WWHHHEEEEE!!!!

If you live in Washington...you very well know that our spring has felt more like winter and you are EAGERLY waiting for summer to get here...(as of my count it's only 14 more days away).

Last Thursday, we were gifted a few hours of blue skies and white fluffy clouds. Perfect afternoon for the girls and I to head to a local park and enjoy some play time (right after a quick stop at Starbucks). Lucky for us, we were met by our dear friend Margee, her son, Preston and her new incredible camera. If you know Margee, you know that she is a very talented woman in ALL ASPECTS! Photography is no exception.

Here are a few of my favorites that she took of my girls on Thursday.

The thing that I love most about these three pictures is that they are all the same picture...just cropped in a little more each frame.

As I look back at these pictures, I am reminded of carefree and joyful days of childhood; specifically, the HOURS AND HOURS of time that I spent on the swingset in my parents backyard....swinging as high as we could and doing our best to 'raise the legs' of the swingset off the ground.

Oh, how I long for those days again, and while I know I can't go back and relive those days again....I can do my best to help provide and nurture 'these days' for my girls so that they may look back as fondly as I do of mine.

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

As I sit here this morning...the only thing I can hear are the sounds of numerous raindrops hitting our living room window. I heard on the news today our weatherman refer to our weather as "June-uary;" a very fitting description of our weather these days. So I decided that I would share with you some pictures of flowers that are currently fighting through the weather and blooming in our garden. I had to use an umbrella to keep myself and the camera dry...but as you'll see, flowers are even pretty when it's sprinkling.



Here is a picture of a clematis that shares the same support as our raspberries. Her name is the Duchess of Edinburgh. Last summer, she didn't show her pretty face, so I'd thought we had lost her...but here she is.

This rose goes by the name of Graham Thomas...isn't he handsome. Oh and he smells delightful.

This little cutie is a columbine and her name is Nora Barlow. I love the way the purple gently transcends into pinks and whites...

Of course, you can't have a garden without having bleeding hearts somewhere. So here are mine...and since white flowers are my most favorite...I do love these...as does A.

I just love the picture of our little snail friend...It looks as though he is keeping guard of our peonies; he's kind of like a 'scare-snail' instead of a scarecrow.

Here is a close up of one of our peonies...I don't recall her name...but she is gorgeous


Here is another peony in full bloom right now. Her name is Mons. Jules Elie. I have no idea as to why it is that I am able to remember all of these names...

This lovely climbing rose drapes itself up and over the north side of our potting shed and smells incredible. And of course, since it is white...it's one of my favorites.

Here is a grand allium who stands guard at the entrance of the path to our potting shed.


I know that technically 'Forget-Me-Nots' are weeds, but I love them...and so do my girls. A knows that she does not need permission to pick these and frequently presents me with the most generous bouquets of them.

Here is another view of 'Graham.' This one hasn't bloomed out yet...and again, I think he is so handsome.

More alliums at attention as you come up the driveway. I really like how they look against the old picket fence.

This is the view of the side of our potting shed...I love how overgrown it has become...this has been allowed on purpose, not of pruning neglect. The chartreuce vine on the left are actually hops...and are very vigorous. But they are such a beautiful shade of green.



This little watering can is a treasure that we found while out garage saling. I love it!

And last but not least a cute little pansy looking so eagerly for any glimpse of sunshine...don't worry little friend, I am as eager as you...don't give up hope.

See You in A Year...

It's official...Birthday Season in the Skaug house has come to an end for 2010. We began with A's in April, followed by mine at the beginning of May and this past Memorial weekend we wrapped up with Had's on Friday and Jas' on Sunday.
Oh!! How I love birthdays...I love making that special person feel like that day is ALL THEIRS!

On Friday, I loaded up my girls, and our neighbor, Zoey, and headed to Starbucks to enjoy a few kiddos cocoas (AND a grande nonfat stirred caramel macchiato) in our jamma's.

The girls love this...but secretly, I think that I love it more.

Here we are ALL SUGARED up and in search of a few garage sales. Be sure and notice the rain drops ALL over the back window; this was an underlying theme of our weekend...

...RAIN RAIN RAIN!!

Here is a look into our vegatable garden from our dining room window on Saturday...again, if you look close you will notice all of rain smears on the window. Our peas sure do love this weather, as they are almost as tall as our hedge...however, our tomatoes and basil do not. I am afraid our tomatoes may rot and my basil...well, let's just say, our basil is in a better place now. I'll have to try again if the sun decides to stay and play awhile in the near future.

Sunday, which was supposed to be the only non-rainy day of the weekend, is the day we decided to celebrate Had's birthday and have a few neighbors and family. Instead of the sunny and 70 that we were supposed to have, we ended up with drizzle and probably 55-60. Not cold, but a far cry from the sunny and 70 that I was counting on. Nonetheless, cupcakes were in order.

Jas and I have many favorite snacks that we enjoy, but the one splurge that we make occasionally are: 'Rolo'd Pretzels.' Recipe, you ask?' All right, I'll share...get your pen and paper ready....go ahead, I'll wait!

Here it goes...follow close! You take a handful of small pretzels and lay them out of a baking sheet. Here's the tricky part...carefully place a single Rolo onto each pretzel. It takes a steady hand, but with practice, you'll get it. Ok, now place them in the oven at 325 for a few minutes...depending on your individual desired level of messiness (3-5 minutes should do the trick).
A friend of mine shared with me today, that she enjoys a pecan on top of the Rolo post baking, but prior to consumption.

OK...back to the cupcakes...I told that above story to get you to my inspiration of these delicious little creations.

P.S. the links for all of the different recipes are included...You're Welcome!

Chocolate cupcakes, with a pretzel crust, a caramel shoved into the middle, baked and then a caramel cream cheese frosting. OH MY HEAVENS!!

Here, A is helping me to roll over and shmoosh up the pretzels. A job that she was great excelled and loved.

Here the batter is scooped in and nestled into their cozy new homes and eagerly await baking. ...and as cold as it was here, I was debating crawling in as well.

Had decided that she wanted to participate as well...so here are my two lovelies so generously helping to reduce my full sink-o-dishes. I wish that I could explain the 'ear muffs,' but I'm not a hundred percent sure as to the story behind them, so I'll just go with, it's her dad's sense of style making an appearance vicariously through A.

***Have I ever mentioned before how much this girl makes me laugh?***

TA-DA!! Here they are...in all their glory! Just awaiting someone to swoop them up and give them a nibble...Oh and I am talking about the cupcakes...not Jas and his dad.

About 5 minutes after this picture of Jas and Oobie Doobie (what A calls him) was taken, Eric (Oobie) discovered the joy of vintage chairs and had the one he was sitting in fold in half like a taco and he fell over backwards in the chair. While re-telling the story, I thought Jas was going to explode...he was laughing so hard. My advice...if you ever come over for a backyard visit....stick to the strong and sturdy wooden bench.

Actually, it's the one is this picture that the girls are 'performing' on.
Im thinking, the Dixie Chicks, in about 25 years; minus all of the controversary.


Alright...I give up, I suppose if I can't change the rain, we'll just have to look for the beauty in it. On Saturday, Jas and I were picking up pieces of sod and watching the girls go bananas over all of the the worms and trails to be discovered underneath. Had was hysterical...she would stand and point with her finger so close to her mouth and shout, "There's one!! Mom! Mom! A 'woom, a woom.' All the while, A was creating familys out of them...'The big one's the dad, that one's the mom and those are the sisters.' Oh my girls...they do love their worm friends.

And finally, my most favorite picture of the weekend. This is a picture of a dew drop on our broccoli that A pointed out to me. Isn't it incredible? I had a lot of fun playing around with our new camera and all of it's features. New camera, you ask? Yeah, that's what you end up with when you accidentally submerge your other one into a bucket of left over flowers and forget it for 2 hours...I wouldn't reccommend it...unless of course, you really want a new camera.

We had such a great weekend! Family, friends, cupcakes, etc.

My thoughts did wander frequently towards those serving our country in the military and their families. I would imagine there are a lot of missed birthday celebrations due to deployments, training and relocations....so from the core of my heart....

THANK YOU FOR SERVING OUR COUNTRY

SO DUTIFULLY AND WHOLE HEARTEDLY

so that my girls may enjoy worms in their garden and celebrations with family.

Here's to a short week!

My Brand New 'Baby'

Introducing my new 'Baby.'

Ok, well maybe I should be more specific, introducing my new Baby Lock sewing machine. And I know the box says, 'Grace,' but her name is actually Hazel. I love the name Hazel and since Jas vetoed the name Hazel for Had, I decided to give it to my new girl.

Here she is!!! Pretty, huh? I haven't had a chance to sit down and become completely acquainted with her...I can already think ahead and daydream of the hours and hours that she and I will spend together creating beautiful things.

I began with a Brother sewing machine that my mom so generously gave me in January and while it was a great machine for me when I was just starting out, I was ready for an upgrade. And since my mom will do anything to keep me motivated in sewing, she was eager to share with me a mailer announcing that this machine would be on sale for Memorial Day. I was feeling guilty purchasing something for 'just me,' (it happens as soon as you have kids; 'selfish purchases' become few and far between). However, I did think ahead of the adorable, coordinating shirts that my girls are sure to have for the summer. And to tease Jas, I told him about 'her,' and told him she cost $1800...just feeling him out to see what he REALLY thought of my potential purchase. His response (being the incredibly supportive husband that he is) was, 'Well, I can pick up some side work...I think you should get it.' I LOVE THIS MAN!! I then settled the fears, that he was doing such a great job of hiding, and told him the 'real price,' followed by the bonus of the store crediting me the full retail amount of my 'Brother' machine off of 'Hazel.'

Can you believe I got her for less that 50% off the regular retail price?

I know Dawn, I just couldn't pass this opportunity up. And don't worry the girls are sure to have some more goodies made for them. Hey!!!...I just figured out your motivation is persuading me to get 'her.' Hee Hee.

So as soon as Birthday Season calms down around here...this is the stack of beautiful fabric that awaits my creative mind. It seems as though I have been VERY BUSY sewing for others...which I am forever grateful for and' while I still have 2 more aprons to be created for a friend to give as a 'His and Hers' wedding gifts (I'll be sure and post pics, they are cute), I am looking forward to making my girls some fun, coordinating pajama pants!

Here is my 'cutting table.' I love EVERYTHING about it. I love the table itself...a trade from Margee. It's a great, vintage, drop leaf table. And in the picture are my paternal Grandparents, Lewis and Violet Lindsay. It is an adorable picture. And of course a bouquet of dried hydrangeas that make me smile at the drop of a pin...and being my sewing room...there are LOTS OF PINS DROPPED! :-)

And Finally....the owners manual. BORING!!! I don't have any immediate plans in reading this; as I don't have much free time lately; and even if I did...I would rather watch paint dry.

I hope that each of you is enjoying some relaxing time with your loved ones on this three-day-weekend...and God Bless America and those who make sacrifices to protect our freedoms.

P.S. Today, while spending the day with 6 of some of my most favorite girls, we watched a young bald eagle fly over us not more than 40 feet away...it was an incredible moment. And I just couldn't help but think of how Blessed I am to live in Washington and be able to witness such a majestic occurrence. A very fitting sight for Memorial Weekend.

We Have Lift Off....

After some success at the Funky Junk Sisters Show last weekend, Margee, Bri and I decided that we needed to create a blog that was dedicated to our 'treasure hunts,' shows and our projects in the works. Thus, our blog, http://www.4thavenuegals.blogspot.com/ was born. I do hope that you'll add us to the list of blogs that you follow and keep up on our latest adventures.

(we do love ourselves some classic old pickups)

Thanks for all of your love and support so far...without you, success would be minimal.

Hope that the weekend treated you well....we are looking forward to this upcoming 3-day Memorial weekend. It'll be a busy one...Had's birthday on Friday and Jas' on Sunday.

But throughout the celebrating, we will be sure and take a moment to be grateful for those American's who have risked their lives, for those who make daily sacrifices to defend our country and our freedoms!

What Blessings!!

Today's rainy, icky, gray, soggy (you get the idea) weather has kept me out of my garden (I had big plans, too) and provided me the opportunity to do some "Blog Surfing;" is that even a real phrase? I am feeling so incredibly Blessed to have met so many great people (mostly women) last weekend at the Funky Junk Sisters Show in Puyallup. As I was 'surfing' I came across of few of the other incredible vendors that we were so fortunate to meet and I want to share their blogs with you.

Among them:

-Linda and Dixie at http://www.funkyjunksisters.blogspot.com/

-Kim Tayor at http://www.mimicharmante.blogspot.com/

-Diane at www.mollymos03@blogspot.com

-Martha at http://www.vintagetrifles.blogspot.com/

-Junkies-A Sisterhood of Traveling Junk (no address, but they are on facebook)



This is only a taste of the amazing women that I met, but they definately left a lasting impact on me...and I am really hoping that our adventures will allow us to cross paths again, soon.



So, if you find yourself sitting on the couch on a rainy day, while your babies are sleeping and youre flipping through channels trying to find something decent to watch (anything on Bravo will usually do)...ok it's NOT decent, but it is entertaining...you can log in and do some 'Blog Surfing' of your own.

Oh! Rainy Days...a Blessing in disguise!

SUNDAY!!!...already? I mean Tuesday!

Alright...so here I sit...Sunday morning...in a nice and quiet house. Jas is at Happy Donuts (a weekend ritual for he and the girls) and I can't help but sit and rethink my busy, busy weekend.
I'll start by thanking Jas profusely. He took Thursday and Friday off so that I could get all of our stuff packed up and ready for the

Funky Junk Sisters Show.

I COULD NOT HAVE ACCOMPLISHED ANY OF WHAT I DID WITHOUT HIS HELP. HE IS SO SUPPORTIVE, LOVING AND DOWNRIGHT AMAZING!!!

And I am downright grateful for having such a wonderful man in my corner!

Thank you Lord for creating such a perfect partner for me!

Thursday, the girls and I packed up our 'mock' booth from our garage and got it all loaded up into Margee's van, Bri's truck and our truck. I was shocked that it all fit it there.

But we are VERY GOOD packers...and they were loaded to the gills.

Thankfully the show was only about 8 minutes from our homes. We arrived at around 5:30 and began unloading and hauling stuff into the venue.

Here we are lined up getting our convoy situated before heading off on our adventure.

We work so well as a team.

Here is what our booth looked like at the end of Thursday night as we wandered out around 10pm.

Here we are EAGER for the doors to open Friday night.
Here is another picture of what our booth looked like as you walked in. We had a great array of different finds because Bri, Margee and I rarely ventured out together in search of treasures and we each have our own goodies that we are immediately drawn to. Mine being anything metal and rusty and of course I LOVE metal baskets and old abandoned garden tools. I like to think that each rake, shovel, etc has a story behind it and that they have been used to help carefully prepare dirt to grow something delicious.


I LOVE THIS PICTURE!
The three of us wanted our booth to have an immediate fun feel as soon as you walk in...thus came these incredibly cheery aprons and of course Converse! Here is another picture of us three in front of the cutest 'ole pickup.

I believe it belongs to the Funky Junk Sisters...and IT IS CUTER IS PERSON! 'The Sisters' were gracious enough to let us borrow it for a photo session...led by the cutest gal (with an amazing camera) Kim Taylor (http://www.mimicharmante.blogspot.com/). She was so enthusiastic and sweet and took some pictures of our booth, our aprons, our shoes, etc. I think she could be my new best friend....completely adorable. Be sure and check our her blog.

Here is an early Saturday morning picture of us three lovelies. We gathered back at the show around 9:15am (me after a Starbucks stop) and made a quick decision to 'revamp' our booth to give it a brand new feel for those returning to scour for new treasures. The doors opened at 10am and we were ready for another go of it.

So after Saturday was over...the three of us decided that WE WILL DEFINITELY DO THIS AGAIN. We had a wonderful time, met some fun people and even sold a few things (the hubbs are happy). I'll be sure and keep you all posted about our next sale.

Oh and did I mention that it is now Tuesday night...it took me a little longer to post this than I intended....better late than never, right?

Oh and to prove that I have not been over-consumed with our show...here is a picture that I took of Jas and Had last night having a discussion in the backyard.

And also one of one of our roses, Cecil Brunner...just getting ready to make his yearly appearance over our pergola. He makes me smile and smells so good.