Shopping in San Francisco

My favorite place in the whole world to shop: San Francisco Union Square! It just doesn't get much better than this for regular normal people. Hah. I borrowed these from Mo with her permission because when we moved here from the Bay Area digital cameras were not on the market then and I was one of the worst photographers ever. My skills have improved greatly since then! So thank you to Mo and a gift is making its way to her door as we speak!

This is standing on one corner looking at the Westin St. Francis Hotel. I love to dine here. They have a few dining rooms at which to eat and we've eaten at each one I think. But the one I love most is right inside the entrance. They have sofas at some of the tables in the middle of the room, not those banquettes along the walls. Very elegant. And the staff is exceptional.

We took a friend's teenager back with us one year for the holidays because she was struggling in the small Idaho town we were in at that time. She was mesmerized! She couldn't believe such a place existed. She then looked at me as we were reading the menu in the front of the restaurant and said, "Connie, you're going to have to translate the menu for me because I don't understand a word of it." I did because it was all in french.

Neiman-Marcus. Wheat else can I say. The last time I was in here several years ago I was in the linen department and looking at some pure linen sheets. One sheet - not a set, but just one sheet - was $400.00. I've never slept on pure Irish linen sheets and at that price I'm probably not going to if Love Bunny has his say about it. I'm sure the sheets must last a lifetime though as linen is a very sturdy fabric. (He isn't buying that one, chicks! Hah) One of the most elegant stores I've been in outside of Hollywood's Rodeo Drive.

My favorite store in the whole world - Macy*s! I've been in many of them but this one on Union Square has 4 floors I believe and a basement. Dining is a real treat as the food is superb. But if you can't find it here then it probably doesn't exist in the world. And when they have a sale, it's a sale! I once bought an $80 blouse (this was 25 years ago) for $10.00. This place wants to move their merchandise, ladies! Wonderful place to shop, just fantastic!!!!

The Westin St. Francis up close. I cannot tell you how gracious the staff is in this hote. They see to your every need with the utmost care.

Nordstroms. I love their shoes. They originally started out as a shoe store in Seattle and then expanded. The S.F. store was put in about mid 1980s I believe and when we went in there you gasped it was so lovely. Glass escalators - which actually was a bit frightening to me because of the heights. I cannot begin to describe the beauty of this store. It kind of feels like you're in a gold mine with all the gold and glitter. And the employees are very attentive to your every whim. You do NOT need to ask for help; they're right there helping you. Their staff is also as exceptional as the St. Francis.

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China Cabinet Has a New Look

I finally got around to papering the inside of my china cabinet recently. I've been wanting to do it for some time now but other things keep cropping up. You wouldn't understand that now, would you???? Hmmm???? *Smile*

Anyway, Love Bunny told me if I ever used Mod Podge again on something and then asked him to "get it off" - meaning to sand it off - he was absolutely NOT going to do it. Sigh....... So I had to use regular ol' Tacky Glue to hold the paper up. Men!! Well, it seems to be holding up just fine and I bought about 25 sheets of it and only used about 11 or 12 of them. I plan on papering a little shelf in this office/computer room also. I find this the easiest way to do it while preserving my marriage.

The paper is PINK and a roses kind of swirly design. I didn't want to go overboard with the roses, ya know! LOL

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Easter Pretties

Let's talk, or should I say, look at easter beauties today. I love easter because there are so many beautiful things to look at during this holiday. Okay okay, I'm not talking about the candy, chicks! I'm talking about the bunnies, roses, eggs, jelly beans........okay, so I am talking about candy–"eye candy"!! I love eye candy almost as much as I love the real stuff. I love the smiles it brings to the little munchkins and the pretty new dresses some people wear. I love the feeling of happiness it brings to us in our hearts. But mostly I love it because of the resurrection of our Savior and the hope that springs up with it.

Aren't these vases of beautiful flowers awesome? Faux. Yep, faux!! I was going to buy them but I have no place for any more flowers in this house. Yikes.........

I was also going to buy this geranium wreath but it wouldn't fit on the door with the storm door we have on there for security. It is just too bushy to be in there.

And I don't need another rug according to the Love Bunny. I have boxes up in the garage attic full of beautiful throw rugs and a persian carpet rolled up somewhere along with several 6x9' carpets rolled up. One more might just push hubs over the edge. ;-) But isn't this gorgeous?!

A magical easter bunny fairy.

Sigh...................... nope, no room for it either.

Cute but again no room in this house.

I hate deviled eggs but I'd be willing to fill it with truffles or some such things if I bought it. *Wink*

Egg shaped plates! How cute is that?!

Okay, now someone on etsy or ebay will come up with something like this I'm sure. Little felt easter bunny place mats.

I gave serious consideration to this wreath for the front door but hubs said he didn't think it would fit between the door and security/storm door either.

I'll show you more in a day or two plus I'll show you what I've decided on for the front door.
~*~

Ooooh, and for those who have emailed me about the bout with passing kidney stones, thank you all from the bottom of this ol' heart. I truly appreciate your kind comments, emails and thoughts. I'm back to feeling like my usual self and chompin' at th' bit to get some things done. My next project is to do a verrrrry special treat for my valentine swap put on by Miss Dolly. It will appear here first and I promise you that you will be delighted to see it.
~*~

I also am going to have a giveaway for my 500th post, chicks!!! Squeeeeeeeal, just you wait till you see what I'm giving away. You won't be able to contain the glee when you do. Keep watching for it within the week. I am a bit behind but that's to be expected with what these past 2 weeks have been like.

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Bunny Town Tour, Awards & Miscellany!

I'm almost done painting, just waiting for the carpet man to re-stretch the carpet and he's doing that as I type this. So I've washed and washed and washed things the past 2 days. This morning as I washed the "Bunny Town" on the kitchen plant shelf I thought how cute they were and decided to take you on a tour, sweet chicks and bunnies! They're back up there now but cleaner :-) and with a tad more prominence! Each one below shows the front, and the back is just below it so you're getting both views of it. I love collecting little whimsical houses and have many collections around my home. Some I got in Ireland because it seems the Irish love that sort of thing also.

Ooooh, chicks, you've really got to enlarge each one to get all the details.

This is the ice cream parlor. Doesn't it look like an ice cream cone? Loooove the pink roof and the little turret with a bird holding an ice cream cone, pink awning and the pink and red striped awning and mommy and daddy bunny carrying a basket.

This says "Cottage" but it looks more like the barn to me, but hey, I'm no farm chick so what do I know? I think it's precious calling it the "cottage" though. ;-) "Chick Cottage"??? I can go for that....... Notice the giant mushrooms, the flowers growing out of the thatched roof, the cross hatched windows on the back and the wood fence. Mommy and daddy bunny doing chores and coloring easter eggs. Sunflowers on the roof and a chicken on the roof. Hmmmm, where are the roses?!?!?!

The fruit shop comes next; although, I've always called them "fruit stands" when we'd drive the 99 Freeway from northern California to southern California and we'd always stop at the fruit stands for fresh-from-the-orchard squeezed orange juice. I loved it! But now we hit I-5 and miss all those stands. :-( We can see tomatoes, corn, carrots of course, baskets and wooden crates.

Nexxxxxxxt, the train station. Hubs would say he's never seen a train station with what looks like a polka dot tomato on it, or maybe that's a strawberry and it's a California train station. :-) Look at the ticket sign and the RR crossing sign. Even a little clock tower! Mr. Train Engineer waving to us all and a mommy and bunnyette waiting. But most of all the back has a cracked egg shell and someone's tried to "fix" it with tiny bricks! Tooooo cute.

When we were down there recently, hubs bought a limited edition print of the Riverside station. When we got home he asked if I noticed anything off about it. I perused the print and answered no. He chuckled (He only gets this way when I can't find what he's talking about!) and showed me the picture was wrong in its description. It has a canal/body of water that said it was on the north/south side (can't remember which now) and it was wrong. DUH!!! Like I even could figure that one out or even cared. Hah!!

Squeeeeeeal, my favorite! The flower shop!!! It's a ROSE! Look at all those little shrubs in pots and the little flower pots sitting on a shelf, stone steps, teeensy gravel path in the shop. How cute! Yes, they have a nice assortment of roses in this shop!

We now come to the "Inn" of bunny town. Notice the little waterfall in front and the stone steps leading to the door of the inn. There are 2 separate buildings to the inn and one with a kind of french mansard roof and the other a steep tile roof. How quaint. I'm not sure but could this inn be in the "french" part of town???? Ooooo la la!

The Bakery....ummmm, maybe this one is my favorite, sits on main street. Another PINK roof! But this looks like the busiest place in town. No one is empty handed here, chicks. Little stone fireplace inside. Can't you just picture yourself in here eating a cinnamon bun and sipping orange juice?! I can.........

School House!!! Now, no self-respecting bunny would go without an education, right??!!! Well, these bunnies are very studious and smart bunnies. Mrs. Bunny Teacher has her books AND her class well in hand. Ain't no bunny getting slack from this chick........uhhhh, I mean BUNNY!

Well, that ends our tour of Bunny Town. Your tour guide has some decorating, painting, washing laundry and cleaning to do.
~*~

Okay, okay, I do need to post some awards I've received lately and answer some questions put to me so here goes, my sweet chicks:


UPDATE: The blogger who awarded this to me has let me know and I'm very, very embarrassed. I'd been looking for the email in the trash bin and it was in my Mail box waiting for me to acknowledge the award!! How ridiculous of me to not remember that because that's exactly how I do those things! So the sweet chick that gave me this award is JenR so go visit her at Sanctuaryart TODAY!!! I remember that she had to change her name because of some difficulties with someone hijacking her name or some nefarious plot like that, but let her tell you about it on her blog. Now gooooooo!

This was awarded to me a few days ago and for the life of me I can't find the email that tells me. I'm very, very embarrassed and if the person/blogger emails me I'll be more than happy to include a link back to them. I'm so sorry. Life has been more than a little hectic around here lately.
~*~

Rachael over at The Rose Room gave me this award. I'd never heard of it and while I've been called Wild - and Crazy, I've never been given the classier version of it - "Wylde Woman Award"!

The rules of this award are:
1. You can give it to one or one hundred or any number in between - it's up to you. Make sure you link to their site in your post.
2. Link back to this blogsite tammyvitale so Tammy can go visit all these wonderful women and remember the Purpose of the Award: To send love and acknowledgment to women who brighten your day, teach you new things and live their lives fully with generosity and joy.

I have selected Miss Rhea to give this award to. She is one of the most talented women I know, just a tad wild and crazy gal, and she loves the Lord.
~*~


This award absolutely truly stunned me!! I was perusing my Google reader and came across this post from this sweet blogger, lulusfluffyruffles, and just about fell out of this chair!! I am serious!!! I could not believe it. Thank you, thank you, sweetpea, for the delightful post on that blog about loving me. I'm truly humbled. Sniff...sniff....sniff.... Yessssss, I am in tears thinking someone would even think I'm worthy of it. AND she plays my absolute favorite song: Pachelbel's Canon in D. It's gorgeous and I love Pachelbel.
~*~

I received this award from Garden Antqs Vintage and try to answer all awards. I think I should put this award on a side bar and simply add the names of sweet chicks who give me this award! Anyway, I know this is hard but I'm truly awarding this to anyone who reads my blog. Now, I think that if you read it and RETURN then you definitely NEED this award (and a mental evaluation!) for sticking with it to come back and read my ramblings! Truly, how sick do ya hafta be to read me TWICE?!?! I'm a boring old....ummm YOUNG chick who loves life and just tells ya the truth, my sweetpeas! Sometimes it ain't purdy either. Soooo if you're reading this consider yourself tagged for this award!
~*~

Now, we'll hear from my iTunes!!

Cottage Rose and Picketsplace both tagged me for 5 of my favorite songs and since I got 2 tags I'll select 10 songs. So I looked in my iTunes for 10 of the most played songs and will list them here. They are all from the 60s, 70s and 80s mostly.

Can't live if living is without you - Air Supply
Making love outta nothing at all - Air Supply
City of New Orleans - Arlo Guthrie
The air that I breathe - Air Supply
All out of love - Air Supply
Year of the cat - Al Stewart
It never rain in California - Albert Hammond
I never promised you a rose garden - Lynn Anderson
Slow hand - Pointer Sisters
The end of the world - Aphrodite's Child
~*~

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Remodel Day #2

First of all, I want to show you my Giveaway Win!! I cannot tell you all how thrilled I was to win this little beauty!!!!!!!!! It's one of my favorite things now. I so appreciate this wonderful little cake plate or dessert server and the huge rose that came with it.

Mr. Bob had this done within about 3 to 3 1/2 hours last night. The remodel is coming along just fine! Not much mess at all from this part, but he was very careful to put up plastic sheets to help hold down the "mess" and I appreciated that. Ooops, I see a strip of blue tape stuck to the wall in the pix below this one.

Just thought I'd "throw in" these faux desserts as a bit of "eye candy" for ya chicks!! :-) I spend an entire 2 days just making these things. Ya never know what I'll do with them. ;-)

I heard someone the other day refer to "young wives" of "older men" as "arm candy" and I had to chuckle, I tell ya. I've always told Love Bunny if he did that to me when I die I'll haunt him till the day HE dies!! And I would, too. Trust me on this one! I truly do not even believe he would dishonor me like that though.

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Treasures I Found Today!! :-)

I went shopppppinnng today!!!!!! Take a look at just some of the neat things I got.

I saw these green glass stones in a mesh bag and then in a pretty container at the store and knew I had to have them. I love the sea green glass color. Jack said, "You're going to buy those rocks?" Yes, Love Bunny, I am and don't even ask why because I haven't thought on it yet, but they'll be gorgeous no matter where I, your wife, puts them. Well, then that necessitated a stop at Home Depot for some things he needed - screws, straps, pieces of this and that and some such stuff that definitely isn't as wonderful as MY stuff. I waited in the car and listened to the radio while he shopped. Of course I lost my cell phone in the car and couldn't find it but Jack did when he came out. Sigh............

Then I found this darling little birdbath with the little birds on it in this gorgeous verdigris color. That is one of my favorite colors. It looks like your outside copper hose outlet that has turned a tad green/blue and rusty. I know you've seen it but this is darling with some roses I put in it to photograph. I may add something else or maybe more roses.

This is a closer shot of it from higher.

Oh be still my reckless heart!!!! I love this little "window" and I got it for 1/2 off!! What an unexpected pleasure. Jack is hanging it in our living room over the couch in the morning. It's wood and metal with a verdigri medallion in the middle and looks so pretty with the metal scrollwork. Tomorrow more treasures!

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