New Orleans

New Orleans.

Wow.

What a beautiful, haunting, fun place.

How can it be all those things?  Well, you have the French district, which is beautiful.  Just the door ways when you are walking through the streets are amazing.  The shops, fleur de lis (everywhere) Cafe du Monde and restaurants are abundant and busy.  Which is kind of nice to see in this economy. And I can't forget the jazz on the street corners.  The musicians & singers were fantastic, as were the little kids with soup lids tacked to the soles of their shoes, tapping in a way I'd never heard.  Not sure where they got their beats, some where deep in their souls, I guess.

Haunting?  The plantations are from a sad yet prosperous period of American history. To me, it was almost painful to walk through the properties. The character and beauty of the main houses seemed to contradict the pain of the slave houses.  Once inside the slave houses, though, I thought they had their own beauty.  The paint was chipped away from walls in a way that people try to emulate these on furniture. It was worn yet solid, protective.  The slave houses were 150 years old, yet have survived amazing well without the curation that the plantation houses have enjoyed.  
Oh, and the plantation houses actually ARE haunted.  I didn't see anything, but I believe it.  The workers there have seen apparitions.  I don't doubt it.

Beautiful, sacred, haunting, sad, amazing.

Fun?  Well, there's Bourbon Street, once you get past the two blocks of red light district, unless of course you're into that kind of thing.  But once you got past that, you gotta love the flavored slushie machines in almost every bar. It was fun to try all the different food...and see all the different ways to cook shrimp.  Bubba Gump wasn't kidding!  So shopping, great food, lots of people watching...all fun to me!

halloween wreath

In case you couldn't tell, I like wreaths.  I like to change the one on my front door with the seasons.   Its a cheap and easy way to welcome people to your home.  Its almost always a conversation piece.

When I saw a Halloween wreath on Pinterest  I knew I had to try it.  Turns out it was super easy.  I even made a second one for a friend who loved my first one.

Things you need:
                      foam wreath (any size)
                      2-3 black feathered boas, depending on wreath size
                      6 pack of ping pong balls
                      glue gun/sticks

Here is what I started with:

Turns out, feathered boas are really messy.  Who knew?

See the problem here?  Besides the mess, of course.  Yes, you spotted it...you can see the white wreath through the feathers.  Since I didn't have another feathered boa and my black chicken isn't molting right now (just kidding, my chickens are grey)  I grabbed a can of black spray paint.  Every crafter worth her salt has spray paint on hand.

Ah...so much better.  Now I can wrap the boas, using a glue gun to secure the ends.

This alone is pretty cute, but not really Halloween-y enough, so I added the googly eyes.  Did I mention that they are ping pong balls from Target?  (Hint, the dollar store has them for a buck AND you can get them in fluorescent orange.)  So here is the finished wreath adorning my front door:

                                                 
                                                                Cute, no?!

makin' a wreath...

After the remodel, I had an empty spot on top of my hutch.

We can't have that, now, can we?

See what I mean?  I have this empty wreath holder.  Its embarrassing  really, I mean how could I entertain or let the kids have friends over with an empty wreath holder above the hutch?








Enough was enough.  The remodel had been done since May, so I took the bull by the horns and bought a grapevine wreath.  (It is near the wine bar area, after all.)

 Simple and understated but just full enough with out being too full of leaves.  I know, I know, you're thinking, "Its a freakin' wreath already!"  True, true, but this is important world changing stuff here.

Here's what I did next:  I hot glue gunned down some of the stray vines.  I know, I'm so crazy that way.

Next up, the plastic grapes.  I thought these were actually pretty real looking.  And being from the Central Valley originally  I know my grapes.  Well, not really.  I just eat them.  Never planted 'em, grew 'em or picked 'em.  But I like them and I like wine, so maybe I am some sort of an expert.

 Attaching them wasn't as hard as you might think.  I know you're thinking 'hot glue gun' but NO!!!  Not this time. The grapes were actually a little heavy and had a plasticy finish that made them a bit...slimey. Sort of.  Anyways, I got out the floral wire and tied those bad boys on.  You can't see the wire because its hidden between the grapes.  They are nice and secure and I'm not worried about the glue failing.  It they fell off, it would be a problem because this is going on the top of my hutch and I really don't want to climb up there very often.

See, kinda high up there.  I have to step on a chair, then on the counter above the wine fridge.  Don't tell my husband I did that.  Please.  Thanks.

Now the empty spot is no longer empty and all is right in the world.  Well...almost.

I rearranged my wine bottles around it too:  The One on the far left is Fleetwood wine signed by Mick Fleetwood!  The next bottle is the wine we drank the night we got engaged.  Then there is the novelty box of Carnaroli Rice.  Everyone has one of those, right?

Halloween crafty girl

I love being crafty.  Since I'm a creative type person, there are times when I need to be crafty and create something.  Can't fight who I am so I just go with it.  I usually try to use what's on hand, but that doesn't always work...so off to Michaels I go.

I found this on...wait for it...Pinterest! I know, big surprise.  I just can't help myself sometimes.  There are so many cute ideas.

Here is my first Halloween craft:

Just take a foam pumpkin from a craft store, dot on swirls with black puffy paint and add a big bow.  This pumpkin is probably 6-8" tall.  When this stuff goes on sale after Halloween, I'm going to buy a few.  I want to get a black one (or spray paint one black) and add white dots and an orange bow.  How cute would that be?!  You can do this to a real pumpkin too, but it'll rot eventually.  I can enjoy this one year after year.

Halloween crafty girl

Candy corn isn't my favorite Halloween candy, but I know some people LOVE it.  It was the candy I used to eat at my great-great Auntie Mar's ranch when I was a kid.  She always had a bowl of it on the kitchen table.  I've always thought it was a cute candy, though...if candy can be cute.

So here is my version:

I took 3 different sizes of styrofoam cones and wrapped them with the appropriate colored yarn.

Super cute, no?!

And again, I can use them year after year.

What to do now?

School starts tomorrow.  I should be happy.  Its not that I'm sad, I just don't know how to feel.  It kind of feels like I got down sized out of a job...or fired.  But of course I didn't.  And of course the school has already told me they'd love to have me back even though I don't have a child there any more.  The thing is, I feel like its time to open a new chapter, start anew.

Let me explain:
The past three (or so) years I put a lot of time in at the elementary school.  Now that my daughter has promoted on to middle school, I'm not sure what to do with my time.  The middle school would love to have volunteers...shelve books.  I barely shelve books at home, why would I drive to the school to do it?  I taught art classes, ran reading groups, helped with writing and grammar, bought art supplies, organized volunteers, put together fundraisers and started new fundraising programs.

Shelving books isn't how I see me best using my time.

Last school year I put in a little over 200 hours.  We'll round it down to an even 200 for simplicity.

So what can I do in 200 hours this school year?

Work out?
Work on my yard?
Extreme coupon?
Get a job?
Get going on this blogging thing and see where it takes me?
Work on my book(s)?  (I'm writing 3 at the moment)

If I divide it among the school days--180-- then its a little over an hour each school day.  Seems do-able.

So many decisions to make.

I better hurry, though, day 1 is tomorrow.

Wonderful Wedding!!

We just got back from a magical wedding in Sun Valley, Idaho.  We'd never been there before so we went a few days early to check it out.  We went biking, hiking, horseback riding and white water rafting.  Its absolutely beautiful there, I highly recommend going for a week or more.  Its a quaint town that moves a little slower than most, which is another great reason to go.  It makes you slow down.  Literally.  The speed limit is 25.  You can walk to most shops and restaurants and the people were really nice (even the locals who probably get really annoyed with tourists by the end of the summer!)

The wedding took place in a meadow that was so green it was unreal.  It was perfect.  Not a gopher hole or dead spot to be seen.  If my son had seen it, his feet would have been itching to find a soccer ball.  The weather was perfect.  Sunny and warm, but not blazing hot.

The wedding party (all 20 of them) looked like models and the bride and groom were drop dead gorgeous.  I'm not just saying that because I'm related.  Really, its true!

There were so many little details about the wedding and reception that were cool.

It was folksy in a very sophisticated way.  The chalkboard signs pointing the way to the wedding, reception and bathrooms were a nice touch.

You could order a "Burgle"  from the bartender.  Its a family drink served in a mason jar with a straw.

There were white parasols available for us to use during the ceremony.

I loved this...it was a simple burlap pillow with the date screened on it.  There was another little sitting area with two pillows:  Mr. on one, Mrs. on the other.

How cute is that?

It was a magical day filled with love, family, friends and A LOT of dancing!!