Category Archives: Photography

An Evening at the Arbor!

Good evening!

I am in the middle of a very lovely weekend, and instead of spending too much time telling you all about it so far, since I can tell you about my weekend in it’s entirety, with tomorrow’s post. I thought I would just share some pictures of this little shop that I visited today in downtown Salem. This place is called The Arbor.

When I walked in they were playing some of my favorite music that just makes you want to be all things Parisian!! After listening to the music for a few minutes, I finally realized why it sounded so familiar, it was the soundtrack to Somethings Gotta Give – I just love that movie!!

Anyway, this shop is a feast for the senses, and although I can’t share the scents, or sounds to you, I can share some of the beautifully imagery!

Enjoy!

I told you this place was FANTASTIC!!! If you are ever in the area, feel free to visit. You will be so glad you did!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 🙂

A Gorgeous Day!

Good evening!

It has been an absolutely gorgeous day here in Oregon. It was a bit on the toasty side today, but I just got back from  nice long swim in our chilly pool, which was absolutely refreshing, and we have air conditioning in our little place, so I think I should be able to nod off to sleep quite nicely this evening. It also probably helps that I am beyond tired, from having so much fun with my sister, Jennifer, while she is still in town.

Her and her husband, Austin, are only in town in until tomorrow, at which time they will return home! I have tried, for years to talk them into moving here, but Salem is just too big for them, which is ironic because it is just too small for us!! 😉 Anyway, we have squeezed in some quality time after work this evening, going to their favorite place in Salem to eat, and that is at Mongolian Grill. They make it a point to eat there at least once during every visit, and this time was no different. 😉

I must interject here, I have been part of a support group called Chunky Dunkers. This is basically a get healthy & fit support group that I started with the help of my sisters, Alex, Jennifer, oh, and I can’t forget my sweetie, Jason. Well, Alex has lost almost 60 pounds, and Jennifer has lost almost 40. I am soooo ABSOLUTELY PROUD OF BOTH OF THEM (and a little jealous, if truth be told), and it has caused me to have a feeling of a renewed sense of,

“Ok girl, you have got to get your butt into gear and make this happen for yourself!!”

So, I have eaten extra fruits and veggies today, avoided all calorie-laden drinks, and tracked all of my food that I have eaten, walked the stairs at work, and even got an extra half an hour of vigorous swimming in this evening! Whew!!! Only one day down, and possibly hundreds more to go, which is ok, seeing that it took me literally 16 years to get to the size that I am. I have never really been overly self-conscious of the weight, but I am noticing that the older I am getting the more aches and pains in my joints I am getting, and I am just TOO YOUNG to feel this DAMN OLD!! 😉 So, instead of just pissing and moaning about it, I am going to step up to the plate and take some action – little, by little – baby steps!!

If any of you reading have any hints/tips/ideas/yummy recipe ideas, or even just some motivational support for me and my get fit actions, I would be more than happy to hear from you. Please leave me a message in the comment section above!

Thank you SOOOO MUCH, in advance!!

With that said, I am going to head off to bed for the evening!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

P.S. These pictures were taken in my mom, Linda’s, garden. Aren’t they just lovely? Thanks, Mom!! 😉

A Day of Collage Play!

Good evening!

I have had the most MAGICAL weekend, and it is still only Saturday!! I want to tell you all about my LOVELY evening with my sweetie last night, but I have decided, with his blessing, to save that story for tomorrow!!

You see, today I had a FANTASTIC mixed media collage artist class that I just couldn’t wait to share all about with you! I also know that all of the ladies from the class will be looking for the pics of their art projects too, so I wanted to make sure that I was able to get these up and out there into the universe so that our momentum would not die down!!

You see, I had heard about this class a few weeks ago, which I told you about earlier, but money was tight and I was thinking that I was not going to be able to make it! Well, when the class got closer, I was trying to think of everything and anything that might give me reason not to go!! You see, I was letting my inner critic get the better of me, and I was chickening out!!! Thankfully, my sweetie came to my rescue, told me to go to the class, and next thing I know it is 11 PM the NIGHT BEFORE class, and I am online searching for the Keizer Art Association online and I signed up for today’s Collage Play class!! WHEW!!! 😉

I wasn’t sure what to expect, seeing that I have never done collage before, but on my way to class I was getting more and more excited and couldn’t wait to get started! The class was being taught by Salem artists Linda West and Glenda Goodrich AKA “GG”!! I was the first one at class, like usual, and they were there smiling, and extremely friendly! I was still pretty nervous, as I have a tendency to be in these situations, but they were ABSOLUTELY WELCOMING!!

After every one arrived, they opened the class with GG taking us through a guided meditation, and it definitely set the right tone for the day!! This rang especially true for me, when she told us to tell our little inner critic that they could go find a nice shady place and go take a nap for the day!!!

The whole idea for this class was that we were going to play, and create mixed media collages using decorative and handmade papers, paints, ephemera, ink, all sorts of baubles,  trinkets, ribbons, buttons, beads and ANYTHING ELSE WE COULD GET OUR HANDS ON, quite frankly!! 😉 It was as if someone had walked right into my crazy filled to the brim craft room, and told me that I WAS NORMAL!!! 😉

These were some of my supplies! 😉

We had such a GREAT time!! They only rule was, was that there really were no rules except that we had to leave our inner critic at the door!!!

Both Linda and GG demo’ed all sorts of hints, tips, and new techniques!! and all of us ladies had fun ripping, and gluing, and glittering, and laughing as the day seemed to literally FLY by!!! There were 5 students in the class, and both instructors got to make some collages too!! I was ABSOLUTELY IN AWE of the AMAZING talent that was in that room!!

Before the day was over everyone had made all sorts of treasures!! So much so that we could have opened a gallery! We were really all quite thrilled at not only how much we had made, but at how good all of the pieces turned out to be!! There really was some INCREDIBLY talented women in that room!!! 😉

Everyone’s tastes and working styles were so different, but it was agreed by all that everyone that it was fun spending the day creating with other creative spirits!! I know for myself, it was quite the change from crafting by yourself!! There is something absolutely electric in the room, when you are all using your creative energy!! I think it was GG that mentioned that her and Linda have a once a month craft day where they get together and spend the day crafting! I told them that I was going to have to borrow that idea, because I think that if I am wanting someone to craft with their HAS to be SOMEONE out there who would want to craft WITH SOMEONE too???

Here is a Show-and-Tell of everyone’s handiwork!!

This is Maggie and her lovely artwork! She was inspired by some FABULOUS quotes that she had found!

This is Terri and her lovely artwork! She was inspired by this stone that one of her girlfriends had given to her. There is a shape of a tree in it’s markings!

This is Julie and her lovely artwork! She was inspired by her extremely supportive husband!

This is Vickie and her lovely artwork! She was inspired by her recent trip to Hawaii!

This is one of our lovely instructor’s Linda, and she was inspired by the neutral pack of supplies that she had gotten to create this first piece of art, and her second piece was inspired by her niece, who’s birthday is coming up!

This is our other lovely instructor, GG, and her art work was inspired by the nature theme of supplies that she had chosen and the 3D bird that she fell in love with that Linda had created that was also came out of her pack!

Here are my two art pieces. These were inspired by my love of all things red, and some of the great images that I found that I thought represented me and my journey to rediscover my creative self.

This class was such an AMAZING experience! I know I must be saying it over and over again, but it is ABSOLUTELY true!! It was so great to be in a class that was so freeing and open, and to be able to play again as if were all little girls back in kindergarten was pretty special!! I think the thought that summed up the entire day perfectly, which was said by Maggie, was,

“Art isn’t always well behaved!”

What a GREAT quote, and one that I am learning to hang my hat upon!!! Thank you, ladies!! I had such a good time “playing” with you today! I hope that we get the chance again in the near future!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

A Night of Private Lessons!

Good evening!

Tonight was my belly dancing class, just in case you have been hiding someplace and hadn’t heard me say it for the umpteenth time!!

BELLY DANCING THURSDAYS!!!

WHOO! HOO!!

Hee! Hee!! Hoo!! Hee! Hee!! Hoo!!

Ok, I have gotten myself back under control!! 😉


Tonight I wanted to share a bunch of pics that I took this morning while I was taking a walk to go into the office. It was very cold here, and foggy, and I thought that the world seemed very ethereal and magical this morning with all of the hazy fog. So, I took some time just finding some shots that I thought were BEAUTIFUL! I would love to hear your thoughts about them!!

Ok, onto my class this evening. When I started this belly dancing class about a month ago, there were 5 of us, then we became 6 for a couple of weeks, last week we dropped to 4, and I am not sure what happened this week, but there were only 2 of us there, and the other lady had to leave early! BUMMER!!


BUT TO MY SURPRISE! I got to have about a 20 minute private lesson with the dance instructor and one of the students from the advanced class! That was really awesome, and that means that I know some dance moves that everyone else doesn’t!! YEAH!!!


HOWEVER!!! There are two moves that I am going to have to really practice on! They are both spinning moves and you do this thing with one of your feet that you do a 180 degree turn, and let me tell you MAMMA IS GONNA HAVETA FIGURE OUT TO SPIN THIS SHIP IN A SPLIT SECOND!!! SHEESH!! Let’s just say it is going to take me some practice, and maybe some slippy socks!!! LOL!! 😉

I can’t say it enough! I truly LOVE this class, I look forward to it all week!! It is exhausting and energizing all at the same time! I am becoming better coordinated, balanced, and graceful, three things I thought could never be associated with me, and through lots of practice, I am getting better, and better, a little every week!!

While I was waiting for the instructor to get there, I was sitting out in the waiting area with a tall, graceful woman, who looked to be in about her 80’s. She was VERY OBVIOUSLY a dancer, with a dancer’s body and a dancer’s posture! So I got to talking to her, asking her questions, like I have a tendency to do, and I found out that she has been dancing since she was 6, she has 4 dance instructors because no one can keep up with her, and she tells me,

“I can’t help it, when my feet hear the music, they just can’t hold still, so I have no other choice but to get up and let them dance!”

She was right, not 5 minutes later, there was a private lesson going on in the next room, and the music started playing. She got up to watch, and before you know it she was dancing all around the waiting room, and down the hall! It was actually quite beautiful and made me smile all the way down to my liver. 😉

I pray that when I am 80 something, I am able to say,

“I can’t help it, when my feet hear the music, they just can’t hold still, so I have no other choice but to get up and let them dance!”


If only we were all so lucky to find a physical activity that gave them this much joy and pleasure!! I am truly blessed!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

A Blast From the Past!

Good evening!

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you mothers out there, or those Aunties, Sisters, Girlfriends, or Daughters who sometimes have an active mothering role to someone special in your life out there (that covers just about all of us, I think!!)!!! Today, my sweetie and I got to have a lovely visit and a great big ol’ lunch over at our mom, Linda’s place!! It was a bunch of fun!!

Happy Mother’s Day mom!!! 😉

Today, I wanted to share some of the pictures I took of Camp Kuratli up in Boring, Oregon yesterday. This is the Salvation Army camp that me and a lot of friends grew up going to every Summer. We had music camps, family camps, young adult/teen camps, and community camps. It seemed at times that we lived at camp almost all Summer long. One yea, I remember we made it home for EXACTLY 3 days all Summer, which gave us just enough time to wash all of our clothes!! I am not sure exactly how we were able to function without washing our clothes!! We must have smelled SOMETHING AWFUL!!! 😉

Here is what you see when you first get into camp. The main office is on the right, and the gymnasium, which I know we called something else, but I can’t seem to remember what is on the left of this pic.

Here is another pic of the large gymnasium! We hosted a lot of concerts here!

This is the old craft house and the stairs that all of us kids would race down to get to the shower house so we could get into the pool first during free time!!

Here is the caboose AKA Canteen (where we would wait in line to buy all sorts of candy and junk food!!)/Nurses Station – at least it was when we went there as kids. I don’t remember it quite looking so fresh, but we all sure had a fun time playing all over this thing!!! 😉

The camper cabins are all spaced out around this large loop. Here a few of those cabins.

You couldn’t really call being out at Camp Kuratli as roughing it because all of the cabins had indoor plumbing, running water, and space heaters! This place was really more like a resort for kids. 🙂 Here is some more of that loop of camper cabins!

Here is a pic of the other side of the circle, I am not sure what everything is now, but back in the day the building on the far left was the rec hall, which was where we could go during free time to play board games and stuff in case it was raining – although most of us spent EVERY free time in the pool – we figured we were already wet, so who cared if it rained??? The next building is the mess hall, and in front of that is the flag pole where we would line up every morning for revile, lowering whatever item of clothing happened to have gotten raided the night before (usually some poor camper’s underwear, of course!!), raising the American flag, saying the Pledge of Allegiance and then prayer for the meal. The next building was where the staff washed their laundry! I have no idea what that tiny building on the far left is, I don’t remember that, but it is right at the top of those stairs that you saw in the craft house pic. and a little farther to the right is where the caboose lives.

Here are a couple of pics of Merlo Field. This is up behind the circle of camper cabins, and this, for me, has changed the most dramatically since my days of going to this camp. This used to be a great open field!! Now it houses the camps swimming pools.

It sure is still beautiful though!! I know it is hard to tell, but up in this bit of forest is a very large house, and I remember whenever the campers would get really loud, the owners of the house would complain, and for some reason that made all of us campers laugh!! Like we were doing something right!! Even thinking about it now, still makes me smile! 😉

But mostly it was and is all of the lovely trees, the creek that runs through the camp, and the fact that we were right in the middle of the MOST BEAUTIFUL Oregon forest that helped make this camp special to all of us kids.

Here are a few panoramic views of the main circle, please feel free to click on these, or any of the pics to see them at full size – they are pretty large!!!

I hope you enjoyed these pics as much as I enjoyed taking them and reminiscing about this AMAZINGLY FUN time in my life!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

I’m Getting Married in the Morning!

Good evening!

Ok, I’M not actually getting married in the morning, and it isn’t ACTUALLY in the morning, it is on 9-10-11. But my BFF Dawn is getting married, and her sis, Heather is Dawn’s Maid of Honor, and I get to be her Maitron of Honor!! We are so excited!! 😉 We spent the day up in Portland taking pictures of the place where she is wanting to have her wedding, and to go search for the perfect wedding dress! So, I wanted to share some of those pics that I took from our day!!

The first thing we did was headed to Camp Kuratli out in Boring, Oregon (yes, that is really where it is located). We all grew up out there, and that is where Dawn and Erin met! So, they are thinking about getting married in the Tabernacle out there.

It is mostly the same as we remember, except for some minor details like the layout of the stage.

but those same old orange chairs, we are going to have to get creative in decorating to hide those uhm…ugly chairs! 😉

The ceilings are IDENTICAL to how we remember them from when we were younger!

We were just a little shocked and taken aback by just HOW BROWN this room is!!! I don’t remember it being quite so brown!!

Hmmm…I wonder if we can call on a Fairy Godmother to put her wand to work and create some wedding magic!! 🙂

Next on to wedding dresses!! We ended up going to this little boutique up in Portland, and for the life of me, I can’t remember what it is even called, but they were very friendly and were even able to make some time to let Dawn try on a few dresses. It is prom season right now, so the place was

H-O-P-P-I-N-G!!!

Here is Dawn dressed as a ballerina! Isn’t she cute?? 😉 No, this is her getting ready for the dresses to be delivered. Her criteria was a knee length, flowy, champagne colored, strapless dress that she could pair with a black sash around her waist.

Taking a break while chatting it up on the phone!!!

Here is dress #1. Very creative idea, the outer layer of this skirt kind of reminded me of fancy war camouflage netting!! Fun, just like Dawn! 🙂

Here is dress #2. Can we say Grecian goddess? But, maybe a little too “boobie” for her special day!! 😉

Dress #3. We are getting closer, the bubble skirt on this was really great, and she really like the cut of the bust, plus I really like the detail at the waist.

Dress #4 was MY FAVORITE!!! A little vintage! A little Glam! and ALL CHIC!! 😉

I just LOVED the detailing at the waist on this one. Unfortunately the tulling was REALLY itchy on this one! Dawn’s arms would have been red from rubbing against this skirt all night!

Here is dress #5. Another bubble skirt option, and I liked the delicate slope of the bust on this one, but something about it just wasn’t right.

After lunch, we made a stop at one more place, and we were able to find her THE PERFECT dress, however it was so late in the day, no one thought to toke a picture of it! DANG!!! Our Bad!! 😉

I would have to say that we did have a lot of fun hanging out, catching up, giggling, seeing the old camp, and searching for the perfect wedding dress!! No worries Dawn, finding the perfect dress is, at least for me, the hardest part, and you did that IN ONE DAY!!! 😉

You go girrrl! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

Finally Friday!!

Good evening!!

I wasn’t sure that this day would get here, but now that it is, I am soooo thankful!! I really need a break from work!!

My sweetie and I spent some time down at Borders this afternoon, and of course, I bought a little too much!! HOWEVER, all of my purchases were well thought out and pre-planned, so I don’t feel guilty!! 😉

Oh, and before I forget, I wanted to make a correction to yesterday’s blog!! The person who left me the “Smile” note and the paperclip was my other co-worker Julie!! Who knew that they BOTH had perfect handwriting!! LOL!! (Julie AND Chris!!) I am going to have to work on my penmanship!! Thank you for the VERY LOVELY note Julie, YOU REALLY made my evening, and I am still smiling just thinking about it!!!

THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!!

Now that I am trying to find the art in everything, I wanted to share a few pics of things that have inspired me in the last few days!!!! I would like to thank both Chris, and Julie for letting me raid their desks to get some of these images!!! 😉

I am just GA-GA about this color this season!! This orange is such a HAPPY color!! 😉

This little wand was from my niece Megan’s birthday a couple of years ago, and EVERY TIME I see it, it reminds me of how much I love that little girly of mine!! 😉

This is the top view of a really pretty paperweight I have on my desk at work!! This green has always been such a calming color for me, so thankfully, I have this color EVERYWHERE on my desk!! 😉

This was from Julie’s desk, and it EXACTLY matches one of Chris’ pictures on her wall! I just thought that was funny!! Most women who share an office “cycle” together, not us – we all seem to dress like triplets on accident!!! 😉

How could I POSSIBLY leave out my Eiffel Tower??

This is a little pottery box of Chris’ that I am almost CONSTANTLY playing with because it is just SO CUTE!! 😉

I have always LOVED glass paperweights, and this is the one that is on Julie’s desk! If I remember correctly, she actually MADE this!! SO IMPRESSIVE!!! 😉

I am sure that this last one, which just happens to be the front of a card that Chris received from one of her customers is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE!!! I just LOVE how these seemingly unrelated colors just go soooo well together, just like me and my friends, and co-workers Chris, Julie, and myself!!

Have a GREAT weekend girls!

We’ve DEFINITELY EARNED it!!!

😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

A Monday of Positivity!

From Tiffany's "Happy Girls are the Prettiest Girls" Shoot

Good evening!

Work did get a little bumpy today, but I knew that it would, right? And it did, of course! There are a lot of changes going to be happening in the next few months, but that is alright. I know that everything is going to turn out alright, it always has and always will.

I have to tell you that all of this tapping into my creativity has given me hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel for my life! I feel like I am learning what my true purpose for being placed on this earth for. I can not yet articulate what I am thinking, but I am learning that it is ok to be creative, and to use my creativity to somehow make the world a better place. I honestly didn’t think that was possible before. I thought creativity was something that you stole moments of while your life takes a break from chewing you up! Sad, really!! I realize that I don’t have to be “chewed up any longer” that I am allowed to take time for myself, without guilt, to replenish and recoup what is the best of me, so that I am ready and able to better take care of others!! That, my friend, is called growth!!! LOL! 😉

I had quite the surprise right before I left the office today! Sometime last week, I had taken a leap of faith and had e-mailed a couple of my FAVORITE photographers/bloggers, not really thinking that any of them would EVER write me back. It was more for the action of stepping outside of my box, and doing something I wouldn’t think I could do. Well, today, quite unexpectedly, I got a return e-mail!!!! When I saw the name of the person sending it, I can not tell you how excited I was to see her name – I literally started jumping up and down inside of my own head!! YEAH!!! WHOO!!! HOO!! I can’t believe she wrote back!!! Anyway, it was Tiffany Kirchner Dixon of The Fancy Farmgirl, and she very graciously answered all of my questions, plus gave me some very lovely encouraging words of advice for getting myself started with photography!!! To say that I was jazzed, was a HUGE UNDERSTATEMENT!! It gave me proof that I was on the right track. I am still not sure what my “art” is, or how it is going to manifest itself, but I KNOW that I am heading in the right direction!!!

Tiffany’s blog (I feel like we are at that place now, you know, first name basis!!) is ABSOLUTELY SCRUMTIOUS!! I love the ebb and flow of her postings, reading about her family, and perusing her DREAM-LIKE photography!! I KNOW that my sis, Alex would REALLY like her work too!! PERFECTION!! The photo above is one Tiffany’s and you can see more of her photography here!

I have to confess that even though that was the MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE to my day, I was soooo thankful to get home today! I had been hankering to get home the entire work day, kind of like a little kid pining for recess during an especially difficult math test!! My sweetie and I finally scheduled some time to have some quality time for right after work! It has been a while since we have both been able to get away from all of the work and distractions of life, and just spend some much needed time together! It is ALWAYS so much fun to spend time with him, sharing out laughter and dreams! He is just such a genuine human being, and he really had this way of bringing out the playful kid out of me!! He is my own personal gentle giant, and really makes my life so much better!! Thank you, Love! You mean the world to me!!!

Well, before I ramble on for the rest of the night, I am going to close up shop for the night so that I can go climb into bed with my love and do some reading before we slip off to la-la-land and have some SWEET DREAMS!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Aunt Bee’s House Part II!

Good evening!

As promised, I am going to share some more pictures of my super fun outing over at Aunt Bee’s House from Yesterday! But first, I wanted to say that Jason and my Easter supper went VERY well this afternoon, and although I was SURE that he would LOVE the ham the most, it was actually the deviled eggs that he went GA-GA for!!! LOL! It really is the little things in life that make one happy!!! I REALLY do LOVE that man!!!

Anyway, here are plenty more pics from my outing yesterday!! ENJOY!!!

I absolutely fell in LOVE with this cheery red cabinet! I can see this fitting into my place perfectly filled with either books in the living room, or tons of quilts and blankets in the guest room!

These quilts and runners are so colorful, and I can see them changing up the feel of a room in an instant.

I am soooo drawn to the French vintage feel of all of these pieces, like you could have just stumbled upon them in your favorite auntie’s attic!

These eggs are just so charming! I love the idea of these having some words from my favorite books like Pride and Prejudice or Alice In Wonderland! HOW ROMANTIC!

This is a lesson that I am hearing over and over again, and honey – I am listening!!! 😉

This area rug has EVERY COLOR, reds/greens/blues from my home in it – I am SOOOO TEMPTED to go back and pick up this little TREASURE! I may swing by and pick that up after work tomorrow!!! I HOPE IT IS STILL THERE!!! 😉

EVERY girly-girl should have a vanity, and this is such a CHIC one!! BEAUTIFUL!! 😉

Sumptious green chair!! This would look soooo nice in my living room! and these bug print pillow – SO MUCH FUN!!! Firefly, and butterfly TOO CUTE!!!

I LOVE this whole little vignette! It is SERIOUSLY a FEAST for the EYES!!!

Everywhere I looked, there was just something else that just called to me! It might be a little hard to see, but this rubbed black farm table is JUST CALLING!! “CHRISTINA, YOU KNOW YOU WANT ME!!” Thankfully my place is just too small! So, sometimes logistics beats out  desire – at LEAST FOR NOW???

D-R-E-A-M! Need I say more?

This little wooden angel bird cage was SIMPLY HEAVENLY!!! 😉

This box was just a TREASURE TROVE of goodness!! 😉

Every single thing on this shelf, could move RIGHT INTO MY PLACE!!! My Sis, would say “THESE ARE SO YOU!!” 😉

WHEW!!! What a great way to wrap my FABULOUS visit to Aunt Bee’s House up!!!

The ULTIMATE goal!!

HAPPILY EVER AFTER!!!

I would like to send a quick shout out to the ladies at Aunt Bee’s House, and just say that I am still just so thankful that you let me enjoy and share your LOVELY shop with my readers!!! I know that I will be back many, many times!!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!

A Day At Aunt Bee’s!

Good evening!

I had a change of plans this morning, and decided that I was going to practice my photography, as a continuation of this weeks’ The Artist’s Way program assignment. I had originally planned to go out and take pictures of all of the places that I had been to today and share those pics with you. Well, at about my third stop out today, I had decided to go to one of my FAVORITE places in town, and that is Aunt Bee’s House!

Aunt Bee’s House is the home decor, furnishings, gift, consignment shop that is located on 2679 Commercial St SE, here in my hometown of Salem, Oregon. There motto is “A place to shop, be inspired and get away from it all” and man, they ARE NOT KIDDING!!! I can while an entire day away in this FABULOUS store!! I walked in, and very hesitantly asked one of the ladies there if she minded if I were to take some pictures for my Artist’s Way assignment to post on my blog, and she very nicely said, yes! I was soooo JAZZED!! Anyway, I proceeded to go throughout the store and took almost 300 pictures, which is so easy to do because they have soooo many DECEDANTLY DELICIOUS displays, and all sorts of decor that I would totally LOVE in my home!! WHEW!! I really had fun!!

Before I get too far into my post for this evening, I wanted to say thank you to the Aunt Bee’s House staff! You ladies were VERY helpful, and VERY friendly!! You helped make today soooo much fun, and I was able to complete my Artist’s Way assignment this week!! I will be back many times in the future for sure, if not for taking more pictures, then for shopping my little heart out!! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!! 😉

So, without further ado, here are some of the treasures that I found on my trip to Aunt Bee’s House today!!

This is what you are greeted with when you first walk in – it is just so cheery and Springtime!! You’ll know right off the bat that you are going find some LOVELY treasures to take home!!! Do you see all of these FABULOUS quilts!!! Because of my outing today, I am now dreaming of one for our bed! I think it will really lighten the mood in the room for the Spring and Summertime.

Apron? Check. Pearls? Check. FABULOUS Large floral broach? Check. Now I am OFFICIALLY ready to clean!! 😉

What an INGENIOUS way to display some TRULY BEAUTIFUL silver wear!!

OH, and Honey, you have to know that I am SUCH A SUCKER for embroidered handkerchiefs!!! Why that EVER fell out of fashion, I will just NEVER know!!! and displayed on this silver platter? That is PERFECTION!

This chic white vanity is SIMPLY DIVINE! and I just LOVE the idea of having a sooooo many lovely jeweled trinkets ready to accessorize your favorite outfit at your disposal!!!

Don’t you just LOVE these little hoot owls???? They SOOOO remind me of my grandmother (she loved owls)!! They were tucked away in various locations of the store, and I caught myself smiling EVERY TIME I SAW THEM!!! Too cute!! 😉

If I could have thought of a place to display this set in my little place, these would have gone home with me today!!! I LOVE this soft shade of green!!

I have always LOVED fancy soaps and these are such a perfect shade of soft pink, any lucky lady receiving these as a gift couldn’t help but feel LUXURIOUSLY FEMININE with these at a special bath time!!!!!

This little sign just says it all!!!

OH-EM-GEE!!! Can you imagine anything more SCRUM-DIDDLY-UMPTIOUS on your bed than this ruffled quilt???? HEAVEN!! I wonder what my hubby would think?? HEE! HEE! 😉

I have GOT to GET ME ONE OF THESE! I have always wanted one!!! and look at how the sunlight just SPARKLES through these crystals! SIGH!! 😉

Here are two more of our little friends again!! 😉

I just ADORE the simple details on these pillows. Details like this are what transforms your house into a home!! AND I am practically drooling over the lovely soft golden wainscoating behind these pillows!! Hmmm…I am sure I can find a place for both these pillows, and that wainscoating in my place!!! 😉

DO YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN???

Aunt Bee’s House is just an all around JOYFUL STORE!!! With something for everyone’s tastes and styles!!! I have taken sooo many pictures, and I know I have shared a lot now, but I am inspired to share more with you tomorrow too!! I hope you don’t mind!! I would highly  recommend this store to anyone looking for a little something to personalize their home, or for a gift for that special someone in your life!! Oh, and as always, I am in no way affiliated with Aunt Bee’s House, I just LOVE this store, and I JUST HAD TO SHARE with you!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉