What A Weekend!

Hellleeeew!

How was your Easter? Was the bunny good to you? Did you eat too many chocolate eggs?

I did...

 

I do it every year, you'd think I learn, but I guess I'm a glutton for punishment.

Ok, so I have a bunch of stuff to talk about tonight, got your cuppa tea ready? Firstly, I spent a great weekend down in Hollywood with Melissa, it was everything a good catch up between girlfriends should be. Strolling, chatting, eating, music, kitty cats, and scooting. Here are a few of the highlights!

My pretty friend. Aren't these chairs a kick? We had to jump into them, they're huge! These are on a lounging deck at Melissa's swanky apartment building, neato!

Oh God what a horrible picture... why do I share these? Ugh. Ok, this is my ugly mug at the Griffith Observatory. Please excuse the horrific picture, we scooted up there so I had semi-sweaty helmet hair, also it was pretty darned windy, and that's a really bad combination... so I get a pass on this one, yes?

O hai, Mr. Dean!

Hooray for Hollywood!

Our catch up was great, and it came about because of a concert that we were very fortunate to get tickets to, The Railroad Revival Tour, for me the best band on the ticket was Mumford & Sons! The music at the show was great! I was not familiar with the other two bands (Old Crow Medicine Show & Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros), but they were both pretty good. I wish I could say the same about the many members of the audience, ew what a bunch! Would you guys believe me if I said I was this close (> <) to getting into a fist fight with 6 dudes?!? Seriously... And yes, I was perfectly sober. Kids these days. You might not believe me if I told you what happened, so I'll skip the gory details. But trust me, those boys were gross. But I digress...

Ok, so there we are listening to the first band, just kinda looking around, and then boom! My spidey senses kicked in and I sensed hotness not far away... what's this??

Well hello there, MARCUS MUMFORD!

*swoon*

Oh my... is it warm in here or is it me?

Unforch, most all of the pictures I took at the concert were complete rubbish. So sad. (wanting a new camera...bad!) But wait! What's this? There was one, and only one that came out ok...

Ahhhhahhhhahhh (angels singing)...

Heavenly. We danced (as much as you can dance when smooshed against several thousand other people) and sang at the top or our lungs. It was awesome!

Next day we slouched around and took a stroll over to Grauman's Chinese Theater, and the Kodak Theater, home of the Oscars, and just a few blocks from Mel's place.

Like a moth to a flame...

♥Mel & Me♥

Later we took a spin thru the fancy, schmancy neighborhoods of Beverly Hills and then over to Santa Monica for a walk along the pier and dinner on the Third Street Promenade. Such fun!

Something else we talked about during our visit was a Craft Book Challenge I stumbled onto over on a new-to-me blog Liesl Made. What a pretty blog this is, Liesl is very talented! The challenge is a good one, and even though we're well into the year, I'm taking up the mantle!

The challenge is simply to pick and make a project each month from a craft book you already own, and share it on your blog. Yes! Goodness knows I have a lot of wonderful craft books that are so inspiring, and look pretty on my shelf, but aren't getting the use and abuse they crave. Here's a way to use these gorgeous books, stay crafty and learn new things all at once. I love this idea!

I'm also going to include my many embroidery patterns as a "craft book" because I have a number of these (which I love!) as well that need to be put to use. I'm starting May 1st. If you'd like to join in the fun, I encourage you to visit this link and read a little more about the challenge.

I've added it to my side bar over there too, as a daily reminder for myself and to share with you all.

Whew, this was a long post! Did ya make it to the end?? It seems like I'm forgetting to tell you something... hmm... Well, if something strikes me in the middle of the night, I'll write to you again tomorrow.

I hope that you're all well and springing into spring!

oxo,

Lisa

Happy Easter

Hi Everyone!

I'm still in Hollywood with Melissa, the Mumford & Sons concert last night was terrific! I'll try to post a few photos when I get home. I'm going to head out really early again tomorrow morning and drive my happy, semi-homesick booty back to Lodi, and spend the day at home to my hubby and my critters. Today we're headed out to do some sightseeing, and then we're going to the beach down in Santa Monica, I've never been there before but it sure sounds fun!

Anyhooo, I'm not going to have another chance to chat with y'all again before tomorrow, so I wanted to take a minute to wish you all a very happy Easter.

Watch out for those Cadbury Eggs, they're drippy!

oxo,

Lisa

p.s. Thank you Graphics Fairy

Bucket O' Spring

Hi All!

So yeah, guess where I'm writing this blog from... you'd never guess, so I'm just gonna tell you. I'm coming to you live from Hollywood, baby! Hollywoooooooood!! I'm here visiting with my friend Melissa, we're going to see Mumford & Sons tomorrow, gah!!!! I'm so excited!

Tonight, I have a quick little cutie to share with you.

A few weeks back, my good pal Jill twisted my arm (hehe, not really!) into joining her in a new crafty endeavour, the Sweetwater Label Crew (you can read more about it in her post here), but basically, each month we'll get a new pattern from the Sweetwater girls, and labels to add to that months project. Our first project was a Spring Pail, an adorable little fabric bucket. I chose my own fabrics, because I wanted to make something cute and whimsical to give my niece, Ava for her 2nd birthday.

Here's my pail...

I joined the Label Crew a little late for this particular project, and didn't get the labels for the Spring Pail, but Jill was kind enough to share with me and I was able to fashion a pretty cute label anyway ♥

I haven't had a chance to give this to Ava yet, but I really hope she likes it. I can just see her carrying it around with all her little treasures inside.

I'm pretty excited about our next two projects, so stay tuned!

Aaaand, cut! That's Hollywood speak for that's all folks! It's been a long day for me and I'm bushed! I left my house in Lodi at 6am this morning and drove down here to Hollywood (which is about 300 miles), then spent the afternoon chatting and eating and sightseeing, we even got to see a production crew setting up to do some filming just a couple of short blocks from Melissa's apartment. She lives in downtown... right on the corner of Hollywood & Vine, how fun is that?? Tomorrow before we head out to San Pedro for the concert, Melissa and I are taking the scooters for a ride up in the Hollywood Hills and into Beverly Hills, so we can see how the other half lives, woot-woot!! I'll make sure to take pictures. Maybe I'll even see a movie star, oooooh!

Have a great day out there!

oxo,

Lisa

Roseville Antiques Fair

Well hello there, you's! My, aren't you looking fabulous today!

I had a mostly fun weekend, and I actually remembered to take my camera and get some pictures of the best part, so I have a few to share with you guys. Most of Saturday, eech... don't ask, it wasn't good. But Sunday at the Roseville Antiques Fair with Jill was fun, fun! Take a lookie...

I love that shelf full of metal bins, I think it was in the ballpark of $600... That blue chest is cool too, I bet it would be especially loved by those of you who do paper craft. I love the bright color!

Heavy metal! I may, or may not have purchased one of these items for someone who shall remain nameless. If in fact, I purchased one at all...

I saw a lot of terrific drop leaf tables at this fair, I especially love this one. I'm a big fan of storage.

Pretty in pink... this booth was overflowing with it. Very, very pretty and very, very girly. Maybe even a little too much for me. But I did manage to stick my arm in for a few pictures. I noticed that most of the husbands wandered about outside this booth while their ladies perused inside. Teehee...

This was the banner hanging inside the ultra girly booth. I LOVE the font they used on their bunting. I never get tired of beautiful, ornate letters. I wish I could find embroidery patters in this font, maybe I'll use my handy-dandy light box to trace one so I can stitch one up. Hmmm...

Ooh, la, la...

This picture was taken on the back porch of a great little shop called The Tattered House. Lots of pretty to behold!

Dig that succulent planter box! What a great use for an old glass side table. It's amazing what a little spray paint and some sandpaper can do for a piece that's no longer "in style". I think this is a terrific example of repurposing.

Eh, eh... do you see it tea lovers?? Those pillows are covered in the names of several varieties of tea!! And again with the gorgeous fonts! Be still, my heart.

Jill picked up a few goodies too, one of which I was in love with as well. It was purrty!

I even got to meet a fellow blogger and FOJ (Friend Of Jill's) Marsha, she's posted some pics too, pop on over to her blog and have a look. The day was sunny and fair, perfect T-shirt weather. Look at this tree bursting to life! I'm fond of spring, yessiree!

 

I picked up a great little side table at this antique fair, quite the bargain too! I'll tell you about that later though.

We worked up quite an appetite gawking at all this goodness, so after we left the fair, we lunched at one of my all time favorites, Chipotle! Are y'all familiar with Chipotle? I'm a slave for it. I get the same thing every single time.

Carnitas Burrito Bowl, with everything.

(...drool...)

It is sooo good.

After lunch we hit up another {massive!} vintage/antique place called Midway Antique Mall. Those of you who like mid-century modern would have an absolute field day here! Walking through that store is very like walking onto the set of your favorite old TV show. It was pretty amazing, I must say. Many of the "booths" are picture perfect vignettes of vintage rooms. There are pictures of some of these rooms on their website, check it out. There's definitely something for everyone there. I kept expecting Dean Martin or Mary Tyler Moore to pop out from around a corner. It was funny to walk through and constantly say "Hey, my mom had one of those!" like every 5 seconds. Made me feel kinda old, actually. Maybe I'm starting to get a little "vintage" myself, heh.

Ok, so that about wraps it up! We also made a quick trip to Ikea, but I'm saving that for another post too. Hope you guys enjoyed some of the pictures, I always love to see where you guys are going on your blogs, so I hope you like that kind of thing too.

Have a great day out there!

oxo,

Lisa

Mmmuch better!

Howdy Folks,

So let me ask you a question... Ever use something around your house for so long that you don't notice it's looking pretty run down? I had one of those moments recently and got to turn something old, into something new. Turned out pretty well, so I thought I'd share with you all. 

About a week and a half before, then for a couple of weeks after we moved houses, I got a nasty little cold that I couldn't shake. That bugger clung to me for dear life. The final act was a humdinger, a sinus & ear infection. It was awesome. One night, seeking relief from the pain & pressure in my ear & face, I broke out the ever faithful heating pad, which had been unceremoniously stuffed into an scratchy, old, cotton pillow case, and crashed out on the couch. When I woke up my earache was indeed better, but because of the thin [read: crappy] cover, I also had wire marks all over the side of my neck & face. It was very cute, trust me. With a clearer head I also noticed that my makeshift heating pad cover was down right janky! I think I'd been using the same pillow case for a couple of years. Oh sure, it had been laundered, but still...Time for a makeover.

I wanted something soft and warm, so I used some cotton flannel squares that I already had on hand and quilted up a little beauty. No plans, and practically no measurements. I just started sewing. I can't believe it actually worked.

I left the end open and just sewed in some grosgrain ribbon to tie the end closed.

I even lined the inside with pretty pink stripes.

And pieced the back too!

All in all, I'm quite happy! It's so soft.

I love it, in fact I'm actually using it as I write this post! Lower back pain is fun!!

I love that I didn't have to spend a single penny on this project, I already had everything I needed in my stash. Free is goood! I also love that it's something practical that I know I'll use for years and years.

Do you guys have any favorite revamps you've done around your place? Tell me all about it!

Hope you're all well!

oxo,

Lisa