Category Archives: Shopping

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! 🙂

I’m Cutting It Close!

Good evening!

I know that it is extremely late, but I haven’t missed blogging at least one post every single day since sometime in mid-December, and there is no way that I am going to let myself break that streak now!!!

I have had a really good day today!! I got up and did my morning pages, as usual. Got dressed and ready, and headed out to watch my niece play soccer, I should have some pics that I can post tomorrow!!! Afterwards, I headed out to the craft store where I did some serious damage to my bank account!!! 😉 and then headed home to meet up with my sweetie so that we could go out on a date.

After picking Jay up, we headed over to Borders for a few hours, and then out to a nice visit where we were able to catch up on our days!! By this time it was kinda late for us, Jason really wanted to go watch the new X-Men movie, and the idea kind of intrigued me, so the new spontaneous Christina, said, “Why not?” So off we went!!

Well, I am so glad we did! It was such a good movie, with a great cast of characters! I highly recommend getting out there and watching it!!!

Well, until tomorrow, when I am not so pressed to beat the clock…

Have a FABULOUS evening!!!

Wrapping Up a Delicious Day!!

Good evening!

I have had a VERY SWEET Friday hanging out with my sweetie! We stopped at the craft store so I could get some missing supplies. After which my car battery decided to conk out, and my mother-in-law very sweetly came to give us a jump, so in turn, as a way to say thank you, we took her out to lunch and had a very nice visit with her!!

Next Jason went to the pet store to get the dogs some treats, while I headed over to St Vincent’s to see if I could find anything that might help me organize my craft room – no luck today! BUT, Jason and I quickly met back up again, and we headed over to Borders to do some book perusing!! I bought a few books, one of which was a book on Uncluttering my life, which I will tell you about in another post, but was really ironic, because I have been going through some SERIOUS shopping issues right now!! I can’t say that I am a shop-a-holic, but when you have so much stuff that you are bringing it in faster than you can get it back out – that is a problem!!

I have psychoanalyzed myself and have decided that what is happening is that throughout the past 8 weeks, while working on uncovering my inner artist, I have discovered that there really was a different me inside than what I was letting show on the outside. So, what I think I have been doing now, is letting her shine a little more! My style is softening up and becoming more girly, my hobbies, and free-time activities have really changed, and I have been re-stocking supplies (so to speak) to support the new me, HOWEVER I haven’t let go of the old me and all of her trappings yet!! In all honesty I am a little scared! Old Christina has been around for such a long time that it almost feels kind of like a death, which is ok, I just have to get some support as I get my environment in new Christina shape, while getting rid of anything that doesn’t honor my authentic self, which includes all of this old clutter!!

My sweetie has told me that he would help support me/cheer me on, while I pack up boxes and make some serious headway in getting rid of all of the un-me things in this house, tomorrow morning!! Which is EXACTLY what I am needing. I think I am finally at a place where I am cool with letting go of those old disappointments, unfinished projects, unread books, unworn clothes, craft supplies, etc. etc. etc. You know, all of the miscellaneous stuff that I have been holding onto just because “I might need it someday!” So, I am hoping to be able to post some serious before, during, and after pics tomorrow of some of the areas I am going to tackle! I would like to see, by Sunday evening, some SERIOUS progress having been made!! I will keep you posted!! 😉

Where was I? Oh yes, back to today! After we left Borders, with new books in hand, we stopped at another craft store – I am in search of a mini crown rubber stamp, and for some reason am not finding any!! Anyway, next we stopped at the grocery store to pick up some deli sandwich, that we used  for a light dinner when we got home. YUM!! and finally, we watched Gnomio and Juliet, which was such a cute movie, but I must confess, I may never look at gnomes the same way again!!! LOL! 😉

I am excited to see what tomorrow brings, I know we have a date night with some good friends of ours tomorrow evening, so that will be fun!!

Until tomorrow…

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Tarte!

Good evening!

I wanted to share with you some more pics of the FABULOUS little shop that I had my jewelry class at on Sunday, Tarte!!

Right from the entry way, this little shop is a welcoming feast for the eyes!!

Sparkles, and baubles, and trinkets, oh my!!

I just love the feel of their scrumptious fabrics, and yummy goose down pillows!!

They even make keys look tres chic!!

This gives me so many ideas for fun and creative ways to display my own jewelry collection!!

I could just go home with one of EVERYTHING!!!

Who knew mannequins could be so inspirational??!!

I just DROOLED over this large antique-inspired sign!!

Hello, please wrap this up, I will TAKE IT!!! 😉

What a comfy looking reading spot!!

Every where you look in this store there is more couldn’t-you-just-pee-your-pants ADORABLENESS!! I know that might be hard to imagine, but just go with me on that!! 😉

Isn’t this the sweetest little boutique??? The only downside to it, is that I wish I was at least 3 times as large!! This place is a cross between Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Amelie, and Penelope all rolled into one!! This is probably mu number 1 FAVORITE little boutique for FABULOUS treasures, and inspirational ideas for my own GROWN-UP-GIRLY-WONDERLAND!!!

Poor Jason, he is not going to know what hit him!! I sure do LOVE THAT MAN!! 😉

“Nothing bad could ever happen [Tarte]”!!! 😉

I couldn’t have said it any better myself!!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

A Short, Quick, Tired Evening!

Good evening!

I am going to keep this post short and quick! I have been burning my candle at both ends, and tonight I am needing a break!

I went to a fun jewelry making/metal smithing class today! I do want to tell you about it, and I can’t wait to show you the pics of not only all of the charms, and baubles, and other goodies that I made today, and I am sure you are anxiously awaiting to hear all about it, but I have decided that tonight, I am taking the evening off!!

I will be back again, in full swing tomorrow!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!!

The Farmhouse Show!

Good evening!

Jason and I had such a GREAT time today!!! 😉 We headed out to Turner, Oregon to check the Farmhouse Show! I was very excited!! and Jason was hesitantly going along for the ride, with his book in hand in case he got bored, HOWEVER he ended up getting MORE INSPIRED than even I was, and that is saying a lot!!! He is now talking about building furniture, which you HAVE TO KNOW I LOVE!!!

First thing I want built is some small bookshelves that can be used on top of a pair of matching dressers that I have in craft room! I could SOOOO TOTALLY use the extra storage space!! But, I digress! I wanted to share some pics of some of the FABULOUS merchandise that was at the Farmhouse show!

I hope you enjoyed all of these pics!! These have really inspired me and have given me ideas on how I want my art studio/craft room to look!! I will keep you posted of my progress!!

As for tomorrow! I am off to my next craft class! I am going up to Tarte in Aurora to learn some metal smithing skills for making cuff bracelets and charms! I will post pics tomorrow! I can’t wait!!!

Until tomorrow,

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! 😉

An Afternoon of Living Life!

Good afternoon!!

Before I head out the door to go back to the art studio, Create a Memory, to work some more on my glass fuse project, I thought I would stop and organize my thoughts a little bit, not only for this weekend,but for the week.

As you may have noticed, I have started tracking my food, and sharing my daily eats out here with you for the past two days! In looking at what I have been eating, I realize I need to do a more diligent job of making sure that I have plenty of healthy foods on hand, so that I can do better at avoiding the candy jar at work, and make sure that I am not purchasing food from the work cafeteria. Now, please don’t get me wrong, the food is delicious, BUT I don’t know what is in it, AND when nothing sounds good I get fried chicken strips and fries! DEFINITELY NOT health food!!! I am asking my body to be so much more physical than it has in a while, and I just need to make sure that I am getting it the nutrients it needs so that it can stay powered up for me to keep going!! AND for every pound I move, all movement is just going to get easier and easier, and I will be able to lesson my knee, ankle and foot pain!!! So, I don’t know if you just heard the Rocky sound track going on in my head, but it just did and it is BLARING!! 🙂 It is reminding me to get out there and MAKE it happen!! Anyone have any chickens I can chase??? 😉

So, today, I need to create our week’s menu for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and all snacks, then I am heading over to Create a Memory and I will be over there for a few hours, working on my glass project. Next I will head over to the grocery store and pick up needed groceries to meet our menu’s needs, and then I am going to come back put it all way, and make my way over to our pool!! I haven’t dipped in a couple of weeks, and that is my second FAVORITE workout, second to belly dancing, of course!!! (Walking is my third favorite, just in case you were wondering, and biking is fourth!!)

Also, I want to make sure that I share this quote that I found this morning, as I was doing some early morning reading,

“Chance is always powerful.
Let your hook be always cast;
in the pool where you least expect it,
there will be a fish.”
~Ovid

This quote really seemed to be fitting as I am out there trying to feel my way to my art medium, and it reminded me to keep looking. Even if you think that something is not what you want, try it anyway, you just might find that it is EXACTLY what you have been looking for!! POIGNANT!!

Anyway, I will try and post again this evening!!! My day is not complete unless I am able to get a post out at least once a day, but I prefer twice!! not only to stay in touch with you, but to stay in touch with myself too!! I am learning that that is VERY IMPORTANT!!!

Have a FABULOUS afternoon!!

A Happy Week Night Date Night!

Good evening!

This post is getting done much later than I normally like to get my posts done! Matter of fact my bedtime is actually in 8 minutes!! I feel so OLD all of the sudden!!! LOL! Ok, not really, but I was excited to tell you about our evening!!

Sometime late this afternoon, my sweetie texted me to find out if I wanted to go across town tonight, and go hang out at our FAVORITE bookstore, and he would will treat me to dinner afterward! Well, NORMALLY, I would say

“No way! Not on a work night!”

but I found myself saying,

“Sure!”

That, my friends, is GROWTH!!! LOL! 😉

I realized that this could be an opportunity to dip my toes into being creative tonight by reading any and all of the new Somerset Publications that Somerset produces, and the do have A LOT! and MAN AM I EVER glad I did that!! I am filled with so much inspiration for art projects to try, and adventures to take, and I am even now on the hunt for some Oregon-based art/craft classes so that I can immerse myself more into the creative community. Like I have been saying for the past couple of posts, my chosen medium is still in the works to be decided upon, but right now I am pretty open to whatever possibilities might present itself!!

Does anyone know of any classes, retreats, workshops, artsy/crafty get-togethers in the area? Please let me know in the comments above!

If I can’t find any, or enough to keep me busy, I am going to have no choice but to put some together myself and make a call to all of the Artsy Gutsy Chicks I know!!! There have GOT TO be more women out there taking the same creative journey that I am!!! If you might be interested, let me know in the comments, and I will put together a list of ladies, and if demand is high enough, I will get a class going!! 😉

What a GREAt NIGHT!! My sweetie really outdid himself in the brownie-making points department tonight! He really went out of his way to treat me like a lady and make me feel special!! Thank you, my love!! After 16 1/2 years of marriage, I am ALWAYS just so THRILLED that we not only love each other, but that we are still IN LOVE!! What a blessing that man of mine is to me!! Love, I hope I can make you just as happy as you make me!!! Thank you for tonight!! 😉

My cup runneth over!!! 😉

I have a meeting at 7:30 in the morning, which means I have to leave the house about 1/2 an hour early, so I am going to go get ready for bed for the evening!! I just KNOW I will have to keep a journal by my bed this morning, so that I can jot down any project ideas that pop into my head!!!

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!