Moving Update # 3

Well......still nothing!  Because there is nothing, and we don't want to give this landlady any more rent money, we decided to put all of our worldly possessions in storage and stay with family in town. We could have stayed here through June, but I can't take another minute here. We are not sad about leaving this house at all, but sad that we don't have a new home yet! We never got attached to this house, and in all four of the bedrooms, we didn't commit to hanging very much or anything on the walls, so this will make it quicker this time to pack things up( well kind of). Even though I tried to make this place homey, it just never felt like home, given the situation with the back yard creature.   I have also decided after much thought, that I'm not going to write the whole story about our dreadful year in this house on here, because I don't want anymore pictures of this house or memories of what happened on my blog, BUT if you want to know the story with a few pictures, drop your email in the comment section and I'll tell it to you in private.
Since last week we have looked at a couple of condos to see if we could go that route. One was very pretty, but a tad too small and the layout was a bit tricky because when you opened the front door you had to go up stairs to the living quarters. Not a fan of this, and thinking about our ancient piano that weighs a ton, going up those stairs, scared me! The girl who owned the condo was so sweet, and had it decorated really nice. It was the first place that actually looked exactly like the pictures in the ad. I also drove by a house that was listed and got the address after I made an appointment to see it. Since it was empty, I decided to peek in the windows and look around. YUCK! It was just as ugly as the serial killer house we saw the first week we started looking. I called the guy back and cancelled the viewing appointment.
Then another condo came up, and by the pictures it looked like everything we wanted. We both got our hopes up on this one and could not wait to see it. It had a lot of square footage and beautiful views and the kitchen looked so nice in the photos.  Walking up to the front door we were met by a very nice lady and her dog. The minute I saw the way the front door area was kept, the red flags went up. Inside we saw an extremely messy house by the tenants in there, and they hadn't even started packing!  It was dark, and had popcorn ceiling from the time when builder thought that was cool. It had laminate flooring that was so so downstairs and not very well kept carpet going up the stairs and into all the bedrooms. OK.....If I have to see one more property with other peoples junk and dirty carpet one more time, I'm going to cry!!!!! The kitchen was not great, and looked far from how it did in the ad!!!! We decided that there was no way that we were going to push our budget and move into this place!  That is the other annoying thing with these landlords that use old photos of when the house was clean years ago, and then you walk in and everything, like the carpet and appliances, are about ready to be replaced, and they have wasted my time and hopes that it would be something I want. This lady was nice, but the other red flag was how she thought the walls looked just fine, and there wasn't really a need to paint them! REALLY, are we looking at the same walls?! When I spoke with her on the phone she said that she had been in there and that it was clean. For the life of me I just can't understand how people can live the way these people were living, and making the excuse that they had kids! My house never looked like this when I had little ones! There were three rooms in this house that had the most insane amount of legos that I have ever seen in my life! ANYWAY, we took an application but decided there was no way, even with it cleaned up, that we would enjoy this place.
Yesterday Zarin, Cyrous' mom, was so sweet to come over to help start packing. Her mom was the kind person who is letting us stay in her condo while we look. Caitlin and Cyrous will be there as well, so we will be roomies for a bit. We just don't want to rush into another property because of lack of time.  This is a first for us. Not finding a place to move into is a bit odd, and I feel as if I'm twisting in the wind a bit. The only time we have put our things in storage was when we moved to France, but that was an exciting move and perfect for that time in our lives. This time, it feels like we are putting ourselves in time out mode and taking somewhat of a break from life in an odd way. I can't wait to write a post which will include pictures of our new home. Last week I thought I'd try and do some sewing before I had to pack things up. The first picture is of the garment that I started to cut out when I got the certified letter that we had to move. My heart is not into finishing this, so I think I'll pack it up as a WIP and look forward to completing it sometime soon.
Well, break time is over and I have a mountain of things to do!  Not sure when I will be able to do another post, but I'll certainly try.  

How Things Change in an Instant

Well, just when you think you are sailing along just fine you get blind sided by not so great news. My husband went on a business trip yesterday and as he was leaving I had this feeling that I was going to get some bad news in the mail, I couldn't shake the feeling for some reason. Then in the afternoon I hear the door bell. It's the postman with a registered letter, and I'm thinking that this can't be good. It wasn't. Our landlord does not want to continue renting to us. She has given us until July 1st.
I'm making a few assumptions on her part, but most likely her decision was spurred by her daughter who lives in the cottage out back.
I have many adjectives for this person, but kind, respectful and grateful are not among them. I'm sitting here this morning still in shock that we now have to look for another place to live in an already tight market. When this happens of course, you go on the dreaded Craig's list and there is nothing or garbage for too much money. I keep trying to tell myself that something will turn up eventually, but I have a feeling that our next move will have to have some compromises and possibly not really where we would want to be. Things always happen for a reason, and I'm sure this is a blessing in disguise. Right now though, it just feels awful. On the up side, I will not have to deal with the human out back anymore, which is a good incentive to not feel so bad.  I'm not going to lie though, I'm terrified, sad and angry all balled into one. Of course poor David is not in town and had to hear the news from me over the phone.  
So, things are about to get crazy yet again and please send positive thoughts and prayers that we find a nice place to live.

My Blog Just Turned 8 Years Old!

My blog anniversary was on February 12th and it slipped my mind completely to do a post on that day! I can't believe I'm still at it hahah. So many blogs are slowing down or shutting down it seems. Most prefer Instagram or other formats, but here I am, still documenting my little corner of the world. I must admit thought, that I too have slowed down in posting and ideas for posts. This little blog is for me to look back on what I and my family have done each year, so I keep on going.

Did everyone have a fun Valentine's day? We had planned to take a drive out to Marin and check out a new store, that is a new venture of Steve Gordon, founder of Restoration Hardware.  Well, I suppose it isn't brand new, as I believe he opened in 2013. Mr. Gordon's  last stint was at Sundance Catalog, and I thought he was still there, until I saw someone on Facebook waxing nostalgic about Restoration Hardware, and we all launched into a discussion about the original store in Eureka Ca. It was said in a comment that his newest venture is a cool new store in Mill Valley Ca. called Giudeboat.  If you are a long time reader of my blog, you may have remembered the post on Restoration Hardware that I did, and how I  really don't like its latest incarnation. Steve Gordon's magic touch that gave life to RH, left with him and is now in this new place. Steve, always manages to get things right with retail. He has the ability to capture a lifestyle and turn it into a shop that you can't get enough of. He has such a great eye for finding quality and putting it all together to tell a story that you want to be a part of, if that makes any sense.  I must go out and explore his newest venture as soon as possible.

The yard is coming out of its short winter's nap and blossoms and leaves are starting to make their appearance. The quince tree is really going crazy with its beautiful velvet green leaves. The rose bushes are starting to awaken also. No wonder with all this sunny weather we are having. The front yard, has many beautiful camellia bushes, one with red and white streaked flowers, and the others plain white and red. Camellia flowers are so pretty, but so short lived. They seem to wither away and fall all too soon for my liking.  Check out all those Meyer lemons! Don't hate me for having a million of them!! A lot of them are just dropping to the ground,  I just can't keep up with all of them. I can't make any desserts out of them, since I gave up sweets for lent, I guess I have to keep incorporating them into my lunches and dinners.

After finishing the two piece outfit from my last post, I have now started on a baby linen top. Oh my the feel and drape of the linen is so wonderful that I'm using for it! I'm binding the edges with Liberty of London fabric, and it will close with that yummy silk satin ribbon that is pictured. I'm making little bloomers to go with it.

The last picture of Caitlin, well......that is NOT her dress,It's my 80's wedding dress. She tried to reenact my pose in the photo behind her hahaha. I can't even imagine her wearing this for real.! It was so lovely back in 1983 though :)   We are happy to say though that this past weekend Caitlin found her dress, at Marina Morrison in San Francisco.   It's a beautiful , and I can't wait for you all to see it, but you will have to wait until late October.  ;)  Now on to the flowers and cake and of course all the other millions of details that need to be done.

I'll try not to be a stranger on here, and post more goings on from my little corner of the world.
Happy 8th birthday to my little blog.

Christmas Sweet Christmas

Funny how when you are a kid it's all about Santa and presents. As you age it's more about the little things during the holidays that make you happy. For me it's cooking for loved ones, going to midnight mass, and just spending time with the family. We had such a nice and laid back Christmas eve and Christmas day. We cooked and baked a lot on Christmas eve, then had a simple dinner of Italian Wedding soup, before we jumped in the car on a frosty night to midnight mass. We were all so tired on Christmas morning, that we slept in till close to 10 am! It's funny to look at Instagram during the day, and  see other families that are far into the day's celebration, and we were just eating brunch and opening gifts! We always eat Christmas dinner much later too, so the day seems slower paced and goes later into the evening for us.
For dinner this year we had confit de canard, with French green beans and cast iron roasted potatoes. I loved making those potatoes! The pinterest recipe was a Martha one, and it had bacon. I left out the bacon because of the duck. I made a nice little salad with striped beets, arugula, fennel, and hazelnuts. I have made confit de canard before, but this year I opted to buy some that were already done, to make my life more easy. I got them from here.  For dessert, I strayed away from the Buche de Noel that I usually get from Whole Foods. It tends to be a bit too big for our family, and lingers around for too long. This year I made a gingerbread cake instead. We really liked it for its peppery, spicy flavors. It had half a cup of fresh minced ginger!  I topped it with fresh whipped cream.
Usually around this time, I get a bit sad that it's all over, but this year I didn't. It isn't because I wanted it all to end, but more so that it was a nice time and it felt complete. I'm looking forward to the new year.  Planning a wedding, and I just found out my niece is having her first baby, along with her sister welcoming her second in the spring. Lots of beautiful moments to look forward to.  
I've got some cleaning up to do, as we will have some friends coming over for New Year's Eve.
Hope everyone had a beautiful Christmas and a wonderful new year ahead!!!

Oh, forgot to mention, that in the second to the last picture, you can see the new picture ledges that we put up this past Sunday. That wall has been blank far too long! It feels so much more cozy in this room now. My little birdie Riki, isn't so sure he likes that clock above his cage though hahaha!

Lazy Saturday

Lazy hot Saturday, leads to randomly taking some shots in the house and deciding if I should go in my studio to finish the little top pictured. Seems like I start to move around the house and I get too hot. It is about 82 right now, and I think I should give up and turn the AC on. Have I mentioned already that I'm not fond of summer and heat? Yeah, I think about a million times!!!!!
Yesterday, while exploring my front yard, I noticed that there were gardenia bushes out there. The first one I found was close to the cottage dwellers side, and I was sad that there wasn't one on my side, until I noticed that yes indeed, there was a bush mixed in there with the millions of citrus trees. Joy! I do love the scent of gardenias. Oh, and to my allergies, I say too darn bad. Aren't they just so elegant?
I'm loving the shadows that my curtains make in the family room. The breeze coming through the screen door makes for a magical shadow play on my floor every afternoon. The other night while having dinner, these little flower shadows were cast on David's neck. I was staring and smiling at him while he was talking to me, and he finally said, "what?" Well dear, there are tiny little shadow flowers all over your neck :)  The tiniest things amuse me these days.
Today is Nicole's birthday. 29 years ago we became a family when this enchanting little being entered our lives. It was probably the most beautiful summer day when we drove to the hospital. We lived way up north in the land of the redwood trees and she was born in a tiny town, very close to where a gorgeous river spills out into the sea. Such a beautiful area full of wild magic, and oh so fitting for Nicole to have been born there, for she is our wild and magical child. I got to skype with her today, and it seemed like she had a nice day. I truly wish we could have been there. Happy Birthday dear Nicole!

Special Orders at Breakneck Speed

Phew! This week has been a very busy one, with special orders and customers wanting the capes for Halloween. I sold four of the ones that I made ahead of time and the above one was a special order. I was proud of myself with this order, because I got started on it early in the morning. I cut, sewed and shipped it out by 4:00pm that afternoon. I like how this customer let her daughter choose the lining. So cute that she liked the little wolf heads. I then had a special order for the little hat with ears that was shipped to Canada, but the one above, is one I just finished for a friend to give to an expectant mom. I'll be making more of these for the holiday season.  As far as the capes go, I have two left with the cute Japanese fabric, both in the combo size of 2/3.  I might make up just one more in the 4/5, not sure yet, but they can be special ordered.
On Thursday I took a break and headed into Berkeley to get some more fabric and supplies, that is always so much fun! It was such a beautiful fall day, and it was so nice to take a break and just wander around.
This weekend we plan on going to a polenta feed. I've been to crab feeds but this will be a first. I sure hope the traffic isn't snarled up to kingdom come though, since BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) is on strike!  As I type this, I just heard on the news that they may come to some agreement by 10:00 tonight. Yeah, right! I'm not holding my breath.
David is doing a charity hike on Saturday for a really good organization called Shelter Inc. This organization will help people get on their feet if they have a crisis and can't pay their rent. They want to help people before they fall behind on their bills to avoid becoming homeless. I think it is such a good organization. If you are a long time reader you will recall he did one a couple years back. That  hike was at the Grand Canyon. This year it is in our own back yard so to speak, so it makes it handy.

Still working on the guest room. The bed was purchased last weekend and all set up. I still need to get something up on the walls and sort through a bit of things Caitlin wants to store, but it's coming along  and I will show you as soon as it looks more presentable.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Little Fur Vest

I love when things turn out like you imagined them in your minds eye, don't you? Both the little Liberty top and this vest have been in my head for several weeks now. When I scored this little Liberty remnant at one of my favorite boutique fabric stores, I knew I wanted to use it for this top. I had envisioned little wooden buttons though, but I only had three in my stash. I found much better ones, and now the top is perfect I think. For the little vest, I kept thinking I wanted to put leather ties, but when I realized I had this chocolate velvet ribbon, it just came together so much cuter I think. I love this faux fur! It really has a luxe feel to it, nice weight and softness. I do hope it goes to a good home.

Now I sit here on a beautiful fall afternoon, deciding  if I want to start a Liberty dress, or some corduroy pants that would actually look really cute with both pieces above. Sometimes I just have way too many ideas, and can't settle on that one project. I have to sometimes look through some magazines and Pinterest to spark my next move. I don't know about you, but I find Pinterest so inspiring. All I have to do is scroll through it a few times and all the beautiful images help my brain to calm down and get excited all at the same time. I'm leaning towards knocking out those little pants, then starting the dress. The pants are the same design as the summer ones I made with the blue dotted Swiss fabric. I love the shape of them, and I think they are going to look real cute with the wide wale corduroy I bought.

Today it is quite warm here, but still feels more like fall than summer, so even though it is upper 80's today, I'm making soup for dinner, just to be defiant!

My trip to London is coming up soon, and I can't wait to see Nicole, it has been two years and a few months since I last saw her! Even though it will only be a week, we will have lots of fun catching up and seeing a few things. Top of the list for me would be to see The Victoria Albert Museum, that I missed seeing last time I was in London, and of course the Liberty of London store! I think that is where most of my money will end up. I'm sure Nicole has other fun places to show us as well, I can't wait!

Well guys, I'm off to do some fabric cutting. What are your fall projects, I love to hear what others are going. Food, crafts, sewing....tell me :)

Love the Beginning of September

Don't you just love the freshness of a new season coming? Not just fall, which is my favorite, but every season? It's always about color for me when each season starts knocking at my door. Last September for me I kept seeing a lot of purples and greens with hints of gold, in nature as well as in fashion. This September I see orange, mustard yellows and teal colors, much like the little Liberty top I just finished. I really love the colors in this top, and realized that a lot of what I will be sewing up for this season have these colors in them.
The pears were given to us by Cryous' family and are so delicious. It really makes me want to bake something with them as well as enjoying them as they are. Aren't they a beautiful color?

The last pictures are a dedication to the wildlife that lives near us. Don't these wild turkeys know that November is looming? Someone needs to tell them to lay low for a few months, and not be out in plain sight! The other little critter that is giving us a devil of a time are those masked bandits! Raccoons have been digging up our lawn looking for grubs. I think it has been so dry up in the hills near us, that there isn't any food for them, because we have never had this problem before. I'm looking up safe and non toxic solutions to deter them. Any tips would be welcome. I have heard about the wolf urine, and hot sauce sprinkled on the lawn. I might try the hot sauce. I would love to see them in action and then come across the hot sauce, wouldn't you?!
We are going out for a lovely dinner with friends tonight and I'm looking forward to the company and the margarita!    Happy weekend everyone.

Fun Day Monday

So yesterday was a lot of fun. David took the day off so that we could take his good friend from Germany and his wife to Napa and Sonoma. We started out with a very nice lunch here. Then off to taste wine in our favorite winery. We then drove over the range of hills into the "Valley of the Moon" to Glen Ellen to tour Jack London museum. We love showing this area to friends because it never fails to impress with all its bounty and beauty. It was pretty hot yesterday though, with temps. reaching 100 degrees, so that made it a bit uncomfortable, but the company was so nice we soldiered on and then drove to Sonoma to have dinner at the "Girl and the Fig." Love this restaurant! If you are ever in Sonoma, you must go there, you will not be disappointed!
After such a full day yesterday, I decided to take it easy today and be a lounge lizard and take it slow. I woke up though to our sprinkler main blowing a gasket, and water shooting up like a water fountain! Repair men came right away and now it is sorted out, but boy it must have been a funny site to see me  soaking wet trying to turn it off! Its been one of those days though. Not all bad.....I had a free lunch at Whole Foods, with my buy 10 get the next free ticket, so I though the day was looking much better. That was until I drove there and went over a speed bump and heard a really bad noise! I'm pretty sure it is a broken strut. I had some plans to go look for the "Parent's" magazine  and that was quickly dashed! I drove the car to the dealership and told them my sad story, and they lent me a brand spanking new CX 60 Volvo. I love this dealership so much! We have been going there for 20 years, and they are amazing, and never just shuttle you home, but let you dive off with a new loaner for the day or however long it takes for your repair. Now my worry is that David will fall in love with this car and start getting ideas! Hahahah. I love my Volvo wagon, so I hope the repair isn't too expensive :(

Last week jury duty was such a comedy of errors! I mentioned that it was on the wrong side of the tracks right? Well, I got there at 8:30AM all out of sorts like a cat with its fur going the wrong way, and hoping that I could grab a coffee and something to eat from their snack cart, only to find out that the cart was not open! I sat, and sat, and then started to feel shaky with no food or coffee. I brought some instant oatmeal to eat just in case, but the hot water was not working, and the receptionist said they were not allowed to give us anything. I asked her if there was a vending machine or something, but they had nothing. By this time I was really starting to tank big time! I found myself getting teary eyed pleading with the lady to let me just go down the street to grab a cup of coffee and something to eat. She finally let me go. She said I could come back at 1:00. Yippee! I pealed out to Target, which was the only thing near by. I had some coffee and a muffin. Then realized I could have just gotten something more healthy in the grocery department of Target. I ended up getting a yogurt and apple to have for lunch later. I drove back and put the yogurt in an insulated bag in the car. When I went back out there to get it for lunch it was hot! I only had an apple for lunch!!!!! The jury selection dragged on until 4:30 and boy was I hungry. I left the court house during the worst rush hour traffic EVER! It took me an hour to get home, and the whole time I was so hungry that I could eat anything in site. What a horrible day I must say! We all had to return to the court house the next day also, but were excused once we got there! Long and short of it....always take food with you to jury duty if you don't know the area. Lesson learned! On the upside, I fulfilled my jury duty for at least a year.
I think I'm going to end my day by putting my feet up and reading a few magazines. Do you have any jury duty horror stories?