My life is to make everything around me beautiful.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Going to the Movies

We've all had those days. You know the kind I mean—when things just keep going downhill from the moment your feet hit the floor. I had one of those the other day. It turned out just fine by the end of the day, but I was running around like the proverbial chicken.

Then I wanted to go see a movie, The Grey. I love action movies—and in particular, Liam Neeson—and love going to them but when hubs saw it was R rated, he asked that we not go. I abided by his wishes and we stayed home. (After all, it was one of the few times he was right. Smirking!) Since our Church has asked us to not attend R rated movies because of sexual content, language or violence, we try to find ones that we can go to but truthfully, I don't like animated movies. Why can't Hollywood make ones that are good without gratuitous sex, language (we don't use bad language), or things that give it an R rating? It severely limits us from movie going.
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And now, a few pix of Miss Caroline in the snow in the Seattle area last week. She loves snow!! Notice she doesn't remove the Binky for anything! It's her BFF at this moment in time, even though they are trying to break her of it. Out of 29 photos taken that day 20 had her with the Binky in her mouth. Now, you knew I was going to brag about her sometimes, right? This is one of those times. :-)


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So today let's look at more eye candy.

What a cute idea for a breakfast room or a studio or craft room.

Isn't it fantastic what this homeowner did with the patio?

Do NOT kid yourself; it was the food that drew me to this photo even before the color.


Yeah, yeah, I know—we all want a shot at one of these rooms for our home.


It's hard for me to even view all the lusciousness of this porch since I don't have anything like it on my porch. I struggle to even have faux flowers out there.

I thought this little bedroom was particularly sweet.

This is a small laundry room but the owner has given it tremendous, pizzazz-y style.

Who would ever have thought that a rumpled table could look so gorgeous and inviting?

And who would have thought metal could be so cozy and feminine in a bathroom?

This looks like a quick and easy thing to do but the results are magnificent.

Yep, love these colors together.

Some candles in just plain old bottles for a great and easy statement.

Okay, so I'm lusting after this bathroom. Squeeeeeeal! Isn't it fantastic?

I also love putting things under glass. It helps to not have to dust them. Dust??!! Everyone knows I don't do dust.

Go have a cupcake or a sweet bagel and just be glad you're alive today.
~*~
Photos courtesy of tumblr and pinterest.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Cakes, Gummy Bears and Romantic Rooms

I promised more cakes for you to drool over and here they are, but first a story. Of course!

I was visiting with a younger woman friend recently and we got to talking about taking care of ourselves physically. She always has a huge container of water with her, and I usually sit here with a bottle of water and try to remember to drink it.

Anyway, I told her my doctor recommended prenatal vitamins and more calcium as my nails are just splitting badly at the tips. I told my friend I'm taking Gummy Bear Prenatal vitamins. Prenatal vitamins at my age? Yep. So now I'm taking a GB vitamin, GB fiber (as is my friend) and Calcium caramels. I feel like I'm on a sugar high in the morning! Who would have thought we could just eat candy for our daily requirements of all this?

Then yesterday I went for a massage. My regular masseuse is taking a leave of absence for a while and I had another woman give me the massage. She mentioned that my shoulders are coming forward a bit from spending so much time on the computer and then gave me some "doorway" exercises to strengthen my arms, pectorals, neck and back. I really needed those. I sit on this computer way too much but it has to be done. I shall be diligent about exercising though.

And how do I say 'Welcome to Family Search' with a mouthful of candy?
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This is a blueberry rainbow cake. You could probably do the same thing with strawberries and red food coloring.


A room for a princess. I've always found it strange that people put beds up against the wall. How do they make them without moving the bed? I'm too lazy to drag a bed around to change the sheets.

This one reminds me of Audrey Hepburn, one of the most gorgeous and elegant ladies in the history of the world. I understand her personality was beautiful also.

A room Miss Hepburn might have liked to live in.

This one reminds me of New Mexico and its state gem—turquoise.

Romantic bedroom.

These are actually sugar ice cream cones with sugar crystals on them. You could use them on a dessert and they would be edible also.


More eye candy for you. ;-)

Fanciful ribbons under a dome.

Can we say "cute"?

I have a pink clock like this blue one.

Beautiful bowls.

Yes, this is a cake; can you believe it?!

A lovely vignette in a lovely bedroom. Yes, you can lust after the mirrors if you must.

Sighing again...

I think this makes a wonderful garden room or sun room.

To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.
~*~

Sunday, March 18, 2012

A Bit of Elegance and Simplicity

The other day I was trying to access a blog and it was taking forever to come up. Now, there is a website where you can find out how long it takes for your blog or website to come up. So I thought I'd test my blog and a few others to just see what the time is for several different types of blogs. Just a few examples for you:

Several blogs were 5.xx seconds range.
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One was 17 seconds.
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Another one was 11.5 seconds
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Another popular one with over 30,000 viewers was 31.2 seconds.
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Costco was 2.4 seconds
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Funny but Walmart wouldn't let me time it but it was instantaneous, which means they probably have a T-line and a fantastic IT person. :-)
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Amazon was 1.8 seconds.
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A news site was 4.1 seconds
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Etsy was 1.1 seconds, even with all the photos!
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My Photobucket was 3.2 seconds with almost 10,000 photos on it.
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The main Photobucket was 1.1 seconds.
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eBay was 2.29 seconds!
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One "celebrity" blogger, who has a LOT of stuff on her blog is 10.8 seconds.
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Another very popular blogger was 15.2 seconds
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Another "celebrity" blogger was 1.32 MINUTES.
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One blogger who I follow and like is 7.9 seconds
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One of my favorites is 7.3 seconds
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One popular blogger was 2.9 MINUTES to load! I'll never go back to that blog.
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Mine was 1.9 seconds, but I Photoshop all my photos to make them smaller in terms of jpg size. This shows that it definitely helps. Also, blogs with pngs are very, very slow.
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Apple's was 1.4, so they're one—along with etsy and Photobucket—who was faster than my blog. I find that incredible though.
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This is not scientific data, just fun.
~*~

Haven't we all dreamed of having a little cottage shed in our backyard for either storage or just a place for ourselves? I have. I'll never have one but I daydream about it. Daydreams are alive and well in this home! I'm just too frugal and too old to get one.


This looks like a style that seems to be gathering steam as a new provocative style. Personally, I don't care for it but I'm sure a lot of Berkeley students are decorating as we speak. ;-)

Pink is all that needs to be said about this room.



I don't know where this is but from the architecture it looks like something on the East Coast rather than West Coast. I just wonder if those wood planks on the window open and close. It's a beautiful and extraordinary window.

For those of you who wish for spiral staircases. I don't think I'd want one simply because I don't like stairs at all, but this one is gorgeous.


Look how cute this pendant light made of canning jars looks. Perfect for a farmhouse look.

Well-worn and -used copper pots.

This is a restaurant in the Phillipines, where my daughter-in-law is from. Our son and his wife travel over there about every 5 years to visit her family. This is one of the cities they've visited. The water goes under the tables so you'd better be shoeless. I'm sure the kids love it!



I truly do love white with dark blue piping. I think I'd like it with pink piping much better though.

And yes, I'd love this chair also, exactly like it is with those stripes. Gorgeous!

Aren't the walls of this kitchen exquisite?

This is a shawl pin I saw on the internet. It actually keeps your knitted shawl or scarf together. Go visit Claudia and see her exquisite handmade scarves.

And this chair? This is the chair in my living room. It's the photo Thomasville sent me when the chair was made and ready for delivery. It's one of the most beautiful chairs I've ever seen and I just love having it in my home.
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I've always wanted to make a ding in the universe; I doubt I will, but I have no doubt I'll put a ding in a very minute portion of it.
Connie
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All photos courtesy of pinterest and tumblr.