin to meet Kristen and the little boys for lunch at Sea Sea Riders...one of E and my favorite places to eat in one of our favorite towns. Lunch was delectable as always and it was good for Kristen and Jadee to chat about kids. I am glad Jadee got to meet the boys as she will not be down for Week 29 (our time share week at Ft. Myers Beach) this summer.

And no visit to Dunedin is complete with out some shopping and a scoop of ice cream from Stechens, on the corner of Alt.19 and Main.


After the deluge of rain stopped, we headed back to Posh to finish our shopping and then headed home. E had a wonderful salad with avocado and pancetta waiting for us and then Jadee and E cooked. We had a wonderful salmon with a white bean ragout in a merlot wine reduction. Their cooking together is a traditional part of each of her visits with us.





After dinner, we turned on the hot tub and then went swimming under the stars. The perfect ending to a wonderful day.

Jadee's visit to Paradise Day One 5/13

Jadee's flight was delayed in St. Louis, which worked out ok because, as usual, we missed the turn off to the airport and had our usual tour of unknown neighborhoods trying to get back...lol. Never a dull moment with us.

We got her luggage, headed across the bay and had a short stop at one of our favorite places not near our house, Pete and Shorty's. This little pub is right across the parking lot from the original Hooters so pictures were mandatory. I love the courtyard at Pete and Shorty's and the fun tapper fountain.





We stopped by the house briefly. E had picked out several menus for Jadee and some wonderful wines. This was Jadee's pamper weekend.


Our first stop Friday night was Snookers so Jadee could meet Suzie and the gang and see the gators in the pit. What is a visit to Florida without a gator or two, right?


Next stop was Dimitri's on the River to share a bottle or two of Greek wine and watch the boats on the river. This is one of our favorite things to do on a Friday afternoon. We had a couple of snacks to hold us over til we could walk across the street to Mykanos for some of the best Greek on the Docks.


Then it was home and bed. Our next day was to be filled to the brim with adventures.

As a scrapbook aside, my reveal goes live later today at A Cherry on Top. I will post the layouts in a day or two. I worked with My Mind's Eye's Lime Twist and what great papers!

Papa and those Owens Boys

Aren't the boys getting big? They were 11 mo. old on the 10th. It is hard to believe. And look at E...he's lost about 20plus lbs since the start of the year...yeah!

We switched days this week with Wonder Windy, the boys' nanny. She usually has the little fellas on Wed. and Thurs and we have Fridays. But, our friend from St. Louis, Jadee, is coming for a visit and arrives tomorrow. So far today we have played in our playpen on the lanai, taken a nice long walk with the boys, had breakfast and a nap...going on now (and hopefully lasting at least another half hour!). Afternoon plans include the jumpy chair, the walker, play time in the boys' room, lunch and hopefully a short afternoon snooze as well (I usually join the boys for that one...lol), snack time and then Mama is home.

We have our friend, Justin, coming over after we get home today to convert our watering system to a more efficient one and hopefully extend it to the lower lawn behind the pool so we don't have to keep dragging the hose down there every couple of days. Suzie is joining us when she gets off work and E has a new pasta recipe he is going to entice us with.

Off and running...hope your Thurs. is a good one.

Feeling WHIMSICAL

.


whim·si·cal/ˈ(h)wimzikəl/Adjective
1. Playfully quaint or fanciful, esp. in an appealing and amusing way.
2. Acting or behaving in a capricious manner

So, on my walk this morning I took some pictures of some things that amused me, which I found playfully quaint or fanciful, that appealed to me and, perhaps because I am not feeling tip top as I have a sinus infection, I may be acting or behaving in a capricious manner...lol.

The first two are from neighbors' yards and they struck my fancy.






And I love rusted structures, hidden gnomes bleached by the sun and moss on pots filled with bright flowers.





So, hope your day has been whimsical and capricious as well.