Swept away

Yesterday I bought a ticket to San Diego in December for my birthday.  It was a spur of the moment decision as tickets were priced at half what I normally pay.  Jumped on that! I also had liquid nitrogen sprayed on my face in three spots.  Fun stuff.   Years of sun bathing has finally caught up with this redheaded girl.  If I had only listened to my Mama back then :)

BUT my favorite Swedish band Katatonia came out with a new album that I am totally digging!

    and I have a really big Betsey Johnson ring on that sparkles in the sun.

Peetee loves me and it's still sunny in Oregon. STILL SUNNY, did you hear that?

I scored a new shimmery purple pair of Chucks for $24.

I'm wearing a scarf as a belt.

  and bling to boot.

I'm on the hunt for some art for the bedroom.

I really love the colors and mood of this, but it's a bit expensive, although how can you put a price on Suzees art.   Why only she can.

I have always loved this print Naiad done in 1893 by John William Waterhouse.  I think this is the one. Chris made some funny comment about, yeah this one has boobies in it~ I guess that seals the deal.  Since we share our bedroom I shy away from stuff that is too girlie, I have the rest of the house for that!

Flowers and Stripes

There really are only a few things in life that rattle my cage.  Dealing with big banks is one of them.  I won't get into all the boring details that would only bore you and cause my blood pressure to rise.  However I can say logically that if the government bailed out the banks with our tax dollars then don't they work for us now?  I mean if we paid them don't we have a say in how they do business?

Can you tell I'm annoyed?

 Ok now I'm over it, not really but I'd rather talk about my dress:) I picked this up in the UK for $3 quid it's a current brand Joe Browns and it meets my three requirements~ COMFY and CUTE and CHEAP!

 I also scored this jacket recently for $4. I really love the print and the fit!

 I picked up this blue religious bracelet too.

 The pink one is from Vix.

 Same with this Barry M #52 :)

 I also picked up these cheap knock offs for $20 quid.

I spent most of the weekend in the sunshine, hanging out with the animals and changing out a ton of pictures in the house.  I am so happy to see pictures from my trip hanging in the hallway.  It just puts a big ole smile on my face.

 I picked up some beautiful flowers this weekend.  I love Dahlias and due to their lack of smell Chris can tolerate them too.

 We also had a yummy dinner with friends this weekend.  They have two hamsters.  They call this one Jabba the Hutt!  No, we didn't eat him, that would be hardly worth the effort.

Holding onto Sunshine

Thanks for taking the time to check out my holiday photos, your comments were all so sweet! It's been so long since I took some outfit pictures, I MISS IT~So I am getting out one of my new frocks just for you!  I picked this up in Edinburgh for $9 quid, not bad huh.  Since it's been hot all week here this dress just feels right.  I am loving this Indian summer and so is Peetee.

I'm wearing a necklace Vix sent me, it's a Dior strawberry.  I could care less about the brand but the strawberry now that's sweet.

 and it sparkles!

 a bit of arm candy too

I got so used to not curling my hair on holiday I think I might give it a rest for a while.  I also went a bit mad at every Boots location and stocked up on Barry M.

 I know but I can't get it over here so I had to get my fix!

 Vix also turned me on to Batiste dry shampoo and I have to say I am a fan.  It totally makes your hair look and smell amazing even after not washing it for 3 days.  A huge part of keeping my hair bright is to only wash it twice a week.   I'm pretty stoked too because I can buy this here:)

If you haven't tried it you are missing out, this one smells like coconut.  I'm looking forward to hitting the Farmers Market bright and early tomorrow, I have a new obession called pineapple tomatillos.  They look like this on the vine

and then you pop them out of that skin

and eat them raw by the handful. They are pretty tasty on a salad too. It's makes me so happy that at 41 I am still open minded when it comes to food.  Now if I could just like olives and mushrooms:)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Beautiful ending to a dream come true!

I had no idea what to expect when we got to Edinburgh, one of the worlds most haunted cities.  The weather was a lot cooler and the rain did come but the gothic landscapes seemed oh so fitting.

We spent some time exploring the castle.

And wandered through the streets and spotted Will Ferrell playing a bagpipe :)

Ate some delicious pork sandwiches at a place called PINK.

 Did a bit more shopping at Armstrong & Son.

They had an incredible amount of stuff!

Though it wasn't as good as Second to None.

I did like these proper dressing rooms though.

 Desire I couldn't help but think of you when I saw this dress.

 I love playing dress up.

We made our way to Greyfriars Cemetary where graves date as far back as the 1500's.

 The imagery here scared the piss out of me!

 It was also the spot where all the kids come to smoke weed, we saw several little parties going on.

 BUT what really blew my mind was St. Giles Cathedral.  I'm not a religious person but being in here brought me too my knees.

The ceiling was my favorite part.

 I seriously had to sit down because I was getting light headed.

  It felt safe and quiet to just sit in here away from the rain and hustle of the city outside.

If you are still with me I wanted to finish things off with our time spent in the Lake District with Vix and Jon.  We stayed in Ambleside which had the perfect mix of scenery and delicious food and drinks. We popped in here one night for yummy cocktails.

 We ate plenty of chips from a proper chip shop ;)

 The lush rolling green hills were all around.

 plenty of old stone bridges.

  We hiked up a 1000ft mountain in the rain.

 looking fabulous doing it!

 Got a break when the sun came out.

 Kept calm and climbed on.

 This is place of fairies and gnomes.

 And we were rewarded with a rainbow!

 We had to stop and take it all in because nothing beats the beauty of nature.

Chris had a full English breakfast!

 We had time for a little more shopping.

 and proper tea.

 plenty more cocktails.

 and delicious curries.

 Our last day together was bitter sweet but I know our paths will cross again and that puts a smile on my face and butterflies in my belly.

Thanks to Vix and Jon for sharing their home and loving hearts with us.

CHEERS to making new friends and visiting foreign lands!  I am forever changed!