Booked It!

Thank you for all of your sweet comments yesterday and for your amazing support!

Last night, I booked a mini vacay for Graham and I.  We’ll be headed to Palm Springs next weekend.  It’ll be a quick trip and while I’m very excited for the 80 degree weather, pool time and mojitoes, NOTHING makes me more excited than a Palm Springs Estate Sale!!!  Just think of the faux bamboo people.  I’ve read about the shop – Palm Springs Estate Sale Co and I’ve heard it can be straight up awesome.  Have you ever been?

I’m hoping perhaps David Jimenez has decided to cast off his belongings from this fabulous Palm Springs abode straight to a thrift store that I happen to go into…

Well color me happy, I can’t wait to get down there and it’s only a week away!  Happy Friday, everyone!!

In Memory

Today is the three year anniversary of my dad’s death date.  Unlike most anniversary’s, it’s not a day we celebrate.  Although, we do find time whenever possible to celebrate his life.

I can’t believe it’s been three years.  I still feel touches of sadness, confusion and anger.  But, I am in a much better place today and I have done a massive amount of healing as time passes away.

I’m not sure that I will dedicate a blog post to dad next March 29th.  We shall see where I am in the healing process then.  This year, I wanted to share with you his obituary.  I’m guessing you think this has got to be the most depressing post ever.  However, my dad’s obituary was not your typical one.  When he was very close to dying and had cancer in his brain, he seldom had a lucid moment.  My brother, Miles, caught a lucid request of my dad’s, when he asked him, days before his own death that his obituary be something different, something memorable.  Talk about pressure.

The night his request was presented, us siblings sat around the kitchen table with glasses of whiskey and composed an atypical obituary for a one a kind person.  For some background, dad was constantly making lists.  If you asked me as a child what my dad did as a job, I would’ve probably said, “write lists on yellow paper.”  We thought we’d make him proud with a list all about him.  We tried to encapsulate all that he was and all that he meant to us in a tiny paragraph for the San Jose Mercury News and the San Francisco Chronicle.

I invite you to read through our list and I hope this gives you a glimpse into my dad, the man I miss so much.

“Don was born March 2, 1945 in San Jose, Ca to Henry and Alma Imwalle.  Don was a husband, a father, a brother, a grandfather, an uncle, a pal, a leader, a member, a host, a list maker, a fly fisherman (preferably dry fly), a quail harasser, a vegetable grower, a porcini forager, a cowboy, a golfer, a hunter, a wine maker and connoisseur, a sun bather and sunset-watcher, a determined and successful real estate developer, a hot tubber, 4-H member, army captain, ranch manager, dog-trainer, basketball coach, a self-proclaimed expert with a self-deprecating sense of humor, an adorer of women and children, a loving friend to men, a story teller with…pregnant pauses (sometimes well placed), a worrier of the right things, a backroads driver (unafraid to run out of gas), a spontaneous creator of games, a bocce-ball/horseshoes/dominoes/hocus-pocus/badminton/pool winner “Game Point hannah shannanah,” a respectable goof, an honest b.s.-er, an art lover, a St. John Vianney, Bellarmine, USF, and San Francisco State graduate, a man with advice (“The family that eats together stays together”), a strong and sensitive man who was a generous giver of all he had to offer.  He was above all else a liver of life and he will continue to do so in the hearts of all who knew him and even some who didn’t.”

Dad, you live on ever strong.  I see you in all of our hearts and in the grandbabies who didn’t meet you but do know you.  I’m off to go compile my To Do list for the day…

Would You Dare?

Would you dare sweeten your morning breakfast with some candy colored chairs?

Via House and Home

Ruthie Sommers

If you dare to go bold and follow the ever inspiring footsteps of Ms. Ruthie Sommers, I suggest you go for these candy colored numbers…

Available Here

Like a Kid In a Candy Store

Seattle was such a great trip and I loved staying up into the wee hours of the night just chatting with Lauren (and little Riley was always by our side).

One night, we went out to dinner with our dear friend and the oh so talented artist, Irene Wood.  Before going out, I insisted we go over to her house to get a personal tour of her jewelry line.  I really truly was just like a kid in a candy store, except that I may have squealed more then the average child.  I mean can you blame me?  This was my view…

I jumped for joy (literally) when I found that Irene’s History and Industry line has expanded beyond necklaces to include bracelets.  Lauren got this fab emerald green bracelet…

I had a hard time decided what bracelet to go home with…

But ultimately, I chose this one because I loved the shapes of the beads…

Now for the necklaces, I did fall hard for this mint number…

It was the perfect match for my nails…

But this necklace could not be sold to me at this time because it is exclusive to Irene’s Fab.com sale coming up on April 10th!!  Get your wallet’s ready because she only has three of this mint number and it is beautiful!!  She will be selling a bunch of beautiful pieces at great prices at the Fab.com sale – I highly recommend writing April 10th down on your calendar!

I didn’t walk away from the experience with just a bracelet; I also got this awesome necklace…

I absolutely love my necklace!!  I already wore it yesterday and I got three compliments on it. The person who can wear the jewelry like no other, is the absolutely fabulous and effortlessly fashionable creator of History and Industry, Irene Wood.  Look at the outfit she just threw together for dinner.

So chic!!  If I had all the time in the world, I would never ever be able to come up with something that cool.

After I was sufficiently hyped up on the candy beads, we headed out to Delancey’s in the Ballard neighborhood.  I had just finished “A Homemade Life” by Molly Wizenburg, a fabulous fast read and the author owns Delancey.  It was so delicious and it had such a warm inviting feeling to the place that we ended up closing it down.

Thanks ladies for such an awesome trip!!  We missed you like crazy, Anna!!

A Dash Of Color

I added some dashes of color to my wardrobe this past weekend…

Bright red “wild poppy” pants by Madewell – 

And I decided to go with the color of the season for my fingernails…

More to come tomorrow on those fabulous bracelets I’m sporting in the photo.  Seattle was a blast and I’m so happy that it added some much needed color to my life!

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday everyone.  Sorry for the light posting this week.  I’ve been under the weather and I’ve had some not so fun personal things going on.  Oh and my brand new, 2012, just drove it off the lot three weeks ago, car broke down.  The windshield wipers decided to not work on a day when it was pouring down rain.  I had to get it towed and it took about 4.5 hours out of my work day.  They also were out of loaner cars and so it took about an hour before they could put me in a rental Impala.  Nothing against Impalas just would’ve been happier if my new car worked and didn’t have “electrical issues.”

Well, I don’t want to rant and rave about the car.  It was just one of those pull my hair out moments.  Plus, I really love having the space in my car to fill it to the brim with items for my clients.  Nothing is better than showing up to my client’s home with goodies in hand…

On the bright side, I’m headed up to Seattle this weekend to hang out with my best friend, Lauren.  We couldn’t be more excited because both of our husbands are in Vegas on a boys trip.  So, that means we get to revel in all things girly together…chic flicks, nail salon, cheese and chocolate, champagne, shopping, gossip magazines….you know, the usual.  I can’t wait!!

Happy Friday!!  Have an awesome weekend.

You Down with Glamping?

Glamping – glam camping…what are your thoughts on such a vacay?  When we were engaged, Graham was in charge of the honeymoon and he suggested glamping in this luxury tent in Montana at the Paws Up Resort.

It’s as gorgeous as tent camping can possibly get.  But, we chose Mexico instead of Montana for our honeymoon.  I’ve done some fabulous glamping before with my family in Africa and it was an awesome experience.  I love what lifestyle expert Kelly Moore (she also happens to be a family friend, lucky me) created for Seattle Magazine…

Couldn’t you just move in permanently?  She did an amazing job!  Since I’ve done my fair share of real camping, I would happily go glamping anytime.  What about you?

PS – Wouldn’t a tent be so much fun to decorate?!

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday everyone.  I hope you will be sporting your green tomorrow.  Nothing better then St. Patrick’s Day!!

Happy St. Paddy’s Day!!

It’s Happening!!

We have this family joke of exclaiming “It’s happening!!  It’s happening!!” when something fairly exciting is going on.  It all occurred a long time ago, in Ireland, when we were driving on a dirt road and a bunch of sheep crossed the road and my mom exclaimed at the top of her lungs “It’s happening!!  It’s happening!!”  The saying stuck.  I had a “It’s happening” moment yesterday when I read the Material Girls Blog and I found out about cordless lamps.  That’s right cordless.

I feel like we’ve all waiting a very long time for some cordless lamp action and I couldn’t be more exciting that it’s finally happening.  You know those times when you want a console table behind your floating sofa with two matching lamps but you just don’t want to drag the chord all the way across the room?  Well, I run into that problem and it’s no fun.

Modern Lantern has come up with the cordless solution: these lamps operate off a lithium ion battery and LED bulb duo and can last 15 hours when fully charged. And they are stylish…

No chords whatsoever.  Wow!  So happy that it’s happening.  You?

Thinking Outside of Black and White

Certainly it must come across on this blog that I love color.  I am happiest when I’m surrounded by bright colors in my home.  However, one place where I usually stick with black and white is with framing.  I had the opportunity to think outside of black and white frames when framing vintage toothpaste ads for my orthodontist’s bathroom project.  I decided to pull out the dominant color of yellow in all three ads and I brought the bright cheery color to the frame.

I’m happy with the way it turned out and I just don’t think that white or black frames would have had the same effect in the room…

Have you ever though outside of black, white, gray or wood for your frame?

Another great way to involve color in the framing process is to go with a colorful matte.