pretty little things

thought i would give you a peak at a few of my new favorite pretty little things.

i am a collector of many things, and just to clear it up with the hubs - collecting is not hoarding. hehe. i come from a long line of collectors. my great grandfather collected coins and stones. my grandfather has the most extensive stamp collection i have ever seen. my grandmother collected fabric. i could go on and on but you get the point. well a few years ago, i was in my favorite {thrift/vintage/crap/hoarding} store of all time. and one of the the crazy old rednecks that ran the place was talking to another customer about amethyst bottles. i was drawn in instantly. and the next thing i knew i was standing there as if i was in line to be taught the ways of the bottle collector. from that moment on i was hooked. even now, years later i marvel at every amethyst bottle i find. this particular addition to my collection was a gift from one of the kindest people i know. jessica was with me through the early stages of my {obsession/collection}. she listened for hours as i would go on and on about these pre-industrial revolution beauties. where ever we went we were on the search for that glimmer of purple glass. it's so nice and amazing to me that friends like this exist. even though we now live far away, and she's on a travelers budget, her search still continues. now i can say that i have this bottle, which was found by one of my best friends in the cutest little shop in new haven, ct.

while we are on the subject of {presents/bottle obsessions}. mary has been on a creative spree...see her latest creation here. this lady sure knows how to make some beautiful treasures out of beach vacation memories. mary has been making these hand painted bottle and adorning them with shells. i can't get over the color and simplicity of this bottle. it is so perfect and so beautiful. maybe if we all ask nicely she would do a guest DIY for us?!?!?! mary!?!?!? please?!?!?

i mentioned a couple of weeks ago the impromptu trip to the gulf coast to visit with the family and celebrate with my sister. well this is the picture that my grandmother passed along to me that has become my new favorite picture from my childhood. this is me and my great grandfather, my childhood best friend. the house where the hubs and i live now reminds me constantly of the house that my great grandparents lived in when i was a kid. so it's nice to not only feel surrounded by them, but to also see them everyday.

10 things i couldn't live without this week:

1. finding the perfect party favors for the start of the goodie bags for the boys party.

2. finishing the ms. z dress.

3. a night full of bunting. i have been working my butt off on diy party decorations.

4. finally finding quinoa..i have been searching for a while, should have known target would have it.

5. the start of the 20 days of praise. this little project has been so fun. i hope the hubs likes it as much as i do.

6. all the positive feed back i have received this week from friends and family and strangers.

7. an impromptu trip to ft. myers for my sisters high school graduation. it has been such an honor the past few years really seeing paige come into her own. she is an amazing young woman with such a bright and postive outlook on life. i know that her future is going to be full of amazing things. everyone should be so lucky to have someone like paige in their life.

8. an o'donovan family game night with the grandparents and my parents and sisters. you can always count on a great time, lots of laughs, and for me this time....victory! (this was the first time ever, that i've been on the winning team playing celebrity with my family!)

9. my grandmother, whom i call nanny, gave me a ceramic dish that my great grandmother made in her last few years of life. the dish was full of treasures: a cross that she wore everyday, her wedding band and claddagh ring, and some earrings my great grandfather made. my great grandmother was incredibly talented. she could paint, made all kinds of ceramics, she was obsessed with violets (hence turquoise violets and my violet obsession), and an amazing homemaker. i spent a great deal of time with my great grandparents when i was a child. they were my best friends, teachers, role models, and they provided a magical place for my childhood. i miss them both very much, but i feel them with me every day.

10. my nanny also gave me a stack of pictures. pictures of my childhood, from when my parents were teenagers, their wedding, and from when my dad was a boy. tucked in the stack was a picture that i saw right away and was so thankful to receive. it is a picture from when i was the boys age. it's me and my great grandfather, exactly the way i remember him.

10 things i couldn't live without this week:

sorry for being a day late here guys. this week was so full of travel and company, beach and family. it was a great week. hope you all enjoyed the week without words. it was a lot of fun for me, had so much fun taking all of these pictures.

1. road tripping with my boy across s.r. 80. growing up in fl, and having family spread out all over the state, i think that i have taken every back road from hear to the pan handle. i can now check s.r. 80 off my list. lots of fields, lots of singing with the boy with the windows down, lots of cows, and a whole lot of nothing. it's so amazing to me how so much of florida is still real land. i drove through a town called belle glade, and the city motto read "the richness is in her soil". i want to farm.

2. lot of long, slow walks on the beach in search for the perfect shell.

3. late night chats with my sisters. i am considerably older than all of my siblings. there is a 20 year age difference between my youngest sister and i. but they are finally getting to the age where i am the cool older sister, and not just someone that they really couldn't relate to.

4. celebrity. this is my all time favorite group game. and there is no box required. it's my families favorite night of vacation every time. we laugh, we all swear that my dad makes people up, it's full of stupid one liners and me saying "um" a lot.

5. greek tacos. i'll post the recipe soon.

6. surprise visit at the beach house from my family's best friends, the burgess's. betty burgess is my idol. her confidence, her humor, her effortless yet supremely chic sense of style....and on top of all of that this woman is one of the most caring people that i have had the pleasure of getting to know over the past few years. this woman has got it all. oh and did i mention that she is a designer? talk about dream homes!

7. the boy got to see almost all of his grandparents in one week. while on vacation at the beach we saw 3 sets of great grandparents, plus his patchie and lala (my dad and stepmom). then we got to meet nana (the hubs mom) for brunch on saturday. the only one missing was my mom.

8. matt and sandy came for a visit, finally. they are some of our closest friends from orlando and we have been missing them very much. it was so great to spend a couple days with them catching up and soaking up the sun.

9. eating the first pepper from the new plant, and some of my tomatoes on a turkey burger that was so loaded up with veggies that there was a complete upper bun blow out (yes, that's the technical term). they were some amazing burgers though.

10. getting to see the hubs after being gone all week. that was for sure the best thing that happened to me all week.