Confessions of a Shopaholic Movie Saturday with my girls

Today I took my girls and our neighbor girl to go see "Confessions of a Shopaholic" and it was delightful. I admit I have not read the books, they are however on my list, just not quit there yet!

We had so much fun, the girls and I dressed up in our prettiest and most colorful outfits to look like shopaholics and we really enjoyed Isla Fisher, she was just adorable. I admit, I have shopped and lied about it, shopping just really makes you feel good sometimes, and gets rid of the worries of life for a little while. I could relate to her addiction. It really opened my eyes about what to teach my little girls. I could really relate to her as a little girl and not getting everything I wanted and wishing I could have the more sparkley, pretty version. I admired her for cleaning out her closet and auctioning everything off. I have gone through my closet and sold things recently as we have been, well, broke, and it made me feel good to trade an item for money which we could use right now, but I completely understand her feeling of not wanting to let go.

Anyway, in the scene where she sells and auctions off her things, Frances actually spotted a pretty pair of pink and orange Prada shoes and said, "mommy, those are your shoes, yours are blue and green!" My heart was mixed with pride and embarrassment! I posted a picture for your viewing pleasure; I have the matching bag too!
And here is my little shopaholic all dressed up in her version of Rebecca Bloomwood:
Photos from Confessions of a Shopaholic

New Chandelier Fancy

In case no one knew, I am addicted to Craigslist. I search it every day as I am also addicted to restoring old chandeliers. Every now and then I hit a pretty good score and I would say this one qualifies! I found these interesting old lamps in the free section a couple of weeks ago. I don't need them, I have plenty of lamps coming out of my ears, but I liked them so I called the add and made arrangements to go pick them up. Well, when I went to the house where they were located I found out that this lady was cleaning out the house after 90 year old grandmother had passed away and she just wanted someone to take things that they would continue to love like her grandmother had. I don't love these lamps honestly, but my mother does so I am shipping them to her to enjoy sans the shades, they are like four foot huge! Mom will have to get some nice new bell shades to update the look of these lamps. The really exciting part is Mom was looking for lamps for her bedroom and she really does love these, they great gold grape leaves painted on them and they compliment her furniture.

Ok, on to the real score! She was taking down all her grandmothers old light fixtures and replacing them with new ones, and I saw that she had three very nice 1940s chandeliers, one with 8 lights (which I will blog about some other time) and 2, yes that's right, 2 cute little four light chandeliers she used in the hall. She gave them to me, can you believe it? Me! I am so darn lucky!! Well I have fixed up the first one and I want to hear what you think! I think it looks like little girl heaven and I am really proud of how it turned out.

Here are the lamps, don't you think they will look better with bell shades? I think these big old cylinder shades overwhelm the lamp based, which by the way, light up inside!

Here are the two little four light chandelier the grandmother used in her hallways, they are so cute and just waiting to be cleaned up and girlyfied!

And here it is!!! Isn't it to die for?!! Please ignore the lack of candlestick covers, I broke the old ones as the plastic had gotten really dry and brittle and I am replacing them with brand new white ones. I also found the shades on Craigslist and I got a great deal, but you can find the same ones on lampsplus.com . I love how the trim turned out on the shades, I added that. This to me just screams for a little girls bedroom! Anyway, enjoy and please tell me what you think!

The Art Docent Program

Today was art docent day at my daughter's school. Art Docent is a nifty program in the Alameda School District that brings parents into the classroom once a month to teach an art lesson. We do this because our district has no money to pay a real art teacher and have a real art class. I think we do pretty great anyway and we have a lot of fun learning things about art. Today was a lesson on tole paint, and using my mother and her painted kitchen as inspiration we painted picture frames:

My mother's kitchen, pretty amazing, huh? Makes you want some chips and salsa.

This is Frances' frame, I personally think its the best, however all the kids did great, it was fun to see how everyone's frame turned out, and it so reflected their personalities.

This is Frances mid-project, isn't she oozing with talent?!!

Here are all the frames hung on the bulletin board with tacks to dry, the all display so nice and I think everyone did a great job, this was a seriously fun project. Thank you to everyone I found on craigslist that donated the frames, thank you for your generousity.

Just for fun, a reminder of why we love our two year olds!

Taylor destroyed her room while cymaltaniously putting on her dragon suit, oh, how sweet.

Tole Chandeliers and Lamps....

Here are the metal tole lamps in my office, they are early 1960s, the lamp shades are vintage too....and you can see how neat and tidy I keep things....

Here are more 1960s metal tole lamps in Taylors room, the lamp shades are from Target and I found the lamps at a collective estate sale called "something to sell about", its fabulous and they hold sales around the East Bay almost every month, get on their mailing list online!

Here is a close up of my office lamp........pretty huh, thank God for vintage shopping, i.e. craigslist, the alameda flea market, and estate sales! This is a craigslist find!

This is the chandelier is Taylor's room, it fairly matches the look with the lamps and the green leaves and yellow daisys are precious. Perfect for my little princess, and she loves it too!

This little vintage treasure is hanging in my kitchen right now, however it my find a new home in my sister's nursery! It also came from a delighterful seller on craigslist!

This chandelier is extra special, the leaves are metal tole and the roses are porcelain. It is just precious and it was hanging in my bedroom for awhile, however it is big with eight lights and seriously girly and my husband was really having a tough time sleeping with a really big chandelier hanging over him, so I took it down and it found a new home in the bedroom of a little girl in the house across the street. She has a much higher ceiling so it looked more proportionate anyway....

Here is another picture of it witht the lights off, aren't the roses to die for?!

Chandeliers, Chandeliers, Chandeliers

Ok, anyone that knows me knows that I love chandeliers, in fact its not just any chandelier but antique chandeliers that need to be restored. I have restored approxiamately 25 chandeliers so far and I have 9 hanging in my house. Love 'em, just love 'em.

This was my first one, it came from a hotel that was being torn down in Torrence California and there was six on the sidewalk that were going to be thrown away, I wish I had taken all six, I only took this one.

The bottom picture is a close up of it hanging in my dining room now, and the top picture is my old dining room in my previous house in Oakland.

Sonoran Potato Salad

I love this and I really only make it on the Fourth of July, so I'd like to share!

8-9 medium russett potatos, chopped up with the skins on
1 large red bell pepper
4 celery stalks
1 big red onion
Mayo
1/4 cup white distilled vinegar
2 teaspoons garlic salt
2 tablespoons McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning
1/2 Casa Sanchez fresh green salsa

Boil the potatos. Finely chop the red bell pepper, onion, and celery. Strain the potatos and combine in a large bowl with the bell pepper, onion, and celery. Stir in the vinegar and the salsa with two very large dallops of mayo. When its evenly combined add the steak seasoning and garlic salt to taste. Continue stirring until well combined and the potatos are smooth.

Enjoy!

(Makes alot!)