Category Archives: Shopping

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!!! 😉

My New Favorite Restaurant!

Good evening!

I am sorry I am posting so late! Jason and I went out with some friends tonight for dinner! I had promised that I would tell you about the new restaurant I discovered last night while I was waiting for my belly dance class to start.

This little place is called Venti’s and it is literally something like two shops down from my dance studio.

The staff there were super friendly, patient, cool, hip, artsy types, which was fun, but I am not exactly sure how to describe the food. I think this sign says it well, “Good, clean food”! I ordered a chicken teriyaki meal, which a portion of the purchase price went to help the local Boys and Girls Club, which you know I JUST LOVE!!!  I can’t remember exactly what the dish was called that I ordered, but it was just so fresh and delicious!!!

I could almost feel my body thanking me for choosing such fresh food!!

This dish had jasmine rice, chicken breast, hunks of fresh mozzarella, cabbage, tomatoes, bell peppers, broccoli, cilantro, and ginger in it, plus a yummy sweet and sour kind of teriyaki sauce – not to mention that it was like a FREAKIN’ WORK OF ART WHEN IT WAS SERVED!!! 😉

BEAUTIFUL!!! & DELICIOUS!!!

As you might be able to see, I had a book and journal with me so I could just sit and jot some of my thoughts down! This place had the most comfortablly relaxing atmosphere. It was like my authentic self to a deep break and had finally let it all out!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAH! 😉

They art from various local artists displayed on the gorgeous, and historic brick walls, which Honey, you HAVE to know that I LOVE!!

There was a plethora of things to look at and keep you visually stimulated! I really LOVED these stars hanging from various parts of the ceiling.

Even the old, worn hardwood floors had me ogling them! They were rustic and yet divine all at the same time!! I could TOTALLY see these in my dream home!! You remember, my chic little farm house???) The whole place was very warm and welcoming!!

There were so many cool, and interesting characters to people watch as I sat quietly against the wall observing anything and everything going on around me. I didn’t actually take pictures of anyone, because to be honest with you, I was too chicken to ask anyone for permission, but you will have to take my word for it, the clientele there are very artsy, creative, fun, beatnik-type people. I imagined they had amassed large book collections like myself and they spend all day talking about culture, art, and interesting things they had read. Ok, so that may be going a bit too far!! but Venti’s is HANDS DOWN my new favorite place to eat in town!!! If you ever are in downtown Salem, I would highly recommend it!!! 😉

Venti’s Cafe + Basement Bar | 325 Court St NE, Salem | 503.399.8733

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

A Saturday Evening of Firsts!

Good evening!

Today has been such a SPLENDIFEROUS day!!! After getting off to a rousing start this morning, my husband was feeling froggy and decided to head out with me to do the few errands that I was wanting to get ran, and we got them all done and was back home by about noon – UNHEARD OF!!! WHOO! HOO!!

Anyway, we did quite a bit of grocery shopping, and even though Jason had woken up with his back feeling better, he had overdone it. I knew we would have to take it easy for the rest of the afternoon, which was cool because that kind of left me time to do some of the things that I had wanted to get done today anyway!!

After all of our errands, we were going to sit down and watch some tv, but I have decided that I have to wean myself off the need to “numb out” to the tele, so I asked my body what it wanted to do instead. I realized, I was really, really tired! So, I did the unthinkable and took a nap, Jason joined me and it was so sweet and peaceful. We woke up after a while feeling much better, his back and my energy level, and I knew it was time to get some cooking done!!! YEAH!!

I was very excited to start making croissants from scratch! I pulled up my croissant recipe, and realized, that it is going to 7 1/2 hour to prepare, so I had better start on them the first thing tomorrow morning – I will take pics of my progress. Change of plans!! So, for today, I decided to make a white sauce, something I had never done before! After the white sauce had thickened, I did a very Paula Deen kind of thing to it, and added about a cup of cheese to the basic recipe and, once melted stirred in some cooked whole wheat pasta – it was pretty tasty! I wanted to health up my white sauce, you know exchange some of the unhealthy ingredients with some healthier substitutions, so I used whole wheat flower, which made it a little grainy, so I will have to experiment with that. I also used skim milk – which is something my mom used to do all the time, so I was pretty pleased with the results. My sweetie didn’t seem to disapprove of it, although that is hard to decipher whether something is good or not because he is like “Mikey” and will eat just about anything!! LOL! But that is ok, I still love you, Baby!!! 😉

A friend of mine gave me a tea to try this week, more specifically a green tea. I have been looking for one that tastes halfway decent because I am hearing more and more how much it is good for me. Well, I am SOOO IN LOVE WITH THIS TEA!! I am going to pick up some more tomorrow morning – I had to find out online where it is sold, because I couldn’t find it at my grocery store this morning. This tea is called Mighty Leaf Tea, and the flavor is Marrakesh Mint Green Tea!! It is so delish!!! Which is really saying something because I don’t normally like green teas!!! I can not wait to have a stash of this in the house!! YUM!! 😉 I am going to pick up a few boxes of this, and gift one back to the friend who gave me the sample, as a thank you!! I really appreciated his generosity!! 😉

We did finally sit down to watch an episode of Bones this evening, and as soon as I am done blogging tonight, we are going to take our things and go head over to the pool to get some swimming in! I need to limber up for class this week, and I think the hot tub will do Jason’s back some good!!

Then when we get back, we may watch a movie while I do some crafting!! I am making all homemade gifts for Christmas this year, so I really had better get a move on!! I have a LOT of people on my list this year!!! 😉

It is so nice to just be, and not worry about what I “should” be doing, and just do what I WANT to be doing!!! What a novel concept!!! All-in all, I have to confess, this is a damn near perfect day!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Saturday of Fashion!

Good morning!

Today, it is time to get creative!!!

I am spending my Saturday morning putting together my own personal fashion, Look Book!! This is a 3 ring notebook of pics of all sorts of things about fashion. Clothing, outfits, hair, makeup, shoes, accessories – all sorts of pics that I hope will inspire and influence my own personal sense of style. So, I am set up with scissors, rubber cement, tons of white cardstock, and over a year’s worth of collected pictures, and cutouts from various fashion magazines!!! I have been collecting them for so long, and the stack was getting precariously high, that I figured I had better do something about getting them put into my look book, or else the whole stack was going to end up in the rubbish bin because I am sick of it all sitting there and not being used. The very thought made me feel ill, so here I am dealing with the seemingly never ending stack by putting it to good use!!!

I will place them into a three-ring notebook organized by tabs:

  1. Outfits – maybe Day, Work, Evening, Formal???
  2. Clothing
  3. Shoes
  4. Jewelry
  5. Other Accessories
  6. Lingerie
  7. Outerwear
  8. Hair/Makeup/Nails/Skin Care

I am not sure what else, this is a living work in progress!! So, once I am finished it might look COMPLETELY different then what I envision now! I will keep you posted! When I am finished I will make sure to post some pics so you can see too!! 🙂

Have a FABULOUS morning!!! 😉

The Chocolatier Is In!

Good evening!

This is going to be a nice and quick post! My sweetie is busy in the kitchen filling our home with the smell of chocolatey goodness! I took a quick peek, and what I saw made my mouth water!!! 😉 Our counters are covered with chocolate covered strawberries, haystacks galore, and a new invention that he dreamed up tonight, which doesn’t have a name yet. They look like haystacks, but they are dollops of crushed pretzels, chopped walnuts, and rich dark chocolate in the cutest little white paper cups – very creative, my love!! I can’t wait to taste one of your delectable homemade treats!! 😉

Anyway, just to give you an update on what I did today…well, nothing too exciting! I spent most of the day by myself, which was kind of a nice change from the norm! I hit St Vincent de Paul’s to check out their book selection, and of course I walked away with 3 books, but one of them is a gift, so I don’t feel too badly about that! Besides they totalled exactly $3.50 – so there you go!!

Next, I headed over to the craft store, which was ABSOLUTELY SWAMPED!!! There were people doing craft classes, and demos in almost every department, but I still managed to spend at least an hour toodling around, looking for inspiration and ideas, and I am very proud to say that I got out of there empty handed – thank you very much – that took the will of a saint!!! 😉

Afterwards, I met Jason for a very late lunch at one of our favorite little restaurants, and have spent the rest of the afternoon at home, watching a couple episodes of Bones, and spending time together just the two of us and our two little girls hanging out! Now he is busy creating all kinds of goodies out in the kitchen! Well, I am going to have to do some extra working out to keep on track with my fitness plan, but don’t you worry! I will behave!!

As for you…

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

Note to Chunky Dunkers: This is a good time to say that you don’t have to give up all of your favorites to get fit and healthy. Just remember to enjoy your favorites in moderation. It is all about balance!! GO CHUNKY DUNKERS!!! 😉

An Evening In My Head!

Good evening!

My sweetie and I just got back from an evening that started hanging out with the family. After spending some time catching up with mom, we got the opportunity to hang out with the niece and nephews! Megan went on a walk with me through the neighborhood chatting up a storm, while Uncle Jay-Jay did some work on his truck. After we got back, and Jason finished up his work, we rounded up the kids around the outdoor basketball net and we played a game of H-O-R-S-E out in the street, which was soooo much fun!!! There was a lot of bantering and fun ribbing between the kiddos and us “old folks” (yes, unfortunately, that would be us!) 😉 I think I will have to swing by tomorrow and do that again!!!

Later tonight, Jason and I eventually found our way over to one of our FAVORITE places, Border’s. I did manage to find 3 clearance books to go home with me this evening! WHOO! HOO!! Only $12 – I LOVE THAT!! More importantly, Jason and I had a sweet evening just reading, walking around, people watching, and just enjoying each other’s company!

I really am so in love with that man of mine!
I realize what a fortunate girl I am!!

Jason and I don’t have any extravagant plans for this weekend. Jason is going to work tomorrow, and I am not exactly sure what I am going to do just yet, but I am sure that I will find something creative!! Maybe I will sweetly ask if we can sneak in an episode of Bones before bed! We will see!!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

A Thought Provoking Quote!

Good morning!

I stumbled upon this quote this morning…

“The one piece of advice I can give you is, do what turns you on. Do something that if you had all the money in the world,you’d still be doing it. You’ve got to have a reason to jump out of bed in the morning.”
~Warren Buffett

This quote has got me really thinking! What would I be doing if I had all the money in the world? Gosh, I think I KNOW who I am, but why is this such a hard question for me to answer?? 

I love:
∙         Blogging
∙         Antiquing/Treasure Hunting/Shopping
∙         Decorating
∙         All things photography
∙         Fashion
∙         Magazines – but this might tie back into my love of photographs???
∙         The idea of traveling

I would be in ABSOLUTE HEAVEN if there was a way that I could combine all of these things into my life/career!! DIVINE!!! Let me know if this triggers any ideas!! 😉

What would your answer be? What would you do if you had all the money in the world??? I am curious!

Have a FABULOUS morning!
~Christina

My Flexible Saturday!

Good evening!

I have had a really nice day today! If you read my post this morning, you know that I was heading out for a day downtown.

My first stop was my favorite clothing store, Torrid. I had ordered a cardigan that had come in, and I had some items that I needed to return so I was happy to oblige the need to go! Here is a pic of the cardigan that I took in the store last week.

So, of course, I just HAD to try on some clothes!!! You know, to get ready for Spring!!! 😉 This is a pic of the clothes I had picked out to try on – I had planned on taking my time and being there for quite a while!

What you may not be able to see is that these clothes are hung two levels deep! I really was determined to find the perfect somethings!!

Here is what I wore there:

This cute little top came home with me.

Cardigan, yep, that one came home too!

Another white blouse, guilty! Although, as you can see from the picture, this one is going to need some kind of undershirt. I am actually debating taking this one back, what do you think??

After I tried this shirt on, I got a call from my dad. My dad, and his wife, Trudi were in town, by my house and wanted to visit, so I cut my downtown trip short, and zipped over back to my side of town. Once I got home, we headed over to a pizza place for yummy pizza and a very nice visit. On my way, I told myself, “Self, don’t forget to take pics this time!” and of course, I did!! So, unfortunately, no pics!! Maybe next time!!! 😉

After Dad and Trudi went home, I didn’t want to go back to downtown – we are trying to conserve gas, and I was looking forward to getting a manicure, so I was going to get bummed about it, but instead of throwing a pity party for myself, I decided to step up the loveliest nail salon – the one I had created in my living room!!! You can see that they even served me a refreshing drink with cherries – YUM!! 😉

My hands were in need of some SERIOUS attention!

Here is the before shot:

Here is the after:

Of course I chose red! It is still my FAVORITE color! The color of PASSION!!! 😉

That is the end of my pictures for today, but I did get to run a couple of other errands and then spend some time hanging out with my sweetie after he got done with work today. After I am done here, I plan on snuggling with him on the couch and watch another episode of BONES!! I really do LOVE that show! Bones and Booth should just knock off all of this foolishness and just get together already!! WHEW! I am glad that is out in the open!!! 😉 We are still somewhere into season two, so it will takes a month or three more to get caught up, but slowly and surely – we will get there!!

OH, and for those who might be curious, I came home from Torrid after purchasing 3 cardigans, 2 blouses, 1 tank top and 1 blazer!! EEK!!! Maybe I had better stay away from the mall for a while, what do you think??? HEE! HEE! HEE!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Note to Chunky Dunker’s: Dress for your body as it is today! Even if you are in the process of losing weight. Purchasing clothes that are too small for yourself because you may fit into them someday could backfire, and you will wind up with a closet full of a lot of somethings that make you feel bad because you can’t fit into them. (Take my word on that!) YOU CAN DO IT!!! 😉