Under a Blue Moon

 

Well I guess that answers that.

I spent the morning replanting the pots on the deck.  Belle oversaw the entire operation, making sure I wasn't slacking off.  She was none to pleased about the dirt on the deck, let me tell you.  She looks cross, doesn't she?

I have the hardest time finding pale colored flowers around here.  Everything is hot pink, dark purple or fiery orange.  Not my colors at all.  I managed to find enough pale yellow, pink and blue to fill six of the pots.  They are all kind of meager looking right now so I'll wait until they fill out a bit to take more pictures.

 

I'm not sure when the pig showed up on my Mother's kitchen counter but it's been there for a really, really long time.  It is terracotta and it has a patina to it from years of being where all the cooking action is happening.

He just sits there, with a benevolent smile, happy to be a witness to all the good food and general chaos that has always been the way of my Mother's kitchen.

I have coveted that pig.  And on my birthday I found his long-lost brother.  The same sweet smile.  Only this one was terracotta with a green pantina-like glaze on it.  I didn't care much for the color but that never stops me.

 

I just sponged over him with three different shades of cream paint.   I think I'm going to give him an antique glaze to warm up the color and a couple coats of bee's wax to give him a bit of a gleam. 

I also bought a new set of the sweetest sheets.  I think we all know that Shabby Chic is undergoing some financial hardships and unfortunately the stores will all be closing.  But Rachel Ashwell's Simply Shabby Chic line will continue to be sold at Target.

 

When ever I go into Target I always make a beeline to the bedding department so see if there is anything new in the line.  I have several sets of sheets, throw pillows, dust ruffles.  It's all so lovely.

A couple of months ago I was looking for a basket and was in a section of the store that has storage options for children's bedrooms.   And what did I spy but a set of Simply Shabby Chic sheets that aren't carried in the bedding department.   Since they are marketed for children's rooms they only come in twin or full sizes.  I wish they came in queen size. 

Since I wasn't really in the market for sheets I passed on them.  But then I found whenever I was in Target I would head over to the children's department so I could pet them.  I decided to buy them for our guest room

Perfect rumply white sheets with the palest pink rosebuds on them.  The top sheet and the pillow cases have a little ruffle.  Who could resist?

 

Thank you for all the birthday wishes yesterday!  Boy was that fun to wake up to. 

I spent the day one of my very favorite ways.   I make my girls take me out to lunch.  Kate, Claudia, Stephanie and I met up in Morgan Hill and drove to Carmel Valley where we met up with Nicki for lunch at the Corkscrew Cafe.

The Corkscrew is one of my all time favorite places to have lunch.  As soon as I walk through the gate I feel like I've been transported to some lovely European country where the afternoons are spent lazily around a table, with friends and food and laughter.

 

April is a perfect month to have a birthday, if you ask me.  Around these parts you can almost be guaranteed lovely weather and the first blooms of Spring to have arrived to celebrate with you.

 

I need a gate like that.  Isn't that welcoming?  The restaurant has a gravel terrace and I've decided my next house is going to have a backyard just like that.  With a pergola just dripping with wisteria and roses.

And a fountain of angel butts:

 

I felt like I spent my birthday from one end of California to the other.  I started off in Palo Alto, had lunch in Carmel Valley and was home in Granite Bay in time for Rick to take me out for a birthday dinner.

I was even in places I have never seen before, on my drive back home.  At one point I was a little bit nervous that I had gone the wrong direction and was headed for Los Angeles.  Let me tell you California, all of it, is gorgeous this time of year.  

 

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Oh I wish it was laundry day and that is all I had to do.  Rather than teleconferences at 6:00am and databases to review. 

I had the laziest weekend ever.  I never once left the house on Saturday.  I barely left the couch and my book, for that matter.  It was a perfect way to spend the day. 

Hopefully things will pick up around here.  Sorry for the dullness and lack of posting.  My schedule is really wacky since I have to meet with people at all hours of the day and evening.  I can't quite carve out a few hours for myself to do anything fun or interesting.

 

And they are done!  All four of them.  And I even managed to paint the bar stools. 

The fourth one is on the other side of the counter.  There is a little niche where a wine fridge will eventually go but for now I tuck the stool under there so when I'm cooking and people are gathered at the counter I can stop and sit and sip a glass of wine with them.

Please excuse the missing bit of baseboard on the wall – our kitchen has a few details that still need finishing.

By the fourth one I had the system of assembling down.  I did lightly pad the tops by sandwiching a light weight cotton batting between two pieces of material.  I did that more for weight/stiffness than for comfort.

While I was working on them yesterday Belle kept hopping up on the counter and laying on everything.  She thought she was helping and wanted to be in the picture too. 

 

Glamour shot of all the action.  I could never ever ever be a pattern maker.  Whooo boy.  My brain quite literally cramped up when I was trying to figure and draw it out. 

And even after three or four attempts and I thought I had it, I didn't.  But the issues I had were easy to fix as I was sewing. 

Here's the boring, bland bar stool.

   

Pretty dull, wouldn't you agree?  I am still planning on painting them. Maybe just the legs though, since you won't see the seat part. 

I had a moment of panic after getting the pattern created, my brain uncramped and the fabric all pressed and cut out.  My sewing machine wouldn't work.  Nothing happened when I pressed the pedal.  Just a whirring noise but no action.   Rick thumped on something and it started working again.  Whew.

And here is the first one – I still think they would be gorgeous done in a tissue weight linen but I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  It's not very often that what I have in my head actually comes to fruition the way I want it to.