“Good family life is never an accident but always an achievement by those who share it.” - James H.S. Bossard
Happy to be in Ohio today…with family that I haven't seen in six years…making the days count.
Thanks to Tracey at A Cottage Industry for hosting today.
My Irises are blooming – not the purple ones, the yellow ones. Isn't photo editing wonderful? I can make this look like a painting?
My 98 year old neighbor gave these to me from her yard where they had been forever. They were already comfortable in the neighborhood being here long before me…just like she was. We were friends for eight years before she died four years ago. I love that she lives on in the flowers she tended for so many years – irises of all colors, roses, bluebonnets – still providing beauty for our little neighborhood.
A few weeks ago I put my name in the hat for someone on flickr's Make Five. I had forgotten about that and then out of the blue this gift came in the mail this week.
A mosaic purse made by Katherine who was inspired by a charity auction she attended. She said she came up with a persona – Jesse and went to work cutting and gluing. So this is my "Jesse" bag. Katherine made everything on this bag herself. I love her work!
I think it's awesome and it adds a splash of yellow to my room.
I just can't make up my mind where I like it more!
A touch of yellow to my room, the memory of an old friend like Myrtle and a new friend like Katherine. Three things that added a little sunshine to my life this week!
Somehow the stars aligned and this post will link to all three of these memes
Claudia at Dipity Road's~~ Friday Finding Beauty,
Cindy at My Romantic Home's Show and Tell Friday
and believe it or not
Beverly at How Sweet the Sound's Pink Saturday.
Take a little tour of all these blogs…add some sunshine to your life.
xoxo Nancy
"First a howling blizzard woke us,
Then the rain came down to soak us,
And now before the eye can focus -
Crocus."
- Lilja Rogers
Perfect description of how the first day of Spring arrived in Austin! Thanks to Tracey at A Cottage Industry for her Sunday meme…Words To Live By.
A "Warm" welcome to you boys and girls! Isn't it exciting?
Springs Arrival! Tweet tweet, chirp chirp.
In fact it's fairly… Blissful??? Pretty soon it will be just raining pink blossoms everywhere!
It's time to clean and decorate the house. And do a little Spring crafting. I thought to 
celebrate I'd have a little giveaway. And just about everyone wins! Anyone who is following me or any new followers can have it! Leave a comment today with your email or send me your addy via my email and I'll do up a list and send it out next week! This is what it looks like:
It's so easy to just print on cardstock, cut, fold, staple and run a ribbon through it. I haven't done any embellishing on mine yet and it still looks pretty darn cute! I just got this pic back from The Stone Rabbit! He's already started on his! Thanks for sharing Stone Rabbit!
Thanks to Beverly at How Sweet The Sound for hosting today. There are a lot of blogs joining in so it's hard to visit all of them but you do have all week. My Pick of the Week to recommend? Tales from an OC Cottage. She's loaded (no silly…I mean her blog) with interesting eye candy. Have a good time and tell her Nancy sent you over!
xoxo Nancy
Aren't you loving these two end of week memes? Claudia at Dipity Road's Friday~Finding Beauty and Cindy of My Romantic Home's Show and Tell Friday. It's a reminder for me to look around my home for some of the beautiful things that I'm lucky enough to have found.
These vintage plates are made by Termocrisa…Mexico's answer to Fire King. I love the lacy delicate blue flowers and the ruffle edge with a faded gold trim. I love the way they look right at home on Johnson Brothers chargers…
with everyday acrylic Target glasses.
or….on a fancy little tea tray.
mixed with other blue and white china.
I'm so glad you stopped by! Now……would you like a spot of tea before visiting all the blogs at Cindy's and Claudia's??!
xoxo Nancy
This past weekend we attended some fabulous estate sales. By Sunday when we went I expected slim pickings but there were some great things left and best of all – it was half price! I need to get these glass eggs in The Roost pronto!
Could not believe this amazing mid century bridal veil was still there! It was in the original Scarboroughs of Austin box.
This amazing Christmas Tree will be perfect for display.
How about this great old Champagne bucket? 
Such a pretty handpainted pink glass egg.
I've got to get out some pretty Easter grass to add a little springy color to all this and get it all priced.
Lastly – here's just a peek at an incredibly pretty old tree skirt I bought. Just a peek for now! 
I did buy some colorful things but I'll show you those later gator!
xoxo Nancy
I love quotes and poetry and this has always been one of my favorite Sunday memes ~Tracey @ A Cottage Industry hosts Words To Live By every Sunday. I Iove her blog every day of the week! I think you will, too.
Thanks Tracey! xoxo Nancy
Hello! Remember last week my Dream Collection? The little bluebirds are back….with one big huge difference. These little birdies are MINE! Thanks to ebay! I have three of them now. Aren't they just adorable??? I'm just so thrilled – every time I look at them they make me smile.
This little guy is the leader of the pack! Wink, Wink!
And these two on the branch…hear them…"she bought us cheep, cheep"! (Well for Lefton Bluebirds anyway)
You are noticing that they all have some of the prettiest pink cheeks you've ever seen. My last one is a little bank! See the new mama bird taking care of her little one? She's singing Rock a Bye Baby!
Actually, they are under my cloche now, but my camera battery died so I couldn't get that shot. So that's my share for Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly at How Sweet The Sound. As Beverly has requested I'm linking to a special blog today that is near and dear to my heart!
Riverside Studios is home to my talented friend LaVerne. 
In the meantime…have a wonderful Pink Day! xoxo Nancy
Yea – it's Pink Saturday! Did you miss me last week? I missed you! So today I'm sharing this collage I made of these Little Bluebird figurines over on Big Huge Labs. Are they mine? nooooo. Do I wish they were mine. Oh yesssss! I am on the hunt for these…you know…in my price range. And you know my price range right? Tell them little birdies…Cheep, Cheep, Cheep!
Have you already been to see Beverly at How Sweet The Sound? Well Go! Go visit all the Pink Blogs…. Tell them a little birdie sent you! xoxo Nancy
Just lately I've become enamored with vintage porcelain and china figurines that were made in Japan by U.S. and English companies. Originally they were very inexpensive
and even now they can be picked up at a bargain.
Made by Lefton, Napco, Holt Howard etc. in the 50's and 60's, they now surface at estate sales and less frequently garage sales. I bought these at an auction to put in my antique store but looking at this picture right now they look awfully good on my dressing table! Maybe I should rethink that! Definitely…they need to stay!
I'm sharing these today with two blog events - Claudia at Dipity Road for Friday Finding Beauty and also joining Cindy at My Romantic Home for Friday Show and Tell. Fridays….they're a good thing, aren't they?
xoxo Nancy
Hey – how are you guys? It feels like I haven't talked to you in ages. Last week was sooo busy. We completely redid The Roost. I washed and styled about a jillion pieces of old Japanese figurines – some went on ebay but most in my store and about half of those were swans! One thing they all had in common – they were really dirty and had to be cleaned and tagged. I couldn't even get a Pink Saturday post done. And look at these darling outfits! We went to a baby shower for my 45 year old first time dad nephew and his lovely wife! We bought a basket of the soothing pastels they have chosen for the new as yet to be determined sex of the baby. Honestly though – I was afraid this baby just would have no color in it's life…and what if it's a girl??? So I added this to the mix…just in case. Isn't it soo adorable – I just love the little chick. But then I wouldn't want a little great nephew to feel bad so we threw in a manly outfit and….
and wrapped it all up. Of course the apple wall pocket wasn't really on there but figurines are everywhere and it looked good with the paper so…oh nevermind you get it!
Boy – I hadn't noticed the new baby trends. For Example:
Lots of babies were there and everyone was nursing (well, just the babies)
It was a co-ed shower
No goofy games like smelling chocolate diapers
Lots of first time parents in their late 30's and 40's.
Now that the parents to be can determine the sex of the baby beforehand they want to be surprised!
They all have a doula in attendance at the "birthing center" where the child is delivered naturally
Gifts are no longer opened at the shower
They serve things like oatmeal Brule and vegetarian sausage casserole ????(well maybe this is just Austin keepin' it weird) and Mimosas and Wine but not for the moms.
This is just all new stuff to my generation…I, having my first at age 14 (okay, maybe I was 20) had absolutely no idea what I was having other than that pencil on a string deal, had to pack up all my cute pink girl clothes in my Pink diaper bag and return them to Lazarus for little blue things. My husband only came after the shower to load all my opened pink gifts that had been passed around the room into the car where…that evening on my ob's advice I might have a glass of wine to relax and oh my God I hate to admit to this one – a cigarette! While having cake and punch and nuts at the shower my friends and I would discuss the best anesthesia for childbirth or what type baby bottles we'd be using in lieu of nursing! My friends were in awe of the fact that my trailblazing husband would be in attendance at the actual birth.
Yikes! The joys of 1972 parenthood are quite a contrast to 2010 parenthood. My boys turned out perfect anyway - just ask them!!!
I know a lot of you collect Swans (NOT) so be sure and stop my my Roost blog to see the whole collection! Going to clean and tag and 54,982 teacups now!
xoxo Nancy
