Happy Monday!

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in, forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day, you shall begin it well and serenely......"

( Ralph Waldo Emerson)

I love this quotation site! It is a really important week.....my nephew moved from Orange County and will be going to College here in the area, that's a big step, first year of Collage, first time away from what he is use too. Good luck A.J.

It is a really important week.....Alan, my 17 years old is coming back Wednesday after 2 months of been in Sicily, we miss him so much.

It is a really important week for a lot of you....what ever the reason. Let's begin it well and serenely.....

Ciao for now

Rita

Spending the day in Little Italy with

La Famiglia.

First time at the Little Italy Farmers Market, we did enjoy it very much. A family outing well deserved. Happy Sunday everybody

Ciao for now

Rita

What a great Day today was!

I finished few projects from 2 posts ago. I have been stuck on white for a couple of years because few of my spaces required white to follow the decor of the shop..... shabby white, cottage white, stressed white. I do love it but I am finally free to do what I really want. I love color and still scared to go back I am introducing it a little bit each day in my work.

Finished the 16 signs for Margie and delivered them today.

then.....we had a field trip! Few friends came from San Diego and Matilda's Mouse was having their event. So much fun, Christie took more photos of the inside. Check her blog in a couple of days.

Here is Andrea leaving with my bicycle, well not mine but I really was thinking about it.

then Surprise! Katy from Roseville showed up. So cool to see her here down South. Katy sales up in Roseville at The TatteredHouse.

then back to Rainbow to see Jeff and Candy at Silverado Salvage Yard. He had just unloaded the trailer. Yummy! I got some cool stuff, but that's another post....

I got a gift from Jeff, Little Bo Peep.

she is going on a bottle of course.

What a great day, thank you to my simple life and friends, let's do it again!

Ciao for now

Rita

300th post!

300th Post Giveaway!

you know what to do....leave a comment and I will pick the winner August 22nd.

Broken China charm will be my gift to you.

"Pasta alla Norma"

did I ever tell you that in my next life I will have my own cooking show? Not the usual cooking show. We all think we know about cultures.....Italian are born cooks, Spanish only have spicy foods, French make baguettes, American have cheese burgers. Not true.....

I can't speak for other cultures but my show would be about debating what's true and not true about Italian food, of course my way. When I first came in the States Dean and I leaved in my mother-in-law's house, first chore for me was to cook. I never cooked in my entire life! They would all leave for work and I would try to figure out what to make for dinner. I loved the red and white recipe book that Pat (Dean's mom) had on the shelf. What is the name? Can't remember....so I would try one recipe a day. Horrible food but they never said a thing, they were polite or afraid. One of the two.

One secret about me....I can't eat at Italian restaurants. I would complain the entire time." The spelling is wrong, you don't put ricotta on lasagnas, we don't use all that garlic, we don't have bread sticks and meatballs are served separate from your spaghetti that are not called noddles!"

Dean and I love vintage bathtubs and we have a few. For mother's day as a gift I was supposed to have on of them moved from the pool area up to the house to have an English Garden. That didn't happen. Father's day comes and what do I find on the back of the house, THE BATH TUB! full of veggie. Yes I was upset, why not, I don't get my English Garden and he gets his veggies.

(One of my stepping stones holds the tub in place.) Well, the more I look at the veggie the more I see that every single vegetable is going to be perfect for my favorite dish.

"Pasta alla Norma"

check this site for the recipe

Pasta alla Norma is a Sicilian recipe. It was named after a Sicilian composer Bellini's opera Norma. To honor both the dish and the opera.

Pomodori e Basilico = Tomatoes and Basil

Eggplants=Melanzane

and the only thing missing to complete the recipe is ricotta.

I love to cook! And my favorite thing is to mix and match, Italian, Spanish, American....

Better start dinner, Buon Appetito

Ciao for now

Rita

P.S. did you see? this is my 300th post! what should we do? a giveaway? yes we should, a charm? please leave me a comment from now Wednesday August 11th until

August 22nd and mention the giveaway.

Happy White Wednesday!

" Gratitude is not the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others" (Cicero)

I do love going to quotationspage.com and read the quote of the day. This one is for today and yes I am really grateful in so many levels.

I am grateful for the place where I live.

morning fog, very peaceful

I am grateful for my chickens, lol

I am trying to figure out how Cuddle gets out. We have 12 chickens and she always managing to get out, goes for her walk to the grape vine has breakfast and goes back in.

I am grateful for my hobby it's a job that helps pay the bills.

Day one on making 2 birdhouses

starting to work on a sign order

I am grateful for these wonderful ladies giving me gifts to recycle and reuse.

The price tags are from Mrs. Claus, that's what Christie calls Lori Martin. I should have shown you the before tags, nice and white. I had some pink dye left that I mixed with water and soak the tags then I soaked them in a bath of coffee.

Grazie

Dyanna Cooley my rosary chain suppliers is my bead giver. Thank you Dyanna also for all the wonderful ideas. These beads will be used for Glitterfest.

Christie gave me the most beautiful frame that will be transformed into a table top. Grazie

and I received these letter long time ago from Linda from The Ivy Nest. I just found them and need to figure out what to do with them.

Lisa Loria and I were talking on how to better organize our wrapping area during a sale. Just say the word and you will be heard by Abbey and Sara from Sweet Magnolia's Farm. They can find anything for you if they don't already have it. They brought me the stand and a suitcase. The suitcase was blue and the stand honey color. Of course everything has to be painted white. Eventually I would like to decoupage the suitcase. Thank you Abbey and Sara

Happy White Wednesday, and I am grateful........

don't forget to stop by Kathleen's blog for more WW

Ciao for now, back to work

Rita

Happy Monday!

What a great show in San Diego. The Cottage in the Garden is the place to be to spend two amazing days....I think I am spoiled by having such a job like this. The weather was perfect, Shirley's garden is so inviting. Birdbaths, feeders, swings, cozy sitting areas were everywhere. Lunch was made by chef Jerry, delizioso. Thank you for having me. I stole this photo from Sweet Sandra....please visit her blog for more on The Cottage in the Garden. Talking about Sandra....she purchased one of my birdhouses at the show and last night there was an e-mail from her saying how much she loves her birdhouse. Then she asked me if we had tarantulas in Rainbow. As usual sometime I can't put one and one together so I answered back by letting her know how much we love tarantulas and how smart they are and bla bla bla. I click send.....This morning the more I think about ...I start asking my self " why would she ask me about tarantulas?"(Miss. knows it all). An other e-mail from Sandra arrived to let me know that the tarantula was inside the birdhouse! Please Sandra can I have my tarantula back?

I am also so excited to start concentrating on the Chateau de Fleurs! Not only building but also to meet all the vendors, from 10 vendors on the first show we are up to 25. One of a kind artists will be selling at the Studio and Vintage Market Place. You will get to meet them all soon.

Ciao for now

Rita

Happy Early Weekend Everybody!

Christie and I are off to San Diego to spend two wonderful days with our friends and selling our goodies at

"Cottage in The Garden".

I made some MAGIC yesterday. So much fun when you can create and love the results! I wanted to share with you one of my latest signs and two darling bottles.

They will be for sale at the Cottage

See you there

Ciao for now

Rita