Tea Time Thursday # 19 ~ Ann's Birthday!

Last Saturday, it was time to head on back up to Myrtle's Tea House to celebrate another friend's birthday! Ann has a summer birthday, so we get to enjoy the tea house when the weather is beautiful.
Our Ann has been working so hard and guess what? I think she's really going to retire soon! It's time Ann. Doesn't she look happy here?

Natalie is our party planner and she started working on Ann's celebration weeks ago. It's just hard to get everyone together...busy, busy, busy!

We dined on the delightful Summer Solstice tea offering. So fun and light and delicious!!! I had the veggie white cheddar soup and oh it was so yummy. Can you see the dragonfly sandwich?

We even had a little butterfly muffin along with fresh seasonal fruit...always a treat with local berries at this time of the year.

Elizabeth is the owner and she brought Ann out a very special little birthday cake. It was just too good! The pink icing was to die for!  Elizabeth is a doll and always makes us feel so welcome. Thank you for all your hard work. It's quite a labor of love to run a tea shoppe.

The we had our dessert plate and I do believe the strawberry was my favorite goodie.

Natalie is next to Ann...she's the party planner. So faithful to make sure we all have birthday parties-tea parties of course! Ginny is Ann's long time friend too.

This is Joan with Ann. Dear Joan has been battling cancer for some time now. She was having a good day and was so happy that she was able to attend. It's so hard for her to get out. We all thought she looked terrific and were so happy to have her at the tea party. Our prayers are with you Joan.

Present time! Lots of lovelies for a lovely person!

I love this picture! Happy Birthday dear friend.  I hope this will be a great year for you and that you can finally retire!

I hope you enjoyed my Tea Time Thursday story this week. I just love to go to tea with friends. It is just wonderful.

I'm busy putting my studio together this week inbetween seeing friends, helping dad and attending a funeral. Ah...the circle of life.

The Countdown to Baby Otto!

 The countdown is on for Baby Otto's arrival! The due date is July 25th, so we are all trying to get ready for the baby. Angie is done with work now and can get things finished up and ready for this little bundle. I am finally doing this blog post on the baby shower that was a month ago. It was really fun and a nice gathering of Chris and Angie's friends, as well as friends of the family that have watched our girls grow up.

The fantastic stork and table that greeted all to Baby Otto's open house shower. It was at Chris and Angie's home and was a very fun party! The weather was perfect and the food was soooo yummy.

A cute side photo of Angie and baby! Everything was decorated and very BLUE! After two girls, Miss Ava and lots of pink...it was so different to be surrounded by blue!

Auntie Gina came down from Seattle with her friend Rachel. Angie is pinning on "Grandpa Jimmy's" name tag. Such a happy day.

One proud daddy and one proud grandpa~Note the meatballs on Grandpa Jimmy's plate! YUM.

Ava, Grandma Linda and Grandpa Jimmy! Lots of fun! Their backyard is just so beautiful.

A girl has to have sparkle red shoes for these special dress up occasions!

Ava and her daddy being silly! Can you see where Ava lost her first tooth?

We were just thrilled that so many of our friends were able to stop by. Nancy, Pat and Linda are having a nice chat. LaVonne's daughter and SIL brought her out to surprise us! So sweet. I am sorry I didn't get their pictures. Missed the photo op with Len and Gloria, Sha and Molly and MJ. Thanks so much you guys for coming. Sorry Grandma Linda didn't get pictures.

Erin and Marley have been family friends FOREVER! So good to have you both at the shower! Ava and Marley had so much fun together!

Angie had two good helpers to open ALL the wonderful gifts for Baby Otto.

I just LOVE this picture of my daughter and Ava. Angie is so good with Ava and has waited a very long time to be a mama. She's so good with kids.

Lots of presents!

This gal gave Angie a quilt that had been given to her son. He was ready to pass it on. I think they are holding it upside down! It's a darling retro cowboy print. When they add on, they want to decorate the baby's room in a vintage cowboy theme.

Another sweet picture of my first born Angela. We love you guys and can't wait for the next member of the family. Enjoy this time my sweet daughter.

Strawberry Time at Aurora and the Strawberry Full Moon!

Yesterday was just the most beautiful early summer day, but when we woke up this morning, it was raining. We had plans to go out to Aurora Colony for the Strawberry Social. We were a big worried that we would get soaked, but heh, when you live in Oregon, you just go with the weather, rain and all!
I write about the Aurora Colony all the time but we had never attended the Strawberry Social. What a treat! You get this yummy shortcake, ice cream and strawberry shortcake yummy treat plus you are entertained by old time fiddlers and other musicians. It was a blast!

 Jimmy loves strawberries, and because he loves to support the Colony, he has to have an extra goodie!

The court was there helping bus tables and doing PR work! The were just delightful. The queen is in red. They were all good friends and were so fun to watch running around, full of giggles.

We shared a table with Adam and Lettie! Aren't they just the cutest couple? They were from Salem and are celebrating their first wedding anniversary in two days. Little love birds for sure. We enjoyed chatting with them. Happy Anniversary you guys!

Boy could these guys play the fiddle! A fun variety of songs with some vocal additions too. This man in the picture below was 97 years old and he was having so much fun and was so full of life.

This gal was fantastic and got the crowd really going!

They had put up tents to make sure we were out of the rain. A nice turn out. You can see part of the herb garden in full bloom in the front of the photo.

Can't wait to attend next year! A fun afternoon and a great way to support the Aurora Colony.

Some strawberry jam made it's way home with Jimmy....yummy! This is the 50th anniversary year of the museum so lots of fun things have been planned to celebrate all year.

By the way, there's a full moon tonight and one of the names for the June full moon is the Strawberry Full Moon...perfect! Too bad we can't see it for all the rain and cloudy skies.

Tea Time Thursday # 18....Visiting Robin with LaVonne

You know you have a special friend, a Kindred Spirit, when you visit her home and find teacups hanging on the wall! For this Tea Time Thursday, I'm going back a month to blog about my friend Robin. When LaVonne was out for her visit, she wanted to go to Robin's house this time. Robin is on our Tasha list and we had met her a few years ago at Jane's (also a Tashette) home in Olympia WA.
LaVonne and Robin have been friends for quite some time and they both have property and animals. Robin graciously invited us to her home for lunch. She was so excited and nervous as she doesn't get too many visitors at her lovely home. She lives in Eatonville WA.

I plugged the directions into my iPhone and away we went. The weather had turned cold and wet. The directions took us the "scenic way"...beautiful but a big long. I had no idea where the heck we were, but we finally arrived. As I was driving, I thought a rain and snow mix was hitting my window...yes indeed! We  looked up and saw the snow sticking on the higher hills. Amazing. Robin lives in just the most beautiful area!

Her home is just so fun! Filled with many treasures and collectibles! Of course LaVonne and I were delighted!!!! Isn't this cute felted bird, a robin, adorable!

She has bees and sheep, so it was fun to see all the items in her home showing off just those things near and dear to her heart.

Here she is outside of her home...even the porch was decorated with all kinds of fun things!

Lunching with my Tasha friends! Thanks again Robin for lunch. Enjoy a peek at some of her goodies.

After lunch, she brought down the most beautiful quilt that her friend made for her! It was just fantastic. What a gift. Robin is also a quilter.

A few little friends hanging around. Very cute...all kinds of things tucked here and there.

Before we left, we went outside to see her sheep and her garden and enjoy a little tour of her property.
I didn't get a picture of her sweet hubby Bill...what a good sport and sooo funny. Great story teller.

Robin's chicken coop! Lucky chickens to live at this house. She just decorates everything.

This little building is going to be her store when she gets it together. It is so cute and just perfect for a little shoppe. We found out that Robin has had 2 retail shoppes in her career. No wonder we all got along....all 3 of us had retail stores!

She got really sad when we were getting ready to leave. It made me sad to say good bye, but now that we know how to get to her home, we would love to visit again someday. She had sweet little gifts for us too! She gave us different directions to return home and oh, so much easier. What a great day we had. It's so fun to go visiting. Thanks you so much dear Robin.