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Oh, Dear Friends...

How can I tell you all how grateful & overwhelmed I am by your amazing & gracious thoughts, prayers & sweet comments? You will never know how very much they have meant to me. One night, after a particularly bad day at the hospital, my sister & I laid on my hotel bed & read them all. It brought tears to our eyes to know that so many lovely hearts were sending us & our Daddy, their strength & love to get through this tough time.

Thank You!

My poor Dad is having such a hard time recovering from this. His injuries are so severe, that there is hardly a place on his body that isn't in pain. I really do like his doctor & believe in what he has been saying...that even with a man in as good of shape as my Father is, an accident like this shows your age. We just have to give his body the time it needs to heal & be patient. {unfortunately, my family has a genetic flaw when it comes to this trait}

With my sisters keeping watching over Dad, I was able to come home for a couple of nights & I'm sooooo happppy to be HOME! I don't know if any of you are like me, but I always have an on going list in my head of things I need to get done in order for my house to be JUST RIGHT. It's too small, so I want to add a 3rd bedroom & 2nd bathroom. I want a nice big deck built off of this room, so double french doors can open out onto it & we can sit outside & drink wine in the evening admiring our beautiful view. I'd also like to have a charming gazebo & a lovely little garden there to add ambiance to this imaginary space & the list, I'm sad to say, goes on.

Leaving the hospital, I was giddy with the idea of going home. After having had such an emotional & stressful few days, my mind was transfixed on getting up the mountain & feeling the cool mountain air. Following the road that leads to my house, the list in my mind disappeared & when I finally got HOME, it looked simply 'PERFECT'!

These pictures are of a small vignette I've been working on in a corner of my bedroom to use as a work space or computer desk or whatever it turns out to be. Before the accident, I had just finished recovering the garden chair. The desk is an old sewing machine table, I found the mirror at the Senior Thrift Store across the street from my shop & the hand craved, wooden angel came from the little antique store next door.
My house is filled with wooden angels. They are my guardians, my spirit guides, my signs of faith & they are the one's that kept my Daddy alive on that wet & foggy morning. I can't wait to come home & find the perfect place to hang up this one in honor of my Dad's gift!

XOXO

The Blessing...He's Alive

{Everett Brewer, 1953 Graduation Picture}

For those of you have been sharing my life's journey, you already know how very much my Daddy means to me...he is my FAMILY! On Mother's Day weekend my Father planned a motorcycle trip to visit a dear friend of his in Julian. On Mother's Day morning at around 9am his cycle got into some gravel on his way home & he went down. My family & I had just finished brunch when we got the call that he had been airlifted to a hospital in Escondido. He had a brain bleed, a stage 4 cut to his spleen, broken ribs, a gash on his head & road wounds to his entire front side, I was terrified he was going to die.

{My family at Disneyland in 1958}
The Blessing....He did not!
My Father is going to be fine. Holding his hand in the ICU surrounded by family, again I realize what an amazing man my Father is. Each time a RN or Dr came into the room he thanked them for taking such great care of him. He called them by their 1st names, always trying to read their ID badges even with his swollen, black & blue eyes. He asked where they lived or went to school. He asked about their children & told them how much he loved his own children & how rich we had made his life. Looking into the blue eyes that I have known my whole life, I saw only love.

{April 2010, Dad's 75th birthday with Courtney & Kai}
In the ICU he also talked of his blessings. He talked of being in Korea where the enemy was shooting bullets at him & yet God kept him safe. He talked about getting older & the injuries & surgeries he had had & yet he was still able to ride his bicycle 12 miles a day & he
knew that by surviving that morning he was again blessed.
I'm going to leave you my friends, with one my favorite posts about my Dad... My Father's Eyes. More updates to come....

XOXO

A Daughter's Refection

Mother's Day is always a little bittersweet for me. The Bitter...I am a motherless daughter & have been since I was 16. I got married without a glowing mother standing by my side. I had my only daughter without a mother's guidance, love & support. Alone, her father & I tried to figure out what 'to do' with a newborn. And when I got to experience the joy of watching my own grandson being born, I longed for a mother's touch to share in that joy. In each decade of my life there has been a new thing to miss about not having a mother. I am also not alone.

The Sweet...The joy of my life has been in being a mother. The beautiful gift of having my own child, of understanding the true & pure feeling of unconditional love, of being able to mother her in the way I wished I had been mothered & to have come full circle through that joy to the unimaginable love I feel towards my grandchild has healed my soul.

In Celebration...I still celebrate with an open heart the beauty & tribute of Mother's Day. I celebrate all the women in my life, family & friends, who have taken my hand & helped guide me to become the mother I am. I celebrate my sisters as we have mothered each other through our life's journey & who without their love & kindred souls I would have felt alone. I celebrate the memory of a mother lost & the knowledge of a mother found in simple nuances that are me. I celebrate the mother that my daughter is with her sweet & gentle touch & tender, encouraging words to my beautiful grandson.

And, I celebrate a father who has been both parents to me, my confident, my protector, my advocate & my friend. Life is truly sweet my friends, for in every twist & turn of it, I have been so blessed! Whether I've gone to the deepest of valleys or been tossed, wind blown from the highest of hills, in all places, I have found love & felt loved. Thank you God, thank you universe, thank you my angel...as if saying a prayer, I whisper thank you.

So on this Mother's Day, my wish for you friends in what ever form it takes, is...LOVE!

"My mom is a never ending song in my heart of comfort, happiness, and being. I may sometimes forget the words, but I always remember the tune." ~ Graycie Harmon

XOXO

Kai's 5 & San Diego Zoo Fun

{Mike, Kai, Courtney & Munga}

What a fun day we had at the San Diego Zoo celebrating Kai's 5th birthday!!! Here's a few pics...we got to see the new baby panda, a baby koala & the cutest baby giraffe. Spring has most definitely sprung at the zoo!!

TGIF...

XOXO

Congrats Judy & more for rosa & josie's

Congratulations Miss Judy for winning my 100th Friends Give-Away! I love the idea that even if I never get a chance to visit New Zealand, my handcrafted brooch, ring & necklace are going on an amazing adventure. They will travel in trucks & be loaded onto planes that will fly over vast oceans, that will land on an island & be delivered to the front porch of a friend. Life is amazing! {if only they could write, lol}

My wonderful friend, jewelry artist Diane Cook from rosa & josie's , & I worked together on another postcard design for one of her upcoming classes 'Rhinestones & Rosaries'. Her jewelry design is awesome & I'm extremely excited about the opportunity to feature some of her beautiful pieces here at my shop.

If you have a chance, stop by her lovely blog to say hi & take a look at some of her gorgeous jewelry, along with her scheduled upcoming classes & workshops. I sooooo wish I lived in Texas & could learn from the best, how to make my own vintage inspired art jewelry. {I don't know when, but I do know I WILL take one of her classes, it's part of my 'MUST DO' list!}

And to you Diane, a HUGE Thank You for all of your business, for your patience with me while I learn, for your insistence of excellence, for your referrals, for your lovely post & most importantly...for your friendship! I can't wait until September Friend!!!!

XOXO

Yipeeeee...Today's The Day!!!!

{all images from Getty Images}

Hey, Sweet Friend...Do you know what day it is today???

Today is the day that vintagesusie announces the WINNER of her 100 Friends Give-Away, I can't believe it's finally here...we've waited almost a month for this.

"Oh Kim, do you think it could be one of us?" Lucy asked excitedly!

"I don't know who the winner might be" thought Linda, "but I'm not willing to take a chance being caught not looking my best."

Even the children could feel the excitement as the time grew near for this much anticipated announcement!

Diane sat back in her chair trying to remain calm, thinking of the sweet mountain of bootie that could be hers, if only her name was chosen.

Others, who will be nameless, could not contain their greed & tried in vain to find out the winner to no avail.

"It's time, it's time..." screamed Sylvia, unable to control her emotions one second longer. As the drum roll started the contestants fell into an eerie silence.

The time had finally come and vintagesusie took the stage. Initially, she was slightly confused & wasn't sure why all the eyes were on her. She started to sing a little ditty, but could feel the audience growing anxious.

She quickly rebounded & went into a little soft shoe, when suddenly someone in the angry mob yelled out, "give us the name"! The cloud lifted from vintagesusie's head as she recalled why she was there. Clearing her voice she began to speak, "The winner of my 100th Friend Give-Away is..."

"JUDY of New Zealand from MANGAROA MADE!!!" The crowd breaks out into a long cheer as Judy, stunned, can't believe she's the LUCKY winner! "Thank you, oh, thank you so much!" Judy says overwhelmed by the mere thought of her good fortune. The contestants rush over to Judy to wish her a hearty congratulations, some even try & touch her thinking her good luck might just rub off on them for the next Give-Away.

Arriving home that evening, some found themselves in a bit of a malaise thinking "I never win those darn Give-Aways, why couldn't it have been me?" Now these words come from vintagesusie herself, so take heed...
"Please Friends...don't feel disheartened! I only need 56 more friends to have my 200th Friends Give-Away & I promise, it will make this Give-Away pale in comparision!!!"

A soft murmer quickly became a loud roar...

"Long Live Queen Susie, Long Live Queen Susie!" ;) LOL

What a FUN Dream, Right... I think the Crown Jewels post has gone straight to my head!
Congratulations Dear Friend Judy & Thanks to all my Friends who entered & made this such a Fun Give-Away!!!!

XOXO

'It's Good To Be QUEEN'

I have always been fascinated by English royalty. Maybe it's because of the direct line of lineage that goes back beyond what I could ever imagine. Maybe it's because my maiden name Brewer, can be traced back to Old English roots. Maybe it's because the history of the royals is filled with intrigue, marrying cousins, hemophilia & beheadings or maybe it's just because of the

Crown Jewels!

Queen Victoria was born Alexandrina Victoria on May 24, 1819. At the tender age of 18 years old, she became the Queen of England & on that day she inherited the Crown Jewels. Victoria loved diamonds & in 1857 she commissioned this amazing Collet necklace & earrings. The necklace consists of twenty-nine collet diamonds adding up to a weight of over 160 carats of diamonds. The necklace contains a famous stone as the pendant named the Lahore Diamond which weights 22.48 carats. The earrings are of typical design, large brilliant followed by a smaller one, with a large pear shaped drop...OMG! She is wearing them in both of the photographs above...can you even imagine?

Queen Victoria bequeathed these jewels to the Crown in her will. Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary wore the necklace at their Coronations in 1901 and 1911 & Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) wore both necklace and earrings in 1937, as did her daughter Queen Elizabeth II at her Coronation in 1953.

Queen Alexandra is seen here with her 2 daughters, wearing the Collet necklace...but with all that bling I have to use a magnifying glass to find it. A top her regal head sits the George IV State Diadem Crown made in 1820 for his Coronation.

100 years later or so, here it is on Her Majesty the Queen. {can you see Queen Victoria's Collet necklace peeking out from under her stole & yes, those are the matching earrings}
The King George IV State Diadem Crown in all it's stunning Glory! The diadem includes 1333 diamonds weighing 325.75 carats with 169 pearls along its base.

And last, but most certainly not least, the Vladimir Tiara. Bought by Queen Mary from the Grand Duchess Vladimir of Russia, the Aunt to the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II, after her exile. {Did you know that Queen Victoria was the Grandmother of Alexandra, wife to Nicholas II whose family was murdered by Bolsheviks in 1918?}

And now we've come full circle as the Vladimir Tiara rests gently a top the current sovereign's royal head. I didn't mean for this to turn into a history lesson, but I did tell you I find it all sooooo fascinating!!!

So, what's the moral of this story you may ask? Sometimes it's Good to be Queen, look at all the awesome jewels you get to wear! But, maybe we should ask the wives of Henry the VIII what they thought before we jump to that conclusion.

XOXO