WhAt'S mAkiNg Me SmiLe ToDaY!

Coffee on the porch.

Coffee bean shaped coffee cubes!!!! 

WhAt'S mAkiNg Me SmiLe ToDaY!

I decided to post some random pictures of just some nice things.   Yesterday was the lovely tote bag that Miss V made for me. Today I'm returning the favor.

Some new little turtle beads for Miss V to play with, in a tin bucket with a daisy.

WhAt's MaKinG me SmiLe ToDAy! 8-8-11

The lovely Miss V did some scrap busting a couple of weeks ago!

Sigh.................

PyRex LoVinG!!!!!

Today Miss V and I felt the need to go to our local antique mall.  Well. I felt the need and Miss V was a willing accomplice.  The V not only stands for Vanessa, it stands for VINTAGE. 

Miss V found these two pretty Pyrex dishes in a lovely shade of aqua blue.  So, now we have started her on her very own Pyrex quest.

I found this pink flamingo rectangle dish later at a thrift shop.  It just needs a bit of loving and it will be happily ensconced in my kitchen.... perhaps a cherry cobbler?

 I also found this gorgeous olive green mixing bowl!!  I love this color!  It matches a fabulous casserole find that I scored a couple months ago.  The white daisies make me swoon! 

Here we have the start of it all.  The original rainbow Pyrex mixing bowl collection.  (I had to sneak in the adorable red sailbot refrigerator dish too)

I inherited the big yellow bowl and the small blue one from my mother.  She preferred her stainless steel mixing bowls since they aren't so heavy.  I was always a sucker for colors so I was happy to take these two off her hands when I got married.  Thus began my quest to finish my set.  I found a pink bowl first, and then the green one so I thought my set was complete.......... then I found the real missing bowl, the fabulous red!  Ahhhh, success.  Next I put together 3 more rainbow sets for daughters number 1, 2, and 4.  Daughter number 3 has yellow in her kitchen and I was able to find an entire set of yellow bowls for her!  Can you say FABULOUS??? 

Is there really ANYthing better than vintage things that you love and use every day?  Nope didn't think so!  Next time I'll show my refrigerator sets.

The truly lovely Madeline Island!!!!!!

Here we are on our way to Madeline Island!  Madeline Island is a pretty little island just off the shore by Bayfield Wisconsin.  We took the ferry ride over along with our friends and two of our vehicles.  I love the ferry ride!!!!  Lake Superior is so beautiful, I grew up south of this area so the shoreline here was a regular summer destination.  I'm so glad that since I didn't get to live near Lake Superior I do get to live right next to Lake Michigan!  lucky me!! 

Ferry picture, I love the ropes. 

One of the beaches on the island.

The post office!  I know it doesn't seem all that fabulous to most people, but my great grandmother was post mistress here when my grandma was a young girl.  Grandma said that she and her brother used to make little sachets filled with balsam to sell to the tourists.  Even back then, Madeline Island drew tourists!

One of the Madeline Island ferries.  

There will be more Madeline pictures later, I love LOVE LOVE Madeline Island.

I'll just leave you with one thought, there was a sign at the gift shop:

MADELINE ISLAND

SUMMER PEOPLE

some are not

Thank you Hodag!

Like all great vacation stops, this one started with the quilt shop here!  What a lovely place to pick up souvenirs!  Fat quarters are so fun, and take up very little space.  Also, when we stopped at a spice shop I opened them up and used them to pad the spice bottles!  The shop owner was very friendly and sweet, so if you ever get to Hodag country, go and see them at "Sew Smart"  and tell them Mare sent you!

Sadly one entire day consisted of..........

sit down please.

the Mall of America

read that with a sort of echo sound at the end okay? 

 Anyone who knows me knows that shopping isn't my all time favorite past time.  But just look at these beautiful floor tiles!!!   I was seeing a quilt here..... Cookie added some human interest with her feet on this one.

Love them all!!!

Luckily I didn't actually trip anyone while I was taking these pictures, or for that matter, I didn't fall off the bench I stood on to get a better shot of this one below.

Yes, I am actually pretty embarrassing to go places with. 

So, the mall to end all malls.  I had not wanted to go because we will be taking Miss V there this coming weekend, but my good friend cookie had never been there and she REALLY wanted to go.  So I told the big guy that if I had to go to the monster of malls twice I had BETTER get lunch out of it.  He let me pick and I chose the Rainforest Cafe.  Here Cookie and I are with our rainforest drinks.  yummy.

Here are the guys with their cokes.  yeah, that's my big guy on the right and Cookies big guy trying to get out of the picture.  Then after I had them take our lovely photo, they saw how it should be done..............

I guess you can see why we married these goof balls can't you?

And a swell time was had by all.



July camping trip-- part one of several!

Did you miss me while I was gone?  The big guy and I went on a camping trip with 2 other couples.  Wow was that different!  We have always had kids along before!  The lovely Miss V got herself a lovely job, so she stayed home to work and take care of the critters.

One of our first stops was in Rhinelander, home of the Hodags!  What is a Hodag?  Well, this entire post is going to show you the Hodags of Rhinelander, so wonder no more!

The big guy was gutsy leaning against this one, it was covered in broken glass! Very pretty, but it looked a bit painful to me!

this guy is a pilot!

This one had portraits o local politicians on him, and you could see people in his eyes, as if he was looking at the ones he was going to EAT!!!  bwaa haaa haa

He was very helpful though.....

And this one was kinda groovy dude!

The camoflage one above was a salute to our service people.

This is the biggest one of all, he tried to GET ME!!!!!! 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

But I convinced him he should be a lover not a fighter.  Nice Hodag.  Good boy.  Now show me where the nearest quilt shop is please?