We went to the ever so fun Scottsdale Fashion Square a few days ago. I couldn't resist taking a photo of this gorgeous window outside of Tiffany. You can see by my reflection that I've had some retail therapy lugging my Crate and Barrel and Anthropologie bags around. Check out the girl watching me. She must not have a blog or she would understand how I couldn't pass up this opportunity. We even browsed around inside passing by the armed guards at the closed doors. A girl can dream!
Stepping into Anthropologie is like entering into a magical world. I'm like a kid in a candy store, carefully deciding on a limited few purchases. I've been eyeing their kitchen towels online thanks to my friend Dianne. That woman makes me want to shop. I take that back. I want to live in her house! I decided that the rooster one would work best in my Country French kitchen. The rick rack bordered cupcake one took a close second place.

Notice the black and white theme? I picked these up at three different stops. The kitchen towel from Crate and Barrel, the monogrammed cup from Anthropologie and the monogrammed glass was on clearance at Urban Outfitters. Fun accessories there! I love their graphics. Their dress forms were black and white toile.
I had a difficult time limiting my jewelry selection there as well. I finally decided on these regal crest/crown earrings to add to my collection.
I love this little door. I would like to faux paint panels on our playhouse door.
"Mom, Can I run down there and look through the fountain?" Sure, why not?
One last stop on our list before the long drive home. A visit to the famed "Sprinkles" of Beverly Hills. Yum! Worth every cent. Their cupcakes were delicious.

Blue is the "Shade of Inspiration" for this week. I painted this laundry room sign in shades of robin egg blue mixed with brown umber.
I inherited my paternal Grandmother's Blue Willow china. I brought a few home, carefully wrapped in bubble wrap, on the airplane everytime I went home to Iowa years ago. I'm so thankful that they arrived safely. Her set of matching glasses are still waiting for me in her original china hutch in Iowa. She used these each and everytime we dined at her home. She cooked the most delicious homemade German noodles. She served them over mashed potoatoes with her Sunday dinners. Imagine the carbs!
These fun Mountain Dew bottles caught my eye this week at Walmart. Had to grab a few for my Fourth of July festive decor.

Shades of white can be seen all over my house. I couldn't miss this opportunity to take part in Sara's Shades of Inspiration. My home is a mixture of Shabby Chic and Country French. I fall hard for white and especially chippy white furnishings and accessories. This arrangement rests on top of a bookshelf in our family room. I took this photo six times. I have no idea why the iron piece photographs as if it's leaning. ??
The scallop of an end table also in our family room.
One of my many white accessories.
Chalk board and shelves in my laundry room. Please excuse the Halloween decor. I'm using some photos in my library.
My Grandmother's chair which was my favorite piece of furniture in her home.
My white kitchen table. Then there's also my chippy white outdoor table, my tin ceiling mantel shelf, my ivory sofa table, . . . . .

We camped at our house last night. If you have any Tweens or younger, I'm sure that you watched the movie and listened to the countdown to Disney's Camp Rock premiere last night. Disney is ingenious with their marketing techniques. Taylor invited some friends over. We had lots of yummy snacks. They liked the movie but agreed that it was not as good as High School Musical. Catchy songs though. I wish I could stop singing "We Rock" but I have a feeling that I'll be hearing and singing a lot more of it.

We celebrated Valentine's Day last night. I know, we are a few months behind. However in our defense, we try to make up for lost opportunities. We had planned to see Fools Gold in the theatre as part of our Valentine's Day celebration. My surgery ended up being scheduled February 16 and I was not up for celebrating. The Fool's Gold DVD was released yesterday, my hubby picked it up, the kids were invited over to a friends giving us the opportunity to squeeze in some romantic couple time. A few years ago, we had to cancel a romantic fall New England trip. We re-booked if for one year later and had a wonderful time. I also read two books by a new author, Sarah Addison Allen this month. They are spell-binding. I could barely put them down. If you are looking for a great summer read, I would highly recommend both of these.
I wish I could remember the name of the movie that Garden Spells reminds me of.

Shabu Fondue is such a fun place to go and have a tempting, delectable dessert in the middle of a hot summer day. My dear, dear friend, Angie, and our two darling daughters and I met yesterday, giggled and desserted on these melting, dripping, chocolate treats.
You should try it! After all, "Life's Too Short, Eat Dessert First."

Green Acres is the place to be. Our corn is growing. We are so proud. We planted it from seed in March. There are seven ears of corn on them.
I hope they are edible. See those tassels on the top? When I was a teenager growing up in Iowa, my girlfriends and I would get on a crew, ride through the fields on a large tractor with baskets for us to stand in and detassel corn. We would work from 5-10 am in our cutoffs and bikini tops and earn spending money for our beloved designer bluejeans. We got great tans too! I pulled one of the tassels the other day just for kicks. I wonder if corn is still detasseled? I'm playing around with Sara's "Shade's of Inspiration."
I'm seeing green, but it's a little difficult. I'm not much of a green person in terms of decorating. A greener earth - definitely. I had to turn to the great outdoors for most of my green. This is my favorite of our five palm trees in our backyard.
Our ruby-red grapefruit tree got confused this year. We had such a cold winter that it didn't produce any fruit during the spring. However, it's loaded now. I don't know if they will be ready in the fall or wait until it's normal spring routine.

My next door neighbor moved a week ago (boo hoo)and gave me her ficus tree.
I just transplanted it into my "green" mosaic rooster.
I hope it likes its new home in our breakfast room. They are a little tricky.

Finally! We get to see it. January 25, 2009. My neighborhood Bunco group is such a fun group of women. Sunday night, Michelle coordinated a group of us to go see Sex In The City. What a fairy tale movie that was with really racy scenes I might add. I received a group sales email from ASU for The Lion King and I knew that I needed to coordinate a neighborhood event. I spent the last two days emailing and calling everyone and placed our order today for 24 tickets. Can't wait! My little family went to see the latest Indiana Jones movie. We enjoyed that too. Gotta go - my daughter and I just rented "Nancy Drew". We are loving summer. Maybe we will jump in the pool when it's over.

"If you're happy and you know it clap your hands. If you're happy and you know it clap yours hands. If you're happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it. If you're happy and you know it clap your hands. We'll I'm clapping. I had to share you with some of the happiness that I received for my birthday. We got soooo busy around here the last week, but today I'm catching up. Teresa said that she had sent me a "Happy" box. Any box from her is a happy box, but she meant it literally. Are these happy balls cute or what? I'm going to show you a lot of cuteness today! I waited a couple of days when I could concentrate to devour her incredible new "Postmark LA" book that she sent me. You have to get it. I love it. So many inspiring ideas and the images are incredible. Okay . . I can't tell you how much I love the card. I want to frame it.
Speaking of cards, this is what happens when you have two family members with back-to-back birthdays.
Now on to two darling, darling giftbags. Aren't we all crazy for cupcakes?

Now I have to share with you what's inside.

Chloe slippers! Check out this adorable tag
Chloe likes them too! Sniff, sniff.
This has to be the most adorable ice cream scoop ever!

It's the last day of "I Saw Red". I am crazy, I know. I put all of these 11 pillows on our bed everyday. I am extremely detail oriented, but I am not a perfectionist. It drives my husband even crazier to to remove them all at night if he retreats before I do.

It's Ruby Tuesday. I've playing along with Sara's "I Saw Red".
I see alot of red in my home. My two favorite colors are red and pink. Since I have a big hunky husband in my home, as well as a strapping teenage son, I try to limit my use of pink in our home decor. Therefore, red reigns in the kitchen and family room. The first image is a stairstep shelf that is currently in our breakfast room. The next image is my favorite red heart. The artist that made it lives in Tucson. It is larger than you think at 24 inches high and hangs from an additional 12 inch wire hanger.
The next one is from one of our bookshelves. I love my red fleur di lis.
Last, but not least, is my kitchen lamp. I was so lucky to have found this lamp. The red, French rooster fabric is the same fabric that my kitchen valence is made out of.