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Friday, May 17, 2013

Clearwater Beach

Are you familiar with Winter the dolphin? Winter is the star of the movie Dolphin Tale. Winter is a dolphin with a prosthetic tail that lives at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. The movie came out in 2011 and my daughter, Eleanor, has been asking to visit Clearwater ever since. 

This was Eleanor's first trip to the ocean.  I absolutely love the ocean and I couldn't wait for her to see it, put her feet in the sand and toes in the salty water. Clearwater Beach is miles of pure white sand. 

We checked into the hotel, dropped our bags and hit the beach!


Eleanor on the beach for the first time

We spent the evening walking the beach and picking up shells. As the sun was setting we hit the sunset festival at Pier 60 which was right next to our hotel. 

This was the view from the balcony of our hotel room.

The next morning we walked a mile to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium to visit the infamous dolphin named Winter. Winter is one of three dolphins that the CMA has rescued and rehabilitated. There are many other animals there as well; sea turtles, otters, sharks, stingrays, and more. In addition to all the animals, we were able to see sets from the movie Dolphin Tale. 

After a busy morning at CMA we walked the mile back to the hotel, put on our suits and hit the beach. Eleanor couldn't wait to get in the ocean. The water was surprisingly warm. It was a windy day and only in the mid 70's, so after a quick dip in the ocean we hit the pool which was heated and blocked from the wind.

Eleanor in the ocean for the first time.

The next day we rented a cabana on the beach and spent the entire day there; swimming, playing in the sand and relaxing. Even with the cabana and a 70 SPF we still managed to get a sunburn. We had such a wonderful day together!!

 Eleanor having lunch in the cabana.

Eleanor with her bag of shells. We walked the beach every night. 

Lots of "firsts" for Eleanor on this trip. This is her first crab

First time holding parrots

Our last morning we snuck down to the pool for one last swim. Then we grabbed some breakfast and ate on the beach. 


After we ate breakfast we snapped this self portrait. Last walk on the beach for this trip. We had such a great time! I LOVE my girl. xox






Saturday, May 11, 2013

Birthday Gift

My dear friend Jayne celebrated her birthday this month. This was her gift from me.

Last fall we stopped by a few antique stores on the way up north for a girls weekend. Jayne found a similar nut dish to this one, but the nut was a lighter tan and looked like a brain to me. My sister has this same nut dish so I knew the darker color was out there somewhere. I talked Jayne out of buying the "brain bowl" and convinced her to continue looking for the darker color. A few months later I found this dish at an antique store and knew just who it's new owner was going to be.

A couple weeks ago Jayne was looking through my embroidery books and found this little squirrel pattern, she mentioned she would "like this little guy on a dish towel".


So I whipped up the dish towel to go with the nut dish. Birthday gift success!! She loved it. 

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

The Pressure is on ......

I just returned from a wonderful vacation with my daughter. I will blog about it soon....

I was thrilled to return and see I have 5 new followers!! Thank you so much for following me. Special thanks to my sister Harriette of http://lookatthebirdie-harriette.blogspot.com/ for giving me props.

This is my first experience with blogging so I hope I don't disappoint! I'm now feeling a little pressure... 

I will be sure to check out all my followers blogs and add you to my list of favorites. Thanks for being the first five!

"Believe you can and you're halfway there" -Theodore Roosevelt

Friday, May 3, 2013

Girls Weekend in Lanesboro

I had a wonderful weekend with my mom and my two dear friends Jayne and Nikol. Our plan was to leave around 9:00 am and antique, thrift and garage sale our way down to Lanesboro, MN which is about a three hour dive. 

We did indeed leave at 9:00 am sharp (the girls know I hate to be late). And our first stop, after Starbucks, was Pine City, MN. Our destination was the local thrift shop, but that was a bust. We did hit the town on the perfect weekend though, it was the city wide garage sale!!

I got the BEST garage sale find ever!! Anybody who knows me understands this......

Our next stop was Rochester and then on to Lanesboro. We checked into our cozy room in the Art Lofts right downtown on main street, dumped our stuff, and took a walk around town. We then stopped at the Commonweal Theater to purchase tickets for that nights show "A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen (which was wonderful). Then we hit the local winery and tasted a few of the local made wines.

Then we were off to Harmony, MN to shop at the wonderful antique mall they have. And then we had a fantastic dinner at the Quarter/quarter Restaurant. The food is out of this world!! It rivals the best restaurants in Minneapolis. 

The next morning we were up and at em. First stop... the Pastry Shoppe for a wonderful sugar, carb filled breakfast! YUM



 There is a little antique store in town called the Coffee Street Peddler and it is NEVER open!! Leave it to my mom and Nikol to hunt down the owner and ask him to open for us... and man am I glad he did!!

First find, beautiful pink and aqua vintage buttons for my collection, and only $1 a card!! What a steal. 


Then for the mother of all finds!! I'm a sucker for dolls and I found a beauty. She is a vintage 1958 Vogue Jill Doll in MINT condition. She is wearing the prom dress and has the gloves, shoes and panties, all in perfect shape. As an added bonus she came with the wedding dress, in the box, with all the accessories, also in MINT condition. 

We slowly headed home down the scenic river route. Our last stop was Lake City, MN. Most of the stores close at 5:00 and that is just about the time we rolled into town. Lucky for us one of the antique store owners wasn't in a hurry to get home that evening and was happy to let us browse his shop. 

My last find of the trip was this sweet angle decked out in a feather skirt. I'm thinking she will look pretty darn cute on top of my pink Christmas tree next year. She has a Lefton/Napco face but she isn't marked. 
I had such a fun weekend and got some awesome stuff!! If you haven't been to Lanesboro, MN I highly recommend it, there is so much to do and is a family friendly spot. 

You had the power all along my dear - Glinda the Good Witch