Uncategorized

 I'll be busy getting ready for BirdSong this week, please forgive me for not answering comments.  I'll be taking the time to read them, tho!

The two attic guest rooms are all aired, fresh linens are on the beds, and I'm ready for my guests.

During Bird Song, my pal Lisa who is teaching will be staying with me, as well as another good friend, Sherry.  I'm not sure yet, but another friend  might be joining the slumber party too.

I wish I could have invited more friends to stay, I love company. But it would be too hard to treat guests well, while trying to take care of the whole workshop, meals, and everything else that I'll be whirring around doing.

I've warned the ladies staying here that they'll be on their own, I'll be zipping about taking care of students all weekend.  But they are the sort of people that I know will be able to make themselves comfy and at home and I won't have to worry about.

Both of the guest rooms are in attic areas that we "reclaimed".  Finding unused space and claiming it as living space is a cost effective way to make your house bigger, especially if you can do some of the work yourself.

All of it was done on a shoestring budget, but we sure got a lot of bang for the buck.  We have lots of company, so extra rooms are good  to have.

Each room has a rose theme, mostly because I can't resist buying anything rosey at garage sales, and I paint roses on too many things, like this desk and the shutters.

And this chest of drawers.

There is an extra twin bed in Sugarwing's room too.

Notice that the chandelier is missing its shades?  It once had decorated shades, trimmed out in fabric roses.

But one night, while tucking my fairy grand baby in, she said, "Grammy, can I tell you something?"

I said of course, and sat on her little pink bed next to her, and she told me that when I left the room, the light became a monster. 

I said, "A monster? Honey, there are no monsters at Grammy's house. I don't allow that."

But she insisted and pointed at the shades. So I took one down and brought it over to show her.  She said it was pretty and that she liked roses.

 I asked if she was okay and understood that they were just lamp shades, and she said, "Yes, these are pretty.  But when you leave the room, they are monsters."

Well there is no arguing with that.  So down they came.

  

Sorry I won't be answering emails or comments, but I will be taking time to read them.  And I'll chose a name from commenters to give a Birdsong memento to later on.

All is going well with my prep for Birdsong. My studio is spiffed and rearranged to fit all the guests.  I've been doing some Zero Dollar Decorating around the room too. 

Today, Agnes Rosebud and I went out to the fence line and cut down some wild grape vines to wrap around Loucinda, and then I added some flowers and birds to the vines.   My goal is to make things nice without blowing the budget by using what is on hand to decorate with.

Soon, I'll be packing up gift bags and baking goodies.  That is, if I don't wrench my neck by trying to give myself a pat on the back for being so ahead of schedule….

These gifties are from my buddy, Lonnie. She packed up 25 jars of mica flakes for all of the attendees. 

And Miss Mitzi has gifted the girls with yellow yoyos.  Actually, they are not all yellow, I was just on an roll with my alliteration pairs and yellow just fit.

The generous bags are stuffed with all sorts of bright colored old fabrics to work with.

Thanks, Lonnie and Mitzi!

There is a full list of sponsors on the side bar of my blog and on the Birdsong blog.

Saturday, I spent the day with Beth and the Other Karla. We hit estate sales, went to lunch, then worked in Beth's craft room.

My big, to die for purchase of the day was this French Net table cloth.  oooohhh, its pretty.  And only 20 bucks!  I'm going to use it in the treat cabinet for the photos I'm taking for Romantic Homes.  I'm a big believer in using the Good Stuff, in my art and around my house.

It doesn't do you much good to own something then pack it away.

But, I'm not sure that I want to leave this glorious bit of lace in the treat cabinet to be dribbled on by coffee and red wine.  I think I'll fake it for the photos, then find a safer place to use this, its just too nice to let it get ruined.  And a table cloth needs to be washable. I use vintage, pretty ones, but they have to be something that I can wash a dropped brownie off of.

 

I also got some padded hangers in satin and velvet.  While I was in the middle of setting up the studio, I took a break to play, and foofed them up a bit.

Most are listed in the Boutique now.

I used the Good Stuff on these. Aren't they pretty flowers?

When Sugarwings and I go to Michaels or Hobby Lobby, we usually pick up a little kit for her to make. She has plenty of art supplies, but there is something about those little packages of goodies that intrigue us and always make us plop one or two in the cart as we go by them.

This one was a set of plaster Easter eggs and paint to decorate them with. But the eggs were just the starting point.  After all the eggs were colorful and bright, my fairy baby started in on a bag of shells that she had.

From, there, she moved on to the rocks in my flower bed border.  I don't blame her, who could resist turning this one into a Mr. Potato Head?

It didn't take long for her to start imagining that she was Alice and was helping the Queen's playing cards paint the flowers.

"Who dares to taint with vulgar paint, the royal flower beds?"

I think she has what it takes to be an artist, don't you?  She is definately orginal, and while she might start with a kit, the results look far from cookie cutter.  She's made the project her own.

Luckily, this one has quick little legs, or she might have been a rainbow pup.

 

Funny how one little bit of fabric can turn into the catalyst for a whole room makeover, huh?  I fell in love with a clearance shower curtain ($19) at the Victorian Trading Company's outlet store.  I figured that if I had no where to hang it, I could always use the fabric in projects.  ( I wish I'd bought two, so I had the other to cut up!!)

Plus, I've been wanting an ALL WHITE room. I figured the bathroom would be the place to do it, and was ready to give the white on white look a try.

But the curtain seemed a bit too white, almost blue, it was so white. I dipped it in a watered down bowl of tan Rit Dye, gambling on the outcome, I knew it wasn't all natural fiber and the colors could be all over the place from the different fabrics the curtain was made up of.

 And boy, was I right! But I love it!! There are shades of white, cream and tan and the white is a bit warmer than the glaring, pure white that it was before.  The gamble paid off.

The iron pieces hanging above the curtain were dark, and I dry brushed white and cream over those, then hung an antique French netting panel that was a gift from my BFF, Beth.  For no reason! She just saw it and knew I'd love it, and of course I do.

Here is a before shot of the room, I really liked it just fine and it had been photographed for Romantic Country by my pal, Diane Guthrie.  But the room had  looked this way for years and I wanted a change just for change's sake, not because I didn't like it.

Plus these two pieces were some of the only bits of unpainted wood in the house (besides old lawyer's book shelves in the library).  I don't care much for wood finishes.

Here are the old curtains.  I really did like them and still do. I've moved them into the studio for now.

But try as I might, I just couldn't do pure white.  I love it as an accent, but when I got the walls painted, it felt too…blah? cold? apartmenty? wrong? 

Honestly, I drool buckets over photos of all white rooms.  I want one really bad. But it just isn't in me to do it. I start warming up the colors and going cream/ beige/tan.

So, I faux finished over the white walls, starting at the floor with a bluish gray/green that is on the walls of the connecting bedroom.

I graduated the colors up from blue, to metallic gold, then tan and cream to the white at the very top. (I chose these colors because the cans were what happened to be in my closet at the time).

The faux finish is subtle. I blended it all together with the cream color.  Then I painted the cabinet, but I might leave the little table dark. What do you think?  A bit of contrast here and there is nice.

Like the iron candle holder and the chippy green mirror.

My plan was to paint the furniture and walls all white.  But you can see,  the vanity is lighter, but not white.  In the photo it looks similar the jewelry armoire I painted years ago, but when you are in the room, they look very different and unique. 

If you want, I can do a "how to" on the technique for the vanity.

I think I need to re-paper the roses on my Grandma Downey's floor lamp/towel hanger to a lighter color too. The bright roses stand out a bit too much now. 

 I might cover the center panel of the vanity door with a pretty paper too.

The poor dogs were just glad when I was done.  They had to be locked up to keep their little paws out of the paint.   I don't want little painty footprints all over my house. When I used to paint furniture, I'd work outside and would zip through a lot of pieces a day, not being all that careful while doing it, since I was in the garage. But one day, the barn cat walked through some spilled primer and jumped up into the open door of the van that I'd just unloaded.  We had kitty cat foot prints all over the van seats forever, because I use a good primer!

Inside, I'm more careful and I paint without a drop cloth, since I've been painting forever, I know how to be tidy when I want to be. But I paint barefoot just in case. That way if some paint does drop, you know when you step in it, and it doesn't get tracked around the room on the bottom of a shoe.

I'm still not sure if the room is done. While trying to be light as I could, I might have gone too sublte on the faux finish… I might need some warmer tan rubbed over it to tie in the color of the tiles.  But for now, I'm done. 

$19 for the curtain,  20 something for the white paint ( I use Behr, its always the BEST for the price), and about 8 hours of work, and I have a whole new look.  Its a drastic change, even if it wasn't what I'd planned on it being.

A  can of paint can make a big impact.

I think I like it.

 

Before I had a blog, I rarely got packages in the mail. My mom used to surprise me with things she'd made, and that was always a very special treat.

But blog world has changed my lack of mail.  I never know what to expect from the generosity of fellow bloggers.

There are contests, giveaways, and just plain old gifties always going on in the blog-o-sphere.

Recently, I got a couple of GREAT packages, these are from sponsors of Bird Song, coming up at the end of April.

Miss Sandy sent all this loveliness, a big, overflowing box of hand made goodies to give as gifts to the participants!

And, in the bottom of the box, this bit of gorgeousness, a collage to give as a door prize!

Celeste, sent a box-o-pretties too, here is a small sample of the generous supplies she sent for me to share with my guests.

My BFF, Beth, not only designed and provided the images for the gift bags that she also helped sew together, she has made these little nature inspired sachets to slip into the goodie bags too.

For a full list of the kind hearted friends of mine who are sponsoring the event, there is a list on the sidebar of my blog. 

This box, though, was a real surprise!  I had ordered another hundred or so 1860s Charlotte dolls from Germany and was really excited to get this package marked from that dealer. But when I opened it up, it wasn't cute little dollies looking back up at me, it was this!!

The original invoice was in the box, so I know who the rightful owner is and will send it on to him, some guy named Nathan in Minneapolis. But not until after I show Sugarwings, she'll love this.  That kid shares my interest in the spooky side of life.  Big bad wolves, witches, and goblins always make her happy. I might tell her these are goblin eyes…

Oh, and my Charlottes arrived safely, too.  And they are the big ones, I've not carried those before.  I'll let you know when I add them to the shop, but first I want to play with them and make a few things myself.

This package was much better, I won this hand made bag from Teresa.  Very, very pretty, and so well made. Its a really sturdy, heavy bag for as dainty as it looks.

And a kind hearted reader who knows my deep, true love of old ribbon sent this.  Thanks, Marilyn!

See why I skip happily down the driveway when I go to check the mail?  Its not just a mail box, its a treasure chest.

Sometimes I'm lucky enough to get treasures in person. My pal, Sherry (who will be a house guest during Bird Song) gave this cute packet of sequins and jewels to me at Moulin Rouge.

And my Moulin Rouge roomie, Kim, gave me this pretty package containing a sweet necklace that she made.

Poor Kim.  She didn't get the best deal in rooming with me. My snoring is back! My theory is that I need to lose a few pounds.  Because the surgery to stop the snoring worked before the holidays and all the treats that I ate kicked in. 

Plus, Kim doesn't have an once of fat on her body to keep her warm, and I tend to over heat at night, so we had some different views on the thermostat setting.  I was a night owl and she gets up before 6am, so we weren't well suited in that way.  Its a good thing she is such a nice person with so many fun stories to listen to!!  We had plenty to talk about and got along well, even with our differences. I hope I didn't annoy her too much.

Kim is holding two dolls made by Colleen, and she ended up buying the rabbit. 

Colleen is some one I really enjoyed getting to know. She drove us all over, to Venice Beach, In and Out Burger, the garment district.  So, I am sending her this little package of things as a thank you. 

I've found that its just as nice to send fun mail as it is to get it!

Over the last few years, you have heard me talking about all my little dorkies, and I have posted lots of pictures of Twinkle, Sparkle, and Agnes Rosebud.

Someone I haven't talked about much is Bookie.  He's the reason I call my Yorkshire Terriers "dorkies".  Because when he was just a pup, he was so silly, I'd always tell him that he was a big ol' dork.   He was such a goofy, little odd ball.

I don't have a lot of pictures of him, because he didn't like to be bothered.  And after fathering litters and litters of pups, I figured he'd earned his time to relax and be left alone.  Plus, the little guy was about 16, so he was around before I had a digital camera and was constantly snapping photos.

Last year, he was diagnosed with canine dementia, which is basically, doggie Alzheimer's.  The poor guy had been becoming more and more reclusive and confused. 

He started getting lost, in his own living room. 

He would go out the doggie door and not find his way back in, so that we'd have to check in bad weather to make sure he wasn't stuck outside on the porch freezing.

He didn't notice where he was peeing. One day he even lifted a leg and peed right on my foot, and didn't even see me standing there.

He'd pee in the other dog's food dish.  We got rid of every rug, and carpet, and kept vinegar and a mop nearby all the time, to clean up his messes. 

He had no teeth and had to be fed special food away from the other dogs who wanted to take it from him.

He always had a bad cold, and was congested and snotty, so he couldn't smell things very well. Which was lucky, because he was spared smelling himself, and he was always pretty rank.

There's more,  and its all sad.  The saddest part was that he lost that Dorkiness that made him so lively and cute.  He was just a worried, scared, little old man who just wanted to be left alone on his pillow by the space heater.

So, when he took a turn for the worse this week, and I decided that his time had come, and made a vet appointment for him to be put down, I thought it was the best choice and that I'd be fine about it. After all, I've complained and kvetched about his pee constantly for a couple of years.  And he was such a loner, that sometimes I forgot he was even around, until I had to get the mop out again, that is. 

If I tried to pet him, he'd panic.  I think he associated me with baths and hair cuts, things that he hated.  Plus I was always the one who took care of him when he was hurt, or sore, so when he remembered me, he remembered pain.

I've been  cracking jokes for two years about his odor and said that he already smelled dead, I nicknamed him Zombie Dog because he looked so bad. No matter how often I bathed him, he was crusty with drool and snot.  

It had been so many years, since he'd been my little fuzzy Bookie Bear, my original Dorkie, that I really thought I'd be fine taking him in to the vet today.

For over a year, I've been struggling with the guilt of wanting him to be gone.  I might offend other dog lovers with my honesty, but it really isn't easy living with a dog with that many issues.  And its such a hard decision, just how do you know when the time is right?  He wasn't still part of the family in a very active way, and he was a lot of work and trouble, but still, we owed it to him, to let him live out his life comfortably.  When you get a pet, its a big commitment.  Pet ownership isn't just for the adorable puppy stages, its for the smelly old man phase of life too.

But man, at what point do you say, enough is enough?  I was so paranoid about the pee, I was mopping 5-6 times a day.  This is for a couple of years.  That is a lot of mopping. 

This week, the question was answered when he wouldn't eat, and had some other problems come up. 

I was relieved.  I wasn't happy that he was not feeling well, but I was happy that the end had come.

 

This is how he looked on his last day.  And how he looked most days.  Beth said thhe nicest thing about him, that he looked like the Velveteen Rabbit who was all worn down from so much loving.  Much nicer than me saying he looked like a zombie.

I took him into the vet this morning and said all of his favorite words, things that I though might bring back happy memories.  I whispered, "Sparkle, lake, boat, go for a ride, newspaper, treat," and "cheese", over and over and over.   Words that used to make him jump up and down with glee and act like such a little dork.

And I cried.

And now I miss his stinky little self.

While in Texas at Round Top, I'm going to visit the legendary Sweet Tee of Garden Antiques Vintage and mingle at her extraordinary blog party!  Yee Haw!    I think I'm more excited about meeting everyone than I am by the lure of the flea market. 

There is a contest at the party for the best presentation of your appetizer. I hadn't planned on doing anything, since we planned  the trip at the last minute and I had no time for getting any of my regular stuff done let alone make up a contest entry.

But during my Bella party on Saturday,some of us were making  crowns from 20 gauge black wire.  I foofed mine up with white millinery flowers, velvet leaves, and this cookie press piece that had a Lonestar on it. (well, it looks like a Lonestar to me!)  Then, when I looked for something to make a flag with, I saw the words "the Texas Company" staring up at me from an old magazine page laying on my desk! How perfect.

That clinched it, this was going to go to Teresa as a hostess gift.

I even had some rusty old, toy garden tools to add to it. I wired them to broken chunk of wooden trim and added her blog title on a little banner to the front of it all.

It still didn't dawn on me that it was more than a hostess gift until we were talking about the crown another bella had made and saying hers would be a nice cloche.

Then- Yee Haw!  I realized mine could be a cloche too.  So, I set it on a pretty, vintage plate and now I'm not going to the party empty handed.  (well, I would have brought some wine, at least, but now I can bring a plate of treats in style)

I have no illusions of winning. I've seen Lisa's creation- and it deserves a big Yee Haw!  And I hear that everything is bigger in Texas, and that the displays will be over the top. Can't wait to see them all!

Meeting other bloggers is such a treat.  I always feel like I already know them when we get together, there is so much to talk about. 

I wish I could meet the lady that made these goodies. But I don't think a trip overseas is going to pop up like the Texas venture did.

Before my trip South, I received these lovelies in the mail from Dorthe. I fell in love with her driftwood fairy and had to buy it from her Etsy shop. I was pleased and surprised to see just how reasonable the postage was for it!  She also made a giftie to send along, this sweet blue pillow.   And all wrapped in the most pretty way.  Don't you just love her?

and you'll get 20% off of every purchase!

I'm going to Round Top!!!  Yee Haw, Y'all!! 

This is the best kind of trip. Beth emailed me out of the blue a few days ago and said, wanna go? And so off we go. We are meeting up with blog friends, Jodie, Lisa, Suzanne and Charlene.  And best of all, we get to attend Sweet Tee's Big Blog Party Hoe Down.

So, of course, instead of doing all the dozens of things I should be doing before I go out of town, I sat down and made myself a necklace to wear to the party.

And I made a book.  I know I shouldn't have, I had other things to do. But after making all the swap pages (previous post) and having such a good time with them, I was dying to make more. 

The interior of the book is made quite a bit like the swap pages, with the crazy quilt wallpaper patterns.  I tried out  this Sealah No Sew tape instead of glue on some pages and it is wonderful stuff.

I also used it on these cuffs, and was amazed at how much easier they were to put together without icky, gluey fingers all stuck together and making a mess. 

You can get some from my pal, Kay Ellen. Her mom is the inventor!!

Most of my day was spent puttering around not doing what I needed to do. I got into the salon for a hair makeover.  Which means about 2-1/2 hours of sitting  and reading a magazine and thinking about all the stuff I should be doing if I wasn't too vain for the Texans to see my dark roots.

Like it matters. From what I hear, I'll be sweating like a pig and keeping the sun off with a hat the whole time.  At least I'll have a pretty necklace on, and no dark roots hiding under the hat!

Do you ever take a photo of yourself in a mirror? I sure felt goofy doing it and look kinda goofy too.  But, my husband is out of town and Sugarwings was going to be the only person to see my new hair do while it still looks salon fresh!  My hair rarely looks cared for! I needed to document it.

I did make time to wrap up the packages that needed to be sent out before I left for the Lonestar State.  And I figured out how to do discount coupons in the Boutique!!

If you type in the word "Roundtop" (one word, capitalized) you will receive 20% off all purchases in the shop until Sept. 30th. I kind of need to pay for the spur of the moment trip somehow….

 

Although, honestly, every corner of my studio looks something like this. What makes me think I need to buy anything at a flea market any way????  I told Lisa that I am coming as a tourist not a shopper, but she doesn't believe me and is gearing up to wrassle me over the best deals.   She has also thrown down the gauntlet and challenges me to find a millinery confection for under $10.

I think she doubts my hat whispering skills! But I'm not going for hats.  I'm going for the atmosphere and to hang with blog buds. I'm still feeling shaky from watching Hoarders.

 

My teeny Agnes Rosebud still has not grown into that big name. She is so tiny that she walks right through the pickets of our fence, so I can't leave her alone.  I'm taking her to Beth's house for the weekend to play with Button. Beth's husband is one of her favorite people in the whole world, so she'll be thrilled.

In Kansas, the sparkling rhinestones are ripe for the picking. I wonder how plentiful they will be in Texas?

Well, I've frittered most of my day away, between vanity, playing with Sealah Tape, and running around the park pretending to cast magic spells on Sugarwings.  I need to go and pack. Please forgive me if I don't return comments while away, but also please leave one, I love to hear from you!

And each comment enters the drawing for a gift from the Romantic Gothic Ghost class.

 

Oh, before I forget! Have you seen this yet??? A party in honor of Practical Magic! How could I miss this one?  Please join me, I'll be writing my post in advance for Saturday's link party. 

I should be feeling pruny after all this time submerged in Mermaid land!  But I am still just loving it, and enjoying unpacking all the projects and gifts.  This is my pillow from Holly's class.  Beth finished the stitching for me, since I am a crappy sewer. We traded, I painted the face of her mermaid.   We also traded with packing, she packed all the sewing things, I brought painting supplies and paper clay.  That helps when it comes to getting ready to go, and making it all fit into a suitcase.

I was happy to paint the face of her mermaid. I LOVED this class.  Here is my girl.

This one is Beth's. 

 

A few other people asked me to help them out too. I think I did about a dozen or so. 

Jenny Hernadez outdid herself, she made each of us one to paint, plus made all the stuff we needed to create one of our own. It didn't have time to dry to finish, that is why she put two in the kits for us.

I decided to go with a Grammy/Sugarwings set for my two.  The one that I got to mold has a lumpy, grammy body.  And a hysterectomy scar, complete with belly pooch.

As well as a saggy old lady butt.

My larger one still is not all finished, I've got some work to do on the box, I'll cover it in matching wallpaper to the other one.

Now, I've got to put away the paper clay mermaids and go play in the water myself. We are off for a trip out on the lake with some friends.

What a week! Its hard to get back to reality today after such a pampering time in California. First at Kim's over the top, wonderful event, then a few days with my husband at Rancho Las Palmas. 

By the way, if you have heard that Kim throws the best art events and pays attention to every little tiny, pretty detail of the weekend, its true. No exaggerating. She's got some SKILLS. Mad skills.

Plus, she's fun.

 

The hotel she chose for the art-a-thon couldn't have been more perfect.  And the teachers? I learned something from each class.  I'll have photos of the classes later on.

I grinned so much that my face hurt. And I tend to ruin a lot of people's photos by closing my eyes. Jessi says its because I smile too big.  But there was no stopping that.  So, there were LOTS of times we had to take and retake group shots because I had my eyes closed. Me, every time, no one else.

But I had a lot to smile about!

Not only did I  hang with old blog friends, get to meet new friends, and learn lots of good tricks from the generous teachers, I was on a winning streak!

I won 2 drawings during the event itself, plus got a giftie for answering one of Julie's questions during a game.  Then, while at our Long Beach/Orange bus tour and shopping extravaganza, I won two door prizes, including this glam apron. Perfect for Silverbella, huh???

Then, I found out that I am a winner in the Where Blogger's Create party thrown by Karen Valentine.  Everyone has been telling me to go and buy lottery tickets while I was on a hot streak of good luck.

Jo Packham chose three winners from the studio show and tell to be featured in her magazine.  I was wowed by Laughing with Angels and am so glad that she won, she had my vote.  If there had been voting. Her place is dreamy.   And there is non stop vintage goodness at Old Grey Mare. I'm honored to be in their company.

Yep, I'm pretty lucky. Not just for the prizes, those are just the icing on the cake.  And I do love cake.

I'm pretty lucky to have a handsome, funny, lovable husband who whisked me off to a romantic getaway.

He's not bad on a daily basis either.  

The weather in California was perfect. Even in the desert, it was just as the cliches say, a "dry heat" and not as sweltering as it is here at home in the Midwest.

And everything is so pretty out there.  This is a house we walked by while heading to the beach.

The food was great, and everything I ate was just as pretty as a picture.

The stores in the city of Orange had me wanting to move to CA.  And while everyone was warning me that I wouldn't like the prices, honestly, I didn't think they were that bad.

At the Long Beach flea market, I found good deals on old hats. This one, covered in pale pink roses was only $10. 

But my best deal of the day was a duffle jammed full of Ariel paraphenillia for only $20.  Sugarwings is having a birthday soon, and this will be  the theme for the party.  Kim gave me handfuls of shells left over from the tablescapes, and I have plenty of other mermaid decor from my projects, prizes, and gifts.

My husband was fully prepared to have this Ariel duffle as his carry on too, but we were able to stuff it all into his golf bag.

I'll leave you with some photos of a few of the wonderful people that I got to play with.  I wish I had photos of more of them.  (Nice to meet you, Kathleen!!)

This is Joy, who co-hostessed a martini gathering for us.

Talented Kay Ellen and my buddy, Beth

Cynthia co-hostess of the cocktail bash, sassy Jessi, and baby doll Sherry

Generous Valerie (who I wish I had gotten to know up at Silverbella! I hope to spend time with her there this year)

The beauty queen, Andrea

Classy Charlene

Danielle and Cheryl, two of the nicest people you could ever meet. 

Majia who regally held court in the lounge.

And I was so happy to meet Karin! She is every bit as nice and as funny as she is on her blog. 

And these two aqua marine mermaid queens are Jenn and Christine

Okay, now, I'm off to play with my sweet puppy, that I missed while I was away.