There and Back Again - Creston Home & Garden Show 2010

Okay, so it wasn't the next day.  Give me a break, it has been a busy week!

These are the amazing mountains that you pass through to get from my home in Trail to Creston. We call it the Salmo Creston Highway - and to be honest I am not even sure what its official name is!

On the way there we saw a herd (?) of Big Horn Sheep ewes. On the way home, on the other side of the road, we saw the rams from my earlier post.  We also saw Wild Turkey, Elk (twice), and of course, lots of deer.  Beautiful British Columbia!

The Creston Home and Garden Show was fun as always!  We were lucky enough to have the Mountain FM booth next to ours so there was great music playing all the time and the staff was fun to spend the weekend with!

There were lots of interesting things to see in 100 or so booths, I only took pictures of the ones that I thought were esthetically pleasing or that has something I wanted (like a sink).  You can see all of the photos I took on Sugar Shack's Facebook page.

This booth was selling candles from the Kootenays!  They smell and looked so gorgeous I had to take some pictures of them.

The creamy yellow color of these beeswax ones was so beautiful.  It made me think of Christmas - maybe it was the trees, stars and pine cones!

I loved the colors of the dyed ones - and available in so many delicious scents!

This one was hand painted by one of the owners of the business (I think). I wish I could do this - or at the very least be brave enough to try. There were quite a few hand painted ones, I took the this picture because I really love lilac and lilac season is upon us!

This is What I Saw Today

Steve (the DH) spent the last two days in Creston at a the annual Home and Garden Show.  This is what we saw on our way home.

Tomorrow (when I am not so tired!) I will post all of the other cool stuff we saw between here and there - and of course while we were there!

British Columbia is the most amazing, beautiful place on earth.  We are so blessed to be able to live in such a wonderful place!

Handy Picnic Placemats

This is a great take along for the upcoming eating "out" season. Roll them up and pack them in your basket or cooler to head to the beach or keep them loaded and ready to go for those spur of the moment BBQs that seem to occur all summer long!

Click here to download a FREE pdf of this pattern.

Krista's Coffee Cozy

These Coffee Cozies are fun and easy to make and are great for a quick personal gift! Leave them plain and simple or embellish them any way you like!

A few fabric scraps for top, bottom, and embellishment, a scrap of cotton batting or fleece for the lining and a few notions and you are ready to sew!

Click here to download a pdf of this pattern.


This pattern was donated by Kritsa @ Twirl Designs Studio! Thank you Krista, you are my crafty hero!! :o)!

Ponderance

When you have tried everything and then things suddenly fall into place once you have stopped trying so hard, you have to wonder if that was the problem all along and perhaps you were trying to hard to begin with.

I think that we should all take a lesson from our children - well mine anyway - who truly believe that there is no such word as can't.

I suppose that my husband and I are the ones who taught them that - this is when we can pat each other on the back and say "Look at what we did.  Isn't it great?"  It is great - my little champion in the tree.   :o)

Tipster Tuesday

I decided at the beginning of this year that it was my year to get my poop in a group.  To pull up my proverbial socks and change all of the things that I was not happy with in the previous year.  I am a firm believe in the fact that if you are not happy with something in your life you are the only one who can change it.  So, what needs to be changed:  The biggest thing, because it effects (affect???) so many other aspects of my life is my complete and udder lack of organization.

I think (and hope and pray) that if I get organized the other important things that need to be changed will fall into place - such as my messy finances and my tendency to be late for everything and the clutter in my home and on my desk at work will all get better.  So this is my hope.

One of the things on my list was to make sure to do a newsletter every month.  So far, not so good.  I am a perfectionist and it is really hard for me to send out any old thing thrown together.  I just can't.  So, with the help of my beloved staff (Brandi, Krista (yes I am counting you) and of course Ralph), we are pre-doing what we can for some months.  I hope you enjoy the new format, I have spent about 40 gazillion hours making sure it is near perfect!

Brandi, with her organizational abilities, is going to do a section entitled Handy Brandi's Tips for Organized Living (I wanted to spell Handy with an 'i' but I got outvoted).  In my travels I found a really great blog for her to draw ideas from, it is called, simply, Get Organized.  It is great and when I am ready I will turn to it for friendly TIPS and advice on how to get my poop in a group.

Fabulous Friday - Oops, I guess it is only Thursday....

My eight year old son is gone for the weekend (blended family situation, lots of gory details) so my daughter's BFF has come to spend the night.  The are so stinkin' cute together it is beyond ridiculous. 

They will both be 5 in May (Victoria on the 2nd and her BFF Trysta on the 17th) and they are so fun to be with.  We went for dinner and then shopping this evening.  We went to Ardene and tried on sun glasses and jewelery it was very fun. I loved to see how they both have their own personal style.

Victoria always goes for the feminine while Trysta leans more toward the funky.  Victoria's glass were pink (well at least pink!) while Trysta's where leopard print.

Dear Daddy

I just found out that Cesar Millan's dog Daddy died in February and I have to admit I shed a tear.  I loved Daddy.

Poor Cesar. I am so sorry for your loss.  Poor Junior, Daddy left some pretty big shoes for your little white paws to fill.

Rest in peace sweet old dog.  Thank you for making me smile and changing the world's out look on what  being a Pitbull means.  You were wonderful and I love to see your tail wagging on my TV screen. You will be missed.

Wishful Wednesday.

If I had a boat load of money and more time than I currently seem to be able to find in a day I would buy a local hotel and turn it into a crafting mecca!

I have had this pipe dream for a few years and cannot seem to let it go.  Wishful - perhaps.  But if there was one thing that I have learned through my life is that everything starts out as a dream. The Union Hotel is about 15,000 square feet, has rooms that are currently used (to the best of my knowledge).  There is a restaurant and a bar.  The bar would be cleaned out to make room for the quilt/sewing/craft shop, the restaurant can stay.  The basement has meeting rooms which would be PERFECT for classes and seminars and (even better) group meetings!  It would be the perfect retreat centre....  ah what a sweet dream.....

I am a go getter.  I want it.  I get it.  Period.  Nothing ever seems to be handed to me though, I always have to work for it which makes it so much sweeter.  Having said that, my boat load of money has yet to arrive. 

Ahh, wishful on Wednesday...