~CALIFORNIA DREAMING with FAMILY and FRIENDS~

~AT COUNTRY ROADS~

Orange, California

Today I'm going to share with you a few more pictures of my Cali getaway.  I hope they will make you smile!  While I'm at it I'm going to ATTEMPT to make my way around all the changes to Blogger!  BAH!  The new layout is making me NUTS! 

~I WANT THIS BENCH~

(and everything else you see, too!)

The picture you see at the top was taken two weeks ago last Tuesday.  My big sister, Linda,my sister-in-love, Ginger and I had a great time shopping at Country Roads in Orange, California.  My brother, Bill, was such a trooper and let the three of us shop until we dropped.  It was such a fun day and the memories of it all will be with me forever.  I love my family!!!!

~BEAUTIFUL TANZA and ME~

Now...you don't think I went all the way to my home-state without finding time to visit with my longtime friend, Sweet Tea (Tanza), do you?  No-sir-ree!  After my family and I shopped all day Miss Tea graciously met up with us for an early dinner.  She worked all day and still managed to squeeze in a visit with her Okie-friend.  We dined at a sweet eatery in Orange and then Miss Tea drove around with us and pointed out some of the most famous homes in Orange.

 ~HISTORICAL CRAFTSMAN HOME~

One of the homes on our mini tour was that of Tea's beloved cousin, Sandy and her husband, Rick!   Sandy and Rick live in a Craftsman Home (Craftsman Homes were originally built using a KIT and sold by Sear's) and it is the most charming thing I've ever seen.  Every room in the house looks magazine perfect and I can't help but wonder WHY I haven't seen this amazing home in print before.  It's on the historical register from what I understand so all the updates must be approved... 

~BEAUTIFUL LADY~

This is Sandy!  Isn't she just darling?  You can see in the background a bit of her incredible home.  Want to know what else?  They didn't even know we were coming and everything was picture-ready!  

 ~AMAZING KITCHEN~

Their fabulous kitchen!  Sorry for the less than fabulous photography skills here...  Love the sink and the island!  The house isn't overdone and yet warm and inviting!  Incredibly beautiful!

~WARM and INVITING~

This is a shot of Rick and Sandy's living room.  We interupted Rick watching TV I'm afraid.  Look how lovely it is!  Again...they didn't know anyone was coming!

~THE GAZEBO~

 The backyard was breathtaking!  Rick and Sandy recently hosted a wedding here!  Beautiful!  More than beautiful!

~G is for GREEN...and LIFE~

 I had forgotten how lovely California foliage can be.  It's the one thing I miss...it's beautiful in Oklahoma but the heat sometimes kills our flowers off early if we aren't careful with them.

 ~GRILL 'EM UP~

This is Rick's Bar-B-Q joint! :)  I love it

Thanks to Miss Sandy and Mr. Rick for allowing my family and I to barge in unannounced for a visit to your lovely home.  You were both so nice and kind and I can see why Miss Tea loves you so much!  I'm so hoping to see your entire home in print someday!  Long overdue and totally deserved!

Still have so much to share with you...I'll keep it for next week!!!

Hope your day is wonderful!  Tonight my daughter Adrienne and I are going to the Oklahoma Ballet to see

The Wizard of Oz.

I love spending time with my girl-child.  I can't believe she's been married almost five years now!  This is our second time to attend the Ballet together and this year it's my Mother's Day treat!

More soon!  Love to you...

AS FOR ME & MY HOUSE

It is cloudy and a bit overcast here in Oklahoma today. The wind is whipping around outside causing me to question the honesty of the thermometer found just to the right of my backdoor. I started a fire in our fireplace and put on a pot of water for tea. Chamomile will have to do today as I sipped the last of my favorite, Raspberry, on Saturday.

I dreamed often as a child of living in a two story house. My heart first conceived the notion that it might even be possible when I first fell in love with one built in Brea, California. The new addition was called “Aero Vista Homes” and in that neighborhood was a house that proved to be everything my little 11 year old self could have ever wanted.

Last December found me once again in my birth state for my Grandmother's Memorial Service. It had been thirty-five years since I'd been in California during the celebration of Christmas and I'd forgotten much about the warm west-coast winters. I quietly wondered, probably for the gazillionth time, why my father insisted on moving us away in the summer of ‘74. Now that the reason for my visit had come and gone, I welcomed a couple of days in which I could rest and sit for a spell with some lifelong friends.

I lunched that following Wednesday with my precious girlfriend, Tanza, in of all places, Brea. I had such a lovely time and she chased away much of my blues with her positive outlook and giving spirit. It was tough saying goodbye. As I backed out from the driveway I couldn’t help but wonder when it would be I would see her again, mingle memories, melt pain…

Before heading back to my brother’s home, I was determined to find the neighborhood which included the house that had so long consumed my affections. I drove for only a short distance when familiar landscape pulled me in. The house was so much smaller than I'd remembered, and not nearly as lovely as my mind had believed it to be. I stood there for a second, taking in the sight of what had once been the focus my every childhood prayer. It was a pretty house, a very pretty house! But strangely, for the first time since I was a kid, I no longer wanted it…

While on the plane that flew me back to Oklahoma,I knew I was returning to the place I was meant to be. I was being willed back to the place in which I had raised my family and shared so many happy memories. I was returning once again to the place which had sheltered me in times of grief and protected me from raging storms. Back again to my “Chaumière de Briarwood”. Back once more to the daily reminder of God's faithfulness and goodness and to the answered prayer of a little child~ my beautiful two-story home…

Blessings…Rebecca