Monday's are for.... :)

This never happens ever.

Rog stayed home sick with a cold.

He never gets sick, so for him to actually stay home

on the couch in a blanket, well- this cold has been a doozy:(

Normally Mondays are my "house day". Meaning, I stay home and

clean, do laundry and grocery shop.

Well not today.

Today I played nurse.

In between chicken soup and Theraflu deliveries 

I decided to play handyman too.

It was that or sit and watch Escape from Alcatraz....

I tackled that blank wall on the left there behind the chair.

I opened up my trusty pink tool kit that my father in law bought me

years ago. Over the years some of the tools have gone missing, (RIO!!)

but for the most part it still does the job:)

You see this? It's a guitar hanging thingy. For my birthday like forever ago,

Rog took me to an Alison Krauss concert. They were auctioning off an 

autographed guitar and that sweet man o' mine won it for me:)

We got to go back stage and meet her (she's TINY and so adorable!) and the whole

band from Union Station and take pics and all:)

Super cool.

                        Not cool? My hair back then. It was super short. It really accentuated 

my super round face. I don't even know what I was thinking.

Alison rocked that 'do. 

Me? Not so much.

I really can't talk about it. Or look at those pictures

without cringing. A bad haircut won't ruin your life,

but it will ruin every pic you took while you had it!!

Ugh.

let's move on shall we??

Well ever since that night I'm thinking 20 years ago? that

guitar has been in a case in storage.

Until now:)

NO I didn't actually measure anything! That's just silliness!

You see, I have a level in my eye. Yep! I was born that way.

My hubby is totally jealous of it. 

And my pink tool box.

I took this pic for giggles:)

The entire time I was hanging this stuff, Rog was giving

me pointers from the couch. 

Good thing because this girl with the pink tools 

was kinda freaking out when I realized this 

wall was plaster.

But I did it!!

Yessss:)

I'm thinking I should find that old pic of me and Alison and my

hideous haircut and frame it. And hang it up there by that

guitar just for giggles.

LOTS of giggles.

Freshen up.... :)

Oh man this weather. It's been absolutely beautiful and sunny 

here. I'm loving the windows open and the

fresh air. This time of year always

 makes me want to freshen up the

house:)

I'll tell you what, the ole Ikea Backabro slipcover has seen 

better days and sure could use some freshening up:( 

This couch gets a whole lotta use. It doesn't help that

 SOMEONE I know likes to lounge

on it too, instead of his bed sitting there all lonely

on the floor....

Well Ikea decided not to make the backabro anymore, and that really

stinks because that means no more slipcovers either:(

Lame right?

I found a slipcover on eBay a while back, and I've

 been waiting as long as I could to use it

since it's going to be harder and harder to find them.

Look at Little Bully he's like huh?? seriously??

This is really happening??

I'm so excited to have a fresh slipcover to wipe

all my frenchie boogers on!!

He's so gross.

But so stinkin adorable too:)

I got all kinds of visitors coming in March so I figured

now's the time to finally open the box I've been hanging

on to for so long, and put that new slipcover on already!!

Oh! check out my new favorite thing...

I found this tea towel in Ojai a few weeks back.

I put it in a frame from Target.

I love it:)

Looking forward to hanging with my peeps.

All crammed together.

On my new slipcovered couch:)

Brain fry.... :(

The day after the Super Bowl feast got me feeling all like...

Let's just say I didn't chow down on salad, or anything remotely

green for that matter.

Chase and I cooked and went to town on all things worthy

of sitting on the couch and watching football.

Ugh...

How do I segue...

How do I segue...

Gaaaa!! shakes fists in air!!

I can't think of a way to transition to the following pics,

so you know what?? I'm not going to!! 

Cause I'm a rule breaker like that!!

(and my brain is as fried as the chips I ate on Sunday...)

So I went to check out the progress of our Coronado property

yesterday because Rog said the back splash tile was in.

You guyzzzzuh! I'm in love:)

This is the 1920's little Spanish cutie in Ventura.

This old gal was screaming for a 

a black metal hood in the kitchen:)

  How bout that front door color eh?!

The entire house is white with stained window

trim so I thought it needed a pop of color:)

More original hardware:)

Not too sure how to end this post...

Ugh! I need to eat a salad!!

The little green book... :)

One day last week, Rog and I decided to play hookie and head to

Summerland and check out some antique stores that I've been

wanting to wander in since I moved here.

I came across this GORGEOUS green secretary.

It stopped me dead in my tracks.

Mama wants.

Bad. 

But with a price tag of I can't even remember because it was somewhere in

the ballpark of what? for reals??

 this green piece of ridiculous beauty had to be left behind....

I did however come home with this adorable little green book.

You all know my love of old green books:)

This little gem is called 

The Golden Book of Modern English Poetry.

It was published in 1922. I'm pretty sure I whispered something

like "oh hello little adorable green poetry book,

you're coming home with mama."

 I started reading aloud the minute we got in the car.

I totally channeled my inner Colonel Brandon (RIP) whilst

reading to Rog. He was totally into it!

I'm totally lying.

He was NOT into it.

Maybe because these poems went all Edgar Allen Poe 

on me. I wish you could have seen Rog's face.

I was dying laughing because he was hating it so much.

But did I stop reading??

Of course not!

You can't hear him here, but he was pretty much

begging me to stop.

I couldn't. Because there's one thing that I find 

the most fun ever.

Bugging him.

It's awesome because he so annoyed but he

still smiles and laughs at me:)

and that just cheers me on.

hee hee hee

He just doesn't appreciate such eloquent words...

He writes this kind of poetry:)

So I turned to the one man in my life that was sure to 

listen and LOVE it.

Yeah that went well....

Cool stuff.... :)

 I started writing this and it occurred to me that I'm not sure I've

ever actually said my hubby's name on this blog!!

What the??

This is Rog, short for Roger.

 I call him Love or

Lovey, or Lovekins or Love of my Life or Sweet Cakes

or some other ridiculously mushy name I can think of:)

Rog and I often talk about how we would have been best friends 

when we were little. He loved building card houses,

 and I loved making Barbie

beds out of shoe boxes:) and we both loved what we call

"cool stuff". 

I'm not sure how to describe "cool stuff" but it's just stuff

that we find cool that maybe other people might find

not so cool??

Doing what we do with houses and all, we've come across some really

cool stuff. I love how Rog will bring home things from our houses

that he rescues because he knows I would love them.

Like these huge rusty nails:)

I have no idea what they were used for, but they were in a pile at our

Via Baja property and now they are all happy and snuggled

together in this wooden bowl from Target:)

And check out this perfectly washed out and rusty pulley thingy

that is used on double hung windows.

Rog found this cool thing in the garage of our Coronado property.

And what's not to love about rusty old pencil sharpeners?

One came from our Grove property and the other came

from Via Baja.

"The average pencil is seven inches long, with just

half inch eraser-

in case you thought optimism was dead."

         -Robert Brault

More Via Baja goodies:)

The coolest metal basket and rusty bucket.

Then there's this adorable little thing.

I found this in the garage of one of the historic houses

we did in AZ. Even after scrubbing it, it still

has a hint of oil smell from the old bits and screws and

garage stuff that was inside it.

I don't mind it. I imagine some sweet old man with

crinkly hands opening and closing those little

drawers looking for just the right little screw for his project:)

It houses my baubles now.

And that my friends, is today's lesson in  

what Rog and I like to call

 "cool stuff".

Mama wants trout.... :)

Look at my adorable mama and my 

adorable baby girl. These two share a January 13th

birthday. For two years in a row, I've been lucky to have

my mom come and visit and share her special day with us:)

This pic was taken last year when we took her out to eat her

favorite thing ever- trout.

My mom LOVES trout.

This year when I asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday,

she said "I want to stay home.... and eat trout."

Oh my gosh she cracks me up.

I totally thought we were going to go OUT for trout. 

But stay home it is!!

My mom loves the color blue, and Rio loves gold. So I 

scrounged around between Rio's stash and mine to 

come up with the table setting.

I found an old curtain panel that was the only blue thing in my 

house, so I used it for the tablecloth.

The dinner dishes are Rio's. They are vintage Haviland given to 

her by Chase's sweet grandma. 

The small plates and glasses are from Target:)

I remembered there was this bush behind the church across the street from

my house that has these perfectly blue colored berries on it.

So I went and clipped me a few:)

I thank the heavens I have Chase. He loves to cook, so we tag teamed this one.

He cooked up the veggies and those trouts with the heads and the eyes

because....ew.

I made the salad and the mushroom quinoa and my sweet hubby

grilled up the crab legs.

And just look at that smiley face!

She was so so happy with her feast.

Good thing I'm a napkin hoarder and can afford for a 

few of my white ones to get completely destroyed

by the black char on the crab legs!

It was worth it though, they were sooo tasty!!

We finished our feast with an incredible gluten free 

strawberry chocolate cake from Lilac Patisserie in Santa Barbara.

If you're ever in the area and want some amazing gf food?

Lilac Patisserie is where it's at. Everything on the menu is gluten free!

I put 8 candles on the cake because Rio turned 28, 

and my mom turned....

80!!!

Yeah I know! She looks amazing huh?

There must be something in that trout!

Back soon... :)

 I'm showing you this seriously cool green car because...

it's seriously so cool!!!

Truth is, my hubby's adorable sister and her beautiful girls

are here for a visit, so I've been busy collecting memories

and laugh lines...

and just not had the time to think about this ole blog...

and I'm totally ok with that:)

They all leave today, and my mom comes in this afternoon!!

I love my family to pieces and just want to spend every minute I can

with them:)

I'll be back next week!