The Best Hint Yet!!

As many of you know, we are taking the kids on a surprise vacation in about a week. We have given them various hints, but have yet to tell them of our destination. I came across some pics that just may be "prophetic" as to what awaits them on this trip! To get the full effect, make sure you have the volume turned up on your computer.The first one is a great family picture of us having a swell time. As you can see, Mark and I are lounging in the background! Next,, Mark and I are showing off our tan and trim bodies in our new swimsuits!!

Last, we have a group pic of all of the new friends we are going to make on this trip!!

If you are a friend of mine and you know where we are going (I have only told ALL of Abilene) please do not mention it if you should leave a comment on this blog. The kids will find out on their way to the airport next Saturday and I don't want anyone to slip and spoil the surprise. Oh how fun this has been and how fun it will be!!

One Cute Golfer!!

Last week we had the PRIVILEGE to house a golfer during a tournament at the Fairway Oaks Golf Course. Little did we know that we would end up feeling like we had adopted a daughter. We just fell in love with Courtney and bonded immediately. As you can tell, she and Lucy became great friends,too. We look forward to staying in touch with her and are keeping our fingers crossed that she might even end up in Abilene for college. Thank you,Courtney, for blessing our lives and being such a fun guest! I teased her about her "golf tan" that you can readily see in the second picture!! So cute! We love and miss you!!!

Our Favorite Person in Denver.....

is our daughter Stephanie!!! Stephanie has lived in Denver for the past 5 years and works for Noble Energy. She loves her job and loves her city. We would sure love for her to come back to Texas, but for now, she is a Colorado gal. I took pics of her apartment building , the grounds and her little basement apartment. So quaint and pretty with really great landlords. Her windows in her apartment are right below the ceiling and they look out upon the little secret garden you see towards the bottom of my post. I was curious how basement living would be, but she loves it and the view of the garden is really neat.Wonderful old building that her landlords renovated and turned into several apartments.




The side yard and garden that Steph can see from her ground level windows.

She and Mark standing by her little cubby where she has her computer.etc.

View as you walk into her apartment. Those are the ground level windows that look out into the garden.

Thanks Steph for being such a great host and tour guide for your mom and dad. We had a blast and can't wait to come back!! Love you bunches!!!!!!

The Pink Attic Cat.....

my new favorite store in..........................Littleton, Colorado! I walked in and my heart started racing! So much to look at and they (the owners) even encouraged me to take pictures for any ideas I might want to remember. Imagine that! I love the display inside the empty TV below. These are the rusty springs from an old bed that they have propped up with a ton of small packaged items clipped to the springs. There is a sign strung across the top that says, "Clutters Last Stand". So cute!

Varied objects are combined to spell "Home". Now why didn't I think of that????

More clutter!

What I saw as I walked through the door the first time.............Love it!!!

My New Favorite Town...

Littleton, Colorado! The second day we were in Denver, we followed "Bimbo" to Littleton to check out the downtown area. As you turn down the street towards downtown, the little shops and pretty flowers take your breath away. We ate lunch and then roamed around for part of the afternoon. Lola's Sugar Rush was a candy store like no other!! Weight Watchers went out the window when I walked in the door !!!!!!!!

Cherry Creek Art Festival

Another event that was going on while in Denver was the Cherry Creek Art Festival. It is on the streets of the Cherry Creeek area among restaurants and wonderful little stores. Many well known artists come from all over the country to display their art in white tents along several blocks of the area. We stayed at the Inn at Cherry Creek and literally walked out our door into the festival. Most of the art is pretty high dollar so I did not buy anything at this event, BUT I got to meet one of my FAVORITE collage artists, Lynn Whippple. I have seen her work in magazines and online and just love her quirky stuff. When I went back to her booth to take a pic of us together , she had left for the day to go to a wedding. Darn!! But her sweet husband said I could take a few pics of her booth. The next three pictures are of her work. I don't think the two bird pics are hers ...I think they were another artist. Anywho,if you would like to see more of her work, just google her and there will be lots of sites to visit.

Paris Street Market.....Littleton, Colorado

Well, the day finally arrived to go to the Paris Street Market and what a fun day it was!! If you are ever in Littleton on the first weekend of the month during the spring through the fall, you must visit this open air market!! Shabby chic heaven!! We had to make a quick stop at Dazbog to get some coffee before we headed to Littleton for the Paris Street Market.


Jewelry, jewelry and more jewelry!

I loved these cute little clipboards! Just think I might make some to sell!





Mark was a great sport while Steph and I looked around for almost 3 hours. I bought this little cart for $7.00 and it really came in handy to transport our goodies.






Even the doggies were cared for !

Flower pots in the old springs of a bed. Too cute! If you want to somewhat duplicate this look in your garden, drop by my booth at Classic Collections and see the old spring mattress I have on the wall! It's for sale, too!

These gals loved whatever they were looking at!

Eye Candy

Anyone from Abilene know the gal in the red shirt??? She and her husband drove up to check out the market and do some "junkin". It was so fun to meet up with her there. As you can see below, she bought some kind of a BIG funeral flower basket to adorn her yard. Drive by her house on Sayles and you might just see it!