I <3 Seattle and a fun giveaway

First, an announcement... My sweet friend Jenny of Everyday is a Holidaywas kind enough to tag me with the Thinking Blogger Award! Now it's my turn to tag 5 others, and in turn, those 5 should tag 5 and so on a so forth. Because I have been gone so long, please forgive me if you have already been tagged and I missed it. I'd like to tag everyone listed in my links list,actually. But since that is not part of the rules, I'll have to take a few days to pick only 5!

Ahhhhhhh...... lovely Seattle!!!!!!!First of all, I am a great big dork for forgetting to take my camera with me, so I don't have any original pictures to share, but I did borrow some from the Wikitravel.com and Seattletravel.com websites.

Our trip started early on a Friday morning with a 2 1/2 hour plane ride from Sky Harbor airport in Phoenix to SeaTac Airport in Washington. Flying over Mt. Rainier was amazing. It looked like a giant chocolate cake, iced with powered sugar (image below from National Forest Service website).

To our incredible good fortune, we landed at 10:30am in a sunny, blue-skied Seattle morning. The "emerald" city was truly shining in dozens of shades of glorious greens.

After orienting ourselves armed with maps and a rental car, we made our way to West Seattle to catch the ferry to Vashon Island, where one of my dearest friends lives. The ferry ride was so much fun, and seeing a good friend after missing her for 9 months was the icing on the cake. Shortly after our arrival at her home on the island, we made our way down a leafy forest path to a local beach to take in views of Puget Sound.

The next day, my husband slept in, and my friend’s sweet husband offered to watch the kids so that she and I could while away the day exploring the island's treasure shops and the lighthouse. I came away with some cool vintage goodies including these framed gems from the 1930's. Perfect for a romantic boudoir.

I also couldn't resist these little ornaments below found at the island thrift shop... I have no idea what to do with them but I had to have them anyway! Suggestions anyone?

The next day was spent in Seattle with my husband taking in the music lover’s paradise that is The Experience Music Project . I don't think that I have ever shared how talented of a musician my husband is. He plays piano, guitar and drums. So he was really in heaven wandering through the Jimi Hendrix exhibit and everything else this fantastic museum had to offer. We didn't leave till closing time. That night, we caught a movie downtown before catching the last ferry back to the island.

On Monday, we were again blessed with abundant sunshine, so before catching the plane home, we had to check out the famous Pike's Place market. It was beyond fantastic. This is place farmers, artists, flower growers, and fish throwers all come together to peddle their wares to locals and tourists alike. I couldn't believe the gorgeousness of the tulips offered at the flower marts and how good all the food I sampled tasted. I really fell in love with it and can't wait to go back!!! I really encourage anyone, especially my creative fellow bloggers, to put Seattle on their MUST visit list.

And now for the giveaway!!!!!

I had hoped to have a completed fairy to offer up as a giveaway, but haven't been able to finish one in time. So as a fun alternative, my giveaway will be to offer to create a custom fairy for the winning commenter on this blog post. I’ll do the drawing a week from Monday. The winner can specify exactly how they want their finished fairy to look in terms of hair and eye color, and the what the word on the transport box will be.... wish, hope, dream, imagine.... anything that will fit a small box. The winner also gets to choose the style. Detachable wings and hat (as seen below) or permanent( as seen above)? Butterfly style, Mary Jane's, or elfish stocking feet? I can also work around color schemes to create a fairy of your dreams.

Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday. I am big believer in honoring people on their special day, so if you would please, when you leave your comment, post your birth date so that I can send you good wishes when your day rolls around. :-)

Birthday and an Update

Hi everyone! I just got back from Seattle last night and I will be be back later this week with some new pics and updates. I will also be doing a fun giveaway as a way to celebrate my birthday (34 today!!!!) Thanks for everyone who has stopped by recently to say hello!

San Francisco...

I don't have time to post much , but I do want to share some pics of my favorite city, which I was blessed enough to have the opportunity to visit briefly last week. Above... sunset on the beautiful bay.

Below are shots from the extraordinary Musee Mechanique...the must see tourist attraction for me whenever we visit (read about it here http://www.museemechanique.org/). I am like a little kid at this place, running around with my hands full of quarters, so excited to watch these hand crafted antique arcade machines and mechanical musical instruments come to life. .. You Tube has a few pretty good videos available of the machines all lit up and working. Here's a link to one... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK9cqLQ472s you have to wait about a minute or so through the video to see my favorite attraction.. the carnival :-)

Notice the detail in these little masterpieces of invention...

This kind of stuff just makes me smile...

Lots of people are scared of this one below, and she can be an overwhelming site. You can't tell from the picture, but she must be at least 6 feet tall, and for the price of two quarters she'll laugh uproariously while her whole body shakes. How do they do that?!!!!

Below, a store window from the thrift store lover's paradise in Mission District neighborhood. Also, this is the neighborhood to get an excellent meal in San Francisco without breaking your entire budget.



A shot of Lombard street (crookedest street in the world) from the cable car... not the greatest pic.. I think my hands were shaking, from cold, huger or nervousness at the height!

The world famous...

Thanks for stopping by to view my vacation photos!

Things are really nuts at work. I'll be traveling most of the week this week and I am desperately behind in filling orders for The Polka Dot Pixie , so after tonight, I will be taking a bit of a blogging and internet surfing break for a week or two, or until I can get myself all situated and caught up. I look forward to returning to share photos of some new mini dolls that have been in the works for a few weeks now. In the meanwhile, Alice is still available at my Glitter and Grunge page, and the Imagine Fairy will be available on my PFATT page tomorrow. The same discount of 15% and free shipping applies for blog readers. I will still be checking my emails daily, so please feel free to email me if you have any questions

Hope you all had a blessed and joyous Easter weekend! See you in a few :-)

Wine Country

On our recent 4 day visit to Northern California, we had the opportunity to spend 1 1/2 glorious days basking in the sunshine of the beautiful Napa and Sonoma Valley Regions.

The shots above and below here are of the the gorgeous Hennessey House (the pics are from their website), a bed and breakfast we stayed in for two nights .

You have to check out the virtual tour here of their incredible breakfast room. The ceilings are stamped copper tin panels that have been beautifully stenciled and painted with a vine motif. And the breakfasts.... my mouth is watering with the memory!
Our room.....

I love pastoral views like this one. I feel a real sense of peace when I look at them. This region is full of green rolling hills, storybook estates, and magnificent rows and rows of grapevine.

We spent Saturday afternoon sampling the scenery and meandering through the boutiques, antique shops and bookstores generously sprinkled throughout the charming Victorian town of Petaluma. These views really took my breath away...

Above is hubby, taking in the view, probably trying to figure out a way to relocate us here :-)

This is why so many people love California...





Many people, my husband included, head to this region for the wine. I go for the scenery, the bread and the cheese!

Next post... come with me to San Francisco :-)!!!!!

A mailbox full of goodness!!!!

It's never fun to come back from a much needed vacation, but this return home last night was completely different, thanks to my sweet fellow bloggers!

Above and below these words you'll see pictures of the beautifully crafted faux cupcakes, straight from the talented hands of Colleen at Frostings and Sparkles These gorgeous cupcakes are mouthwateringly realistic! I don't know how she does it, but they are wonderful!

And as you can see by the picture below, I was completely spoiled by my wonderful swap partner Melissa. (Check out Melissa's awesome blog ...here) Just look at all the vintage cheer she packed into my box: the enamel pan, the crocheted potholder, the glass butter dish and sweet silver butter knife (I forgot to take of pic of those! I will post one later), the perfect 1940's style pitcher, the gorgeous vintage tablecloth, the sweet strawberry banner and the graphically gorgeous antique egg carton and the red handled spoon... I love everything!!!!! But my favorite item has to be the handmade collage. "She put the kitsch in kitchen". I LOVE it! She is such a talented artist, a really sweet person, and was a fantastic swap partner.

Thanks again to Jenny of Everyday is a Holiday for hosting such a fun swap :-)!

I can't wait to share some pics of our brief vacation with you all. I hope to do so within the next couple of days. I also need to catch up on all of your blogs! I am sorry I haven't been commenting much lately, but now that things have settled here a bit, I plan to sit down with a nice cup of hot cocoa tonight and catch up with everyone. As always, your kind comments here are much appreciated. For those of you who are interested, the Alice doll is now available on my Glitter and Grunge page. Any blog reader that decides to adopt her this month will receive 15% off. Please let me know in your ordering email that you read my blog to get the discount.

Back from vacation....

My husband and I had to take a quick trip to our favorite city... lots of pics and posts coming up soon! And while I was gone, some wonderful stuff arrived up in my mailbox!!!!! Check in later today to see why I love the mailman!