A New Friend & A Fyne Day

Hi All ~ Hi Jill!!

Yesterday I had the coolest opportunity to meet a fellow blogger in real life. This was a first for me, and I couldn't be happier about it. Have y'all met Jill? If not, then you really need to click on over and get to know her. She's a sweetie and a real kick! Jill is from around this neck o' the woods, and I met her through her blog and a stitch-a-long project we both happened to be participating in, 39 Squares. Over the past few months of commenting and emailing back and forth, Jill decided we should meet in real life. I'm so glad!!

Jill and I grew up in the same town (Lodi, CA), know a lot of the same places, and as it turns out, may even know someone in common. Ain't life grand? We decided to meet at a darling little place downtown that Jill had been to before, but that I had not, and had always wanted to try called The Dancing Fox. You guys! If you ever find yourself anywhere near Lodi, California, do yourselves a favor and stop into the Dancing Fox, it's worth the trip and is without a doubt my new favorite place! 

We met at noon for some lunch, I was a little nervous, maybe she was too... Jill? Anyway, I don't know what either of us were worried about, he hit it right off! No kidding, the first thing we established was that we were both starving, but then continued to chit chat for at least an hour before we walked up and ordered some lunch!! (I told you guys I was a jabberjaw.) Anyhoo, lunch came, I devoured, we talked, we talked more... then we decided to go down to a favorite little place up the street, Secondhand Rose. Cute collectibles, shabby refurbs, and loads of buried treasure. I found a whole bag of jadeite marbles for... are you ready for this??? $1.63!!!! Deal of the day for sure!

We also perused another little shop up the street with antiques and collectibles mixed in with new boutiquey items. I don't recall the name, but it's fab I tell you, fab! Ah, I remember now, The Antiquarium!  The ladies who run this store have an AMAZING eye for design. Every square inch = eye candy!

At Antiquaruim, I also found two little tea spoons that needed to come home with me. These little cuties were only $3!! Score!

Look how cute the tops are!

After such exhausting exploits we decided it was back to The Dancing Fox for coffee and something sweet! Steady yourselves...

Ooooh, ahhhh! This was my desert, a Champagne Tea Cake!!

This was Jill's... Black Forest Tea Cake!

Crikey, these were good! I think they're called "tea" cakes because of the size. We behaved ourselves and only ate 1/2 of each. Deeeelish! Truth be told: I polished mine off for breakfast this morning, teehee!

I think we'd both agree that we visited far longer than either of us had probably anticipated. There was much laughter, sharing, and even a tear or two. This is how friendships are forged. We chatted long into the evening, and literally "shut down the place". It was a great day and I can't wait to get together and visit again with my new friend soon. Next time there will be tea involved!!

Thank you Jill for a lovely day, I'm so happy we did this!

oxo,

Lisa

p.s. OMGosh! I almost forgot! Jill brought me a gift (I told ya she was sweet!), how nice is that?!?

A little bluebird of friendliness!

  

It's like it was meant to be... he joined his long lost buddy on the windowsill next to my sewing desk...

They look happy don't they?

Now I'll aways think of friendship when I see these two.

33rd Square

Woo~hoo, it's Friday!!! Do you guys feel like that at the end of the week too?

Last night I was able to stitch up square number 33 while I watched this weeks episodes of Dancing With The Stars... jeez I love that darn show. Was not blown away by the dancing this week though, except for Nicole and Derek's quick step, I had to watch that dance twice! It was adorable! Nicole is a cutie. I was never much of a PCD's fan... not my genre... but I think I had her pigeon holed. I now think she could be quite good at other things that just that. I think Derek is probably the most inventive dancer/choreographer on the show. I never actually thought about him much until right this moment, but thinking back, his dances are some of my all time favorites. Remember last seasons robotic Paso? Cooool.

Oh yeah, squares! I'm easily distracted...

Square 33~

Return of the grapes! Square, number 23 started out as grapes, remember? Yeah... that didn't go so well. But that's ok. That wonky sunflower is starting to grow on me. I felt compelled to do a grapes square, but I have to tell you, there was a raging debate in my head about it too, because this is the last square available on my sampler that wasn't "spoken for". It was between grapes and a book square of some sort. I love reading for pleasure so much that I'm in two seperate book clubs, if I'm not doing something of the crafty, garden-y, or scooty variety, chances are that my nose is stuck in a book somewhere. I like to read all kinds of books, except romance novels...yuck! So it was a real debate between something bookish, or a lil tribute to the town where I've lived almost all of my life, Lodi California.

Lodi won. What can I say? I've lived here 30 of my 35 years...

Did you know that Lodi is the Zinfandel grape capital of the world? It's true. We even have a Grape Fesitval with a parade every September. The two main high schools in Lodi both have grapes incorporated in their names too. Lodi High School (my alma mater!!) has the mascot of The Flames... which is represented by fire, but actually refers to a variety of wine grape, and Tokay High School, where my niece is about to graduate from (go Ana!!) is named after another variety of wine grape that is grown locally. Even our local bus service is called "The Grape Line". There are grape motifs everywhere you look in my town. Good thing grapes are pretty!! Did you know that Lodi is also the home of A&W Rootbeer? That's true too!

Anyway, this concludes your lesson about Lodi for today, class.

I hope you were taking notes, there'll be a test later!

Have a great weekend folks! Next time we meet, I'll be posting the last two squares in my stitch-a-long as well as pictures of the entire finished project, wow, I still can't believe it's almost done!

~oxo~

Lisa