Rosie and Me at the beach.

Rosie and Me at the beach. A couple weeks back i deceided to take rosie and myself to my favorite beach, Manzanita, it poured the whole way driving out there but as soon as we got there it was perfect. It was a great day in the way that there wasn't a single sole on the beach so i could let Ro run and Run without having to worry about her running after someone and barking and not listening to me. As many of you know that rosie has been a test of my patience since we got her. Andy and i have come up with a way to make it work "she is his dog" i know that sounds silly but its working out so far. i get her when she is so tired she cant be crazy and cant drive me crazy. When i see her running free at the beach or park or on a walk it makes me love her more. she is her happiest running free like this. i can only hope that some day we will have a big piece of land that we can just let here out the door and shell be free and happy.

One of the many things i did this summer in the Grand Canyon! Skeet!

Boots Boots and more Boots!

First off i have to say im probably the worst blogger in the world because i started this blog than summer happened to me. I have been so busy that on the days i don,t have anything going on i constantly worry that im supposed to be somewhere that i have forgotten about. Yes it is no excuse but it really doesn't leave much time for inspiration or sharing. but alas here i am just touching base with the world. 

Yesterday and today it has been raining in portland and i am so surprised at how much Portlanders love there cool weather. this morning i saw women everywhere in wool coats and boots even tights. what the heck i feel like its a little much. I mean really its still august and its still 75 + degrees outside. ill admit it i even looked at my boots yesterday. i prefer fall clothing and fashion to summer any day and i think thats how most of maybe ill go so far as to say most of the pacific northwest is. We love cozy sweaters, jeans, and a great pair of boots. Boots make the world a better place. im of the mind that the more boots you have the better your life is. Most people would like to  follow my way of thinking  but i understand they just cant justify it. so many people think they can only have "the one" pair of boots what pressure to not only be putting on a boot but to put on yourself. I am here to tell you that you will never find "the one" that is unless you have only one kind of emotion. Most of us have many many emotions and  you need boots for all those different emotional outfits. somedays im a vintage cowboy boot girl, somedays im a cydwoq city girl and than somedays im a equestrian girl i have boots for all my personalities. Just remember boots last for years and years if you are willing to spend good money on them and if you take good care of them they will last you many many years. one of my favorite pairs of boots will be on its 11th fall season this year. know thats a good pair of italian boots. 

Ive been feeling a little blue the last few days. i dont know if its the sudden change in weather or if its just life. I have a few small challenges in my life right now but for some reason i seem to make them big. or are they big and im trying to make them less big. either way they really a have me in a funk. I look at my life and think i have such a beautiful blessed life. I have a husband who loves me unconditionally and would do anything for me, i have a  beautiful house and garden, im healthy, have great friends. what could be wrong. why am i so blue. why dont i know how to be truly happy and free and open to all the possibilities in the world. instead i try to control everything and when i cant i get frustrated. How does one learn to let go. let the little things go, just be, just be in the moment ,smell, see, hear, take it all in. at what point in my great life did i get to be so closed off and hard, or have i alway been this way and some days it just seeps out to the front office, I know everyone deals with life on a day to day basis and my problems are so irrelevant compared to so many others in my life and in the world. how does one just see things and relish in the sheer fact of it beauty? How do i just Be?

Alice Alice I ♥ Alice!

So sorry for the lengthy delay in my postings. Life gets so busy here in the NW when the sun decides to show its self that i have no time to sit in front of my computer. Ahh but now i must report  on something i am truly so so excited about. Ever since i was a little girl and i saw Alice and Wounderland for the first time i have been fascinated and obssesed with the books i think i have 50 different copies.  I love how the imagination can take you to so many different places. I think that movie had such a affect on me that to this day i will animate people i see in my mind wether its on the bus, walking down the street, passing by in my car and catch a glimpse of them. my mind is always animating things, i also see hearts and faces where ever i go but thats for another posting. As soon as i saw that Tim Burton is doing an Alice and Wonderland movie i cant stop thinking about it i cant stop looking for images of it. It is going to be so beautiful, slightly animated, high fashion, amazing sets all in Tim Burton grand style. Johnny Depp is the mad hatter of course who else would it be. Helen Bonham Carter is the queen and the list goes on of stars. So much to look at. If you have never seen the 1st Disney version of Alice you aught to, its so fun and colorful also if you want a great read try out Threw the looking glass also by Lewis Carroll. I cant tell you how excited i am for this movie to come out i only wish i didn't have to wait until March of 2011 to see it. Maybe by then ill have my Alice costume done. 

A boy and his dogs relationship is like no other in the world. As soon as Andy and i got rosie he and rosie were in love. Andy is the "fun guy" in our parenting with her and im "the hammer." On this day in particulare he and Rosie were running threw the tall wet grass for as long as Andy could keep up. Rosie has lots and lots of energy. There bond is a sweet thing to witness.  Rosie and i we have our own moments of quiet and calm book reading. I do take her to the dog park everyday and she is the happiest when around other dogs. I love seeing how smart she is and how she always comes when i call her, for the most part. Owning a dog has changed our world drastically but in a good way. We have gone from a clean calm cat house to a busy dirty dog house. Its been good for us to throw a mix into our otherwise orderly world. Yes there have been a few trying times, like when Rosie ate a bowl of chocolate covered almonds, or when one of our cats chases her and smacks her but all in all things are good. We have gotten into our rhythm with her and she is fitting in very well.  I do have to say the "dog" world is such a new experience for me all i do at the dog park is talk to other people about there dog and there personalities im still getting used to figuring out my limits of politeness with her and what the etiquette is at the dog park and around other dogs. thank goodness rosie is so sweet and submissive i dont know what id do with a bully dog. I have to constantly remind myself she is only a 8 month old puppy i cant expect her to do everything i want on the first try. 

25 things about me. in case you were curious

1.i spend to much time thinking about what other people think

2.i had to go to speech therapy to pronounce my "r's" correctly and special reading and math classes all threw my school years  come to find out  no one figured out that i was dyslectic and that is why i hated school.

3.sometimes i wish my father would take the time to get to know my sister and i

4.i chew my cuticles

5.i love the smell of my 4 cats

6.i always wanted to be someone and to be noticed come to find out im the most average person.

7.i always do everything in moderation

8.i wish i new how to have more fun and not be so serious all the time

9.i work really hard at having a good life.

10.i believe people should be genuine  all the time

11.i always do what i say im going to do. 

12.i thank my lucky stars every day for the love i get from my husband.

13.some times i wish i could be an ass hole and not care about anyone else but myself. but than i remember  that im not an asshole and i treat others how i would want to be treated.

14.one of my most favorite places in the world is sitting on the patio of the beartooth cafe and drinking beer and eatting nachos.

15.i wish more people had been honest with me and not so worried about hurting my feelings. 

16.i will some day own my own store. 

17.i hope to be a mother someday soon

18.i wish i could speak a foreign language fluently.

19.i would love to be on a make over show.

20.i eat greek yogurt almost everyday.

21.i love high fashion but hate fashion magazines.

22.one of my favorite things in the world to do is read magazines and catalogs from cover to cover with no-one around.

23.ive worked in retail for over 20 years.

24.i wish i was brave enough to always say what i was thinking.

25. i hope to live in montana again some day soon.

After writing about summer days and swimming with my grandma linda i called my mother and asked her where the picture of my sister and i in our suits was. so after digging in all the hundreds of pictures here they are. i have to say we are so cute in our little swim caps. I find it funny that my sister doesn't have a cap on in the photo of us in the pool. I love my sisters feet in that photo its the only time in her life that her feet look huge she wears kids size shoes and to all of you thinking it must be hard for her to find shoes no it is not she has just as many if not more shoes than anyone else.  ahh the good old days of bikinis and bellies. wish i had the nerve to just let is all hang out like that in my adult life. but when your an adult and your in a bikini with a big ol belly hanging out its just not cute like when your 4 so no bikinis for me. you'll all thank me later for that. 

until next time wishing you all memories of summer days at the pool letting it all hang out. 

 

♥

Lately i have been really unmotivated. im not sure what it is all about. is it the warm weather? usually that motivates people. Is it that im knitting a blanket and am so over it, i wish it would be done. i haven't even been in the garden. i want to buy some new plants but we must pay bills first so its not a high priority. is it that we got a new dog and my whole routine is out of whack? im not sure if its only one of these things, a combination of these things ,or none of these things. the last couple days i have been trying to think about what motivates me? what inspires me? usually ill find inspirations when i just get out and about in town. go to shops see what is out there. but im not even feeling that. or ill i get inspired when i travel to a new place. no trips in the near future. how can i break this? am i ok with it? should i just "let it be." today i spent the day with a dear friend and we had breakfast and coffee together than knit for a while than lunch. than i took her up to my craft room and showed her some of my collections of old shit that i have lots of. im like a crow that is drawn to shiny things. alot of times i walk with my head down because im looking for treasures. This dear friend started to get so inspired in a direction i never thought she would go but she kept talking about felting. granted i love to felt i love all things felted. But my friend she has  very different taste than i and yet she was inspired by my old shit to felt something. I loved how excited she got. i look at my stuff all the time its not new to me but to her it was treasure and inspiring.  Maybe thats what im supposed to be doing right now is inspiring others. who knows all i now is im in a pit of a non motivate,non inspiring slump. i know it will turn i know ive got lots of ideas in me. it will just take a little time. until than ill just lay around and eat bonbons. 

Imagine, Create, Inspire, Understand, Love, Share, Live, Learn, BE.

The last few days it seems as though something electric is in the air. I know you know what im talking about.  Think about it for a second. My neighbors car wouldn't start on the one day she really needed it to start. Someone called in sick on the one day that it was so busy. People have been feeling just a little bit edgy lately myself included.  I don't know what it is maybe the heat, maybe a new moon is coming, maybe the change of seasons. who know's all i know is something is in the air. I don't think any lessons "need" to be learned but it never hurts when one is learned. Take a few minutes and stop and think about the conversations you've been having with people anything off about their day. Well it could just be me and the people surrounding me. Maybe im the electric thing happing in the world?

Frozen grapes how i love thee! I remember as a little girl my family would go to my grandmother Linda's house every sunday for dinner.  In the summer times when my sister and i would get to spend the day with her and go to the pool she had at the trailer court she lived in . Those days are very distinct memories to me. We would have lunch, usually a sandwich, and chips with dip. It wasn't just some ordinary chips and dip, the chips were those kind that came in a box and they had the biggest ridges in them and the dip ,there was something that she would do  to that dip that to  this day i cant duplicate. I have looked high and low for those wide rigged chips and i do not think they make them any more. She would always have root beer in her fridge that she would have bought especially for my sister and i. I guess she thought kids should drink root beer. We weren't aloud to have pop in our house so it was a true treat. I always thought we must be so special because she would by special groceries just for us.  The day usually went like this, we would eat our lunch of yummy chips and dip drink our root beer than we would have to wait a half hour, she always said that we would drown if we swam on full stomach. so we would sit around in our swim suits and coverups and wait until the timer went off. than we would stroll down to the indoor pool, my sister and i had to wear swim caps for some reason i think i remember grandma saying it was so our hair wouldn't clog up the drain  of the pool.  Than after hours of swimming and being completely exhausted from swimming we would walk back to her house, change out of our swimming suits and sit on her closed in porch and gorge ourselves on frozen grapes.  Yesterday i had forgot that i  had bought some grapes and its been so hot here i made my first batch of frozen grapes for the summer. As i was making them i thought about grandma and all the little things she would have us do for her. I always wanted to water the plants with the cute little orange watering can and than i would go out to her vege garden and help weed and water. now that i think about  those times im sure she was preparing me for my long days of gardening that i put in later in my life. My grandmother linda was a quiet petit woman with the most beautiful silver hair. She didn't ever share much about herself but she gave me many little sweet memories to hold close. one of the sweetest of all is the frozen grapes in my freezer.

How to make grandma Linda's frozen grapes:

take all the grapes off the stalk put them in a bowl, rinse with cold water, drain water, sprinkle with sugar, put in fridge until frozen, enjoy on a hot summer day. 

                                                                       Heres Rosie!

Im still figuring all this out. enjoy!

Well here it goes im jumping in well  maybe just sticking my toe in for right now. i have been wanting to join the world of blogging for some time but my husband the web designer has been wanting me to let him design a site for me well what its come down to is the cobblers children have no shoes. my husband is way to busy helping paying clients to build the blog he wants for me so until that happens here i am blogging with the rest of you all. so this blog is basically a place for me to put my thoughts and ideas down. show the world all the things i see and do on a daly or not so daly basis. I spend some days walking around portland with my little camera taking pictures of everything i see. as i was looking for a photo for this blog i found that it was no surprise that i have  hundreds of pictures of cats, my cats, strangers cats, friends cats so im sure you will see some photos of cats from time to time.  I love to eat out so im sure you will see some resturaunt revewes from me. I have high standards having been in customer service for over 20 years you can imagine. I also want to put it out there that yes i am horrible at grammar and spelling i will try to always use spell check but please be kind to me when it comes to punctuating and grammar. 

I guess ill start off by talking and showing the latest thing that is going on im my life. my husband Andy and i have rescued a 8 month old Australian shepherd. her name is rosie she is a doll weve only had her a week and its like she has been our dog forever. Today she is at the vet getting her little ovaries taken out, poor girl ,but we do not need any more dogs in this world. that was made very clear when we went to the oregon humane society{ohs} last saturday. so many great dogs. its truly the hardest place for me to go. i have to work myself up to just go in the doors of the the amazing facility and than when im there i will hit a limit of the strength i have than i must leave before i start to ball. Rosie didn't come from the OHS we found her on craigs list. The minute Andy said we could have a dog i started to obsess thats what i do i research look and look until the perfect one comes along. we tried to get a great older dog name wallace but he was taken than another aussie from craigslist she was taken that the OHS tried on a couple dogs that just didn't fit than back on to craigslist and bingo there she was. we went and met her and it was love at first site.  We are in for lots of training and fun times. Andy said the other day " we have gone from a clean cat house to a dirty dog house overnight" we have lots to learn. Here is a photo of our new girl with a Poppy that just opened im my garden which im sure youll all hear about some day along the way. enjoy cheers jenni