I saw an old friend today

I saw an old friend today.
One I haven’t seen in years,
but each day, every day, I pass her craftsman cottage
on my way to school.

And as I pass by I send up a little prayer
for her and those that are in her care.
I wonder how she is, how her life has been going
as I hurry on my way
and I say to myself, “if I see her tending her roses
I’ll stop to say hello,” but I’ve never seen her there…

Until today. A day when I had to hurry on my way.
Does she ever think of me or even remember my name?
Does she know that I am praying for her
sometimes twice a day?

Some Bunny thinks it’s Spring!

Even though it’s still blustery cold outside!!!!
But then Bunnies are always ready for spring even in the dead of winter.

Last week my friend Nancy and I drove to Riverside to check out the historic Mission Inn…
but this post is not about that.
It’s more about what happened at the end of the day.
Nancy had been wanting a new camera and finally got one for her birthday, so who better to call then her shutterbug crazy friend Cori. Off we went for a day of picture taking, exploring, and just plain ol” fun!
I met Nancy that morning at her mechanic’s in Tustin just across the street from one of my favorite stores…”Whimsy.” have you heard of it? Have you been there? Twice a year, Whimsy hosts one of the most amazing Artisan Fairs filled with, well, amazing artists and their wares. It’s called “GLITTERFEST,” and you guessed it! It’s filled with all kinds of glittery goodness.

(Me thinks this Bunny lady is taunting me with her tiara’s. Do you think she will let me try one on)?

Nancy’s car wasn’t ready by the time we made it back to the mechanic so we decided to venture across the street and visit Whimsy. It’s a wee little store jam packed with all sort of creative wonders and in the back, right out of view of the front door, is my favorite section. I never know what I’m going to find there, but it’s always a delightful surprise. This day was no different!!! 

As I rounded the corner, there she was…all decked out for Spring.
All I could do was stand there and laugh at her ridiculous expression and choice of silly attire. It was almost as if she was yelling at me, “HEY YOU! Yeah you! Come here! I want to show you what I’ve got!! How would you like to buy one of my tiara’s???” Can you hear her too, or is it just me?

Anywho, this spring’s Glitterfest will be held on March 10th and here’s a list of some of the amazing artist who will be selling their wares…
oh! And wouldn’t that be funny if my Bunny lady friend would be there to greet all the guests at the door?? I think it would be most delightful!!

It's a different World...

I have to admit that at my age, going back to school is much different then I remember.
The kids all seem like children and me...an old lady, but I'm not letting that get in my way.
I remember when...

• students carried pencils and note pads.

Now they carry laptops and you can hear the rhythmic click clack click of their fingers on the keyboards.

• when instructors lectured and students took notes.

Now instructors lecture and do demo's while students take notes on their laptops and work on their computers while performing the different functions of the demo along side the instructors.

I remember when learning was simpler and life was less complicated...

IT'S A DIFFERENT WORLD!

image:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Steamtop.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16307058@N00/2848341848#/

My Senior Moment

I've been told that as you age and go through different stages of your life your brain changes and sometimes leaves you altogether. Well I've been wondering about mine lately and most definitely feel as if it's abandoned me for good.
My tale begins with mine and hubby's last vacation. Being the unorganized-organized person that I am I try to start packing a few days before I leave for anywhere. If I'm going to be gone longer then I pack that much sooner, but this time that didn't happen. Hubby and I planned to up before the sun and on the road by 5 am Thursday morning. Wednesday evening rolled around and still no packing had begun. Thursday morning I was up by 4:30, showered, threw a bunch of clothes in the suitcase, packed my overnight bag, and ran out the door. We made our customary stop at 7/11 for hot coffee and chocolate donuts then hit the road. Nine hours later we reached our destination...Bisbee Arizona. We pulled into the parking lot of this cute motel, checked in, and apparently the first thing I must have done was to partially unpack my overnight bag and place my blow dryer in the window sill.

LOOK! IT'S CORI'S BLOW DRYER IN THE WINDOW SILL.
CAN YOU SEE IT? I CAN!

The next morning I woke up, showered, and went to pull my blow dryer out of my overnight bag. But can you guess what I found? NO BLOW DRYER!! But how convenient that the motel had an identical one sitting in the window sill. Two mornings in a row I was ever so thankful for the nice young woman who ran the motel and for the blow dryer that was there for me to use. But each time we drove away and then pulled back into our space, I wondered, "why would an innkeeper not have a shelf or a drawer to store that blow dryer in. It didn't look very appealing sitting in the window and none of the other windows had one. Oh well! Those things happen in life.

I spent the next two days using the hotels blow dryer and upon returning home discovered that I had packed mine and also left it behind. Has this ever happened to you? Please tell me I'm not the only person who has lost their brain, or at least temporarily misplaced it?

All is toasty & warm

We had our first rain of the season on Saturday and it was so peaceful staying in doors curled up on the couch in front of a blazing fire.

It’s not often we get to enjoy a fire in this little cottage of ours because of the old shake roof that’s very brittle and dry. Several years back an entire neighborhood with shake roofs went up in flames and they’ve been outlawed since.

During the winter months I like to add deeper colors to my decor….red velvets and chocolate browns mixed with white lace. It somehow adds to the winteriness of the season.

Hubby’s having a Christmas party at work so I made one of my famous Chocolate cheese cakes…only it flopped! I’ve never had a cheese cake do this to me! Never! Growing up I wanted to become one of Mrs. Claus’s elfs so I could work in the bakery at the North Pole and I’m thinking this would never do on a resume..."cheesecake mutilator." Could you imagine?

The clouds have blown away the rain and our skies are clear again. How's the veiw from where you are?

Sweet Sugar Plums

I'm still trying to get my Christmas decorating done, but don't seem to be making much progress. How is yours going?

Yesterday was a day filled with blessed rain. I love the rain! One of the things that I love the most is that in our little hamlet of Alasleim there are many strawberry fields and when it rains the air is filled with their sweet aroma. It's such an amazing thing to open your door in the wee hours of the morning and feel like your swimming in the scent of strawberries. So wonderful!

I mentioned a few posts back that I went out looking for decorating inspiration and came home with so many lovely visions of sugar plums dancing in my head. Does anyone know what a sugar plum really is?

I haven’t got the foggiest!

Any how, while out looking the other day for inspiration, I saw so many lovely Christmas vignettes that were done with everyday antiques… plates…silver spoons… and linens. So I thought it would be fun to use some of mine to decorate with this year.

I have these old rosy bud vases that were given to me when my grandfather passed away many years ago and decided to fill them with those darling lollipops. I wedged them in with some old crocheted doilies I had lying around. Sometimes I'm amazed at all the treasure troves I have tucked into every nook and cranny of this little dwelling. Too many really!

I found these cloches at Big Lots years ago and paid $3.95 per cloche…I bought 4 and two of them are very tall. They’re very bubbly looking which gives them a blurry texture.

It doesn't matter what holiday it is around here...you will always find bunnies. I use this little guy for everything.

Brambleberry Cottage has the darkest little entry I’ve ever seen so I thought it would be fun to bring the light pinks and greens from the kitchen here too. This is one of my favorite pieces of furniture. I know you can only see the top and part of the back, so I'm sure you have no idea what it is. So I'll tell you ;-). It's a lovely wash stand from the Edwardian Era placed in the ugly little entry. I'm hoping to get this area of my cottage redone right after new years so I'll probably show it to you then. It has lovely delicate carving on the front and half columns on each corner (the wash stand, not the entry). It is a beauty.

Well, it's getting late and I'm still not feeling my best so I'm going to prepare my coffee for tomorrow, allow the livestock to roam the grassy area for a few minutes, then get ready for bed. I hope you all have a wonderful peaceful evening!!

Just a simple question...

Do my pictures look dull to you?
I post from my laptop, but many times at work I peek in on my blog and the colors look washed out and tired...
what do you see?

Hello all my bloggy friends!

We're still hear in the beautiful state of Washington, but we will be returning home sometime  tomorrow.

I took so many pictures while on our little holiday that hubby thought he came with my camera instead of with me. I finally had to put it away ;-(.

It may take me awhile to catch up with everyone, but hopefully I'll be around to visit by the weekend...

then back to work...

UGH!!!!!!

Peace! What is peace... really? Does anyone know?

When  our beloved Rhonda Roo decided to extend the UN's World Day Of Peace to the blogishpere I was a bit of a fence sitter. Not sure what I would post about PEACE. This is what I said in my email to her:

"Peace Party, I've been thinking about that and I'm not sure what I'd post for peace. Not that I'm not for peace because I most definitively am, but when I think in terms of peace I think things like lions laying down with lambs and birdies pulling on kitty cat noses without being eaten or swiped, and people being nice to each other. Telling my friend that I like her sweater and her giving it to me without reservation...of course I would always let her borrow it whenever she chose."

But what in the world is TRUE PEACE?

 Since the Bible is my favorite book to read I thought I would do a word search and find out how many times it came up. There were 384 references, which doesn't seem like a lot considering how large a book it is, but those references hold such depth and meaning.

Here are a few examples"

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27

“ How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”

So we see that we can have peace during trials, peace in our hearts, and peace when we hear the Good News or just good news.

Now the God of peace be with you all.

Amen.

Romans 15:33

I hope you all have a day filled with PEACE!!!!!

xoxo Cori

 

I had a lovely time at Roger's Gardens the other day and when I came home I found a stow-away. This is Miss Emily Pumpkinhead and how she ended up in my basket I do not know, but since she did I decided to adopt her. These things happen to me all the time. I'll come home from being out and about only to find a bag of goodies laying on the table when I get home. Hubby always asks, "what's in the bag?" and I reply, "I have no idea!" I always say, "It's a dangerous thing stepping out my front door!" Actually I think it was Bilbo Baggins who originally said that, but I do enjoy quoting him from time to time.

 

The garden's were beautiful and filled with so many autumn colors. Everywhere you looked there were giant waves of pumpkins ranging for the weencest in size to the largest. 

Every available planter was toppling over with pumpkins.

I took a lot of pictures, but none of them turned out very well so I thought I would leave the images to your imagination ;-).

 

There were also these huge urns outside the basement that were overflowing with ghost pumpkins. I almost felt sorry for the little Putti who was trying to keep them from toppling to the ground, although, he is only a statue so how bad can one really feel?

Anyhow, today is Labor Day and we don't have any exciting plans for the day other then to labor out in the gardens and possibly get some sewing project completed before my work week begins.

I hope you all have a wonderful restful Labor Day!  

The Funniest thing happened at Work yesterday...

 

At least I thought it was funny!

I've been trying for months now to get our new website up and running, but I keep running into glitches. Mainly those of the communication kind. Anyways, a few of the things we're adding to the website are gizmo's like FaceBook, Flicker, and our blog (that no one looks at...EVER)!

So, I'm trying to get my new co-worker to help me with this little project of mine and I ask her to set up a Flicker account. Now I've been blogging for almost two years and you would think I'd have a clue by now, but no... sometimes I think I'm blonde ;-). By the way, I'm a brunette or closer to a mouse brown, but always imagined my self as a red head. Thank you Clairol!! You've made me a happy girl.

OK back to my funny blunder...

My new co-worker shows me this real cool thing called Picasa and what do you know, every picture I've ever down loaded to the work blog is right there. How in the world did that happen? So, I tell her to delete EVERY ONE OF THE PICTURES!!!! And then we went about our merry way.

This morning I turn on my computer, open up my work blog, and there's not one picture. No header, no sidebar images, and no pictures with the posts. How did this happen? I begin to have glimpses of the previous days activities and think, "OH NO! When we deleted the pictures from the albums they were removed from the blog, yeah, my thought exactly. 

Who knew there were cyber rabbit trails from one image to an unknown album in a strange thing called Picasa? Certainly not I! While I'm sitting there looking at a blank blog my boss walks in and says in her Indian accent, "Miss Cori, what are you doing?" So I tell her, "I'm staring at our blank blog." She says, "oh yes, I meant to ask you about that." Wouldn't you know she was talking to a friend and sent her to our blog, that no one ever looks at EVER and IT HAD NO PICTURES! 

Today I spent the entire day retracing cyber rabbit trails from one folder to the next and I learned a valuable lesson...If you find a mysterious cyber album with all your images in it, it's OK. It's there for a reason.

No! Really! I am a brunette ;-).

Confession of a Helpless Dreamer

Sometimes when the weather is as hot as it's been I like to imagine that I'm out kayaking in the Back Bay or floating down a peaceful river watching the shore line drift slowly by. In reality I don't even own a kayak, nor have I ever been, but I would like to some day.
So I am so sorry to have led you all astray, but wasn't it fun dreaming about the adventure? I know I enjoyed it!
Oh! By the way, the pictures are all props from Disney's California Adventure. Yes, the lovely little abandoned structure is too and I still think it would make a quaint little cafe.

PS
In case you didn't notice my deceptive post was titled, "Wishful Thinking." What can I say, " I am a helpless dreamer."  Well, I think I'm going to head over to that little river of mine before it gets too hot. California Adventure I mean...tee hee!!!

I hope you all have a wonderful Friday and try to stay out of the heat ;-).

xoxo Cori

Wishful Thinking!

Just when I thought Autumn had arrived the weather decided to revolt on us so hubby and I decided to take advantage of the heat. We loaded the kayaks in the old truck and headed for the nearest stream of cool refreshing water.

We headed down the highway and through the hills until we reached this old building right at the rivers edge. It's such a peaceful place. I've always thought it would make a quaint little restaurant out in the middle of nowhere, but who would stop to eat?

We finally arrived at our destination, put the kayaks in, and headed down the river. I know it doesn't look like much of a river, but when you're desperate any old stream will do ;-).

What have you been doing to stay out of the heat?

Here, There, but really No Where

That's been my life lately, here, there, but really no where at all. I am still playing in this little room of mine and it's become my favorite little nook in my cottage. There are so many girly things to play with and much that distracts my mind from house work...oi...the never ending battle!

While my head was in the clouds the wisteria tried creeping in the cottage. It had grown so far under the eves that we couldn't get the screen door open and the poor mail man... I hate to think what went on in his mind as he walked the path to deliver the mail. The mail box kept mysteriously moving closer and closer to the edge of the porch. Was that the mail man or the vine moving it from place to place? We will never know.

I went to Disney yesterday after work to wander the streets of New Orleans Square and get lost in a sea of humanity. It's a great place to walk and clear your head from all the craziness of the work day and yesterday was definitely a crazy day.
I started my day by printing off 100 sheets of the wrong flier...oops! How much ink did I just waste, not to mention the paper ;-O. The next thing that happened was I found out it was my job to re-write the text for our new website...huh!...I thought that was the web designers job. But the icing on the cake was when I was called into the counseling room at 4:00 pm...I thought I left work everyday at 4:00 pm! Well, yesterday I left at 4:45 and one of my co-workers was gracious enough to stay behind until I was done. She has a true servants heart and I'm so thankful to have her in my life. She is what makes working there such a blessing.
So, before I go off on a tirade lets go back to Disneyland and some lovely happy thoughts, shall we?

I just adore the window displays along Main Street USA! And Autumn has most definitely arrived. All the windows are draped in Autumn colors and vintage ephemera. Even the trees are changing their bright greens to subtle browns as the weather cools and the days become shorter. This is my favorite time of year!!

This morning one of my friends and I are headed to the hospital to spring one of our other friends. She has just been diagnosed with cancer and will be released this morning only to return on Wednesday for surgery. She has so many other medical issues, on top of the cancer, that it's a miracle she found a doctor who is willing to treat her.

Another dear friend is going in today for a lumpectomy and this is the second time cancer has been found in her. So if you have some time could you please pray for my friends, I know they would both appreciate it. They are both safe in the arms of Jesus, but the future that we can't see can be a bit frightening at times.

Well, I must be on my way. I still need to do a few things before I'm ready to start my day.
I hope you all have a GREAT Friday!!!!

Thankfully the weather here has started to cool down and we've been experiencing the most lovely overcast mornings with cool breezes. There for awhile, even poor Tallulah needed to wear her sunglasses since the maid who dwells beneath the eaves of Brambleberry Cottage hasn't sewn her drapes yet, but today may be the day! In fact, I just stepped away from this post to bring my work table in and while moving the kitchen island we discovered the islands wheels need shimming up...another project for another day.

Yesterday while my Internet was down I had hubby cut my rod then I hung the table cloth-turned drape in the closet...what do you think? I like how it separates the two spaces and hides some of the clutter behind the mirror. Oh yeah, things have collected back there too. It's a great place to hide all those ugly objects like black out fabric, cutting mats, and power cords. Doesn't it make you nuts having exposed cords all over your cottage? I know it does me, which is why I hide them at all cost!

So, I've decided to go off on one of my little rabbit trails. I was over at Vanessa's twitter page a few minutes ago and she twittered about Gypsy Wagons...something I've been dreaming about since FOREVER!!! My own little Gypsy Wagon. The first time I saw one was about 6 years ago while hubby and I were at a Renaissance Faire in Northern California, so much fun by the way!!! We've been looking for a vintage trailer for almost 3 years, but they're either too old, too far away, or too much money so this may be the perfect solution. Hubby can build me my very own gypsy wagon. He is after all a master craftsman! He can build anything! I mentioned to him that there are workshops he could take to build "said wagon" and he says, "PLEASE!!!! Do you think I need to take a class on building anything?" "Oops! Sorry!" was my reply. The only thing he needs help with is trying to interpret my brain and the ideas I come up with. I'm not saying he doesn't understand me, what I'm saying is that I have poor communication skills. I say things like, "honey, can you build me one of those thingy's?" and he says, "what thingy?" and I say, "you know, one of those thingy's I've been wanting. I told you about it a year ago." Then he has to try digging in my head to pull out all the details. I'm guilty of designing things as I go without any plans written down. It must be so frustrating for dear hubby, but he always manages to bring my dreams to reality.

Rabbit trail complete, now back to reality.

This poor little birdie tassel has been moved from place to place in my little cottage, but I think it's finally found a home. I used it to tie back my table cloth-turned drape and I think it will stay there. Too bad it doesn't chirp while I'm playing on my computer ;-).

Ah well, I have much to accomplish this weekend and hubby just took off on his Harley so now is the perfect time to begin my sewing project. Let's see how much I can get done before he gets home. Later today we'll be riding our bikes to a small cafe for dining alfresco.

Happy Saturday everyone!!!!

xoxo Cori

Hello and Happy Monday!
This is Gwendolyn, the faerie who dwells beneath the eaves of Brambleberry Cottage, who is, right this very minute blowing many happy thoughts your way. Many happy thoughts MY way since Monday is my least favorite day of the week. Is it yours too? My favorite day is Friday. It's my quiet day. My day to wake up and spend a leisurely morning curled up on the couch with my puppies, a fresh cup of coffee and my favorite book...the Bible.
But today is Monday and so the week begins...already there is drama, but we won't go there...LOL!

Let's talk about Friday instead! Much of my Friday and Saturday were spent merrily puttering about my cottage while rearranging the furniture, which I might add is not an easy job! Somehow I've managed to squeeze 18 pieces of furniture into the small rectangular space with piece layered upon piece. Let me tell ya, this girl does not need one more piece of furniture!!

After several months of living in disarray I'm finally able to see the tops of tables again and oh how I love my pretty shiny oak wood! My vignettes, that's another story. I've never been very good at arranging my accessories...do you have any ideas?

I had a brilliant idea about 5 years ago to buy a weence little cabin in Big Bear so I started collecting furniture to make my cabin nice and cozy. Once I realized hubby and I could barely maintain Brambleberry Cottage I threw that idea out the window REAL FAST, but I still have the furniture. Talk about putting the cart before the horse!!

And since we're talking about carts, Sunday hubby and I stopped at a Target in Huntington Beach that was 2 full stories!!! I had no idea that such a thing existed. We were both baffled to find an escalator in the center of the store, but what do you do with your cart full of goodies? Why, you put them on their own escalator so they can travel between floors with you. I'm sure many of you have seen one of these before, but it was a first for me. Do you think I need to get out more often? Yeah, me too!! Do I live in a bubble or what?!

Sunday afternoon was spent under the shade of a huge tree with a cool ocean breeze. It was so lovely! We were celebrating my little nephews birthday. He just turned three...he's such a cutie!

Hey look! Monday is almost over. At least the work day is and I'm finally back home. Now that wasn't so bad was it? It must have been the happy thoughts Gwendolyn was blowing in my direction...and hopefully yours!!

Oh! I have to tell you, my darling friend Deb of Midlife Poet has a son PFC Ryan, who's serving in the Army. He's home for a week so it would be nice if everyone popped over to her blog to say "Hi" and "Thank YOU!" It's because of brave young men like PFC Ryan and his buddies that make it possible for those of us in the US to sleep peacefully at night.

And I hope yours is a lovely one :-).
Until next time...

xoxo Cori

I'm so Dizzy

Hey! I'm back! I feel like I haven't been here in a while. Well, I've been here, but not really, if you get my meaning. I'm sure all of you are just dieing to know where I've been and what I've been up to...giggles! And just in case your wondering, no, there are no new pictures of my room. My walls you see are still quite bare and I don't think you would find them very intriguing, now would you? No, I didn't think so.
Any way, I think the last time I was here I was on my way to a vintage tag sale and then to Disneyland with my god-daughter. That was last Saturday...how time flies!

Well, let me just say, the vintage tag sale was fun and I picked up some vintage cotton pillow cases as well as a beautiful scarf from the 40's with gorgeous curly fringe. I did try my hardest to convince mamselle to model it for you, however she was feeling a wee bit shy and didn't want me lifting her petticoat over her head. Something about a dusty cage followed by a blush. Maybe next time.
While at the sale I bumped into a fellow blogger, Barbara, from For the Love of God. What a sweet lady who I really enjoyed getting to meet and Barbara, have fun in Scotland. I wish I could go with you!!!

By the time I left the sale I had the weencest of migraines which you never want to have when you're spending the entire day at Disneyland. Have you ever ridden the Matterhorn with a migraine or spun as fast as you could in the teacups with a migraine? Or road Space Mountain with a migraine? It was challenging to say the least.
I just kept telling myself to breathe DEEPLY!!!
Thankfully by the time we left at 10:30 that night my migraine was gone and we had the best time ever!!!

My week was filled with the usual exciting things like going to work and attempting to clean my little cottage, but the best thing that happened was I received a parcel in the mail from my darling bloggy friend Deborah of Midlife Poet. I love her to pieces!!
Anyway, do you remember when Vanessa had her Mad Tea Party? Well, there were give aways left and right, but I was lucky enough to win the piece de la resistance!
It arrived this week...let's peek inside the box, shall we?

Ooh! Lovely pink tissue paper and a cute little striped box wrapped up in a bow. Darling little touches from my darling little friend. Everyone's "little" in my book if I adore you ;-) and DEB I ADORE YOU!!!!.
But wait! There's something beneath the striped box. What could it be?

A sweet little coffee mug especially for me!
Isn't it just darling with it's lavender interior and the sweet little girl!

AH! And here it is...the Piece de la Resistance. Deb's beautiful Sun Catcher that was used as a prop in her Tale of Alice. When Deb told me I had won her shiny bauble I was a little concerned for Alice wasn't in the bestest of moods (her mother did try to pull the wool over her eyes if you recall). But then I learned it was Alice herself who pulled my name out of the Mad Hatters Hat. Ooh! What a sigh of relief!!
Thank you Darling Deb for being such a special friend. You always bring a huge ginormous smile to my face and I will think of you every time I see it sparkle and shine, which is pretty much every day ;-).

Now I must be off to sleep before I turn into a pumpkin. Tomorrow Kathy and I will be on our way to the Paris Flea Market...Ooh LA LA!!!

I hope you all have a wonderful FUN Saturday!!!

xoxo Cori