Celebrating 60 Years

August 20Th I celebrated my 60th birthday at the beach with my girls. I considered having a big party. The thing is, having a big party isn't really my style. I'm more of a one on one kind of person, who enjoys intimate gatherings with just a few. I'm not the kind of woman that would want to exclude anybody either, so having to limit the guest list due to budget constraints would never do.

Photo below: left to right, Amanda my eldest, Lindsay my youngest, myself, and Brook my middle daughter.
I decided a weekend at the beach with my girls would be just the ticket. I decided that months ago before I knew that my daughter who lives in Boston would be in the midst of moving and would not be able to afford a trip to the west coast.


Imagine the smile on my face when Mr. Honey flew Brook home to be my birthday surprise. That was the best birthday gift he could have possibly given me.

We spent Saturday in Santa Barbara having lunch at Pascuccis and then headed to Restoration Hardware to check out the latest trends in furniture. Lindsay was particularly enchanted with this somewhat space age chair.

Amanda and Brook sweetly posed for a photo. You really can't deny your mother a photo opportunity on her birthday, right?

Lindsay thought her boyfriend would love this lounge chair.

My favorite chairs were these linen upholstered wing backs with the fabulous map of Paris as the backdrop. Brook was quite smitten with the dress forms.

I insisted on one more photo before leaving the store.

On Sunday Mr. Honey brought my grandsons to join us for the day to make my birthday weekend picture perfect!



Below is a photo of my youngest grandson.

My eldest grandson smiles for me.




Below is a photo of my middle grandson with his Auntie Brookie. Mr. Honey teased him mercilessly for wearing his Auntie Lindsay's kitty cat sweat shirt. Being the confidant boy that he is he didn't let his Papa's teasing bother him at all. Shame on you Papa Honey!



At sixty, I wasn't going to let putting on a bathing suit scare me. I've really matured, L.O.L.

A Gift to Treasure

My dear friend Veronica gifted my youngest daughter this German-made figurine after decluttering her china cabinet last year.

While watching the HGTV show Cash & Cari, my eldest daughter and I were encouraged by Cari's love of antiques and unusual objects, as well as ordinary everyday objects, to re-examine this beautiful figurine.

What we found out was that this treasured gift was made by a German company called Hutschenreuther Selb Kunstabteilung. That's a mouthful, isn't it?

All of my girls, as well as Veronica's own daughter, took dance lessons while growing up. My middle daughter danced when she was little, but lost interest and went on to pursue other artistic endeavors. My eldest danced until high school, then chose piano and voice.

But my youngest daughter's interest in dance continued to become more serious as she grew up, so it was natural for my friend to think of Lindsay when looking for a new home for this beauty.

Lindsay danced from the time she could walk. As a young woman, she minored in dance at Sonoma State. After college she moved to San Francisco to dance in the modern dance world. Now she works mostly off-stage, both behind a camera, filming dancers and editing dance films, and in the studio teaching young dancers.

She actually lives in the building in which she teaches and has performed, but the living area is very small, with little safe space to display such a delicate figurine as this one. And so, she has entrusted it to my care, leaving these lovely dancers to arabesque together on a shelf in my living room, awaiting the day Lindsay has just the right place for them.

For now, it is a constant reminder of all the years of pride and pleasure I experienced at each and every dance performance -- not to mention all the hours of driving to and from dance classes. Ah... the memories.

Do you have an object that brings back your happy memories?