My New Years GIFT To My Readers!

   

"TIME!"

It is almost here!! 2018! It hardly seems possible.  We all have been given the gift of another year.

Some of you will read the words I have written here, others will just skim over the images.

For those of you that have taken the time to come by my blog today I hope you will take the “TIME!” to read what I have written.

My gift to you, my dear reader is I am about to share with you a lesson that I learned, that you might benefit from it in some small manner....

.....I look at my upcoming year a bit differently than I use to when I was younger. 

It is not so much about how much I will get done this year, or how much stuff I will get, but I look at the time I have been given as a gift.

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I choose to use my time as a precious gift, and when I get the opportunity to spend time with my loved ones, or friends, I am going to use my time wisely.

Most of us feel as if time goes by faster these days, but trust me we have  the same 24 hours in a day as our ancestors.

What is different, is how we choose to spend our time.

Life has taught me a couple of really good, and meaningful lessons about how I use my time, some were hard lessons, and some were wonderfully pleasant lessons, but I did learn from them……..

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One lesson, and the hardest lesson in my life, was taught to me at the age of twenty four when my Dad at the age of 47 died of a heart attack.

My world crumbled at that very moment. You see I was a Daddy’s girl, through, and through. I basically thought this man could walk on water.

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Through losing him I realized at a very young age, that it was the sweet moments, the time I could never get back. 

I might have pictures, or gifts he had given me, but I never could get back the time, that precious gift of time to spend with him.

If only I could just have 30 more seconds back to tell him once again how much I loved him, and  how much I appreciated him.

As hard as it was to no longer have my Dad in my life, I did learn a very important lesson about time, and how you should spend it with the people you love, and care about.

My other lesson was a happier lesson, and it came in the form of a little 6 year old boy.

We had our boys, and their families here for some occasion, and all of the girls were in the living room talking about, design, hair, make-up and the latest fashions. 

I was in the middle of  telling a story when my 6 year old grandson came up to me, and asked me if I would play beach ball volley ball with him. I told him, "sure, just give me a few minutes to finish my story."

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A few minutes to a little guy is an eternity, so of course he came back in a very short period of time.

I stopped my story, and looked into those blue eyes and said, “Sure, Grammy will play with you!”

We went down the hall, got the beach ball, and started tossing it back, and forth down my almost thirty foot hallway.

All of the sudden, that little guy came running down the hall, hugged me around the waist, and ran back to his end of the hall, and we continued our play. 

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Not a word was spoken, but I knew! He was telling me how much he loved me, as only a small child could with such a heartfelt demonstration of love.

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It did not take hours, truly it was maybe 10-15 minutes, but the point had been made.

I took the time to put him, and spending time with him above everything else, and he knew without a doubt how much his Grammy loved him.

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You see it is not the amount of time, it is the quality of time, and how you choose to spend your time that matters.

So with that my dear readers, I leave you with this……..

.....Time is a gift! We all get to choose how we will spend it, and who we will spend it with.

I pray that this year you all spend your time wisely and lovingly with the special people in your lives……….

Happy New Year, and May God bless each and everyone of you with precious, precious “TIME!”!

 

 

Let's FACE The New Year With A Smile

   

Happy New Year Everyone!!! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We sure did.

It was 2 family fun filled days, and I think one of the best Christmas's to date for me because I had all my boys together and my Mom was here as well. If you follow me on Facebook you probably saw a lot of the family pictures I posted.

With the new year approaching I know we all start looking for ways to improve our lifestyles. I read a post this morning by my good friend Mary Ann from Classic Casual Home blog where she shared some of her new favorite splurge items in the skincare/beauty category.

It reminded me that I needed to do a post on some of my tried and true products that I have loved and still love and use.

Let's start with facial cleansers....

I still use this coconut milk cleanser daily......

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It's creamy, smells divine and gets the job done without stripping my skin of it's natural oils.

If I have on make-up I like to use an oil cleanser and lately I have been using this one.....

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I use this first then the coconut milk cleanser, this helps dissolve makeup and sebum. I love the way this feels on my skin.

Once a week I like to use a exfoliate/peel and I found one that is gentle for my sensitive skin and does the job......

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This stuff is pretty amazing, it literally lifts the dry dead skin and rolls it up, you just rinse it away. Love this stuff, one of my new favorites and I will be purchasing again. You can find it and read about it HERE.

I was never a believer in toner since I tend to have very dry skin and most of the toners I was familiar with were more drying. Well this lady has changed her mind and I have purchased this product several times and will continue to use it........

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As far as a moisture cream goes I am still using the same one because I have found it to be very moisturizing for my skin.

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It's light and fresh and I literally can see moisture on my face, plus it makes my skin glow and at my age I am all about getting back my glow.

Usually on Sundays I do a puffing and fluffing day where I will put a masque on my hair and on my face. It takes about 30 minutes of relaxing time and I love this little ritual. I have used several mask and the one that my skin seems to respond to the most is this one....

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I feel refreshed, plumped and dewy after using this. At $3.50 I think it is more than worth it!

I am like the rest of you out there, always looking and trying new things, but honestly these products are the one's that I continue to have success with. 

I don't have the cure all for aging or wrinkles, but I will say even with wrinkles let's keep them soft and subtle so we don't look hard and harsh!!

Recently I lost some weight and of course with weight loss there is a bit of sagging and wrinkles, but I am hopeful and optimistic that in time things will tighten up with continued use of these products.

If I find anything new that I LOVE I will share it with you!!

Recently I did find a new lip gloss that I ♥♥♥ it is so emollient, stays on and smells and taste divine by Laura Mercier...

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I loved it so much I purchased two and one for a gift!!

I purchased Rose and Rose Gold and I love them, in fact I have it on right now. Another plus is my sweet hubby likes the scent and the taste when I kiss him. I would say that is definitely a win-win!!

The Rep at Nordstroms said they are coming out with a lip stick in the glace formula after Christmas for the Spring. I know I am definitely checking back!!

I do use some other products but I wanted to keep it simple for you all so you can try some for the New Year!!!

With all the facial products and makeup nothing will ever beat the charm and allure of a beautiful smile so keep smiling ladies!!!

This almost 68 year old is here to wish you all a very happy and healthy New Year!!!......

 

 

Let's WRAP this up!!

 

There has been lots of  falalaing going on over here . I am sure you all are doing the same in your homes.

We have been shopping, wrapping and even took time to do absolutely nothing but sit by the fire and enjoy our home.

In my last post I showed you around our Christmas home but I wanted to show you some of what we have been up to.

One of my favorite things to do is wrapping of gifts and this year was no exception.

As you all know all my decor this year came about because of my sweet, goofy little zebra pillow.....

My color scheme this year is pink and red with touches of black and white. I have to say I have had so much fun working with this combination this year.

This pillow helped me decide on the pink and red....

Here are my wrapping papers all lined up. Every year I coordinate my papers and decor. What can I say, it is a carry over of many years of coordinating fabrics, paint and furniture!!

I like to pull all my elements together to make sure they all work seamlessly....

I added my signature black and white striped paper and solids in reds and pinks to the mix, and of course some double faced satin ribbons and gift tags.

Speaking of gift tags I had fun pulling mine together this year. I order mine from Southern Hospitality Co. on etsy.  Their tags are the best I have ever purchased. Beautiful thick quality paper, large tags that make a beautiful statement on any package. You can go here if you are interested, I highly recommend them!!

Here are the tags I chose this year! Aren't they fun? They make me smile.

Pink and red is such a fun color combination. I know it is not for everyone, but it sure worked well for me  year.this

I still have a few more to wrap but here they are all together looking very happy under our tree. I can't wait for my family to see them!!

Every year my sweet hubby and I take one day that I have called our Falala day. It is a day of no pressure shopping and fun for us. We go to a town close by, Walnut Creek, which has wonderful shopping, lights and decorations. We take our time and enjoy our day together, its fun being in the hustle and bustle when you aren't under any pressure.

Merry Christmas to you all!!

 

 

Our 2017 Falala Christmas Home!

 

There has been a whole lot of Falalaing going on over here at our home this year. 

For some reason it just seemed more fun than ever with the bright color combination of pinks and reds and of course my goofy little Zebra pillow that was the jumping off point of everything you are about to see.....

(several of you have asked about him and where I purchased him. I bought him last year, but I did find him on Wayfair so just go HERE if you would like to have him in your home too.)

This years Christmas mantel before adding the beaded garland and ribbon streamers.....

I had so much fun with the colors I used this year, and the brush trees were the perfect addition!

At night everything just sparkles and glistens. Oh how I love our Falala home!!

Under the tree you can see some of our gifts that I wrapped. More to do but I got a good start and the papers all coordinate with the decor!! YES I planned it that way, in fact this plan was made last year after Christmas.

Speaking of the TREE, here she is, our Memory tree for 2017. I really like her in her pink ribbons!!

I continued the pink and red into the kitchen.......

This sits at the end of my large kitchen island, it has lights in it so at night this little area is a soft glow of light.

In the kitchen dinette we opened up the table to get it ready for our family gathering. I used a 5 ft. door mirror down the middle, just to give you an idea of the size of the centerpiece. I continued the red and pink with lots of sparkle and reflection. Who says there has to be candles in your candlesticks?.......

I made a little collage so you could see it from different angles and also see the sparkle!!

At the end of table I hung another wreath from a few  years ago. I added a few pink and red ornaments to make it look a little more fun and less formal. This also lights up at night.  A girl needs her twinkly lights this time of year!!

This wreath was inspired by a Martin Jobe design and also Martha Stewart has a tutorial on how to make it. I found the tutorial after I made mine, her way was easier than mine, but I love the results so I am happy with it. You can read about how to make it, HERE.

One of the exciting things, at least exciting for me, was the final touch in the great room above the TV.

But let me show you what is below the TV first. It is a restoration hardware zinc tray measuring three ft. long so it is bigger than it looks in the picture. It is full of snow and ornaments and brush trees which ties in with the look of the mantel since it is on the same wall.....

Now for the one thing that brings me  a little giggle every time I see it. Over the years this Christmas phrase has become kind of a signature phrase for me and those that know me well know this about me. I am just a Falalaing kind of gal.......

So there you have our Falala home for this year. Of course I will continue wrapping packages and tweaking things until it is Christmas day. THAT is just what I do and loving every minute.

So from our home to yours......