Getting to Know Me (and YOU, of course!)

Welcome to the end of, the 2008 year edition of
getting to know your family and friends.

Here is what you are supposed to do, and try not to be lame and spoil

the fun. Change all the answers so that they apply to you.. Then send this to a

bunch of people (or tag them in your blog) you know, INCLUDING the person who sent it to you. Some of you may get this several times; that means you have lots of friends. The easiest way to do it is to hit 'forward' so you can change the answers or copy and paste. Have fun and be truthful!

1.What is your occupation right now?

I work part-time as a sub for the school district as a TA, also working on my own little creative business ventures.

2.What color are your socks right now? Cliff Claven White

3.What are you listening to right now? Finnegan chewing his bone

4.What was the last thing that you ate? a piece of Mom's Panatone with melty butter. Mmmm

5.Can you drive a stick shift? No

6.Last person you spoke to on the phone? My mom and husband. Call Waiting.

7.Do you like the person who sent this to you? Erin of Simple Bangles is fabulous!

8.How old are you today? 38 in March baby!

9.What is your favorite sport to watch on TV? Baseball, Hockey

10.What is your favorite drink? Water or Milk

11.Have you ever dyed your hair? Not completely. Not very well either.

12.Favorite food? Baked Ziti ala Mom

13.What is the last movie you watched? We had a cinema marathon last night. The Untouchables, Dark Knight and Hannibal. I'm going to have nightmares for a week.

14.Favorite day of the year? Don't really have one. Whatever day I can go to sleep and know I did a good deed.

15.How do you vent anger? Watch the movies Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2, you'll get the idea.

16.What was your favorite toy as a child? Not a toy but a big box of colored chalk my Grandpa saved for me.

17.What is your favorite season? Sprummer (Spring into Summer)

18.Cherries or Blueberries? Blueberries

19.Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? Yes, please!

20.Who is the most likely to respond? No clue!

21.Who is least likely to respond? Probably everyone

22.Living arrangements? Live in a house with Mark, the spousal unit, and Finnegan the dog.

23.When was the last time you cried? last week while Christmas Shopping. missing Grandmom.

24.What is on the floor of your closet? Old Magazines

25.Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending this to? She doesn't have internet so it doesn't count.

26.What did you do last night? Drove around historic neighborhood, ate at Red Robin (Mark loves the Monster Burger), stopped at mom/dad's, came home, watched movies with the dog in bed.

27.What are you most afraid of? Someone I love getting sick or suddenly dying, not having kids because of age or economy, growing old and not having a nest egg to secure us, flying monkeys, clowns, biscuit tubes that need to be opened with that big POP noise!

28.Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers? Cheese

29.What is your favorite kind of dog? Stop it. I love ALL DOGS!!!! I love animals and any dog is a favorite to me.

30.Favorite day of the week? Friday or course!

31.How many states have you lived in? 1 and 1 for vaca.

32.Diamonds or pearls? Meh. Jewelery is ok. But I will take gardens over jewels any day.

33.What is your favorite flower? Hydrangeas like the kind Grandpop grew.

Saturday in my PJ's....

Saturday.

It's Wet.

It's Cold.

It's Post-Christmas blah.

I'm in my Pajamas.

Here is what I've been doing today
(working on creative little tidbits on Polyvore again)

Here's hoping you are doing something creative this weekend!

A Glimpse of my Holiday Home

My Holiday House Tour
(click on pics for more detail)
(will update with better photos soon)

Dining Room Arch is a Candy and Sweets Theme
(looking into the living room angle)
complete with gingerbread angels, cupcakes, ice cream cones

Crystal Ice Swag on my White Cottage Buffet

Table is ready for yummies to be placed

Corner Hutch is decorated with
real balsam pine sprigs, pink crystal balls and of course,
a mini sweet table in front!

I want to wish everyone a most joyous holiday and prosperous 2009!
Thank you for sharing bits of your everyday life with me in Blog-Land.
Here are a few (non-detailed and not very good) pics of my home decorated for Christmas.
I'll be adding more later, but for now, it will give you a feel of the look I like to create every year.

Many inspired blessings to you and your family!

My POLYVORE Premiers!

What do you think? A few collages I did today while the rest of the world went shopping.!


A little birdie told me..




Rainy Blue Monday by starlight and moonbeams


Rosey Day by starlight and moonbeams
by

Fridays with FINNEGAN ~ So I can't pee on the tree?

This Christmas Stuff is tiring!

Hey There! Finnegan here. I'm bored today. The weather outside is frightful. And I am forced to lay on my doggy bed again and watch re-runs of The Dog Whisperer. The shows are like soap operas to me. Some dogs just have no manners! What's up with the one dog who jumps on the counter and eats the food? I could never do that! Primarily because of my leg injury...Otherwise, I guess I would do that.

Over the past few weeks, my mom and dad have been busy with work.

Dad has been going to Stewart's Draft, VA every day...leaving at 9 a.m. coming home around 11 p.m.

Mom has been working in the schools as a Teacher Assistant. She comes home really tired because she is not physically fit and her stamina and energy level sucks. Don't tell mom I told you that. She needs to eat better and exercise. She's not a spring chicken anymore and I fear that she is just too lazy and unmotivated to take care of herself. When she comes home, I want to play, she wants to eat a bowl of cereal and go to bed. I hate that. Mom needs Richard Simmons to come in. But I think Richard Simmons is scary.

Sometimes I'm home alone and I sleep, sneak on the couch and nap, and walk around and smell things or I'll find a sock under the bed and chew on it. I love finding socks under the bed. It has mommy and daddy's smell on it and I love to be near them when they aren't around. Most people would think stinky socks are gross. I love stinky socks.

Sometimes Pop-Pop Jim comes over and plays with me. I looooove Pop-Pop Jim! He is one of my favorite people in the whole wide entire puppy universe. He plays rough with me and I like that! He's a dog's man!! I'm tired of being all pansy-like and sitting around trying to mind my manners.

I'm a dog, damnit! I want to play and run around and dig holes and eat weird things!

Pop Pop plays mock wrestling with me and I flop and jump around him and he acts like he won but we all know I am the winner!

My folks brought in a real Christmas tree last week and decorated it. I so want to pee in it.

It smells like the forest and I miss the forest! I would pee everywhere when I would go for walks in the forest. Pee in the bunny patch, Pee in the holly bush, Pee in the deer brush, pee in the soybean farm. Then I would make a poop somewhere... Then I would go back to peeing. It makes me feel like I'm leaving my mark somewhere, ya know?!
Why can't I pee in the tree? (Deep Sigh) Rules, Rules Rules....


Ok, Mommy just thew me a peanut butter bone so I'm outta here and will catch you guys later!
Woof and Licks!

I'm a school elf!

What a busy Holiday Season for this Vintage Gal!

Here we are: 3 (out of 4) Amigos
in Mrs. Sullivan's Kindegarten Class!
(I'm on the far right in green)

All the blog posts I have been mulling around to post, all the Christmas Cookies and Decorations I've been meaning to take photos of, etc. have taken a back seat to a surprisingly busy work schedule.

How blessed I am to work in my favorite class, Mrs. Sullivan's Autistic Support Kindergarten class. I'm a substitute teacher assistant and I work with 3 incredible angels that teach and give their hearts to some amazing kids every single day.

Mrs. Peterson (far left), Mrs. Sullivan, (also my dear friend and neighbor center) and I take a moment from class to pose for a picture. Not shown is Mrs. Benedetto who is a God-send to these kids. The teacher and her assistants' patience and dedication and gifts are unmatched and I learn so much about life from this class.

Just wanted to show you why I have been amiss in my blog posting lately!

Cheers and thanks for looking!

MAGICAL Christmas Images

Happy Holidays Friends!

I stumbled upon some beautiful images from majorlycool.com that I thought you would all enjoy! They evoke a really pristine and ethereal-like Christmas. The site has some really fun and unique images for use.

Sneak Peak - HOLIDAY DECOR

Once upon a time, when I was between careers, I decided to follow my creative instinct and worked in a design & decor store that did the most fabulous, sought-after Holiday Displays and Vignettes for high-end clients and local celebrities.

I started out making bows in the ribbon room. Ah yes, I was only a meager "bowologist". But soon I began to work the studio and see how displays and designs were conceptualized and brought to life. After several years of working the mad holiday rush, I felt the need to bring the magic into my home (whenever I got one).

As small as my "cottage" is, I wanted a little magic with themes and ideas that were unique to me.

Thus, have begun the transformation of "old lady home" into a tiny Christmas Inn by working first with the Living Room Archway.

DISCLAIMER: Photos make it look a bit gaudy and cheap and does not portray it accurately how soft and ethereal it really looks. I apologize for this but I wanted to give you an idea of the theme I was aiming for in this particular archway.

Here is my "Angels we have heard on High" arch around my living room entering into the dining area.
PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO GET FULL EFFECT VIEW!

Camera angles and lighting and poor technique and unfortunately, you don't get the full effect. Main Angel is perched atop a gold nest with gold glittered branches extending. Gossamer gold and smaller angels are entwined around the boughs of evergreen and antiqued sheets of angelic verse are tucked into the garland.

Hey, Angelic Blessings and High Five, man!

Thanks for stopping bye! More sneak peeks to follow!

Fridays with FINNEGAN ~ Holiday Prep

Finnegan here! Woof Woof to you all! Mom is so exhausted and funked out with all the stuff over the house. She's been decorating little by little all week and I think the chaos of it all is starting to effect her.

She corrects me when I try to pull the lights out of the box for her (I'm just trying to help is all!!!). She corrects me when I put a christmas ball in my mouth (I'm just finding where it needs to go). She corrects me when I run away with the "faux" sparkly cupcakes. How am I supposed to know they aren't real yummy cupcakes?

Chill out, mom!!!! You're causing my tail to drop!

When things effect me in a stressful way I like to make a poop or chew a pillow. Mom isn't like that come to find out.

Anyway, can you believe they put this crazy hat on me? I don't sit still for very long so they must have intrigued me with a peanut butter covered doggy treat for me to get this photo. Those people are clever. I have to go for a bit....I hear jingle bells and to me that means something to chew!

Licks to you!

Web Wednesday - A New but Old Take on Christmas

I found this sweet little vignette on a lovely blog, http://rosevinecottagetwo.blogspot.com/.

I love this little snowman scene and her soft color palette is so warm and romantic.

Check out her "cottage on wheels"! Adorable and her rooms are so welcoming (I love the woodland look in her kitchen)

Please take a look at her blog for inspiration and new ways of celebrating the season.

Enjoy!

Finnegan Friday ~ Some commentary from the dog!

Woof Greetings!

Finnegan here. Mommy is getting caught up today with so many things. It's been a very busy couple of weeks for her.

You had to see her a few weeks ago after her wisdom teeth surgery! Wow! She was in so much pain. She brought her teeth home from the doctor's office to show dad and he said she was butchered. Then he went on to comment about how he had his taken out in the navy and it was clean and simple and how her teeth "still had meat on them". As a dog, even I felt nauseated.

She was a trooper though....she had all 4 taken out at once and since she is older it caused a lot more pain than anticipated and her recovery is a lot slower. She is still numb in her chin and she makes funny faces all the time.

mom had to go to a charity bingo event & her crazy brother-in-law snapped a candid of her in misery from surgery. mom then gave him the evil eye...he had a headache the next day.

I tried to lick her to make her feel better but she shooed me away. I understand. When my trauma accident occurred over the summer I was in so much pain. We bond now. Pain in her mouth. Pain in my paw. I feel closer to mommy more than ever.

Excuse me for a minute, I have to go lick myself.

Ok, I'm back.

To update you, my BFF girlfriend in the whole wide world died a few weeks ago. Skye the husky was in pain and discomfort for a while but her family finally decided to take her to the vet and they found out that she had a blockage in her stomach. Skye is my next door neighbor girlfriend dog and was loved by the whole neighborhood for her gentle and friendly ways. The x-ray revealed she ate a feminine hygiene product. I was heartbroken. I went over to her backyard and sniffed around and she wasn't there. We've been inseparable for 3 years. This is really hard for my doggy brain to understand. I feel robbed of a best friend and playmate. I will see her in doggie heaven someday.

Mommy has her French Music on right now to get her motivated to clean and start decorating. I guess she thinks listening to french music makes her more sophisticated with her clutter. I just want to play....I'm a hyper dog and she feels guilty for not playing with me 24/7 but I have to learn to be patient and be more calm. Like THAT will ever happen!

I love you woofs!
Finnegan

WEB WEDNESDAY - Vintage meets Glam

Vintage meets Glam in a lovely blog!

I love this site I found while blog browsing! She has a lot of fun freebies and her sense of style and passion for unique things made me an instant fan!

While there, leave her a comment on her fun downloads! Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Movie Monday ~ "HOLIDAY INN"

Get yourself a cup of hot chocolate. Add a huuuuge dollop of whipped cream and plug this beloved movie into the tube.

Holiday Inn, by Irving Berlin...is one of my favorite movies for many reasons least of all the premier of the song "WHITE CHRISTMAS". Want to see a warm and fuzzy clip from the movie that makes you all comfy cozy inside? Click here!

Makes you want to give a mistletoe kiss to crooner Bing Crosby, doesn't it? You'll love this movie which includes excellent choreography and dance numbers with Fred Astaire - check out the vintage clothes for inspiration (some outfits never go out of style). The blackface number still gathers controversy but it was 1942! Nobody was politically correct back then!

You'll love the charm and comedic steps this little film has to offer and I think it's an excellent choice to put on the TV while trimming the tree!

Enjoy!