A Fanciful Twist

Dia de los Muertos

With each step, I think of loved ones who have passed, as I gather marigolds from my garden, in preparation for Dia de los Muertos.

Marigolds gift hundreds of seeds, and so, I collect them, and plant them year after year...

So that when November 2nd approaches, the garden will be gifting marigolds a plenty...

There are tall huge marigolds, orange, butter bream, canary yellow...

Their scent, acquired, beloved...

So many marigolds everywhere I turn.

Enough to string garlands, and fill vases...

As I do so, I think of Baby, my aunt, great grand-parents, my grandfather on my dad's side...

Last winter I took seeds from the crimson bushes of marigolds at Mombie's, and now, I have my own throughout the garden.  I am so thankful for seeds, share a seed, fill your heart...

Crimson, mandarin, gold...

I fill my basket...

Last night I slept with candles, marigolds and thoughts of Baby fluttering about.  I played a song I wrote for her, over and over in my head, as I fell asleep...

I think of so many of your loved ones, whose tales you have shared with me, who are no longer with us.  And, I can't help but get a tear in my eye...

Then I remind myself, Day of the Dead is a celebration of life...

The beautiful lives of those we love.

I share my offerings (ofrendas) with you today, in that...

If you have a little something to say, about a loved one who has passed, I will print your words out, and fold them up.  Tucking them into my little altar...

In celebrattion of life, on this beautiful Dia de los Muertos.

 

Love, Vanessa

 

 

ps:  Little video here, with Dia de los Muertos tid-bits.

Adios October, Bonjour November!

Just like that, it's the day after Halloween.  October leaves us so quickly.  In one evening it is gone, and a new month arrives...

Our Halloween feast was wonderful.  Mister Lovee whispered a reminder this morning, of how lovely it was.  It was a mixture of all day Halloween madness, and then, a very autumnal dinner.

 In a way, welcoming November.

Twinkling lights and candles make everything extra dreamy, I know you agree. 

And so...

As we munched and talked, and laughed, and were encircled by the pups playing, I was reminded that magical times are a state of mind.  There is magic all around us, me and you. 

There for the taking.

 There for the savoring.

I love October and November.

Crisp autumn goodness!

Thanksgiving gatherings!

But then, I am crazy mad about December.

Lights and carols and hot chocolate, the beauty of Christmas and twirling merriment!

And, I love January and February too.

A whole new year!!

Baking, crocheting, Valentine's day.

Oh oh and what about March and April and May?

St. Patrick's Day, Easter...

Buds and rain and new life!

And June and July and August?

The Mad Tea Party!

Heat and growing things, Summer, flowers!

 Garden strolls in garden jungles.

Every season, every day, every moment in time...

For many reasons...

Holds its own bit of magic.

And every heart, of every person, holds the same.

Sometimes, we are happy, sometimes we are sad, sometimes life feels heavy, sometimes we are extra glad.  But somewhere in there, deep inside, we have a spark.

Ready to be ignited when you wish.

And that, that is the true magic.

And so, we bid adieu to October, with cackles and dances galore.  But look to the future with excitement, for it holds, oh so much more!

Our resident warlock (Mister Lovee) wrote in the air with his candle last night, memories and fiery delights!

Booooo!

And hypnotic twilight zones!

Love, of course, always love...

And...........

Plus......

 So much more goodness that the future holds.

I can feel it!

The next minute, second, day, week & year,

 holds secrets and delights for all of us...

I just know it!

See you next year, October.......

Hello today and tomorrow.

Hello November!

Hello you!

;)

 

ps:  New Florence and the Machine Album.  Exciting to see what wonderment she has conjured up!  From what I have listened to so far, the album is incredible.  Love, What the Water Gave Me.  Great review here, today!

 

Pss:  Beautiful behind the scenes footage, just had to share.... 

A Thank You, from Witch Hollow

Heloooooo hello!  Warmest greetings & buckets of thank yous, from Witch Hollow!!

It was so hard for me not to pop in for several days.  I hope that everyone who wanted to, had a chance to visit the Halloween parties at their leisure.

Thank you, beyond thank yous, for making it so much fun!!!

We have had, hands down, one of the craziest busy weeks.  With every imaginable thing going wacky, from commercial printers to shoe straps.  But, there has been a lot of good too, baking for mister and his friends, painting furniture, lovely meals, painting, massive cleaning and catching up with life.  Not to mention delicious strolls through the garden, with incredible weather.  Warm days, cool nights.

And now, now we sit on the cusp of the spookiest day of the year.  With last minute costumes and menu decisions for our Halloween feast.

The boys wanted costumes with capes this year.  I tried to convince them to be witches, but, they were like, awe Ma, do we have to be witches????

Miles was like, okay, I'll be a witch if you reeeeeeeeeally want me to.  But I'd rather be a pirate...

Mister Matty (short for Matisse), was like, this is ridiculous.  Isn't playing Jane Austen Lives with you good enough?  Now I have to be a witch for Halloween?

Oh how he whined....

"Riarrrr, riarrrrrrr, grrrrr..."

This stinks....

So then, because I know how it feels for your Mom to make you wear things as a kid, that you just loathed to the core of all cores - I suggested just capes.

No hat.

Just capes.

They loved it.

Miles was like, well, I didn't mind the hat thaaaaat much ;)

Can you believe Miles is alread 11 months old?  With a birthday 1 month away, sniffle!

And so, dressed in our best Halloween capes, we wanted to thank you, thank you, thank you!!  Thank you for joining us for the Halloween party and making it extra ooooodles of fun!  It was marvelous!  Worth every bit!!

Also, please don't forget, we have many free Halloween goodies over in our "Free Treats and Ideas" section.

From masks, to cupcake toppers, to paper spider web tutorials, to a Printable card! All from me, to you!

 

On a side thought...

I recently became better acquainted with Pinterest (thanks to my lovely friend Rosie), and I have to say, I am really loving the concept.  The amount of folks who come here from Pinterest each day is amazing.  Do you love Pinterest?

One reason I ♥ Pinterest, besides all the collections of inspiration, is that, it has opened my eyes to what folks like, from items I share here.  I almost fell over the first time I saw the hundreds of photos uploaded onto Pinterest from my bloglette  (later photos drop off I am finding). 

Last year when I shared my paper spider web tutorial, I never thought it would be so liked.  I actually thought that I wasn't that amusing with my paper spider webs, haha, and forgot about them.  (HP used my spider webs, in their down-loadable halloween handbook this year)

Until I spied those spider webs pinned more times than I could imagine, way before Halloween.

So, I am enjoying Pinterest very much.  The collection of photos folks post are beyond inspiring.  The autumn collections have been jaw dropping, wow, you Pinterest Pinners are incredible!!!

Your collections of beauty and inspirations are beyond wonderful!

  And the best part is that, when you click on a photo, it takes you to the source of the photo.  Which, is super important.

I get a kick out of seeing my photos out there, and sometimes an especially huge belly laugh from some of the descriptions folks use.  Mainly because I am always amused at people's own interpretations of things.  Most Excellent!

(If you have a Pinterest page, feel free to leave your link in comments, I would love to take a peek)

  It is all very exciting, more collections of eye candy out there than imaginable, fun stuff!!

So, I veered there ;)

But the main thing I wanted to say today is

THANK YOU!!!

The party was a blast because of your visits and participation!

Can it be that Halloween is nipping at our toes so soon?  In mere hours? 

Too sooooon!

Sobs!  Can't it last longer???

I will be back beyond pronto!!

 

Love, Vanessa

 

 

ps:  The winner of the goodie bag from our Halloween party, chosen at random is.......

Sue Young!!  Hoooooooray!!!

October Morning Thoughts

On the first day of October, I found myself outside before the sun began its rise over the mountains.  I was standing outside of the cottage, checking on some pumpkin vines, when a sun burst inched over the Santa Catalina mountains....

The sight of the sun rising over the mountains had a powerful feeling.  I took some photos, and went about my business, forgetting about them until late last night.

I had not intended to share these, but I think they are worth sharing with you.

 

That sun rise brings me so much thought.  Deep thoughts, which I will share, and more simple thoughts as well.

With simpler thoughts, October brings a relief from the intense summer heat.  Summer here is not a time where you spend all day outside, enjoying the beautiful warmth.  It is too hot for that.  Summer here, is a time you spend the days inside, with a cooling system.  Unless it is very early in the morning.

So, I find myself with butterflies in my stomach, now that the days are in the low 90's F.  The time to enjoy the outdoors is coming.  People from all over the world, come to live in Arizona during fall, winter and spring.  It does get cold, but maybe only snows once.  And during the day the sun is fairly warm, even on an icy cold day.  The sun always shines.

So, that is where I think my excitement for fall comes from.

It is a reprieve from summer heat, that you can only imagine if you live in a place that gets over 105'F for days and days on end.

October brings an awakening.

Yes yes, an awakening, that is what it is.

A time to think about bike riding mid day, about sitting outside and sipping something nice.  About, playing outside, hiking, exploring.  About literally, going back outside.

It is a time to have glorious relief until next summer. 

Time to come back to life after being so wilted, and exhausted.

It is so exciting!

That October sunrise also brings with it something greater, deeper.  A peace, and awareness.  Thoughts, so many thoughts.

Lately I have been thinking about how people judge one another so harshly.  How people push their ideas on others.  How people want others to be something else.  And how, ultimately, you can not please other people.

How you have to find inner peace, and please you, yourself.

Our lives are a time to enjoy, to embrace who we are.  Not to worry about making our lives what others think they should be.

A long time ago, as a 19 year old or so, I decided to start living my authentic life.

That means, living my life as I see fit for myself.  Of course, when you are that young, you are still finding out who you are.  But deciding that you want to get to know who you are, and love who you are, and be supportive of yourself, is the beginning of the journey. (and, it is never too late to begin)

I am lucky to have a family that supports me being me.  But not everyone has a supportive family.

And I understand, through conversations with people, and e-mails I get, that some people feel smothered by the people around them.

Somehow, somewhere, we have to try to muster the strength to stand up for ourselves. To learn to say no, and to be at peace knowing that others don't agree with us.  That isn't so easy all the time.  Because by nature we want to please others.

And it is extra hard, when people we care about, are the very negativity we have to get away from.  My Mom always says, "you have to distance yourself from hurtful and hateful people."

In order to live a fulfilled life, we have to find happiness.  Simple happiness.  Happiness within.  A peace and a strength within.  A strength that assists us in pushing the negativity away.

The strength is there......

Waiting for all of us to take a slice and hold on tight.

The sunrise, tells us so.

Hope, light, strength and beauty.

It is in everyone of us.

 

♥

 

I will be back extra soon, but I just had to share my burning, early morning Monday thoughts.  I am late to water, and I have other tidbits to share with you, maybe even today.

Love, Vanessa

 

 

ps:  Thank you for all your love for my friend's Coco girl.  She is still missing as of today.  Her mama sends many many thanks, for being so supportive.

Autumn Feel

There is something softer in the air these days.  If you didn't know better, you would think it was spring.  My nook in Arizona feels like spring (to me), through October.  My flowers are blooming profusely, and I make my way outdoors before the sun comes up, to collect tomatoes (we still have many growing), and chilies, and bell peppers.  I then water and trim everyone.  A whole new batch of pumpkins are also growing.  But as the warm days fade, evening tells the tale of an autumnal visitor.  A handful of orange leaves appear on the peach tree.  And so, the season finds its way...

I love harvest golds, and oranges, and browns, and moss greens.  All the colors of the earth.  The shade of rich soil and cloudy evenings, mixed with bursting flames.  From persimmon to mandarin, and everywhere in between.  You can almost smell the colors...

A couple of weeks ago I painted one of my white dressing tables chocolate brown.  I took a paint palette and plunked orange and brown and black and yellow acrylic paint on it, mixed it all up, and slathered....

I love the change.  The richness in the dark shade.

It reminds me of places I have never been.  Other times, journeys.  I suppose, listening to Jean-Yves Thibaudet whilst painting, does allow the imagination to flow.  Mmmmm, Stars and Butterflies....

His music coaxes me into gently lighting a candle, and admiring ever step of such act...

I stole a couple of pumpkins from my harvest collection of things I grew this summer.  A scattering of orange globes.  Of tiny curiously striped globes... 

Can you steal something from yourself?  Hmm, not certain ;) 

I love sealing little splendorous objects under a cloche/bell jar.  It tells a story of sorts...

Under the glistening glass.

We wonder why? 

Why is that object so special that it sits under glass? 

And then, a story grows in our imagination... 

Earth's adornments.

A pumpkin for the soil, a shoe clip for the girl.

A brooch from a trunk of inherited treasures?

Found in a mansion.  Fog, lanterns....

Stories.

Fictional, true, who cares I say?  Either way, they keep the mind twirling in curiosity.  Fantastical pleasures of tales and places.  All created by gathering a couple of baubles and placing them on your old dressing table.  Pretty nifty, I'd say ;)

A spider to warn of the looming season of magic... (thank you Linda Diane, we still love him so!) 

There is something about loving your space, no matter how grand or how tiny.  Dressing it up, and taking a moment to enjoy it.  A little nook to fill the soul with glee. 

Warm shades, sprinkled with delicious color... 

I think I am loving my chocolate brown dressing table.  A nice change indeed.

I thought this photo below was so pretty, until I saw the face.  And now, the candles will always be eyes, and the wee pumpkin a nose, and the edge of the dressing table a mouth.  Once I see a face in something, there is no turning back.  The face lives there forever.  Does that happen to you?  Faces in wood grain, faces all around you?

Autumnal faces guide the way, into fresh adventures...

Following the path into autumn.  Slowly, but undoubtedly...

Last night I baked old fashioned peanut butter cookies, and today it has been pure clouds and breeze.  Such a treat.  Beautiful.  These are the most beautiful days to dream.......

I am so looking forward to our Halloween Party, aren't you?  I simply can not wait.  It is always such a super fun way to kick off a week+ of Halloween madness!

I have been collecting so many seeds for next year's planting.  Bulbs have arrived.  The dahlia tubers that gifted the dinner-plate sized flowers in the photos above are from White Flower Farm.  The zinnias in the garden are beyond amazing.  Gifting so much each day.  And, they are every where.  In every flower bed, in every pot, standing tall.  How can I ever thank them?

 

The roses too, so scrumptious.  I planted 8 new rose bushes this year (plus about 30 other plants).  We have those 35+ year old rose bushes that are beyond grand (plus a few I planted years ago), but I wanted to add some.  They bewitch me at the store, and all of a sudden I turn into the crazy rose lady ;) 

It is something extra to look forward to for spring.  My wildflower seeds for planting in fall have arrived as well.  So exciting!

Can I share a secret with you, I never planned on having zinnias.  I bought two large packages, one of the large type and one of the lilliput zinnias.  I had in fact, spent a small fortune on all sorts of interesting seeds, that never grew.  I just planted zinnias everywhere on a whim, with my own seed mixture I concocted from ordered seeds.  Who knew?  I now vow to always plant zinnia seeds.

It truly is a sort of spring and fall going on here.

Well, off I go.  Have to check on my boys.  All 3.

Love, V

 

 

 

ps:  I have no news of my friend's Coco girl, she is still missing.  But, I will share as soon as I get word either way.  If she is found I will let you know right away.  Thank you so much for your lovely hopeful thoughts ♥

 

pss:  If you noticed some funny things going on here today with my banner and such, it was because I was using some custom html gibberish to make it possible to share larger photos with you ;)

A Little bit of This, and a Little bit of That

Before we enter into the frenzy of jumping head first into autumn fun, I wanted to take a moment of sorts.  A quiet reflective moment, a holding on to the strands of time swirling around us moment.  Swinging, thinking, humming, being...

The blooming of the giant dahlia (6" in diameter) means more to me than I can describe.  Take something strange (dahlia tuber), plant it 5 months prior, nurture it, and then poof, a flower.  Always always amazes and thrills me.

 

Garden chat, boring or meaningful?

 

Meaningful to me, because it has taught me over the years (the former most worrying anxious stressed person) how to be almost (almost being the operative word), the polar opposite.  It keeps me sane and grounded.  It keeps me company.  It makes so many life things seem frivolous.

It makes so much time seem wasted on idle chatter and worrying about pointless things.

It shows me that time passes and causes changes, so very quickly.  Figuratively and literally.  5 a.m. is dark now, plants die. Seeds drop with hopes to begin their journey over autumn and winter, becoming new growing beauties in 7 months.  Hopes for the future...

 

And yet, there is still the now that needs minding.

How much present time do we miss, worrying about the future?

My heart strings get tugged tightly, as I say good-bye to the last of the evening primrose (now towering dry stalks, plucked out of the earth)...

 

I know I will see them again next year. (I hope)

I loved how they beautifully untwisted at sunset, and you could just watch, entranced, as they twirled open.

Their good-bye reminds me that, things might be different next year.

 

Things could be vastly different for any one of us.  We could lose someone we love, we could gain a family member, we could move.  We could fall in love.  We could have heart ache.  The bestest thing in the world could happen.

Who knows?

Anything can happen from here to next spring/summer.

From here to tomorrow really.

 

All of it matters.

All of it dances in our thoughts.

But the most important thing is the now. 

Savoring the last sweet evening primrose flower, as I pick one and pop it into my mouth. 

Sweet, soft.  Curiously lovely and sweet. 

The last one on the now dry plants...

 

Stop what you are doing I tell myself.

Go hug the pups and lovee.

Go now. 

I just ran outside and hollered at Mister Lovee -

"HEY? GUESS WHAT???" I yelled.

He asked, what???

I said -

I LOVE YOU!

In the moment.

I am desperate for fall.

But I don't want to forget the summer.  What with a mere couple of weeks left to savor.

I want to make a memory of the good times gathered over the last few months.

 

Did you have any summer moments you will carry with you forever?

Good ones?  Bad Ones?  Sad Ones?  Fun ones?  Amazing ones?

One thing you can hold dear? 

A handful?

Maybe if we share one "this summer" memory with each other, it will be the thing that gets ingrained into our summer 2011 mental journal?

Here are a bunch of random summer tid-bits, and maybe at the end, I will come up with one of my own fave summer memories to share with you.......

Daily tomatoes (plus all our veggie crops this summer)...

 

Sooo many pumpkin vines planted everywhere.  In patches, in random spots...

 

Even...

Outside of the cottage...

 

Vines...

Pomegranate babies...

Beginning to collect zinnia seeds...

 

Which live at the ends of the petals.

Isn't that sweet?

Missing our girl, which is sooo bitter sweet.

She taught us how to love furry children, and because of her passing, we came to adopt baby Miles (who is now 9 months old).  But we still miss her terribly...

Volunteers...

 

So many...

 

Gourds.

Each tree with their own curious type...

Some so high, we will never ever reach them...

Best friends...

 

Those two are way in love these days.

Miles and Mister Lovee...

 

Little Matty (below) is never left out (ever, I cuddle him all day), but he likes his alone time, and really doesn't like anyone infringing on his personal space ;)

(dad and matty)

 

Unless he is in the mood for love.  That's the way he rolls...

Matty is always behind me, or beside me.

He must be at my side, or he freaks out.

(his back leg healed and now he has injured his front right, my nerves!)

Cute little tough guy.

Oh oh, lets not forget the ants...

 

They cause me great pain with their paths of petals...

That they have stripped off of "all" of my climbing roses.

Sniffle.

 

Thank goodness for butterflies to balance out the insect woes.

 

Oh and, did I mention how tall that dahlia grew from that funny little tuber way above? (it's on its 3rd bloom)

 

But I have to say, one of the best parts, the bestest most entertaining parts of summer...

Was having the privilege to...

Meet all of your secret celebrity boyfriends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

You wild women you ;)

Some of those are so funny!

(Yes, it took me an age to gather all those photos, what was I thinking?  But half way in, I couldn't give up, isn't it worth it?  Sorry if I missed anyone, it was not intentional at all.)

I guess, if you could bring them to a tea party, this is what the guest list would look like, haha!

Fan yourselves with this before you faint.

 

You girls are so funny!

And some of you, what with your multiple crushes, tsk tsk!

What secrets you weave, hahahehee ;)

And now, le't set on our way to Halloween adventures.  What do you say?  I mean really, we have less than two months to savor the highly anticipated time of year.  Spooooktaculartime.  I am sooo ready!

 

I have to run, I am late in feeding my guys, but back so so soooooon!

 

ps:  My summer memories 2011 - Meeting my siblings at the family pad, for barbecues with Mombie and Dad this summer, wonderful.  So great to have parents to love.  Also, everyday with the boys, memorable, priceless, heart filling.

pss:  This post actually made me realize that my summer is a bit of a blur.  Oopsie!  It seemed so long, and now, it feels almost gone.  OY! (maybe because it is, ha!)

psss:  Just because.

Thoughts right now...

Don't you love late summer thoughts?  They waft in, they waft out.  Intense at once, and then fading so quickly, convincing us they had never been.  A menagerie of feelings fluttering about.

 

Thoughts right now...

I feel a longing, but I don’t know for what?

I feel excitement, but I don’t know about what?

For a mere moment, I feel concerned, but I have nothing to feel concerned about.

It feels silent. 

What is to come?

 

It feels like there is a change on the horizon.  But I haven’t a clue what could change?

Everything changes from moment to moment I suppose… 

Ever changing time.

 

I see a few tiny grey strands in my hair for the first time, sneaking in, getting cozy, like they want to stay.  And I like them.

I am not afraid to grow old.

I find a peace in aging.  I am beginning to look less 25 in the mirror, and I don’t care.  After-all it was a decade ago.  For me, it's easier to let go, than to hold on.  But inside, inside I feel young as ever.

 

I find a calm in throwing my hands up in the air.

I have made pacts with myself, about trying not to lose myself, and I have made myself a map, as to how to get back if I do happen to lose myself a bit.  Do you do that?

 

I have a huge desire to please.  Only this time, for once in my life, it is to please myself.

 

My perceptions are changing.  Sometimes I wish the girl in me now, could have stood up for the teenage me.

Alas, the old adage comes to mind, if I only knew then what I know now.

Then again, the past is history, no point in even losing one inch of thought on what could have been.  It’s over, there is nothing we can do.  Nada.  Zip. Zilch.

So, we let go.

 

I have enjoyed my youth until bursting.

And will continue to do so.

I look upon my twenties with great fondness, even the angst ridden introspective times seem vastly beautiful from this vantage point.

I have so many friends that are much older than me, that I have learned so much from.  The greatest thing I have learned is that life is long, and we are not old, at the ages we think we are.  Whoever decided what age is young and what is old, was cuckoo in the head.  Life is long, and age is but a number.  You can be youthful, for as long as you want.  You do have a choice in the matter.  Only the added bonus is that, now you have wisdom too.  What a gift!  No one ever mentions that, do they?  So silly.

 

The world may seem scary and sinister sometimes, but there is so much goodness and beauty too.  I turn my face away to the yucky stuff, and work at living the best life I can live.  And I believe that somehow, if I hold on to a thread of hope, everything will work out.

 

I have all these thoughts in my head, and yet, nothing is going on in my life that should cause such thoughts.

Just the long hot summer sneaking in,  having a date with my brain...

I pick up feelings from people around me.  I have always been like that.  I can feel other people’s feelings at the drop of a hat. 

I have all these feelings dancing around me today. 

Are they yours?

Are they mine?

 

Are they feelings searching for a home?  Dancing through clouds?

 

Am I just having a reaction to shellfish?

:)

Nah.

So many thoughts.

Right now I think I need one bite of coconut cake.

And that…

That is a good thought.

I loved your sharing of tales in the last post.

It was so exciting for me, to get to hear your snippets.

Just loooved the sharing.

Thank you for that.

(Tori Amos, Thoughts.  Early B-sides)

I think we should do that more often.

 

Love, V

 

 
 

 

Summer, 4th of July, and Edibles

4th of July weekend is in full swing, summer is enveloping us completely, and here I am playing with food coloring...

I had huge plans for blue rice krispy treats, for the 4th of July.

I told Mammie and she was like, "blooaaaakh, why?"

Haha!  Good question.

I ended up with screaming teal.

(I love teal though)

I thought they would be fun.

They are still good, so that is all the counts, ain't it?

(Mammie thinks they are pretty in the end)

:)

As for summer edibles...

We have been enjoying so many squash blossoms this summer.

I have several pumpkin patches, which I planted at slightly different times.

So the waves of squash blossoms have been beyond delightful for eatin'.

I have spent several hours, every morning since March 1st, tending my garden.

The work is so worth it.

There really is nothing like harvesting edibles from your own patch of earth.

This weekend we will eat the very last of the spinach.

If you like spinach, I have to tell you, do try growing some next year if you haven't already.  The spinach is soft and buttery good, with not one bit of grit like we find in store bought spinach.

We have enjoyed bowls and bowls of spinach over the weeks...

I wish I could share some with you.

I find myself harvesting goodies for lunch, and enjoying each moment of it.  So much so, that I am planning a winter vegetable garden.  As I don't want to say good-bye to garden eats.

One thing I love to do is invent light fresh salad dressings with tons of flavor.  I adore salads, do you?  One of my fave salad concoctions contains spinach, squash blossoms, peas, garbanzo beans, artichoke hearts, avocados, hearts of palm, paper thin sweet onions, and a splash of homemade honey lemon garlic parsley vinegar olive-oil dressing.

Mouth watering!

I also love to eat nasturtium.

The leaves are peppery and delightful.

You can see them mixed in with pumpkin leaves below... 

Garden treats...

So Sweet!

Here is a peek into one of my little enclosed vegetable garden spaces.  I have others I will share later, but this one has been shady, for things like spinach and cabbage and Japanese radishes, and more...

Garden fresh, isn't it? 

It's super organic around here.  I don't use any bug spray or anything.  I fear I am losing most of my corn to ants.  We are having a massive ant epidemic this year.  I have oodles of ant bites.  Darn things ;) 

But the good news, no gophers got to this yummy stuff.  Why?  In April I pulled out a few feet of dirt and did the whole waffle wire & rock barrier thing.  Then put all the soil over that. 

Success!

So much to learn.  Life is never ending learning, isn't it?

No matter what age we are, there is always something new to learn.  So grand!

With that, I want to say, happy safe and lovely 4th of July!!!

This 4th of July has me being very introspective.  Lots of thoughts bopping around.

I mostly can't help thinking about how lucky we are here in America (as well as in other countries).  What a good life we can have, and how we don't have to worry about most of the things that 3rd world countries face.

And then, I start to think about how we should take time to appreciate all the things that we have in life.  Not the things we don't have.  How if we let go of what we think we should have, and who we think we should be, and just embrace who we are and what we have, life takes on a beautiful perspective.

I was thinking yesterday, about how much negativity there is out there.  For example, when reading articles online, the comment sections baffle me.  Full of hatred and criticism.  (opinions are good, but they don't have to be chock full of negativity, do they?)

Are we really that kind of people?

Hateful and judgmental??

Why not stop the petty negativity?

Be content with our lives, just as they are, before life passes us by.

Appreciate one another, and what it took to make America what it is today.

So, on the eve of this independence day, I say, we should embrace the good, and try not to find the negativity in things.  Instead, search for the positive.  It's not that hard to find.

We should realize how lucky we really are, open our eyes, and really realize it.

I love my country.

Nothing in life is perfect.

But maybe the greatest realization is that, things are perfect in their own way, and we are drowning in so much pettiness, that we can't see that everything is perfect, just as it is.

I want to see it.

I want to be grateful.

And, I am.

I know you are too!

(the garden by night)

Have a sparkly twinkly 4th of July!!

 

Love, Vanessa

 

ps:  We just finished watching the last disk of America -The Story of Us.  I highly recommend it.

pss:  A tip on squash blossoms.  When the pumpkin vine is fairly young, you will get oodles of male squash blossoms, before you ever see a female blossom (link that shows the differences between male and female, right here).  This is the time to enjoy eating your squash blossoms, when there are only males on the vine.  This is because, you don't want to eat the males when there are femles too, or you won't get any babies :)

Thank You! Merci! Floomplink!

Thank you ever so so so so sooooooo much for a deliciously magical Mad Tea Party!

I had so much fun.  I visited all the parties by last Sunday evening, and was simply blown away by everyone's parties.  Everyone really had the Mad Tea Party mood in full wonderland enchantment swing.

I was delighted at each visit.

How can I thank you enough for joining in?

I'll tell you what, I am already inspired for jumping into my ship of dreams, and thinking about what we can conjure up for our Halloween party!

Parties always seem far away, but then all of a sudden it is a week before the event,  and we sit there wondering where the time has gone. 

Isn't it so true?

So this weekend, I am going to keep setting a special tea place for myself, and keep the party mood alive with ideas bubbling for fall.

I feel a little bit of the Halloween haunting mood trying to pull my toes.  I really should pay attention.  Mombie and I always talk about how we should do so much in summer for fall and Christmas.  As the holiday crunch always seems so intense from September to December. 

Still, when it is so hot here, and I am sipping iced tea in my garden tub, listening to vintage songs, really living summer to the fullest, I have a hard time thinking about the holiday season.

Although, just typing the word fall, made me get butterflies in my stomach......

I don't know about you, but I have had a very busy week.  Running here and there, doing 5,000 projects at home.  Moving huge furniture to and fro.

I am in this massive house and garden mode these days, just loving here, in this moment in time.  Which Mister Lovee and I admit, is a lovely time in life.  One for the memory vaults.

I also promise to tell you about my new cottage.  The building months, how I will use it as a little hideaway, how it came to be, and how there are still more big projects going on in the garden.  If you care to know, that is.

Goodness knows, you might be totally bored by me, and not want to hear any of it.

However, it is better than me coming here everyday and chatting about my dreams from the night before.  I do that to my Mister.  He seems to be very interested.  I mean, he keeps perfectly quiet while I talk and talk.  Oh wait, he sleeps through it ;)

haha!

Don't worry, I won't go down that path, hehe!

For tonight, I have a plan.

Mister Lovee brought me some delicious books this week (he always brings me thrifted treasures that I adore).  Some excellent art books came to me, via he, and I am going to curl up, and be a perfectly despicable girl (a term I use often for myself)....... 

With no guilt about jumping into a fluffy bed (hang on to your tiara), jammied to the nines, and turning pages, whilst sipping lemon iced tea... yumm!

I can't wait to share another frocked Mad Tea event with you next year!!

Keep the lace and ruffles handy!

And thank you again, for a beyond wonderful Mad Tea Party season, 2011!!

Much love from all of us over here at A Fanciful Twist!!!

xoxo

 

 

ps:  The winners (selected by random number generator) for an 8" x 10" print from, my shop, are numbers 194 & 36.  That's Linda Diane, and Renee!!  Hooray hooooray!  Do please e-mail me with your choices. 

Happy Happy, Joy Joy!

pss:  Floomplink means thank you in Gnome.  I promise.  A gnome told me.  I didn't just invent it.  No really ;)

psss:  I will leave the Mad Tea Partiers list, in my left hand sidebar, for several more days.

Tiny in the Garden

When pumpkin vines start to grow and grow, longer and longer, crawling over anything and everything, I can't help but wonder what it would truly be like to become teeny tiny.  And, to have a teeny tiny perception of what the garden looks like, quite Thumbelina like.

Is that a funny thought?

Often people say to me, Vanessa you remind me of my kooky aunt that everyone thought was nutzz.  Or, you remind me of some family member that was thought to be out of her gourd, but that was beloved for her wackiness.

First, I quite politely thank them for their, umm, compliment?

And then I get real staunch and talk out loud to myself or Lovee or Miles or Matty, or my mom or dad, about how the only thing kooky and insane is being so rigid in your thoughts, that you don't have an ounce of space for whimsy, and light-heartedness.

It annoys me that someone could be so serious to think that, a person who talks to flowers, and madly loves cats and dogs and all the little things, and not only exists, but lives, is a kook.

Is something wrong with this picture?

My whole family, especially on my mom's side, is rather kooky in that case.  And I am thankful for that, because in my family, I have never felt off my rocker.  My dad and mom have taught both sides, being serious and organized in some things, while being free and whimsical too.  So, I think both can create a nice balance.  I am floored when some people think that if you are whimsical, then you can't be stable, and logical.  Tish tosh!

I think whimsical, fanciful, dreaming, life-loving, silly at times people are the sane ones, what do you think?

And so, in a whimsical rush of wonderment, I am wondering what being Thumbelina might feel like?

Come on, come down her with me...

A bit smaller if you will?

Yes yes, there you go....

Oh yes, yes, you made it.

This is exactly what I meant.

Right here, like Thumbelina.

You and me.

See?

It's nice isn't it?

Watching pumpkins grow.

It's cool, and peaceful.

I can feel the earth, I can feel it humming under my toes.

I can hear the trees, whispering, talking.

I can feel love, unlike any other love.

I am free, free to be me.

You are free, free to be you.

We are free.

As long as we want to be.

It's a choice, a choice.

Because no one, not anyone, can take away what we carry inside.

And that's that.

Anyone have a problem with that, see Lovee in the fairytale forest damage control office.

;)

I can hear Stella Maris...

Bliss.

And, thoughts on a Sunday.

Love, V

ps:  Stella Maris, the song above, comes from Moby's CD called Destroyed.  I am really loving it, it let's you crawl into the songs, and feel the notes.  Journeys I tell ya, journeys through those sonic waves.  It's on repeat while I paint.  Pretty wonderful sounds.  I especially love the tune called The Broken Places.  Did you catch him on NPR yesterday?

pss:  Guess what?  I found a place in my garden where I can actually feel like Thumbelina.  I changed my perception, and there I was, on a bench...

Found Treasures... {with a twist}

Do you ever happen upon treasures that you have not seen for ages?  Perhaps lost, misplaced, or simply forgotten amongst busy days?

 

Have you ever run across a letter, a document, something about your family, that you had no recollection of?  Have you seen your birth certificate in person?  Do you know where it is?

I have taken to hiding things so well, that sometimes I plum can't find them.

I love finding things lost in handbag lining, a la Carrie Bradshaw.

I also have hopes of finding things that simply disappear for years. (2 items to date)

But mostly, I know where everything I own is, no matter how messy my room might get. (ask my sister, she knows - she also wrote a funny story about that here in this blog somewhere (2 years ago maybe?), but I can't find it)

I love attics and hidden nooks, places where such things live and thrive, and wait to be found...

I have this black velvet box, that was given to me by my Mom years ago, on my 25th birthday.

It is one of my most beloved treasures, filled (by my Mom) with other important treasures, for me to safely keep.

The first time I opened the box I was giddy with anticipation.

I popped the latches open and found a silver contraption inside...

It was beautiful and curious, and so my Mom.

But also, it was so me.

I was intrigued.

I pulled the mysterious thingamabob out of its case, and slowly pulled it open...

Old papers emerged, while little jewels and medallions clinked around the bottom...

In this curious holder were all the important life papers having to do with me, as well as a handful of other super secret delightments...

I think that was the first time I ever saw my birth certificate, and in one fell swoop it became certain that I wasn't adopted (I had been secretly certain I was, I don't know why I thought that? silly kid).  Also, my aging face looks more and more like my father's everyday, so that is proof to me, more than a birth certificate, that I am my father's daughter :)

I'll tell you another random tale...

On my last birthday, a ring that I had not even thought of, probably since the day it went missing from my childhood jewelry box, found its way back to me...

Hello E.T.

;)

It came with a confession note attached to it from my sis.

She had stolen it like, 24 years ago or something.

Isn't that nuts? 

It made me remember my canopy bed, and my balloon wallpaper, and my pink carpet, and and, my posters of Cyndi Lauper and the Lost Boys and Duran Duran on my walls...  Oh oh, and Corey Hart too (Corey Haim and Corey Feldman being a given).

But it also made me think of the girl who used to wonder about the future, and hope it was going to be really really good and wonderful and fun and.....it is.

It is totally different from what I thought it would be (not that I know what I thought it would be), but as I have said before - nothing is as I expected, but everything is perfect.  Perfect in its imperfect way.

But then again, what is perfect?

Perception?

A Manifestation of our own imagination?

I dunno.

Either way, getting philosophical aside, I got my ring back ;)

E. T. phone home...

But wait...

In another twist of attic cleaning fate...

My Momsie came up with my old toe shoes from ballet. 

I love that she found them.

I thought they might fit, but I am a 7/7.5 now and they are 4.5, darn.

However, let me come clean here.

I hated ballet lessons.

Looooved ballet, but lessons, not so much.

I also hated piano lessons (for the whole time I lived at home), but I loved it when I figured out I could invent my own songs.  And, the piano is a huge part of my daily life to date.  So, I am grateful to them in the end.

Wait though, for all the kids out there who hate piano and ballet etc., you will thank your parents dearly if you let them force you to take ballet and go to piano lessons.  Trust me, you will.

The problem with me was that, I was head strong, and finally in my teens I successfully convinced my parents that I would change the entire dance routine and shame them to no end if they forced me on the recital stage.

So, they believed me.

I probably would have.

Which is why they believed me.

I won.

And then conned my Dad (at 15) into a brand new VW convertible, which my Mom says was the biggest mistake known to man.  As it made me think I was all grown up and free of parent's rules.

But that is another story, for another day.

One other reason I loathed ballet classes, besides that fact the the girls were scary mean (and the man instructor was wacky) - was that I really wanted to be at the dance school down the street, with the fab funky lady instructor, where the girls were doing a jazz routine (in super fun work out gear, ha!) to Let's Get Physical by Olivia Newton John.  I know.  OY!

Instead, I got put into jazz dance at the same school where I took ballet. 

And guess what?

This gets better.

The recital jazz routine I was to be in was the.......

"I want to go to A-mer-ica song in, West Side story."

That really wasn't what a young tween girl wanted to do.

It wasn't Olivia.

So, I once again told my parents, "I'm outta here..."

And, HOORAY, hello cruising, good bye dance lessons!

Hello annoyed parents, and the crazed teenage years that ensued.

Phew.

I didn't have that whole tale planned.

But wait...

If you want a real laugh....

Take a peek inside my toes shoes.

I have no middle name on my birth certificate, however, my parents put

Vanessa A. Valencia

on my childhood announcement cards.

They liked a certain "A" name, but they said I could choose any name with an "A" that I wanted.

Anyhow, being the nutty mind of her own girl that I am -

It seems, from the proof in my toe shoes, that I changed my name to

Vanessa D. Valencia

:)

I have no idea what the "D"stands for.

I had such a good good laugh over that.

If you had known me then, I had a bevy of personas.

(all with their own proper costumes, wigs included, and yes I also got my parents to take me to the wig shop at 9, and buy me a smattering of real wigs, I know I know, insane)

The stories are endless.

I only wish I knew what the "D" stood for!

Hahahehee!

As of today, I use no middle name initial, per my birth certificate.

But wait - a side note thought....

Now, as an adult, I love that I was forced to take ballet.

And that in the end-

all these years later,

My Mom found my little toe shoes...

(and that I can have a huge laugh over the whole thing)

Annnnnd - that's all I have to day about that ;)

Off to be some sort of productive.

I have spring fever.

I am being rotten.

It's true.

 

ps:

3 random songs, on repeat, in my head...

1)  The Chameleons

2)  Ra Ra Riot 

3)  Tori - Violet's Eyes

Memories {Old & New}

So many things happen in a day.

Adventures, mishaps, good things, so-so things...

An endless assortment of feelings and moments, all packaged into 24 hours.  Every day that passes gets a new name, and every second that passes, becomes a memory.  Tick tick tick.  That quickly, time moves on.  And with time, comes decisions.  Choices, if you will, on how to use that time.  Some of that time is mapped out for us with work and chores.  But somewhere in there, we can steal a moment to breathe and absorb precious little morsels of life, can't we?

 

(Listening to Mindy Gledhill as I type this)

My path has led me on a love adventure with pups.

Perhaps, not the same as human babies, but how would I know?

 

I have never had a human baby.

So, my only connection to that sort of love for another creature, that can not be described in its enormity, is shared with my furry kids.

(As you already know.)

But, what I want to say is that...

 

Living with Baby for all those years, and then losing her, has taught me so many things.

Mainly -

What true love feels like.

(and that it grows in strength, with time)

&

The importance of savoring each crumb of time, with those you love.

It's not that I didn't know that I should totally enjoy fresh air, and trees swaying, and my pups, and people I love.

But Baby passing gave me a true example of the why, in why I savor life and it's happenings, and all of my loves.  Because, quite simply, you will miss them madly when they are gone.

The best gift you can give yourself, is enjoying everyone and everything you love, as much as you can.

Take it from me.

I hugged and hugged and hugged Baby.  I rolled int the dirt with her.  I let her sit on top of me like a baby even though she weighed 90 pounds.

And, I am so so so so so so sooooo glad that I did.

And still, it feels like I have not seen her in so long, that I yearn for one more moment with her.

BUT (another but).

There is also room for other loves.

I have also learned that...

Dirt in the house won't kill me.

And really, who cares if your house is a mess?

:)

As long as you don't miss something good while obsessing on frivolous things.

Also, waking up 4 times a night with Miles, and being the only one outside in the cold at 4 a.m., is a memory I might look back on in the future, and wish for.

 

Because, I would go out at 3 a.m. in wind and snow and hail, if I could see Baby just one more time.

(I am sorry to share missing Baby.  Alas, it is the reality of my life (and Mister's) and how I honestly feel)

So, when I am out there at some ridiculous time in the morning, groggy, I chuck my sleepiness into the wind, and enjoy Miles acting like a rabbit...

 

I even chuck some of the things I want to do, & some of the things on my chore list, right out the window too, in order to wholeheartedly savor my moments with a growing puppy...

 

And, when we wake Matty, and he runs out with us in the early a.m. ...

 

I remember him as a puppy. 

Running around with Baby...

 

And, I am glad I relished all of those past moments too.

Whilst stepping into new memories and moments everyday, that I will look upon fondly, in the future.

 

(Did I tell you that Matty is a 100% Mama's boy? Just don't tell him I told you that ;)

 

You see, what I believe it comes down to, is trying the best that you can to have no regrets.

Of course, we will have some in life.

But, it's not too late to work on having fewer.

It just isn't.

Sometimes, we think it is, but it isn't.

Because, even if there are regrets that we can't resolve, we can at least make peace with them, and let them go.

Set them free.

 

And move on...

Letting ourselves enjoy the good things, that we were meant to enjoy.

 I don't know what the point of this post is, as I was going to share a totally different tale, but this unraveled, so I went with it.

I think the point is.

Let Love.

 

Enjoy little moments.

 

And, don't sweat the small stuff?

 

Yes, I think that's it.

 

Oh and, if you get a chance to love an animal, and really bond with them, well, take it from the gal who wasn't a pet person 10 years ago, it is astonishingly wonderful. (oh and, be patient with puppies, trust me, it gets easier, and they will eventually learn all that you try to teach)

(Miles' angelic look masks his almost constant wild side ;)

 

The mutual love of furry kids, is the loveliest kind of love that I have ever experienced.... (Mister Lovee is pretty fab, but I think he would agree too.  The love we share with our fur babies.....Awesome)

 

Trust me, I should know... 

I have loved a lot in my life ;)

But... those other sort of youthful boy crazy tales (of the human variety), are for the memory vaults :))

And, that's all I have to say about that.

Have a GORGEOUS weekend!

Skedaddling now....

 

 

ps:  As soon as I posted this, I put on one of my fave 70's tracks, and boy oh boy, carnival rides, youth, fun!  That's what it makes me think about.... What a great mood maker!

pss:  Matty is not a very big dog, and I dare say, I think Miles will be bigger than him.  What do you think?  Matty is long, but not tall from floor to ear.  Common for a red heeler.  However, he makes up for it in massive toughness.  And boy, is he ever tough.  You should see how he acts when a car comes down our dead end street.  Yikes!

Happy New Year! + Your Wishes

Hi, Hello, Hiya!  From the house of sleepless grown-ups and happy pups, we want to wish you...

 

A splendid...

 

Beyond delightful...

 

* 2011 *

 

Full of goodness a plenty!

 

Clink Clinking to you, with shirley temples and extra cherries :)

By the by,

I bet you thought I forgot about our ritual, yours and mine?

About wishes being collected on New Year's...

And then set sail in a ship of dreams?

Or by some other invented, and hopefully clever, method...

In order to ensure a positive wish to reality factor ;)

 

So, let's do it.

Dream for yourself

or

dream for others,

But by golly, feel free to dream up a wish (or several), won'tcha?

Because as Cinderella once said ~

A dream is a wish your heart makes...

&

If you keep on believing,

 the dream that you wish,

will come true...

 

Let's make a list of our wishes,

and I'll set them free in a couple of days. 

Deal?

Just like we have in years past.

Happy New Year!!

 

 

 

ps:  Thank yooooou beyond oodles for the puppy love!  Miles is such a joy. 

What a year it's been friends.  It was such a good spring, and then there was such deep loss, and us grasping at mending our broken hearts when we lost Baby.  Slowly we began embracing the act of laughing and crying simultaneously.  Our hearts have a little crack, all for the love we have for our blonde girl.

But then, there was huge awesome bonding with Matty, and he gave us the gift of love and light, just as his sister had.

And now, a 2nd furry child to squeeze, and adore.

Wowsa, what a year.

Life is the most curious of all adventures :)

We are sleepless and still madly in love with our new boy.  Last night Mister Lovee could tell that two hour increments of sleep, for a few days, were doing me in (plus, I put on a whole New Year's eve dinner and dessert last night, making me officially zombified, in a goodish way). 

So, Mister took on puppy duty for a whole night last night, and let me sleep.  Can you imagine what I awoke to?  All the boys in the living room, on the couch, puppy on Lovee's head, and a couple cleaned-up accidents here and there.  That's the kind of fun dad's are for ;) 

C'est la Vie, I say. 

Oh and, puppy is a little tough guy, who loves to instigate wrestling matches with his big brother. 

 

So cute!

Now, on with ~

Wishing away......

Back from our Holiday Adventure

Heloooo there!  We are back from our little voyage out of town.  It was lovely and delightful, and so good to see my whole family.

The festivities were much like 2008 and 2009 and the years before that as well.  So, I won't bore you with endless photos.

But I will tell you this, we were greeted by a life-size metal angel with a porcelain face, that I wanted to kidnap :)

Alas, it's not like you can do that without being obvious.

"Oh Mom, how odd, your angel is strapped to the roof of my car.  How did that happen?"

See, doesn't work.

;)

My sister made her signature cookies, as did Mammie.  Then we had an amazing Christmas Eve dinner as we do every year, and the whole family got together.  It was simply bliss, to be with everyone, laughing and carrying on...

Oh, we laughed soooo much.  My cheeks are still sore from laughing.

The Christmas eve dinner Mammie prepared was out of this world scrumptious, and we enjoyed several more meals together over the holiday (until we couldn't even imagine fitting in one more morsel).

(Mom makes a spiral ham, scalloped potatoes to die for, an amazing salad with pears and nuts.  Plus a stuffed and rolled flank steak, that is sliced with stuffing in the center (unreal), and more.  I can't even remember right now...)

Then, we had our Christmas Day festivities (after our Santa gifts at home) at my Grandma and Grandpa's, as we have since I was born.  The whole family (extended too), gets together for tamales, menudo, oven toasted buttered Mexican bread and the most killer beans on the planet (and I don't even like beans that much).  Oh, plus oodles of desserts.

One of the bestest parts of the whole trip, were our "kids" - my sister's Douglas, and my Matty (Matisse).  They added so much fun and frolic to the whole adventure.  Matty did really really well, and is proving to be quite the good boy outside of the house (as well as at home).  Albeit, still reserved and suspicious of strangers.  Which I think shows quite good character on his part.

 

Matty and Douglas played and played.  I think Douglas got sick of Matty though, because Matty could play all day and all night, non-stop.  He loves to play and play and play, without rest.

There were so many doggie gifts, and two of the stuffed dogs you see above and below.  But of course, they both only wanted one.

Silly rascals. 

(Matty's fave gift is a pink elephant)

Matty isn't a huge dog, but he is very long, which makes him super tall when he walks on two feet (err paws).  He is rather good at it.  Sort of faun like, me thinks ;)

We came home to a chaotic house, superkalifragilistically fun tales yet to share (eeeeeeee!), and a winter storm headed our way.  Yikes.

We are enjoying citrus from our trees.  The oranges are like candy.  Candy I tell ya.  And, the lemons taste like oranges.  Curious.

So, that's the 411 around here.

Did you eat so much you could explode?

Boy, we sure did.

 We left our country house a mess from wrapping gifts and such.  We sort of just locked up a house of disaster, and went on a Christmas voyage.  Returning home to havoc was well, havoc, haha!

So, I have sorted out things pretty well, and, now our life is topsy turvy in other ways.

Good ways.

I will we back ever so soon, once I get my next tale in order.

So happy to be home, and here.

 

Love, V

 ♥

 

ps:  They say we might get snow.  Yes, snow.  Oh me, oh my!  We had snow year before last, I think?  But it melted by noon. 

Of Feasts and Friends

Days and days of feasts have filled my days.  Yours too perhaps?  I think most likely, yes.  I hope you had a wonderful holiday.  I had a super lovely time cooking.  Organization and cleaning as you go makes for a splendid holiday.  I found that out ;)

(My vintage tablecloth made everyone smile - it has crabs and fish and roosters on it too)

Paula Deen's pumpkin cheesecake was a massive hit.  Her crust of graham crackers, melted butter and brown sugar sort of turns into toffee.  There should be novels written about that crust :)

 

My turkey was beautiful. Thank heavens.

(Mom's tips deserve the credit)

I covered it in real butter, sliding some under the skin too.

I filled it with herbs from my garden, and apples and lemons and onions and salt and pepper.

I chopped up a bed of sweet onions, carrots and celery for it to cook on.

I threw the bed of veggies in an oven bake bag.

Then slid the turkey in over that.

I drowned the whole thing in chardonnay.

Then I put bundles of parsley and thyme and rosemary from my garden, with more spices, right on top.

I stuck a disposable pop up thermometer in my wee bird, poked some holes in the top of the oven bake bag...

And 2.5 hours later...

Yumms.

 

Mister was a vegetarian his whole life.  But, not so much anymore.

We had spinach, and stuffing which I make with all sorts of sliced nuts and currants.

There were mashed potatoes, as well as mashed brown sugar and butter sweet potatoes.

We fed our friends, and sent bundles of food home with them.

Instruments and song filled the room.

My lovely neighbor and I (she just moved back to the neighborhood -yay- and I had not met her before), exchanged edibles.

She hand made these. (most were eaten prior to the photo)

 

I know - beautiful artisan bread for certain.

And I gave her this.

Made with one of my twin pumpkins.

 

She took it on a car voyage to share with family.

Isn't that lovely?

I love neighborly sharing.

I decided to make a cottage pie (sort of shepherd's pie), with leftovers.  So, I heated up a pot with olive oil...

 

Then I caramelized some onions and browned some mushrooms in it.

I tossed in the left over turkey, browning it a bit, then tossed in the stuffing, letting it all meld together.

Then I poured (err, globbed) in 2 cups of gravy.

I also took all the carrots that the turkey was cooked on (they were so good btw), and tossed them in.

I took a baking dish, and spooned in the cooked mixture.  Then I covered it with all the cold mashed potatoes we had left. ( I mixed in a huge spoonful of sweet potatoes, with the regular mashed taters, for color)

Make sure to take a fork and make some peaks in the mashed potato topping so it can brown real good.

 

I cooked it for 30 minutes at 400' F.

When the timer rang, I promptly took the dish, and popped it into the broiler and set the oven to broil.  Leaving it in the broiler for about 7 mins, until the whole thing was toasty and nicely browned, with blackened peaks.

 

Today is "end of leftovers day," and we get to enjoy it with a turkey cottage pie.

Yumm.

I have to say, the best part of the last few days (aside from enjoying days with both my boys), have been nights with my furry boy.

Matty's daddy snapped this while we slept on the sofa.  Matty has taken to hugging a lot the last couple of months.  I say "Matty hug," and he either puts his paws around my neck, or squishes up real close and puts his head on my shoulder.

Be still my heart.

I love this little boy.

 

With Matty beautifully snoring, and warming me by night, I have been dreaming of Baby as a tiny puppy, in the most beautiful place I have ever seen. (in real life, I never knew her as a tiny puppy, as I met her when she was almost 1 year old) 

I won't say more or I will cry.

Again.

I have been having major animal dreams.  And, they take me to the most love filled peaceful places I have ever been.

A kitty even blew a kiss at me in one dream.

She made perfect kissy lips, and went SMACK in the air.

Isn't that funny?

I found her under a pile of my laundry. (in my dream)

She was the spitting image of a cat I lost when I was 10, and I was calling her Matty.

Yellow and white with a big squishy face.

Kooky lovely dreams.

Matty and I have been falling asleep listening to this (the 1:48 mark really gets me)...

Punch Brothers. 

Bliss sigh... 

How are you?

Is your belly super full?

I hope so :)

I best be off, my paint and clay are waiting.

I am busily painting, sculpting clay, holiday decorating and enjoying the day majorly.

I hope you are too ;) 

See you soooooon!

 

ps:  Did you munch anything out of the ordinary?  Did anything super funny, or awful or wonderful happen in your world on Thanksgiving?  My Mom and Dad had their first childless Thanksgiving ever.  But, they got to be with my granny and grandpa and aunt and cousins etc. 

I wish I had some juicy tales about my Thanksgiving :)

Welcome November {& Memories of Those we Love}

It is a warm and beautiful November 1st day.  The garden is blooming, with flowers and herbs enjoying the weather.  In this neck of the woods, it is only early mornings and evenings that bring a tinge of cool and crisp air, reminding us that it is autumn...

Although the garden is still blooming, I collect every flower I can and dry it.  Those blooms that do not dry well, are pressed into books.  Memory petals... 

A tiny Christmas tree I planted 6 years ago has grown ever so tall and wide, and is gifting its first true pine cones.  Such a lovely scent.

Bougainvillea blooms retain their color, even after drying.

The dry petals fade beautifully in the rain, leaving their fuchsia droplets of natural dye, wherever they land...

A handmade bowl, from the other side of the globe, always reminds me of this time of the year. With its amber and golden glaze. 

 

Tea feels like this, today.

A vintage forest green tea cup from Mexico, is what I shall choose, to say hello to this new month... 

The 2nd day of November brings Dia de Los Muertos.  I collect marigolds from my garden.  I think of my Aunt.  I think of my furry child, whose memory is always with me...

And, I light my candles...

We miss our furry girl with a vastness that I can not describe.

Our hearts have not mended.

We have decided that they never will, and that, that is okay.

We accept that, and know it is because of our ardent love for her...

 

I dedicate this post to the memory our loved ones, yours and mine, who have passed.

And to our loved ones, who are still with us...

As we hold both, close to our hearts.

Love & memories, all intertwined.

~ Welcome Beautiful November ~

 

♥ ,V

 

ps:  I listened to Lisa Lynne as I typed this post.  I have shared this before, I know, but it brings such a soft peace...

pss:  I thought I would share the link to last year's Dia de Los Muertos  post.  It was such a beautiful evening, cool breezes and glowing candles...

Little Orange Thoughts and You (+ radio tid-bits)

I have a question for you, important it seems.  Not important like, life changing or anything.  But maybe important like, mood changing?  Perhaps it's important in the fanciful I love magic sort of way? 

So, here it goes.

What does this image evoke at first glance?

 

Anything?  Come on, something, a little butterfly excitement in your tummy maybe?

Memories of autumn perhaps?

Fresh crisp evenings?

Magic in the air?

Pumpkin pie, and witches flight?

I'll tell you what it evokes in me, if you'd like?

I think, costumes, and golden leaves.

Striped stockings and crooked shoes.

The warm sweet scent of cinnamon and pumpkin.

Evenings in the garden, candles through Jack-O-Lantern smiles.

Feeling 5 years old, and squealing at the moon with glee.

Oh yes, that and more, is what curly cues on pumpkins evoke in me...

 

Do you feel it?

Memories of autumns past?

Oh please please say you do ;)

Witch's breeze and cauldron's bubble, night time sparkles and spells are mumbled...

I love the enchantment and inspiration of October Dreams.

Can you feel it?

 

I know what you are thinking.

"Is she nutzz?  It's mid-summer for goodness' sake..."

But, my garden is gifting babes of autumn lore, and I am tumbling head first into fantasy and pumpkin love smores.

And while I gather seeds, for next year's planting season...

 

I think about fall, and how it's really not that far away.

Autumn and the holidays alike, soar in so quickly that, I think I shall prepare early this year.  Like, now.  It comes in an instant, and leaves in the blink of an eye. I don't want to miss a drop.

And, I dare say, Mister Pumpkin (from last year) is itching for a new head. 

 

I mean, who are we to complain about wrinkles we acquire over dozens of years, when Mr. and Mrs. Pumpkin look like this in a matter of months (or less)?

 

And, I do believe that their wrinkles add a bit of charming character, don't you think?

Perhaps we should see our own as such?  Maybe I am totally off my rocker, but I sort of like my little wrinkles.  Am I insane?  Oh wait, don't answer that.... ;)

Well, I best go get ready to be on the Artistically Speaking radio show, as I feel a wave of anxiety coming on.  Please don't divorce me if I sound like a troll.  Okay?  Pinky promise?

If you tune in, and don't hear me, it's that I fainted and I am waiting for some smelling salts ;)

 

I'm Joking.........

On a more serious note -

About the radio show...

You can listen to it on-line.  It will be on Today at 3:30 Arizona time, and 6:30 east coast time.

Here is the link of where to listen...

I will be interviewed by Rebecca E. Parson of Creative Compass, and Lyna Farkas.

FUN!

Sooo, off I go to get calm and organize seeds, while chat time arrives.

 

See you super duper sooooon!

 

♥ ,V

 

ps:  The show is over, YAY!!  However, you can listen to the show any time by visiting Artistically Speaking, and scrolling down to the list of previous shows.  Thank you all who joined in.  I wish I could have seen the live chat.  But, I wish even more that you all were at my house after the show, because I was so relieved for it to be over (although I did have fun after my nerves subsided), that I was beyond ready to party!!  ;) 

Muches of LOVE ~ V

 

pps:  PLEASE SLAP ME for saying definitely so often.  I didn't even know that word was in my vocabulary, ohhh jeeeez ;)

Thank Goodness

Thank goodness for you and your beautiful notes, of which I read and felt every single letter, word and sentence.  Each one helping me begin my healing, holding my hand.  Thank you for sharing with me that you understand my feelings, which in turn shows me that I understand yours. 

Is there a phrase greater than thank you?

 

If so, that is what I feel...

You can't imagine how your kind words have helped me.  I have thought about them, in the garden, prompting all sorts of thankfulness.

A week of thinking and healing, and being, leads me to this...

 

I have in my heart you see, Thank Goodness-es a plenty.

For, as I meander through my garden, I think, thank goodness I planted all those seeds in early spring.

And that they slowly grew...

 

Because, the morning after we lost our girl, I couldn't get myself out of bed.  It was 9 a.m. and I knew that my plants had needed me since 5.  So, I slowly, with that heavy sort of heart, got out of bed...

And, in the garden, I found blooms open - waiting...

 

I looked down at a new fresh poppy and thought, "how did this happen?"

It felt like, things had happened so quickly.  Love, time, 10 years, in one blink, poof.

One minute Baby was with us running and playing, then all of a sudden she had a tumor growing rapidly up her nasal passage way, and around her left eye.  Making it hard to breathe, swallow, and lastly, making her unable to see...

It seemed, surreal.

I felt so sad.  I was upset, that a precious creature could be faced with such an ordeal.

We cried.

Loud, like children.

We cried with heart wrenching abandon.

I thought I saw her twice.

And then, sunflowers that had been growing for months, started to show their faces...

 

That's when I realized she was still here.

I saw her, I see her.  In my heart of course.  In my mind's eye.

The sunflowers whisper, everything is going to be okay.

 

And, their big blond leaves, remind me of my girl... 

With those thoughts, I kept doing my garden chores.

3 little pumpkin patches live in my garden, in different places.

A pumpkin patch.

That was one of the dreams the dogs and I made this summer.  We made dreams of grass, and towering sunflowers and pumpkins, and corn, and more...

Big dreams in the garden, I kept chanting, while planting seed after seed. 

While furry children, were constantly by my side.

 

I wasn't given high hopes from reasonable people around me, about what my garden could produce in our hot and dry climate.

 

Thank goodness, that I don't listen to reason.

:)

 

My friend Dick came over a couple of weeks ago, and I bored him with the ins and outs of my garden.  He asked me what I was going for?  He wondered if I was trying to grow a certain amount of pumpkins, or grow one a certain size?

 

And I said, quite honestly, I am just happy that we have gotten this far. 

 

Thankfulness.

I am so thankful that I got to know Baby, that I met her that day at the yard sale.

I am thankful for every morsel of tiny goodness.

I am thankful that my perception of life changed in my twenties, and that I embrace simplicity.

Because really, it is all too easy to drown, in this life, in this world. 

But if we think simply, we can live beautifully.

I can drown in complexities of sorrow.

Or, I can be happy with my experiences, and yes, mourn for their passing, but relish in the fact that they happened.

Plain and simple.

I'll leave the complexities to someone else...

 

Do I sound corny?

Sometimes I think I sound so corny.  I am a realistic person, and I know it is so much easier to be sarcastic and angry, than happy and silly and glad.

 But, I guess as you get older, silly, happy and glad, along with corny and sappy, get so much easier, and win over sarcastic and angry any ole day.  And bonus, you stop caring if it makes you cool or lame, to be happy and delighted (and corny).

Through happy and peaceful thoughts, little by little, I am healing. 

I am feeling uplifted, thanks to your words, my garden and choices.

Choosing to embrace all that is good.

Of course, I get huge pangs of sadness.  So I feel, and I cry.

Loss is such a yucky feeling.

But then, I remind myself of all the good.

And, I hug Mister and cuddle this one to no end...

 

And then, I feel a little better.

Over the last couple of days I have been enjoying the taunting monsoon skies...

 

Who gift droplets to my giant sunflowers...

 

 

 

 

 

Thank goodness for the rabbit who dropped the yellow squash he was "borrowing..."

It was yumm. 

Thank goodness for ripening peaches...

And sweet corn, oh my, yes indeed!

 

 

 

Oh, it was soooooo good.

Sweet delectable corn, thank goodness you grew!

(from oodles of 6 year old expired seeds, that I found in a drawer)

 

And, thank goodness to cactus flowers too...

 

In my garden, I start to heal, with its ups and down and all arounds.  Good things happen, and bad things happen...

 

Gophers happen. 

But the good, does out-weight the bad.

In life, and in the garden, you don't have to lose all hope.

Hearts heal in time...

I am open to love and loss, and feeling and healing.  I am open to crying and screaming, and laughing and squealing.  I am open to ups and downs and all arounds.

And most of all, I am open to believing.

 

And not always listening to reason.

 

I am ever so thankful for time and healing, and for having faith.

Wow, life is quite a ride and journey, and I am glad that we get to share it in snippets, right here.  You with me, and me with you.

 

 ♥,V

 

ps:  I will draw names for the Mad Tea Party book giveaway, and share a sunflower idea I have, in my next post.

pss:  I forgot to say that in the last few evenings, when I am out watering, I feel a strange feeling that someone is watching me.  Thank goodness, I discovered who who it was...

Baby of our hearts ~ Always and Forever

Our beloved furry girl has left us...

 

At home, on the little lawn, under a beautiful blue sky ~ with Mommy and Daddy curled around her, holding her, whispering to her how much we love her ~ she closed her eyes and found peace...

 

It is so incredibly difficult for me to type these words...

 

Baby stayed until our Mad Tea Party, where we took pictures and had fun.  She wanted to be here, with us, every moment, but her body couldn't fight any longer.  The details are just too heartbreaking to share.

There are no words to describe our love for her.  The beauty of her soul, and how she led us by her paw, to a place deep inside of ourselves...

 

Baby opened our hearts to a depth of love and to a connection, that only a furry loved one can take you to - if you are willing to let yourself fall...

To fall into deep love, to fall into selfless caring, to fall into silent understanding.

 

I never knew of that place, until Baby took me there.

 

She opened my eyes to furry creatures, to loving them and seeing them, in a way that I couldn't see until she showed me.

 

We met Baby at a yard sale almost 10 years ago, and I remember the day perfectly. 

"I love your dog" I said to the woman having the sale. 

"She isn't my dog, we just feed her," said the woman.

Then the woman said, you can have her if you want. 

I asked what her name was.

"Baby," responded the woman... 

So, I worked on Mister Lovee for 2 weeks (he says it was less), until he said yes.  We were not pet people then, we didn't know what we were doing.  We brought Baby home (she was about 1 year old), and she was wild, destroying so many things and digging up so much industrial irrigation, that we had to take her back.  We were sad, but at the time, we felt we had no other choice. (something that we would never do today, as evolved furry creature lovers)

2 months later, after Mister Lovee and I had gone out to dinner and to a movie, we returned home to find Baby sitting in front of our gate.  She had found us.

She stayed.

And, she never destroyed a thing again.

Mister Lovee says that Baby chose us to be her family, and she chose this place to be her home.

 

She protected me, she guarded our home, she was kind, she was gentle. 

She was an angel.

I will miss everything about her.

It was a terribly difficult weekend for us, Matty whimpered and sighed heavily, abandoning his rambunctious self for several days.  All we could get ourselves to do really was cry and sleep, and talk about how much we love Baby...

 

She was a integral part of our little family, and as far as we are concerned, will always be...

All of our tears and pain, are only because we loved her so much.  And every tear we shed, is worth having known her...

 

Mister Lovee, Baby and me - what a beautiful life we enjoyed together...

 

Of course, the journey of our little lives without Baby continues, and we have precious Matty to love.  All three of our lives will forever be touched and enhanced by the gift of love we were given, through knowing Baby.

 

Baby had a beautiful funeral, and is buried to the right of the sanctuary, under a billowing mesquite tree, not far from the great big apricot tree.

The evening she passed away, the sky gifted such beauty...

An incredible sight really...

 

In her last 6 months, she taught her little brother Matty, so many lessons.  She would stop him with her paw, from leaving the yard.  She would block him from nipping our friends.  She taught him the ins and outs of this property, and how to catch lizards.

There are such amazing endless tales.

We are all healing our hearts, and have started the healing by creating a beautiful garden around her grave.  Mister put in irrigation and we planted several plants. 

And Matty, is guarding sister's resting place...

Every evening as the sun sets, the light that shines through the tree above her grave, fills me with so much emotion...

 

Baby...

We will always love you.

 

And, somewhere in time, I know, we'll meet again...

 

 

But for now, we hold you in our hearts, with glowing ardent love.

 

And, we pray, that you are at a perpetual  pup party in the heavens...

 

♥ ,V

 

 

You've got to, laugh a little, cry a little, until the clouds roll by a little...

 

That's the story of, that's the glory of love....

 

 

ps:  Friends, I am so sorry about being absent from the Mad Tea Party.  I have received notes from folks asking me to visit them, and I just have not been able to.  I am so sorry.  I feel very guilty, being the hostess and all, but I hope you all had a wonderful time.  I used every last bit of energy I had to post the party, as I didn't want to cancel it, knowing how hard you had all worked.  I will try to visit over the next few weeks.  But for now, we are healing our hearts.  Much love, Vanessa

Finding the Words...

Normally I sit down to type, and the words just pour off my fingertips.  I never have to think of what I want to say, because I usually have ten million things to say.  And normally, all ten million things I have to say, want to make an appearance at the same time...

    

I have an abundance of thoughts, but I don't quite know how to appropriately express the depth of thankfulness I am feeling.  Thankfulness for your, ever so kind sharing of tender words and emotions, over the last few days.  With every word, there was a huge wave of peace that washed over me. 

    

So many of you totally understand how I feel.  And, as I read your words, it was clear that I too understand, how many of you feel...

There are no words that can convey the feeling of someone saying, I understand and I care.

  

Baby and I have had the most precious life together, and will continue to, for as long as she is with us.  She is so kind and loyal, and I will miss her with a vast profoundness.  But, I wouldn't give up any of my experiences and memories with her, for anything in the world.

   

It may sound silly and cliché, even trite, but it is important to live each day to the fullest.  To absorb moments.  I learned the importance of that in my early twenties, with an experience that moved me into grabbing my life and making a pact with it, to truly live and feel.  And, to treat my life and myself as sacred, to be nurtured and protected.

   

There will be love and there will be loss.  There will be overflowing joy, and lakes of tears.  There is beauty in all feeling, if you embrace it, especially while you are healing...

    

The other day, I hammered a nail right through my finger, and to the other side (by accident, of course).  And, I didn't feel pain, I just looked at my finger, stunned.  And I thought, the fairies planned this so that I would be knocked out of my sadness.

And it worked.  I have so much peace right now.  Of course, I still get a deep pang in my heart when I think of Baby not feeling well.  But, I just want to live in the moment...

If I sulk, she sulks.  If I skip around, she follows.

So, skip around it is... (she has a big tear on the side of her face with the problem, poor beloved gal)

    

We have had such marvelous walks this weekend.  And, you wouldn't believe this but, there are plants flowering in our garden that have never flowered before.  Such curious little happenings are taking place.  Like a trio of Hummingbirds dancing around my head, and little yellow birds coming right up to me, and sitting right beside me.

   

   

And, to my complete delightment, my carnations are blooming...

  

I can't tell you what planting seeds and flowers does for my heart.  I wake up in the morning with so much gusto to get outside, and see what is going on out there.  I even like the weeds :)

The other day, Baby and I came upon the most scary little plant we have ever seen.  I had never ever seen one of these, and I thought, what an odd creature.  It wasn't a cactus, but it had huge thorns...

   

    

So I called Mister Lovee over, and he said, Oh ya, that's just a Milk Thistle... 

    

I went inside, and read about all the healing properties of Milk Thistle.  And, I smiled to myself, thinking about how something I thought looked so scary, is actually healing and wonderful.

It's a funny little life...

    

So, we are taking it day by day, and embracing happiness and peace.  There is nothing to do, but let go and ride the wave...

   

We will have a Mad Tea Party (details soon, like really soon), and we will dress up.  We will laugh and we will play.  We will cry if we feel like crying, and perhaps even dance at the same time.  We will hug, and hug, and hug some more.  

Life can change in an instant.  It is so much more fragile than we realize.  So many of us waste so much of it, for no reason at all.

The reminder in all of this - don't waste one precious moment...

    

Thank you.  Than you for being a kind soul.  Thank you for feeling with me.  Thank you for being here, through all sorts of things.  From nonsense, to magic, to real life and heart strings...

It's a marvelous curious life, isn't it?

♥,V

ps:  Have you seen this puppy?

   

    

It seems, he has been replaced with a verrry smoool and verrry strooong furry MAN.

   

   

I don't know how you human baby Mommies do it!  Now I know why my Dad squeezes my face and tells me how cute and cuddly and loveable I was, and then he makes baby sounds as he squeezes my cheeks and lips and over-squeezes in hugs.  

My puppy puppy poopsie pups..... Growed up...
 

Art.Life.Heart.Love.

I have so much to say, that I don't know what to say.  Has that ever happened to you?  I have been painting, drawing, crying, laughing, loving, hugging, sculpting, moving furniture, growing seeds and talking to the heavens...

   

I have been painting words that comfort my heart...

   

Creating a little sign, with thoughts and ideas that fill my soul...

   

Full of stars and glitter and delightment. 

I have also been drawing my Original Art Card girls again...  

    

I used to make these for all of my shows, as well as for a beautiful local shoppe (I also used to draw them onto plates I made). 

   

But, other things popped into my life, and I stopped drawing these gals for a little while...

    

But, now they are back visiting me.  I missed them so much.  Oh and, I have actually put 14 of these originals art card drawings in my shop, a few seconds ago...

    

As for life...

   

I have moved outside.  Created a little studio right outside the Gypsy Wagon.  Why have I done this?  Well you see, there is a reason.  Although, I am having a really hard time typing what I have to say...

   

Throughout the last few years, that I left my job to do art full time (and started this blog journey), people have asked why I talk about my life so much here.  Why not just share art and nothing more? 

The answer.  I have no idea.  All I know is that, I go with my heart's flow.  I do and say whatever comes naturally to me.  I left a super stressful job (where even the phone ringing put my stomach into anxiety knots) and followed my path to this place.  A world that lets us all travel anywhere, and meet people everywhere.

   

A virtual place that makes it incredibly easy to share art and life.  My everyday life, and my journey making art, are intertwined.  So, I suppose that is why I share such personal things with you.

Leaving my job 3 years ago has allowed me to bond with a quiet life, a life where I am totally enchanted while watching seeds grow.  Where all the little things in life, have become big things in my life...

   

But most of all, I have bonded with my furry babies.  I have found a love in myself, for them, that I had no idea existed. 

Such a profound love.  I just, absolutely, had no idea...

   

And so - Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day, and it was also one of the saddest for me.

We found out something that we were dreading.

That Baby is very ill...........

   

Sigh...  She has a large growth in her head.  It can not be removed.  It is in the front of her head, between her left eye and her nose, and it is causing many problems, as well as causing her face to slowly shift.

I have a pain so deep in my heart...... 

Her doctor gave her some medication to make her more comfortable, but as you can imagine... 

We don't know how much longer she will be with us.  All we can do now is watch her, and love her, and hug her, and feel blessed to have her in our lives, for however much longer she will be a part of our family.

We adore her beyond words, truly. 

Her little brother is so sweet to us.  He helps to ease the pain with his outpouring of love and his silly antics.  You can't help but cry and smile, at the same time.  Sadness and joy...

   

And soooo, that is why I have moved outside.  The pups play outside all day, and I want to be with them.  I felt like I was suffocating in the house.  I want to be with Baby as much as possible.

So, outside I went.  And, here we are...

   

The fact is, my pups are not "just dogs" or pets to me.  They are my beloveds.  Working from home and being with them all day has created an extra closeness, that I could not have imagined.

I know it is hard to understand, if you are not a pet person.  I used to be one of those people, who didn't understand fur baby love.  And now - I have been touched by a furry gal, beyond words...

So, I am working outside, and all around me the garden is in full bloom.  I marvel at a volunteer tree that we did not plant.  When I look at it, it brings me such peace.  There is a depth, a vast tale about this curious life, living in that little tree...

  

   

And so, in the garden we continue to paint, and make memories. 

   

While, having faith in life's little unraveling path - and the journey it holds.

  

And while on this journey, trying to live each day to the fullest, and not take anything for granted...

    

Hug those you love.  Squeeze them tight.  Make a memory of how they smell.  How their eyes sparkle... 

Tell them you love them, again and again, no matter how annoying they might think you are...

♥ ,V

 

A Simple Winter Tale...

Morning light seeps in and sleepy eyes open in the secret sleeping nook...

        

Winter mornings in the desert feel like fall would in colder places.  Crisp and cool with mere tinges of cold here and there.  Some nights drop to freezing, but not all.  And sun shines almost everyday, warming the ground in the most delightful way.

So, it is natural that in a place that undoubtedly is lending sun rays, you are motivated to want to see what is going on outside of the the secret little sleeping nook...

        

The warm light glowing outside the nook curtains, tells of a spring-like December day awaiting your visit.

A tiny peek into life is taken, after a night of journeys through dreamscapes untold...

        

Little shoes are put on, as groggy steps out the front door loom.  It's interesting, what you can see with fresh morning eyes.  When they are willing to look closer.  To see what this incredible place called earth has to offer...

In the most seemingly mundane spaces, wonderment exists.  All we have to do is be willing to open our eyes to see, just so.

   

The giant apricot tree has finally turned warm shades of golden, and calls out, come play under my branches...

A dreamy escape.  There is total disregard for dirt, as laying under the tree seems so much more important.  So necessary for the sheer enjoyment of the dance between azure, and cerulean, sunflower and saffron...

        

It is moments like these, where time stops.

   

Music rustles through the trees.  Winter weather will not truly visit the desert until January, and so today brings an authentic feeling of Autumn.  Curiously, one day before the Winter Solstice arrives.

At closer look, the most stunning waves of crimson sap puddles, linger on the tree's bark...

   

Giant cabochons made of the same sweetness of the tree, silently sit like a vast treasure, undiscovered...

        

I don't notice until some time has passed, that hidden on the other side of the tree, love has joined me.  She sits in the sun, drying a wet coat from morning splashes in the pool, it seems...

        

And then, a trot of little paws tells me, another slice of love has decided to join me...

        

Love does seemingly live under the golden apricot tree...

   

As I look up through the tree, sprites gather in shades of...

Pale Lavender ~

   

Caribbean Sea~

   

And Fire ~

  

I drift away in thought, and for a moment, I am certain I can hear Lisa Lynne's harp in the distance... 

After some times passes, I hear the voice of a woodsman (aka Mister Lovee). He has arrived to trim my beloved tree.

   

Which in the photograph above, looks like a fake back drop, don't you think?

Just like that, Mister Lovee Woodsman sends me off, in search of a new-old treasure he has placed on my wagon.  And so I go, with thoughts of baking cookies dancing around me...

        

The gift I find is a lantern.  So that I may see by night, the glowing magic that awaits, if I open my eyes just so...

As cranberry,white chocolate and pecan cookies bake, sending heavenly aromas adrift, I stop and think ~ what a lovely simple little day.

And, I am thankful for the gift to recognize splendid little moments.  Moments that are fleeting, and golden...

Do you find yourself making sacred collections of such little moments that take place in your world as well?  I would love to know of such moments.  Did you have one today?

For now, I must be off to make homemade french fries, but I will see you super soon with a treat ;)

♥ ,V

V

It's Clear...

It is very clear, you see, that you and I might be quite kindred indeed...

        

Although, I thought we had a few things in common, the more I type, the more I share, the more you share, the more I realize that for the most part, you get me, and I get you.  And we love many of the same things and ideas.

Perhaps all it comes down to is that, we all just want to voice and live the same thought, which is...

I want to be free, to be me - 

   

All I know about this little life, is what works for me.  Mostly I feel my way around this fairytale world with my eyes closed, bumping into things.  Carving out a path with a sand shovel...

But some how, on that path, I bumped into you.  As we together carved out a little world in the virtual woods, that feels quite cozy it seems.

Silly stories, and enchanted creatures.  Paper and glue.  Paint and seashells.  Where DIY rules and where junk shows its true face as treasures that gleam.

What I am trying to say is that as time goes by, I feel like we are so lucky to have this world filled with folks who understand the creative world that we live in, and how precious it is...

   

Plain and simple.

Thank you for being you.  For peeking in here.  For playing, and sharing your true colors.

This week marks my third year in this virtual land.  I hope there are many more to come!

Below is a party in a picture (nevermind that it was from this event ;).  It is meant as a little sporadic party for you.  Thank you over the moon for your kind birthday wishes.  I was so overwhelmed (with joy) from the lovely vibes dancing around me.  I hope I thanked everyone, I sure tried to.  If I didn't, I meant to, truly.  I can't ever thank you properly, or share how I felt this weekend, but it was deep...

   

Here's to a continued world of enchantment, created by all of our imaginations grouped together, much like the imagery in the video below. 

I have enjoyed watching this video all year, I hope it makes you smile too ;) ~ It gets even better middle to end.

I will be back real real soon with some fun sharing.

♥ ,V
♥

El Dia de los Muertos

When you grow up in a tiny Mexican border town, there are many things that are the norm in your world.  Most everyone goes to the same Catholic church and celebrates the same holidays.  The culture is shared amongst the town.  There is a norm that, as a child you don't realize is only the norm to your town (and other areas that share such traditions and beliefs), and not the whole world.  A perfect example of this is Day of the Dead, known as El Dia de los Muertos (All Souls' Day)

   

On November 2nd people flock to the old cemetery in the town I grew up in, where their loved ones who have passed on, are buried.  Marigolds and flowers of all kinds fill the area, and people tidy up grave sites.  (November 1st is All Saints Day and November 2nd, All Soul's Day ~ Dia de los Muertos).

      

Many people have altars in their homes as well, to house statues and photos honoring their religious beliefs and/or memories of loved ones that have passed.  In Southern Arizona, you will see shrines and altars built on to the front of people's homes, in parks, on the side of the road and many other places. 

        

I have great love for these shrines and altars and have shared many throughout the years here on my blog.  Here, here, here and here are a few- and others I can't find right now ;)

I personally have little shrines at both of my houses, reminding me of my beliefs, my heritage and those I love who have passed away as well as those who are still with us.  I am reminded every day, and I love that feeling.

With that, I will take you through my jasmine arbor and into my little courtyard garden at the city house for this year's Dia de los Muertos...

        

I light my candles and sit in silence, embracing the beauty...

        

I fill my giant candelabra with fresh flowers, one by one, as thoughts fill my mind. 

        

I think of my Aunt Pat (My Mother's sister) who we lost a few years ago.  I think about how Thanksgiving is coming, and how she loved to pick at the turkey while either my Uncle Pelon (brother) or my Aunt Denise (sister) were trying to carve the turkey.  We used to think that was so terribly annoying of her, picking at the turkey.  Now, I would love to have her here, picking at the turkey all she wants.  I learn about the trivial things we choose to make issues out of, and I let them go...

        

I light a candle for her...

        

I think about my maternal Great-Grandfather who came here from France.  How I would love to sit and ask him a million questions.  I think about his sister who I am told I look like.  I wonder if there is a whole flock of people in France that I might look like, that are long lost relatives... 

        

I think about my Grandpa Valencia who has been gone since I was a teen.  I can still smell and feel his garage/shop.  Car paint, paint thinner and cigarettes.  I see his kind gentle smile quite vividly.  I might be wrong, but I feel like he was trapped in his little world, and would go into his workshop to escape.  I wonder if he had the mad passion for freedom of mind, like I do.  I feel lucky for the chance to pursue my dreams, and I get a lump in my throat, wishing he could have tasted a bit of the freedom I feel...

        

I think about my 3 grandparents who are alive and kicking and give vast thanks.  I light candles for my parents and my siblings.  For the man I love, and for our furry babies.  And while I remember those that have passed away, I am thankful that so many of my loved ones are still with us...

        

I dedicate this post to memory of all of my loved ones who have passed away, as well as yours.  May the memories we hold of them be vivid and beautiful...

 

Lovely Stephanie of Rodrigvitz Style is hosting her annual Dia de Bloglandia event today. 

Details about joining and beautiful photos and shrines are over at her wonderful virtual Mango Studio.

Building a shrine in the memory of someone you have lost can be incredibly healing and therapeutic.  You don't have to be a part of any religion to build a memorial as such.  So perhaps, building a shrine might help your heart heal, if you are feeling the pain of loss, or if you simply want to have a special physical place to hold the memories of loved ones...

See you very soon!

 

♥, V

Welcome Autumn...

The girl of a thousand projects (all going at once) rested her head in a big fluffy white bed, at the end of a long busy day.  Her dreams fluttered around and played crazy little games.  The stories in her dreams had strange twists and turns, and could in fact be quite exhausting - and yet were welcomed for being so exciting...

So, she snoozed on and on as night turned to day, and awoke her with crashes and thuds.  A wild wind danced around as trees swayed with great gusto and a windmill outside creaked as it turned at top speeds.

Autumn had arrived, yes.  Yes indeed...

She slowly came to life, opening her eyes, her body aching from days of hard work.  Then she heard a strange sound.  Stranger than words, an animal?  A cry?  She grabbed her camera, just in case, and raced out of bed, bumping into things and tripping with that morning groggy head...

Why, it was...

A raven. Quite large.

Oh, how Edgar Allen Poe she thought, as she curiously grinned, then whispered the words -

Oh Autumn, you humor me so...

The raven looked her right in the eye and let out a bizarre little cry.  She was sure he said, "Well, hello..." 

He flew all around her then swooped down quite low, and she knew, this season was bound to be more than magical...

She skipped over to her her radishes and bell peppers and baby cantaloupes.  Good Morning Babies, she called out, as she did every day.  And then gasped in sheer dismay...

It was as if they had never existed.  Those babied beloved plants.  Vanished over night.

Mister Orange Eyed bird (who is ever so nosy) flew over to his regular branch and sang the most precious tune...

The girl sighed, but before she could even think to cry for her wee little garden, she spotted two rabbits, skinny as could be.  And thought, well I hope it was those two, who had a great feast.  Poor little skinny cottontails...

And she let it go. 

Letting go, is that September's lesson?  It certainly seems so.  It brings a sense of calm with it...

So, with that, we Welcome Autumn and all the scents of spices and the tinges of crisp cool air it brings.

Tonight, we light the first candle in the wee little office, sitting room, cozy space, packaging area.  Just a few more days of hard work for the space to be complete, so close!!

Then it is back to play time ;)

♥, V

 

ps:  If you signed up for the Halloween Party and don't see your name on the list, please don't hesitate to contact me.  I am a one woman show, and am bound to make a mistake or two ;) 

pss:  I will keep the potion labels stocked in my shop, and will be shipping them out as quickly as can be, so you can have time to play ;)

Hope, Love & Peace...

Today is the International Day of Peace.  A day to reflect, a day to talk to ourselves about how we can make a difference...

It is a day to light a candle in memory of all those who have worked tirelessly in the name of peace.  There are so many movies I have seen from Hotel Rwanda to endless others, that leave me feeling powerless.  The truth is, we are not powerless, as they say, change starts within ourselves.  One person at a time...

It is very easy to lose our peace within.  Especially when as human beings, we tend to react from a place of negativity more easily than from a place of happiness and kindness. 

When people say something to us, I find more often that not, we interpret what they said through a negative filter rather than through a positive one.  Jealousy and hatred are easy to let go of, if we take a moment to love ourselves and to be happy for others... 

These things are simply a few of the vital elements for reaching some form of peace.  I do believe that peace starts within, and then seeps out to touch others...

If only we could all come together...

Peace could spread like wild fire...

For today, all of us at A Fanciful Twist send peace your way, as we join in Rhonda Roo's Peace Party...

      

One person, one Elfin, one creature at a time, we can spread peace, if we truly want to...

      

Lots to reflect on and think about for today.  I know peace is difficult in this world in which we live.  We have so many frustrations to deal with.  It is complicated.  But maybe somewhere in there, there is a light that never goes out...  (oops, that is the name of a favorite song ;) - Which I actually always listen to and adore in Spanish sung by Miguel Erentxun)

Now, I must be off because I have to go to Home Depot for the 16th time in 72 hours ;)  Plus run other errands. 

      

I tell ya, I have found my own peaceful place to lose myself in, amongst the endless painting.

        

I have been on a ladder for 3 days straight, painting.  I have lost myself in thought, and found quite a sense of peace, 6 gallons of paint later...

 

Mister Lovee and I have been pushing forward for 2 weeks.  We are trying to finish a little office for me that started as a whim project years ago.  It was first going to be a little guest space, with a teeny kitchen etc.  But now will be a beloved office...

We are both sore and tired, but we won't give up.  Little red swollen hands forge ahead...

      

Thank goodness for a crafty Mister Lovee, who can build work spaces to suit...

      

I must run into town now, and I will make sure to add Halloween partiers to the list (that signed up over the weekend) as soon as I return this afternoon.  Typepad is being very glitchy, thank goodness it is International Peace day.  I am taking deep breaths as my computer system gets shut down a dozen times trying to put pictures in this post ;) ;)

Peace.  Breathe it, feel it. 

I hope you have a beautiful wonderful day!!

 

 

♥ ,V

 

ps:  Sorry about the unclickable glitchy photos...

Today.

Was.

A.

Wacky Day.

Have you ever had one of those days where you are walking along, minding your own business, all is calm and then WHAMO.  Wacky weird?

      

Expect the unexpected they say. 

Make Lemonade out of lemons they say.

The inside of a soon to be cracked egg mess explodes and decorates the floor with bright happy confetti. 

What do they say about that?

 

It wasn't a rotten day.  I discovered a snafu with something and I had to stop everything I was doing and deal with it...

They say everything happens for a reason.

Maybe it does?

Once, I had an annoying snafu that made me late leaving the house, and it also kept me 2 minutes behind a horrible car accident. 

A long long time ago a boy broke my heart so badly that I thought it would never heal.  Time cured my heart and even erased him from my heart's memory.  I healed and flourished and the boy turned out to be a rotten man to a girl he married.  Boy was I happy he broke my heart early on... 

 

They say, there is light at the end of a tunnel.   

They say, change your perception and the whole world will change.

      

But, what do they say about cleaning your room?

        

Nothing I hope.  Unless they say something like, there will be a pot of gold under your mess.  Then again, you might find a note from one of the most important people in the world (if you clean your room)... 

 

The reminder that you are someone's lovely child, is better than any ole pot of gold...

  

They say to make the most of what you have in life.  I say, thank goodness for decoupage, felt balls, crystals, clay, twinkling lights and paint.  They can help you build your palace, even in a country love shack...

   

Some days will be wacky, some days will be wonderful, some days will be rotten, some days will be sublime.  Some days will even seem mundane...

Until the rainbow and the moon turn up at the same time, to remind you to open your eyes and see the bigger picture... (click on image for full effect ;)

   

And then, your wacky day turns out okay, albeit unresolved.  Which is okay because the one you love hugs you in the kitchen.  One of those hugs where they hold on and squeeze tighter with each breath.  A never ending hug, full of the only thing that truly matters. 

Maybe it really is about the confetti in the end?  Confetti in your heart and in your soul, much like butterflies in your belly...

      

Yes yes, perhaps a little confetti is all we need?

 

♥,V

 

ps:  I am going to watch The Soloist right now and make some jewelry for my case in my friend's shop (I need to refill it tomorrow, eeeps!).  And in a few days, I hope to be able to share the super fun thing I was supposed to share today, which snafued on me ;)

pss:  All of the indoor photos in this post were taken at night, hence the strange lighting...

Mad Tea Party 2009 {A Question} + Other Lil' Tid-bits

For four nights, while floating through dreamland, the same wonderful Mad Tea Party thought came to me.  But, it requires your help...

 

Were you at the Mad Tea Party this year?  If so, I need a little favor, pretty please, with cherries on top?  What I need from you is your direct link to your Mad Tea Party 2009 post. 

      

I want to create a spot on my blog, with all your links to your Mad Tea Party Blog Posts.  Of course, I have all the links to your blogs, but not to the parties specifically.

 

Please leave your link to your party blog post, right here in comments, so I can have them in one place.  If you have any issues with that, you can of course, e-mail it to me ;)  I will then get started building a special page just for your party post links.

 I will leave the first comment below, in this post, with an example of what I am asking for. 

 

I was going to start visiting everyone who attended and searching for the Mad Tea Party posts in your blogs myself.  But after 3, I realized it would take me an enormous amount of time to do so. Like, an eternity... (wonderfully, there were almost 300 of you who participated, which is why I need your help)

         

So, I am asking you for this wee favor.  That way, people can visit your links directly to the party, throughout the year.  Wouldn't that be marvelous?  We think so, and we thank you in advance, kindly ;)

 

Sooooooo, that's the question/favor.  I can't wait to build a special Mad Tea Party Victorian Mansion {of the imaginary variety} to house all your party links...

In other news. 

It has been cloudy.  Yummy, cloudy perfection.  I long for cloudy days in this sun laden place.  A perfect day to roam around my boudoir, tidying up...

 

A moment for sitting in my chair, which is so cozy and perfect for day-dreaming...

      

The truth is, I can't show you the other side of my boudoir today :)

It looks like it was in an earthquake.  I truly don't know how it happened.  Probably because I am like a little creature, bringing things from the city house to the country and vice-versa.  Never ending back and forth.  My Mom wanted me to send a picture of the crazed room to her phone.  She thought I was exaggerating.

After she saw it she said, "My love, what happened??? If my room looked like that, I would be forced to just go to bed." 

HAHA!  She is so funny.  Mind you, she would never go to bed until it was sparkling clean.

I had a tea party while tidying up, so it looks 100 times better.  And maybe one day, it can have its photograph taken again...

For now, a little more of this is in store before I get to work today...

      

I am hoping the clouds stay a little longer...

As for my little giveaway ~ two names plucked from the hat look like (wave the wand), PRESTO CHange-o...

      

Miss Pattie and Miss Gillian!!  Yipeeee Yay!  (please send me your addresses you lovelies!)

Now, I must thank you for being so truly kind to me.  My new camera (after speaking to 13 people at Sony) is on its way to UPS to make a journey to the camera doctor.  Dealing with Sony, not fun.  But, hopefully my gal will be working soon.  I think the shutter is getting stuck, personally...

I have been using my other Sony, that has been cleaned and serviced, and did okay with the last 4 photos above, me thinks ;) 

So, blogging ensues!  ;) ;)

Do have a spot of tea and a wee chat with us before you boogie on outta here...

  

Oh and, please don't forget to leave me your link to your Mad Tea Party Post, thanks oodles! xoxo

♥,V

ps:  Next time, I must tell you about an incredible documentary I can't get out of my head... 

Moonbeam Glow...

Yesterday was an intense day.  It was oh so hot.  I awoke at 6 a.m. to package parcels, get them to the post, and get into town to help with a strenuous outdoor project.  Outdoors in Arizona heat is unreal.

 

Fall winter and spring in the desert are beyond glorious.  But if you are not careful, summer days can zap the life right out of you.  Working in the thick of it bakes your brains, body and soul.  I would even go so far as to say, you forget who you are, or where you came from.  A heat daze...

Who am I again?

 

At 7 p.m. I made my trek back to the country.  Dropping off dinner to Mister Lovee at the office to get him through a late night's work. 

I was beyond exhausted.

I arrived to the country house and walked over to my gypsy wagon.  All of a sudden, I got a huge jolt of energy.  Which led me to take everything out of one of our sheds in search of a little retro sofa I have.  I became bound and determined to see how it would fit in the wagon...

      

Into the dusty wagon I went, using all the last of my energy to pull my little sofa in.  I lit my candles, and threw a blanket over the sofa...

It was so dark.

   

It was dark and hot.  But cozy at the same time.  I felt like I was in a cocoon.  I wanted to be sad.  Little changes here and there in my life, saying goodbye to people I love.  Too much to do, too much to clean, too much of everything for one elf to handle...

I wanted to think of all the things that are overwhelming about my life as I sat in the dark in my wagon.  

 

But I couldn't. 

It's not in me to mope.  I can try, but it comes off as part of what Mister calls my "comedy show." 

I kept thinking about what my friend's son said before he passed away from cancer over a year ago, at age 34.  He handled his life changes and pain so admirably.  He always used to say, "you have to be alive, to be inconvenienced..."

I realized as I lost myself in the flickering candle, that I think about his words almost everyday.

      

About how things could be worse.  About, how I am beyond happy that I am healthy and able to do and deal with all the things I abhor.  (like mopping, vacuuming, taxes/paperwork, the phone company, mean people, love shack repairs, in city house responsibilities, change)

Then, just like that, I can't be depressed or sad or annoyed...

 

I take it day by day, minute by minute, little steps and things get done...

I listen to my beliefs, their guidance.  I take messages from mother nature.  I fiercely protect my heart, mind and soul. 

I think my greatest downfall, while I was growing up, was letting other people's opinions and mean words about me and my life affect me.  It was never my family who hurt me, but friends, school mates, co-workers and strangers... 

I wish I knew then what I know now.  Don't we all feel that way? 

Part of my self protection comes in the form of me repeating to myself, as if talking to another person, "You have no say in my life, how I live it, or what I do.  My life is mine..."

I was already a dark tortured artiste type in my twenties, I'm over it.  I guess I got it out of my system ;)

Anyhow, I was thinking bits and pieces of these things last night, while I sat in my gypsy wagon.

      

I looked out into the night, and I noticed that the mountains had a vast glow behind them.  Then, just like that, Mother Nature came in with a message as the moon emerged over the mountains...

The words, You are just where you need to be and everything is lovely, swirled all around me, and I was drenched in moonbeam glow...

      

Believe in a path, believe in your path...  and I do.  I always have.  I hold on tight...

In my twenties, all I wanted was to find peace of mind.  And, the only place I could find it was in art.  It was truly the only option for me. 

I couldn't even think about what some of my friends were thinking about.  Kids and a family and a husband.  I was still trying to figure out how I was going to make it through the complexities of my mind... (plus I was much better at being a pseudo auntie ~ you know, cake for breakfast and 3 hour long baths with too many bubbles and snorkels - those sort of things I can handle)

I had to immerse every bit of my soul in paint.  I used to say that my paintings were all my emotions, poured out onto canvas...

The point is.  Taking my life back in my late twenties by not unknowingly doling out little pieces of myself for people to kick around, and learning to shelter my heart and soul, has been invaluable to me.  I wish I had learned that sooner.  Mammie always told me to do so, of course, I had to find out for myself ;)

It also took coming to the country 10 years ago and realizing that scrounging flowers to put in a glass jar, and using an old tattered fabric for an impromptu dinner under the stars with Mister Lovee was more beautiful than anything I had ever experienced.  I found myself in a place where the fun in making something out of nature's offerings was incredibly fulfilling.

And so, I think he knows that taking weathered little treasures and making them whatever you want, is food for the soul.  It was food for my soul.

With the moon peering onto me and my wee wagon, I found myself with another tattered treasure to work on, which would in turn, continue to nourish me.  And so the journey begins for me and my wee wagon...

On a hot sweltering night -

      

My soul is peaceful and I revel in simple complexities, like spider webs and tree leaves and of course, moonbeam glow. 

I admire tin cans lighting the rusty old ceiling...

      

And in this new-found gypsy wagon nook, the juggler of a wacky life rests, as her furry friend sleeps on, protected by the man in the moon...

      

Tired and disheveled and fulfilled she creeps to the house in the dark, her ribbon lost to a branch...

       

And, the next day, her life starts with grand force, by giving the red wooden creature a bath.  Meanwhile, the phone rings off the hook, and the real world tugs tugs tugs...

She ignores it all, if only for an hour or two.  Then with palpable peace of mind, she grabs her shiny red balls, and starts her juggling act all over again.

  

♥,V

ps:  Thank you for being there to read my words.  To share your thoughts.  They propel me to continue sharing.  Goodness, how I value you.  And if from time to time I drop a ball - for instance if I don't say hello as often as I should or respond quite quickly to an e-mail, it's that I might not be juggling very well.  So, please don't ever feel ignored or slighted by me.  Know that, that is never my intention.  Love, V

pss:  If you want to faint from sheer bliss, go here.  And, if you want to be super inspired, go here...

psss:  As Miss lovely Karen just reminded me, Jeanne Bayol with fill you with so much beauty and temptation, you won't know what to do with yourself ;)  Go here to visit serious magical wonderment...

Afterglow

Hello, hello!  I wanted to pop in and say - Thank you, thank you ever so much for being a part of the Mad Tea Party.  Whether you had your own party, or just peeked in, I thank you.

      

The sharing of wonderful & magical tea parties that so many of you had on your blogs left me speechless.  I was so touched to see the inspiring participation.  Thank you for going out of your way, and stepping into Wonderland. 

It is a very special relationship we have here in the blogosphere.  Where so many of us can unite and share what we love.  Be our true selves, without boundaries...

I can't wait to share a tiny tea party with you again!

      

As many of you know, I fell ridiculously ill on Saturday as I was wrapping up my party post.  I thought I had the stomach flu.  But, I soon realized, I was having a dramatic dance with one of the few unpleasant parts of my life.  Vertigo.  I get it twice a year or so.  I can't believe it visited me during the festivities. 

I was trying to figure out what was making me so sick.  Believe it or not, I didn't even sample any of the wee cakes I made during the week.  Alas, the out of control spinning head made me realize what was visiting me.  Thank goodness for my vertigo medication or I would not have been able to make visits. 

I tried my very best to visit everyone.  If I missed you (which I hope I didn't), please know, it was not intentional at all.  I will leave the party list up until the end of this week.  

I am still not 100%.  I have been a noodle, partaking in things like begging to feel better while in the garden bath...

 

Which does make me feel so much better.  The sun twinkling through the trees while monsoon clouds dance about, pretending they are going to bring rain...

      

Submerging your head under water, and seeing the blurred trees through bubbles.  Listening to your heart actually thump, thump, thump...  A garden bath might be my favorite thing in the world.  Or close to it ;)

Last night a delightful friend, Miss D, came over and we chatted and cut paper flowers.  Technically snowflakes, but we are calling them flowers.  We made them into a banner to put up at her house for the 4th of July.  She is just so much fun!  I even got to have uncombed hair and wear my Little House on the Prairie attire.

 

Our beau's were rehearsing and when they got back, they were a ball of laughs.  My studio table can turn from a square into a giant rectangle.  So I extended the leafs and the boys (men) had dinner in the studio.  It was so unusual to have my studio full of people chatting and laughing.

 

It was wonderful.  Oh, and everyone modeled a marvelous hat that came in the mail yesterday from one of the sweetest people on earth, who made it herself.  It was a hit Miss Cori!!

      

Today I had residual vertigo, and so I have been doing things in intervals between feeling good and not so good.  But I tell ya, by tomorrow, I plan to be back to my normal self.  I hope! 

 

I am finishing packaging up prints etc.  And then, goood stuff!  I can't wait to show ya ;)

Thank you again for sharing yourselves and your whimsy.  And, for sharing your lives, your time, your tea parties, and your families too (including furry family members) in many cases.  Thank you for a magical Mad Tea Party, 2009.  Partying like it was 1865 was a blast because of you!

  ♥,V

Living {from the inside out}

I had a thought.  A thought about living.  I mean, really living and knowing you are living.  Feeling fulfilled.  Feeling genuine self-worth. 

A thought about unpacking all the facets of your personality that are stored in some suitcase somewhere and setting them free.  Free to roam, free to come out whenever they want.  Free to be a part of your life...

       

I think that there is an amazing gift that is available to each and every human being on this earth.  It is the gift of being able to embrace our lives just as they are, and perceive them to be good.  So, why is it so hard to do?

Believe it or not, this gift is better than waking up as the perfect you that you see in your mind's eye, or living the so called perfect life you wish you had. 

Chances are, most of us already have those things, and we just don't realize it.

I think we are programmed to put a part of our lives on hold until we attain some greater level of being.  Wealthier, prettier, handsomer, smarter, an endless list right?

But, but but - time, is tic toc-ing away. Wasted...

What about embracing and loving the you now, before any more time slips away? 

What if someone told you that you were free to live your life from the inside out? 

Not from the outside in, which can confuse our hearts true desires.  For example, someone asks you if you ever going to change this or that about your life.  All of a sudden, you think, wow, should I be changing that?  And you think this because of an outside influence.  You hadn't thought about it at all on your own...  Why?  Because whatever it is didn't need changing to begin with.

So you convince yourself, you need to make a change that is not authentic to what you really desire. 

So, I say, Inside out.  What you really want.  What truly makes you happy.  Simplifying things.

How many factors about your life are completely molded by outside influences?  Influences that make you believe you want or need something, that you really don't...

I think (just my opinion) living from the inside out allows you the freedom to feel a whole lot better standing in "your shoes," since noone can really pass judgment on your life and what works for you until they are walking in your shoes - and since that won't ever happen...

       

I feel more and more like I am living my life from the inside out.  I fill it with what I love, and noone has the right to pass negative judgment on what they think about my life and my person.  They just don't.  They don't have a right to do it to me, or to you...

And if for some reason, some not so good outside idea seeps into my world, I ask myself, is that coming from me or did I let a little troll in?

We have the freedom and the power to love ourselves and our life.  To be happy and satisfied, and to live our lives to the fullest, just as they are.  Sure, real life stuff happens.  It isn't always going to be a big party.  But, it could be more often, if we operated our lives from the inside out...

For example, to me, living my life to the fullest means integrating a lot of simple things.  Free things.  Readily available things.  Like dancing when noone is around.  Letting myself go, and just feeling the music... 

I feel alive and fulfilled as I break free and jump around...

      

Ditching my umbrella in the rain...

        

Being messy and wacky.  Exploding emotions onto canvas.  Many that I don't show anyone...

 

Inventing tunes that tickle the soul... (or playing the song below)

        

Feeling the moonlight.  It's free you know...

 

I guess the point is, it's not so hard to have a lovely good life, if we partake in all the little things that we have at our fingertips.  And, try not to get caught up in things that really don't matter in the end...

   

That's all.

Just a thought I wanted to share...

I have been dancing to this song non-stop.  Ian Parker and Justin Bland put this very real little video together, Brooklyn brat pack mashup, which makes me smile big time.  It is set to Phoenix's new song Lisztomania (Fab album! as are their others).  It was a video response to a brat pack mash up video set to the same song, which makes me swoon big time too, and brings back all sorts of 80's love round me hearrrrt.

Were you wondering what Lisztomania is?  Or who Franz Liszt is?  Maybe not, but now you know :)

I am painting all night - but first, maybe another dance ;)  Will you join in?

Oh and, don't forget to take a little of this next time you are twirling under the moonlight.  (Mister Lovee says my hand looks like Bart Simpson's hand in this shot, haha!)

      

♥,V 

ps:  Miss Kylee (you know who you are) started the idea of dancing on the rooftops yesterday in one of our crazy e-mails of fave songs etc...  ;)  Cheers with shirley temples!!

Es un Pajaro a Volar - Part 2

 

My renewed appreciation for the Shrine I made years ago,

 

and shared in the post below, all of a sudden makes perfect sense. 

 

All of it slammed together like a puzzle piece...

 

        

 

My Mom reminded me, it was a special day today. 

 

A very special day for a certain someone who meant more to us than she knew. 

 

Meant more to us, than perhaps we even knew.

 

"Sit back and think," I said to myself. 

 

Think of the woman, whose birthday would have been today, if she had still been here.

 

49.

 

49 is young.

 

Is she watching us?

 

Is she in Paradiso Perduto?

 

I grasp for memories.  I ask myself questions...

 

Why don't we take time out of our selfish lives, to do the things we should do?

 

Take the phone call.

 

Meet for a chat.

 

Be there.

 

You never think that one day, it might be too late.

 

        

 

And the one thing about time passing is, you can never go back.

 

You just can't.

 

You can't rewind, even to the last second in time that fluttered by... 

 

I close my eyes and see her.

 

She was funny.

 

She loved attention.

 

She adored feeling needed and wanted.

 

She loved inventing stories that she wished were her reality.

 

Her characters were vast.

 

I forget often, that she is not with us.

 

And when I am reminded, the swell of pain is far too great -

 

Far too great.

 

I dreamed her in a white dress.  In this dream, she was running from me asking me to leave her alone, because she was happy wherever she was.  But when she saw my tears she stopped, clasped my hands in hers, and whispered to me that, if I missed her, all I had to do was look at my hands, because we have the same hands...

 

I woke up frantic.

 

I didn't know if it was true.  Did we have the same hands??

 

Was it really all just a dream?

 

I searched and searched for a photograph, of her hands...

 

I found one today.

 

 

 

My heart never ached such an ache. 

 

Did my Aunt really die a few years ago? 

 

My Mother's sister, a missing piece of our very close family.

 

The first missing piece of our family.

 

It seems so unbelievable to my mind.

 

Yet, for some reason, reality hit me today.

 

Like never before...

 

I can hear her, "Hi Vannnnnnessssaaa" she dragged my name out dramatically.

 

I look down, at my hands.

 

 

        

They look just like hers...

 

Birds of a Feather...

From my window where I work and type, I spy a bit of life fluttering about outside.  There is so much bird activity around, chatter and song, such a delight...

   

When my office out here in the country is complete, I will have to make a special bird sanctuary outside of that window.  Which looks upon this open space below, where black birds visit often...

   

I bet you are wondering why I am here today, when I should be getting my gown ready for the carnival soiree?  Alas, I have been working on a huge website project for a dear friend.  And just put in a day and a half of computer time to get it closer to almost totally done.  So I am giddy and happy, and feeling freer, and wanting to shout out Happy Friday from mountain tops!!  ;) ;)

I don't know about you, but I don't like to have loose ends here and there.  I wanted to tackle this project sooner rather than later.  So about 17 hours of work later, I am pretty much done, and I want to do cartwheels and handstands I tell ya!!  In the thick of it, I got a little crazed, and the only thing that kept me sane, was chatting with the birds...

      

So, I thought it prudent, to pop in and tell you about a "regular" at the bird feeder hitching post...  Since some of these lil' guys are my special friends, and keep me company day to day...

You see, there is this little guy called Joey.  He comes right up to my window when he needs more seed.  He hangs out at the bird feeder I made.  He thinks I made it just for him ;)

   

Joey tells me things about the other birds.  The quail drive him insane. He thinks they are rather selfish and full of themselves ;)  He tried to talk to a quail baby, you know make friends, but mama quail ushered the babes to hide, and then skipped along, snooty as can be, hurried as a bee...

   

Joey thought her quite silly.  He says the quail act rather suspicious and nervous... (I love them all the same)

Joey likes to stuff his face, in the most unsightly manner (don't tell him I said that), but I don't mind because he is so cute...

   

But, like I said, Joey thinks I made this Froggie feeder (which I don't think he realizes is a frog, tee heee) just for him.  So he gets rather cross when other birds want in...

What, what's that you say?  There is another bird on his way??? asks Joey.  

    

So, Joey forgoes sharing a little, to spend his time guarding "his frog."

Joey the Watchman ;)

    

    

But then, he spies a lovely plump birdling gal.  And just like that - he abandons his seed...  And all you are left with is the memory of his being there, and a glimpse of his tail as he flutters away...

   

Because, what I have learned you see, is that even birds, like you and me, just want to be loved, and will abandon any treat, no matter how delicious, to cuddle cheek to cheek... 

        

Canoodle canoodle, snuggle snuggle, bird love ;)

Happy Friday!!    (Hope I get to see you tomorrow)

♥,V

Sometimes you just have to...

Sometimes, no matter how busy you are, regardless of looming deadlines and elves & sugar plum houses needing paint, you just can't say no to a date with Mister Blue Bird on his shoulder...

      

What, you need to go out in the desert?  Sure, sounds like a ton of fun.  I'd love to go!!  Perhaps I should take a day off, since I have a nasty glue gun burn...  Yes yes, that is a good reason to take a day off...

My goodness that hurt!!!  Such a little thing, but strong in the pain dept. I tell ya...  And I am not a wimp, so trust me on that - hot glue gun straight on skin - OUCH!  ;)

        

Soooo, down the winding road we went, merrily merrily merrily...

         

Beauitful happy Mister Saguaro greeted us... 

        

With hundreds of years of secrets under his belt.  "Hello Mister Saguaro!  Got any good tales to tell??"

        

Why yes, he said...  Tales of endless generations of birds that have carved little holes in him to live in... 

He didn't seem to mind at all...

I was also greeted by a very large cactus family.  Many little cacti family members.  All talking at the same time...

    

And of course, magical talking rocks.  What, you thought those were only in Return to Oz?  Oh no, they are in the desert here too!!

   

SO fun!!  I collected lava like rocks...

         

While Mr. Lovee found real treasures...

   

Fascinating cactus skeletons...

    

And inspiring lichen colors...

    

A lovely weekend day...  Where taking time off to just be, opens your heart to all that is lovely...

  

And things seem as simple as three words...  

    

And you make sure to leave a trail of love for the next person who comes down the road...

  

That was a lovely day in the desert hills...

     

The perfect day with a jolt to retackle your crazy studio and get back to work...  Can I get arrested for this kind of chaotic studio?  Oh, NO you say?  Well, thank goodness...

  

Oh and don't forget, if you want to participate, One World One Heart starts on the 19th!!  

   

I best be on my way for now...  Our quiche is beeping and it smells lovely.  I have perfected the quiche and crust, I do believe ;)  Do you all want the recipe?  I don't know if people like quiche, and or like to make it?  It makes a lovely meal...  I can post my recipe if anyone is interested...  

         

See you sooooon!!  

♥♥♥♥, V

La Piñata Encantada & Bibbity Boppity, TRUE!

I didn't mean to leave less than lovely news lingering ;)  Because, things have actually been really delightful around here.  The thing is, you have to know, when something sad or annoying or bad happens, I have to do something fun and free.  I am not a woe is me kinda girl at all...  I like to jump on my bike and search for magic...

        

What I really am is a "Let's make those wishes come true" kinda girl.

So, it all began with me thinking I was some kind of piñata maker...  And, maybe I am?  I just didn't know it.  But I was determined, to make sure that your wishes found a good way to reach the reality waves...

  

And boy did they ever...  Come with me, and I will tell you where your wishes went...

So, a few days ago, I made this piñata, let it dry, and then took the balloon out from the inside.  My first time ever making a piñata.  Then I decorated it, and filled it with all your wishes.  I sealed it up, and shook it all about, to start bringing the wishes to life...

 

Once complete, I started my journey on setting them free.  At which point I was locked out of the house for a few hours.  And had to break in (literally), since our country house is sealed like you wouldn't believe.  Mister Lovee was out of town for the day, I didn't have my cell, and I was dressed like a cartoon version of Betsey Johnson, if you can imagine that...  But that is another story entirely ;)  Anything to make your wishes come true, I tell ya!!

So, I took this magic piñata, climbed a ladder in all those layers of skirts and heels, and hung it from a tree... 

        

         

       

And, just when I hung it, little bits of magic started seeping out...  OH, I squealed, I knew we were on to something gooooood!  

It seemed it was time to grab my stick, and crack that bad boy...  I got butterflies in my stomach...  Could I pull it off?  Was there really magic bubbling inside??

    

    

         

I took my giant stick, and hit it with all my might...  It swooped into the sky, and then dipped and swayed and bopped all around...  

         

         

All of a sudden, I heard a sound, like magic twinkling... Like sparkles of fairies, like little words being whispered.  They were your wishes!  They had voices...  They were chanting your wishes in fairy like whispers, plink plink plink...

         

The fairy twinkles of voices became louder and louder.  The piñata was swaying on it's own, it was buzzing with the inside flutter...

I hit it again...

        

       

Wishes burst forth, dancing singing, buzzing little plink plink plink voices...  

         

And then, the unspeakable happened.  If I hadn't had my camera, you wouldn't have believed me, I just know it...

The sparkles started taking a glassy iridescent shape, and then turned into perfect glowing bubbles...

  

They floated into the sky, and as the bubbles fluttered higher and higher, with each pop, wishes started becoming reality...  One by one...  

  

Others floated away so far, that I couldn't see them anymore...  But I knew, they would work their way into reality...  

  

Your wishes, were literally fluttering all around me...

         

But, I still had one good crack, in order to set all the wishes completely free.  So I hit the piñata, for the last time... 

Just when I thought, it couldn't really get any more magical...  Specks of sparkles started turning into buds, and grew leaves, and poured out...

        

    

They swam into the beautiful sky...

    

Then, some of the flowers and sparkles landed on my feet, and danced all around me... 

   

I was speechless.  Astounded.  Mesmerized.  Blown-away...

         

I got on my knees, and put my ear to the ground...  There were twinkles and voices and sparkles in the soil...  I could hear them...  Some of the sparkles, were actually, planting themsleves in the ground... 

 

Those were for deeper wishes...  Your Wishes that needed watering and love... The ones that needed a tad more nurturing.  They would wiggle into the ground and gain strength...  Just for a little while...

  

I sighed.  I knew it was time for me to be on my way.  I had done my part. 

   

As I looked down, I realized, magical brooches were on my fuchsia shoes...  A selfish little wish granted...  If only I had wished for my lovely walk in closet, filled with beautiful frocks and jewels and shoes that lives at the house in town, to appear at the country house...  Hee hee... 

        

Alas, I threw in a more serious wish...  I wish, that there was more respect in the world.  Respect for fellow man.  Respect for people as well as their material possessions.  Respect for children, and animals.  Respect for those in and of our country, world & globe.  Respect for eachother's artwork and vision.  Respect for secrets shared, for tales told, for hearts open.  But most of all, Respect for ourselves, because that is where it all begins.   

      

And most of all, I wish all of us, the strength of mind, to stay young.  To not let ugly thoughts or ideas obstruct our beautiful minds and souls.  The ability to walk away from negativity.  The openness to see a different perspective.  To not set ourselves and everyone around us up for failure.  But to do the opposite.  To bring light and love into ourselves, for the goodness of peace to ourselves...  Because once we do that, we can begin to share it...  Those are the steps, I think, to changing our lives and ultimately, the world...  It all has to start with each and everyone of us...  Seems crazy?  But it is true...

People mirror eachother in such a curious way.  Say a person is grouchy, and you smile at them so much, that they eventually break down, and even giggle...  We can help eachother.  I feel people's vibes all the time.  Sometimes, I say to myself, if hit with a negative vibe, you know, you didn't do anything, it is that persons issue, not yours...  But, the thing is, if we were all more aware of how we affect each other, maybe we could all start to make a difference...

My Dad told me never to throw away a penny.  But to pick them up, and save them.  One little penny.  You need one to have two to have three to have a million.  It all starts with one...

Find your happy place and snuggle in.  Know the directions to it, make a map, so that you can go there, whenever the ship hits waves ;)  ♥V♥

And Remember... (this song always jolts me to run and feel the wind on my face when I am out for walk)

   

♥♥♥♥

(later addition) PS:  I thought I would tell you a funny story that was running through my mind...  After listening to that U2 song and obviously being a U2 fan, especially the early stuff, I thought I would share this.  Mister Lovee is and was Mister charmola.  So, our first date was a fantastical road trip.  We had so much fun, we extended it by 3 days.  WE were smitten.  On the way home from the trip, we were talking about music and such.  He can entertain for hours and hours telling you all sorts of music stories.  He is a tad older than me ;) so his stories to me, have a vintage flair, but he knows about all music, no joke, music history and the whole bit.

Anyhow, we are talking and I blurt out with sheer excitement, "I Love U2!"  And he stays very quiet.  Then pats my hand, and says, I love you too...  And the rest, is history...  HAha!!  Don't tell him I meant I loved U2 and not "you too," at that stage of the game ;)

Of course, he knew who U2 was, but you know, things get confusing sometimes ;)

Like when my family and I were having dinner at a restaurant years ago, and the waitress asked my little brother (he was around 8) if he wanted soup or salad.  And he looked up at her, with huge puppy dog eyes.  He has perfectly round eyes to begin with, and blinks, with kind of a sad perplexed look on his face, and he says "Can I just have a regular salad, instead of a super salad???"  I LOVE THAT!!

When running on elfin shroom-nog fumes...

When running on elfin shroom-nog fumes, be very careful, because you just might end up on a rollercoaster ride like no other!!  (sometimes, when being served the stuff at elfin parties,  I wonder if shroom-nog really isn't just cream of mushroom soup - sure tastes like it ;)

I found myself in this glowing magical madness last night.

 

At this moment, I have dripping wet hair and am on my way to be blown dry by my more adult self, who is allowed to handle a blow dryer and electrical plug in items and such...  So, should I be here?  Probably not!!

But, I had to-had to, tell you something.  I went to a beauuuuuutiful place last night, I did I did.  And I have two Holiday soiree's tonight, back to back!!  I have been so busy making elves and dolls and tiny theaters, that I lost track of that fact that it is indeed the full swing of the Holiday Season.

And, on top of that, my extra special same-double-digit-birthday-year-week, starts at midnight!  So be prepared for a week of fun fun fun!!!  33, here I come!!  Woo hoooo!

But, before I get carried away, let me focus on what I came to tell you.  When I awoke from my shroom-nog haze, I was amongst (literally) half a million lights and luminaria...

Tunnels of twinkling beautiful lights...  People gasping, everyone happy.  Yes, a place other than Disneyland, where everyone is happy.

   

Don't feel sad for me, that we don't have snow (okay, maybe a little sad).  But, I only needed a double shawl to keep me warm, & no gloves or hats were necessary.  And, sure, we don't get to have snow men, but we do have Tumble Weed Men!!  And, guess what?  They think they are cooler than Snow Men.  Sheesh, so competitive!!  Then again, they have thorns, so they probably win on the toughness front (and last longer).

         

As you strolled there were carnival glass makers, painted gourd houses, and hot cider and treats....  There were also, more than enchanting and beautiful songs being sung...  And a group of people playing the most blissful music on gentle bells...  It took about 20 of them with different parts to make one song come together.  Incredible I say!!

    

But the lights, oh the lights, were so magical!  If only I could have brought you the moment...  I am not sure who these people are, but they seemed entranced too.  Well, maybe all except the teenager who was more worried about her hair. 

 

Oh, you know, this is funny.  When my parents grounded me once when I was a young teen, a teeny bopper of sorts ;)  They took away something very very dear to me.  Can you guess that it was?  HAIRSPRAY!!  Isn't that so sad?  It was a good thing too.  I mean, did I really need 5 inch tall bangs? 

We then went to a dinner party...  Where I had a prickly pear margarita, again!  And probably too much butter (on my bread), but I don't really remember because I was yapping too much, and probably making Tom's head (My friend's hubby) spin...

        

         

          

Sooo, that is that.  And I get to party s'more in an hour, for hours...  Hello Holiday Season!  I opened the door and fell right into it...

  

And while I painted my nails I glittered snowflakes and got my ornaments out... 

      

I know, insanity.  You can ask my friends, I often, really do go a mile a minute in every direction at once.  Or, my polar opposite side comes out, and I hide in closets and avoid faces.  I never know which one of my personalities is going to be available for the day...

And then I wonder why any greeting card or holiday card from my brother begins with "Dear Sybil..." 

Oh, and on another note (yes today is a Sybil kind of day) - I conjured up another cross!!  So, leave a Helooooo, and in the hat (or random number generator machine) your name shall go ;) ;)

        

Tomorrow I will package all day, and then be back with all sorts of fun during the week. 

I was born on Thursday December 11th, 1975, at 2 a.m.   And, this year, my birthday falls on a Thursday.  I hope this is as fun and blessed and as wonderfully lovely a year as the others have been.

Thank you guys for being a fun filled and magically kindred perpetual party!

♥♥♥, V

ps:  No time to spell check, so please forgive any jibberish that may exist within this blog post ;)

Escape & Return

Hi, Helooo, Hola!!  Wow, that was one long party wasn't it?  So many of you were a part of it through your own blogs, or came to party with us on the day.  My goodness, what magic you all brought with you!  Thank you sooooo much, from the bottom of my black shriveled witchy heart (it's only black during the Halloween season of course).  I can't thank you enough.  So, just know, I thank you so much, as do the multitude of "A Fanciful Twist" characters!!

       

How has your party recovery been going?  I have had so much to do.  I cleaned up the mess and organized it.  Put some of the guys that only came out for the party in my car (they have to venture back to my in town house).  I fainted for a day or so.  And then, I escaped!

I have to say, I love all the little ghostie children that live on our property and hide in little wood sheds.  However, a girl has to escape every so often, so as not to go completely insane...

        

The children don't seem to understand.  And you have to be very careful or the ghostlings might make it so you can never leave.  So I promise them stories and treats upon my return.  (Okay I am spooking myself out now, heee)

Speaking of little ghost children in the wood shed...  I am reminded to share about a ghost story contest going on right here at Art and Sewl . Check it out!  Fun prizes to be won as well!!  I love ghost stories, especially those of the real variety.  Can't wait to read those!!

Now, on to the escape part - Venturing into the real world can be a necessary chore for those who work from a hidden studio in the country.  So through the tunnel between here and there I traveled (not really the tunnel from here to there, but a good idea)... I would say this song beckoned me.  Although, do you want to know a secret?  The Spanish version by the lovely Mikel Erentxun beckoned me more.  It takes me about 45 minutes to get from the country to downtown Tucson...

    

I visted some places that are so quietly squeal worthy!!  I can't even stand it.  Squeal worthy and part of the Day of the Dead beauty.  Which is very much a part of where I grew up, in and around Mexico...  Marigold's abound!!

       

Day of the dead is a lovely celebration of those that have passed.  Also known as All Souls' Day, which also happens around or the day after All Saints' Day (I think).  Also, I am participating in my friend Stephanie's (Rodrigvitz Style - beautiful blog!) event in about a week (Nov. 2nd).  This event is called Dia de Bloglandia.  Check it out!!  I Can't wait!!  That is when I shall share some of my photos I captured as well as where they came from... 

If you are near or in Tucson, you might not want to miss the All Souls' Procession (parade).  Here is a Calendar of events with the schedules on the Many Mouths One Stomach website (oh, their gallery of photos is wondeful as well)...  There are countless exciting events going on here right now.  A procession for children on Nov. 1st and all kinds of events that weekend...  I am pretty sure you can find out details about any Tucson event in the Tucson Weekly...

So, back to my escape...

After strolls through hidden courtyards downtown by the museum of art, where I do pottery...

   

I stopped in to see what my friends were up to.  I was playing hooky from actually working on clay myself...

Joyce was making an incredible sculpture.  The body actually looked like fabric.  I will take more photographs as she completes him...

         

I dreamed of what was behind the beautiful blue door I often pass on my way to the pottery studio...

    

And I even bought some Christmas gifts...

        

I took some drive by photos of some of my favorite downtown places.  Which I then altered ;)

Grill, funky diner (once my college hang out at late hours), and the wig shop...

    

I thought this photo was funny, because I took it through my car window.  Which in turn, made my hands and camera turn up in the wig shop building facade...   

Then there is the Instrument shop...

   

After that I called up my sis to meet me at our fave place...

         

Where you will find a fabulous nightclub (Club Congress), and the Cup Cafe. 

   

           

Which has the best desserts in all of Tucson.  The banana creme pie here, will change your life!  ;)  If you like bananas that is... 

      

Sadly, we were in good mode and had no dessert. 

 

I had two cups of coffee a glass of water a cappuccino and a salad.  I don't know why I always sit with my legs crossed, up off the floor (criss cross applesauce)...

    

YIKES!   Talk about Speedy Gonzales. 

   

I thought I was hallucinating, but the floor really was made out of pennies.  Why had I never noticed that before?   I have been here a billion times in the last 15 years...

   

Anyhow, after all that coffee...  I got home cleaned, vacuumed, changed sheets, dusted, did dishes, fixed supper, and took care of Mr. Lovee after a stitch worthy dental visit...  Then I dreamt Tori Amos and I were having a very serious conversation, and I was dressed like a rapper (what?).  Then Tori and I were crying outrageously because a butterfly died.  ? I know? And I think I even sang Suede outloud in my sleep (chorus & bridge section).  I could hear myself.  Haha, blame it on all of that Caffeine...  Anyways, I am sharing too much of my psychosis, so let's move on...

It was so lovely to sit and chat with my sis.  She is a very funny girl!  Very very funny!

        

    

I also made her a blog banner last night.  Can you believe it?  She didn't have one.  I had not made her one yet.  Please convince her to keep blogging ;) 

I have to say, I LOVE making blog banners and buttons and I love designing postcards and gift cards and all of that.  I just love it...   I bet you didn't know this, but before I was the kind of painter I am now, I worked in giant scale funky abstract bright color wild ways...  Very modern.  I feel that calling me back a little bit more and more... 

So I guess it would be awful if I said Adios for the day without announcing the 4 Pirate's loot winners from the party.  Which includes, a giant jewel from the pirate stash for each winner. 

 

The names picked by the random number generator are:  Tammy Sprinkle,  Connie Carpenter Macko , Tricia from Kooky Handbags, and Deb of A Nesting Place!!  YAY for you girls!!  E-mail me your addresses and I will ship out your loot next week!  Fun Fun!!

Now I must be on my way to work on the Red Art Project, and get it shipped out.  It is such a great project to be working on!!  So exciting!

Make sure you have a cupcake before you go...  I am going to indulge in a little blog catching up before I get to work.  I love this post on Miss Vandroo's blog so much!  I want my doll house to look like that!!  I just love all her little tiny things pictures.  Her Hitty collection is incredible!!

Okay, I have officially put more links in this blog post that any other, ever ;)

Off I go, see you soon with a thrifventure!!!  Thanks again for being so wonderful!! 

♥ V ♥

Not the intended visit, but a silly story instead (plus a thriftventure treasure pour vous, perhaps?)

I am visiting with you, searching for type keys through the most swollen red and watery right eye on the planet.  If you were sitting in front of me, you would be turning away because my eyes would be making your eyes water. 

I feel like I have pipe cleaners with feathers in my nostrils.  Any attempted inhaling through my nose leads to Ah, ah, ah, ahhhchooooooo.  For good measure, let's not forget to throw in the fact that I also feel like someone hit me with a frying pan on the forehead, right above my eyebrows.

      

I am not shamelessly looking for sympathy, I am not whining, and I promise, I am not being sarcastic :)  It just seems, my golden Roman warrior shield of anti-allergens (10+ years of 4 allergy shots, twice a week) has abandoned me. 

Unless it is a curse from some witch.  But that would be a tad far fetched.  Right?

        

How can happy lil' green plants be sooo mean?  And then they get upset when someone calls them weeds?  Shhhhheesh, the nerve of them...

I kind of brought this, no wait, I did in fact bring this on myself.  The rains, have caused our once manicured back yard to grow eye level weeds, with small tree like trunks.  Our helper never showed up to help mow them down.  We waited for two weeks, but no sign of him...

So, I have been going out day after day, tackling the acreage with my long handled sickle (a scythe, is what it really is, but I have gotten used to calling it a sickle), and hacking weeds down myself.  I was impressed with the excercise value, and the wonderful feeling of hacking them down.  Talk about releasing any frustrations.  I used my best tennis moves, with good follow through ;)

   

I covered tons of ground.  I could be heard through the neighborhood crying out things like "take that you evil little buggers."  And, "Hack, argh, get out, you nasty horrid things."  There were cauliflower looking bushels under each weed.  Gooey and thick.  Weed effervescence would shoot up in the air, as I whacked them down.

What on earth was I thinking?????? 

I am putting my sickle away forever. 

I don't think I should even be asking questions like "have you seen my sickle?"  I mean, who do I think I am?

      

So, after a couple of days of weed whacking, I got sickled.

You see, one thing you might not know about me, is that I am overwhelmingly determined.  Sometimes to a detriment.  I take on HUGE projects alone (while in heels sometimes).  You need that giant armoire moved, don't worry, I can do it.  You car alarm doesn't work? Don't worry I will figure it out (even if it takes me all night and a day).  Your toilet is leaking, allow me.  Which leads to, oh the acreage has 5 ft. weeds, don't fret, I'll do it myself with my super munchkin girl sickle. Aye aye aye...

      

The silly thing is, I don't know the accurate names of tools, but I can describe them.  I ask questions like, "You know that little tool, that turns those little nut things, that you can tighten?"   

"You mean a wrench?"

"Ya ya, you got one of those?"

I might even ask, "Can I just look in your tool box myself?"  (I also carry my own little tool set in my car, which most of us should do anyway)

      

Well, a wrench is just what I needed yesterday, when I attempted something I had never done before, nor seen done.  Something, that, for a girl who owns 2, 3-wheel bikes, I should know how to do with no problems.

You see, I was done asking for help from men.  I have been asking for months for someone to help me put a new tube in my tire.

I had had it, I was taking things into my own hands.

4 hours later, and lots of mosquito bites plus upside down maneuvers...

      

I did it!!  Woo hooooo!

 

New and lovely.  I figured it out, got the tube in, then weasled that tire back over it, put the bike back together and filled the tires with air...

      

I jumped on the thing, and looked just like a cartoon.  I was ready to speed off when the pedals went round and round, and I went nowhere.

I jumped off, in my tool time mode, and, oh no!

      

The chain came loose.  So, there I go, taking the darn thing apart again.  And getting the chain back on (not easy)...  I was screaming, fists flailing in the air. (don't forget I have a bit of Latin blood)

Just as the moon came out...

      

I was off!

 

It felt great, the wheels felt like I was pedaling on clouds.  My vintage Schwinn was all smiles...

      

I rode up and down the road.  Then I heard crack, snap, crrrick.  I jumped off, only to find that, the little geary thingamajig inside is broken.  So, once again, my bike needs an operation.  Only this time, I am putting it in my suv and taking it to a professional...

      

For now, I am just sticking to drawing...

      

And playing with pretty things. 

 

I am staying out of the weeds, and making myself useful in other ways :)

Like plotting a new thriftventure for you!  So how about it?  I have one that is something I myself am in love with.  I am a book hoglette, so this one is extra hard to part with.

This week's thriftventure giveaway is, Balzac's, The Girl with the Golden Eyes...

      

A love story ( I had never read it), which has a marvelous cover that I just couldn't resist.  It is translated from French to English.  It has super duper wonderful old pages, and no print date.

 

I just love the look of it...  So, if the content is good, it is just bonus to a lovely book ;)

      

There you have it.  Leave your name for the drawing, and I will pull a name out of the hat in a couple of days.

I am off to enjoy this months Domino.  Lot's of good stuff...

 

   

   

And to prepare for a fun event this upcoming week.  I am a horrid girl for not sharing this sooner.  I have a terrible memory I tell ya.  Just terrible.  But, my friend Lisa and her friend Terisa, are having a fun interactive event.  Project Blogway.  I should have told you sooner, it will be fun, and you should jump in if you can...  It is right up my alley, a life size garment made out of paper, is the task...

It doesn't have to be a whole dress.  It could be an apron, or a blouse or a skirt...  Anything, but paper paper paper....  See the link above for details.

Now, I must be off, I am suffering majorly here.  I feel like I have a hedgehog caught between my nose and my eyeballs...

I am off to breathe and dream of being carried off to a dreamland beyond the realms of my wildest imagination...

 

See you soooon!! ♥ V

"When adventures like cars we would ride, and the years lied ahead still untried..."

I have a tale to tell (and a very wordy post), but first I must share that the desert here has been graced with 4 blissfully rainy days that have looked like this... (I might lose power any second)

 

Beautiful rain clouds have been beloved guests!!  Crazy monsoon rain storms have been treasured...

      

Dew on Barrel cactus flowers have casued quite the stir (in me at least)...

 

 

 

Oops, we did lose power!  At 6:30 p.m.  And just got it back at 4:27 a.m.  The power coming back woke me up...  I can't believe I am awake and here!!      

Okay, so bear with me, while I tell my true tale... 

You see, the strangest thing happened to me this morning (meaning yesterday actually).  I was thinking of this one song, all through my dreams last night, and woke up with it bopping through my head...  In my dreams, while the song was playing, I was in my house and some of my friends were sitting at the bar while I was getting out snacks and such. 

The dream was super duper vivid, I could see inside the kitchen cabinets and see what exactly was on the shelves...  I could see what was on the kitchen counters.  I could smell the familiarity of my surroundings.  I could see exactly what my friends were wearing.  Their quirky smiles and their laughter...  Charmingly lovely freckles and sparkly braces abound...  I opened a drawer and grabbed a spoon.  I saw all the other utensils in the drawer, every detail, embedded like a photographic snapshot...

Only thing is, it was 1987.  I was in the kitchen of the house I grew up in. 

When I woke up this morning, I was confused about where I was.  I felt like I felt, the first night I slept away from home at college.  Like a chapter was over, and this was my new life that I had to get used to real quick.  I had to swallow my tears of missing home.  There was no option...

So how do you think I felt, when I opened my eyes and realized it was 2008 and I was asleep in my private boudoir at the country house?  FREAK OUT! I was totally discombobulated.  No posters of Corey Haim and Corey Feldman on my walls.  No Pretty In Pink video in my VCR.  No Simple Minds tape in my Neon Coral tape player with a turquoise carrying strap.  No laceless keds on the floor.  No Scrunchies or fingerless gloves.  No pink canopy bed...  You get the point... 

It was like I really had been transported in time.  I wanted to call out, Mom, Mom, are you there??  It was such a terribly odd feeling...

Has that ever happened to you? 

My friends who were in my dream and I, knew eachother from elementary school in real life.  Later as teenagers, we were always together, swimming parties, Pizza Hut, football games, mini golf, movie theatres... All of it.  We explored the desert, looking for treasures...  We thought we were the Goonies...  So, I guess it makes sense that this was the song that was in my mind all night, that prompted all of this...

 

I suppose you can say, it led me to a nostalgic state of disarray.  Although, it was happy nostalgia, for all the good memories I have collected and saved real close to my heart...

Then I came across one of my favorite songs of all time (hence the blog title), by one of my favorite characters...  And it got me thinking & dancing like mad all morning... (she is singing the song above too, but you probably already knew that ;)

 

I feel that I was given a wonderful gift.  That gift is the gift of "Awareness of the Moment."  I have lived each part of my life to the fullest, just delving into it and loving it, and enjoying it, and swimming in it.  I know this, because as far as I can remember I would stop and make memories and make myself aware of the moment.  Close my eyes, and let it all seep in... 

 

I enjoyed my youth and still do.  I enjoyed my twenties a ton (even though I was complicated of heart and mind).  And, I am enjoying the present, like there is nothing better in the world.  It isn't always candies and scones, but my mind lets the good stuff stand out more than the not so good stuff...

I am savoring life in tiny ways that make a HUGE impact on my soul.  I am taking time to dance in the rain.  I notice teeny tiny flowers. 

      

I am baking ridiculous cupcakes.  I am enjoying being alive!  I am blowing bubbles.  And, I have to say, if you are not doing these things.  Do them, don't wait.  There are things you can do that don't require much time or money.  But they can make a huge difference in your life.

 

I am not different from you, I have bills, I worry about things.  But, really, do they matter enough not to let me dance and laugh a little?  NO WAY!!

Today I danced. I jumped on my bed.  I ran around the yard...  I made huge bubble gum bubbles...

      

A long time ago, I learned that we carry a youthful spark inside of us, no matter what age.  And it can fizzle, or it can glow.  Let it GLOW!!!  For some reason, I think many of you do!!

      

           

I sat here, and typed all these thoughts out.  Wondered if you would want to read so many words... 

It is never to late to enforce the idea of being "Aware of the moment."  Even if the moment is only 2 minutes long...  Or in the form of a cardinal flying right above your head...

      

At this point, I bet you are wondering....  Who won the Frida book, "Self Portrait in a Velvet Dress?"

 

Thank you for putting your names in the drawing!!  We all agree, Frida Kahlo was a huge inspiration.  She created such amazing work, while faced with such horrible health issues from the awful trolley accident.  Issues that plagued her throughout her entire life.  She really helped pave the way for women artists globally...  This book, is about her wardrobe.  So, I focused on her garments and jewels...  But, we admire her for deeper reasons of course. Amazing, to have been born around 1907, in Mexico, and to have made such a huge impact (rightfully so).  Fascinating...

Let me put my rings back on and draw a name...  (The photos in the last post of the paint & the paint palette, and the rings, were actually photos I took in my house...  I have to thank my Grandpa for that amazing birdcage in those photos... He is such a treasure finder!!!)

 

And the winner of the book is..............

 

Miss Erin, whose daughter is named Frida!!!  Yipppeeee! E-mail me your addy ;) 

I thank you oooodles for playing along!!  I will have another giveaway very very sooooon!! 

Before I go, I have to tell you what I did after I had my nostalgic 1985 Morning...  I called my sister.  And I asked her, "besides all the torture and trauma I caused as your older sister ;) what do you remember about me from when you were a kid?"  I am 32 and she is 27.

I asked her for ten things...  She sent 9.  So I had a thought.  If you had a sibling growing up, that you can ask to list 9 things about you, let me know!!  Put it on your blog, and I will link to you!!

At 4 in the morning I read her list that she e-mailed me.  I laughed so hard at number 6, I can't even tell you.  Hahahaa!  Remember this is a sibling's perspective ;)

If you want to read the list from my sister, click on link below...   ♥

A stroll, as we talk about collections & treasures, and maybe a little something for you...

I was thinking about this while strolling through the garden yesterday... 

      

One thing I find myself doing over and over, is making little collections of things.  Things that bring a smile to my face, things that make me happy, things that define bits of me...

          

We all do it, we surround ourselves with things we love...  From little millinery mushrooms, to Marie Antoinetteish slippers, to bell jars bursting with beloved treasures, to something as simple as the seeds we choose to plant in our garden...

      

        

Some of us collect religious statues, others mermaids or even bright colorful kitsch loves...  The list is endless...  Whatever it may be, we surround ourselves with that which brings us joy...

We go to people's homes, and we look curiously arround, interested in looking at their treasures.  I am not one to question what people own.  I find it fascinating, and the perfect phrase for this would be, "To each his own..."  And, isn't that just what makes everyone so interesting? I think, most certainly so...

While thinking of such things & feeling under the weather (last of the vertigo), I have been strolling through the garden often, carrying a funny little basket.  Mr. Lovee brought me treasures in this basket, a couple of weeks ago. So, it has become a beloved little garden treasure holder...  I roam around, picking flowers and herbs...

      

I count my blessings one by one, and tuck them deep inside a little pocket in my heart...  I put in this basket all the things I love, that grow in the garden...  I squeeze the basil and lavender, and hold them up to my nose.  The scent makes me feel peace...  I take a handful of Eucalyptus.  Again, I stop, closing my eyes, to let its healing scent dance around me...

      

I fill my basket as I make my way to a very special little place, filled with collections that, as described above, bring me peace.  They make me happy, they are meaningful to me. 

It is a place I call, my sanctuary...  A very secret space, dear to my heart...  I think, I will share it with you today...

   

I stop for a rest, on our little bench...  It is so warm outside.  You can almost taste the air.  It is warm and humid, you can wear the air like a sweater...

      

The clouds are so beautiful...  I look up to see the two big trees meeting, arms and fingers intertwined...

      

Making our way to my beloved little sanctuary.  I created this place for myself, about 8 years ago.  It holds things that have meaning to me, that make me feel good...  A place to reflect and feel peaceful...

We are almost there.  Look how much the yard has grown since I showed it to you all manicured last week...

      

All the little granite pieces I had perfectly leveled into the ground, have sunk, and risen, and shifted.  And, I love that...

      

I sprinkle some of my flowers around...

      

To me, it is enchanting here, blissful even... 

          

You see, that is the thing about collections, and carving out little special places...  It is what matters to us alone.  What brings joy to ones soul... 

      

      

In this space, we have buried little animals that we have found around our yard.  Including a most special area, for a beloved hummingbird...  For some reason our green garden attracts owls and birds and furry creatures, who like to find a place for their last rest... 

The one eared bunny, looks upon them, ever so tenderly...

      

I love this little special sanctuary I have created for myself to wander to...  However, there are lots of ways to surround ourselves with things we love...  That make us feel good...

      

We can do it on a smaller scale.  Clustering treasures in our home, in little nooks and crannies...  Like most of us do...  Turning our bedrooms into our very own sanctuary. A place to dream...  To be cozy and happy after a long day...

      

One thing I have always loved to do is make these little treasure boxes...  I usually have them for sale at my jewelry and art shows.  I used to make them a whole lot more than I have in the last year...

      

They do not have to be religious...  You can make them to hold anything you want...  A few years ago, I made a bunch of them, custom order for different people.  And, they held things about their kids, or simply fun trinkets... 

Even old milagros, or bottle caps and rusty fun things can be useful for decorating a Trinket Treasure Box ...

      

So, here is where the treat comes in...

      

You see, I am going to take a magical velvet sack, and fill it with wonderously fun things, so that...

      

You can make your own little treasure box...  The box can be made out of anything, wood, even decoupaged cardboard...  But, what I will do is...

      

Fill a velvet pouchling with all kinds of stuff.  Including some felt balls and fun little trinkets and such.  So you can decorate your own treasure box ( I think I will even make the box for you!!)... 

      

      

It was about time we had a fun little giveaway, don't you think??  You have been sooo nice to me!!  And patient with me while I have been so slow.  It has taken me a little bit longer than I would have liked, to get well.  But, I am feeling better everyday, yay!!   

I will have a little drawing Monday night, and see who gets to win the little sack of treasures... I will let you know by Tuesday morning the latest...

Thank you for all your lovely words in my last post.  It means so so so much to me, to have your support in my art endeavors.  The whole thing feels surreal.  I am in the middle of nowhere, playing in a sprinkler, so it feels quite extra surreal.  I look at the magazine, and give myself a pinch ;)

That reminds me... Back to the sprinkler I go!  Oh, it is your turn to skip through!! Go on... ;) 

      

Fun in the sun!!  Don't forget to wear...

                     

♥ V ♥   

A Sneaky Art Doll Quarterly Adventure...

There was a rustling of leaves in the Fairy Tale Forest.  There were little creatures whispering about a bevy of girls making their way through the forest.  They had entered through the secret archway opening, at the far end of the forest...

      

Who were they?  What were they up to?  Were they my long lost girls, that went away in February??  Well, it turned out that they happened to be part of the Fairy Tale Forest Theatre Company.  Do you remember?  How I missed their performance all those months ago...  Then they were off, before I could have a word with them??

It turns out, they have returned...  The birds stole a little peek, through the trees...

      

Where had they all been??  Everyone wondered, as they saw them scurrying, dragging billowing gowns, through the forest...  They were anxious to get home and tell the tales of what they had seen in the big huge magical world...

Oh look, there goes Miss Sweetie Pie Girl... 

      

      

She is so lovely and sweet, I can smell her raspberry pie from miles away...

      

      

Seems that scurrying behind her is Little Red Riding Hood.  I think she must have been very cheeky at her visit away...  Seems she was given a new name (of the bad girl variety).  One can only imagine what she was up to..  Although, she does look full of mischief, wouldn't you say??

      

      

      

I think that Bird Girl must have had a marvelous time too...  She has so many tales to tell, I wish you could hear her chirping away...

      

It is a really good thing that this little miss below, carries her tea accoutrements with her wherever she goes.  Some on her head and some on a tray.  You see, a girl could need a few sips along the way, while scurrying through the forest...

      

      

I can't help wondering what the secret is, that these girls are hiding from us??  And, why noone will tell me...  I guess they don't call Owl Girl, The Keeper of Secrets for nothin'...  I can't get her to utter a peep about it...

      

      

      

The funny thing was, I heard Duchess Frangipani giggling...  Only everytime she thought someone was watching her, she would snoot her nose up and give the most prim and proper look she could muster...

      

      

      

All of a sudden, I heard that familiar cackle of the Fairy Tale Forest Witch...  I then understood perfectly, what was going on.  There must have been some serious magic and spells brewing...

      

      

Can you see how clever she is?  She carries her gingerbread house with her, on her dress.  So, she can jump right in, whenever she fancies a trip home...

      

Now, this witch must be up to her old tricks again, for certain...  I wonder if she traveled with the rest of the girls, to that far away place, that was kept so hush hush?

      

What you can't see here, is that, each girl was pulling a string, attached to a very very special present...  A present for their Mammie, which is me ;)

They brought me something so special, I have to rub my eyes, just to make sure I am seeing what I think I am seeing...

Could that be them??  On the cover of Art Doll Quarterly (Autumn 2008) ???

      

   

    

    

Oh Swooooooooooon.  Pinch me!!  Pinch Me!!  They make their Mammie proud.  I still can't believe my eyes!  Thank you Art Doll Quarterly!!  For being so wonderful to work with, and being so kind to me!!

When I was asked to share a few dolls for the magazine, I never would have guessed, they would be the cover story.  I am telling you, I am still in dream mode!! 

This is the most exciting thing that has ever happend to me, me thinks!!  I don't know how I held this secret for so long.  I just don't know how... And, now that the moment is here, it all feels totally surreal...   All the dolls I shared above, are in this issue.  You can find it in any of your bookstores now (and select places)...  Or you can order it online. 

So much commotion in the forest, amongst all the creatures...  They are all so excited for their sisters...  Even the snail girls came out to celebrate (snail girls can be found in my shop). 

          

The dolls in the magazine, are not in my shop at the moment.  I am not sure when they will find their way there...  However, other dolls that are in my shop, had a party today, to celebrate their siblings being in the magazine.

All the dolls below can be found in my shop (sans the Mad Hatter, he is mine, allll miiine ;)...

The Bird queen is out humming her beautiful tune...  She is a bit like Snow White, in her ability to sing, and have all the forest creatures gather around her...  She wore her most beautiful gown for the occassion...

      

      

She brought her little sister, the Princess of the Cypress Grove...

           

         

Did you know that her dress is decorated with images of roots??  Yes roots.  She loooooves to grow things.  That is why she carries her baby Magical Cypress Grove tree, wherever she goes...

      

The Wolf/Little Red duo showed up bearing lovely fresh flowers, and a giant cupcake...

      

      

OH my!!  Just look who showed up to celebrate as well!  When he is not being the Mad Hatter, he sails the seas in his ship, as Pirate Vasilis.

      

He just loves his sisters...  Guess who they are??  Yep, you got it...

      

They must come from a long line of very interesting folks ;)

      

So, there you have it...  From my Fairy Tale Forest to yours, that is what is goin' on around here...

      

I bet you wondered where I had run off to in the last few days?  I have been terribly ill.  I got my yearly dose of hereditary vertigo (caused by inner ear blah blah blah), and it is really doin' a doozy on me this time around...  But, I am feeling much better, and having lovely dreams of feeling 100% again...

In the mean time, than you for celebrating these fun happenings with me.  It means so much, and I hope you know, how humbly thankful I am, that I have been sent bits of magic, and that I can share them with you!!  Now, I am opening my bucket full of wishes and fairy sprinkles, and sending some your way...  Oops, look, oh yes, some just fell in your hair....  Pllllllllinkkkkk....

See you sooooon!!  xoxo, ♥  V  ♥   

The Secret Lives of Drawings & Their Voyages... (Plus, BlogHer Conference Snippet)

Oh, the lives of drawings...  Those little guys that get stacked and stacked in so many towering piles, they sometimes, get lost...  Until their faces are seen again (on a rare occassion) and they make it into the real world...

      

It seems, I might have to buy a tiny cottage in the wilderness, just to house all these stacks of inked papers... (joking, but a good excuse to buy a cottage, if you have a sack of doubloons, do you?  Where did you get it??  Can I get one too?)

      

I love drawing!  I try to do it almost every night.  You never know when a doodle, might become something more... 

      

I used to always work in ink.  Which is a bit of a nerve-racking thing if you are doing a job for someone else...  It just does not afford any wiggle room in case of a mistake...  So, you just go with what you get... 

And, since I am not a commercial artist, I don't have the gift of being able to reproduce the same drawing out of my own fingertips, over and over.... So sad...

      

All of the drawings I am sharing, are ones that I have done in the past.  Ones that you might recognize from a year or more ago.. Ones that have become a part of A Fanciful Twist...  Some I have done for other people, and still others, that have fallen into little drawing oblivion....

      

I like to keep dates on my drawings so I know when I drew them...

      

I realized with the date above, that unbeknownst to me at the time...  I had been given a magical gift of these guys...  I drew them on Christmas day it seems...  Do they look familiar??

      

Yep, they ended up in my banner...  And who knew??  Our circus girl actually has a floofy dress ;)

I also came across the characters that were going to be a part of my banner and sidebars...  And, they will in the near future, have another place, so they won't go lost in the pile...  These are also from 2006...

      

      

There are also the drawings that actually get to be made into stamps.  Which, if you have ordered anything from my shop, are what I use on my shipping mailers...

      

      

      

But, there are also some very very dear drawings...  Drawings that get to go live in places with other people near and far (some very very far).

Ever since I have started using pencil a bit more, it is like a huge "drawing for other people stress veil," has been lifted from me...  I still adore ink line drawings...  However, pencil allows for more versatility with shading (for me at least)...  And, you can erase!!  Phew, the ability to erase is lovely!! (drawing below, became this)

      

I thought I might share some of the drawings I have worked on in the last year or so, for other people.  One of the most important things I have learned is, research, research, research...  Don't jump into the drawing right away, but soak in images and ideas regarding the drawing to come... Details about the person or the character...

Case in point...  The lovely Di Overton.  She sent me a bulleted list of what she is like, bits of her character and such.  That was great... From there, I began my study of her and her exquisite eco-chic Ghost Furniture...

      

She was very open to what my vision was...  And, was such a joy to work with...  She was so kind to me...  Thank you Miss Di!!

      

She is using her A Fanciful Twist version of herself as her banner...  You can see it here...

      

She is up to all kinds of goodness (I want some of her furniture!!!!)...  Take a moment to visit her.  You will love what she is up to!

I have loved working with some of these ladies, because, they tell me what they would like me to incorporate into their image, and then give me wings... 

Another case in point, my beloved friend Tara Bradford of Paris Parfait...  She is wonderful, and a total delight. 

She had this idea, and a list of images to incorporate... And voila...  My study began with her ideas...  I mean, I don't know if you have, but I had never drawn the Louvre pyramid before ;)  That was exciting!!

      

Then the drawing came in one fell swoop...

      

      

Miss Tara has a few banners she loves and changes them out every so often... So, one day you will get a peek of this little Tara girl sitting on her blog...  But for now, here is what the finished banner looks like...

      

Tara is a writer, and not only shares incredible treasures from around the world, but writes about important things going on around the globe...  You will love her!! Check out her About page on her blog...

Another exciting drawing I worked on over a year ago, was for Maryam at My Marrakesh.  She and her husband, have been building an exquisite boutique hotel in Marrakesh.  You can see and read all the details at her lovely newly launched hotel website, Peacock Pavilions as well as on her blog (which chronicles the building adventure plus more)...

Maryam was looking for the perfect peacock whimsy to bring to her hotel...  She asked if I might come up with a drawing??  And so my peacock research began...

      

It was a very exciting time, and also a nervous time (if you do commissions, you so get this).  I started to quickly realize that, every peacock image I looked at (over 500) had such totally different peacock personalities.  And, truly, peacocks, have such character, that I knew this would be a challenge...  How to get the perfect little peacock love to come alive???  I had to put all the images away and just imagine... 

Now this was also a time when I only allowed myself ink.  It was like, a one shot deal ;)  So I began drawing..  But first, through my research, I memorized, what my minds eye's vision of a peacock was...  Then I jumped in...

Through my life I have had these moments (since my art journey began at age 13), of learning about art processes & about drawing...  About capturing feelings in a simple line...  And also, about what my limitations are and are not, as an artist...  You know, your mind sees something, but it won't necessarily jump off the pen...  Then sometimes, maybe, it does...

      

      

      

I have so many peacock drawings, and I have grown to really love them all...  I think anyone who creates, can attest to the fact, that, they become so beloved, they are like my very own little children... 

      

One day, after much drawing...  I took a break... 

After a couple of days, I sat down and doodled this guy below...   

      

Which, wouldn't you know it, we all fell in love with.  Maryam named him Karim.  And there he was...  I was so delighted to be able to create a peacock that turned out to look like he always belonged with Maryam's family, at Peacock Pavilions...  And dare I say, a magician even made him blink!!  Bravooo!!  This peacock Mammie is clapping!! Take a peek...

I love when people ask for animals or pets.  And, I will say, I have gotten a wee bit better at capturing them.  But, pets are like people.  They all have a distinct look...  Not always easy to capture...

When darling and funny Suzanne Broughton, (I think I have shared this before) asked for her and her lovely precious pooch in drawing form, I was soo delighted.  And, even though her pooch is only peeking from behind her skirt, I think we were able to include her essence ;) 

I drew several drawings for Miss Suzanne, based on what I knew about her, and had her choose... 

      

Her choice was sooo her!! 

      

She lives here....  her blog is filled with wonderfulness!!

So, those are some of The Secret Lives of Drawings, and what goes on behind the A Fanciful Twist scenes...  I have been sooo crazy busy lately.  I have some projects I am working on, and all the holiday stuff to finish up, which, even though you think, it is Only JULY!!  Is late in autumn retailing season time...  I have been working 16 hour days in the studio and on the computer.  And, I have to say it is all fun, so I can't complain!  But, you know, if you want to come over and help me...  ;)

Here is a little wall in my studio, where I keep some of the things I have worked on, or have ideas for...  It needs updating and sorting through...

      

I have a couple local commissions based on our gift tag last year...  I truly doodled it out and slapped it on our cookies & gifts, in an hour... I wish it was cuter...  But friends' friends want to become couple cartoons too... So, I am making gift tags as we speak (or type, or read)...

      

So there are some wee snippets of my world...

Also, about the BlogHer conference.. I guess this might be a little late for me to be telling you...

Typepad and their Six Apart team are hosting a cocktail lounge today, from 4-6:30 p.m. at one of my favorite hotels, The Westin St. Francis.

I tell you this, because they are having a fun raffle.  I was asked to donate...  I sent in two nicely framed large canvas prints...  Some other lovely art friends, donated some wonderful art pieces for the raffle as well...  It should be good fun...  Details of mine and other donated items here, on the Everything Typepad blog...  I hope someone we know is there, and comes back to tell us about the raffle ;) and more!!!

Well, I best Bid Adieu and be on my way... 

However, (I am sure you have seen him before) but I must leave you with Matt, from Where the Hell is Matt...  This video below (his 3rd video), made me cry.  You know why?  The fact that he can bring people together to jump around creating fun loving dancing madness, and happy giggling, is a huge dose of what we need in our world!! I find it quite touching...

This video has had over 7 million hits!!  See what happens 50 seconds into the video... And, read more about Matt here...

    

See you sooooon!!! xoxo, V          

A Girl & Her Collections = Escapes to Colorful Places

You don't always need a plane or a train, a hot air balloon, or a carriage to transport you...  You don't necessarily need to go through airport shenanigans, or passport hooplas...  Sometimes, if your imagination is being kind to you that day, all you need are a few collections to transport you long enough to make you feel like you really had a marvelous escape...

      

I know you are wondering, what's up with the felt balls?  In truth?  I just love them.  That's all.  They make me so shamelessly happy...

Those and some fuchsia dye, a little gold love over that, and maybe a little glitter.  Layer it on, while printing fabric...  That is all you need to begin your voyage through the secret keyhole, to another place...

      

I am a collector of those things which capture my heart.  I don't think it is a secret anymore ;)  My collections started at a young age.  Funny enough, the collections started with exotic treasures from far away places...

      

Sometimes, I wonder...  Have I really lived so many lives in one little lifetime??  And what an unusual teenager I must have been...  Collecting vintage saris...  Jewels, sculptures...  Sometimes, it really does feel like a lifetime ago... 

Until I find myself schlepping home new treasures to add to those collections ;)  Oops, same girl... Same lifetime...  Same people saying "What do you need that for?"  Same Dad's voice going, "What one earth???" (good thing he lives far enough away, that he doesn't see the half of it ;)

      

Most of my treasures are not with me in the country (the ones above are)...  However,  I do have enough with me today, to have a fun and colorful dress up fest...  Go ahead, choose one, let's play....

      

Being raised in and around Mexico, by parents who would take us traveling (trying new things ;), meant that what I thought was the norm (I came to find out in college), really wasn't the norm.  I mean, when the guy down the street paints his villa fluorescent cobalt blue, and noone flinches (because everyone else's is pink or orange), nothing is really what you think it is ;)  Normal doesn't even exist does it?  Hahaa...  That really is the wonderful realization!!

Then you take your friends from college home with you, and they call their parents to say, " you won't believe it, the guy down the street has a cobalt blue mansion.  And, her grandmother has all these statues, and we ate fried ants, and they eat spicy candy, with chili on it, and all the other houses are pink and orange and the men howl during their favorite songs, and her grandfather has tequila and worms for breakfast..."  You get the point...  I am standing there going, is that unusual?  hee heee....

Oops, I think I veered a bit above ;)  back to collections from around the world...

       

      

             

I graduated from the University of Arizona in 1999.  At that time, the program I was in encompassed some pretty heavy duty textile science classes (sadly the program no longer requires/nor teaches textile sciences).  They were very intense, very difficult, and in the end, invaluable...  They awakened the fabric passion in me...  Studying fabric history was incredible...  Equally fascinating was studying the fabric customs around the world...  From dyeing to weaving, to collecting fibers, and on and on...  Just astounding... 

      

      

          

Ever since then, I have been collecting old wooden textile printing blocks...  I have boxes full of them & lately, I have been playing with them on raw muslin...  I find that, if you lay your fabric over an open, giant dictionary, or some big thick book, your printing really does turn out nice with these... 

The book has just the perfect give, to allow the stamp to meld on.  On a flat hard surface, you get almost nothing...

      

      

      

I love being able to be transported without having to pack.  I love travel.  But, have done it less and less since traveling became what it is today.  The anxiety over the whole thing, is just the right amount, to get me to stay in and play with treasures instead... 

That way if all of a sudden, I get into my five year old self, and want to go home, I am already home ;)  Silly, but true (for me at least)...  Nothing like being in Budapest and deciding you want to go home, to Arizona, right then. ;)

Add a little music and some child-like pretending, and Bon Voyage, Buen Viaje, Kalo Taxithi, Buon Viaggio, Boa Viagem!  See you when you get back from your make believe voyage!!! 

I want details!!!  And a postcard!!  ;)

So, here's some music...  (Khaled was one of my favorites in college, below)  The girl in the video will make you want to play dress-up for certain... & paint!!

     

I say, get messy, and play!!  Pretend you are going anywhere on the map, and go, from the privacy of your own home ;)  Maybe even throw in a little culinary love from the region you will be visiting...  I think if you have little ones, this would be a bit of fun mixed with educational elements as well... 

I have some exciting new art supply treasures to share, that I think many of you will want to run out and get...  I will share them in the next post for certain...  Plus, I am three posts behind on other fun things I want to share...  Where does the time go????

      

Oh, I suppose, amusing yourself (as above) is where the time goes... ;)  See you sooooon! xoxo, V 

Unstructured Magic, Wild Muddy Abandon & Little Detours (long nature love story)

So, the planned post, is taking a nap for today, in order for me to share something else.  It has been a very strange week.  So, it was inevitable, that during a strange week (and it's only Wednesday) a person would be emotionally open to little messages, right?

      

I don't know if this happens to you (I think it does to all of us), but sometimes my little heart knows how to hear little messages...  It knows when it is time to stop, and take a giant breath, even if just for a few minutes...

      

Sometimes, you want to be silly, check out of daily life for a few hours,  maybe even play in a sea of beautiful felt balls... 

      

My felt ball "dealer" has decided that, if I don't buck up, she might report me to an agent at the FBA.  Felt Balls Anonymous.  And, I dare say, the last time I met her in a dark Italian restaurant, she warned me that the head BigFish is keeping her eye on me ;) Hahahaha!

      

Still, other times, a message might come to you so full force, the only thing lacking is the brilliant singing of angels... (case in point, photo below taken from my car, on a rainy day)

      

That is what I have really come to share today...  I was driving down the road, in the rain, (as we are in monsoon season of torrential rains right now).  I look to my left and what do I see?  Those heavenly clouds above...  You see, the monsoons are short lived, dramatic, and exquisite.  They come in, in the afternoon, and stir up all kinds of spectacular sights...

So there I was, minding my own business, and voila, huge billowing singing clouds to my left...  Then I look to my right and beauty, a rainbow is forming...

      

And I am like "Okay, I hear ya, I am feeling it, it's dramatic, I am listening..."  I know, that at this moment, it doesn't matter if I am in a skirt, or if I have to be somewhere.  This moment is speaking to me.  So, I keep driving, and realize, I have to stop.  I have to get out of my car.  It is pouring rain.  It doesn't matter.  I soak up every minute of this...

      

And if you look closely, what you can see, is that at the top, is another rainbow...  A double rainbow...  That moment was so magnificent and astounding.  We lost a family friend this week, and all I can hope for, is that she really is indeed, in a pain free, beautiful place, somewhere over the rainbow...

I stayed there under that rainbow for a very long time...  Then I hopped back in my car, soaked and completely in love with the moment.  I started to drive passed our little village fire dept., when the rainbow was calling me again...

      

So, I thought, you know, that rainbow doesn't look that far away.  I bet I could find the end of the rainbow.  I bet, I could live to blog about what magic, really is at the end of it... (ya, sure ;)

So, I didn't turn at the street that leads me to my country abode.  I proceeded down a huge long hill, and then turned north, driving for a bit...  I passed Miraval, and kept going.

      

I knew just what street I would have to turn on to get to that rainbow...  The street of a thousand mailboxes...

      

So, I turned there, and of course, I knew it...  The end of the rainbow was not far... I was determined to reach it...

      

Down the road I drove and drove...

      

Until I reached water?  LOVE it!!  Love it when the wash if full of water!!

      

Then, I realized, there was a bit too much water for me to attempt to cross...  I saw some guys on the other side, stuck in mud, while grading the road the old fashioned way...  I love rural living!!

I remembered that to the left was a vintage bridge...  Could it be braved??  I am not a risky kind of a girl though...

      

There was this cheek whispering, breeze kiss, kind of wind... You know, when the breeze kisses your cheeks, and dances in your hair...  There was a marvelous bird singing around me, with the most beautiful tune.  I walked over to the side of the bank to look upstream...

    

I sat there, loving every mere second.  I realized that, this is the moment I was supposed to revel in.  I thanked my heart for following the little messages that brought me here...

 

A couple trotted by on their horses "G'day lil' Miss" the man said as he tipped his hat...  Swooon, I love it!!

To the left the rainbow lingered as such...

      

And to the right, equally as beautiful...

      

      

I walked down a little hill, to get closer to the water... 

      

Rain and water in Arizona, are more than a good thing.  These are longed for moments...

      

Even if it is Chocolatey water ;)

I decided not to cross the bridge.  The gift of the rainbow and this lovely afternoon, was enough for my wee heart...  A hawk soared in the sky above, casting a huge shadow...  I knew it was time to go...  I had come this close to the end of the rainbow...

      

The sun was starting to set so beautifully to the west...  I just had to get home to see what kind of monsoon activity was goin' on there...

      

The dancing ladies were just tickled to be frolicking in the rain...

      

The view from our yard was spectacular...  I couldn't get enough of it...

      

The growing peaches were moist, and the mint was blooming...

      

      

My sweetie pooch asked me to play in the water with her...

      

She didn't have to ask twice...

      

      

      

And wait, is that a little prince swimming over there to the right??  Oh yes, Ribbit ribbiiittt!!!

      

Hi little friend!

      

And then, just as the day was at ridiculously wonderful nature love levels...  Mr. Lovee calls me over to see these little guys...

      

So, I get on the ground to try to bring you extra special shots...

      

      

And I have to tell you, the little girl below was quite nice, and wanted me to say Helloooo to you!  Well, she actually said, "Hey what's up?"  ;)

      

So, there you have it.  I lept into this nature filled day, and had such a lovely time.  And, thought to share it...  And also share that, sometimes, life can be insane, and we just have to take a detour...  Rebel against it all, and delve into that which is right in front of us...

      

And if your are lucky, you might go inside the house, to find that, there is a second chocolate stash, you hid so well, you forgot about it also... (upper left corner)

      

Now, really, I am losing my marbles right??  How could I have forgotten about two chocolate stashes???  (and how could I dream of showing you my mess ;)

Want one??

      

Oh you know what??  In the last post, Miss Gillian said, when she was a kid you might not find her at the cake and ice-cream table, but you would find her with her head in the potato chip bowl??  That was soooo me!!! hahahaaa!

Okay, I have so much other stuff to tell you.  I feel like I am behind in all my stories...  Don't I bore you silly???  You just let me know, and I'll get us some proper entertainment.  Heee heeee....  Call Mr. Depp, Donna is away for a couple of weeks!!

Oh it is raining again!!  Off I go!  Must play!! xoxo

A Visit to Mombie's {Part 1}

I am sitting in my humble country abode, typing this, while eating the "natural" version of cheerios (thank you ML), with no milk.  Why?  I have no idea.  The fridge was cleaned out while I was gone.  You see, that is what happens when Mr. Mom stays home alone.  Things get all Willi Wonkified.

       

I bet you didn't even notice I was gone, with all that partying you did.  Oh the neighbors already told me.  They heard girls laughing, clanking glasses, shouting names like, Phyllis, Tiffany, Michelle, Melissa, Nancy, Jenn, Sadira, Christine, Sandra, Marjorie, Donna, Monica, Cassandra, Tara... Oh the list goes on and on.  But those are just the first batch to be in trouble :)  I want details of who is responsible for what ;)

          

As for me, I had a more than a lovely time on my wee voyage.  Too many things to bottle them all up in one blog post.  So, I am going to give you the R&R version in this post, Part 1.  And then, the fairytale, visit granny, witches, dances, etc. in Part 2.

My wee voyage was in the name of a Mother's Day visit.  But, I dare say, it turned out to be more like, a relaxing lovely visit for one long haired half spoiled girl :)  My parents are more than good hosts, and they really know how to make things fun and lovely...  So, here is a bit of what it was like...

      

I began the voyage South, to my parents home, which is about 2 hours from my country abode and 1 hour from my city abode.  Our part of Arizona is very strange.  There are some very desert like areas, and then some very green areas, as you can see above...  I took that from the car, hence the quality...

As you get closer to your destination, you cross some railroad tracks, and the sky turns pink and lovely :)

      

You have to follow an extra twisty extra vertigoey road as you get even closer...

      

And, when you look out your car window, this is what you might see.  Nothing  for miles...

      

My parents have a very long driveway with a gate at the bottom... In we go...  Ready for some fun??

      

Grab some ice and a nice cold drink, because, Dad is up to some wonderful business...

      

Yumm Yummm!

      

I arrived to platters full of shrimp and flakey bread with balsamic and olive oil...  While Dad made skewers for our evening out on the patio.  Oh the nights were divine.  Warm with a gentle cool breeze...

      

I went outside to watch the city lights begin to twinkle.  I have loved that ever since I was a little girl.  Watching the city lights come to life...  I think I shared some of this in my Christmas blog post though...

      

Mombie and Dad are so cute...  They were putting up lights and getting ready to have a lovely dinner for my sister and I.  My brother wouldn't arrive until the following day.  He was shooting a movie and or editing all night...

      

I took so many photos, I didn't know which ones to share.  I don't want to bore you to death...  But, I wish, I could have had a wild tea party for all of us on that very evening...  The weather was astounding.  And the way the sun set and the sky glowed in blue was picture perfect...

      

When monsoon season comes with the outrageous rains in summer, it is wonderful to be at my parents house, watching the down pour...  I can't wait...  Oh rain, please come soon!! 

As Dad cooked...

      

I couldn't help but savor every little morsel of the night...  Oh, how I would love to have a swimming pool at the country house...  Can we start a campaign to convice Mr. Lovee??  Will you help me? 

      

I have a ball and claw old fashioned bath tub in the yard at the country house... And, one summer, it was so hot, I filled it up with water and bags of ice, and just sat in there for hours...  It was marvelous, but a pool could be even better?

Oh, okay, back to one of the lovely evenings visiting my parents...  So, we had a lovely dinner in that magnificent weather... Lights glowing everywhere...

      

Trees intertwining above head, with lights. I just love stringing lights all about... It makes everything so dreamy at night...

      

      

Such a magical evening...  Sitting with my parents and sister... Chatting, laughing...  Beautiful music playing...

      

Oh, I also did Mammie's hair.  I am not a hairdresser.  But I do know how to cut and color and streak hair (with foils).  I have been playing dress ups since birth :)  and, at around 10, started with the more serious dress ups...  With scissors and such ;)  Mammie let me take a photo of her treasures, while her hair processed (it turned out so lovely)...

      

She is the funnest lady you will ever meet, that Mombie of mine.  She is so hilarious and fun and knowledgable and interesting...

So, there was tea & coffee and treats too...  But, we forgot to have a full blown tea party with her wonderful silver tea sets and such...  But we had this...

      

With this...

      

      

My beautiful and really amazing baker cousin, Marcela, made the phenomenal berry galette...  We enjoyed it in the garden... 

      

My sister made waffles for Mother's Day, they were delicious...

      

Mombie opened gifts...

      

We then scurried to get ready to go to my Grandma & Grandpa's house (Mammie's parents).  When I then realized, AHHH!!  I didn't have enough gifts...  So, my cousin Marcela and I raided Mombie's pantry, which is a whole other story in itself.. And found some lovely things...

      

To make lovely things...

      

And voila...  Lovely gifts indeed...

      

And guess what?  Mombie sewed up some little strawberries she saw on Martha, and attached my little Mother's Day cardlettes, which she printed off from a post down below...  Wasn't she a sweetie for doing that?  Love it!!

        

So, that was a bit of that...  Annnnnnd, there is more to come about the fairytale adventures at Grannies + treasures Grandpa Pedro had for me!!  I can't waiiiit, to share... Back with that in a few days. For now here are some teeny tiny treats...

      

Hope you had a little fun and I didn't bore you silly!!! I am so tired, I don't even know if I made sense...  See you soooooon!!  xoxo, V

Oh, Also, I spent hours indulging in family albums.  We have so many photos and home movies and such...  I took some photos of some photos.  Here I am, blissfully indulging ;)

      

And, being my silly self  (Looove Mombie's outfit, and that wallpaper! haha)...

          

Little Pleasures...

Thank you so much for all the Achooo Love!!!  I am feeling so much better.  I am still slightly recovering though, as I am still a bit wilty off and on...  But, truly!  How can anyone not feel better when nature is offering up these treasures in our garden? 

      

I am stunned at the beautiful flowers that grow in our very humble garden.  They bring me such peace and love.  I know, so sappy, but true!!  When I first found my way to the country home 8 years ago (Mr. Lovee had been here years before me), I used to collect buckets & baskets of roses, and make paths with their petals, all over the yard...  I used to make an especially full path of roses to our tree hanging bench in the yard...

I decided to run to my little diary I have kept for many years...  Since 2nd grade actually (not the same one of course :) And found this photo I took the first day Mr. Lovee put up this swing in our yard for me... And I painted it...  This is where I used to sprinkle hundreds of flower petals... (sadly that paint is gone, and now it looks different, but still lovely to us) 

        

As for the pink roses above.  These roses are 3 & 4 days old.  I love when the pink roses get browned edges...  We have a bush that puts out these pink cake like roses, that has a trunk like a tree.  There is also a giant bush that graces us with big nectarine colored roses, also with a giant trunk.  I am sure they were here for many years before we set foot.  The previous owners gave us such a huge gift (including fruit and nut trees).  I wonder if they miss their roses?

I also wonder if they would have ever guessed that their gardening/canning house would have another purpose.  Like a wee gallery/shop for me :)  Oh, and what is that I see?  A package on the front stoop? (you can always click on any photo to enlarge) 

      

My little space here (before it was my little space), used to have ceilings caving in, and was stuffed with hundreds of vintage frames (I love finding treasures like that).  Then Mr. Lovee agreed on my idea for a gallery/shop and voila.  6 years ago we put a new roof & ceiling in it, fixed wall damages, painted and just like that, I had a place to hang my work for Artist studio tours & private visits (that way I can have this little gallery/shop and keep my actual studio private, and have this other space to share with guests).  I just love charming. I don't need fancy or outrageous.  Charming works just beautifully for me...  And I do believe, with just a little love, anything can become charming...

As for that package there...  You can imagine my surprise, when I saw this lovely package waiting for me, with bits of vintage book pages on the box, here and there...

      

And a few magical words warning of the treasure I might find...

      

I knew who it was from right away, and I let out a true swoon!  The wonderful and talented artiste herself! Maker of magical treasures... Miss Sandra Evertson!! 

And I warn,  there is true magic in her fingertips.  Where else on earth would one find, flowers with wee faces...  Voices, born from the center of a tender flower...  Why, from Sandra Evertson, of course ;)

      

Now look closely at this treasure and you shall see...

      

Can you hear them?  Calling your name?  Whispering secrets...

      

      

And if you hide behind a wee white branch, you just might hear the little voices, chirping away...

      

Now, isn't that a lovely treasure to find waiting for you?  Thank you Miss Sandra!!  I just looove them!!

So, how'dya like them apples?  Here we were sitting over breakfast, contemplating how to amuse ourselves...

      

When all along, the day had its own plans for us... Ahh, how I love those wee little faces looking up at me...  Seems part of my life's path is to give a home to wee faces, doesn't it?  A lovely thing... I am tickled!

      

So, here is my simple little pleasure offering to you...

    

For being so extra lovely and nice to me...

      

Little pleasures, cut from my garden....

      

And, if you ever get to roam this strange land, be sure to wait for that perfect moment...  When you just might find a full grown pirate, swinging like a mad man from a tree swing...

          

We once invented a song, on that swing, that had some lyrics that sorta went like this... "And, when you are feeling, sad and blue, and life gets you down, and feels real cruel...  Remember I'll meet you here, because, One hundred and fifty percent happiness, comes from swinginnnnnnnnnnnng..."

Oh and, if you ever find an old shopping cart (mine was a bit topsy turvy and had a hard time standing up until we rigged it), it is perrrrfect for growing things you don't want the rabbits to get.  I gave it burlap bottoms and sides, and I grow lots of herbs in it...

Well, with that, I must bid adieu, until next time...  As, my paint beckons...

      

Life is lovely, embrace the tiny little things.  They make all the difference!!  See you soon, xoxo, V

Was it all just a dream? Or, is this the dream?

Do you ever wake up sometimes, after a long sleep and a hearty dose of inspirational dreaming, and decide you are going to change something in your life.  You groggily concoct a plan.  But, the plan is way too flighty for words, and has no structure to it?  You don't even have the faintest idea of how you will begin to bring this dreamy change into your life.  Yet, you are determined to get there, no matter what form of transportation it takes...  That is your firm decision before you even pop out of bed...

      

The dream could have been anything.  It could be real life things, like, you are going to change, quit, or alter, your job - and do what you love (or quit anything that is on your list to quit).  Or maybe, You are going to leave a relationship or even start a new or different one.  Or work on the one you already have :).  Perhaps you have decided that you are going to stand up for yourself.  Or, you are going to clean your house, organize your life.  You are going to get on a diet, do something with your hair, get a facial...  Or, you are going to delve deeper, on the gears inside your body...  Cleanse yourself, take care of yourself, nurture yourself.  Whatever it is...   

You wake up knowing there will be a change.  And, the only thing that is entirely palpable, are the lingering feelings those dreams brought you to.  To that perfect state of being.  That place you have been striving to get to, to find that ultimate thing called, Happiness.  In that "happiness package" lives everything you thought your life would be "when you grew up."  You know those thoughts that go like this, "when this happens or that happens, I will be happy.  Things will be better..."

And we think, maybe when I get to my very own Hollywood...   Maybe then, I will be happy...  I will begin to live... Hollllyyywoooodddd  Here I ccome...

        

You replay the dream a dozen times before you start your day.  And, your window of dreams actually seems like it is just within grasp...  Albeit not all that clear...

      

So you set out with a plan, still early in the day...  You empty the fridge, make your bed (not something that happens often here), or you proclaim to your family, "there will be change."  Whatever it is... You begin it...

The key to that place is different for all of us...

      

So, on a day just like this day...  When dreams linger and seem so real, they start to take on some sense of reality and shape...  We write a letter (that is my version at least).

           

Yes, this is a perfect beginning to going out and making those dreams come true.  We are just certain of it...

      

      

      

So, the letter is written and you must seal it and send it off.  In my case, I am telling Mr. Lovee that I am setting off to make some very important dreams come true & he need not worry about me...

          

Of course, the thing we forget is that noone else (but the hundreds of imaginary friends living in our head) will understand where this is coming from.  Why we feel such passion about it.  Such desperation to get there...

So, into the mailbox the letter to Mr. Lovee goes...

      

We hide and wait to see his reaction.  I know, sneaky...  He has no idea what is in store...

      

He thinks it might be a love note (I suspect).

      

      

      

He inspected the letter a bit.  And then, took another sip of coffee...  He put his hands over his face like he was crying (but, I am not fooled, I know he was faking and giggling underneath it all).  Then he asked, who is this from?  (oops, I forgot to sign it, but really, can't he guess?)

Still, nothing was stopping me, I was on a mission.  I had to get my Schwinn 3 wheel bike ready for the voyage.  The world looked pink and teal, it was 80's bliss ;)

      

Until of course, the record player scratching hault came barreling through.  The real world would not be cooperating with the dream changes easily.  A FLAT!! More than a flat...

      

I threw my hands up, and decided to go for a small walk.  The events of my dream were fading, as were the reasons I was off to make who knows what, come true... 

        

Things were feeling normal again.  And, as I walked, I started to notice that there was a teeny tiny miniature garden world of amazing life all around me. 

      

Growing in this desert...  All on their own, just enough to fulfill me.  Maybe this is the place my dream was leading me to.  Finding the tiny beauty right beneath my feet.  It was all simpler than I thought...

      

And, in all reality, am I really going to make my dreams come true, by riding my Schwinn to my very own version of Hollywood?? (Okay, maybe just for the day.  It could be a ride to the apple orchard without a cell phone.  Just a bit of  a freeing feeling, riding in the wind... What could it be fore you??)

          

And so this is what happens, we have these deep seeded feelings of dreams, our dreams.  Of how things can change or even be better.  Of what it will take for us to fill little voids...  To inspire our lives... 

      

My opinion is that nothing in the world we attain, will fill those little gaps, those little voids...  Nothing we buy or atttempt to possess or own or do...  They might mask the voids, but they do not fill the voids.  And even if we do mask them, after a while, the voids will turn up again...  Harsher than before.  With a vengeance...

      

I learned this one day, after a horrible break-up (many many years ago).  I stopped after much insanity, realizing I had to get over it.  The pain seemed unbearable...  And I sat down with myself, talked to myself, and asked myself, honestly, what would make me happy at that moment?  What could I do right then at that minute?  Who was I?  What did I like to do?  I was 20 years old.  And right at that moment, I got in my car and went for a drive... (by the way, many years later when my aunt died, I realized that pain I was feeling during that break-up long ago, was the feeling of loss, not just getting over a break-up, but actual loss)

      

It took me to a plant nursery.  I started gardening that day.  In a tiny piece of soil, where I have even managed to grow a couple of trees that are very tall & strong now, and make me so proud...  Sitting outside and breathing, that is what I began doing...  But most importantly, I was planting my own little garden, in my heart and in my soul, that I could have no matter what, that was safe, without voids.  And, when my little plants and herbs started to grow, gaps filled in, more and more...  But, it really came down to "what are the things I like to do, that make me happy..."

I had been painting since I was 13 years old.  But, in the madness of life, I had been doing it less and less.  So, I also started painting again, more than ever...  The painting and the gardening pulled me out of my sadness by my bootstraps... (back then, when I was 20 years old) 

             

I stopped asking myself, "what was expected of me,"  and started asking myself, what do I want to do that will get me through today.  A book, a walk...  A good movie...  I think, we don't have to change our lives dramatically all of the time, we just have to absorb the good things around us that we are missing...  Even just 20 minutes of it everyday, can refuel the soul...  Helping little voids not feel so vast...

      

What I learned through my painting and gardening at 20 years old, when I was asking myself who I was and what do I like to do, was incredbile.  It released me, and it also changed my life forever.  All the things I thought I was working towards.  All the things everyone else around me was striving to attain, were down a different path...  Not my path though...

      

What I am trying to say is, little bits of happiness are around us all of the time.  I am not talking about knock you down sublime happiness (which might in fact find you too ;).  But I am talking about, lovely little things that brighten the day, and bring a tender feeling.  They help us live in the now, and not later, when we are waiting for things to change... 

Little bits of happiness are tiny teeny little weeds giving off purple flowers.  Little bits of happiness are free.  They do not cost money.  They won't come when you are thinner or smarter, or richer.  Those things might make you feel a bit better,  but you won't enjoy them without first finding that which is waiting to be discovered within you.

             

It is you, who you are, standing alone.  Not with your children, or husband, or significant other, or with your parents even.  I know, many of you understand this, and know the importance of this.  But for me, it is what my life revolves around.  Everyday, I find that little safe place in me that is so familiar, I grasp it, and then go about my day...  It is who I am.  It is the one true thing I carry with me, in me.

          

Possessions, finding someone to love, huge goals, all those things are fine and good, but are we looking for them to them to fix us?  Because, what they really should be doing is meerly enhancing our life...

          

I don't even know why I am on this wave :)  I guess, a walk amongst nature, compelled me to share these things that I find  invaluable, and that changed my path. 

Of course, I have to come clean and say, everything isn't perfect in my world.  I have desires for bettering myself,  I have dreams of a tidy house. Of my very own nanny, to follow me around, pick-up after me, serve me tea & treats, take me on outings :).  You know, maybe my very own Mary Poppins???

But today, I am just fine and happy....

      

I would just love for you to share with me, how you find peace and happiness?  Share any tips you might have... Ways in which you have found bits and pieces of yourself.  That which brings you closer to that sense of calm.

Well, sadly I must be off...  I am working on 10 million things.  I feel so busy lately... But, I do enjoy it!!! Oh and, the party at Enchanted Cliff Manor has a message for you...

        

Some of the characters are off on voyages to new homes...  But, you can still find a character or two, waiting for a home in my shop....

In the next blog post, I will post the winner of the "teeny tiny tea party" attire!!!  And, I will say, it has not been easy choosing!!!

See you sooon!! xo, V

One last thought...  I think this is what Spring brings, the desire to break free, wash away the winter, to reflect.  And to make room for new leaves...

           

Reflecting on, Precious Little Things...

Do you learn and change from everything that happens to you?  Good and bad, simple and complicated? Do you reflect & immerse yourself, or do you cooly move on?  So many questions before I even say...

      

I am throwing a lovely sunny, warm-morning tea party.  Let's enjoy ourselves and chat, shall we?  Okay then...

Often, while driving in my car, down the highway, the Santa Catalina Mountains, beautiful and hovering, I think about how I am constantly learning and growing.  Changing, and reflecting. 

      

I don't like complications in my life.  I don't like ill will.  I don't like grudges and negativity.  Does anyone?  I live in my own little world.  I protect my heart and myself.   I learned in my late teens, how I don't like to feel and situations I don't want to be in.  I went through all the waves of angst and such.  It took many years in my twenties to master avoiding such spaces (not fully mastered yet, but worlds better). 

      

You know those spaces right?  Such as, not being respected by someone you give your heart to.  Or, having mean friends who fill your head with gunk.  Who want to see you fail.  Who are never happy for you.  Ugh, I think most of us have felt some of that in some way.  So, hopefully, you learn to see the signs, and remove such things from your life.

Sometimes, you have to get burned, many many times, to find your way.  I know I have.  And, probably still will.  Only now, I will detect it sooner and move away from it...

I have also learned though, the sweetness of life is not what I thought it was.  The sweetness of life is all around us, at every moment.  It is not miles away, at some place we have to strive to get to, through jobs and money, through relationships and places.

        

It sits safe and sound, within our hearts.  In our little souls.  Waiting for us to see it.  To feel it.  To grasp our own slices of it.  It even sits in precious memories, ones from the past and ones to be made...

Where am I going with this?  Well, I tell ya, just when I least expect, I keep learning and growing.  Lessons a plenty.  I think the biggest lesson in my life now, after love and a sense of inner peace, is letting go & loss.

I am not good with those things, as I am sure most of us are not.  Loss of the ones I love (the most difficult), loss of material possessions, loss of control... 

        

Over the years, I have been forced, kicking and screaming, to lose control.  Control of what?  Control of life.  Control of random things that happen (like computers and bursting water pipes).  There are just some things you can't control.  And, you know what?  There is nothing you can do about it.  Nothing.  And better yet, it is okay.  And, there will be some way to resolve any matter.  Maybe not how you wanted it to go, but still, some way...

Now, you might not understand my issue with the loss of control thing.  Not to the extent I am describing.  You see, I am the oldest child, raised from day one, to speak up, speak loud.  Be assertive, be strong.  Be in control of your surroundings.  Make your path, make your own destiny.  And, I will say, all of that is great, but I think I took it too seriously.  In my mostly, type A personality way.  If you know what I mean? 

What type personality are you? 

      

You know, the fact of the matter is, you really are not in control of anything.  Even though you think you are.  And, things happen, there are hiccups, and there is nothing you can do to prevent some of them.  But, most importantly, it is okay.  Things can be remedied.  And, even though, you have to react to things at first, which may be BY kicking and screaming in a grocery store parking lot ;) You have to take a deep breath afterwards.  And, as Mombie says, compartmentalize.

I am "learning" to take deep breaths.  To walk away from things and come back to them later.  I am not very good at that.  I want immediate results, I want things to begin the resolving process "immediately if not sooner" (I got that from my dad).

I put myself on unnecessary schedules.  I am my own dictator regime.  Yet over the last couple of years, I have been letting up.  And you know what?  It feels sooooo good.

Last March I took somewhat of a break from my very own dictatorship and hectic business life.  It has been an amazing year.  And, the little curve balls thrown my way are helping me.  They truly are.  Annoying as they may be, they are creating a patience in me I never had.  Ever.

And, they are making me love life even more.  I love sitting outside, sipping tea or coffee, feeling the breeze on my face, closing my eyes.  And tapping into the swell of memories and thoughts in my heart.  I shed happy tears, and sometimes nostalgic ones. 

And, you know what, everything is just fine...  I feel the butterflies fluttering in me, when I think of how lucky I am, to be living here, safe and sound, and a free person.  Compared to everything happening all over the world that is bad, nothing is wrong...  Nothing.

      

This afternoon, I was listening to NPR, and this show came on.  Try to listen to it if you can, it was good.  It touched me just at that moment.  You know how that can happen sometimes? 

The song they played (does it bring up any memories in you?), reminded me of being at the carnival as a young young girl, with my Aunt Denise and her friends.  It also reminded me of my uncles with their huge frizzy 1970's hair.  It reminded me of being at the river on Easter as a young kid.  With my uncles, aunts, cousins and parents. Listening to 60's and 70's music.  Lots of music, all the time.  And lots of music talk.  They would sit around, reflecting, chatting.  Us kids (me and my cousins) would be pretending we were mermaids in the river water.  Having the time of our lives.  Eating watermelon... 

Life was less complicated...  Or so it seems, as I relive the moments in some of my heart of hearts most beloved childhood memories. 

My siblings and I grew up in totally different worlds.  Technology had not taken over back then.  It was barely creeping in.  And, today, the river of my childhood memories has been condemned as being polluted.  I shake my head in disbelief... 

Those times were so good...  They remind me of how I had no cares in the world. 

Things were fresh and alive.  But wait, they still are.  Only different... It is all a matter of perception.  I am sure, I will reflect on today in 25 years, with the same love and nostalgia...  And, I will probably still be learning...

But for now, I remind myself and remind you, that you are wonderful.  You have the sweetness of life inside of you.  Noone can take that away, unless you willingly give it up... 

         

We should say...  I affirm, that I will paint my world with color.  I will continue to create.  I will take deep breaths...

    

I will love and cherish, and take care of me.  I am the only person on earth, who can make that promise to me, and mean it...

      

There you have it.  Lots of thoughts...  On this sunny bright warm day...

      

See you soon!!  Love, V

(I am profoundly thankful for having exceptional parents who swoop in and are there for me for anything, like angels, without me even having to ask.  Amazing.  Mombie reads this, so thank you more than words can express, for the tremendous love, Mom and Dad.)

Tales from the Edge of...

Boy do I have a tale.  I very very true tale.  It is a tale you have heard time and time again, from other people.  People you have heard it has happened to, and those you know, that it has happened to.  It is a tale we take for granted.  Or at least, I did...

      

This tale is about moles, and worms, and icky yucky horrible monsters that have altering infections & sadly, live in cyber-world.  Creations, not of nature, but of people, who want to harm anyone, with no rhyme or reason.  The infectious ones can not be zapped with sprays and powders.  No rodent repelent.  Oh no.  They are vile horrid things. And, they found me.  (the drawing below is about cleaning out a refrigerator.  Although, I think it does beautifully in this explanation as well)

      

We (meaning me, myself and I) did all we could when we first came home with a shiny new computer friend.  The one that would bring me to you and you to me.  So we could frolick and play.  We got advice.  Installed the latest technology in spyware, ad-ware, search & destroy-ware, and on and on.  Anti-horrid things this, and anti-infect my computer things that.  And still...  We got zapped.  Derailed.  Illegal errors poured out of my ears, and then, the worst...

      

They got me & all my characters.  We held on for our little cyber-lives...

      

On Monday at 11:30 a.m.  I visited a lovely person, who led me to another, lovely person.  All people who would never cause harm.  Alas, on entering the link to the second person, my computer started popping up black screens.  It was massive amounts of jibberish, happening fast.  Before I knew it, my computer had been taken over.  (I don't know if viruses link to people's blogs or what...  It may just have been a coincidence it happened at that moment)

The night before this happened, I had a huge thought to back-up my computer.  I didn't do it.  I had every Virus protector under the sun.  I took it for granted.  I also took for granted that I had a virus.  I thought it could be fixed by my computer pro.

I had not backed up my files for many months.  Isn't that dumb?  What was I thinking?  I know.  I am beside myself.  I tried to save everything I could.  All the things that make up my beloved little shop. 

I have been in high stress mode, with little sleep since Monday.  I didn't freak out until today.  When Mr. Lovee lent me his computer.  Which had some glitches too.  And meant, I wouldn't be up and running soon.  But, here I finally am...

The news?  We will be having a computer funeral for my dear little friend that got me this far.  He is ruined beyond repair.  I spent 4.5 long hours securing a new friend yesterday.  Not the road I wanted to take.  But, I couldn't choose my road this time.  We await his arrival.  We will welcome him warmly...

I don't know why people create viruses?  What is the point?  Who knows.  All I know, and all I can tell you is...

Back up all of your files.  Back them up now.  Back them up often.  When I realized my computer was going under, I backed up all I could before it was ablaze.  Make sure you update your virus protection all of the time.  Please, learn from me.  This has been awful.  It has been a nightmare, really.

      

But, today it was clear, that the shop will survive.  Thank goodness.  It has been a turmoilous 3 days.  This means, we saved most of the prints.  Luckily postcards are created elsewhere.  So, with that, we will make it...

Hundreds of  little faces looking to me for anwers....

      

You know, I don't like to complain much.  I always try to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I try to take deep breaths, realizing that some things don't matter in the grand scheme of things. 

Everytime something trivial or bad happens, I think of my family and those I love.  I think of the good things.  Yes, I freak out a bit.  You can imagine that I can do that, right?  You know how I am in touch with 5 year old Vanessa?  Well, she comes in handy in freak out moments too.

But, loosing your entire computer (to a malicious virus) when you are running an online business, is certain to make anyone, sad, angry and left feeling a bit abused.  I kind of feel like someone broke into my house, to tell you the truth...

No, it is not the end of the world.  But, it ain't easy getting through it...

I am behind in the promised shop update, and in everything right now.  But, hopefully, things will get clearer in a few days...

For now, take a peek at some of my walls if you'd like.  The lovely Marilyn of Pulp Sushi is on to something so fun.  She is featuring people's walls...  What do you have hanging on your walls???

          

Thank you for being a part of my world here, at A Fanciful Twist.  This whole place & all of you mean more to me, than I can express. 

See you soon! Vanessa

I'm in the mood for love, simply because you're near me... {Mouse tales, Delicious treats & Give-away results}

So, I waited until the wee hours, the actual strike of midnight to do my Valentine post.  I loooooove Valentine's Day.  It is soooo fun.  It is my favorite ME day.  Even when I didn't have love on this day, I still had fun, and did wonderful things...

This Valentine's day, I would like to share a touching little story with you.  I know you will like it, I just know it.  Why do I know?  Well, it has to do with Wee Mouse Boy...  Remember him?  His life has taken the most lovely turn.  Funny how things happen when you least expect...

      

You see, after sailing the Woodland Seas, Wee Mouse boy decided that since the real estate market was sluggish, it might be a great time to buy.  He hoped to be able to get a smokin' deal on a little house.  You know, nothing toooo huge, but something that was charming, and needed a little tender loving care... 

He found the perfect little place, right outside the Fungi Forest.  He was having a grand ole time one day, fixing the roof, when he heard a sweet girl voice singing a high pitched tune...

        

He looked up and what did he see?

      

But, a lovely little mouse girl, riding her bike down his path, headed straight towards his house.  She was carrying a book, perhaps selling encyclopedias?

Oh, she was an adorable creature, she looked like she was glowing.  Only, as she turned onto the bend in the road, Mouse Boy noticed, she was in for trouble.  She had not seen the giant furry animal, lurking in the midst...

      

She was just toodling along, humming her tune...  Mouse Boy almost fell off the roof, trying to warn her that there was a giant fur creature, about to...

      

About to decide to plunk down, on the path, right where mouse girl was riding her bike...

      

The furry creature knocked her over.  And, in a fit of fear, she froze, just thrown on the ground, not able to move an inch... 

      

It seemed the furry creature hadn't even noticed her.  Mouse Boy hollered, "Don't worry, I'll save you..."

He pounced on the furry mass.  The problem was, the creature thought it was a game... 

      

The furry pooch meant no real harm.  She just wanted to play...  Mouse Boy quickly realized this, but, he wanted to impress the Mouse Girl, peeking up at them...  She was dusting herself off while Mouse Boy tried to show off...

      

Mouse Girl wasn't really interested in Mouse Boy's antics.  She just wanted to try to sell him some books, and be on her way...  She had gotten back on her bike and was riding away, when Mouse Boy called out, "Come back, what are you selling?"

      

Hmmm, she was a little leary of Mouse Boy.  She was greatful though, he did try to help her, but then the extra Macho Mouse stuff, just made her think he was a silly fool.  Still, she had to thank him for being helpful to her, things could have turned out worse, and he did almost fall off of the roof trying to help her...

So she rode her bike up to his house, but as she jumped off, she noticed something was terribly wrong with her bike.  It fell over, looking like something had happened to the tire... Mouse Boy exclaimed, "I'll fix it,"  with a very mischevious grin...

      

But as he tried to lift up the bike, he fell flat on his face.  This led Mouse Girl into a mad giggle...

      

She liked him so much more, when he was being himself.  She thought he was cute when he fell over.  He quickly got up and invited her into his house, putting her bike on the porch...

      

She smiled politely, and said "I would rather not, can we just sit outside."  She had been taught in her book selling seminars, that no matter how nice a person was, she should not go into their home if she did not know them.  Good advice, even if Mouse Boy is harmless and all...

Mouse Boy thought to himself, and then realized she was just being cautious.  So, he dragged his sofa outside, so they could sit and chat.  But, you know how the story goes, Mouse Boy was already smitten...  The love bug had bitten him. It was too late...

      

As they chatted, Mouse Girl found herself being fascinated by Mouse Boys tales of adventure.  Sailing the Woodland Seas, escaping a witches curse...  Mouse girl then noticed, Mouse Boy had lost a perfect white glove in his fight with the dog.  So, she scurried around looking for it.  She found it, and offered to put it on for him...

      

When their hands touched, that was it, both of them were feeling the love bugs...  They had fallen instantly in mouse love...  She realized, he was a full on Duckie.  Her sister had told her that to find true love, she would have to close her eyes, and change her idea of what the perfect mouse was.  But mostly, she was to be open to the Duckies of the world, many of them held the key to true love (and to treating a girl like a queen).

The sun was going down, and Mouse Boy had a brilliant idea!  Why not take Mouse Girl on a sunset sail of the winds in the Woodland Sea?  She pondered, and then agreed...  After-all, her heart was a flutter for Mouse Boy as well...

      

It was the most romantic evening ever recorded in Mouse history.  I mean, come one, two mice, on a boat, sunset...  And then a sliver of the moon peeked out, and the perfect clouds picked up the little boat, and sailed them around the skies in the most breathtaking flight...

      

So, that is the story of how two mice met, and spent the most lovely unexpected Valentine's day together...  You never know, what might be headed right down your path...  How do ya like them apples?

Now, this year, I give special Valentines, to all the Duckies of the world! I have to say, I adore Duckie boys.  I am one girl, who realized that the so called "cool guys," just weren't for me.  I actually have a Duckie in my life, who happened to look just like Duckie, when he was much younger!!  Extra hugs for all the Duckies out there!!  Gotta Love em!! (FYI, the actual cool guys are the Duckies, if only girls would realize this sooner)

Today my sister said, I wish Pretty in Pink had a different ending, where Andy ends up with Duckie.  Me toooo!! Then again, it's just a movie, no need for me to get all weird over it...  Hee hee, moving right along....

Before I announce the winner of the OWOH give-away, I want to share, another giveaway.  Yes, another one.  I am going to draw one name from this blog post to send a super duper fun Valentiney gift to.  It is going to be a surprise menagerie of treats.. Including some of these edibles (plus the recipe)...  WE might be noticing several give-aways here after all the treasures I found in my move, that need new homes.  What do you think about that idea?

      

I am going to stay up all night making hundreds of these treats.  People in my world wait all year just to get their hands on a couple!!  They are yummmmmyyy!!! 

And, now, the results of One World - One Heart...  What an amazing experience this was!!  Miss Lisa is an incredible soul, and she created a magical thing, she did she did...  She will leave the links to everyone who participated up for a long time.  So, I intend to make lots of vists to everyone I couldn't get to in time for the drawing!! FUN!!

      

I used the random number generator.  I did go back and count one by one, as some comments were posted twice.  I wanted the perfect accurate numbers.  And the winner of all those lovley prizes :) is,  Suzy Q!!!  Suzy Q!!  You Won!!!!  This is my first time meeting Miss Suzy, and by the looks of her icy photos, she could use some pink yummy treasures!!

Thank you to all of the lovely visitors to A Fanciful Twist, who participated in the OWOH giveaway!!  I hope to visit all of you over the next few months!!  I wish everyone could have won a treasure, alas, it is not possible...  But, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your stopping in, truly I do!!!!

Now, if you are reading this, try to take a moment to stand up, shake all about, and do a little dance!!  Happy Happy Valentine's day!!!  Off to bake I go...  xoxo