Soothing the Soul...

The heartache and emptiness that you feel after losing a beloved pet is agonizing to say the least.  Nothing can take away the pain except time. 

We decided a drive might take our minds off things and so we found ourselves heading to a place we hadn't been for years...

  This beautiful ten mile lake is at the base of Mt. Saint Helen and seems to go on forever..Swift Reservoir  

This was our favorite place to camp for years. We loved it here and have great memories.

Coming up here made us realize how much we miss camp fires and looking out over the lake.  There is nothing more soothing. 

  We have vowed to go camping here again before summer's end.

Because life is just too short.

We miss you dearly, Sissy.

~Sweet dreams~

In Memory of My Sissy Girl...

My Sissy Girl

7/17/2005 ~ 7/09/2011

Who lost her battle to cancer.

You made me smile everyday.  I miss you terribly. xo

My Style at Monticello

Hello everyone and thanks for stopping by.  Just restocked and fluffed my space at Monticello so thought I'd give you a peek at it.



I found these great wooden letters in Kansas City

Monticello's storewide sale starts Thursday!
Come on in for great savings all over the store.

~Joyce

My Style at Home

Since my blog is fairly new, I wanted to share a little about myself and give you a peek inside my home to show you my style and what I love to live with.   As you will see, I love color.  I don't do the white thing in my home, although I can appreciate it and love the look of it, it would never work for me because I love color too much and... I live with two giant Rottweilers who love to lay on the sofa with me every night and play and wrestle in the living room.  I wouldn't have it any other way.  So come on in...

Hope you enjoyed a peek into my home. Next, I'll be sharing my "collections" with you.  

Until next time, thanks for stopping by.

~Joyce

"Peace"

I absolutely LOVE this picture and couldn't wait to share it with you (click on it to enlarge).  I found it today in an antique shop in Kansas City and was so mesmerized by it.  I knew I had to have it. I have never seen this print before and decided to research it to find out the meaning of it.  This is what I found;

It was painted by an English history painter named William Strutt in 1869.  A painting he named "PEACE".  It depicts this biblical verse;

The wolf will live with the lamb,  the leopard will lie down with the goat,  the calf and the lion and the yearling together, and a little child will lead them.

The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

This was one of his most famous paintings and has been reproduced for many years. How have I not ever seen this print before now?  Have you? 

My sister loves it as much as I do.  It's now hanging in her living room!

Happy Birthday, Sis!

Until next time...

~Joyce

Kansas City, Here I Come!





The clock is ticking

I'm packing my suitcase tonight and flying out in the morning.  I'm headed to Kansas City for Father's Day and to visit family. And of course, do some antiquing while I'm there!  Missouri has some of the best hidden treasures and I love the hunt.

Remember this shop...

I had the pleasure of visiting Curious Sofa during my last trip to Kansas City.

This was an amazing shop packed full of eye catching displays.

But as we all know, Curious Sofa closed it's doors early this year. We miss you, Debbie.

   I'm taking an extra suitcase hoping to fill it full of vintage Missouri treasures.  Wish me luck!

~Joyce 



A day at the beach...

Finally, a beautiful 80 degree day in the Pacific Northwest and a forecast of high 70's at the coast, yippee!  So we loaded up the 4-legged kids and headed to Long beach, Washington. 

The weather couldn't have been more perfect...77 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. My husband loves to go to Long beach because you can drive on to the beach and drive for miles. We were lucky enough to find a secluded spot so the kids could run and play and chase seagulls.
Enough of that and we headed to our next destination...Oysterville.  But before we made it off the beach, we found ourselves stuck in the sand...ohh s#%$!

Thank God for 4-wheelers! One came to our rescue and after 10 minutes of digging, he pulled us out. That was $20 bucks well spent!

So off we went, destination...

If you've never been to this little historic town, it's worth the drive, about 5 miles north of Ocean Park on the tip of the penninsula.

Reminds me of Nantucket. 

At the end of this tree lined street is a place (didn't get a picture of it, dangit!) that serves the best fresh crab and smoked oysters, among other goodies for the road trip home. 

 After hitting a few antique shops along the way, we called it a day and headed for home sweet home.

We ended a great day sitting on the deck until the sun went down.

Life is good.

Until next time 

~Joyce