She got 'em at the seashore, but she is NOT selling 'em.

So ... the pictures seen here were taken (by me) about 12 miles from my home. Twelve miles, people. I know this because I actually got a flat tire not far from this beautiful site and was watching the mileage very ... very ... carefully as I drove home on my "donut". (Thank you son-in-law, Mr. Gee and AAA.)

But once I was over the whole flat tire thing, I sat and pondered the fact that I have this incredible beauty ... nearly at my fingertips.

I am very ... very ... grateful.

And I have this reminder of a tray full of shells (with a most unusual blue hue to them) that thrill me when the 12 miles stands between us.

All good.

~ Singin' the Blues ~

So ... I have this recurring dream where I move into a new house (that apparently I have just been given) and I keep discovering new rooms that I didn't know existed. How cool is that?! I seriously do have this dream a lot and I'm never wake up unhappy when I do.

This week I discovered a new room in my new house ... that I like to call "the porch". My porch does not have covering so my choices were limited. (The people who bought my AZ house made my patio furniture part of the original deal, so I was starting from scratch.) I finally settled on these resin adirodak chairs with weather proof pillows. Since it was in the 70's all week long, this was a very pleasant room to hang out in. I will say that it would have been a tad more practical for my newly discovered room to be someplace to put my computer, but hey, I'll take sunshine and fresh air and ... blue. I am not complaining.

I potted these hydrangeas that were given to me as a housewarming gift from a (new) friend. Thank you my new friend. Please don't be offended if I accidently kill them.

So ... come on over and sit a spell.

~ Fall Forward ~

So ... I hope I'm not premature in saying so but ... believe it or not ... we may actually be saying good-bye to the blasted heat that was the Summer of 2010, here in the Land of AZ. Last week: still in the triple digits. This week: rockin' the 80's. You won't hear too many people bemoaning the absence of the 90's in this equation. Let's face it, the 90's are so overrated.

This evening we are even enjoying a bit of light rain. Not summer "the wind blew my neighbor's pool into my pool**" monsoon rains, but a lovely light mist.

Along with the aforementioned advantages to Fall, look what I picked up today at Marshall's on sale because of it's obvious summer overtones? Sweet. (You know how much I love dots! And you know how much I love blue!)

Welcome Fall. Please don't toy with my emotions and revert to your old sweltering ways. Please don't make me beg.

'Cause I will.

** There was an evening this summer when I came home to find a rather large inflated child's pool ... floating in my pool. No lie. Some of my patio furniture was also at the bottom of the pool. It was a pretty big day for my pool.

Don't it make your brown eyes ...

So ... I like blue.

Seriously.

Is it a Surfboard, or is it a Table?

So ...

Voila.

Whale Watch

So ... I finished my whale quilt. I actually finished it a couple of months ago. It took me almost a year. It's been a long year.

My whale quilt makes me happy.

How about you?

A lesson in Blue and White

So ... my dearest Sonny Boy and Mrs. Boy were here this weekend, and I cannot stress enough how much I enjoyed their visit.

While they were here, Sonny Boy was very helpful with some man-around-the-house/tall-person jobs. I even mentioned to him that I might want him to go a certain store where exotic rugs are sold, to help me buy a rug I had had my eye on for many moons and then help me move the furniture necessary to lay it down.

Just yesterday when we had a few minutes before taking them to the airport, he mentioned it to me, but I foolishly declined and made him haul around pool tablets at a different store instead. Besides, I hadn't entirely made up my mind on the rug and wanted to add a few more months to the decision making process ... because that is what I do.

And yet today, when I just happened to make my way to that store and happened to pass by the exotic rug department I decided, what the heck, I can do this thing by myself.

Which I did ... while expending much sweat in the process. The moral of this story:

Moms ... listen to your children. They are generally smarter than you.

Why, I believe I feel cooler already ...

So ... Pam of PKM fame mentioned this morning that she is beginning to sound, ahem ... older ... due to the fact that she is obsessed with discussing the weather. Count me in. Seriously, it's hard to find other blog-worthy material when sweat is dripping onto the keyboard.

And other more unpleasant places.

In order to take my mind off the swelter (and pick up a 32 ounce Fountain Drink at Circle K for only 75 cents) I found my way to a couple of my favorite bargain haunts: The Half-Priced Book Store and ... duh ... TJ Maxx. At HPBS I picked up this less-than-a-year-old book that actually released a breeze from its pages when I opened it the first time. Seriously. Take a gander at that jar of sea glass. If you look closely you will see a pair of blue-tinted sun glasses peeking out.

Aaaaah. More breezy-ness.

Then at TJM I found these heavenly blue notecards. From Crane. With a heavenly price that was not originally assigned by Crane. Someday I will write a note on them. From the beach. Feeling breezy. This brings us to the two most important questions of the day:

How are you managing to cool off? and

How often do you take advantage of a 75 cent* FD at Circle K? (Did you know you can get an even better deal (64 cents*) at QT where they used filtered water?) One day you will thank me for these practical bits of life-altering wisdom.

*these prices are including tax (.59 + tax = .64 and .69 + tax = .75). The fact that I know this off the top of my head does not bode well for my relationship with my FDs.