I Became A Mother

I became a mother for the first time thirty years ago today at eight fifty nine in the morning.

It was one of the four best things I've done in my life.

(marrying DZ, and being the mother of Peter and Adeline, are the other three)

Happy Birthday Sophie!

King For A Day

I think everyone deserves to be king for a day....

Especially on your birthday.

Happy birthday little Shoe.

Over Sixty-Four Years

My parents

These hands have been nurturing, caring for, helping, raising, serving, and loving our family
for over sixty-four years.

Me and my sisters and brother

A Starry Night

It was so much fun putting this video together.

Loud claps to Adeline's (and Matt's) artistic abilities and technical expertise.

Enjoy.

A Future Biker

There are some heavy duty bicyclists living with us.  They go on these amazing bike rides at 6 am.

Up very steep hills...and windy roads...and riding very fast...sometimes clocking over 100 miles in one week.

So it would not surprise you to see the beginnings of the indoctrination of the next generation

Starting with this:

Could this q-t-pie be a future contender for the Tour d' France?

Giving Thanks 2012

We started the day with our annual family hike.

I even included myself in the picture

Came back home and Adeline, Matt and I started cooking and baking the rest of the day.

Put together this arrangement ......

The family came ...

Filled our plates with....

Adeline the Baker

And ended the evening with relaxation and conversation.

Family is number one.

Vintage Pink Baby Shower

Hosted a baby shower at my house the other night.

Pulled out the vintage decor (with my sister's help)

Had pink tablecloths, china, deelish desserts...
and the hot spiced apple cider hit the spot on a cold November night.

One of my friends made the cookies and cupcakes...another friend, who co-hosted the party with me, picked up the macarons at Chantal Guillon, the most deelish macarons I've ever tasted.

My absolute favorite.

Love having an excuse to bring out the collection of vintage baby vases and decor.

Can't have a party without flowers ,can you?

How do you like my collection of vintage handmade doll clothes? These are some of my faves.

This is what it looked like at night.

Check out our mom to be ...well, she's already a mom to three cute boys...this is her first baby girl.
Can you believe she will pop within the next couple of weeks?  

A success!

Ride for SMARD

I have two very athletic people living with me.

They go on bike rides several times a week...

Sometimes those bike rides start very early in the morning (6 am) when it is still dark.

Sometimes they clock over 100 miles in one week.

A couple of weeks ago the two of them went on a very special ride with about twenty others.

They rode their bikes over 40 miles 

This was a ride to raise $$ for this little guy who is afflicted with SMARD.

You might ask, what in the world is SMARD?

To be honest, I had never heard of it before myself.

Until my boss's grandson "Nate the Great" was diagnosed.

He is the sweetest little boy. 

 He even has his own blog.  Check him out here.

You can also donate here.

Happy Halloween

I didn't get a chance to decorated my home this year

 so I'd like to show you what greets you when you visit  my hip sister's house.

We celebrated Halloween last weekend at Mr. and Mrs. Shoe's annual Halloween Party

Check out the costumes...

Are you getting the theme?

Mrs. Shoe made this for her little Buzz

I even came dressed in my Mr. Potato outfit.

Princess Adeline with her Prince

Refurbished Stool

Bought this sturdy well worn vintage stool at an estate sale a couple of months ago.

Wahlah...with a little scrubbing and a spray can of paint (my signature color), 

I've added a little zing to it.

I now have a place to sit when we eat at the island.

Hike Attack

Do you recall several months ago where I almost stepped on a rattlesnake lounging on the side of the trail?
Surely that would have soured my day.


Last week on my Saturday morning hike with Martha, I was attacked by a swarm of hornets/wasps/killer bees (not sure what they were). I was bit three times and am still recovering from my puffy red and swollen wounds.

Today it was a hairy black widow.  It is October after all and Halloween is just around the corner.  Whoa...another close call.

We live in dangerous times.

Let There Be Light

For the past 26 years, my 400 square foot (roughly) garage was illuminated

 by one single solitary  60 watt light bulb. Pathetic.

Many a time I stumbled, crashed, and fumbled my way through that dark cavernous  garage.
No wonder I never liked going out there.

Not anymore!! Thanks to my dad, my knight in shining armor, along with the help of DZ and Matt.  They  have worked their magic stringing wire, hanging fluorescent light strips...

switches...


plug boxes

 AND hanging two very cool vintage gas station/barn lights which I purchased on eBay with the help of my tech savy, king of the deal, nephew named Dan.

One hangs  over the workbench and the other one over the door going out to my garden.

Don't you just love how the light glows out the sides of the shade?

Never thought I'd find so much joy in my garage.

Now days you can find me standing at the work bench organizing and sorting nails, screws, nuts and bolts, electrical and plumbing supplies.

I'll show you a pic once it is all complete.

Harvesting Grapes

You don't have to go up to Napa for harvest time...it is happening right here in Los Altos!  

Saw this truck filled with freshly harvested grapes  parked in front of a house with its very own vineyard.

Not sure if the grapes are headed to fermenting inside a bottle or sitting in a bowl on the kitchen table.

Either way, they look delicious....

I do admit I was tempted to take off my shoes and start squishing the purple globes between my toes.

Kitchen Addition

Couldn't pass up this  aqua and pink vintage kitchen at  an estate sale several months ago.  I finally set it up in a nice sunny spot in my kitchen...just waiting  for some little ones to come and "play".

I know I am a bit kooky.

Space Shuttle

Hopped on our bikes Friday and rode over to Moffett Field to watch the fly over of the Space Shuttle Endeavor on its retiring voyage.  There we waited along with 20 thousand others to watch this 32 second thrill.

I only got one still shot of the piggy-back shuttle as it headed west and then south to its final resting spot. 

 End of an era.

One of Two Million

There is a little 1 lb package sitting on a big brown truck heading  my way.  In fact there are  2 million Apple customers like me who placed their Iphone 5 order in the first hour of the morning last Friday waiting for their little package too.  I can't think of a time I've ever felt this excited  for something I've purchased.

Sunnyvale, CA, United States	09/21/2012	6:16 A.M.	Out For Delivery
Oakland, CA, United States	09/20/2012	8:52 P.M.	Departure Scan
	09/20/2012	5:21 P.M.	Arrival Scan
Louisville, KY, United States	09/20/2012	3:53 P.M.	Departure Scan
Nashville, TN, United States	09/17/2012	4:10 A.M.	Origin Scan
United States	09/17/2012	1:15 A.M.	Order Processed: Ready for UPS

Will update you the minute a brown box is sitting on my doorstep and I see those taillights driving away.

Six A Day

This is what I have been drinking these days:

Notice my signature color...love this blue.

I keep my insulated glass on my desk at work. Each day I plop in fresh lemon slices, fill it with ice and filtered water and drink at least six a day. I am hoping that I will see a difference in my weight.  I know I already feel a whole lot better drinking H20 instead of the sugary sweet stuff.

I have this picture hanging above my desk...just in case I get a craving:

Wow, I  love the color of the background , don't you ?  Check out their website here

I do admit that I haven't TOTALLY eliminated the stuff.  I find that I am enjoying the cool refreshing water more and more and the sugary drink less and less.  Will keep you posted.

My Resurrected Ride

Check out my new, uh, I mean...resurrected ride.  I purchased this bike, named "Yosemite", over twenty years ago from Costco.  It is very heavy and clunky and really meant for mountain riding... but it did do the trick when we, as a family, would go on bike rides together. The kids grew up and wanted to drive cars instead of ride bikes so eventually my bike  was relegated to hanging upside down from the hooks in the garage.


A few years ago, I wanted to toss the bike and get a cool vintage Schwinn bike. My sister gave me a willow basket, a state of the art helmet and some fringe for my handlebars for my birthday .  For some reason, I just never got around to purchasing that vintage bike .

I think the pink tassels give my bike an added touch, don't you?

While working on cleaning the garage, my handy-dandy, bike-loving son-in-law saw the  bike and offered to spruce it up for me.He pumped up the tires, oiled the chain, shined the rims, and attached the basket,  my new lock, and "spider" LED light.





I've been trying to be more green in my life so I rode it to work the other day.  I really should ride it every day since the distance from my front door to my office door is less than one half mile.  What a joy to feel the fresh air hit my face and smell the freshly cut grass as I journeyed to and from work.  I couldn't help but reflect on all that I missed sitting inside my gas guzzling car.

 Love reviving what I have and saving $$$.  What do you think?

A Silent Film

This weekend my brother and I went to see the silent film "Seventh Heaven" at the Stanford Theater. 

I love this theater.

I punched the time clock in reverse as I slid into my red velvet covered theater seat  and pretended that I was watching the film when it first came out about 90 years ago..nothing like watching a silent film with live music from the Wurlitzer pipe organ filling the room...the only way to see a silent film...

JLynRobertson

I feel lucky to live close to such a beautiful theater which has been lovingly restored to perfection.

Yummy Dessert

We had root beer floats for dessert tonight..on this Labor Day holiday.

Served the floats in vintage soda glasses which  I collected  many years ago.

A & W root beer with Trader Joe's vanilla ice cream = heaven.

Boy oh boy...oolala...they were scrumptious.

I guess it is now time to put a p.e.r.i.o.d. on the end of summer.

Welcome fall.