December Birthday!

The weather was gorgeous when we got together at C-Level to celebrate Gail's # ____ Birthday (don't worry - numbers will never be posted)!

It was the place to celebrate Birthdays and Holiday Office Parties -- as a result we got to sit at a circle table in the center of the outdoor veranda. Great views of the beautiful bay and sunny day! Just breezy enough for Gail wear her latest completed project...the Collinete (sp?) lace shawl in all her favorite colors! Gorgeous!

There seems to be another trend developing in our group....Gail had just eaten dinner at C-Level the night before with adopted son, Mikey. I seem to remember that Marcia had done the same thing on her birthday. Hummmmm.....

Never the less, we went all out on the food and had Gail's special request - Lobster Mac/Cheese and each of us then choose an entree to share - onion rings & sweet potato fries (always a pick), ahi tuna, lettuce wraps, chicken sand, and Susan and Marcia ordered a Bloody Mary that was nearly a meal - stuffed with all kinds of veggie garnishes and Shrimp! Should have gotten a picture of that!


Gail opened a plethora of gifts: Candle holder for her new backyard from Val, a fun project/anything bag from Marcia, the new "red" knit kit from Susan and a "never ending" knitted scarf from Judy.

A few Christmas surprises also were opened by everyone...from desk calendars, crocheted Holiday Flower pin, hand and lip balm and patuti cuties (seen perched on Marcia's shoulder)!
We're (including me) wondering if they're fish? mice?...???


As our celebration wound down...Susan suggested we plan an outing where we could seal our desires for 2011. First we were going to do it at the beach, burn our affirmations and toss into the sea - but after thinking through the weather uncertainties, it was decided we would meet at Gail's house on Dec. 28th and have wine, and talk about, write about... what we wanted the new year to bring us and then seal them with fire and give them to the universe!

We all had......

A Great Day! Happy Birthday Gail!

Urban Barn

On the books/iphones/calendars for a month...it finally arrived...a get away day for the "girls". While Gail was busy with birthday party preparations and couldn't get away...the "four girls" went on a road trip!

A visit to shaby chic Urban Barn in Escondido was preceded by a surprise visit to see Casey at her Starbucks job. We walked in with Marcia hiding behind us and Casey recognized us right away. Lattes, Chi Teas and a group hug to wish Casey a Happy Birthday! and we were heading North.


Urban Barn was a delightful place...not what you'd expect. While the outside looked like a 2 story office building, it opened to an indoor/outdoor flea market of treasures!


Marcia found some Tieras (sp?) and promptly modeled with Susan and Val joining her! This, after we stumbled across a lavishly adorned armoire (sp?) covered in massive amounts of shells!


It seems adornment was the buzz word for the day...since the next booth provided us with even more "try ons" - feathers and fun in black and pink. Who says Marcia likes PINK???

Parked? right out Urban Barn's back door, was the lead wagon from a Gypsy Caravan -
a fitting tribute to all our jeweled adornments!

As we continued to meander through the booths, Susan found the perfect

Christmas gift for little Viv.
A miniature china tea set in it's own carrying case!

Val found her "must have" Christmas tree that she's been eying for years! She's telling
Greg it's "for the business"!
Love that!

Marcia debated on a sweet piece of furniture for the guest bedroom that will store guest's necessities, reminiscent of Marie Antionette's Palace of Versailles.

Christmas Candy was spot on, for Judy's porch - who could resist!

On the way home, a spot of lunch at Rancho Bernardo Winery was a
perfect ending to a perfect day!

Need to Plan our Next
Road Trip
before the Roses Bloom Again!
PS...that's a rose in Susan's hand!

Back Yard Transformation

About a week after Susan's Birthday celebration, Gail asked if I'd help add a few extra touches to her Holiday decorating and I was happy to see what she had and create with her goodies instead of mine! She already had a great look going and all that was missing was a little greenery and some ribbon and bows.

For the greenery...I suggested we "use what she has" and look in the garden for something we could gently prune! Timing is everything, when she shared that Jeremy and David had just pruned the olive tree to finish building the arbor attached to her studio! So out we went to dig in the trash can for some great twigs and of course I got to see the amazing transformation continuing to take place in her back yard.

The greenery got momentarily abandoned as I went back in to dig my camera out of my purse and take a few shots!

Gail's backyard is getting closer and closer....can't wait for next Spring when we can all enjoy the beautiful peaceful surroundings she and Jeremy have created!

This is looking up at the deck from below the Koi Pond!




Here we see the caves for the Koi under the deck!


...and this will be our view as we drink wine, knit and talk!

We can't wait Gail!

and the partying goes on...

The day was gorgeous at C-level, as usual. So pretty in fact, that the sun was shining way too brightly on our "official" booth...so Susan picked a sweet little table by the water to celebrate her "Birthday with the Girls". Only we were missing Marcia - who was a world away in Australia with lil' hoot teaching her way across the country!




It seemed to be the Day of the Hair! Gail had recently brighten her hair with gorgeous colors of a San Diego sunset and Val arrive sporting a new, short, asymmetric and darker do and I surprised everyone with a little red stripe in my hair that continues to celebrate the season!

We got a little carried away with the food - all limits off on Birthday celebrations - and chose to have Sweet Potato Fries AND Onion Rings! Lobster Mac and Cheese AND our Grove Girl's chef special!

We "forced" Susan to open her gift. Quickly, the surrounding tables KNEW she got something she wanted! Lobster plates! She was so excited she wanted the waiter to serve us on the plates...here's where the intervention started....all of us strongly convinced her to not expose the plates to possible damage...so she asked if the chef special could be served on it and we intervened yet again! We convinced her a 3 olive Martini would be a good substitute! Smiles all around!!!
Valerie got her a sweet little pottery "fish" jewelry box and the sea theme was complete!

A few weeks later we all (including Marcia) got to experience and enjoy a wonderful lunch hosted by Susan that highlighted the plates and her yummy special clam stew!

Happy Birthday Susan!

The Birthday Girl!

It's Official! C-Level is now our Birthday Hangout! We all seem to love it...it's always a good view...our Birthday Booth is always open AND we always get the best servers! Marcia (Birthday Girl) even picked it as the place to go after just being there 2 nights before! Now that's what I call - lovin' it!

The conversation was sprinkled with all our creativity coming to blossom - Marcia had just finished a weekend creating an "Art Stick" and when she shared that she was using her broken sea urchin...all we could visualize were the pieces pictured on her blog that reminded us of "ta ta's"!

BUT, after hearing her colorfully describing how they have been changed to become part of a fish...we began to see them much differently! But the "process" was the real key element...how to get out of our usual perspective and "see" things differently. Something we all try to do, but often get stuck in the "same ole, same ole"!

Listening to her talk, and hearing Val talk about a self-publishing site she had just discovered, and wondering how we each come into our own creativity...I suggested we collaborate on a book about creating. Each of us explaining our creative process...Marcia thought we should also have a step-by-step project from each of us. So here it is...the first kernel of thought!

Lunch was delicious - as usual and the desert was an amazing piece of mud pie about as tall as a skyscrapper! Of course we didn't hesitate on the size and promptly enjoyed every calorie filled bite!

Marcia's gifts were as varied, as all of our creative minds are...Val added to Marcia's beautiful gold embossed glass collection, Gail gifted her a book on Succulent Container Gardening (ps...Marcia's back yard is almost ready for landscaping), Susan gave her colorful coasters (handmade) for her Studio and I gave her a small crystal wind chime for studio or deck.

As always our time ended too quickly, so we all decided to go to Gail's to check in on Jeremy's Koi pond project. And we were amazed...sorry I didn't get a picture. Gail - you'll need to blog us some "in process" pictures!

The pond is layered with creatively placed river rocks, flagstone (?) slate for "Koi cave" roofs and places for in-water and edging plants!

How fabulous this will be when it's all done, with Pergola, cantilevered decking and chandeliers!
Can't wait!

Susan's Birthday Next!

Val's Birthday

Hard to believe it's birthday time again! But Val always starts us off with a bang at our favorite place by the bay...cLevel! Susan and I got there early and requested our special "five girls" booth - don't know what we'll do if it's not available, but at least we snagged it this time!


Then everyone stared arriving and the festivities began! We all went light on the "buzz" beverages and stuck with cool, clear water and asked Juan if he could arrange for our special nachos. After explaining that Chef Debra always made sure we had them - Marcia is very convincing - he came back and shared that the Chef would be happy to make them for us. So Ahi Tuna Nachos, Calamari and Sweet Potatoe Fries were our menu items of choice.


Birthday girl was very "glam" in her every popular Nuno scarf and ring to match! Of course we couldn't wait until Val opened her gifts...a selection of hand picked and planted succulents from Gail, hand crafted coasters from Susan, floral scissors that were bejeweled with a beaded bob from Marcia and a selection on fabrics to choose from me.

Marcia did the first "show and tell" demoing her new multi-faceted ring that changes into different looks at the flash of a smile. And of course we all had to try it on...unfortunately once it got to Val - it didn't come off! Really..... (dramatic pause) It didn't come off! (another dramatic pause) and so she was gifted a beautifully created ring that was perfect for her!

Gail shared the progress on her back yard and we all deliberated how to best keep raccoons from munching on Koi in her new Koi pond once it gets finished. I believe we all agreed they needed to learn how to hide in their underwater caves, which Jeremy had promised to build into the pond.

Susan told her story about The Art of Fashion evening and I passed around the camera so everyone could see some shots...did I mention we were drinking water?

Val has until October to be in the Coronado house (when it's rented) and then will start to remodel and live in Tex's house until it's done. She gearing up for the Ferry Landing Art show to be held in a few weeks and I'm sure the fabric and scissor gifts will be well used.

My little granddaughter was born 3 weeks early, but Mama and baby Braelyn are doing fine. And I'm still sewing nursery things. The latest, a remake on a store bought mobile of Birdies. Must change out all the fabric to the rest of the fabric in the nursery! And I thought I was almost done....I fear it's just a beginning!

After 2, not just 1, complimentary desserts, we decided to meet at Val's next week to try and lock down a date for our annual retreat!

Happy Birthday - VAL!

Joe's Life Celebration

Well for starters, Joe was definitely there. When we arrived at the club, we walked through the lobby, past throngs of well-wishers, and into the lady's room. And there was Gail! Remarkable because there were close to 200 people there so to have Gail all to ourselves for a few precious moments...well that's Joe at work, I swear. Every speaker spoke about what an incredible friend Joe was...how he loved his buddies and they loved him. So, of course, he would make sure that Gail was surrounded with her buds (and not just us!) on this important day.

I want to get one thing out of the way first, cuz it was a constant distraction...and that is Joe and Gail's darling, sweet granddaughters...Madison & Ashley. They wore identical dresses with big white bows in the back and they had the best time trying on women's sunglasses and running from one set of open arms to another. Good lord, they could not be cuter. All I could think of was Gail telling us that she overheard Joe telling Madison that she was the smartest, most beautiful girl in the whole world.

And another thing I have to get out of the way is this: who wears white jeans to their father-in-law's Life Celebration? The answer can remain unspoken. I'm just saying.....

Okay, now that the distractions are out of the way...

First things first. Gail looked absolutely stunning. Yes, stunning is the only word. The silver gladiator sandals worked beautifully with her slightly sparkly Missoni. Her makeup and hair were done perfectly and she even had purple nail polish on to match her dress! Joe must have been beaming with pride.

All the speakers had memorable things to say about Joe, who in Boston terms, was a f'n saint! The one who stands out most in my mind was Jim, Joe's law partner, who painted a wonderful portrait of Joe. He read excerpts from Joe's Ruffagrams sent over the years. So we got to hear Joe's actual words sharing stories about Gail painting the house to look 300 years old (am I missing something?), her golfing triumphs (What @$%...I didn't know she played in the U.S. Open!), her dear Buckwheat (who was not a rodent but Gail's little schnausser), and Freddie, the "real dog". The Ruffagrams showed us that Gail was the center of Joe's life just as much as he was hers.

Mike Neal emphasized that Joe was not without faults. Joe did not like to lose (fault or virtue?), he could not load a shotgun while running (big deal), and he liked vodka (what's wrong with that?). Aside from the latter, we did not know these things about Joe.

We also learned that these guys bet on their golf games. Joe stripped Bob Vaage clean more than once, graciously saying as he took his money...you'll get it all back sooner or later. But he never did. Behind his back, Joe was called the Quiet Killer. Well, who knew that?

Carol Wells said that Joe "was a class act" and others said he was a good judge of character. Choosing Gail is a testament to those things, no?

Oh my dears, there is so much more to be said, and so I will turn this over to you to add your thoughts.

LS