I Wish You Enough

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.

I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.

I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.

 

(Excerpted from a facebook post...I believe it's attributable to Bob Perks; nice message, I think.)

 



Art Deco Greyhounds

My sister and her husband have a business buying and selling folk art and antiques. This is what they sent us for Christmas this year:

Aren't they incredible?

They're art deco ornamentation from the 1930's.

I love them and can't wait to get them hung on the wall.

More pix to come once they're hung.

More Remodel Pix

Some finishing touches to the bathroom remodel....We ordered two surfboard shelves...this is the smaller one, now home to some decorative pieces my MIL gave me last year (as well as surfer dude LoML already had):

...and the larger surfboard shelf that now holds a basket with washcloths and a basalt rock with barnacles that my 'rents brought back from their recent trip to Tierra del Fuego:

LoML got me this adorable turtle night light for Christmas:

..and some nice warm vanilla hand soap and lotion...

...another look at that awesome stained glass surfer:

..and the woven laundry basket...

Spike looks good in the new bathroom...and loves playing in the shower :D

Christmas Decorations

Sometimes the best presents are the little things....like the packaging! :D

 This was taken at my parents' house. Inflatable Rudolph and Santa are indispensable decorations as far as I'm concerned. This Christmas was Rudolph's 50th!!! Santa is a spry 49.

 Trouble is looking cute under the tree...he couldn't possibly be a trouble-maker!

 And then there's this one....Princess, aka BeeBee, aka Lily....a former resident of the O.R. Home for Little Wanderers (just like Xander and Spike). :D

Merry Christmas!

And to all a good night!

On the Trail

Solana and best pal Geronimo (a/k/a "Mo") got to go on another lovely trail ride Sunday. Weather was so warm (dare I say hot?) that it was hard to believe we were only 3 days away from Christmas! (And that's not a complaint!)

This time we took the longest of the three equestrian trails. Technically, it just goes down to the beach and then loops back around, but we took a detour and walked down the beach a ways.

The trails we were on are in the Croatan National Forest in an area that's adjacent to Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point. The flight path goes right over the trails and I was very proud of both horses to not freak out over the planes. There were harriers practicing "touch and go's"...it got really loud! I was too focused on Solana when they were right over head, but later on captured them in a few pix when they were farther off. Look just over the tree line above my saddle:

That's right! Incidentally, you can also see how wooly Solana's winter coat is. She was really sweating by the time we got done :D

Walking through thick sand is tough work, even for horses and we spent some of the time dismounted and walking along with them.

Still have a few lovely colors in the midst of the green woods. :D

Altogether we were on the trail for about 3 1/2 hours and covered about 7 miles. It was a fabulous day.

Finally! The Remodel Update

Well, it's been quite a while since I told you I'd post more pix of the bathroom remodel, but here they are. It's almost done. There's still trim that needs to be painted and one more cool touch in the way of a shelving system that is on order.

I really love the vanity/mirror set we found. Very unique. The base offers a nice place for kittehs to play. (I mean, seriously...all our decorating choices really should be made with goggys and kittehs in mind!)

Better look at the whole bathroom from standing in the doorway...with a teaser-shot of the artwork, followed by close-up of the tile detail in the shower surround. He did a fabulous job!

And now, without further ado or fanfare...the piece de' resistance:

Hat tip to Mom for spotting this piece in a local shop...it was made for a local artist and couldn't be more perfect for this space! (In case I haven't mentioned it lately, while horseback riding is my 'thing,' surfing is LoML's.)

sigh...

I know! It's been a week!!! WAYYY too much goin' on this time of year! Bad Blogger, Bad Blogger!!! I don't even have the pix ready that I wanted to share with you. Maybe tomorrow....maybe not. I will share today's favorite videos. Take it or leave it.

Random Stuff

I'm sure many of you (my four or five readers) are as wacky-busy as I am this time of year...sorry to neglect my posting...not much time today, but I share with you a few random things...this is a sign I saw in a local business:

Truth

 This was the two white ones waiting for Gwyn and LoML to return from their walk...

Taken through the (dirty) glass of the french doors...this is what happens when Gwyn's zoomies are a bit crazy in the back yard...not sure this is how the collar is supposed to end up!

Mom will you put the camera down, let me in and fix my collar?!?

Laundry...

...it's such a chore!

The Unbearable Cuteness of Being...

...well, the cuteness is nearly unbearable.

Remodel

We've recently remodeled our guest bathroom. It's a small space and the one room we hadn't done much to over the years. We started by stripping it down to the studs. (By "we" I mean that LoML did some of the work and then subcontractors did some of the later work...)

They put down  new wood on the floor..

We had fun at Lowe's picking out new fixtures, the flooring, etc....This is the new light over the vanity mirror.

It used to have a tub and shower, but we did away with the tub and just put a shower in...we went with tile for the flooring as well as for the shower stall...It turned out great!

Okay, I dunno what I was doing, but I realize the next picture is blurry...but you still get an idea of how pretty the floor tiles are and the cool new laundry hamper.

Spike has had a blast inspecting everything...he's particularly fond of the new shower!

 

I love everything about this bathroom...the vanity is very different from any I'd seen before...

 I told you Spike likes the shower!

 Later on today or tomorrow I'll upload some pix of the special piece of art I got LoML for the wall....more soon...