Happy 2012 Friends!

here is to a memorable 2011:
i moved to the san joaquin
had my gallbladder removed
got engaged
lost my grandmother
lost my pup

2012 is going to be unforgettable! WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!!!

xoxo Lo

the guity blogger

well 2011 has been a whirwind of a year; that is certain.

i started this here blog with great intention and well, my last blog was in august?! where the hell does time go. i made the move from the greater los angeles area to california's san joaquin valley. a.k.a. the land that wikipedia so gracefully dubs as an economy of agriculture, petroleum, and poverty. the positive side? we do NOT live in an area of poverty thank god, but we do live in an area of vast agricultural fields with cheap antiques and a knock out view of the sequoia national park. living here has taken some getting used to - and boy do i miss LA - but it visalia holds quite a special place in my heart. and truth be told i'm home enough not to miss LA too much.

this week i have lost my beautiful grandmother anselma and my boston spaniel baby bailey. my grandmother, or welita as we called her, lived two weeks shy of her 91st birthday. an immigrant from mexico in the 1960s she raised 8 boys and 1 girl. she was always an elegant well dressed woman who never learned how to drive and her english was spotty at best, and was she a great cook. she lived a great life of tragedy - losing her husband nearly 22 years ago and 5 of her 9 children to various causes. she died peacefully in her bedroom surrounded by her loved ones and as a nurse i know this is one of the best things in life you could hope for. i see so many terrible things at work and it really makes you stop and smell the roses. if that wasn't a low enough blow 3 days later one of my 8 month old puppies and i went outside to get the mail when for god knows what reason she jumped into the street at the precise moment a little ol' lady in a white volvo ran her over right in front of me. as i just mentioned: i'm a nurse. i see things no person should ever, ever have to see. but having my poor, sweet puppy killed right in front of me like that was one of thee most difficult things i have ever had to deal with. bailey was my pal: we swam together, played fetch together, slept in the same bed together and did just about everything else together. it is unfortunate that some life experiences have to be learned this way, and i will never, ever underestimate the pain of someone losing a 4 legged best friend again. i'd like to think that my grandmother has a new lil' doggie in heaven.

 

rest in peace my sweet girl

pinterest

i have developed an unhealthy obsession with pinterest.com.

i was scared i would turn into some awful bridezilla but i have found myself to be quite the opposite. i have been tagging ideas for our wedding on my pinterest account. my dad and step-mom informed me this week that they will be paying the site fee which takes a huge weight off of my shoulders and is quite a wonderful gift. we still have not set a date but i am aiming for august 4th, 2012 which will be my maternal grandparents 67th wedding anniversary.

since i am out of work and it's been a slow month for mike work-wise this weekend is an "at home" weekend filled with lots of netflix and avoiding the heat. tonight i am making burritos with homemade frijoles and arroz. my abuelita would be proud.

in the meantime, take a look at my pinterest board. i'm sure you too will find the site crack-worthy.

we're gettin' hitched!

that's right the mister finally gave in! *snicker* two weeks ago we took aubry on one last summer get-away to sacramento before the start of her fourth grade year. mike's cousin james and his wife carla were gracious enough to let us stay at their house for the weekend. sunday morning before heading out to old town sac i begged mike to let me go to my favorite antique mall as an early birthday present (in fact, my big two-seven is tomorrow!) to which he agreed. there i saw this cute little art deco ring which i "ooh'd and ahh'd" over while mike cooly told me he didn't care for it. unbeknownst to me he had carla distract me while he bought the ring. later that evening (8/7) he brought it out on a park bench after discussing things with aubry (she was ecstatic) and he didn't have to say anything, i just knew. so not much of a romantic story there but i thought it was sweet none-the-less. he said he was going to wait until my birthday until he realized i would notice the sum of money missing from our bank account. haha. smart boy, that one! so without further ado, the ring!

 

 

yay! i am so excited to be marrying my best friend and start a new chapter of our lives together. we haven't set a date yet, but i am aiming for 8/4/12 which will be my maternal grandparent's 67th wedding anniversary! so now here comes bridezilla. i am already scheming up some sort of 1950s rockabilly honky tonk meets tiki BBQ. i dunno how, but my daddy always told me: if there's a will, there's a way!

enchanted leaves

i must pay tribute to my good friend (and amazing artist) nedda szylewicz for helping me with my new blog background and header. after a four month hiatus due to relocating to central california we finally have the internet up and running. didn't nedz do a great job?! and what's more amazing is she whipped it up in no time. i've known nedda for years and am proud to call her a friend. her art, including her mediums have evolved greatly over the years into something quite spectacular. you can check out her enchanted leaves line of jewelery here (and i recommend you do!) and her beautiful graphic design stuff here. she also keeps a blogger for her jewelery too.

 

 

 

 

the prowler

uncle atom's last post reminded me that i never posted a pic of our "new" trailer! ta-da! here she is! nothin' fancy by any means but we are looking forward to family vacations at our little spot at the lake. think of her as the little house from the disney short: today she is sad and old but soon she will be moved and re-vamped by a new little family who will love her to death.

 

and so you know what the hell i'm talking about - disney's the little house

viva las vegas, procrastination, and a few photos

i don't really know what to say about viva this year. we had so many things to squish into a 3 day period that we didn't do nearly enough things we wanted to do. if you're looking for an in depth run down of viva you're probably looking at the wrong gal. we left for vegas late thursday and arrived at 4 something a.m. and because i was not sure if i would get time off for viva or not i did not reserve a hotel room so we winged it and stayed at some ghetto motel off the strip. this was no problem by me as i think seedy hotels are kind of neat and we were really only there to sleep. friday we spent the day drinking and roaming around the vendors and bands and spent the evening on the strip (i should mention now that every night was fueled by alcohol) where we walked 4 miles and ended up going to sleep at some ungodly hour. saturday was much of the same with the addition off the car show and it was coincidentally the same day mike's ex (aubry's mom) was in town to get hitched to her boyfriend. ahem. husband. we ended the evening at one of my favorite tiki bars, frankie's tiki room, with mike's friends (who happen to be his ex' cousins that were there for the wedding) and at the sahara. sunday was spent running around doing last minute things and picking up aubry. we got on the road around 5 p.m. and stopped at just about every kitschy spot on the 15 freeway from bass pro shop to peggy sue's diner. (you must remember - mike is a "man's man" who likes hunting and fishing and guns, so from time to time i have to endure trips to weird places like bass pro shop or pawn shops in exchange for him being such a trooper about going to zillions of antique malls and flea markets with me.)

i didn't take ANY pictures of mike and i (i'm getting worse and worse) sans one group shot of him and i with his friends lacey and tim at frankie's (they were both, by the way, awesome.)

 

and here just about the only picture you can see of my makeup. i left in a hurry and really only stuck to one shade of colors (my old stand bys) the whole weekend.

 

i also uploaded a zillion pictures of cars from the car show to my picasa account here if you are interested in seeing them.

and in other news i have 19 days to move while working 9 twelve hour days in between. whew! i have slowly started packing today. mike and i had a little too much fun this weekend and are both trying to battle off some mystery illness (i feel strep throat coming on... greeeeeat) so i have been going at a snail's pace today!!!

it's official... we're moving!

yep that's right! we were approved for the 1950s three bedroom track house and as of the 29th of this month i will no longer be a southern californian. well, i guess i will always be, but now i am a central californian too.

this month is going to be absolutely crazy. mike's birthday was on friday and per his request he wanted to go camping, so we've been at our trailer at pine flat since thursday. we bought this lil' 23 foot 1973 coleman prowler a few months ago with the hopes of turning it into our own little tropical tiki oasis. with moving and whatnot plans for the trailer have been pushed back but we're anxious to get the ball rolling before the 110 degree weather here in fresno starts to creep in. in fact today mike gets to spend a good part of the day weed wacking for fire safety! lucky him =)

with that i better get the ball rolling. today is probably going to be the only day for me to relax for the next month. we will be going to las vegas next weekend (for viva) and i have work and packing/moving every day between that. i am not looking forward to all this frantic packing that we get to do. oh well, on the bright side it will all be done and over with by this time next month!

goin' to the chapel and we're gonna get married... some day!

so it has been decided: mike and i are gettin' hitched! we have nothing planned out, so i really shouldn't even be talking about it quiet yet but i just can't keep my big ol' mouth shut! we have agreed to get me a ring before some sort of official announcement has been made.

as i've said before we're/i am in the process of moving to central california from southern california and i have been assigned the job of finding what type of engagement ring i'd like. this means i don't get to pick my ring per se- mike has made it very clear that he wants to pick it out for me and surprise me with some sort of real proposal. of course since i'm a vintage gal i opted for something vintage. i had hoped his grandmother's ring was still around but sadly it isn't. my grandmothers well, are still in use! one thing i've noticed is that i've been reading a lot of blogging about how buying vintage = recycling. well that's sort of the way i'm looking at my ring. i am a nurse so i don't want some big honkin' cathedral ring that's gonna get snagged on gloves (or worse - the patient!) and that's not really my bag anyway. i really would love an art deco diamond but i think i am going to opt for something more 1940s/simple - for now! i am not opposed to upgrading to a nicer ring but it just seems like at this point in our lives a $4000 ring is not practical. sure we could save up but right now i'd rather use that money to pay off debt or for a down payment to our own house! really when you think about it (or at least i look at it this way) a ring is just a ring. it's a nice gesture and sure i'd be upset if i never got one, but i don't feel like the three Cs are what my marriage should be based upon. mike pointed out i may be able to find something in a pawn shop and the thought of it made me wince but i gave in (this gives him an excuse to look at guy stuff too) so we've started making our rounds and much to my surprise i've found many nice sets hiding in pawn shops! i've also checked some antique stores around here in clovis/fresno but i think antique store generally =s higher prices. i haven't found anything in store that screams "Lauren!" but lord knows i'm willing to keep looking!

the good news on the hunt for an engagement ring i did get to throw in some antiquing too. i am a big pyrex fan and i can never decide on what pattern i like. yesterday i found a white pyrex casserole dish with the blue snowflake pattern with lid on the super cheap so i snagged it up. my kitchen has a bit of an identity crisis in that i have a lot of metlox california palm and franciscan starburst (my absolute fav!) dishes in blues and then lots of reds! some how this works for me so i'm happy to have a new dish to add to my collection. another thing that scares me is using all this plastic (hello cancer! or maybe that's just the worry wart RN in me) so a throwback to old glass dishes is fine by me!

also monday i am thinking about applying for a 1950s three bedroom house for rent up here in visalia - wish me luck! apparently i went from 4th in line to 1st in line based on my application. on one hand i am more than sad to be leaving my little apartment by the sea but i would gladly trade in a one bedroom with no laundry facilities for a three bedroom HOUSE! which also means - hello boston terrier! mike has promised both aubry and i that when we move we can get a dog. i've been patiently waiting for what seems like forever so i just keep reminding myself that. plus (at least for the interim) i will be keeping my job in so cal and living with my mom 2 nights a week until i decide that yes, i can hang with the san joaquin valley and move up here permanently (that was a big part of the "gettin' hitched" factor - i don't feel like i want to make that sacrifice without getting a ring on my left hand first - knowwhadimsayin' ladies? mmm hmm.) so without further ado: engagement ring pr0n! and don't worry, i'll keep it to a minimum.

here is what i like:

 

here is probably something along the lines of what i'll be asking for (maybe with less yellow gold? i'm not a big fan):

 

we also found this awesome mens ring that we thought just maybe instead of going the traditional route, to get something like this- we are both huge tikiphiles!

 

Truly missing in action

can it be true that i have ignored my new blog for a month already?! oh yes it's true! i do apologize for the lack of updates. house hunting is on in full swing in central california right now. that's right - i've decided to take the big plunge. well, sort of anyway. i will be keeping my job until thungs get settled here, and then i will start looking for a job. as a southern california native i find myself very resistant at the mere thought of leaving it's smoggy delights and mild winters, but as my momma put it best - it's good to spread your wings... and you can always come home! the best part of central cal?! the amount of freedom i have - not being surrounded by concrete jungle but instead the fruits of our labor and a vast sea of green earth. but the very best part?! an easy going man who takes me for exactly who i am, and the love we share and multipy on a daily basis... even as he snores loudly into my left ear, like now.

i do, however have some barkcloth curtains that need to be photographed and a midcentury modern antique roadshow extraviganza to share about!

happy trails to y'all for the time being!