Happy Birthday To Maddie & Lily!

Ten Years ago today I was blessed with the most precious gift!  I became the Gramma of the sweetest girls ever! 

Madeline

Elizabeth

Tea Cup Tuesday!

Before I tell you about my cups today I would like to thank Stephanie from Angelic Accents for hosting the Wedding Blog Party.  It was a lot of fun!  I enjoyed sharing my stories and photos with all of you.  I made some new friends and had a great time reading all of your stories you shared.  

My first cup is another one from Porcelain Treasures from their Margret line.  I especially love this because of the little feet.  I've always been fond of tea cups with feet...it gives them so much character.  Betty uses floral transfers but all the other details are done by hand.  I think she does an amazing job with her details and colors.  

My second cup today is a pink chintz.  I've already told you how much I love chintz!  I only have two pieces but someday maybe I will add to my small collection.  I might need more display shelves though!  The name on the bottom is Golden Crown E & R made in England.

Thank you again to Martha & Terri for hosting and thank you for stopping by today!

Love Is A Many Splendored Thing ~ Through The Years!

George & Ruth

May 24, 1947

My parents were introduced to each other by my mother's older sister Alyce. They fell in love immediately. My mother lived in Fresno and my father in San francisco which is about 175 miles. Back then that was really a long distance relationship. I never realized how romantic my father was until I found a love letter he wrote to her. He told her how much he loved her over and over and how much his parents loved her. That was really important in those days to be accepted by the parents. They were married in San Francisco, California at my grandparent's home after only a three month courtship. When my father passed way in 1998 they were just two months shy of 51 years.

Our Wedding ~ September 11, 1971

Just in case you can't play the video I added the mosaic for you to view.

We were married at the First Presbyterian Church in Burlingame, California on September 11, 1971. It was a small wedding with a reception following at my parents home. Unfortunately we don't have any professional photos of our special day. We hired a photographer who was a friend of ours and he forgot all about it. He was relaxing on a boat on the San Francisco Bay! The only photos I have are the ones I used to make this video. My parents neighbor was so kind to take these with his camera but he didn't have a flash so there are no photos inside the church. I had a lot of fun making this video for you today. I hope you enjoyed it.

My Children

Brian and Julie met when they were high school students working at Longs Drug Store. She was a senior and he was a junior at different high schools. They dated for over 9 years before they married May 30, 1998. Their wedding took place at Willow Heights a beautiful mansion in Morgan Hill, California. They have three beautiful daughters Madeline, Elizabeth and Caroline Grace.

Brian & Julie May 30, 1998

My youngest son Darrell met his wife Becky through a deputy he worked with at the Sacramento County Jail. If I remember the story correctly the first date didn't go real well but they decided to try a second date. After dating for two years they married on August 28, 2004. They had  a beautiful ceremony at a Lutheran Church and a reception following at the Granite Bay Golf and Country Club in Granite Bay, California. They now have two precious little boys Caleb & Dylan.

Darrell & Becky August 28, 2004

I hope you enjoyed your visit here today. I had an amazing time putting together the wonderful memories of the weddings in my family from the very simple to the very elegant. I would like to thank Stephanie at Angelic Accents for hosting this beautiful Wedding Party.  I had a wonderful time!

My New Beautiful Tray!

I had to share with you today my recent win on Ebay.  This was my first time bidding on one of Nancy's beautiful mosaics. I was extremely excited when I saw I had won.  Her work is amazing!  You can find her on Ebay at Romancing The Rose Studio.  

In preparation of our beautiful wedding blog party this Friday hosted by Stephanie of Angelic Accents I added this beautiful and romantic song from the 1955 movie Love Is A Many Splendored Thing which is my theme for Friday.  Of course it is being sung my none other than Barry Manilow!  Is there anyone else? I was lucky enough to have heard him sing this in person. :)  Enjoy!

Tea Cup Tuesday!

My first cup to share with you today is from my Porcelain Treasure collections.  I love the soft pink color and the beautiful shape of the cup.  Betty does a beautiful job hand decorating all her pieces.

My second cup is by Crown Dorset and is one of my favorites!  I love the pale pink rose and the raised design on the cup.  The teapot in the background is my all time favorite!  It's also by Crown Dorset.  When I moved here to Roseville that teapot got a few extra pieces of bubble wrap! :)  

Thank you for stopping by today.  Thank you to Martha & Terri for another fun Tea Cup Tuesday!

Mosaic Monday ~ A Very Proud Mother!

Since we just celebrated Father's Day I decided to do a little bragging about what wonderful dads my two sons are!  My oldest son Brian was doubly blessed in 2000 with twin girls, Madeline Rose & Elizabeth Jane.  In 2004 a third little girl came along named Caroline Grace.  He is the BEST dad!  He's always busy with their activities from dance classes to softball and soccer games.  He coached both teams this spring with Maddie & Lily's team having an amazing season record of 24-1.  He works at night and sleeps during the day (at a very stressful and dangerous job) but is always there when his girls need something.  


My youngest son Darrell has two precious little boys.  Caleb Michael and Dylan Paul.  Caleb is three and Dylan is one.  He also works nights at the same stressful and dangerous job.  He is an amazing dad too. Always doing fun stuff with both kids.  You can see it in their personalities  that their dad makes everything so much fun!  
I am so so proud of both of them...my grandkids were blessed to have such wonderful dads!  

Remembering My Father!

I was a very lucky girl to have such a wonderful father in my life with such an amazing sense of humor!  Never a dull moment in our house!  He was blessed with a beautiful voice, and the gift of playing piano by ear!  My fondest memory was when he sang 'O Holy Night' in church at Christmas.  Makes me cry just thinking about it. He could draw anything you described to him which is what led him to become a builder of beautiful homes.  I was lucky enough to grow up in the very first house he built! He had a very BIG green thumb and always took pride in his garden. Unfortunately I didn't inherit his musical talents or his ability to draw but I do love to be in the garden and I love to work with wood.  The smell of a newly framed house always reminds me of him. He gave me one of the most important gifts his sense of humor and for that I am grateful!  But most of all he was a wonderful husband, father and grandfather who is truly missed!  Happy Father's Day Daddy!

George Paul
January 27, 1920 ~ March 30, 1998

Remembering K9 Jimmy

Jimmy was my son's police dog until he was forced into retirement due to an injury.  He was enjoying his retirement living on a large parcel of land with another deputy from Sacramento County.  He passed away Sunday of natural causes.   He will be remembered for his dedication and loyalty to my son and the citizens of Sacramento County.  Jimmy was a beautiful German Shepherd as you can see from his picture.  His picture graced the cover of a book written about K9's a few years ago.  

Jimmy with my sons

Darrell  &  Brian

Teacup Tuesday!

Happy Tea Cup Tuesday everyone.  Thank you again to Martha & Terri for hosting this very fun day!  My first tea cup is from Porcelain Treasures.  I just love all of Betty's hand decorated treasures.   This one happened to belong to my mother.  Her guest room was done in Laura Ashley bedding and these pieces were a perfect match.

I just love Chintz don't you?  I love the way all the colors compliment each other. It's not a real fancy cup but with all those pretty flowers and colors it doesn't need to be. Miss Bunny likes it! Someday I hope to have a chintz tea pot too.  

Thank you for stopping by...I appreciate all your very kind comments!

Mosaic Monday ~ My trip To Victoria!

In 1998 long before I had a digital camera my husband and I went on our very first cruise.  We decided before boarding the ship in Vancouver, Canada to begin our cruise of Alaska we would spend a few days in Victoria.  I fell in love with Victoria!  We had tea at the Empress Hotel, visited Butchart Gardens and went on a wonderful tour of the city on a horse and carriage.  I thought it would make a lovely mosaic for Monday so last night I scanned all my favorites.  I think they came out pretty good!  If you click on the mosaic you will enjoy a much larger picture!

Thank you so much for stopping by.  Hope you enjoyed my visit to Victoria!

                                                 

Tea Cup Tuesday!

Boy the weeks just seem to fly by!  Can't believe it's Tuesday already.  I'm sharing a couple of demitasse cups with you today.  The first one was a gift from my son and daughter in law.  It doesn't have a name on the bottom but it was made in China.  I love the black with the pink roses and the pale yellow in the background.

My second tea cup today is by Allyn Nelson made in England.  There's no real story behind this one other than I bought it because it had pink roses! :)  My bunny likes it because it goes well with her outfit!  

Thank you for stopping by today and thanks to Martha & Terri for another fun Tea Cup Tuesday! 

Mosaic Monday ~ My Perfume Bottle Collection!

I'm back for my second attempt at Mosaic Monday. Thank you for all the very sweet comments I received last week.  My photography needs a lot of work but I'm having fun trying!  Today I thought I would share my perfume bottle collection with you.  Some of them have a little history which makes them even more special. The center picture is a dresser tray that my mother bought me when I was about 10 yrs. old.  It's made by Westmoreland Glass from the early 1960's and has been on my dresser everyday since.  Somehow when we moved from our house in 1971 the perfume bottles were lost.  A few months ago I decided to search Ebay for them.  I was so surprised to find two of them from the same seller!  I love Ebay!   Now it's complete again!    

Thank you so much for stopping by to see my second Mosaic Monday.  I can't wait to make the rounds to see what all you wonderfully talented ladies have to share today.

Almost Done!

A few weeks ago I posted a picture of the new rug I purchased for my family room.  I mentioned that I was almost finished with this room.  I was just waiting for the ottoman, valances and a few more pillows.  There is a little story behind the ottoman.  I should say BIG story!  You'll see what I mean when you see the before picture!  I ordered the first one quite a few months ago.  When it came and the men put it place it looked like a flying saucer landed in my family room!  I think I said to them "What the heck is that"?  They said I don't know but it sure is big!   I said "YOU THINK"? After waiting all that time I was a tad (okay a lot) disappointed.  That wasn't the only issue with it.  The quality of the shirred skirt was very inferior.  They didn't line it and the gathering was very poorly done.  It was very shocking!  I called the store and told them about it.  They were shocked when they saw the pictures of it.  Kendall, the sweetheart that has helped me with all my projects contacted a gentleman locally that agreed to make a completely custom one for me.  She called me last week the minute it arrived at the store!  I was there within 30 minutes!  I couldn't believe my eyes!  What a beautiful job he did!  The first one was sitting on there floor not too far away.  I just kind of looked at it and chuckled!  I'm pretty sure I don't have to ask you which one looks the best!  

It looks like something landed in my family room doesn't it?

The new beautiful one!