Sweet Surprise of the day

Life is filled with sweet little moments. As Antoine du Saint Exuperie wrote in The Little Prince, "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly." Sometimes you can be in the midst of a rather rotten day, when the phone rings, and suddenly things don't feel so rotten anymore. Today I was sitting on the floor by the fireplace at Jon's parents house, when my mother-in-law Jan says, "Jack I've got a present for you." Well, I'm a little surprised because it isn't anywhere near my birthday, or any other occasion.

As a little background knowledge, Jan's father was a farmer, and somehow she has inherited a black thumb. In the 6 years since Jon and I started dating she has done a superb job of killing just about every plant she's brought home in record time, but that doesn't stop her. It is a bit of a running joke that we don't even know how the hedges around the house manage to fair from year to year. This year she got a really nice tomato plant that already had tomatoes on it, and yep you guessed it, the poor thing didn't stand a chance it's already toast. We'd been talking about how she'd already killed it, and that she should have sent it with us to see if we could revive it, but there is no way that would be possible so I asked, "Are you going to give me a tomato seed from the plant you killed?"

I couldn't believe it when she brought me the prettiest white calla lily with pink along the tip. I carried a bouquet of red roses and white calla lillies in our wedding, which she remembered, and said it made her think of me. So far it is the only flower that has come up successfully for her this summer. How sweet is that? Such a simple thing, but it made me feel special, and I will always remember it.

Brooch Bouquet

I'm not the first, and I know I'm not the only person who has ever seen the beautiful bridal brooch bouquets that have been making the rounds in blogville, and thought "cutiful why didn't I think of that." In fact my future sister in law is going to carry one for her bouquet in her's and David's (Jon's brother) wedding next year. Most of the brooch bouquets I've seen are for brides, but I think they are a really cool way to add a dash of color in any room of your house, and they give new life to old obselete junk jewelry that no one is planning on wearing. So if you're already married, and you're reading this wondering if you could make one even though it isn't a bridal bouquet, I say go for it! My Mom & I decided it would be a lot of fun for each of us to make one to put in our houses. At first I was thinking "centerpiece for the formal dining room table," but now I'm leaning more towards putting it in my bedroom where I'll see it all the time. Mom had tons of old pins and button covers which put us off to a good start (almost half of each of our bouquets). I bought some earrings, fancy buttons, and pins here and there, with a $4 max per pin rule. I'm not finished wiring and wrapping all of my pins yet, but here is what I've put together so far (a little over half), I will add more pics when the project is complete ;) I'll also post a pic or two of Mom's.

Lee Jofa Diamond & Baratta Silhouettes

Sometimes people pick up a magazine while standing in line at the grocery store, and most of the time nothing happens. But, sometimes a person stumbles upon something that makes them think, "Where have you been all my life? I've just got to make you mine!" So far in the past 2 weeks I seem to have stumbled upon a particular print of wallpaper that is also a fabric in 3 different magazines. Veranda, The Oprah Magazine, and one other that I can't remember have all featured this silhouette pattern by Diamond & Baratta for Lee Jofa in one form or another. Veranda had it as pink fabric curtains, Oprah magazine had it as yellow wall paper, and the other magazine had it as blue pillows. I am in love, and I have put myself on a mission to find some of this stuff. So far it seems everyone else has had the same idea because it is sold out every where. The only place I have been able to find some is from a fabric shop in London, they only have the pink, and they want $59.99 per meter, and that is before shipping! What could I do with just 1 meter? The only thing I can think of is a pillow- 1 pillow. It would be the most expensive pillow in my house. If I went to such lengths I think I would be tempted to put it in my china cabinet because I wouldn't want anyone to sit on it or throw it on the floor, or heaven forbid one of the animals get a hold of it. For the time being I have decided to make myself content with painting the picture out of the Oprah magazine, but I still want some. I don't know where or how I'll put it in my house, but that has never stopped me before.

Family Picture time

Have you ever noticed that there is nothing quite like a "family portrait" to make everyone in the bunch decide to start looking and acting goofy! I'm sure those of you from my generation can relate- A trip to Olan Mills = bribes+threats+spankings in that exact order. I don't know why I decided to give this feat a try...I guess it had something to do with putting on my really awesome cowboy boots this morning that made me think, "Team Trammell hasn't had a picture taken together in a while." After church I had Mom follow us home, and take a few pictures of us. All together there were 20 legs.


Here Comes "The TEAM" I'm off to get that rotten Black Cat (Zipper)
Dogs from Left to Right Cookie, Sasha, & Sir Winston Churchill


Jon & his Dogville



Awe it's the Fam!

"We're on a leash, but we're not walkin... what's goin' on??"

WINSTON! COOKIE! Look at the camera! Do you want a Treat?

And then there's that Magic word "Squirrel" that get's 'em excited everytime, but who knew it would make Me so happy? LOL!

Then there is our other Baby Sophie- she's 15 years old, she doesn't like going outside, and the dogs frighten her, so we took a quick pic in the guest bedroom where she had been camped out. When you add her in, our family has 24 legs all together! I'm glad only 4 of those require shoes!

Sporting the Cameo!

Fabric

When I was little I would play in my grandmother's fabric scrap bag. She was a Coco Chanel caliber seemstress. There was absolutely nothing that she couldn't look at, and make. She had to do a complete reconstruction on my wedding gown the week before the wedding because the cleaners had shrunk it in the whole cleaning process (it had to be cleaned riding bare back on a thorough bred for some of the bridal pictures my mom took in Kentucky had given it a very Man of War smell). May-may taught me a few things on the sewing machine, and she taught me how to crochet, but I was too impatient for the darn sewing machine. I used to get so mad at her for constantly making me rip out seams and pull out lines of crocheting just because one little spot might be slightly off. She would never settle for making anything that wasn't complete perfection. I find myself missing her all the time. I still love looking at fabric, and I love painting it. Everytime I see a pile of beautiful embroidered hand towels, pillow cases, dresses, blankets, and aprons I think about her. She rarely made anything simple, I think she liked to challenge herself, but I always think of her when I see simple things because that would be the kinds of things she would try to teach me to do.

Hair there and Everywhere

Hi, my name is Jacqueline and I have a problem with my hair. I just can't seem to leave it alone. I've been told it's an artist thing to constantly be changing your hairstyle. Most of the time people only post the good pictures of themselves (I am totally guilty of this). Who cares if the other person's head is half cut off, if I look good then it's a good picture. More than once or twice I have earned my own spot in the hairdo hall of shame. I thought it might be fun to cough up a few looks I'm still scratching my head over. Oh, and these are just what I've done to myself in the past 5 years!

Exhibit A-

Here I am fall 2007 getting a rock or two from the side of the road to put out by the pool at Mom's house. Haircolor-not so good. Bangs- hmm should I grow them out or not??? Style- I'm not so sure there is a name for this...

Exhibit B-

The spring of 2005, about five months after Jon and I got married I recieved the worst haircut of my LIFE! I'm just going to call this one The Mushroom Buzz! Oh, and I know the PJs are way hot!... NOT!

Exhibit C-

Christmas 2007, The Beatles called, and wanted to know if I would cross Abbey Road with them.

Exhibit D-

This is what happens when you frost your hair, and then leave the peroxide on too long because there's a good show on TV and you don't have Tivo yet. It turned white, and broke off!

Exhibit E-

OH Brother! Another bad idea! Spring 2006 on my way to The 4 States Living Best of Texarkana where Dad was awarded Best Doctor in town, and I should have been given recognition for worst hair.

Exhibit F-
I call this Buster Brown's Best (I had Jon cut it) May 2007

Exhibit G

2008- Just a wee bit Ashy





Exhibit H

Don't be jealous Napoleon!

Nine

I saw what looked like a few good trailers for it, so I decided to hit up the Redbox. Boy am I glad I didn't pay more than a dollar for that torture, it was so bad Jon and I turned it off a little over an hour into it, and we usually will watch even lousy shows to the end. The only good part of the whole show is the song "Be Italian," (Fergie did a good job singing it) and now it is in my head. I'll be singing it, and people are going to think, "I guess she really liked that show." Me not liking the show has nothing to do with the it being a musical. Jon and I both love broadway shows with singing, and dancing. His favorite is Phantom of the Opera. My favorites are Miss Saigon, Jekyll & Hyde, Gigi, and Les Miserables (I've discovered I can never have just 1 favorite of anything I always love 3 or 4. Don't ask me my favorite flower, perfume, song, book, or movie because I can't pick just one!). Oh, and I might I add... I really loved the movie Moulin Rouge. I was really disappointed that Nine was so bad, it had so many big stars in it... Daniel Day Lewis, Nicole Kidman, Fergie, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Marion Cotillard, Kate Hudson, & Sophia Loren. Now Nicole Kidman's movies tend to be hit and miss, but I didn't know it was even possible for Sophia Loren to be in a bad film. I may have to go pull out Houseboat tomorrow night because I don't want that show skewing my opinion of good o' Sophia. The critics seem a lot nicer than me, they give it a C-, I might give it a D since I did like that one song. Anyways that's the news from "Lake Wobegon" for tonight. Sleep tight.

So I'm on a Flower Kick

I love flowers, sometimes I just like to look at them and wonder "How does God do it?" Well the past couple of years (yes years) I have been toying with the idea of getting an orchid, but I've been so worried "What if I kill it? They are so fragile!" I absolutely hate killing plants, don't ask me why, but if I think I'm going to kill it, then I just won't buy it. It may have something to do with this need to nurture and care for everything, or a fear of failure... oh well whatever. Today I got up my nerve and decided I've just got to have an orchid, and if I kill it, then I kill it. I think it helped that I have been carrying my Orchid Dooney for the past couple of weeks (I got it 75% off last fall, and hey I've taken care of it this long so I'd be able to carry it this spring, so surely I can take care of a real one). Everytime I looked at my purse, I thought gosh, I've just got to have a real one! It also didn't hurt that Lowe's had some really pretty ones on sale, and I got it for $14.00. How could I pass up a deal like that? Sam's has them for Mother's day, and they are charging $44.98 for them (Gasp!!). It is orange and pink, and it was love at first sight, now I'm wondering... "Do I need a white and purple to match my purse??"

I also got two more beautiful rose bushes for my rose garden and a juniper bush. Jon has his vegetable garden all built up, and I'm looking forward to it growing big, and the okra plants had better not let me down. It may not be for everyone, but I love digging in the dirt, and being outside, and seeing things grow.

Canton Treasures

Last spring we went all over Europe, and I have thought that there are a few places I need to go back to because I have this mental shopping list. On this list is a georgous ornate handpainted chess set I saw in Florence, at least a dozen of the pretty souvenir ink pens from Harrods in London, but most of all... A Cameo Pin or a Cameo Pill box. DUH I'm still smacking myself in the head! I spent an afternoon in Pompeii-Naples, and went to a factory where they make and sell them. I saw thousands of them all over the place, and also in Casino, Italy. The top two pictures are cameos I saw in Europe, and if you're a real sharp cookie you'll think I've seen that top picture before. (I drew it with prismacolor pencils, and it's in my post about the spring art show.

At the time I felt like I shouldn't buy one as a way to boycott the Camarerro, which is what the Italians call the mainland mafia. Yes I had a conscience about buying one because I learned that the entire Italian cameo business is run by Camarerro. Ugh, no one would ever buy anything from Italy if they grew a conscience because the entire country is crooked. I think I'm over my whole personal boycott idea. Why in the heck did I not just cough up 50 euro and bring home a whole sack full? Real cameos are truly the most exquisite form of jewelry you can own. A cameo requires more skill, artistic ability, time, energy, a work than anything else you'll ever put in your jewelry box (except maybe a Rolex since those are made one at a time as well). I rate pearls in second place because those take a long time to grow and hand string.
I'm also a little sentimental about cameos because my Mom wore them on her's and dad's wedding day, and they were stolen when their house was broken into while they were newlyweds in Tulsa. I'm sure some jerk out there took them, pawned them, and hasn't given it a second thought. If she still had them, I would have worn them in my wedding. Oh well, can't dwell on things like that.
So the conclusion of this story is I got 5 beautiful cameos in Canton, TX at First Monday this weekend. Those are the ones in the two bottom pictures. Two of them are real shell, and one is on lava rock, the other two are costume, but I think they're pretty anyways, and they are all antique. I think they look like they ought to be in the next Victoria Bliss magazine. By they way I Love that magazine, and if they ever decide they need someone else to go around taking pictures of beautiful things I think they might be able to twist my arm (ok I'd be the one doing the arm twisting).

Tyler Roses

The Tyler Rose Garden is truly breath taking. It is really under rated if you ask me. When the roses are blooming, there is no place on earth that looks or smells so heavenly. Since we discovered this wonderland about 10 years ago we try to go at least once a year either in the spring or the fall when the roses are at their peak. Mom and I went all over the place with our cameras snapping pictures right and left, and yes I am making plans to paint at least on or two of them. I've been thinking about doing a painting with my wedding rings in a rose, I'm going to call it "I loved you then, I love you still, & I always will." Yes it is a long title, but I liked they way it sounds.

Road Trip!

Ok, so we just went down to the farm for a few days, and drove through Jefferson and Tyler on the way, but I did take a few cool pictures, and get some great ideas to paint-prismacolor-draw. I love going through Jefferson, TX. It is just a little corner of the earth that time seems to have forgotten about. Sasha came along with us, but as you can see I had to turn my hand into a muzzle when we came upon a group of cats (3 or 4 of them had the audacity to cross the street right in front of us, while I was trying to take a picture of a house. It drove Sasha nuts!).

Anyways, back to Jefferson... Every year the town selects about six different homes to be on the Christmas tour of homes, and everything is decorated with real garland, fruits, strung popcorn, and gingerbread. The rule is if they didn't have it to decorate with in Victorian times, then you can't use it. The home owners even dress up in Victorian style clothing, and many of them serve guests coffee, wassail, cider, and little baked treats. My family has gone on the tours quite a few times, and it is so neat to see what a great job the residents have done at keeping up the old homes.