Easter Parade

The Easter bunny came to our house and brought Leighton a sweet and very soft lamb, some sunglasses (pink, of course) with a terry cloth and velcro band and a darling romper with a big kitty on the backside. The twins got matching baskets with a soft bunny, Hot Wheels sun glasses (they are so Joe Cool in them too), bubble wands and a paper and crayon pack from Auntie Linda. These crayons only color on the 'special' paper.
Here is our little girl in the dress her Papa picked out for her and the bunny ears her mama got her. Oh, and that is daddy, of course.
I found these darling little coveralls and the white shirts at Beall's Outlet here in Tarpon Springs for the boys for Easter. The little bunny on the pocket is so soft and fuzzy. The ears are compliments of their mama.

I am afraid that next year when the boys are almost three, they will not want to wear cutesy "ahhhhhhhhhh" outfits so I had even more pleasure picking them out this year.

Next installment: the Easter Egg Hunt

Grammies and Grand Daughters Photo shoot

Adriana Davies did a photo shoot of Dee and her grand, Bri, Maria and her grand, Bella and of me and my grand, Leighton a couple of weekends ago at Craig Park on Spring Bayou here in Tarpon Springs...and I am so impressed. We had 3 babies all under 5 mo. old and she got beautiful shots of all of them and us. Adriana owns Angel Lights Photography and can be contacted through the link. Trust me...she is amazing.






I have posted on of the layouts I did with one of the photos on my altered blog, A Toast to Altered Art. along with the directions on how to print photos successfully onto canvas paper.

Hope everyone has a delightful Easter or Passover!

Linda's last day

Friday was our last full day with our friend, Linda Adams, before she winged her way home to her family for Easter. We started our day with our walk and ended it talking and relaxing . We had wanted to take her someplace for lunch that was one of our favorites and Sea Sea Riders in Dunedin was perfection, as usual. The restaurant has a somewhat limited view of the Gulf but the people watching is superb. The restaurant is housed in an old Florida style cottage, is family owned and the service is attentive without being intrusive. The food is regional with an emphasis on fresh fish and seafood but everything is good.

As usual, blogger has loaded my photos in the order it sees fit instead of the order I indicated but oh well.
This is a picture of my new little glass dragonflies. More about this later.
Linda had the Blackened Mixed Grill with chicken, wild rice and guacamole.
I had the seafood pasta and the clams were done to perfection. I can not eat raw anything except E's infamous salmon tar tar. The seafood was tender and perfectly cooked and the sauce tasty without overwhelming the scrimp, scallops and clams.
E had the beer battered grouper and, while he prefers his batter with a bit more beer flavor, he cleaned his plate and declared it good!
Here is a closer up of one of the three dragonflies suspended on wires that I bought for the tiny side garden I created off the end of our front porch. The Mistletoe House/Lafayette & Rushford on Broadway in Dunedin is one of my all time favorite shops for lovely things. Just going into the store is a delight.
And this is the rose that bloomed in our garden just in time to put it in Linda's room for the night.
The fragrance is pure bliss.
Linda and I also made a stop at Big Lots on HW 19. We found her lighted grapes for her wine inspired kitchen recess and found these fun floating lily pads for the pool. We got the last two I think they had but I am keeping my eye out for a 3rd. At $6.00 a lily pad, what a pretty thing to have floating in the pool for an evening party. The dragonflies/butterflies change three colors.

While we were in the Lafayette shop, E added this darling and so soft little brown bunny to my collection. My bunny collection is not nearly as extensive as my snow people one and, eventually, I am going to let the grands pick their own bunny from the ones I do have each Easter.

We have some things yet to get done for the family Easter here. The little guys are old enough to hunt for eggs so we are having Rob be the Easter bunny tomorrow and hide plastic eggs filled with toddler cookies and yogurt candies and little fuzzy chickies like my Nana use to put in my Easter basket. Hope they don't eat the chickies! I have baskets for the grands and chocolate bunnies for the big kids: Kristen, Chris and Rob.

Hope the Easter bunny brings you a lovely Easter for those who celebrate this holiday.

Blogging at last

Our dear friend, Linda Adams, arrived April 1 and we have been so busy having fun that I have not taken the time to blog. One Monday, she and I headed to Beall's armed with coupons and our charge cards. I did find a great pair of new walking shoes (charcoal gray with hot pink trim and laces...ooh la la!) and we could not resist some cute outfits we found on sale for our tiny Ms Leighton.
On Tues, we treated ourselves to a full day in Dunedin. We walked through lovely little shops, bought some Scrabble necklaces at Lead Lines, one of my very favorite shops btw!



We ended our visit with lunch at the Olde Bay restaurant and fish market down at the Marina.
We watched some manatee frolic and shared a grilled grouper sandwich with a key lime aioli that was fresh and tasty.
We each got a different one of the restaurant's specialty soups: (my favorite) the mushroom and brie bisque
and the one we tasted first at the Grape Escape last January and the reason we first went to the restaurant: a sweet corn and crab chowder.

All the kids' pics inbetween were taken yesterday. Linda volunteered to extend E's "spring break" by coming with me to see the kiddies for the day so we had a Nana and Auntie day. Leighton was not going to miss a thing and was not wild about taking a nap at all but did sleep a bit in Auntie's or Nana's arms now and then.

The kids have the grand boys addicted to book for which I give them a standing ovation. The boys have not watched tv but have been read to often and every day.

Off and running...things to do, people to see and much fun and adventure to squeeze into our last full day with our Linda.

Shoppe Around the Corner

It is the Spring Sale at Shoppe Around the Corner in Palm Harbor, Florida, a wonderful and magical place whose profits go to helping sustain the local Meals on Wheels. The above picture is the display that greets customers when they enter this lovely gem of a place.

When Glo suggested she and Marcia, who had never been to the Shoppe, go with her today, I said yes immediately. Glo picked up both us and, after a delightful lunch at Peggy O'Neills Irish Pub (great Cobb salad btw), we went two blocks up and one to the right and there we were.
There are so many lovely things to see that it took quite a while looking here, there and up and down. One section is currently devoted to Spring and Easter with odds and ends that are seasonal also scattered throughout the store.

I did ask before I took these photos as some places do not like photos to be taken. Not so at this place filled with pretties. Some of these bunnies and little chick are so nostalgic and many of the displays got my creative juices flowing!
Talk about a beautiful way to set an Easter table...love how the napkin is folded and the ceramic bird with the candle nestles inside.
Another section has the most gorgeous kitchen ware imaginable. And look...my grandmothers' table cloths and dish towels!

I love this display of French related table decorations...How beautiful.

The prices are very reasonable and more so during the Spring Sale since one item is 25% off.

These lovely little necklaces are priceless....my favorite: "Maybe I want to look Cheap". lol
And a tiny 5inch by 7 inch scrap book....
This wreath with the streamers would look lovely on my front door.
The ceramic rabbit is a definite garden must have.
So, what did I buy...this white painted rod iron book holder. It has two round balls suspended from chains for keeping a books' pages from flipping.
And this tiny little peep called out to me when I went by. My Nana always put those tiny little yellow chickies in my Easter basket the years we spent in Iowa. This is a fancier version of those. And look how pretty she looks perched on my flower cart I found last visit to St. Louis.
This display caught my eye too...what a great pencil holder. The frames in the shop are so beautiful and creative too.

This is how I am going to use my book holder with it's tiny birdie perched on the top. Until I put my layouts into albums (which is sometimes weeks and weeks), they just sit on my desk top stacking up. Now I have a way to display the latest and keep them all together one behind the other.
Thanks Glo for suggesting our day...you have the best ideas!

Tomorrow is my Glam and Glitz class at Posh from 10-noon ish and in the afternoon, E and I are heading to Spring Bayou for the annual juried art show...one of the biggest in this area. We have not missed a year yet. Speaking of years, come May 3, we will have lived in this house for five years. So hard to believe and each year gets better and better.

Our dear friend, Linda Adams, arrives Sunday and we're thinking a late lunch at Molly Goodheads. We do love that place. It was one of the first local restaurants we ate at around here.

Our day in Sarasota

was erroneously posted on my altered blog and I am too tired tonight to redo it so if you are interested, please click on the link in my list to the left. The pictures are fun! Apologies and thanks.

Sat. Crop at Posh with the NW Tampa Scrappers

I had such a nice day with these lovely ladies. They have made me feel so welcome to the group. I got five layouts done and the one on the top is of one of the Wed. Gals . Four of us crop together every Wed. we can at Posh Scraps in Palm Harbor, Fl. At a recent Cheeky Chics Crop in St. Pete, Fl, Jacque was the Queen of the Crop for a time and her she is flaunting her royalty!

The rest of the layouts are of the Grands, of course!




I have had nothing but trouble lately with my laptop...first someone hacked into my email through Face Book and then I could not access several of my favorite boards or my hotmail. Thank heavens for my techie son, Rob. Today he came over and scratched off my Computer Woes list item by item. Turns out that when I upgraded my virus protection, it was set too high and prevented me from doing tons of things. All better now.

Very busy week ahead.

MON: zoo with Chris and Kristen,their friend, Vickie, and all the grands

TUES: WW weigh in and then driving to Sarasota (St. Armand's Circle) to meet Janet M and our friend, Lynda Kay who is finally in her new home in Ft. Myers, at the Columbia for lunch and some shopping, of course.

WED: cropping at Posh with the Wed. gals

THURS: pre packing my kits for Sat. Tech class I am teaching at Posh

FRI: meeting Glo et al for lunch and then to The Little Shop Around the Corner for some Spring shopping

SAT: my class at Posh 10-noon

and next Sunday our dear friend, Linda Adams arrives in town for a week's visit. Can't wait.

Hope your weekend has been a delight!