A lovely Giveaway and some good movies for a cold ugly day...

First....I want to thank every single one of you for your beautiful birthday wishes for my mama..It meant the world to us all! THANK YOU !!!! Her Birthday was spent rather quiet without my dad and...she had a molar pulled and was a little swollen and a tad uncomfortable...So we had her cake and ice cream the next day when she wasn't looking quite the chipmunk and could enjoy it :)

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Everyone... loves a giveaway...but a fun one to boot? If you haven't visited Kasey of Lola B's wonderful blog yet, your in for such a treat, her blog is full of beautiful pictures and she has such a fun, witty and insightful way of writing, she really grabs you from the get go! Kasey is giving away the lovely necklace below called Fly Me to Paris, among some other lovelies :) Good Luck Everyone......and....Your Welcome :)

To enter click HERE...
Giveaway ends.... 4/23 at Midnight

Now I was going to originally use this picture below of Jean-Pierre, whom they met while on her wonderful trip to Paris, but thought better of it in case the winner decided to sue me because he wasn't included in the Giveaway prize they received in the mail...hence...the above lovely picture instead :)

Ps..You really should read her Girls In Paris...Day One post Here and then Girls in Paris...Deux Here if only to see where Jean-Pierre (pictured below) comes into all this and laugh so hard ya might just have to run and tinkle from her oh so witty writing :) And enjoy all her beautiful pictures...

And...incase you notice me rather quiet on my visits this week...tis only because I am doing some family obligations and will be back to visiting as soon as I can...But while I am working, I will be watching this movie tonight "The Young Victoria" I hope it is good....

Update***I loved this movie, but was rather disappointed with the ending....I, like many had read about her throughout the years and I just felt like the movie ended at the best part...when their lives together were just beginning...but the costumes and actors were wonderful, the scenery, locations and sets (palaces) were amazingly beautiful...gotta love period pieces :) Will I watch it again....You betcha!

I watched "Everybody's Fine" earlier today....tried to watch it three times before while I cooked and or cleaned the kitchen and I knew it was good, but kept missing so much, so this morning while I worked I finally saw it...I think it is a WONDERFUL movie...Not a Christmas Holiday like I thought it was going to be, it made me think of how many times our lives echoed the movie...always telling our parents or loved ones what we think they want to know, you know...the happy stuff only....and how we sometimes are guilty of not listening and only hearing what we want to hear.....I think at one time or another we are all guilty of that :) I can't tell you how many times I went to my dad with my troubles because I didn't want to trouble mama, dad always listened and would say..."let's not bother your mother with this...it'll be fine".....and you know....it always was...but now he is gone...and it is time to tell mama everything...not only the good.....Funny....my girls think I don't know or notice....but you know what??? I see them doing the same with not only their dad...but my mama as well, they go to them and try to spare me what they think I don't want to hear....I guess this movie kind of opened my eyes to that...kind of ironic if you think about it....I thought De Niro was fabulous in it.... Anyways I really enjoyed it, if you get a chance to see it, let me know what you think :)

Well "Young Victoria" is waiting....

Until next time dear friends,

Happy Birthday, Mia Bella Mamma Maria.....

Tomorrow, April 16th.... is my beautiful mama's 64th Birthday!

I look at my mamas pictures....and I look at every nuance that is her....and I try to find me...my eyes, my lips, my nose, my chin, no, nope...I don't see it, I don't see me in her beauty...BUT.....ask anyone and they will tell you....I have her strength, her sense of humor and her wickedly strong ability to hold a grudge and never forget the things I want to remember...notice I say...the things I want to remember lol

If I could grant her, her biggest wish....I would in a heart beat...without her even asking....I see it in her eyes...I hear it in her voice....I feel it in her quiet laughter...I would give her....just a few more precious moments with her own beautiful mama...my beloved Ita and her beloved husband Sonny...But I know that they are all around us...we can feel them.....loving her now, as they did back when a simple touch could make a memory to last in our hearts forever.

But God has a way of lessening the pain along the way, so that small miracles like holding your first great~grand bebe, can make your heart beat strong once again with the hope of many more beautiful tomorrows....

Feliz Cumple Anos mama...le deseamos un ano lleno de amor, felicidad con familia y queridos amigos siempre con nosotros, haciendonos siempre sonreir ....

(I know I more than likely totally butchered that, how in the world do you add accent marks above the letters?? lol, but she knows, it is full of love from her girls, My sister Celeste & me, my amor Chris, all your grand bebes, and our entire family & friends that love and adore you ALWAYS! )

Happy Birthday Maria!!!!!

Thank you all for allowing me this special lil moment to honor my bella mama,

Until next time dear friends,

My CraigsList Chronicles Part 2...wall of roses freebie... and a beautiful Giveaway.....

First before I share this lil Craigs list story with you, I want to thank everyone that has visited my lil blog and left me such lovely comments and become new followers...I am truly humbled that you like my lil blog...everytime I see I have a new follower....I think....They like me, they really like me...I know, my own Sally Field moment :) I know....I'm a goober...I am the first to admit it!.....Ask anyone that knows me lol But, my dear amores....I have tried to get to visit each of you, but if I have missed you, please know that I will soon be there to visit your beautiful blogs too...but just incase I still missed you....I'm sorry, I am trying, there are just so many beautiful blogs that I love and only so many hours in the day to visit.... darn life, family, carpools, taking care of my home for getting in the way :)

Did I ever mention that I LOVE Craigs List??? Well....I do...not just for the treasures that I have found, both to buy and as freebies...but for the lovely people that I have come across.....I have made many a new friend through Craigs List :)


A few months back, I shared my first Craigs List story with you here, about my dad and that beautiful cabinet full of lil drawers that I got right before he passed away and I promised to share some more of my Craigs List stories with you...hence...The Craigs List Chronicles were born....This is where Part 2 comes in...

The Wall of Roses...
A bit ago, while searching through the Craigs list Freebies section...this title caught my eye.....Free Wall of Roses....Soooo of course I had to see what this was all about lol ...I LOVE roses...I really do, I clicked on it and this is what I saw...well actually it was a very close up picture of the wall of roses, but roses and flowers no less :)

The add said, "Free... Large piece of wall from a Marc Jacobs show"...I called the number, and the guy, lets say Ian...to protect the innocent :) was a sweet heart and said Many had called him for it, he asked me why I wanted it, I said, I like to do art projects and decorate with flowers around my house and I will also pass them on to friends who can use them for their own projects or just to decorate with, long story short we talked a few times on the phone for awhile lol (those of you that know me, I can absolutely hear laughing at this point... Cut it out, your interrupting my story... YOU know who you are!!! LOL See I have a habit of making friends everywhere I go...I can't just see something, buy it and leave, nooooo....I just can't help it, I like making new friends : ) He said...Rose come on over....the wall is yours....my mr wonderful being the amor that he is was game for taking me to go pick it up... Ian, was the sweetest guy, when he saw me, he actually came over and gave me huge hug lifting me off the ground and spun me around, and said I have a big personality for such a tiny lil person...he meant because I'm short...not thin :) lol did I mention he was about 6'4, if not taller! I am 5'4 but, anyone would seem tiny to him right lol He shook hands with my husband and told us that the piece of wall came from a Marc Jacobs show that they had just done, this one one of about 10 pieces of it...the wall for the show was huge and there was a pink car that was displayed in front of the wall of roses and he hugged me once more and said he was glad the flowers were going to a nice person, that wouldn't throw them away but that they would be reused and appreciated....Honestly the whole time we were talking with him, I couldn't stop smiling or laughing with him....his personality was completely infectious! My amor, was sweet enough to take all of these pictures for me below including the wall above :)

To be fair...as you can see...there are ALOT of flowers...some roses, a few lovely cream peonies, but mostly pretty little and some large magnolias :) but I still love them all :)

After we took all the flowers off the large piece of drywall, which was about 4ft x 4 1/2 ft....I had enough flowers to fill this huge pretty metal container that was another freebie story for another time :) btw, the container is large enough to bathe a bebe in...I haven't tried yet...but it is big, and the bench is large enough for 2-3 people to sit on :)

Dawn amor, I took the 2 bench pictures below!!! Aren't you proud! See I am tryin :)

Thank you Ian!!!!!! Every time I see these pretty flowers, I smile and think of him and his great personality!

Thank you for indulging me in my telling of one of my little stories...but now I want to share this beautiful Giveaway with you!

The lovely Shellagh of the beautiful blog Ticking and Toile did a lovely 2 part interview with Christina Strutt, author of the beautiful book below called "At Home With Country" and to add to the fun, she is having a lovely Giveaway featuring the Beautiful book below for one lucky winner!!!

Click here to enter....

Giveaway ends...Wednesday morning, April 14th...Good Luck!!

Well amores, sleep is coming to me quickly...Thank you Tylenol Simply Sleep!
(I'm not paid to say this...just thankful for it :)

Until next time dear friends,

The beauty of nature in our yard & Giveaway love....

***Warning....Grab a cuppa coffee or tea.....another long ass post ahead..lots of pictures :)


I love when I look through old pictures and find wonderful surprises I forgot all about like the ones below...I am awed by nature in all is wonder...but sometimes the little pieces of nature that I come across in our own yard....well the beauty of it so inspires me...because the knowledge that there are soo many little worlds existing within my own world...truly boggles my mind

Awhile back we were working on cleaning up our yard....raking the millions of leaves from or avocado trees and trust me, after filling up 3 green trashcans and 5-6 huge construction trash bags full of leaves...there are millions of leaves lol we are lucky in the sense that we live in So Cal in the city and yet have over 1/2 an acre of yard...but not so lucky when you have to clean it and mow and rake...well you get the picture....

Anyways I digress......as I was saying, we were raking and I was cutting some branches down from the avocado...trust me they were skinny lil branches...it is all my weakling hands could manage to cut :) and when I cut one of the branches the heavier ones would then go up higher without the weight of all the smaller ones hanging on...well apparently when I did this and the bigger branch shot up...it catapulted this gorgeous lil bebe hummingbird to the ground :( my aunt picked it up because she was afraid the hawk flying above or stray cats would get it....mr wonderful climbed up a very tall ladder and placed it back in its nest and you know what??? the mama fed it and what seemed liked days later...that lil bebe was flying around with its mama :) How awesome is that!!!! We were all so happy because, we had always heard that when you touch a bebe bird, it's mama would then turn its back on it and let it fend for it's self and we were all so scared of that happening to this gorgeous lil one.

(doesn't it look like this lil bebe is saying "FEED ME!" :)

These next set of pictures were also taken by my husband... mr wonderful :) You can definitely see the difference in our picture taking skills lol he is great at getting really beautiful and clear shots...but I always feel so bad bugging him to take pictures for me, but I have my new lil pink beauty and as I practice using it, I will hopefully be able to take better pictures to share with you and hence...be able to post more ....wooohoo...betcha just can't wait right...yup see how well I know my peeps :)

(Dawn amor, one of these 2 nests above is now sitting pretty in your casa :) look at the bits and pieces of paint chips from our home and the neighbors in the nest, along with string and bits of paper...how awesome is that!!)

The next 2 pictures were taken in the tree on our sidewalk, jackaranda tree (I think that is what its called but have no idea how to spell it :) Anyways it is a pretty tree with tons of purple flowers...the drawback is having to clean up all them flowers and the sticky gunk they leave on your cars and all over your floors from sticking to your shoes and trust me...they stain hardwood floors :( But on the plus side...the humming birds love them...and we LOVE the hummingbirds!!!

Now.... these next 3 pictures are of our lil Lola, or as lovingly call her "pudge" because when her fur gets long, she looks like a lil ball of fur....hence...the pudge and it just stuck...she seems to love that name more :)


Can you tell she has attitude? And just so you know in case you are offended because she is wearing clothes...she LOVES it, in fact if I hold up bebe clothes she barks and dances around, because she thinks they are for her and when you put them away, she whimpers for quite a bit...my girls say that is her way of pouting cause she didn't get her way :) And yup.....you guesses it....she is the VP of my Fru Fru Gaudy Girls club...now g'head and admit it....you know you wanna join too! :)

(Dawn amor, thank you so much for fixing all these pictures of Pudge and makin her purrtiful :)




In this next picture...look at her baring her teeth (she never does this!) when my daughter tried to take the clothes off of her...told you she loves it :) ohh and by the way...the skirt is from the Build A Bear store, belongs to my youngest Kitty she made there and for a few minutes was "loaned" to our lil Pudge

And this is Pudge in all her fru fru gaudy girl glory :) My daughter says that in this picture...Pudge is sayin "smack that" lol

Ok, now on to some important stuffs.......Giveaways!!!!

***Please note that all giveaways will remain on my Giveaway Section on my R. sidebar until they are over ***


First....Is Andrea of Vintage Bella Studio is having a lovely Giveaway here!

Winner announced Saturday April 9th.

Second...Miss Sandy of Quill Cottage is having a Sharing Spring Giveaway here!

Giveaway ends Sunday April 10th.

Third...Myrna of More Than Heirlooms is having a Birthday Giveaway here!
Winner announced Tuesday April 13th.

Well amores, time to run and start dinner, the masses in my casa be hungry :)

Until next time dear friends,

Loving Easter thoughts....& and an Earthquake! Oh No!!

Earthquake in So Cal
Title was my kids idea...:)
If you are here in So Cal, I am sure you felt that not so fun earthquake that we had at 3:40 pm this Easter Sunday...I know that here it was pretty bad , but I can't even imagine what it was like at the epicenter where it was a 7.2 magnitude ! I have family and friends in the San Diego area and I am hoping that everyone is ok...where ever you are, if you felt it, then stop to think how lucky we are that we and our loved ones are alright and how bad it must have been where the epicenter was in Mexicali, in Baja California...my friend is from there, she said...there is no power, no water and no phone service where her family is, just the thought of that terrifies me...know what went through my mind?.......Dear Lord, is that what is going to happen when the "big one" hits here in California? Today, I give thanks, that everyone I know is safe....I pray this is always the case and hope that when the next earthshake hits....we will all be ready!


Wishing you and your loved ones a beautiful Easter!

(Beautiful Easter image courtesy of The Graphics Fairy)

Oh my dear amores...as I visited your beautiful blogs these couple of days and seen how eloquently and beautiful all your Easter posts are...I am feeling at such a loss for words, I wish I could say something as beautiful and eloquent while talking about God and what this wonderous day truly means...but well those of you that truly know me, know my truth as far as religion goes, I have shared it here with you all before, I have never hidden it...I wish I could say something so full of meaning and filled with amazingly beautiful quotes from the Bible, the way so many of you have done...but well...then I would truly be at a loss, for the simple reason that I don't know how....sad right...but it is my truth, it is something that I am working on changing in my life, but it is taking time...so I will for now instead say what is in my heart....

God and religion is in my heart...I just don't know how to express my thoughts so beautifully and eloquently with scriptures like most of you can, but I can say this to you and it is meant with much love and respect...I hope that you all have the most joyous and beautiful of Easters, May it be filled with the love of family and friends,abundantly good food and the sound of laughter, from those you hold most dear...

So that being said...From my family to you and yours....
Happy Easter!

(Beautiful Easter image, courtesy of The Graphics Fairy)

P.S. I truly hope this post makes sense, it is almost 2 a.m..yet once again :)

Until next time dear friends,

April showers...usher in thoughts of wonder & wonderful Giveaways......

(Wow...doesn't that title sound lovely.....I know sometimes I do my best thinking after midnight, tonight err...this morning must be one of those times !

I am so moved beyond words at everyone's beautiful and soo lovely words on the new look of my Blog....THANK YOU...from my heart!!! If you could just give me a moment to explain... the best way that I can tell you how I feel about my blogs new look is this...Dawn of The Feathered Nest, made my gorgeous header...it is from my original blog, which she lovingly made for me and when I see it...I see me....Karen of Valentine Design, remade my blog into this new gorgeous one you see now, but....she understood me and she kept what I loved most from my original blog...my header...so even though I see this beautiful new "me" so to speak....I still see the "me" I once was...just ever so more lovely, elegant and Gorgeous...wait... I meant my blog.... not me silly lol Since every morning I get to see the real me in the mirror...I know better than to believe this about moi!

So...every chance I get...I come onto my blog...and as I see it load up...I SMILE in wonder...because I realize...this is mine, mine, mine ....Thank you, Dawn & Karen!!!! Funny thing is I used to do this a lot the first month or so that I first got my blog too...wonder how long I will do it this time :)

Now...enough about me...I want to share these Wonderful Giveaways with you!

*All the following Giveaways will be on my side bar under the Giveaway section until they end...Good luck to you all!


First....Kim of The Sheep's Nest is having a 50th Follower Giveaway here!

Giveaway ends...April 12th.

Second...Dorthe of Den Lille Lade is having a 100 Followers Giveaway here!

Giveaway ends....April 14th.

Third....Debra of Common Ground is having a The Royal Treatment Giveaway here!

Giveaway ends....April 15th.

PS...I am seriously crushing on my beautiful new signature! Thank you again Karen! Besos, to you amor :)

Well my dear amores...It is almost that witching hour for me once again (after 2 a.m.) ...and my eyes are starting to droop and I think a bit more... and I will make...even less sense than usual, sooo

Until next time dear friends,