simply aqua

I love aqua. So needless to say, I have an overabundance of aqua pics, and thought... why not feature those aqua pics in a post every now and then.
My favorite Pyrex refrigerator container is the aqua one of course. Very rare. But my dear, sweet, generous sister Ginny gave me her pink & aqua refrigerator containers, in which I am forever grateful! Thanks Gin!


I found this hatbox along with both of these aqua hats... for one dollar! Enlarge the pic so as to see the exquisite detail in the hat on the glass cloche.


My beloved aqua phone happens to be one of my most prized possessions. But it was not found at a yard sale, or a thrift store... umm, not even an antique store, or an eBay auction. Trust me, it's a great story! Read all about it HERE.


I knew pretty quick in my quest for Pyrex, that I was not going to be collecting any of the 'Cinderella' bowl Pyrex. It would just take up more room than the standard round Pyrex bowls. But then a couple years ago I saw this pattern... the aqua blue Cinderella bowl Balloon pattern. A Pyrex promotional from 1958. I absolutely loved the color, pattern and design! But like I said before, it would have to find me, when I least expect. And sure enough, I stop at a yard sale down the street one day and there it was... for one dollar!


I love vintage sewing notions and sewing baskets. So my aqua one is a favorite.


Yesterday I found this aqua ice cube tray at a thrift store for a quarter. Why not find other uses, when not freezing ice cube roses! And why not buttons!


Me & Emolyn. Emolyn in aqua. Precious is she.

Hey, I actually featured aqua in earlier posts while we were in CA HERE and CO HERE. Check them both out!

aqua eye candy

So, it's Sunday afternoon... Randy's out of town doing a concert... I went to early church so I could hurry home and catch the second half of the SUNS game on national television... they WON their 17th straight!!! Love my SUNS!!!
So now I'm on a mission... finding the March issue of Romantic Homes magazine featuring Alicia's (Posie Gets Cozy) lovely home. This time a 10 page spread plus that's her cover! And this time I'm going to spring for my own copy!
Borders... not this time.
Barnes & Noble ... nope.
Joann's... well, maybe, but first I notice pink tag items are an additional 75 % off. Humm... this makes me feel a tad better when I find no magazine. So I search out all the pink tag bins and start digging... and find the knitting needle tote (I have other plans for it), glass beads, gorgeous yarn (made in Italy) and a fun flowered pin!
You see my plan is to paint my craft room Posie's signature Behr's Rivers Edge... and then have little splashes of aqua here and there. So as I'm checking out at Joanns, the gal notices I have this color theme going on... I was in the 'aqua zone'! I had over $30.00 worth of aqua eye candy for only $1.93!!! I was one happy gal!
Last stop, Walmart Supercenter... I find out they don't stock the March issues for another week or so! I'll just have to wait...
Speaking of aqua eye candy... check out Alicia's dreamy slideshow called "Things that are aqua". Truly a visual feast!
Hey, I've been tagged by Tiff. Six weird things about me... coming up in the next post!

vintage aqua rotary phone

I wish you could hear my aqua phone ring. Talk about a blast from the past. Solid, substantial, authoritative. This ringer held its ground back in the day. For one thing, homes only had one phone, so you had better be able to hear it wherever you were in your house! Growing up in a big 'ole farmhouse in Wisconsin, we could hear ours from the basement, upstairs, even outside!

Well, little Miss Aqua is silent. 

She rings no more. 

We got rid of our landline.

Oh how I have grieved the loss of my functionally sound design inspiration, the focal point in my sewing room.  I know, it's not like I can't take her over to my mother-in-laws house, plug her in and call her on my cell. Just to hear her ring. But it wouldn't be the same as standing in my aqua sewing room while cradling her to my ear.

This is where she belongs. This is her home... with or without a purpose. She still makes a strong statement. She still draws attention when someone enters the room. She can still carry a conversation. Only now it's more about her, than with her. And that's ok.

And she doesn't seem near as lonely now since I relocated these little number by her side. I know, pardon the pun. But isn't she just the cutest. 

*** Someone asked about the darling little pastel purses. They were rain bonnet freebies at our Jackson County Fair. Nothing better than gathering up all the free giveaways each year as you made you way through the 4-H demonstration buildings. You knew you would come out of there with quite a loot ~ Princess phone key chains, rulers, portable drying racks and traveling sewing kits.

Hey, do you want to read the story about how my aqua phone came to live in our home?

Click HERE. And be sure to read the first comment ~ my all-time favorite comment ever ~ from the previous owner himself. And yes, he made me cry again. Thank you John!

Linking up to these awesome sites ~

SHOW AND TELL FRIDAY

FRUGAL FRIDAY

FEATHERED NEST FRIDAY

FEATURE FRIDAY FREE-FOR-ALL

BE INSPIRED 

do you see a theme?

We stopped at this yard sale on our way from Ouray to Westcliffe. I'm thinking, how can we strap on this aqua shed to our van? No such sale. So this image will have to do.


Candy's coffee shop is where we go every day for iced coffee and wifi. Get this... they put coffee ice cubes in their iced coffee drinks. Yes, they freeze coffee in ice cube trays. So rather than your iced coffee getting watered down and weaker as you drink, it gets stronger! Such are the perks of small town coffee shops... and of course who doesn't love the pouring rain.


OK, so I occasionally wear aqua, but not for the soul purpose of getting on this post... really... just coincidental.


Love this pink & aqua historical building in Ouray, CO.


We drive past this ranch every day on our way to town. Every single building has an aqua metal roof... the barn, the main house, several outbuildings and as you can see in this photo, the guest house and the dog house. And it has a stream running through the property. And the views they have of the mountains and the valley are breathtaking! Needless to say, Randy & I covet this cute, little "aqua roof ranch".

London Hillsong & Hampton Court

Easter Sunday and we're off to London Hillsong. I'm wearing my new Easter scarf. Scarves are all the rage in London. I bought this one at Marshall's before I left and then an aqua one at Piccadilly Circus. Anyway, wait till you see my aqua running shoes I am wearing for Easter. Oh, and my aqua jacket. (that I proceeded to leave at our hotel when we left. that Miranda later found) OK, enough fashion talk.


So we literally got off the tube, climbed up the steps from the underground and there was Hillsong! We enter this gorgeous theater and we were immediately welcomed. And it was not a you are in my space kinda welcome but very genuine and sincere. It was electrifying... the place was swirling with energy and young people dressed in black pants and cool black t-shirts that said ASK ME? The next two hours were unlike anything I had ever experienced. At one point I leaned over and said to Randy, and we're paying what to see "Wicked" tomorrow night? This was as top notch as anything I'd seen on Broadway. The worship was powerful, the Easter presentation was gut wrenching and real. We walked out of the theater speechless. No words to explain what we had witnessed.


Hampton Court is where King Henry VIII built his 750 acre Palace. Oh my gosh, acres and acres of the most gorgeous gardens I have ever seen. And btw, April is when all the tulips and daffodils and hyacinths are in bloom. Breathtaking and beautiful!


Here we are making our way out of the most famous maze in the history of the world. And believe me, it wasn't easy getting out.



This is the home of King Henry VIII in all it's grandeur. A tad bit overwhelming, intimidating and ginormous if you ask me. Not your run-of-the-mill cozy cottage in the woods that I dream about.



My Easter outfit reveal! Am I styling or what! OK, so did it bother me that I was like the only person in London wearing color? Did it bother me that I was the only person in London wearing aqua shoes? No. Not in the least. Quite frankly, I may have started something.


Miranda found her knight in shining armor at Hampton Court Palace. He's definitely taken a shine to her. And you can't help but see how the lovely couple is glowing. I mean, that's gotta count for something.



To honor King Henry's 500th birthday, they have reenactments going on throughout the Palace during the month of April. As I told you in an earlier post, at the wedding of King Henry VIII & The Queen Catherine Parr, the Queen eyed Randy and appointed him her Master of the Horses. We were asked to follow the King & Queen in the procession leading out to the courtyard where hundreds of people awaited. It was quite an honor. Miranda took pictures but they were too dark. Anyway, Randy thinks he's all royal or something... and I have found him to be quite hard to live with ever since. A royal pain, if you know what I mean.


Just kidding!

my vintage aqua phone

YES! SHE'S MINE! 

 That AQUA phone right up there is mine! And I still can't believe it! 

OK, just calm down and tell the story...

Well, one of my favorite people in all the world... who happens to be my husband's best friend... and happens to be the teaching Pastor at our church (what a gifted communicator of Truth)... and happens to be an author (check this book out)... and happens to be responsible for getting me started in acting (yes, he's an actor too)... and happens to be married to my dear friend Stacey... and well, he just so happens to have the coolest phone ever... that happens to be AQUA... that I happened to mention that I LOVED... and then guess what happened? 

HE GAVE ME THAT PHONE!!! 

SERIOUSLY, HE GAVE ME THAT AQUA PHONE!!! 

John called me into his office as I was getting ready to leave work today 

and just gave it to me! Just like that.

Isn't she a beauty and she works perfectly and has the sweetest, vintage ring and makes me smile every time I walk into my sewing room. 

And yes, she's a 'she'. Don't know why, but she is.

John, thank you! THANK YOU! 

I am forever grateful!

Randy & I sure love doing life with you and Stacey!

vintage button containers

Most of you know my love of collecting vintage buttons, but I'd like to think I'm just as passionate in my quest in repurposing unusual containers for my beloved buttons. This unique container being one of my very favorites. Don't you just love hammered aluminum! 

Finding this treasured, one-of-a-kind piece for a couple dollars was quite a thrill. 

While researching the history of hammered aluminum, I found this statement ~

Most hammered aluminum pieces made their way into homes from the 1930's through the 1950's as wedding gifts.

Well, you can imagine how thrilled I was when my daughter Miranda opened up a wedding shower gift and there was a gorgeous hammered heavy metal tray from my dear friend Billie. Truly a work-of-art! Love that hammered anything is making such a comeback!

Omg, does it get any better than fat-quarters, bakers twine and sewing notions in hammered aluminum? I didn't think so.

My favorite buttons to collect are vintage coat buttons. You know, those big, beautiful, oversized, one-of-a-kind coat buttons. I store mine in a vintage jar I found at a yard sale in Appleton, WI while visiting my brother several years ago.

I found each of these vintage jars and the iron caddy over a period of many years at various places. So delighted when I discovered they all fit together beautifully.

Who can pass up those tiny pottery pieces that hold the teeniest of tiny buttons.

I've had more fun filling this antique cast iron cornbread pan with both tea lights and sewing notions.

Drawers of similar, coordinating buttons make for easy access.

I knew the moment I found this aqua blue ice cube tray that it would make for a colorful, fun photo op.

And speaking of aqua blue, my aqua blue PYREX is holding my collection of "buttons" I've gotten while visiting Disneyland ~ first visit, a birthday, an anniversary ~ LOVE!

But the cutest button of all ~ my granddaughter Emolyn Kate ~ who loves playing with my containers of buttons. Yup... cute as a button!!!

Mother's Day

We had such a lovely luncheon at Shawn & Nicole's after little Emolyn was dedicated yesterday. Miranda made her ever famous Asian chicken salad and delicious Bruschetta. Nicole made the best bean dip served warm and the best dessert I have ever had... a snickers pie dessert!!
We made sure to take pictures of the four generations... the two Emolyn's with father and son. (Mamaw Emolyn, Pop-pop Randy, Daddy Shawn and baby Emolyn) We sure missed Papaw.

Randy's Mom gave Emolyn the little pink New Testament Bible that they gave their daughter Patty in 1962. Patty died in 1974 when she was 18... so how special for Emolyn to have the Bible that Patty spent time underlining her favorite scripture and recording precious thoughts in the margins. What a treasured heirloom.


I was once again humbled by the outpouring of love shown to me on this special day. Just being with my family would have been more than enough. But I sure loved opening these heartfelt gifts of love!
A Grandmother's Bible! I love it! Thanks to my dear sister-in-law Etna!
An aqua hand bag! Love it Miranda! And the new hand pump soap scents are simply divine!
Take a look at the "Cupcake gift set"! An aqua silicone muffin pan... a pink silicone spatula and a cupcake recipe book! Thank you so much Shawn & Nicole! I may never use it... it just looks too cute in my aqua craft room! They also made me a picture booklet of sweet Emolyn pics!
And thank you Tyler for the "P.S. I Love You" DVD! You knew I would cry buckets watching it!
I am blessed with the dearest, sweetest children a mother could ever have. Thank you for enriching my life, for filling my life with so much love and laughter.