Family Picture

Several people have asked if there are any pictures of our entire family together when Daddy came home. Of course, all of the pictures on my camera were taken by me, so I had to ask around.
Here is the happy family!

Easy Snowman Love

I love to make fun food for the girls and this was a huge hit! Three powdered sugar doughnuts, trimmed baby carrot nose, pretzel arms and icing dots for the eyes! So easy!

Spring!!!

Our spring Sweet Funky Vintage trunk shows began in the past couple of weeks! We are really excited about all of the beautiful fabrics we are offering for the spring season, and we have some great, fresh and funky new styles as well. We are adding more of our spring collection to our website every day. And, we are adding emtanner items to our website as well. Check out a few of our favorite items!
Our Collage Tee - which pairs with just about everything!


Our Amy Pants - in the most fabulous print. The birds are polka dotty! Love it!!!


Our Baby Bradi top - so fun and there is a Mom version too!


Our new Penelope Set has been very popular!


There are so many more really wonderful items to share, I will continue them in a later post.

In the meantime, please visit our website to see more!

Http://www.sweetfunkyvintage.com

Snow in California!

A few weeks ago, we took a Sunday drive (actually it was Saturday, but you know what I mean!!) up to a little town, called Julian, in the mountains nearby. We discovered a little bit of snow on the ground from the day before that kids enjoyed playing with, and then it started to snow as we were getting ready to leave. The kids really loved it!

And, Julian is famous for their apple pie - totally worth the trip for that alone!!
yum!
I found a recipe in a Southern Living from last fall, I think I might give it a try!
Here is a link to the recipe from a blogger who cooked it and added her notes!

She's a Daisy!

We have joined the world of girl scouts! Georgia is now officially a daisy scout and I have volunteered to be co-troop leader of her troop. It is a brand new troop starting up and we have enrolled 12 of the cutest, sweetest daisy scouts you have ever seen! We do our first outing this weekend for World Thinking Day!

I am a farmer... sort of!

Okay, I am not really a farmer. I haven't even owned a pair overalls since the mid 1990s. (Don't laugh, you know you owned a pair too!) But, this week, I joined a local farm cooperative program. I read about it ages ago in an issue of Real Simple magazine. The article linked to this website, CSA. From there, I was able to find the farms in my area that participate in community supported agriculture, JROrganics. I get an email at the beginning of each week telling me what to expect in that week's package, and then on Thursdays, I go pick up my bounty! I subscribe to the fruit/vegetable package and the fresh flowers package - because I may need to eat, but I NEEEEEEEDDDDDD beautiful flowers. Dontcha think?? ;)

I know that my flower arranging skills are sorely lacking - but here's to getting lots of practice!!!

Aren't they pretty?

This weeks case includes the following: lettuce, celery, broccoli, swiss chard, leeks, beets, carrots, sugar snap peas, rosemary, blood oranges and apples.
I am really excited about the prospect of good, fresh, organic produce. I mean, how do you get fresher than picked the day before I get my hands on it?! I am not sure who I am going to pawn off those beets on, but I am pretty excited about everything else!! And, the flowers are so pretty! The bunch was so huge, I split it into two bunches and now have fresh flowers in two rooms of my home.
Our family eats a lot of fresh produce - both vegetables and fruit. So, the way I look at it, this cooperative program allows me to feed my family the freshest possible produce - and it is organic. I will be motivated to cook with vegetables that are in season (think higher quality) and maybe a little outside-the-box for me. And, I support a local farmer, all at the same time. Woo hoo!

Here is the first recipe I am going to cook using my fresh rosemary:

Rosemary Grilled Chicken Thighs

1 garlic clove, pressed
1 TBSP olive oil
2 TBSP dijon mustard
2 TBSP honey
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp pepper
1 1/2 lb skinless, boneless chicken thighs
1/2 lemon


comine garlic and next 6 ingredients in large ziploc plastic bag, squeeze bag to combine ingredients. Add chicken, turning to coat, and seal bag. Chill 1 to 24 hours.
preheat grill to 350-400 degrees. Remove chicken from marinade and discard marinade.
grill chicken, covered - heat 5 to 7 minutes on each side. transfer chicken to large piece of foil. squeeze juice from lemon over chicken; fold foil around chicken, covering chicken completely. let stand 10 minutes.

I'll let you know how it turns out!

A Nation of Cowards? Absolutely NOT!

I shy away from discussions of politics. Why? Because I am proudly a Republican, and some of my friends are too. And, some of my friends are not. But, I love them anyway. And I respect that they feel as passionately about their views as I do about mine. And that is what our country is about. Different people with different views. So, I write this post, not to discuss politics. Yours or Mine. What I write is to disagree with a clip I heard on the news yesterday that greatly disturbed me.
The clip I saw on the news was of our nation's Attorney General, Eric Holder. According to the CNN website, here is the quote, in context:
"Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial, we have always been and we -- I believe continue to be in too many ways essentially a nation of cowards," Holder told Department of Justice employees at an event Wednesday celebrating Black History Month.
I am terribly saddened by a man of his authority and power and position making a blanket statement so insulting about all Americans.

I do not live in a nation of cowards.

I am a military wife of three small children. I am raising my three girls to be confident, competent, considerate, contributing citizens of our great nation. I am a woman entrepreneur in today's economy. I am a christian. I am not a coward.

My husband is a United States Marine. He is a jet pilot who lands on the pitching deck of an aircraft carrier and is catapulted off the deck of that same carrier. He has served in the Persian Gulf and in Iraq itself in recent months. He is not a coward.

I have a dear friend, who, while her husband was serving in Iraq, was called on to be a foster parent, of three young boys. She answered that call. She is not a coward.

I read recently about a family who discovered in January that their young daughter had cancer and less than a month later, she passed away. They face each day brave in their Faith. They are not cowards.

I have friends who, like me, raise their children and face each day with the goal of being good parents, good leaders, good christians, and good citizens. They are not cowards.

Total Inspiration!

Ran across a link to this blog today - Inspiring Ideas - and what a great time to visit! She is hosting an incredible giveaway in honor of her anniversary! So, run, don't walk, and you can see some of these inspiring ideas:
Valentine for her daughter:

Studio inspiration board from an old door:

Fall Thanksgiving Centerpiece:


These are the giveaway sneak peeks:

Welcome Home, Daddy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Sweet, sweet songs...

It is hard to beat the sound of a sweet little three year old singing a song. She came home from preschool singing this adorable little song yesterday. So, I looked up the rest of the words online so we could sing together. Here is a little clip...