my new anthro bracelet

not!  

but it could be. 

i found this gem at an antique store for the whopping sum of $2.  i love the engraving on it.  

this is what is on the other side - a cute little coin holder.  i am sure back in the day it was handy to hold dimes for the phone, or a nickel for a coke or a number of items that cost much more today.

guess i will keep my lucky penny in it.

think pink and red

time to get the pink and red out.  it's not feb yet but here in wisconsin being cold and grey, it's the perfect time for a little color. so i thought i would see what i could find pink and or red around the house.  it's not hard as they are 2 of my favorite colors, any shade.

and my favorite pink.

deer!

 my husband wasn't calling me dear - he spotted deer this morning while looking out at the new view and hollered to get the camera.

looks like mama and baby were taking an early stroll.  

new view

we have a new backyard - at least a new expanded view.  our neighbors had snow damage to some tree/shrubs in their backyard. 

the view to the left was blocked by the shrub/trees. 

 the ex-shrubs/trees now stumps were shrubs that turned into trees. they were planted by the previous homeowners.

our neighbors just rebuilt their deck so i was hoping that they wouldn't replant as i think their view was blocked a bit also and they aren't!

now we have our lovely view of the bridge back. we haven't had this view since the boys were little, they use to build forts on the other side of the creek.  the land is part of a conservancy we are lucky to enjoy. we live in a neighborhood so we have city in the front yard and country in the backyard.  

view from in the house, priceless.

cluck

back on "shop small saturday on sunday" last november one of the stops i made was to the cute little town of paoli, just a few miles down the road from madison.  i stopped in at cluck the chicken store which just opened up last year.  susan the owner was working and couldn't have been more nicer telling all about the store and chickens.  while she was talking all i could think about was the i love lucy episode when lucy, ricky, fred and ethel went in the chicken business. i can imagine them having any one of the cute chicken coops below. 

the store has a gift shop in the front which supports many local artists and the back of the store is actual chicken necessities. 

my favorite, would love one even if i didn't have chickens.

actual chicks in coop - can you see them?

condo for city chicks?  

in madison you can actually have 4 chickens in your backyard but no rosters.

santa got lost in london

santa's helper (aka rick) was very nice to me and let me order a backpack from cath kidston.  i have been a fan for quite awhile and have always loved her oilcloth, just a bit pricey though. I found her book "vintage style" (1999) at the local library years ago and checked it out many times, and incurred many overdue fines.  finally, i did find a book at a resale store - no more overdue fines. 

 anywho, we orderd the bag online, twice, for some reason the neither order registered. (they have a usa website) i emailed the company, they suggested calling their toll-free number and order over the phone.  so i called london : )  it was quite fun to talk to someone with a british accent.  reordered it on the 29th and got it on the 4th, much faster than i expected.  love the cute mailing envelope the bag came in.

 this backpack should come in handy for all those flea markets that i resovlved to go to this year.  fingers crossed i keep my new years resolution.  ha ha. 

cheers!