What I did on Thursday...

Thursday was the grand opening of our newest dollar store. Being the cheapskate that I am, and being in the mood for fall, I decided to embark on a creative project which I wasn't convinced would be...shall we say...passable. After all, the ingredients for my project were from...well...the cheapest place around! Undaunted by the underwhelming price of my components, I threw myself into a project to create a front door wreath.

I started with a wreath base and four fall leaf garlands. One by one I tucked the end of the garland into the wreath and wrapped it around the wreath til i got to the other end, tucking that into the wreath base as well. I took two picks with little gourds and pumpkins on them, and tucked those into the base, then made a bow with the 3 feet of wired fall ribbon that I had just purchased at Dollar Tree. At this point I needed to snip off a little piece of floral wire to tie the ribbon onto the wreath. Unfortunately, in my short-sightedness, I did not take pictures of the process. After all, I thought this whole idea could potentially be a big flop! To my delight, the wreath turned out great and I promptly displayed it on my front door. My cost: $8. The whole thing took about 15 minutes (and would have taken less time except that I couldn't find the floral wire!) Can't beat that with a stick!

Pink Friday August 29

What a great theme we have this week!!! A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS is the theme for your special shopping experience at Make Mine Pink. So I will have the wonderful opportunity to share with you some of my favorites at The Odd Sparrow. Please be sure to stop by tomorrow! There are lots and lots of specials and great pricing on some of the most special items! Can't wait to see you there!

Vacation Time!!!

Without a doubt it is beautiful here. We are in Lake Buena Vista, Florida on the grounds adjacent to Disney's Carribean Beach Resort and Epcot Center. These photos are from our balcony in our second floor hideaway. Down the way on the other side of the lake is the resort's main pool and lazy river. I will try to take more pics there to share. AND if I can get some good pics of the Epcot fireworks I will share those also. But for now, I would love it if you could see the lovely condo unit which we will call home for the next week.

Well, it was a LONG time comin'! We had our challenges getting here, but now we are starting the process of decompressing and I wanted to share a bit of where we are currently decompessing. These pictures are of the living room at our resort condo. Such lovely tuscan style decor!

Of course, everyone needs a nice, luxurious master bedroom and bath and here is ours, above.

And my ds' room. I couldn't get a pic of his bathroom that looked any good. It is very nice, but just a standard bathroom.

Lastly, but not least-ly...the kitchen and dining area. NO...I will NOT be cooking. But we have made sure to pick up some cereal, lunchmeat, milk, and a variety of items that will come in handy this week.

We are hearing word that the storm will pass by, grazing to our west this week. Hope so...or we will be washed out. But I think we will be ok and if we have to stay in a day or two, we will do just that. It is about family...not about the parks, not about the pools, not about animated characters. It's not even about the Ghirardelli chocolate...although it's a close race...haha! So we will be family...a little, happy family...and we will enjoy this vacation. And maybe, just maybe, I will get to meet dear, sweet Andie while I am here. So all in all, it will be good and while I am away, my mom and sis are taking care of sweet Max and he is doing just a bit better than when I left, so I am at peace and just keeping him in prayer.

As I have updates, I will post this week!

Shy Patricia Rose

My dear cyber friend Pat Morello of Patricia Rose is my very first feature boutique. I wanted to introduce her to you because she is very shy and will not introduce herself. Just kidding! Anyone who knows Pat will tell you that she is actually a very outgoing and friendly gal!

Pat features in her shop some of the most awesome potpourris that you have ever seen. She home grows as many ingredients as she possibly can, assuring the honest, natural, organic quality of her products. Pat does not use artificial ingredients and is sure to deliver a high quality product, scented with essential oils and not the chemicals that are so commonly used elsewhere. She shared with me that "almost everything [she grows] goes into the potpourri. [She keeps] expanding the gardens in the hope that [she] will no longer have to purchase supplies." Some of her gardens include: roses, herbs, numerous bushes of various sorts, annuals, tons of perennials, and pine trees.

Just speak to Pat once and her enthusiasm for her product will shine through. She mentions, " I have been dabbling in this for years. I like the aromatherapy aspect of natural scents and reallly dislike potpourri that smells 'almost like' something. I like the fact that my potpourri is nearly totally natural (with the exception of musk, which is a synthetic. They no longer kill the poor little deer for their musk glands) and occasionally I have used synthetic rose oil because attar of roses or rose otto is unbelievably expensive. Rose geranium oil is usually my substitute to avoid synthetic." Of course, who could not notice how incredibly eye-appealing her beautiful potpourri is as well.

The one thing that Pat wishes for her customers to take away from their experience with her product is the absolute pleasure of pure fragrance. Since it is so difficult for her to share her scents over a computer, she leaps at the opportunity to convey the essence of her product: "It's something that is only a background note to your home but it makes an impression on people, nonetheless. I would like them to see the benefits of having a 'signature ' fragrance for the living areas, for the bedroom, for the office. Potpourri can be produced to enhance feeling of well being, relaxation, alertness, sensuality."

Pat has hopes of being able to renovate her detached garage as a studio and teaching area in order to give classes. She has a real vision for her business and I know that someday she will have her dream studio...and boy will it smell wonderful! But what is HER favorite scent? "I don't have only one favorite."

Please be sure to visit my dear friend Pat's potpourri boutique at: http://www.patriciarose-apotpourri.com/

Oh, My Goodness!

I totally forgot!!! I was tagged by Gail at http://www.cupcakesandcutestuff.blogspot.com/ last week and since then I have also been tagged by Andie of http://www.thebrownbee.blogspot.com/ . They tagged me to tell you 7 things about myself...things that just maybe you did not know already.

1. When I was little, I had a pink shag carpet in my bedroom. Now that may SOUND good, but believe me it wasn't! This rug was cursed from day one, matting down immediately. I admit though, that it did look cute with my french provincial white/gold furniture!

2. My middle name begins with an "F". That's what I used to tell my friends and they would guess every name in the book and could never figure out what my middle name is. It is Faith.

3. I am told by my husband that we were introduced long before I thought we had met for the "first" time. Apparently our mutual friend had introduced us...the same friend that introduced us just before we started dating. Sadly, I do not remember the real first time. Guess he didn't make such a good first impression! Lucky him...he got a second chance to make a first impression!

4. My sister once asked me if I wanted to sign her autograph book. Being quite young, I was honored and knew exactly what I wanted to write. She helped me spell it out as I eyed up the stuffed cat that she had sitting by her bedroom door. "Janie has a kitty cat and it won't vigor."

5. When I was but a young 'un I picked a pussy willow from the branches mom had in the corner of the living room. I took it into the bathroom and promptly put it up my nose. My dad managed to extract it with tweezers when I panicked because I could not get it out. Ironically, many years later I met someone who remains a dear friend. She did the same exact thing when she was a kid. I wonder why we did that...



6. When I was little I got stung by a bee on my right arm. It eventually became infected and I needed to have it lanced. My mom told me that the bee was attracted to me because I was dressed like a flower in my pretty yellow, white, and brown playsuit. I believed her.



7. I once went to Florida with a friend. She and I were perplexed when we tried to cook hotdogs in the broiler at our hotel room and they were not getting done. Turned out we had put them in the oven drawer. I have since learned to cook.



Ok...so now I get to tag 7 more people. If you want to play, you have to link the person that tagged you (ME) and the people you tag (7 of them) AND you need to notify them so that they can play! Oh, and be sure to tell them the rules...

Here are the people I am tagging:

1. Karen of Sweet Necessi-Teas http://sweetnecessi-teas.blogspot.com/
2. Susan of The Dutch Rose http://thedutchrose.blogspot.com/
3. Pat of Patricia Rose http://www.patriciarose-apotpourriof.blogspot.com/
4. Michelle (dw) of The Raspberry Rabbits http://www.theraspberryrabbits.blogspot.com/
5. Kitty of Sweet Invocations http://kittysglitter.blogspot.com/
6. Erica of Meadow Street http://www.meadowstreet.com/blog/
7. Stephanie of Shabby in Pink Boutique http://www.shabbyinpinkboutique.blogspot.com/

NOW THAT I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION...I have a few announcements:

1. Please note the results of last week's poll. I will be creating some patterns and kits in the future to add to my site. Please stay tuned for that.

2. Take note of this Friday's Pink themed shopping on the sidebar to the right.

3. Make sure you come back next Monday for a few vacation pics!

4. and most importantly: PLEASE TUNE IN THIS THURSDAY TO READ ALL ABOUT MY FEATURED BOUTIQUE.