One of My Favorites!

The Nester is having a party! I'm so excited because she is one of my favorite bloggers!

I got up this morning and while having my morning coffee I sat on my back porch and daydreamed about this little soiree. What shall I wear, what should I bring for the hostess, should I bring my famous apple dip, and of course what shoes am I going to wear? If only this was a real party I'd be set.

But instead I am prepping myself for Lampapalooza. Still in daydream mode I took myself out to the store to buy more dog food for the pups and out of the corner of my eye I see the word-

FREE! MOVING SALE-FREE EVERYTHING MUST GO!

I screeched to a halt, parked as fast as I could because what was sitting right next to that free sign.... A bunch of old Ball and Kerr canning jars and these:

Can you believe it? It must be meant to be!

I am having a love/hate relationship with the shades. I keep eyeing those tassels and thinking about the Nester! And having a inner conversation with myself deciding whether or not to paint the bases. To paint or not to paint? That is the question....

So these are the other the wares that I picked up for FREE!

3 lamps, 3 large canning jars, 2 small canning jars, 1 additional lampshade (red) and the tray that all the goodies are sitting on. The small jar that I put the votive in says Long Life on it. I love a double meaning.

Good thing because I certainly couldn't purchase anything like these lamps right now. We are in a budget crunch so I think this was heavens way of opening up and shining light on these beautiful little lamps. FREE! I am just giddy!

O.k. on to the real Lampapalooza.....

Here is the eclectic group of lamps I own:

This this my most favorite lamp in the house

When my hubs was little is dad owned a little bakery called Tiffany's and this is one of the lamps that hung in the shop. Isn't it adorable! It is now hanging in the office over a rocking chair that is patiently awaiting me choosing some new fabric to cover it with. The lamp just recently stopped lighting up so I need to rewire it, then it will be ready for some rocking & reading!

These little beauties actually came from Partylite. Yes, a Partylite party that I hosted. They are lit by a votive that lends itself to romance! It is paired with this other little beauty that hangs above the bed. Light them both and BAM! Instant romance for the boudoir! Nothing wrong with that.

This lampless lamp is from Pottery Barn:

Sorry the pic is fuzzy. Don't know why that is.

Again, it needs to be wired but I really liked the look of the chain without the cord so I've been putting it off. But I recently made a trip to our new big Goodwill hoping to find a little treasure and I found this:

And I think it might just be perfect. I think it was $8 with a 7 day warranty!

Man, I should have gotten it right then and there....

And last but certainly not least is this little simple one:

We got this for our wedding and I have always loved the lamp base but the lampshade is screaming to be covered (and adorned with a tassel from the Nester) and I think I might change it like this. Oh, I think I might do it to the red lampshade I picked up this morning too!

Thank you Nester for hosting this lovely little party and for introducing me to not only a new way to cover my lamp shades but for making me daydream about parties to come.

Now off to argue with myself....

To paint or not to paint....

Home Sweet Home

I love where I live. I love the town, the fact that I can be in the mountians in 5 minutes flat, the people, the air, the climate, the diversity, and of course the beauty.

But today and every year about this time I am ever so grateful to live here because of this:

Or better yet this:

The Airforce Thunderbirds were in town for the Air Force Academy graduation and boy was it an amazing show. The BEST free airshow you will ever see.

They were right over my head! Here is a close up:

The roar of the engines the whistle that lets you know that they are right on top of you! Amazing!

Usually I stay home to watch them because their flight pattern puts them right over my house but today I was lucky enough to be up on the north side of town and got to see the whole show up close and personal. They do so many acrobatics and it is just amazing. I wish I could put into words what it is like.

They do tricks like this one:

This was especially cool. They all flew straight up in formation and split at the top. Then came back down to oh, probably 8,000 feet (we sit just over 6,000 feet) and buzzed the AFA stadium (which is the middle green space in the pic-kinda hard to see) all at once but coming from different directions. It's not easy to see in the second pic but the jet streams all come together at once. I've seen this done before but everytime it is just as cool as the first time. I know I am gushing but it really was amazing (can I say amazing more?) and I am still riding on the buzz I got from watching it! O.k. one more picture to show you how beautiful my surroundings are:

In the right hand side of the pic you can just barely see them flying in formation, right past Pikes Peak. Isn't she beautiful, the Peak I mean. Still all covered in snow.

How lucky I am!

Just a little getaway

Since I spent the weekend NOT camping like we normally do and instead updated and decluttered (ahhhhhhh) my studio, that my hubs lovingly calls the shed, I wanted to share some inspiration. We have plans this summer to add a large shed to the open mud pit that we have in the corner of our back yard. It is a mud pit now because it has been raining here everyday!

I LOVE IT! Not the mud of course.

Sorry, back to the getaway.

First off how beautiful is this little garden retreat with the sun shining on it just so.... and the Adirondack chair just waiting for me to come, book in hand, and soak up some rays.

But really, this little heaven isn't quite as functional for me as it is just beautiful, so I went looking for something a little more practical.

Then I found this....

As simple and pretty as it is it just wasn't enough.

Oh, wait... Here we go...

Can you see the little table in there? I envision a cheerful little chandelier hanging from the ceiling bouncing light off of everything in its presence, and a little buffet table in the corner to easily treat my guests to bellinis or mojitos with mint pulled straight from the garden.
Would you like to come?

How do you do?

Thanks to my wonderful friend Nancy my camera is now operational! So on to the sharing.

This is me, Laurel and my dearest hubby Pete. Cute picture eh? My hubs isn't too fond of this picture I think because he has his old wire rimmed glasses on. But I love it even though his new glasses look so much better on him:)

And here are our "children"

Haley is on the right. She is a 10 year old Border Collie mix that we rescued from the pound. She is my sunshine. I love her so much sometimes it hurts. She is the perfect pet. She loves her walks and especially going to the dog park where she can do her own thing now that she isn't quite as quick on her feet as she was when she was younger. And she loves her fenced in front yard so that she can try to herd all the cars and people who dare to come near the fence. On the left, well his name is D-O-G (deeogee). Yes, you heard right D-O-G. My sister so lovingly picked him up off the street when he almost got hit by a car. He was only 6 months old and very cute (aren't all puppies cute at 6 months). Her big black lab didn't like the company he provided so he stayed with us for the time being (yeah right). Since it was just for the time being we gave him a generic name. We didn't want to call him "it" or "boy" so we called him D-O-G. My sister promised me she would find him a home since we were in the process of moving to another city. And, she did. He is still here with us wreaking havoc and pulling down curtains. He is now 8 so we have had a bit of a repreve of the curtain destroying but generally when we think that we are in the clear, down comes another pair of curtains and a destroyed curtain rod. I have been buying my curtain rods at Ross and TJ Max to save some money because boy, does that get expensive when you are having to buy them time and time again, especially for the big picture window in the front of the house. It is a wonder why we haven't killed him yet.

The best part about naming him D-O-G is when the vet (or anyone else for that matter) asks how to spell his name. Hilarious!

Oh and yes, they match. Both black with white chests and feet and we are often asked if they are the same breed. That makes me laugh since she is a Boarder Collie and he is a Pit Bull mix. But they are the best of friends and I am lucky to have them both.

P.S. I did have to hold a little piece of cheese up to get them to look at the camera. They are pretty well behaved but not so much as so sit and pose on the porch in front of my flowers for the "perfect" picture.

That's it for now. It is raining here in Colorado and I love it. Yea spring!!

Work in Progress

I've been having some trouble with my camera so I had this post planned today to introduce you to me and my family and humble abode but since I have no pictures. No post.

Oh well, maybe tomorrow.

And Finally Hope.....

Well Hello!

I'm Bay aka Laurel and I welcome you to my journey.

Pandora's Cottage really started in 2002 when my darling hubs and I bought what we thought was the PERFECT house for our family of four (two furbabies). It is a small 1,200 sq ft cottage located in beautiful Colorado and when we decided to start ripping down walls and ceilings and windows (oh my) it brought on ills, toils, sickness, and finally hope (just like Wikipedia states about Pandora's box).

So here we are, still in process. After replacing all the cardboard walls, yes a cardboard like material, with actual drywall and taking down all the pink, yes pink, trim that was layered over itself all over the house, we found good bones. Bones that I love. It is a constant evolution here at the cottage but I love it and I hope you'll love to hear about all the projects I am constantly working on. Barely finishing one before starting the next. I'll post pictures soon.

I have an addiction to all things chippy and white, warm french/scandanavian country tones, antiques, vintage advertisements, Jamie Oliver, Anthropologie, and shoes. Oh how I love my shoes.

My hope is to be able to share my love of decorating, creating, cooking, and just life.

AND, to be able to touch people the way that I have been touched by all of you.