As you can tell my the tardiness of my daily post, I am having an extremely busy day off with a thousand things going on at once. I worked the past three days, and I'm trying to get caught up with paperwork and play with Riley, who is hanging out with me today! I took some of these pictures yesterday at "Roads" while working. Hope you enjoy them.
Be sure to stop by tomorrow for "White Wednesday"! See you then.
Yesterday was my birthday, and to say "thank you" to all my friends and family would be an understatement. Between birthday wishes through cards, gifts, blog comments, texts, FB posts and my friend Kristi, that actually called me while on my way to my birthday dinner, and "sang" happy birthday which came through loud in clear in "stereo" since I have the bluetooth thing in my car, please know how much I appreciated it ALL! When I came in yesterday morning to work at Country Roads, I probably passed this little birthday display that Carol & Yesi had waiting for me several times. I get distracted easily. I fell in love with the sign, and I love any lotion with a coconut fragrance, thus they gave me a whole basket full. The display was so cute, and I was going to leave it there for the day, then I remembered it was "BSC" Sunday, and brought behind the counter. We had dinner last night over at CPK in Seal Beach. Vinnie and Riley were waiting for us and the only one missing was Brande. She was flying home from back East and missed our little party. Here are some of my favorite photos below.
I fell in love with watching Riley feeding Morgan ice cream. She took care to wipe Morgan's little face with the napkin. Not sure Morgan was overly happy with that one! Again, I just one to thank everyone for my "attitude of gratitude" this morning. I feel very wealthy in family and friends, thanks.
Father's Day, time to honor dad and make him special. My dad died a little over three years ago, on Valentine's Day of a broken heart. My mom had passed away a few months prior and I don't think he wanted to live without her. And since today is also my birthday, I wanted to share some pictures of me and my dad! Ernest Everett Moore, but was always known as "Pat", as in Pat the Irishman is what everyone called him. Born in the early 20's, he was like most as he grew up in Joplin, Missouri during those times. He served his time in WWII and always loved telling the story about coming home from Germany on the Queen Mary. He and my mom had something special. I don't know how to describe it, but I never even came close to having it during the 22 years I was married to Mr. Wonderful. He was a family man. Him and my mom bought their first and only home in Long Beach, where I was born and raised. Katie and her family bought the house after my mom and dad had passed away and now are raising their family in the house I grew up in, just a remodeled version of it!
It's funny, this picture was taken at my mom's Aunt and Uncle's house also in Long Beach, and very close to where I live now. I've never strayed to far from the "LBC", my hometown.
Of course I don't remember hanging out with my dad on our back porch, but I like to think I do. He was the one that kept the "memories" alive in my family. He took most of the pictures, wrote on the backs of them with stories and dates. He was that kind of guy back then. Just a family man that worked for SoCal Edison as a lineman. He got paid every two weeks and on those Fridays my sister and I would go out to dinner with my folks at Heartwell Golf Course coffee shop. And YES, that is still here, close by.
When my folks bought their house, it was brand new. Douglas Aircraft had just opened and there were new jobs to be found. My dad planted this magnolia tree in the front yard. The magnolia tree that my sister and I grew up under, the magnolia tree that my three kids played under, and now the tree that Riley plays under and soon her baby brother will join her.
This is one of my very favorite pictures of my dad and me, again taken in our backyard. He really did his part in raising us. He could fix anything and I do mean anything. I remember when I was going to school over at Cal State University Fullerton, I was driving an old VW bug at the time. As I was getting ready to drive home after class, my clutch went out. Not a probem for my dad. He met me at school with a rope in hand. Tied it to some part in the engine and ran it through the driver window. I drove his car home, and he drove mine by using the rope to "shift" since the clutch had gone out. My dad, Mr. Fix It!
I have this picture framed in my home, I love it! My sister, Teri and I, were at Pier Point Landing down at the beach in Long Beach with my folks. It's no longer there but was such a cool little place. They had seals, little rides, nothing like the scary Pike that use to be down there! Sadly Pier Point Landing is no longer there. I would have loved to take my grandbabies there!
This is a picture of my dad holding Riley for the first time. He was so excited and just kept saying, "your mom would have loved this baby". I've told this story many times before about my mom passing away a few days after Riley being born. My folks had been living in assistant living at the time. My dad saw Riley at her funeral, but none of it registered with him. He had Alzheimer's and was grieving over my mom. He was such a "challenge" to me at the end. The things he did were comical but the messages he use to leave on my answering machine at home were so draining. I would work all week-end, come home from a BSC Sunday and play my messages and hear, "Susan, this is your dad, we have NO cat food, what are we supposed to do, our cats are going to starve to death"! After my dad passed away and my sister and I were cleaning out his room, we discovered cases of cat food everywhere. That was my dad, torturing me to the very end! My dad, Pat the Irishman!
It's funny when you've lost your parents and your own kids are grown. I see so much of my dad in Bryce. His appearance, his efforts to fix everything, and the way he loves his little Morgan, just like my dad did with his girls. I know my dad would be SO excited to know Katie is going to have a little boy pretty soon. Our family needs more boys. So, tonight as I go out to dinner with my family for my birthday and Father's Day, I will remember all the good things in my life. What our past has taught us and what our future holds for us. When I got up this morning, I had an email from my sweet "RuFie"! Here's what she sent me: "Life is too short to wake up with regrets~so love the people who treat you right~forget about the ones who don't~and believe that everything happens for a reason and if you get a chance, take it~if it changes your life, let it." Thinking of you today Dad!!
I'm a little late to the party! Didn't sign up on the guest list, didn't stage my special place, and you are probably going to see some cat hair, dust, and papers everywhere. Whether it is your studio, your office, basement, garage or wherever, it is really important to have a space that belongs to YOU!! My space is probably my most favorite room in my house. I've surrounded myself with things that I love, that mean a great deal to me for a variety of reasons. There is STUFF everywhere, as you can see, and I didn't pick up any of my STUFF for these pictures. I think that is what reflects our spaces, the "you" behind them. Ok, I would have picked up some if I had more time!! I LOVE vintage things and use a lot of these things in my office. I like to use them in different ways such as the old bicycle basket above to hold my mail. My desk is actually an old farm table. I think you can see what you mean. So, below are random pictures where a great deal of my "Country Roads" creations come from!
I can't wait to get home tonight to look at all the great places "Where Bloggers Create"! Take care.
Our LA Lakers won last night! I have to admit, I didn't turn on the game until the last quarter. Actually, I was never much of a Laker fan or basketball fan in general. But my mom, she LOVED her Lakers! It's been a few years since she passed away, but ever since then, I've been a bit more fond of our LA Lakers. After my mom died, the one thing I wanted of hers was her LA Laker jacket we had gotten her. I can still see my mom sitting in front of the tv proudly wearing that jacket. And of course, as we know, when older people are in facilities, some of their things just "disappear". My mom's jacket was gone, as was my dad's wedding band. It is what it is. But nonetheless, last nights victory in game seven was awesome! My mom would have been proud!
But, I think her pride would have been lessened by what happened afterwards. Then being LA, we also have the other type of "Laker fans"! They are "entitled" to celebrate, right? As I'm watching the after game show, on part of the screen they are interviewing players. There sat Kobe with his two little girls in his lap, while the other part of the screen had pictures, like above. What the hell is wrong with people? I'm serious, I just don't get that mentality of destruction and "me, me, me"! If I remember right, I think there was something like 600 LAPD deployed after the game. They had some in riot gear, some on horse back and others in cars surrounding the area. The fire department was on hand to put out bond fires that had been started to "celebrate" the Lakers victory? I don't think so. The disrespect for private property is erased because the local basketball team won? I don't get it.
And to celebrate even more, you decide to break into local businesses and just "take" what you think you are entitled to? I mean, the Lakers win the championship so you celebrating by looting some stores and bringing the stuff home to say, "way to go Lakers"? Over the years at Country Roads I've had at least three of my big windows broken by idiots. One was a bunch of idiots that thought they would drive by and shoot out random windows. I've had a the big front window broken twice, the one with our logo painted on it. I can't even remember what happened the first time, but the second time some guy was so drunk after leaving Paul's, the bar across the street, that he was mad the taxi hadn't come to pick him up fast enough, so he threw his steel toed boot through my front window! Thanks dude, yes I was personally responsible for your taxi being late! So as more taxpayer dollars are spent this morning to clean up the "celebration" of the Lakers win, I hope my grandkids will grow up in more peaceful world. Change has got to happen at some point in our lives. Your hometown basketball team wins and you celebrate by destroying everyone elses property? I don't get it, sorry!
I LOVE old advertising pieces. While some people collect art and use it to grace the walls of their homes, my home is filled with vintage advertising pieces. I guess you can say, I look at some of the old advertising pieces as "folk art", one of a kinds. The sign above is one of my very favorites. It is in a small bathroom off the hall that is decorated with a beachy theme. I saw something yesterday about old advertising and it made me take a second look at what I've collected and filled my home with over the years. Below are just a few (yes, I have quite a bit of this stuff)of some of my favorite advertising pieces.
Sometimes when I'm at Country Roads and chatting with my customers they will ask me what do I collect. Maybe because I've got that whole "blonde, left-handed, Gemini" thing going I like to collect a lot of different things, including old surfboards out around my pool. I am trying to thin out a few things that I've fallen out of love with or really just had a quickie fling with, and am no longer interested in them! But some of my stuff, well, I don't think I could ever part with them. So, if I some day show up on the show "Hoarders" you will know that I warned you ahead of time. I just think in our homes, we not only need to surround ourselves with those we love, but the old vintage stuff we love as well. And hey, if you need a little extra cash you can always sell it! That is a good reason to be a hoarder, right? I think it is most definitely and excellent reason!!
