It's a Wrap

Presents Open, Cake Eaten. Check.

We were off to sister Di's last night to celebrate my Mom's birthday.  It turned out to be a nice night so I was sure to take a walk around Di's gardens which are starting to pop.

The Rhodies are in full bloom.

Cayden, my great nephew, and Sophia, my great niece walked through the garden with me a little while. Then the slide called.

Then the fairies called.

And more flowers, like this iris. Amazingly beautiful.

Pretty green hosta.



Then back to the party. Sohpia giving Great Grammy her card that she made.



More merriment.

And of course, cake!

Don't forget the surpise guest...............Hampton's newly 'crowned' (a much deserved honor for our friend) Citizen of the Year Desi Lanio, proprietor of The 401 Tavern. 

All and all, a fun night celebrating life!

What hot for you today? I've got meeting prep, meeting, back to the desk to do work for several clients....you know, the usual juggling.  Hope you're got some more creative endeavors up your sleeve.

Ciao for now,

The Celebration Continues, That's The Way We Roll

More Birthday Fun for Gar

I know, you never would have guessed, but we continued Garrett's birthday celebration last night at my parent's house. Yes, there was cheese and crackers, a Guinness or two and the celebratory big honkin' shrimp (forgot to get a picture of those babies).

Sister Di stopped by with Sophia, her granddaughter and our grand niece.  The child is a dancing fool. It was hard to get a picture of her because she never stopped moving.  Here she is in front of Great Grammy.

She was squinchin' down to talk to Maxie (the family mascot terrier statue, in honor of the real Maxie who was a good old dog), when Great Grampy held out the moose. Well that was all she needed to see. She had Great Grampy make the moose (which is probably a reindeer, but looks more like a moose) sing 'Grandma got run over by a reindeer' over and over again. She can't help but dance when the silly moose starts singing.

Nephews Jeff and Pat popped in too. We are currently waiting in anticipation of Pat's holiday batch of brew to be finished.  He's becoming quite the home brewer.

Then we had to take the 'official' birthday pictures to go in the albums Mom/Marge makes for each of us every Christmas.  I will preface this picture with 'I think I need more than my yoga mat at this point'.

Then Gar and 'Mrs. D'.

One quick one of Gar and 'Mr. D'. He was on the phone with brother Michael who was bumming about missing the shrimp. C'est la vie.

All in all, Gar had a very nice birthday. Thank you all for the well wishes. He thought that was super nice.

The Coveted Creche

My mother made the family creche set years ago now, in ceramics class. The set has to be about 40 years old.

I love it. We all love it. It's gorgeous and my pictures don't do it justice. So simple and elegant, yet lots of detail.  It sits in the dry sink that my father made. Fits perfectly, like he made the dry sink for it, even though he didn't.

Ah yes, the other birthday boy. Baby Jesus. Let's not forget him.

The creche set I have in our home isn't anything close to my Mother's. It's tiny, but at least it's got all the necessary components.....jesus, mary, joseph, the wise men and the angel.  Personally, I like that my Mother's has everything including the shepards, donkeys, sheep, and even two big camels.

Do you have a cherished creche? One that someone in your family made or that holds special meaning?

Baby Jesus sits behind my manger until I get home from our family's Christmas Eve festivities. Just in time for his birthday.

Sunset Meadows

It was a very pretty sunset last night. It was pretty quick too, which is not the norm. Luckily I caught it before it went down completely.

Have a fantastic Tuesday in your part of the world.  Do be sure to stop back tomorrow for the start of our next shop and blog link up.....promote your shop or blog if you have one, find Christmas presents or do a little window shopping. I'll also have a new free holiday printable for you.

Until then, be well-



You're HOW old?

That's Laurel.  I call her Pearl. She's one of my bookclub/champagne ladies. Love her. She threw herself a 50th birthday party. LOVE her.

She asked everyone to dress in something from the 60s,70s, or 80s.

Pearl was dressed as Audrey Hepburn and Bill, her other half, did his best George Pappard.

Pearl gave up her classic Audrey hat for a crown.

The dancefloor was hopping all night.

How about a little electric slide? There's my other bookclub/champagne lady kath in the back.  If she had blonde hair she would have been Goldie Hawn in Laugh In with that dress.

Everyone danced.

And danced.

I really loved Andrea's........I'm sorry, I mean Madonna's bracelets.

Here's my new best friend Michelle, re-enacting how she tried to light the battery operated candle for 10 minutes (at the beginning of the night, no less).



Here's Pearl and The Italians. Judith doesn't normally have flowers growing out of her nose.

Best buds. Mark and George Pappard.

Some of the get ups were priceless.

I love this shot of Captain America in his parachute pants and Jane Fonda Leotard girl.  Kim's gold lame dress rocked it too.

Me and my gals. I was doing the 80s punk thing. You can't see it but I had all of my 80s buttons on. Unfortunately, I couldn't style my hair like I used to because I didn't have any hair spray. Bummer. I'm looking a little worse for wear at this point because of the aforementioned dancing.

Pearl went up into the DJ booth and sang Happy Birthday to herself. Did I say I love her?

Michelle and Mark. Good shot.



Michelle, wearing Audrey's hat, feeding Gar a shrimp skewer after previously eating all of his.

We did a lot of laughing.

I told Mark, Gar and Jim that they looked like a line up. Well, Jim looks a little too happy to be in a line up. But still.

And we danced.

So much so, that Pearl took off those heels.

She smartly brought a pair of ballet slippers for her tootsies.

The end. Almost.

Happy birthday Pearl. Love ya.