A Worthy Cause!

I hope y'all had a fun, safe and happy 4th of July. We enjoyed spectacular fireworks two nights in a row!

I wanted to participate in a worthy cause for abandoned animals. Kelee brought this to our attention a few weeks ago. She was sending out scarves with her adorable pooch's photo on it to those who requested to participate. All you had to do once you received the scarf, was decorate it and then take a photo of your dog or cat wearing it and send the photo to her. If she received 150 photos by today, then a sponsor would donate $2,000.00 to Design Gives Back.
We don't have a dog or cat. She said that was fine. So I attempted to make a "hoody" complete with faux zebra stripes around the hood, for our son's pet ferret, Ivory. As you can see, I fell miserably short in this statement of fashion! I did not prepare myself for the fact that Ivory would pull her arms and legs and head all into a ball and enjoy a cozy little snuggle under her "tent"! I have some really funny photos of her walking around under the scarf or wiggling free from it. In an attempt to get a picture of her wearing it, I just had to pick her up and hold her like this. I think she enjoyed modeling for the photo shoot!
Hey have a happy Monday and go visit Kelee at the link above and see some of the darling scarves made by other participants!
Love, Rachel
P.S. Just so I don't leave the wrong impression, I wanted you to know that the beautiful home with a romantic porch in the blog posting below belongs to a neighbor. I just love her red flowers and flag...so I used that picture for the 4th of July! *smile* Thanks for your warm wishes on the 4th !

July 4th! Independence Day!

Happy July 4th to the best blogging friends in the whole world!

Share some laughter. Share some fun and food.

Enjoy the fireworks.

See ya Monday sweet friends!

Love, Rachel

One Step At A Time! Henry David Thoreau

Some neighbors are restoring an old house down the street. Isn't this staircase fabulous!

I think of something Henry David Thoreau once said, "If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success in unexpected ...in common hours."

Yes, that is it. Advancing one step at a time. Sometimes the circumstances of life seem impossible to overcome, but if we don't take another step, we will never achieve anything!

Do you relate to this?

Love, Rachel

P.S. Thank you for all the sweet comments about Stella's porch and water features.

July's Featured Porch!

Ah, here it is July 1st and I am almost panicked with the way summer is flying along. But I love the warm months of the year, so I am trying to slow down and savor each moment. Today I would like you to meet Stella and visit her sweet blog. She has a beautiful romantic porch loaded with flowers and water features. After a visit with her, I'm sure you would agree to sit and linger and savor the moments of the warm summer months too. Hey come along, maybe Stella would have us over for a little watermelon on July 4th. This is what she has to say about her lovely outdoor space.

" Although our front porch is where we greet our family and guests our back porch is where we live from early spring until the first frost sends us fleeing. The back porch is really two separate units connected by a walk. The first part is a covered patio and the second part is a wooden deck. By using similar colors on both they flow to together as one unit. This enables us to use the space in any weather because part of it is protected from the elements. My husband and I often have coffee there early in the morning and watch the sun touch the tops of the trees. In the evening we often have a drink and snack together while we feed the goldfish. Our family pets Max and Anne are always close at hand hoping we might drop a crumb or two. One of our greatest enjoyments are the two water features we constructed. One is a simple teakettle that drops its' stream into a small gravel basin. The second was made by stair stepping two barrels that feed into a pond where we have goldfish. Yes, the goldfish do have names. We also enjoy having our family and friends over for BBQ, lemonade and cookies, or something as simple as a watermelon feast.

I hope you enjoy our porch as much as we do."

Stella

Stella, thank you so much for taking time to share your lovely porch with all of us. Maybe we can take the chance to drop by your blog to see more! Your porch is beautiful and lush with all of your gorgeous flowers. It is truly a romantic porch! I really think your hanging "candle chandy" is quite stunning and romantic also!

Love, Rachel

P.S. Thank you sweet friends for your sweet anniversary comments and sharing your wedding memories too. I'm trying to get around to each one of you to thank you personally. I appreciated it so much.

Fun Wedding Day Memories!

I grew up on a small farm in Northwest Arkansas with an assortment of animals that across the years included cows, goats, horses, mules and one donkey named Becky!

We had a two wheel cart that Becky would pull while someone rode on it. One of my nephews loves horses. He was very fond of Becky.

On the morning of our wedding, as the early morning summer breeze blew through the open windows of my bedroom, I was startled awake to the sounds of my nephew yelling, "Oh Becky, (crash bang) no no NO (bang bam bam), whoa, whoa Becky!" Apparently he had harnessed Becky up for an early morning ride.

Our home was built on a fairly steep hill that overlooked the creek below. As Becky came around the corner of our house they hit the metal trash barrels and she and the cart began to careen out of control with my nephew on it! Thankfully, no harm was done.

However, our adrenaline was pumping and I had a 6:00 A.M. wake up call!

It has been a fun thing to remember across these years.

This morning I asked Mr. RP what awakened him on our wedding day?

"Well it wasn't a donkey," he replied.

I laughed.

I'd do it all over again.

You betcha!

Happy Anniversary! Mr. RP!

So what woke you on your wedding day?

Love, Rachel

Announcing A Newly Picked Winner!

It is important to me to be a good bloggy friend to all of you. I tried and tried to find the previous winner to the doily give away.

You all were perfect friends and tried to help me find her too!

Today I'm excited to announce our new winner is "Donnie". Donnie, please send me your address and the beautiful doily is all yours! It will soon be on its' way to you! (On a side note, I've got a little secret. I actually know Donnie's address. She's my sister. AND if I understood her correctly, this doily is the exact pattern that she's been crocheting of a recently finished tablecloth. AND also of interest...she's been crocheting this tablecloth in a few spare minutes at a time for 12 years! Yay! Way to go! You did it! Is confetti blowing from your computer screen? Pat yourself on the back and give yourself a big huge hug! I'd do it for you if I could!)

However, I don't want things to become dull and boring around "a romantic porch" so I thought I'd spice things up a bit and just go ahead and draw another name. I know I didn't tell you, but that's OK isn't it? So, drum roll please! The "nother new" winner is...Denise with Sentiments by Denise! Yay! I will pick a doily and a few other goodies from my stash Denise and they will soon be yours! Check out Denise's blog. She makes beautiful beautiful cards...and shares yummy homemade recipes.

So that my perfect bloggy friends, will wrap up this give away that started back on June 8th (I think) and I hope you have a wonderful Saturday.
Love, Rachel

Hattie? Where Are You? It's about the give away!

WHERE, OH WHERE IS HATTIE?

(sung to the tune of Where has my little dog gone?)

Where, oh where has Hattie gone?

Oh where, oh where can she be?

For this give~a ~way...

...that she won the other day.

I must find out where she's gone!

Sweet blog readers thank you so much for your ideas of turning finding Hattie into a game. If I knew how to make one of those cute little widget thingies with a looking for Hattie sign, I would. Then you could post it on your blogs, and maybe we could find her. Please spread the word for me.

When I have a give away, I write every one's name down and draw from a bowl. I am honest about it. (now I know this method won't work when I have my $1,000,000.00 give away and have several hundred thousand comments...just so you know wink wink) However with that being said, if I can't find Hattie in a few days, I will draw another name.

This was Hattie's comment.

Hattie said...
I love your blog and have it on my favorites. Tho I do not have a blog, can I still enter your give-away? I love the doily. So dainty and so vintage. Thanks.Hattie

Of course, Hattie, you can enter my give away without a blog! I am honored to have you. But I don't know where you are. Please come back!

With deepest regret, if I don't hear from Hattie this week, I will draw another name on Friday evening from all of the previous give away comments and the comments left on THIS very posting...let's just ramp this up a notch and have a little more fun. Thanks for spreading the word about Hattie!

If you'd like to see what the give away was, click here.

Oh and by the way...if you DON'T have a blog, Pallllleeeeezzee (please!) leave an email address.

Thank you so much!

Love, Rachel