Collection Obsession

"The beginnings of things are small" - Cicero

My mother's souvenir spoon collection.  The Cairo spoon's font is so charming.

Yes indeed, beginnings are small...Cicero!  One only has to find that single small thing which captures their heart and it can become an collection obsession

Captured Hearts

Source: katie-d-i-d.blogspot.fr 

Many crosses to bear

Past Protection

Source: aquieterstorm.tumblr.com 

A Place in Time

Source: sweetpeahome.blogspot.com 

A Cup of Tea

My obsession is perfume or cologne....

The scent.....

is not always as important as the look of the bottle... for me anyway.

You can always accessorize your plain bottles.....

some speak volumes of beauty all on their own

Source: white-vintage.de via Shelly on Pinterest

     
     you can group perfume bottles together for a collective  deep sigh ....ambers and golds, silver and cream....beautiful colors of the liquid itself.

Source: flickriver.com via Lili on Pinterest

    Many of my perfume bottles are used as house decor, mainly in the bed and bathroom

A lovely ideal.  A vintage lined box to hold bottles and flowers

I am parting with some of my collection.  Those below are now for sale at Ooh La La, Maui!

"Avon calling".... Unforgettable in a Eiffel Tower bottle $22

Dorothy Gray, Love Song circa 1950's $14

No. 4711 Eau De Cologne- from Cologne -  $20


   ~ Perfume Labels and Advertising ~

Source: pzrservices.typepad.com via LaMadeleine on Pinterest

Source: lapetitegigi.blogspot.com via Andrea on Pinterest

Source: lapetitegigi.blogspot.com via Andrea on Pinterest

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Source: lapetitegigi.blogspot.com via Andrea on Pinterest

  

Spring Cleaning .... 10% off Until March 31!

Ah.... the first day of Spring.  Time to do a little Spring cleaning, in my home and at the Etsy shop!

Old Blue Mason jars make lovely vases for spring flowers

Source: ameblo.jp via P  a   m   e   l   a on Pinterest

Maybe if you don't feel like cleaning, you may want to do a little shopping?

That's right!  10% off on all items at Ooh La La, Maui!  Just use the code "SPRING10" for your discount.  Just click on Ooh La La, Maui! Shop up at the top tab bar and you will be redirected to the store.  I will be adding many more items this week.  Keep checking back!

Happy St. Pat's

                                          
st patricks day pictures

I am not Irish .... as far as I know (as of 12 noon, my cousin informed me our grandmother was half Irish) ....but I love Ireland.  It's a beautiful country and the people of Ireland are as lovely and bonny as it's green, lush countryside.  My suggestion to you, is make a hot cup of Irish coffee (recipe below) and plop yourself in front of the big screen and watch "The Quiet Man" with John Wayne and Maureen O' Hara.

You will be smitten

                                        
    

Outside of Kenmare, Ireland

Killarney National Park

Killarney National Park

Temple Bar, Dublin Ireland

Inside Temple Bar, having Irish Coffees 

Irish coffee is the perfect finale to a St. Patrick's Day feast.

Martha Stewart Living, March 2009

• YieldServes 4

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Ingredients

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 cups strong hot coffee
• 4 ounces Irish whiskey, such as Knappogue Castle

Directions

1. Whisk cream and sugar together in a medium bowl until stiff peaks form. Divide coffee and whiskey among 4 coffee cups, then top each with 1/2 cup whipped cream. Serve immediately.

I like to add Bailey's to this recipe

                                  

Shakespeare and Company, Paris  photo

The Happy Dance

Doing the Happy Dance

Each first Tuesday of the month, I play Bunco with a group of 11 other ladies.  The host of the month, prepares a meal and decides on the party gifts and the Grand Bunco Prize.  The GBP consists of 12 individual gifts chosen by the host.  This month's hostess, Carla G., asked us to bring a potted plant.  As each lady arrived and placed their potted plant on the gift table, "oohs and awes", spoken wishes of wanting to win grew louder and louder as the plant booty increased in size.  The winner of the Grand Bunco Prize is the person who has thrown the LAST Bunco of the night.  And the winner that night was .... moi!

Alas, the Happy Dance ......

Before I show you all of the plants I won, I want to share Carla's beautiful outdoor eating area with you.... it's magical.

(please excuse my grainy iPhone photos of Carla's backyard spread)

Carla set a simple but lovely table with decorative water glasses and pitchers.  The center piece was terra pots of wheat grass, recently sprung just in time for the party.  The netted fairy lights in the background brought about a soft and clamming glow for us 12 lucky ladies as we dined on a hearty vegetable soup, a dense nutty wheat bread and sipped pungent mouthfuls of lavender ice tea.

Carla bought two dark wooden chairs at a used furniture store and gave them a second life.  Using a white wash to give them a shabby charm, she then re-covered the padded seat and back rest in a blue gray fabric.

Mis-matched chairs around this distressed farm table only added to the allure of the sea blues and shabby whites

Her original ideal was to put tongue and groove paneling under the awning that covers the outdoor dining area.  She instead settled on a woven matting to tie in the island feel.

Now on to my Bunco Plant Booty.....

Succulents in a pint sized galvanized tub ... perfect for my studio window which gets lots of sun in the morning

A purple Hyacinth that I nestled in a footed mercury glass dish. This bloom gives off a powerful fragrant scent.

From one of my "shell loving"  friends - a stag horn fern in a whitewashed terra cotta pot adorned with tiny white shells

An easy project to sweeten up an ordinary pot.

After the rain has stopped, these herbs will be planted in the garden.

I can never have enough lavender in my garden.  It grows so well in Kihei.  

Not sure what this leggy beauty is but it reminds me of blue ginger.  And what's that?  A tiny succulent as an added prize.

This one seems like it would fare better indoors.  A peperomia from Kula Nursery.  The antler looking spines are the flower.

These will also be planted when the rain subsides.  I thought my fern garden could use a little pop of color.  These will be perfect.

Except when I have to brag about my GBP!