Ladies' Day Out

Good Evening!  Last Saturday my bestest childhood friend and I met for an afternoon of talking, eating and shopping at the new Victoria Gardens in Rancho Cucamonga, CA.  It is about halfway between us so travel time is about the same since we live sorta far apart from each other.  If you've never been to this pretty outdoor shopping mall you should go for a visit.  It is 150 acres of stores, like a little town of just pretty facades of storefronts. Most major stores are there and you have fast food and good restaurants and a movie theater, too.

We mostly sat outside and talked, catching up with the goings-on of our lives.  It was such a pretty day, a bit warm for the 1st day of spring but I'm not complaining!  We ordered the peach/green tea drink from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and it was soooo good!  It's the one on the bottom right.  Wish I had one right now...

That particular drink is just there temporarily so you should go right now and try it, yum!

I got these from a shop called Francesca's .  I just couldn't resist.  I'm only using one right now for my house key since I'm always trying to find it in the dark on my front porch!

Our lovely day came to a close after eating at Paisano's Italian restaurant.  Sad to say good-bye since everyone's so busy all the time and getting together doesn't happen as often as it should.  Hope you get to meet up with a friend soon to chat and hang out!

Itchy and Scratchy

Hello!  No, it's not the cartoon characters!

We as women, will wear high heels, dresses and outfits with lace and other accoutrements that can be itchy and all that but when it comes to lounging, we want to be comfortable!

Have you ever bought something to wear thinking that it would be comfortable and then it turns out to be poking you, making you itch and scratch????

Well, I did just that.  While doing Christmas shopping last Dec. I came across some flannel pjs that were a good deal, very cheery and brightly colored and my pjs were getting thin so I got 'em (Christmas gift for me, do you ever do that?).  I knew they would be too long in the sleeves and pants since I'm small; I'm used to that.  BUT when I wore them on Christmas morning they were pokie.  The culprit was in the seams I could tell.  Lo and behold, there is a plastic silver thread that is running throughout the plaid and sticking out here and there.  I tucked them away wondering if I should just wear them inside-out.

 The poking thread!

They have nice details, like velvet covered buttons and a tie belt:

Thankfully, I am blessed with a sewing machine and knowledge of sewing so I went to work hemming the sleeves and pants.  Then after careful thought, decided to get some bias tape to cover the seams.  It isn't a hard job just a bit time consuming.  While into it I thought I should have just bought some fabric and made some pjs, oh well ya live and learn!!

Here I go...

TA DA, FINISHED!! 

Wore 'em to bed last night and no itchy-scratchy!

Hope you have a pleasant and comfortable week.

Jordan's T-Ball

Hello, I went to my sis' last weekend to watch my nephew, Jordan, (who is 6 years old) play in his 2nd T-Ball game of the season.  For those who don't know what T-ball is, it is a baseball game that young boys play where they don't keep score but that each team gets to be in the outfield 3x and everyone on the team gets a chance at batting 3x, too.  It's really an introduction to playing baseball and they get to learn the sport without competition.

Jordan after waking up with a smile that says, "Hurry up with the photo, I want to get back to my video game".

Here he is up to bat:

Making it to 1st base:

Here's his team waiting for their turn to bat:

I hope you win or at least have fun at whatever game you are playing this weekend, enjoy! 

Happy St. Paddy's Day To Ya!

 

Hi and welcome!  I almost forgot to wear green today.  I might have been pinched black and blue if I didn't!  Trying to get into the festive mood, I wore my little flower necklace that looks a bit like a shamrock and a green t-shirt.  I'm not doing an Irish meal for dinner like I have in the past.  BUT, Wholefoods market is having a few choices in their nightly buffet style "dinners to go" so, I might go there tonight. I have a bit of Irish blood in me from my mom's side of the family and have always liked St. Patrick's Day.

Today is the ultimate "green day" so you need to eat something green and wear something green.  How about going green for the environment, too!  Reduce, reuse and recycle.

Do a little Irish Jig today ...

A crochet shamrock for you!  If you want the pattern go here .  I found her when I was searching shamrocks.  She has a "green group" on Ravelry a fabulous yarnie site.

And a sweet blessing to send you off with.  Have a lovely evening!  Thanks for visiting.

Descanso's Garden in March

Hello there, here are some more pix of what Descanso looks like in the late winter, early spring.  This is an incredible Rhododendron with raindrops still on the petals!  As a rule, they don't do well here in our mild climate.  Years ago, when I made a trip up the west coast to Oregon, on the side of the road were these huge bushes with large red flowers all over it and I had to stop the car to take a look.  They were robust Rhododendrons and I'd never seen anything like them.  I haven't yet tried to grow them here in my yard but I like to visit them here and at the local nurseries....someday....

Please click on the pic to see the bigger version, it will be worth it!

Here are pix of the rose garden not yet in bloom...

 

 

Looking south on the path...

Those people with their children that you see in the upper right, are waiting for the mini train ride to take them for a garden tour.

A young, flowering Magnolia tree...

A hedge of a hundred Narcissus bulbs in bloom with a live lattice tree fence beginning to bud out with new leaves...

Information about the new art gallery....

Here's where it will be...

A succulent garden.  Perfect for our scant rainfall that we receive here.

The Camellia Forest.  If I were a fairy this is where I'd live...

Last but not least, Mr. Mallard enjoying his morning swim...

Hope you have a peaceful day!

Cool, Blustery Day

Good day!  For So. Cal. it's a hat day.  Crisp cool air is blowing my door open a bit and it's blowing away any chance of rain.  Here's what it looks like facing north towards the San Gabriel Mountains this morning.

What I'm working on today is cleaning up the shop.  Time to vacuum, dust and make some keys for the mailboxes.  Also need to check the stock and order some cardboard boxes.

I've been waiting for a center piece for the curtain rod.  The rod supports finally gave away before the end of the year and I've hunted for the right hardware since then.  The valance is supposed to match the front window:

This is what it looks like now because the DHL sign sticks out too far from the window so I needed a 5 inch bracket on each side to hold the valance away from the sign and you'd think because were in such a big city that I could find it with no problem but it hasn't been easy!  When we put up the sign originally almost 2 years ago it made the valance stick out funny but since it stayed up, I never got to really fixing it but since it gave way, now I have to do something about it. 

I ordered a set of 5 inch brackets from a company in Florida and then when I rec'd it I needed a center bracket which I thought was common and went looking for it and had no such luck so I ordered it from a beautiful home fabrics shop called Calico Corners.  If you like home decorating you'd love this store.  Such stunning fabrics.  I called the store last Saturday to see if my part came in and they told me to expect it between March 18th thru the 25th!  Geeze, it'll be more than a month from when I ordered it to get the bracket.

After I clean up then I'll get back to organizing the back room.  Looks a little bit better than the last pictures, don't ya think?  Still have a ways to go though.

Hope you are having a lovely day!

Camellias

Hi, A couple weekends ago, Descanso Gardens had one of their Camellia shows. Here are some samplings of the show.

 If you click on the photo you can see the whole picture.

These are the most common Camellias and they are what most people think of when they think of Camellia flowers. These are my favorite type of camellias and I don't like to think of them as common for they are sooooo pretty!

These are full, ruffly, petaled varieties and they remind me of Carnations.  Most Camellias don't have any scent but recently they've hybridized some to have a scent.

Here is a new hybrid.  Ruffly in the center.  I've never seen this kind before!  The pix is a bit out of focus.

This one was such a pretty deep red.

 

There were so many entries and these are some that I wanted to share with you.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Yes, We Have Snow in LA, Flowers too

A pic of my commute into work of the mountain range after the recent rains.  You can snow ski here and in the same day go surfing at the beach if you wanted to!

Looking more like spring everyday.  Some flowers from my garden...Early blooming iris with a delicious scent...

A pink peonie...

A lavender freesia...

A crimson freesia....
More flowers to share in the days to come as I visited Descanso Gardens yesterday and took some pix of the Camellia Festival.  Be back soon.