Retro Friday, Meet the Parents

Thought I'd back up a bit and introduce my parents. Juanita and Douglas. This picture was taken on their honeymoon, and I believe they are in Disneyland.
My parents met in Panama when my dad was stationed in the Canal Zone. My mom was 20 in this photo and my dad was 22. When I look at them in this picture, they seem older to me, but I think it is because they are my parents. I love how styling they look :)

I want to do a post on each of them separately, so I won't go into their individual stories on this post. I'm foggy on how they actually met, I believe it was through friends. I do know that when they first started dating they had to have a chaperone. Can you even imagine that?  I really wish I had a photo of their wedding in my possession, but alas, they are at my mom's house. Her dress was gorgeous, and designed and made by her stepmother. When they moved to the States eventually, her dress was stolen while it was being shipped back with some of their things. There was no way though that I would ever fit into it, as I believe she was rail thin at 85 or so lbs!

If I remember the story correctly, after they got married, they came to L.A. for their honeymoon, and to visit with my grandparents, who lived in Santa Monica at the time. They also had another small ceremony, since my grandparents were unable to attend the big wedding in Panama.

Unfortunately my parents divorced when I was nine or so. Looking back now as an adult I can understand more clearly that they were like oil and water, and their goals for life were so different. Of course I don't know all the complexities of what went wrong in their relationship, but knowing them today, I can't picture them together. They stayed married for close to 11 years though, so they gave it a good try.

Like everyone, they have their own stories, so when I do their posts, I will go more into who they are.
I thought I'd at least introduce them though.


Happy Friday to everyone!!!

Proud Mom

This is Marios Schwab, a London based designer. My daughter just landed an internship with him! We are so thrilled for her and hope she learns a lot and enjoys her time. She and her husband moved to London this past May so that she could work in the fashion industry there. I can't wait to hear all the details! The following photos are a sampling of his work.

Happy Memorial day weekend

Sorry to be gone so long, but I have a really good excuse! You see, Nicole and Pierre moved to London this past Saturday, and they have been staying with us for a week plus until their flight. They were suppose to fly out last Tuesday, but there was a missing document for their dog, so we had to turn around and go home, and reschedule the flight. While many phone calls were made to straighten out the situation, Dave came up with a plan for a bit of stress relief.
We went here to play petanque. Pierre had given Dave a nice box of petanque balls one Christmas, and we have never broken them out of the box, so off we went to the petanque field to give it a try.

The girls and I played for a bit, but the guys ended up playing more rounds.
Cyrous did pretty well............
Pierre had such concentration.
Since we were all together for only a few more dinners, Caitlin and Cyrous decided to make their favorite Indian recipe of "butter chicken."



Very yummy, and nice to have a few more gatherings together before Nicole and Pierre left.

I had hoped to get going on more Etsy listings etc., but having a full house is not an easy environment to do so, since I still have to photograph the items. This coming week will be lots of catching up to do around the house as well as Etsy stuff.

I hope everyone is having a very nice holiday weekend!

Mommies day

Yay, we are going to the city for Mother's Day....Boo, everyone else is too!! click on the photo, if you want to see the major congestion. The gang had picked a secret location to celebrate Mother's Day, but before we did that, I wanted to go to the Legion of Honor to see this show. This is my favorite museum in San Francisco, and if you have been reading my blog for a while, you know this. The museum is deep into the city though, and takes some time to get there. Usually it is fine, but yesterday because of all this traffic, I was a bit anxious trying to get there on time.
Finally in the city, driving past city hall.
When I see this sign off Geary, I get excited, because the next block is 34th Ave, and that is where you turn for the museum. Yay!! We made it, with a bit of time to see the exhibit too :)
They won't let you take photos in the exhibit area, so this is the only photo I have inside. We are waiting for David to park, and meet us in the entrance. It was a lovely show, and luckily it wasn't so huge, that I got to enjoy it for the amount of time we had there.
I always love the view of the city from the hill top of the museum.
OOPs, I meant to put a picture here of where we ended up. The family surprised me with tea at Lovejoy's. A very quirky tea house that is a favorite in San Francisco. It feels as if you are visiting your grandmother.
Tea sandwiches, salads, fruit, and delicious tea of course. Cozy and lots of fun, for a beautiful sunny Mother's Day.
Yummy!!

My babies

They also had a little antique shop across the street that we went to take a peek in.
I have way too many tea cups at home, so I resisted the urge to really look that hard.
This one caught my eye though. No, it did not go home with me.

I had a very nice day with the family, and yes, the guys did come to tea, but sadly I don't have any super great pictures of them there.
My goodies from the family. Nicole and Pierre got me these adorable vintage Steiff animals. LOVE them!!!
The books that I picked up at the museum. I loved that Elsa Mora's art, was on the cover of this paper cutting book. The other of course is of the exhibit.

Darling little card that Caitlin drew and painted.
Don't you love these little animals?!
Lovely necklace David and Caitlin got me. It is always nice wearing little symbols of your children.

Hope all the moms out there enjoyed their day.

A little bit of music and fashion

This past Sunday we went to see Nicole's fashion show in the city, and to see the band called "Foxtail Brigade." The night was a mixed bag of stand up comedy, followed by the fashion show, then music.
It was all held at the Swedish American hall.
Here are the "Foxtail Brigade." Folksy, with great instrumentals. Take a listen over at their web page if you would like.
The next photos all speak for themselves. We have a little bit of behind the scenes and close ups of Nicole's collection. She was very busy with many details and construction of the collection this past month or so, and I think they turned out really pretty.















Lots of flowers, color and whimsy.

I have been very busy with preparing for Easter and getting the shop put together. Nicole has been a great help with helping me navigate Etsy, and hopefully it will be up and running very shortly. So many details and steps, and then when you throw in a holiday, yikes!! My head is spinning with everything. I really don't mean to tease with hopes of the shop opening soon, but it sure does require time and effort to do it the right way.

I hope everyone has a very happy and healthy Easter celebration.