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Under a Blue Moon

Decor, cooking, organization, all the pretty things

Friday’s Favorites

Blue and pink

Flickr Favorites

Fav

  • Sweet, simple bracelet and such a clever idea.  Why can't I think up these things?
  • Hey – you can stay in Paula Deen's Tybee Island Cottage.  I've always been intrigued by Tybee and the Savannah area.
  • Okay you have too see this blog post on a fellow blogger's dish room.  It boggles the mind.  I need one.  Even though I only have three sets of dishes.  I can have it filled up in no time.
  • A lovely blog devoted to houses – Hooked on Houses

Happy Friday Everyone!!

 

April 16, 2010 5:00 am Andrea Filed Under: Favorites

Determined

002

Excuse the picture quality in this post.  My camera batteries have pooped out and I'm using my cell phone to take pictures.

When we first moved up here it was quite an adjustment from moving from a suburban neighborhood to a more rural place.  We went from a 1/4 acre, landscaped lot to five acres of trees and wildlife. 

Any window you look out from here you see an ocean of trees.  Oaks, pines, maples, cedars, cottonwoods to name a few. 

Instead of a patio we have a big deck that goes around two sides of the house.  When we first moved up here it was shaded with trees that were planted close by.  One of them was a gorgeous dogwood tree. 

The second year we lived here we had a wildfire that started from someone tossing a cigarette out their car window on the freeway about five miles away.  It came to within a half mile of our house and they had closed the roads so I was home alone with the cat and the dog (which I locked in a bedroom in case we had to evacuate. I didn't want to have to search for them).  I turned on all the sprinklers around the house and stood on the deck with the hose in my hand.  There were firefighting planes flying low overhead dumping retardant.

I don't think I have ever felt so anxious in my life.  Rick managed to get through the road blocks to get home but for a few hours there I felt like it might be touch and go and I'd have to round up the animals, the family photos and make my escape.

Afterwards we cut down all the trees that were close to the deck, creating a defensible space.  We actually spared the dogwood even though it is right up against the deck but because it wasn't shaded by the other trees it suffered from sun burn and we eventually had to cut it down.

003

Well darned if it hasn't come back.  Determined thing, isn't it?  It is about shrub sized now and adds a nice spot of color in the sea of green that is our yard.  The pink blossoms do fade to white after a while but right now they are a glowy pink.

I think Spring is trying to make a come-back.  There is a bit of sunshine peeking out from behind the clouds. 

I bought some plants and hopefully the rain will hold off so I can get them planted.  I am sticking with my pastel color scheme.  I just buy whatever pale pink, pale yellow, pale lavendar flowers I can find.  It's like a treasure hunt around here because all the nurseries seem to want to stock are obnoxiously bright oranges, reds and purples.

005 

Here they are, just waiting to be planted.  
 

April 14, 2010 1:58 pm Andrea Filed Under: Musings

Where art thou, Spring?

Cherub2

Those of us on the West coast of the states sure got fooled by a few sunny days last week.  The weekend was so blustery and wet.  

I went to the monthly Sacramento Antique Fair (the one under the freeway, for you locals) yesterday and it was so windy.  You could hear people sneezing all over the place because of the pollen blowing around.  That, and the sound of breaking glass as vendors' lost their wares to huge gusts of winds. 

When we walked in past the the entry table, it and the awning anchored to it, blew right into the street.  Like a big kite. 

The vendors were packing up early and were in a mood to bargain so their time there yesterday wouldn't be a total bust.  I bought the above cherub and pressed glass dish for $5.  I think the cherub is brass. 

I'm going to assume the good weather will rejoin us so on Saturday I went to the nursery and picked up some plants for the pots on the deck.

My friend Kath is moving and gave me a gorgeous 3-tiered planter she doesn't have room for.   I think it was meant for that spot.  It couldn't fit any more perfectly.

Planter1

Ignore the plants you see on it.  I just plopped them there when I got home from the nursery.  My plan is to have herbs (basil, thyme, oregano, cilantro and chives) growing on the bottom tier and have geraniums and allysum in the top two tiers. 

It is parked by the back door, leading into the laundry room and very close to the kitchen.  I can pop out there and snip off herbs while I am cooking.

I can tell I'm getting Spring fever because I want to get out there and start planting things.  So rain rain go away.  Andrea need to go out and play.
 
 

April 12, 2010 11:18 am Andrea Filed Under: Garden

Friday’s Favorites

Diaphanous

Flickr Favorites

Fav

  • I don't remember how I found this blog but I adore these quilt blocks!  Rick rack!  I think I might try them in a softer color palette.
  • There might be a limited audience for this blog but since I just embarked on a fitness and diet regime I'm really enjoying it: Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes.  I have her Santa Fe Chicken in the crockpot right now and it smells heavenly.
  • You all know that learning caligraphy is on my to do list.  This tutorial really simplifies it. What a funky looking pen!
  • Sweet little bird dish.
  • Love these cake stands.  Yes they are a standard design but they are enamel!  

Happy Friday Everyone!!
 

April 9, 2010 5:00 am Andrea Filed Under: Favorites

Good gracious I am boring….

Backyard

(my dad's backyard on Easter)
 

I was tagged by the lovely Mimi from French Kitchen in America.  Mimi was one of the first people to encourange me when I started my blog.  If you want some French inspiration go visit her blog.  Her travelogue and food memoirs will make you book a flight and pack your bags.

Now I'm pretty much an open book so this was a hard one for me but here goes:

Here are the seven things you probably have not guessed:

I have a competitive streak.  I don't like playing games because I don't like how I get when I play them. 

I used to have dyslexia.  If you look closely at the mailbox at my Dad's you can see where I wrote my name backwards when I was five.

I used to speak German fluently and would even speak in German in my sleep.  In fact I took four languages in High School: German, French, Spanish and English (yes I am counting English).

I rode my bike around the coast of Ireland when I was 14 years old. 

When I was three I decided I was going to get married at the Stanford Chapel.  When I was seven I decided I was going to marry a man named Rick.  I did both those things (Note:  It wasn't a particular man named Rick that I was going to marry – just the man I would marry would have the name Rick.  There was a dreamy lifeguard at the local swimming pool named Rick and I thought he had the most perfect name). 

I can't eat garlic.  I'll spare you the details.

When I was little I thought I was a princess.  A real, bonafide, crown-wearing princess.  I was sure that my real parents, the King and the Queen, had just dropped me off with this other family and would be along any day to pick me up.  There was no reason for me to be disastified with my real family (the non-royal one) except maybe being one of five daughters made me long for the relative peace and quiet of being an only child, and why not be royalty while I was at it?

There you have it.  I'm a German-speaking, bike riding Irish Princess that reads backwards and can't eat garlic, married to a man named Rick.  And I'll beat you at Trivial Pursuit if you ever ask me to play with you.

April 4, 2010 6:27 pm Andrea Filed Under: Musings

Friday’s Favorites

Faded

Flickr Favorites

Fav 

  • I saw this fabulous tablescape today and then a few hours later saw the exact lanterns when strolling by Z Gallerie.  I think it is fate and I was meant to have them (two small and one large).
  • Sweet earrings – I can see this on a bride (something blue…)
  • I had these baking cups in my hand today but we were going to be late for dinner so I put them back.  I think I need to go back and get them.  They were so positively retro looking in person.
  • Look what I got for my birthday yesterday!  Now I just need this basket to go on it.
  • April is all about showers – loving this mint green umbrella.

Happy Friday Everyone!!

 

April 2, 2010 5:00 am Andrea Filed Under: Favorites

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