Shabby eye candy in Summerland

Mr. Beatnheart and I took a little day trip

to a little town near Santa Barbara.

It’s right on the ocean...It’s called  Summerland.

cute huh.

This shop is worth the trip alone.

It’s called “bo.tan.ik”

I didn’t have to do any set dressing

cause these guys have it down.

If you want to learn how to arrange and merchandise

your shop, just go here.

I wanted every single thing in this place.

I wanted to move in there and never leave.

It’s also a garden shop...this is where the guy did up

his succulents, flower arranging and pots for the

outdoor garden..  That sink!!  The Faucets!   Lust and Convet!

My husband couldn’t stand anymore of my gushing

and had to go outside for air.

but you can see why right?

If you were with me we’d be swooning in two part harmony.

And this is only the inside,

There’s lots more outside.

Do you believe it?

do you want these glasses too..?

what about those salt and peppers?

These folks have an amazing eye for what to buy.

wonderful...right...

I knew you’d think so...

I took about 200 pictures of this place...

Next post we’ll go outside..

~~~~~~~~~

I’m busy as a bee....Etsy shop takes alot of time

A full time  job in jammies...

come visit.  caw

My Sentiment Exactly

In a window in a pub in Santa Barbara, California

A couple of cool moms...

My mom

Grandma Wolff

Happy Mother’s Day

ETSY SHOP IS UP AND RUNNING

I NEED YOUR HELP...

SOLD!

Well...I finally got the nerve up to open an ETSY shop...

whew!... It has been sitting vacant for almost a year now.

What a struggle to do the banner! You may remember

when I was a complete and total beginner on the computer.

EVERYTHING  was  a  challenge!

So finally last week I looked at my little empty shop and

thought to myself “wait a minute”!  you’ve got

tons of stuff to put in there, what are you waiting for?

So I started to take pictures...

Lots of em...

German curtain rings

(buying in ETSY has NEVER BEEN A PROBLEM)

I can do that easily and with great joy!

and I can spend many an hour browsing 

and pretend shopping.

So now I appeal to you to lend me a hand

and give this girlwoman some advice...

cause I don’t know the ins and outs of all this

and I know that many of you do.

help me find a new home...

I follow and look at many of your ETSY shops and I can see that

lots of you are doing quite well.  So I would be ever so

grateful if you could share your knowledge and expertise

and help this newbie out with ways to get people to find me

and any other tasty tips that you can offer... 

Thank you...the staff at Beatnheart ETSY.

A day at Mauna and Lee’s

I spent the afternoon at my wonderful neighbor’s

house taking pictures of their beautiful garden...

creativity in every corner.

This once barren, weedy landscape took a few years

to pull together but just look at it now.

An eye for beauty and detail.

unusual plants

color and texture created with non-thirsty plants perfect

for Southern California landscapes.

bowling balls and boulders

I covet this old neon Paint sign that they salvaged.

creative use of color and form

Bold and fearless...

Mauna and Lee are not only creative to the core but

are such good people in so many ways.  They are local activists who put countless

hours into helping their Wrigley neighborhood and the city of Long Beach.

They are also loads of fun and have great parties.

The end to a perfect day...

Palm Sunday...

A time to reflect and renew and be reborn

and to examine your motives and the 

reasons why you do the things you do.

Are you willing to change and throw out

the behaviors that no longer work for you?

I have my faults...and my strengths...

 I choose to carefully nurture

and develop the things in me that

are good and will make me a better

person...and one that I am proud of.

This sometimes means taking a hard cold look

at who you really are.  Sometimes

the things we think are “cute” are in

truth immature, rude and unbecoming.

all art work by Guiseppe de Piero

Because what I like are people that are

doers and not talkers.   Creative people.

Givers and not takers.

The ones that take the time and sweat
and toil to accomplish their dreams and goals.

Working on the Garden

the Cecil Brunner Rose canopy.

Our garden is a never ending process of weeding, cleaning,

pruning and editing.  When you live in Southern California

the garden goes dormant for about a month and then it kicks

into high gear once again.   Therefore you are always

trimming, cutting back, weeding and transplanting.  

For some, this sounds like heaven, but when you have

to garden somewhat nonstop, it gets to be a little

tiring.  Everyone admires Bougainvillea...it

is for a fact a beautiful looking plant...But it

grows like crazy and the thorns on it are deadly sharp.

Cutting it back is not for the faint hearted.   You end

up shredded and cut and bleeding.  And if you

turn your back for one second and do not pay

attention,  it has made it’s wicked way to the

far reaching corner of the garden and it sends 

off new and razor sharp branches and back you

go standing high on a ladder hacking it down

once again.

I have been working in the “driveway garden” and

trying this year to get it to look pretty and feel great

as it is closest to the kitchen door and so it makes a great place

to hang out and also to work on my antiques.

So I am creating my little vignettes.

We don’t park our cars in the garage as it is my working 

space.  And we have stopped pulling the car behind this

gate.  I am attempting this year to pull this area together

to create a really nice place to have a meal and have

the neighbors over.

I love geraniums.  Mine just stay in pots all year

and in the Spring I repot them with fresh soil and

compost from my worm bin.

This is how many weeds came into

our front garden this year...

Overwelming...again, turned our back for a minute

and boom... they took over.

This is after Mr. Beatnheart worked all afternoon

clearing them out.  More work to do still.  This whole front

garden needs to be dug out, weed cloth barrier put in, and

new gravel layed.   Who ever said a grass free garden is low

mantainance obvioulsy never had one...like I said

never ending work.