Kelsey on California #2

Californians LOVE personalized license plates. Based on my calculations it seems as if 4 in every 10 cars has a personalized license plate. Whether it's a giant Cadillac Escalade being driven to Whole Foods by a soccer mom or a Prius driven by an aged hippie, Californians love to "represent" via license plate numbers. Personally, I think it seems a little self absorbed. These days you can personalize anything and everything to represent "you", as if the color of my lap top speaks to my character and personality. Who gives a rip? But I digress.....

Here are a few memorable license plates I found in the Target parking lot yesterday (keep in mind this is ONE moment in ONE parking lot)

1. FUN SLED
2. AT UR CVX-(maybe this person was a gyno?)
3. ZGOLPHR
4. GUTZFAM-(on a minivan of course)
5. NFLGHT-(maybe a pilot)
6. GYM SOC
7. I DESGN-(maybe this person designs stuff??)
8. GANDHAM-????

Have you seen any interesting license plates in your neighborhood? Would you get a personalized license plate?

Weekend Update

My mom and dad came to visit us here in Danville this past weekend. We had a lot of fun dining out, visiting Napa and sprucing up the apartment. Here are a few photo updates of the apartment.


I added another picture to the other wall (not pictured). It's a vintage travel poster advertising Florida via the Pennsylvania Railroad. I picked it up at a local consignment shop. There are a couple of pretty cool furniture consignment stores nearby I'll be frequenting. I also added this serving tray to the window sill. My mom put it there and I thought it looked great so it's staying.

Mike and my dad hung up a curtain rod above our couch....not to hang curtains on but, remember that awesome Moroccan style rug I love? Well, I decided to hang it on the wall. I didn't want to ruin it by keeping it on the floor and walking all over it. I think it looks pretty cool there. Also, I put a bright table runner on our coffee table. (Please disregard our ill-fitting slip cover and the flash of sea foam green near the floor.)

The main project of the weekend was adding potted plants to the balcony. I don't know anything about gardening but my mom has a beautiful patio and a green thumb so she jumped right in and showed me the ropes. We don't get much direct sun on our balcony so we had to get plants that do well in the shade (which my mom picked out). My mom also generously purchased the heavy, colorful, earthenware flower pots. I learned a lot and love how it turned out!





I didn't only put my parents to work this weekend. We had some fun too! We spent a day in Napa Valley and visited a small town called Yountville. We walked around, had lunch, sampled wine and relaxed. See pictures from our trip on my facebook page.

Kelsey on California #1

I'm starting a weekly feature called "Kelsey on California" where I'll share by musings and diagnoses of life on the left coast.

I'm still not sure how I feel about living in California. Not because I don't like it here, but because it's "California". I guess I've always had a pretty stereotypical bias towards this state and the people in it. As if everything here is basically what you see on "Real Housewives of Orange County". I feel very weird and uncomfortable associating myself with "that". I feel awkward saying "I live in California" out loud. I understand that Northern California is VERY different from Southern California, but still, it's California. I mean, there ARE palm trees here. So right away its glamorous to me, which makes me feel the need to wear high heels and dangly earrings even while running to the grocery store, or just running for that matter. I have been wearing makeup every day, but I think that's just because I'm bored since I'm unemployed at the moment (hopefully only for another week), and I did buy a new pair of dangly earrings. But, in general, I don't see myself changing a whole lot. At least I guarantee I wont be dying my hair and getting a boob job.

My China Finally has a Home! (and other fun stories)

For my birthday back in March, when we still lived in PA, Mike said that once we were in California we could buy a china hutch as my gift. And today we finally have a hutch in our dining room (aka breakfast nook).
This is a big deal because I've been "collecting" my china for the last 4 years. My mother decided one afternoon that she would take me to Macy's and I would pick my pattern and she would buy me one place setting to start my collection. Her mother did the same for her and so on, it's a tradition thing. Some people might think it's odd that a single, 23 year old girl would begin a fine bone china collection but a) I like pretty things and b) I wasn't going to stop my mother from buying me something. So, we headed to the Columbia Center Mall in Kennewick, WA to visit the housewares department at Macy's. We browsed the well lit displays of place settings- Vera Wang, Kate Spade, Lenox, Villeroy & Boch, Noritake, Waterford, Wedgewood... all the big names were present. I landed on a setting called Opal Innocence by Lenox. I typicaly go for bold, colorful, ethnic looking pieces and patterns in my home decor. But for my fine china, a potential family heirloom and holiday place setting, it would need to be timeless and seasonless. And because a china collection is such an innately feminine thing, I felt safely compelled to go for a rather girly and frilly patter.

I just loved it and still do!
As I had made my decision a sales lady asked if we needed any help. My mother spoke up "Ah yes please. We'd like one place setting of this Lenox Opal Innocense"
"Of course, no problem, come on over and sit down" we sat at the desk in the middle of the display area which was just across from the bath towels and shower curtains. "And who is the registry under?" said the seasoned and piano teacher-esque sales woman.
"There is no registry. We just want to buy one place setting."
"Oh! So you need to start your registry. Who is the bride?"
"There is no bride, no registry, I just want to buy my daughter this one place setting to get her collection started"
"That's unusual, I've never heard of that. Let me check with my manager"
After a few moments of hushed whispers and confused glances by spinsterly old ladies over by the "every day" china section, our sales woman came back.
"Okay, one place setting for you......So, what are you planning to do with this? Reheat meatloaf on it?"
I think my mother and I just politely laughed at that point.
I walked out of Macy's that day feeling like a young woman of the victorian era fighting for women's sufferage. Really? Was I really bucking the system so much here? It was my mom's idea anyway. Whatever. That lady needs a life.
A year later I was living back in PA where I saw a Macy's Memorial Day Sale ad in the paper. My Opal Innocsense pattern was super mega on sale! I called my mom to let her know "just incase" she was thinking of buying me any more. A day or so later my mom called me back.
"Kels, you're never going to believe this. I went into Macy's to get your china. I asked the sales woman for two place settings. She proceeded to asked me which registry this was under, just like last time. I started explaining to her that I was just buying this for my daughter and there was no bridal registry and she goes...'Oh I remember you, she's still not married?' can you beleive that woman!?"
My mom and I were totally floored.
So needless to say, I'm a bit...whats the word...defensive when it comes to my china. The whole process of me coming to own any at all was a battle so I feel the need to justify why I have it. Now that I am married and have all 10 place settings, it's high time I put it on display proudly. So this gorgeous hutch and all my china in it is sort of my big middle finger to that sales lady. (I mean, between the meat loaf and the still not married comments, she deserves at least that).

Happy Birthday to Me! (and Mike......but mostly Me)

I was just saying to Mike the other day that sometime down the pike I'd like to get a new camera so I can have better quality pictures on my blog. I visit other blogs frequently and wonder how these people get such great photos of their own house, crafts, food, family, etc. So I am SUPER pumped that "down the pike" is NOW!
The ever generous and thoughtful Mr. & Mrs. Logan Sr. have birthday-gifted Mike and I with an AMAZING new camera! A Nikon D3000! I don't know jack diddly about photography so I am a little intimidated by this fancy piece of equipment. But, with my pending unemployment, I am sure to have plenty of time to play and learn.



Lot's to do in the next few weeks: packing, shipping, loading, closing, opening, moving, hugging, crying, unloading, job searching and picture taking :)

PS- Get ready for tons of great (amateur) pictures of my knitting, crocheting, new apartment decorating and Danville, CA!! Thank you Tim and Ellen! You won't be disappointed :)

Apron Nostalgia

I just received this in an email from my Auntie Kate and enjoyed it. Thought it was pretty cute.

I don't think our kids know what an apron is.
The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath, because she only had a few, it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and they used less material, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears. From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.
When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids..
And when the weather was cold grandma wrapped it around her arms.
Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow,
bent over the hot wood stove.

Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.
From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables.
After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.

In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.
When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.
When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men folks knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.
It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.
Send this to those who would know (and love) the story about Grandma's aprons.


>REMEMBER:
Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill
to thaw.
They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron.
I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron.

Feliz Fin de Semana

Happy Weekend! Here are some pretty pillows to look at. I bet these would inspure some lively dreams during afternoon naps on the couch.





adios!