Bloggy Friends and Fun Finds

Hello loverlies!!

I hope you had a great weekend!

I had a

FABULOUS

weekend!!

Why you ask?

Well because of these two beautiful ladies..

Laurie from Heaven's Walk and Debbie from The Lakehouse.

We met up in a near by town that hosts a large Flea Market on the last Sunday of the summer months.

It was a PERFECT day.

We joked about how we would find each other and Laurie told me that she would be the one holding the "CRASH" sign.....

She wasn't joking! :)

Of course we forget to take the photo of the sign, but it was funny!

"Crash" would be because of all the wonderful things that I listed in a post a while ago that I have backed into with my car. :)

Do you ever feel like you know someone the moment you meet?

That is how it felt, like we have been friends for a long time, yes, we talk online a lot but just having that feeling of knowing someone and feeling comfortable is a great feeling.

And the two of them have been friends for a long time, sisters separated at birth I believe I was told. :)

I loved it!

And can I just say that they are

gorgeous

and so sweet and so much fun to shop with and just be around.

And let me tell you,

these ladies know how to shop!!! :)

Laurie purchasing her grain sack runner.

(love the couch too)

Debbie scored a beautiful birdcage.

Laurie found this beautiful door. She was trying to decide if it would fit in her front door but after talking with hubby, they decided that it may not fit and not worth the risk.

We also tried talking her into wash tubs for either beverages or flowers (I should have taken a picture of one) but no go.

Don't worry there is next month!!

Mmmwwwwaaaaahahahhahhah!!!!!

Ok, if you have not tried fried pickles you are missing out my friends!!!

There are DELICIOUS!!!

Don't ya love how they set up our little table with Lauries pot and napkins?!

They are such bloggers!!! ;)

They both scored some really beautiful things so you have to go check out their stash when they post about it!

Just click here and here!

I picked up a few things, not too much since I am leaving on vacation soon, but I managed to score these little beauties!

A gorgeous aqua ladder that has the perfect distressing and worn look.

A kitchen scale that I have been looking for, only $10!

Beautiful aqua bottles that look like sea glass.

One of the bottles had some kind of iridescent material on it. I tried to take a photo below but it was hard to get it to sparkle.

I also picked up two little swans, I love swans.

There was a beautiful swan there that was made out of paper mache that looked like wood but it was $34!

Really?? $34!!!

Oh well, maybe next month.

My scale found a home on the kitchen counter.

mmmmmm, perfect colors!!

I found a home for the ladder as well but it is raining today and dark in the part of the kitchen that it is so I will have to show you another time.

The bottles found a spot in my bedroom on the the mantel, again too dark to get nice pictures but I did have fun with this picture.

The tag is one that Laurie made for me, they are so cute!

THANK YOU

SO

much Laurie and Debbie for a special day, I loved meeting you and I look forward to next month!!!!!

Well my friends, this is my last post for a couple weeks.

We are headed to Glen Lake and internet up there is not-so-much.

SO, I will see you in a bit and I hope you all have a wonderful time and

Happy 4th of July!!!!

I will miss you!!

p.s. I will be guest posting at 3 Sun Kissed Boys while I am out but I will let you know what day I will be there. :)

A Treasured Day!

I am headed to Sand and Sea Sunday again!!

We spent a cloudy and on-the-verge-of-a-storm afternoon at the beach earlier this week and had fun playing in the sand, feeding the seagulls and walking along the shore.

These were all taken with my phone so they aren't the best quality.

I just love watching storms roll in over the lake.

Right now as I speak I am heading to a giant flea market to meet up with these beautiful ladies!

Laurie from Heaven's Walk

Debbie from Lakehouse

I am SO excited to finally meet them and see how some serious treasure hunting is done! :)

A few Sea-Inspired Crafts

Hello beach beauties!!

I hope that you are enjoying your summer so far.

We have been busy here and the weather has been a bit on the PMS side, going from HOT one day to COLD the next!!

It is raining right now and chilly but it looks like the next week is supposed to be beautiful.

Yesterday really wasn't a beach day with scattered showers popping up all over so after doctors appointments we decided to paint on the deck.

I have not receive the shark sheets yet from PB kids so I have not picked out any paint for the furniture, but I tried my hand at another knock off for my sons shark room.

I love these, but at $50 buck a pop I decided that a home-made one might be better at this point.

I started with the Tiger Shark.

So, we got out the paints and went to town.

I had everything so this cost me nothing!

BONUS!

After I drew the shark on, I filled in the background first and then filled in the shark and fish.

I used Sharpies for the writing, I think the next one I will see if I can find paint pens because the only colors that really showed up were the dark colors.

Once again he is happy with his shark.

Well as happy as the cheesy smile says. :)

It didn't turn out too bad but the the fish look like the Gold Fish Crackers!

Also yesterday I finally made my driftwood yacht from a huge piece of driftwood that I picked up last year and a new piece (mast) that we found at the beach the other day.

I used some leftover fabric that was lying around for the sails.

Very simple, very plain.

I like it.

Now I just need to find a spot for my yacht.

Too bad I can't sail away on it.

:)

Sand and Sea Sunday - Fathers Day

This past week was pretty gloomy and rainy but that didn't stop the kids and I from taking our morning drives out to the lake.

These are just a few pictures we took of the dense fog coming over Lake Michigan.

The marina almost looks haunted but in a romantic kind of way.

I am the only the that sees that?

:)

This little one now comes with us, she does not do very well all alone yet.

I am pretty sure she is enjoying herself.

I also wanted to say Happy Fathers Day!

This is my dad, still skiing at the age of 69!

(my mom still skies too but she would hurt me if I showed you, maybe one day she will let me.

Love you mom!!)

Thank you daddy for all you have done for me.

You encourage me

believe in me

walk beside me

catch me when I fall

pick me back up

dust me off

guide me

love me no matter what

You are my hero

my rock

and I will forever be 12 in your eyes and you know what, I am really ok with that now.

I love you more!

Linking up to Sand and Sea Sunday at the Gypsea Nurse!

What's In Your Fridge?

Please join me today at The Feminist Housewife where I will share what is in my fridge!

Just click on the pic!

Keep in mind that grocery shopping is NOT my favorite!

:)

Thank You!

I just wanted to thank you all,

from the bottom of my heart.

for all your kind and wonderful words of support regarding the passing of our Rodman.

I thank you for sharing some of your stories about your fur babies and my heart goes out to all of you that have loved and lost your faithful friends. It is the hardest thing to have to do but the joy that they bring to us while they are here is so much more than the grief that we feel when they have to leave, at least in the long run.

It has been a difficult weekend and the house just feels empty.

I know it will take some time to get used to and we are showing our little Baja lots of love and attention.

The kids have been doing good with all this and lots of tears have been shed and many questions asked.

My son is feeling back to his normal naughty self, which I will take over being sick any day, and we are officially on summer vacation now that school is done.

This weekend I have been watching this when I get the chance:

'Wings' is by far my favorite show and every time I watch I laugh and fall in love with the cast and Nantucket all over again.

Maybe one of these days we can get back there again.

When I am feeling down, I pop in the DVD's and start from the beginning.

Even the kids have enjoyed watching.

I have to tell you they don't make sitcoms like this anymore.

(Brian is my favorite) :)

This week is supposed to be nice so hopefully we will get out to the beach.

We have already started our summer appointments this morning and next week my daughter will be diving into one of the teenage rite of passages and getting braces!!

She is not amused to say the least.

I hope you all enjoy your week and please join the ever-so-sweet Caroline at The Feminist Housewife this week to take a peek into a few refrigerators from some wonderful bloggers in her series

What's in your fridge?

At the end of the series you can join up as well and show what you have in your fridge!! :)

Just click the button below!

I will be sharing my fridge tomorrow!!

We Love You Faithful Friend

Friday morning we said goodbye to our faithful friend and companion for 13 1/2 years,

Rodman.

I have to say for never having a dog growing up and not knowing what to expect with him, he was the best dog!

He never complained or had a bad thing to say to anyone.

He loved unconditionally and I know that he showed us more love than we probably did in return. He was loyal and amazingly gentle for being 105lbs.

He was pretty sure he was a lap dog.

He loved the kids and he loved life and even though his spirit was still alive and wanting so hard to go out and play, his body was just not able to keep up anymore.

He could longer get up without help and since his fall last week, each day we see him struggle to get around. It was not fair to him to have to struggle every day and there was nothing more that we could do for him to keep him comfortable.

He is running and jumping and barking at those squirrel now, or perhaps running and diving into the snow like he loved to do.

Either way he is free to run and do as dogs do free of pain and injury.

We miss him so much and we know that he has a spot in our hearts that will live forever.

My little man has also come down with pneumonia. He is doing good but Friday was not a good at all.

We will be ok but I am taking a bit of a break to be with family, grieve and make my little man feel better.

I will see you soon.

Worlds Ocean Day 2011

If you were around in 1975 this is the image that struck fear into the hearts of ocean lovers, swimmers, surfers and maybe just people in general.

JAWS was a box office hit and Steven Spielberg brought to life the monster from Peter Benchley's novel that made us all think twice before diving into the ocean.

Heck, I still think a bit before dipping my toes in the water and I live where there is freshwater! :)

However as scary as they may seem and as dangerous as they may be they need our help.

We enter their world, we know that they are there and we know that there

is always a potential that we could be attacked. I believe that it is no different than entering a forest or desert knowing that there are bears, snakes, lions and tigers (on my) that could potentially do as much damage as a shark but yet we have taken it upon ourselves as humans to seek and destroy these amazing creatures.

It is no secret that I love sharks, as does my son.

There is so much beauty and grace, yet power and danger with them.

They are clever hunters and the Great Whites have been known to jump straight out of the water in order to capture their prey.

For World Ocean's Day this year I would like to tell you a bit about the Great White shark and

what is happening to the species, why they are important for our oceans and what it being done to help save these beautiful creatures.

With the release of Jaws decades ago people have sought to destroy the Great White shark for fear of the shark intruding into our waters and attacks that could possibly happen to humans.

I get it, I really do, no one wants to be eaten alive but we also need to be aware that over the recent years there have been an average of 60 GWS attacks a year out of which 15-20% proved fatal.

Yes I know, tell these odds to someone who has been attacked, but perhaps they don't blame the shark for doing what is natural to them?

Great Whites often mistake humans for their natural prey, the seal. Often they will "test bite" their prey but unfortunately their "nibble" is a bit more due to their razor sharp teeth.

They were also overly fished for decades for the use of their fins, jaws and teeth and killed by the thousands just for the sport.

Scientists believe that females sharks will begin to reproduce at about the age of 10 and the average liter size is around 2-11.

A very slow pace as compared to the rate that they were being killed.

As of today, they estimate only a few thousand GWS left in worlds oceans.

Great White sharks are the top of the food chain in the ocean and destroying them would create a great imbalance to the system. They help create that balance and the health of the ecosystem by preying on species that are sick or weak, which helps the fish and marine mammal population stay healthy. If the GWS disappeared from the waters the ecosystem would lose control and over time destroy the delicate balance in the underwater environment.

In recent years scientists, Marine Biologists and those that wanted to know more about these great creatures began to study their behavior, their patterns, and their habitat in order to gain understanding as to what makes them tick.

Source

I love the photo above. I first saw this image/film during The Discovery Channels Shark Week last year and thought that I would share it with you.

This is photographer Thomas P. Peschak

Here is what he had to say about his experience:

"To capture this image I tied myself to the tower of the research boat Lamnidae and leaned into the void, precariously hanging over the ocean while waiting patiently for a white shark to come along. I wanted to shot a photograph that would tell the story of our research efforts to track white sharks using kayaks. When the first shark of the day came across our sea kayak it dove to the seabed and inspected it from below. I quickly trained my camera on the dark shadow which slowly transformed from diffuse shape into the sleek outline of a large great white. When the shark’s dorsal fin broke the surface I thought I had the shot, but hesitated a fraction of a second and was rewarded with marine biologist Trey Snow in the kayak turning around to look behind him. I pressed the shutter and the rest was history. Throughout the day I shot many more images, most showing the kayak following the shark, but all lacked the power of that first image of the great white tracking the kayak."

"White sharks, despite their bad reputation are much more cautious and inquisitive in nature than aggressive and unpredictable. At no time have we ever had a shark show any agression towards our little yum yum yellow craft. So after some more testing we were soon able to make observations safely from up close and with as little interference as possible."

I can't say that this would scare the your know what out of me, but what an amazing experience!!

Right now there is a legislation in California to ban the sale of shark fins. At the same time Washington and Oregon are working towards a similar goal. Guam and Hawaii have also passed their own legislation by banning such sales. This is just a step and their is still so much to do to help preserve the population of GWS.

There is so much to be learned about the Great White Shark as well as other sharks that inhabit the oceans and while I think about the potential danger that awaits as I step into the ocean I also know that we are entering THEIR world and the more knowledge that we can gain the better we can not only protect ourselves, but the creatures that inhabit the great ecosystem that make up our oceans.

Information came from links below, please check them out if you are interested in learning a bit more.

YoSurfer

Shark Tracker

oceanlink.island.net

sharks-world

Sea Notes: Monterey Bay Aquarium

If you are interested in helping out you can visit the World Wildlife Federation to find out how.

HAPPY WORLD OCEANS DAY!

I am linking up with

Shell Belles Tiki Hut today, come see what others are doing to help preserve the oceans and the amazing creatures that inhabit them.

And please visit Simone at Doberman's by the Sea for some more information and giveaways.