alayna turns five!

i heart ewoks...

i thought the ewoks were the best thing that happened to star wars. at least for me. they were my favorite part and most memorable characters. i just wanted to hold them and squeeze them and keep them as my very own little feisty pets that i could say goodnight to before i went to sleep in my pretty lady lovelylocks canopy bed. a recent pic of my little tokyo reminded me of my favorite ewok above. tokyo's the closest version of the adorable forest living furball natives of endor that i'll ever have. money well spent for a childhood dream come true!

crafty day off...

i've mentioned that i simply adore and love peonies. they are irresistibly romantic and i would love to make them apart of the wedding centerpieces. however, these lovely flowers are in season during the summer, not february. so screw the seasons! i'm on a crafty mission. i'm going to make my own peonies. i love the picture above by kari herer. i came across it at etsy while searching for some inspiration. this particular picture struck me because it's almost exactly what i want the centerpieces to look like except my bottles are more unique and textured. at each table there will be three different sized bottles and three different size smaller jars for candles. all of these lovely textured glasses will be centered on top of a round cut wood 2 inches thick. so anyway here are my peonies in progress. i'm still working on painting darker pink accents towards the inner petals to give the illusion of more depth. i would also like to look for a thicker stem. and of course, add on some leaves. but overall, i'm pretty happy with my peonies...

so lately...

tony had an appointment with the chiropractor in castroville on saturday. some of the most adorable cottage style homes are in this little town and now that we are only 15 minutes away we've been able to pay visits here more often. the doc's office is a historical house called the house on september end...or something like that. inside is like a little house. we're in the waiting area. tony's at the bottom of the picture. i told him to play it cool.privacy smavacy...who needs it anyway. here's the view of the patient room straight from the waiting room. i should have taken the picture when tony was on the table. next time.

after, we went biking through the neighborhood and off medina river. i wish i would have taken my camera but i didn't. we found a spot near the riverbank that wasn't private property and sat for a rest. as we were about to leave i noticed a big fish right near by. as we got closer tony saw that it was caught by a hook. somebody left the string there to catch the fish. i didn't believe him and thought it was just tangled up in the string. maybe we should try to set it free. he said he was for real, he and his cousins used to do it all the time when he was younger. oh. thought i, the stunned little city girl. what a lazy way to fish. doesn't seem right. if you're gonna kill it then at least owe the poor ugly thing a good fight and effort. tony just blamed the fish. he said it was stupid. those country boys. no mercy...to nonhumans. but very sweet to their ladies.after riding we stopped by one of the antiques stores in town. i love antique stores. what history. what stories lie behind each item. only thing about this shop, the history and stories don't come cheap. a little overpriced. no bargains here.

and this little fellow i've never posted a picture of. meet tokyo. viscious guard dog and the number one annoyance and nemesis of my beloved tony.