If I were YOUNGER or THINNER!!

Do you find yourself saying that? “If I were only younger or thinner.” I try to not dwell on what I am NOT because I might miss out on what I AM!!

Ever once-in-awhile I will see something that makes me say, “ I wish I were younger or thinner.” The other day something came up on the web that made me say just That!! A dress, a darling dress in the perfect color, I loved it and, oh do I wish I could wear it!

Carey Mulligan In Bottega Veneta from the Spring 2010 collection.

She is so cute I think it could have actually been a little shorter for her and maybe some cuter shoes, but the dress is calling to me.

It’s yellow, its striped, its feminine, I love it! Let’s face it, we all know full body horizontal stripes  are not the best look for, shall we say, fluffier women! Yellow is also a color that will tend to make things look bigger or what I like to refer to as puffy and fluffy!!

Sigh! this will not be in my future, but I had to share this darling dress with you all! Can you feel my pain? Have you seen something lately that made you feel this way?

Here is one more dress to add to my pain, Sigh!!!

How cute is this, just look at the beach scene on the bottom. This would make a perfect summer party dress.

Even though my reality is not what is pictured above I still take pride in trying to look nice. Not ever high fashion, but hopefully classic and age appropriate.

Don’t get me wrong I will not dress like a Nana even though I am a Grammy. I feel it is important to look your best at whatever age or weight you are. So with that being said I am going to hold my head up high and feel good about who and what I am.

How about you do you need to talk to yourself once-in-awhile to perk yourself up a bit? As women I guess we probably all do. Talk is good, but action is even better. I have never been one that will wait to buy clothes for when I lose the weight. There is nothing worse than feeling fluffy, puffy and frumpy. So join me in thinking about ourselves as works in progress!!! So let’s start working with what we have and who we are  right Now!!

I have a blog that I love to read that I think you would all enjoy, that talks a lot about this subject matter. Go and visit, “Bringing Pretty Back.” Her post are eye opening, thought provoking and realistic! She has a wonderful way of writing and a great sense of humor. I always enjoy my stay at her blog.

“Enjoy the Process” Of:

Celebrating Yourself!

Kathysue

My Marble Entry!!

When I posted my guest bathroom many of you mentioned that you would like to see the rest of the entry hall. I thought I should show you my entry. So here is a little peek of what you are about to see!!
I am such a tease!! I promise there is more to be seen. I am also going to join Emily Clark for a “Reader participation Post” on, you guessed it!!

Entry Halls

I would like to thank Emily Clark for doing a, “Reader Participation Post” on Entry Halls today. Be sure and visit her blog to see more of her readers entries. You will love Emily’s blog it is one of my daily reads. Shall we begin the tour of my entry?

Welcome to my home. As you step up to my porch you will see a full glass French door with sidelights. I had to convince both hubby and my contractor that this would look great and give me the look I wanted. I Won!!  Come on in!

As you enter you will be stepping into my entry hall. It is not very large 6x12, but plenty big for a little California suburban ranch. You will be stepping onto a Carrera marble and absolute black granite floor. I waited for over 20 years for this floor and it was well worth the wait. I chose to border the floor with the granite and add only a few diamonds to add a little drama.

In this image you can see the door and the wainscoting done by my hubby. Since it is a little California Ranch I wanted to add some character with molding and wainscoting. As you look straight ahead you will see the hall closet. The future plans for this door is to put mirror on a French door to mimic the front door. This is on my someday list!!

If you make a left you will see the guest bathroom where I did a black and white checked floor, a real dream come true for me.

You can see in this picture how the floors join and why I chose to use a border to tie it all together.

This is the entry looking from the step-down living room. In this picture you get a clear view of the floor and all the moulding work my hubby has done for me.

In this picture you also get a good view of the hall table. It is an antique French piece with a black marble top that has veins of gold and white. I was told by my marble man that it is no longer quarried and it is pretty valuable . He offered me 3 times the price I paid for the whole table. It has an iron base with metal decorations that have bits of old paint still showing. It is a favorite of mine.

You can see the table top in this image. The hall mirror is also an antique.

This is a close up of the corbels and moulding from the living room side. I picked up the sage green color of the wallpaper and put it on the ceiling. The walls are French vanilla and the moulding is Swiss coffee white.

We added the ceiling medallion and a light fixture that resembles something from the forties.

This is taken at night I love the way the floors glow.
(sorry for the blurry picture)

Future Plans are:

• 
  
  change overhead lighting and add sconces to the side of the mirror.
• 
  
  New wallpaper (shhh! Hubby does not know about my plans yet)
• 
  
  Mirrored French door for the hall closet

So you can see with some planning and waiting you can get what you want, eventually!! It only took me twenty years!!

I hope that you have :

“Enjoyed the process” Of:

Touring my entry hall

Kathysue

While Thriftying I ran Across A Few Things!!

I know that there are sooooo many out in blog land that love to go thrifting. My friend Deb at Confessions of a Plate Addict is a master at this process. I like that she calls it, “Good-will Hunting.”  She makes me laugh all the time with her wonderful sense of humor and darling Southern accent.

I love to go thrifting but I must admit I am a mood shopper and I have to be in the mood for the hunt. When I am in the mood I do have a good time. I have picked up a few treasures in the past and since I just did the post on Carolyne Roehm’s Tag sale I thought I would share a few of the treasures I have picked up.

The white ironstone platter is a medium size and I bought two of them. I use them all the time, they are the perfect size. The jade green bud vase which has a lot of blue in the green was originally from Gump’s in San Francisco, it still has the tag on it. I use this in my guest room, it is the perfect color for that room.  The black candle holder is very old and I think it is actually part of a set. You remember how they use to have the clock and the two pieces on each side that matched the clock. I decided it would make a great candle holder for my winter look.

 

There is an affluent area in Northern Calif., Los Altos they call their Goodwill GW’s and that is exactly what is on the sign. I remember going in thinking it was a boutique and as I walked back further and saw some of the signage used inside I realized I was in an up-scale Goodwill so ever since I decided I would refer to it as GW’s.

I love this small little picture. The glass is domed and it has little brass balls around the glass. I just fell in love with it. I have placed it in a vignette on a wall next to my bathroom, you can see the bathroom here.

This last piece is a milk glass rose bowl that I purchased at a thrift store. I love the way it holds roses or in this case Alstomeria. It forms a perfect round bunch. It is sitting on a piece of Carrera marble circle that I use frequently when I serve cheese. These are just a few of my  little treasures. I am usually pretty selective in my buying. I do enjoy the thrill of the hunt!! Do you?

“Enjoy the Process” Of:

Treasure hunting at Thrift stores, Flea markets, Garage/Tag sales!!

Kathysue

I am linking to Rhoda's Thrifty Treasures at
Southern Hospitality