Organization

It never fails, at the beginning of a new year, that I make a decision to get organized.
I'm sure it is like that for a lot of you, as well.

I usually start off well and always have good intentions.
But I really never get very far.

This year,
the year of Action,
It. Will. Happen.

And to help make that happen, I'm going to follow along with Heather and Marianne.

Heather is totally keeping it real on her blog,
Organizing My Life... One Week at a Time.

And she's already made accomplishments that can be seen.
That's always a big help for me...
if I can see that I'm making headway, then I'm more likely to continue forward.

Marianne of Songbird is on a roll too with her Gitter Done challenge.

She will be sharing her "gitter done" posts on Fridays.

I think joining these two ladies will help keep me going with this action. However to be quite honest, when I think of posting photos of my "hot spots" I start to twitch.
I was taught not to air my dirty laundry in public, after all.

We'll see if I can overcome the twitches.
Have a beautiful Monday!

I Have Someone for You to Meet

There's a party going on today and Tiffany is hosting!

She has asked us to help her convince her hubby that she is not crazy and dress forms are beautiful, not creepy!

So without further ado, I would like to introduce you to...
Callia Adèle

Yes I know, she is not the typical dress form, but I adore her dearly nonetheless. I have been searching for just the right "real" French form, but have yet to find her. My sweet Farmboy has even looked. He thought he was going to get to surprise me last Spring with one. He had called around Austin and after describing what he was looking for the lady said, "I have just what you want!" When he got to the shop he took one look at it and said, "Yeah, not so much." But really, just knowing that he has been looking makes my heart go pitter patter!

I used to have, 10 years ago or more, a lovely wicker form. She was displayed wearing the most beautiful long, deep blue, velvet 1930's gown that had the sweetest lace collar. However, in a fit of insanity during my divorce, I got rid of both because he had purchased them for me. I now regret it knowing that there would have been no emotional ties to them anymore. Oh well.

I will continue my search for the other form. I know that when I find her, she and Callia will be the best of friends and they will simply look gorgeous posed next to each other in a lovely corner of my home.

Speaking of form placement, Tiffany, it might help you out to know that when Callia came home with me, I asked my Farmboy if he thought she should go in the family room. His immediate response was "NO, put it in the bedroom!" I believe I have deduced the reason for this... he doesn't want any visitors to see it. Maybe you can use this placement reasoning with your husband. Good luck!
And a big Thank You for hosting this get together!

To everyone else, thank you for stopping by and make sure you visit Shabby Scraps for a list to all of the other lovely dress forms out there!

Have a beautiful day

China, Silver and Crystal, Oh My!

Today's Show and Tell is being hosted by Analise of Sugar*Sugar and is a sure thing for beautifulness! We were asked to share our china, silver and crystal... like I said, you know blog hopping is going to be great today!

So let's start shall we...


I have china and silver, but I don't actually have any crystal.




Here is my china. I just recently acquired it... kind of. You see, when my parents were cleaning out and packing up there house to sell they found some forgotten boxes in the attic. Several boxes had this china in it, some of it still in the original tissue and store boxes.

Some of it had been wrapped and boxed up by my grandmother and had my name on it. Now this can be a bit confusing, but let me try to explain. This set of china was the wedding set that was picked out and purchased when my dad married my biological mother. When my mom (my adopted mother... the beautiful lady I posted about for Mother's Day show and tell) and my father married, the china was put up in the attic and forgotten. I am so glad this was found and given to me. It is very "Alisa". I love it! I also have an abundance of china teacups and saucers, as well as teapots. But those could fill up an entire post!

On to silver. I have all kinds of bits and pieces of both silver and silver plate. Most of them are trays of all different shapes and sizes and have been gathered from all kinds of places. As far as polishing it, nope! I like it tarnished.

There is a matching coffee pot to this teapot that was on top of one of the cabinets in my kitchen, but some kid I know slammed the door to the garage the other day (same wall as the cabinet) and the pot fell off and lost a leg. That's life... now it's going to become a planter for the garden.

Like I said, I don't have any crystal. What I do have is Fostoria.

I have a set of eight place settings as well as serving dishes and accessories. This belonged to my grandmother, who was very, very proud of her Fostoria. So of course, I love it to death and use it quite often! This is half of all that she had. Either my aunt or my cousin has the other half of it all.

Well, thanks for visiting. I'm off now to look at all of the other blogs participating today.

Have a beautiful holiday tomorrow!

Vintage Linens

Show and Tell, hosted by Cerri of Little Pink Studio, is all about your vintage linens today.

I have a lot of these which have been handed down to me from my mom. They were all originally my grandmother's or my great grandmother's.

These first two are baby quilts that belonged to my mom and my uncle. I can't remember who made them, my grandma or my great grandma.
Obviously this one was my mom's... sweet little kittens on the fabric.

This one, my uncle's, is made of scraps from family clothing.


I love aprons! Here are a few made by my great grandmother.
Pretty matching adult and child aprons. Please ignore the wrinkles. They were recently washed and haven't been ironed yet.

Here are a couple of floral... love the sheer one.


Tablecloths...
This embroidered one was done by my mom.

This one was all hand done by my great grandmother and has four napkins too.

Peach with grape leaves.

This is my favorite one and was my paternal grandmother's.

A sweet little child's tea tablecloth.


If you are interested I posted last month about all of my embroidered tea linens here.

Thanks for visiting and thanks to Cerri for hosting.
Have a beautiful day!

Happy Mother's Day

Celebrating mother's is what today's Show and Tell is about, hosted by Analise of Sugar*Sugar.

I would like to introduce you to my beautiful mother...

I cannot begin to tell you how much this woman means to me. Like any mother/daughter we have had our ins and out, especially during those teenage years. But we have survived those years only to become closer. Now we are more than just mother and daughter... we are very good friends.

I always wanted to grow up to be just like her. To be strong and independent, to be intelligent and clever, to be industrious and creative, to be loving and living life to the fullest. I think she did a pretty good job raising me. And I have turned out to be very much like her... at least that is what my dad says when I say something sarcastic. :)


Yes that's right, my mom is a mermaid. And unfortunately, we cannot be together today. She is in the Caribbean, probably seahorse watching and swimming with the eagle rays right now. But we can pretend.



I miss you mom... terribly!!!

Love,
Alisa (the delightful daughter)

Favorite Shops

Show and Tell, being hosted by Cerri of Little Pink Studio, is all about your favorite shopping spots.

My favorite place to shop is on the square in McKinney, the town next door to mine. All the way around the square are the most wonderful little shops. Some of my favorites are The Antique Collection, Clydes, The French Mix, Ambrosia and I think the one on the corner is called The Antique Corner Market (or something like that) and quite a few more. I don't have any pictures of any of these wonderful places, wasn't able to get up there this week, but I do have these.


This is the shop I referred to in the post about our weekend getaway. It is called Uncommon Objects and is located on South Congress in Austin. This place is seriously packed from floor to ceiling and wall to wall to wall to wall! Every vintage item you can think of is in this place.

And to really look at everything would take at least a couple of days. (this is one of my favorite corners!)


However, beware! There are so many great things in here that will make you SO, SO, SO HAPPY, that when you do find something you feel will need to go home with you, it can cause "Stupid Grin Syndrome"!!!


Thanks for stopping by and make sure you go look at every one's favorite shops!

PS. Farmboy, if you're reading this, just a small reminder... mother's day is almost upon us... lovely red rhinestone strawberry broach :)

Toy Party!

Scrappy Jessi is hosting a "Favorite Childhood Toys Party" where we can all take a walk down memory lane.

When I first started searching for pictures for this party I knew I didn't have very many myself, then I realized I couldn't get to the boxes of pictures my mom has because they are all somewhere in the storage building. Just one more reason my parents shouldn't have moved to the Caribbean! Just kidding Mom :) So here is what I have. It only spans the really early years.


What little girl doesn't pine away for a pony?! Well, this is my pony... my plastic pony... with wheels. I don't remember it, but there are quite a few pictures of us together so I must have loved her dearly.


Another fake animal on wheels. It looks like my grandma actually had more fun with this one than I did. Do you see Raggedy Ann in the background there? I don't remember her either, but I do remember another one I had. She was a big plastic "piggy bank". She was sitting down on something and had a slot in the top of her head. I used to try to sit in her lap and what I remember the most about her was her smell... literally a sweet smell to her.


Graduated rings. They still make these, don't they?


And when those pricey toys just won't do the trick, there is always old school clothespins and Tupperware.


Tape recorders are ALWAYS EXCITING toys!


Of course all little girls have to have baby dolls. I wasn't lacking in the baby doll area, either. The one I remember the most was the one that ate and peed. It was the coolest thing. Did any one else ever do this... as soon as I got a new doll, I would undress it just so I could dress it myself. Never failed it was always the first thing I did.

What I don't have pictures of are my all time favorites and the one I hated. Some of you may already know this, but I had a sock monkey. Oh my goodness! It scared me to death! To this day I don't like sock monkeys. My favorites however were my Mr. Potato Head and my Barbies. I had a barbie house. Not THE barbie house mind you, but a barbie house I used to like to call her "country home". I would spend hours and hours decorating that house down to the littlest detail, such as making toilet paper rolls for the bathroom. How I never became an interior designer when I grew up beats me!

I should probably add a picture of my little brother. He was a toy to me. I had a gazillion dress up clothes and I would go to town making him the most gorgeous diva in the world! Hmmm, I didn't grow up to be a fashion designer either.

So the toy that got away that I would kill for today, was actually more of a showcase doll than a play doll. However, I play with her all the time. I think my aunt brought her back from France for me. She was a Marie Antoinette-like doll. The big, white, fluffy hair, over-the-top velvet dress with lace and bows. Gorgeous! How I loved her... how I wish I still had her!!

So there you go. Thanks for strolling with me. Go check out everyone else's childhood toys. I'm going to... should be lots of fun!

Vintage Jewels

Today's show and tell is being hosted by Cerri of Little Pink Studio. Make sure you stop by and check all of the links.

Here is my small collection. I think the clear rhinestones are my favorite. Enjoy!

*****

This "show and tell" is being hosted by Cerri of Little Pink Studio. And the theme for this week is millinery. I really didn't think I had enough to play along, but as I gathered items up I realized I have a lot more than I thought. I love millinery so much that I have a tendency to use it up as soon as I get it. And like I said in the previous post, I adore hats so, so, so much, but I haven't puchased any. However, I do think that is going to change soon.

So on to the collection.

Here are some pastels. The little posies in the sugar bowl are the only vintage ones in this group. They are my favorite. I like how petite they are.


This next group is made up of paper and velvet. The silvery-blue vintage velvet leaves are my favorite out of all of the millinery I own. When I found them in my favorite antique shop I almost broke my neck trying to get to them as fast as I possibly could. I had a lot more, but used a bunch of it.


This last little group is composed of ribbon roses made by my mom and grandmother, I think like a gazillion years ago.

So that's it. Not overly exciting, but pretty non the less. Thanks for looking.