Fall Beauty in Vegas!

We had Fall break here in GA last week so S and I flew out to CA to spend the 5 days with Don. We decided to spend the weekend in Vegas. We took a beautiful drive through the desert and 4 hours later went from Irvine, CA to Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Bellagio Hotel and Casino had the most amazing Fall display and was one of my most favorite places to visit down there. This is the lobby ceiling covered in these glass flowers.
This display stands behind the check-in counter in the lobby of the hotel. Everything is so massive and grand in these hotels.
Just beyond the lobby was this huge atrium that the Bellagio had all decorated for Fall. Here are some of the pictures I took to share with you. Just magnificent!
This tree was animated and said several greetings in a deep "Father Time" kind of voice. Way cool!
I wonder how long this flower art lasts? Do they refresh it every day?
In addition to the Bellagio we walked through the Aria hotel and casino. it was very different in decor. More modern.
Just off the casino floor was this amazing pastry and chocolate shop called Jean Phillipe. The displays and hand made Halloween chocolates were breathtaking.
It would be hard to choose just one.
This was jaw dropping for me. As you walked inside the Crystal Hotel and Casino this bar and lounge called Chandelier was covered in strands of crystals. The light glittering off these strands was so pretty.
You felt like you were sitting inside a big crystal chandelier. My pictures did not do it justice. I sooooo want to go back to Vegas. The shopping was amazing there, too. The Caesar's Forum Shops was a 3 story shopping mall of every designer you could imagine. We gambled only a little because we had Shelby with us. Children can walk across the casino floor but can not stop and watch anything. So next time.
We also had to spend some time at California Adventure. My little one became a vampire bat. We had a great time out west. The weather was perfect. Well, we are back and getting ready for Trick or Treat and a visit from this sweet person! Can't wait for your visit!!

Spring Break-Sanibel Island

Where have I been? I can't believe that 6 weeks have gone by since I last updated my blog. Way too busy with work and home to keep up. I have missed visiting all my favorite blogs.
Back in April we took Shelby to Sanibel/Captiva Island, Florida during her Spring Break. We had a terrific time.
This little ham of mine just loves the beach. We got up early everyday to look for sea shells. Sanibel is known for its shelling. The best time is in the winter. Here are just a few of our finds.
We went to the sea shell museum and learned all about mollusks. It is amazing that all of these shells were made by these tiny creatures.
We boogey boarded, even in the mini surf of the Gulf. The water was really warm. Tough on the feet for all the shells on the beach. Nothing like a 5 year old to keep you moving!
Sanibel was really relaxing and much needed with us always going in different directions. The island was laid back with everyone getting around by bicycle. If you are looking for a beach local in Florida, go check it out.
In spite of all the work travel I have been doing, the needle felting project got finished a few days before Easter. I will be back soon with all the "chicks".

Junkin' Finds and a Vintage Smock for a Friend!

Our trip to Monroe was so much fun. I wish I could treasure hunt every weekend. Here is a lady head vase that I found the perfect shade to match my studio. She is tiny, too.
This lovely old linen would make great porch pillows. It is very crisp and in excellent shape. I should have enough to do 4 pillows. They should brighten up my back porch a bit.
My camera and I don't seem to be getting along very well lately. So many pictures are blurry. Here is a collection of my other finds.
I love this old painted wooden hanger. It has clothes brushes on each end and is hinged in the middle to fold for traveling.
A met a fellow artist and sweet lady last Spring when the Southern Blogger's got together. Her name is Yvette, "E" for short and she has a kind spirit. I connected with her immediately. She is an amazing artist and has begun holding art classes. It would be great to go to one of her classes. E asked me to make her one of my vintage smocks. So after making her wait awhile, here is what I created for her.
I can see her sporting her vintage smock while teaching her art classes. You go E!!! Hope to see you soon.

Old Cotton Mill AnTiQues

It seems like months since the girls and I did some serious junkin'. You know we were serious if we decided to drag my 5 year old around with us on Saturday. We put Mom in a wheel chair and we took off for Monroe, GA. We went for the first time to The Old Cotton Mill. It is a huge old mill with approx. 700 vendors. It rocked!! Great prices, very nice displays, etc. Like this one above. It was so sweet the way she had it set up like a child's room.


















I really wanted to go home with one of these. They are old sink basins sitting on a home made frame. It would be perfect for a handwashing/paintbrush washing spot in the studio. I have to find a salvage yard around here and try and make one myself.
This place was so big it took us 3.5 hours to get through. The aisles are so large, they have shopping carts to use for browsing. Everything I bought was 10 -20% off. We will definitely be going back.
Just down the road in Monroe is another spot called the Cotton Gin and it is smaller but very nicely done. Very pretty to look at. This is one of the vendors display for some vintage jewelry pieces. We enjoyed lunch at the Butcher Block. I treated everyone to lunch for a whopping $21.00. Yes that was for 5 of us for lunch. Another bargain of the day. I will post some pics of my goodies in a couple of days. Have a great week.

Happy Birthday to Me... Let's Flea!

That's right, it's my birthday. I had to fly out on business and I am in CA for my birthday this weekend. It sucked being away from family and friends today, but we will celebrate a little when I get back. In the meantime, I am heading to the Orange County Flea Market. http://www.ocmarketplace.com. I have been traveling to CA most of this year and I have never gone. They even have an Artisan's and Crafter's corner that I am really excited about. I hope to find a little birthday something there.
I left the day after Halloween and I didn't get to share with you our little Cleopatra.
And here are some Mummy Cupcakes that Judy and I made together.
These are so fun to make. Green jelly beans for eyes dotted with chocolate, red swedish fish for mouths and lots of criss-crossed icing.
Well, I am off to bed to get up early for the flea market. I hope to show you some great finds!

Where Have I Been Lately?

That is a good question! I have been really uninspired and have had very little to say lately. I know, I know, for those of you who know me that is impossible. Well, we have been so crazy busy lately, but Don and I did find some time to get away alone together.
After months of working in California and only spending a day and a half together once every other 2 weeks, we needed some quality time together. So we booked a long weekend at One Ocean Resort.
We arrived in our room to a chilled bottle of champagne and it just went up from there. Here we are in the lobby. The artwork and sculptures around the hotel were breathtaking.
We enjoyed a couple's massage at the Spa and afterwards I got into this lovely hot tub in the ladies lounge.
This was the entrance into the hotel restaurant and bar. The underwater theme was very effective.
This metal piece of art was so pretty right outside the bar area. The champange is kicking in, my smile is getting bigger.
The smile gets bigger. This was me before the massage.
Hubs all relaxed after the massage. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!! Worth every penny.
We found the bar after the massage and had a few more cocktails before dinner, here....
This is the hotel restaurant called Azurea. The food was outstanding. Yes, after all that drinking I do remember the dinner.
We arrived home in time to send Don off for another 2 weeks in CA and another project with the same firm. So, looks like we will be spending some more time going back and forth. In this crappy economy, we are happy to have the work. We will ride that wave until it rolls out onto the beach! So for now, I will be getting ready for friends from Canada to visit, see Don's son off for a 1 year tour of duty in Kuwait and work on getting some art classes going with some very talented ladies. Stay tuned for more on that. I hope you are all enjoying your summer. It is going by at warp speed for us.

California Dreamin'

As I have mentioned, my hubby and I have been spending time working in California, each taking 2 weeks at a time. I am happy to say that the project is coming to an end after 10 weeks. It went really great. It was good to get back to work. We took Shelby out there over a weekend so we could all spend some much needed time together. Before we left, we went to Disco for Dads night at the school.
As you can see, she was ready to rock out!
Here she is with her gal pals. Future trouble standing here!
You think you know your children, especially at 4 1/2 yrs old, but I had no idea that this child could really dance. She has great rhythm and likes to shake what her Mama gave her. Needless to say the boys were attracted to her energy and that pink tutu skirt.
The event was really fun and by 8 pm she needed to be carried out of there.
California sunshine. The weather was lovely that weekend, but it was breezy and only in the mid 60's. Chilly for southern California. We drove from Irvine to Laguna Beach to have lunch at this lovely resort.
This is the Montage. It is set on the cliffs of the ocean in Laguna Beach. It was breathtaking. At 600.00 a night, enjoying the view and some lunch was going to have to do. It was fantastic.
This is the view of the pool from upstairs in the hotel.
We enjoyed a yummy lunch on this patio overlooking the ocean. Shelby was a doll and let Mom and Dad have a relaxing afternoon. After lunch we walked down to the ocean among these beautiful flowers.
These purple flowers lined the pathway to the beach. They had the most wonderful fragrance.
You can tell I missed Shelby. I spent the whole weekend holding her I think.
We did finally make it down to the water after stopping every 2 feet to take pictures of the flowers. When we got down there, there was this big seal sunning it self on the rocks. It was amazing to see that.
We did go to the San Diego Zoo to see more seals, this time not in the wild. It did not have the same effect.
Thanks for a great weekend, honey! It looks like we are going to be home for a little while. (I am keeping my fingers crossed) There will probably be more work out there, but hopefully we can stay home all summer. It is truly beautiful on the West Coast. I look forward to going back.