Sometimes it’s Just the Simple Things in Life

This past weekend Doug and I set off to Lompoc to experience a twelve year old Relay; since we are newbie’s to Relay. We surprised Deb, ACS staff partner, and took a lap with her; again what an amazing experience to witness so many people coming together for such a worthwhile cause. I have volunteered to be the Team Captain Chair next year for Nipomo’s Relay For Life. I had been told that once you experience Relay you are never the same again…so true!

On our way back from Lompoc we stopped at Costco to buy vitamins and came home with a Wii. We had so much fun creating our Mii’s in our own likeness and we are hooked on bowling; I may just may able to beat Doug before long! Yesterday morning we synced up the Fitness Board and we found out, according to Wii, we are obese!! Our Mii’s expanded before our eyes as it assessed our personal information...we couldn’t fib on our weight as the Fitness Board weighs you!! So our goal is to each lose 20 lbs in 3 months. We each have a personal trainer to help us meet our goal…who need’s a gym anymore when you can have a personal trainer at your disposal anytime day or night! We decided to cut out dessert since we have to be accountable and check in daily. We started cracking up because we are intimidated by our Wii!

We have been getting together with friends for Game Night and we can’t wait to have a bowling tournament…I need to get my wrist action down and become more consistent. Doug told me yesterday that I don’t have a competitive bone in my body; they are all competitive. Game on!!

The Sun is Shining…And My Garden Is Growing!!

I decided this past (rainy, rainy) winter that we should move our garden to a larger area in the sunniest part of our backyard! Did I mention we had a very rainy winter! I had a lot of time to ponder what our next project would be. A new garden!! First though; we had to remove Doug’s beloved horseshoe pit (we are going to rebuild and relocate it) and move all the Pennsylvania flagstone to get the area ready…we then moved the garden shed; that took 10 strong men and it was not an easy task! I thought we could do it ourselves with the help of our son and daughter-in-law…yikes was I wrong! Doug found an article in the Home & Garden section of the Sunday paper with DIY instructions for these planter boxes and decided to take on this task. You know us; when we start a project we go all the way and just about kill ourselves getting it done!! We just aren’t as young as we used to be; are bodies remind us…our minds just haven’t caught up!! Doug "out did" himself, they are beautiful and he did such an awesome job building them. We are looking forward to enjoying the fruits or in this case the vegetables of our labor!

I have planted squash, tomatoes, bell peppers, peas, string beans, eggplant, cucumbers, carrots, radishes, lettuce, pumpkins, watermelons, cantaloupes, strawberries, peppers and Doug is going to plant corn! I hope all of the critters that roam around here don’t find the garden before we get to harvest!!

Tip of the day…don't wear perfume in the garden - unless you want to be pollinated by bees. ~Anne Raver

FYI...Relay For Life in Nipomo was this past weekend and our team raised just shy of $10,000...WOOHOO! We had at least one person walking on the track for the whole Relay…way to go team; together we helped make a difference one lap at a time! Please check out our team page and the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life website to learn more and how you can help in finding a cure for cancer. Relay For Life takes place in just about every community, or in one very close by, in the country; if you aren’t on a team it isn’t too late to join one!!

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/paulspurpleposse http://main.acsevents.org/

Until next time…I am off to tend to my garden!

Relay for Life in 8 days...

Wow, I didn’t realize it had been so long since my last post. This is my first year being involved with Relay for Life…here is how it all got started! I met Amber at the Edward’s Barn Holiday Boutique; we had a booth and were introducing our Fall and Christmas cards. Amber loved our cards and purchased some Christmas tags we had made especially for this show. We got to talking and she told us she would like to meet with us and the staff partner for Relay for Life in our local community to discuss having us design and illustrate cards for the local Relay for Life communities. We met with Deb and Amber and designed and illustrated cards for the nine Relay communities!! As we met with the gals my heart was tugging at me to get involved as we have a friend who is battling pancreatic cancer right now and lost a friend many years ago to it, my sister and her husband just lost a long time high school friend to it.

Not only did I make a decision to get involved I decided I would start a team (that was the intimidating aspect since the Relay is 24 hours!). Doug and my inspiration was that we could give up 24 hours of our lives to save others lives, though we tend to fall asleep by 9:00 pm these days, we felt compelled to help make a difference. We have been very fortunate not to have lost any of our immediate family members to cancer but have seen how it destroys families all around us. This ugly disease attacks without warning and no one is safe until a cure is found. If we can save one person we can save everyone, together we can make a difference. Our team is called Paul’s Purple Posse, this first inaugural year we are honoring Paul, our friend who is battling pancreatic cancer. We have 17 team members and we have raised over $6,000.00 to date. This has been a very rewarding experience so far and the Relay is still a week away!!

Please visit the American Cancer Society’s website to learn more about Relay for Life and how you can get involved, if you aren’t already on a team! This is such a worthwhile cause and so much of the money raised goes directly to research and direct patient services. Here is the link to our team page: http://main.acsevents.org/goto/paulspurpleposse

American Cancer Society, “The Official Sponsor of Birthdays”

The Year of the Monkey

I just finished a redesign for a teenager's room! It was so much fun tapping into her personality and seeing her so happy when it was finished! She has been to China and loves the culture so of course, she now has an Asian inspired room. The fish hanging to the left was the inspiration piece. With the help of my handy dandy "carpenter" who also happens to be my best friend and husband we wrapped up our project yesterday afternoon and left leaving Elizabeth telling us how much she loves her new room! It was so awesome to have her input and repurpose and reuse so much of what they already had and incorporate the things that mean so much to her.

How can scouring flea markets, thrift stores and bargain hunting for the perfect accessories be work! I love the hunt for the details that complete a room to perfection and love redesigning furniture that no one can even imagine is worth keeping. I am really starting to tap into that ole saying...love what you do and you will never work another day in your life. I can't wait until I can do this and my personalized greeting card businesses for a living 100% of my time.

Here is the before of the white French Provincial dressers Elizabeth said she did not want any part of and the after of the black Asian dressers! Three pieces of square Chinese artwork hung vertically will adorn the space between the lamp and the picture soon.

This lamp was a swap meet find, a little ingenuity and it is now very Asian and one of Elizabeth's favorite pieces! She loves the lanterns and the feeling of being under a tree; very tranquil. She had this wrought iron tree already hung from her ceiling, it was brown and is now black; this picture was hung on another wall in her room. Elizabeth was born in the year of the monkey and has adorned her tree with a very large collection!

Now on to the next redesign...

Taking a Break

I have been getting all of our tax info organized and ready to send off to our account, the sun is out today and it is beautiful; I would much rather be outside playing. I am so over the rain, I know we need it but I have had enough. I am yearning to get my hands in the dirt and start planting the garden. We are going to build some new garden beds and move the horse shoe pit, I can't wait!

It is always such a relief to get the past year's taxes out of the way; it seems like a new beginning to me! I told myself no playing in the yard until I finish this task...I am almost done, I will not be a prisoner any longer to 2009! I have even caught myself up on all the junk mail, bills, etc. Ok, back to the grind!

Breakfast for Two

Here's my completed Estate Sale find! What was once the TV compartment of an old entertainment center is now an awesome breakfast bar! Sorry I don't have a before picture, I promise the next the post I do of a "redesigned" piece I will definitely take a before picture. I was so enthusiastic to get this piece done for my friend so as she wanted to use it for Super Bowl Sunday, and I did rain and all!!

Speaking of Super Bowl Sunday, I was actually rooting for the Saints; yahoo! My husband is an avid football fan and really enjoys his Fantasy Football, I on the other hand pick a team by their uniforms, their location/city (I have been to NOLA, haven't been to Indianapolis), who I like or dislike, those kinds of things! My husband just shakes his head at me. Although I actually do know more about football than I care to admit, with 4 TV's on in our home, garage, shop and bedroom on any given Sunday during football season I can't help but learn a thing or two! I have recently been invited and joined a Fantasy Football league for women affectionately called The Goumbas. I can actually say I am excited for next season. I sure hope my method of picking a team pays off for me. Let's see I don't think purple is a very manly color, tiger stripes on a helmet; don't think so, I really enjoyed my visit to Nashville...

Excuses, Excuses, Excuses!

Well, my excuse for my long absence this time is: Relay for Life! We have a friend who has been diagnosed with Stage 3 pancreatic cancer; this is not good news. However, Doug and I have decided since there isn't a lot we can do to help him, other than prayers and support, we can form a Relay for Life team and help raise donations and awareness. I know most of you have heard of Relay for Life and many of you are probably already participating in your communities. If not, please take a minute and go to the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life website: http://www.relayforlife.org/relay/

You can help in so many ways; you can donate, volunteer, walk, the possibilities are endless. Nipomo is having their first Relay for Life event this year and we are so happy that we are going to be a part of it, since it is about communities! Our team is dedicating our Relay to Paul DeMello and our team name is Paul's Purple Posse, we are still recruiting team members, we are half way there (at least 15) and our goal is to raise $1500.00; we hope to shatter this goal!

I have just registered our team so our team website is a work in progress, we hope to have all of our team in place by next weekend. Please visit our team website at: http://main.acsevents.org/goto/paulspurpleposse