...I was really trying not to do what anyone else was doing but I was edified by how the other artists were "packaging" their pieces. So instead of just doing the pendant, I made them then mounted a scallop shell onto a sea-inspired postcard, filled the shells with brown paper shreds, then tied the pendants onto the card/shell with ribbon. Here's how they look...
Above is the end result; not too bad, right? And in about a month when we go see the family in Oregon I might not even have to wear the wig all the time because...
...here's how it looked after I shaved it last night and there's a little something there and should be a half inch more in a month. I thought I'd beat the paparazzi to getting these photos on the Internet. I convoed with Brit today and she said that's the best way to go...cell phone cameras and such...
...and here's the original fried hair. Send a heartfelt email to me if you'd like full instructions on how you can also get this look. Disclaimer: Must be 50 years or older, be peri or completely menopausal, or just off your meds before I disclose the secret to this good look. It helps to have a good attitude when messing with one's own hair and using umm...products for...umm...not one's hair type. Once you step out of the shower, where you were safely in the denial environment certain that can't be your hair in those clumps going down the drain, and pull the towel off to see the above, panic sets in. In that panic you try to think what you can do next and what comes to mind is that you have a very good friend who survived breast cancer a few years ago and still has the wigs she had from chemo balding. And voila!!!, you have PERSPECTIVE. Just like that you realize that it's just hair and that it will grow back. It doesn't hurt to have a best friend who's had a brain tumor removed recently either. Heck, I haven't seen my real hair color in over 20 years so this is my opportunity to see what's really going on up there. Until then, it's fun to have some "real" hair to play with (the wig with way more hair than I could ever have). Several folks have mentioned that I should stop messing with my hair which, durrrrr, I clearly can't since I don't have any but I think I'm done for a while.
So I'm sitting on the porch today thinking that I should make an appointment to have my brows waxed and dyed and a pedicure. Somehow I went from that to going to CVS and buying a hair curling treatment for black hair, brought it home, slapped it on, then watched as my hair ran down the shower drain. So half of it fell all the way out...BALD...and the other half broke off to a nub. On top of that it stripped out all the color so without my temporary color (yes, they still make Roux rinse) my hair is orangy...I look like a rag doll that's been played with too hard then her head was shoved into an Easy Bake Oven. IT'S BAD. I went to Wal-Mart and got some big hair bands and along with the Pink Luster made for my now black hair mixed with the Roux, I might get away without having to shave it completely, but I'll have to try it a few days. I've got scarves and caps as backup. I just kept telling myself that it's not a brain tumor, easy to remember lately. It's just hair; it grows back. Any other "silver lining" cliques you want to add? Fiddle dee dee, tomorrow's another day...I need a new way to deal with my midlife crisis. The faux blue eyes were, I guess, not enough...maybe a wig...
Since Matt and I didn't go to Switzerland with Paul we decided to go on our own micro adventure the other evening. Actually it was supposed to be a show house errand but the store I was going to at Towson Mall, but the store was no longer there. So, to ease the wounds of driving so far for "nothing", we popped into Anthropologie! What a sword to have to fall on...
...Matt rearranged the letters to read out...how sweet?!
In between saying, "When are we leaving this store?", he found a great book to have fun looking at. I had originally lured him into going with me (he always wants to stay with Alec instead of going on errands-imagine!) by telling him we'd go to the Rain Forest Cafe which we hadn't been to in several years. It worked immediately. But first we did the "boring" stuff then the adventurous...
...we'd forgotten how fun it is to go there, the thunderstorms and all the animals that move when you get near them. The scary part for us was what I chose to eat. Shrimp stuffed with crab meat, wrapped in bacon, fried, and served with three cheese sauce. So yummy and scary at the same time!
Matt and his super sized Icee.
My fave fish, the one with the polka dots, of course.
Matt did battle and won against a wild croc and...
...python. And I survived the battle of the traffic. We really did feel like we'd had a mini-vacation when we returned home after too many "have to's" over the week. It was great fun and relaxation in a little window of time. And we didn't have to go all the way to Switzerland to get it! 
Yesterday I got an email from Mellie telling me about this blog: http://thepioneerwoman.com/ .
So I moesied onto there and got stuck for an hour. The only reason I ever left the house or went to sleep or got up and got on here was because I had an important meeting to attend then, well you'll see in my next post, then battery ran low on laptop and me, then I got up, and now I've already been on that blog!
I already sent Mel a, "thanks a lot", snotty email yesterday. This is like the sleep aid drug disclaimer...make sure you have 8-12 hours to devote to this blog before logging onto it. I love her, I hate her. I love her 'cause she's so flipping hilarious, beautiful, talented, and she's living my dream life. And that's also why I hate her. Come on ladies, we can't like women we think are better than us, it's not good for our self esteem. I like having friends who are dumber, uglier, less funny, less talented than me because that way they look up to me and flock around me oohing and aahing and making me their queen. I AM ANNA NICOLE-I NEED AN ENTOURAGE ! I'm so sorry, my dear loyal friends, that you had to find out this way how I really feel. I can't be friends with this what'shername, she's fabulous. BUT, I can devote 8-12 hours of reading pleasure from her blog.
In all seriousness, hey the girl's got a sponsored blog, that says it all. It's a real hoot and treat so get out that Snickers Bar and have at it-enjoy!!!
Here are photos of the "raw" space we have to work with. It is the master bedroom sitting room. 
We have a ton of great ideas for this area, none of which we will be sharing until the REVEAL.
They will have installed new hardwood flooring before we start work. We start the end of July and the show house opens the first part of September. Stay tuned for lots of photos along the way and then the REVEAL.
While there, a guy was actually getting ready to push the sofa above over the concrete wall which falls 20 feet into a dumpster. It would have been ruined by the time it hit the bottom. I couldn't stand it. I mean look at the carving on the wood and the lines of the sofa. Even my amateur eyes knew this was a very old piece with great potential both decoratively and financially. So he helped me get it off his truck but was gone by the time I could load it in. So determined was I that I got this behemoth beast into the car myself one end at a time. I couldn't close the back hatches but it is so heavy I knew it wasn't going anywhere. I took it to the shop so Janine could give me a second opinion and we dropped it taking it out doing a little more damage to the already bad storage from years past. She did give it two thumbs up. Then we got Karen in on the fabric choice and decisions on whether I should cover it to sell or to keep. Karen gave me a fab deal on the red toile and off we went with the idea of me keeping it.
This is what we have had. We bought this sofa 11 years ago when we built the house. It was tan and cream ticking. A couple of years ago I had slipcovers made from drop cloths and we got a new look. We've been really happy with it and I've been in a conundrum about what to do when the sofa recovering was ready. The sofa has been hubby's domain forever so there were a number of concerns coming from him, which is always normal, but more so since this had more to do with his comfort than usual. We were pretty "Pottery Barn" looking.
But, voila!!!!, here's the "new" sofa. Not too "Pottery Barn" now, right? I love the lines. It was reupholstered by Ralph of Continental Upholstery in Halethorpe; he always does a beautiful job. He's got a friend who has a workshop space in the same building who did all the refinishing on the wood. There were even pieces that were missing and the guy molded new ones. I asked Ralph to do away with the channel back because I thought it'd be too busy, especially since I was using three different fabrics.
I love the way Ralph centered the woman under the trees.
Close up of the beautiful carving and grain.
And the same on the legs.
A look at the back. I used a wine and off white ticking on the back and Ralph used my roman shades fabric for all the double welting. Wadayathink? Bruce, how 'bout you? 
I pushed the envelope by taking cabinet doors off of one set of upper cabinets and painted the inside the same color as the counter tops and back splash which was the same color as our trim had already been. So I got to have somewhat of the look I love of open shelves in the kitchen like Karen has which is fab.
Oh, I did take off the doors on the bottom under the sink and made a skirt with the same fabric as I made the new window treatments which is the sister fabric of my roman shades.
Of course a "new" kitchen requires a new piece of furniture. This unique piece came from Tammy of Sweet Finds at The Pink Cabbage. The top opens up for storage, there's a drawer, and hook and eye that keeps the door closed on the storage door at the bottom. Voila!!! again!!! I'm so loving to be at home. Now all I have to do is keep it clean...
I'm embarrassed to say that Tina had to email and ask me if I'd gotten the box she'd sent me with the Cowgirl Swap goodies. It came last week right in the middle of when I was gearing up for way too much stuff, from which I've not yet recovered, by the way. But I'm pressing on and here's the goodness...
...right straight to my heart where lies the great state of Texas, the state of my birth. Check out the postcard in the background, so Texas kitchy..."Oh So Big"!
The 3-D cowgirl and all manner of cowgirl accessories, how fab is this??!!
PLUS the cowgirl lettered banner (necklace for me) and ATC...
...and the wonderful charm attached. What a fun box to receive, thanks sooooooooo much Tina!!!!
Please check out our blog for all the recent and near future events just posted http://pinkcabbage.blogspot.com/ . We are very happy with how our events have turned out and have another coming up this week so you'll want to catch up! Especially the following. Right on the heels of the yard sale to raise money for cancer research, The Pink Cabbage offered to donate furniture, fabric, and decorative accessories and decorate Charity's Closet, a second shop related to Success In Style.
Here are photos from their recent grand opening where Mr. and Ms. Howard County did the ribbon cutting:
Teen volunteers run the store each weekend. Check out the great teens and the fab decor.
Hi Jody,
The Grand Opening was a total success! I am so excited. We took in more than $600! This could prove to be a tremendous boost for SIS if we can continue the excitement as well as getting the word out.
I cannot thank you and the all The Pink Cabbage creative geniuses, enough. Truly our little dingy storage room has been transformed into a chic boutique that many will enjoy. You all are incredibly generous with your time, talents and treasures. I know for generous people the reward is in the giving, but I do very much hope that greater rewards are in store (no pun intended) with an increase in volume of customers to PC. I cannot stop bragging about our partnership and am sure that many are now dying to shop PC.
Again a HUGE thank-you, for making our store beautiful and having it ready for all to admire on opening day. I am beyond impressed and truly grateful.
Jeannette 
I did see red! I know it seems like I'm late but I had done a post within the timeframe but itI wasn't happy with it so now I'm redoing it. Check out http://www.flickr.com/groups/isawred/pool/ to see who else saw red and how they saw it. Thanks for doing this Sara!
