i know where i'll be sunday night

...glued to the tv watching season 3 of my newest obsession, downton abbey.

hubby and i started watching season 1 right before christmas. right after christmas i rushed to target (i had to drive myself... sadly, we have no staff to bring around the motor and chaffeur us.) to buy season 2 on dvd (boo netflix for not having season 2 yet). i'm totally obsessed.... like obsessed so much that i'm on the verge of requesting that friends and family refer to me as "m'lady". 

traditional home online has a feature on downton abbey where you can learn a little more about the real-life castle where they film most of the show. (and from where i borrowed these photos.) pop over there to check out some great photos of the castle interiors and cast of the show.

and then do yourself a favor, and jump on the bandwagon and watch it. if anything to see my favorite character, the dowager countess, played expertly by maggie smith.

randomness around here via my instagram photos

i've had one day off in the last 4 weeks, and, in the spirit of the season, this is what i did. i threw some ornaments in a bowl...

and spray painted my real antler for another holiday display in the house. it turned out so good i'm eyeballing other things to spray metallic gold.

and in shop news....

i love creating holiday photo cards. this bride had the perfect photo for my confetti newlywed card.

lots of personalized stationery going out the door ...

these were some gorgeous calling cards i printed for a customer. we added her pink logo. i love it on the mint stripes.

these are a favorite this year in the shop. i'm about to print another batch.

and now for the four-legged news...not everybody works as hard as i do during the day...

steve's been working hard training the little guy, finnigan. this day he got a double sit at the backdoor before playtime in the yard... their favorite passtime.

i caught finni in this action shot the other day.... nice faceplant, dude.

AND....steve and i have been watching breaking bad on netflix. i'm obsessed. so much so, that i'm gonna pepper my language with b*tch and yo. don't take it personally.

stuff

this is why i'm still craving summertime.
this was the sky yesterday morning as i drove into seattle to meet my friend. 11 am. sad, huh? we had a good time though. did some shopping. ate lunch. lisa is one of my oldest friends (oldest as in i've known her many years). she was my hairdresser in atlanta 23 years ago. and we've always kept in touch. she moved to seattle years ago. steve and i just 4 years ago. soon we'll be in separate cities again. but i know we'll always stay in touch.

back to that shopping part of the trip. i picked up this. read about it at erika's blog. she's a big fan of fresh products.

i hadn't bought lipstick in 4 years. the last tube i bought was for my wedding. i rarely wear it here in seattle. but i felt like i needed just a hint of color. love this. and it tastes like sweet lemonade.

and where will i be tonight?? glued to the tv watching this.

ben?or jp?
rumor has it she chooses jp. but i'm not sure. my guess is neither. we shall see.

living abroad

i watched house hunters international on hgtv this past weekend. i never watch it. but i did this past sunday. it was an episode about a family of 8 (!) moving from denver to normandy, france. i recognized them.... it's gabrielle's family! gabrielle blogs at design mom.

this is a photo of the exterior of the house they are renting for a year in normandy. look at that wisteria! the house is a dream house. an artist's house filled with character. just check out this treehouse in the backyard.
you can head over to design mom for more photos of the house. (see her sidebar.) and to read about their adventures abroad.

the episode got me thinking about living abroad. the fact that gabrielle and her husband ben relocated themselves and 6 children to france for a year is astounding to me. (i'm struggling with the logistics of moving a dog and 2 cats cross country shortly!). could you live abroad? would you want to? could you deal with the language barrier, if there is one? a different culture? being away from family and friends?

life lesson 101

the greatest lesson i learned from the season finale of the oprah show, may 25. sometimes you know it, but it helps to have someone put it out there infront of you. i will remember this. and be conscious of it. in fact, i think i'll print it out and put it on my wall.

an end of an era

there's only 5 more oprah shows left. are you watching? i am. i've pretty much always watched oprah. maybe not her first few years, but definitely the last 20.
i'll be sad when she's not on every afternoon. but she's closing it out with some amazing guests.

yesterday she interviewed ralph lauren. a great interview. and view into his colorado lifestyle.
and earlier this week, she interviewed james frey.... again. you may remember the controversy 5 years ago surrounding his memoir. i think this was one of her best shows ever.
oprah will continue working at her own network, own. i'm excited to see what she's go in store for us there.

randomness

morning time multitasking. coffee. conference call. and giving pixel her morning rubdown.

i saw these over on bryn's blog recently. i think i need them. i had a pair of the most comfortable adorable wedges that i never saw past our move from atlanta to seattle 4 years ago. i'm thinking one of the packers liked them as much as i did.

***

learn from me...always pass your cellphone over the bowl of chips and not over the bowl of salsa.

***

speaking of food.... you must make this. pioneer woman's chicken salad. my mil turned me on to it. it's awesome. we both used a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store instead of boiling our own. i used red onion instead of green. did i mention it was awesome?
and now for the really important stuff.... who do you think brad will choose?

my gut says he'll choose chantel, but i really really want him to choose emily.

weekly recap

yes, i watched parts 2 and 3 of the real housewives of new york reunion. i'm on team left couch. (i can't take credit for coming up with 'team left couch'. i read it over here.) best line of the night... bethenny saying that talking to kelly was like talking to humpty dumpty. i agree. actually, i think she was being generous by calling her humpty dumpty.
our new backyard patio was poured. pixel left her monogram. isn't her penmanship good?
things are blooming in the garden. hostas and masterwort.
hydrangea. always a fave.
but my poor little strawberries are struggling to survive. first there was constant rain, then there was a critter that ate them. grow, little strawberries, grow.
and finally, new shop products! i'm jumping on the ikat bandwagon. here's a sneak peek at some things to be loaded soon. lots more to make.
enjoy your weekend!

tennis anyone?

pixel here, everyone. this is the glazed over look you get when you've been watching too much tennis. like 5 or 6 hours every night. mommy and daddy are sooo into it. they finally agree on something to watch on tv. mommy used to play a lot of tennis growing up. she claims she was really good. i'll need to see video to believe that. some of her fondest childhood memories were apparently riding her bike to the local courts with her sister and neighbor every summer night and playing til the lights went off. hmmm. hard to believe her doing THAT much physical activity.

here i'm trying really hard to stay awake and watch this 5th set, but it's after midnight here. past my bedtime. not that i need my beauty sleep. i'm cute enough as is.
what? federer beat davydenko.
ok, great, let me go back to sleep.
we've seen a lot of fist pumping too. like, a lot. seriously. a lot.
so much fist pumping that i won't be surprised when mommy fist pumps after mopping the floor.

(tennis images via here)

there's no justice

in the world when first this lady is voted off

second, this lady doesn't win
and third, this guy does.
that's all i have to say.

i know where i'll be...

this afternoon. watching this lady on oprah.

northern exposure

remember these two?

image from here

from this show?

i loved it. it was one of my favorites. and i had a lot of people tell me i resembled janine turner. i'll take that compliment any day.

steve and i took a little side trip yesterday on our way back from yakima and the antique show. we stopped in roslyn, wa, for pizza from village pizza. when i saw this, i put 2 + 2 together.

we're in 'northern exposure' territory. this is the town where they filmed the show. here's main street now.

i didn't get any photographs of homes and shops from the show. when i came home i did a little research and actually found a road map where you can drive thru town and see maggie's house, ruth-ann's house, fleischman's office, kbhr radio. we must go back for photos ... and more pizza.

but i did spot this little beauty. you know my fascination with churches. i'll add this one.