Pages

30 April 2009

Saving Marta



Marta is a sweet little 4 year old Portuguese girl who has recently been diagnosed with acute Leukemia and is urgently needing a bone marrow transplant... Unfortunately, her parents and siblings are not suitable donors, so a huge campaign has been launched to find a donor, and thousands of people have already submitted a blood sample! I just wanted to put the word out there, it would be wonderful if we could help Marta or a little child like her!! For more information on how you can become a bone marrow donor, go to BMDW. If you are not able to donate, it would be a tremendous help to keep the word going around!! Ajudar a Marta has a Facebook page. Let's save Marta!!


29 April 2009

Junk Sistas for Bella


One of our favorite bloggers, Deb from Talking Trash, has a beautiful granddaughter, little Bella, who was born at just under 24 weeks. She weighed only 15oz and was only 10" long... Today she continues to thrive and grow in intensive care, and weighs 2lbs 8oz!!


Amy at Trailer Trash and Theresa at Garden Antiques Vintage have come up with a wonderful idea to help with Bella's mounting medical bills. They will be hosting an old fashioned fundraising raffle. A call for all Junk Sistas was made, and the most awesome donations are pouring in!! I really wanted to be a part of this wonderful gesture, so I made a tote bag to be raffled!! Raffle tickets cost $10 and will go for sale May 1st from the Junk Sistas blog... This is going to be great...!!!













27 April 2009

Do I need to come down from my cloud..??!!


Last Saturday Lisa and I headed to Camas to attend a special event, Whimsical Wishes, organized by our friends Julie and Christa, from Kindred Roses. What a lovely show!! I was so excited when I got out of the house I even forgot my camera!! Make sure to stop by Lisa's blog to see wonderful pictures of the vendors' booths!! I couldn't resist "borrowing" a picture from her... It truly was a pleasure to attend, as we met with wonderful vendors and ran into some our favorite people!!! I was beyond excited with the lovely treasures I brought home!!!























After the show, we made a mandatory stop at the Camas Antique Mall and then headed to Monticello to visit the Garden Show... A few more treasures scored and then it was time to come home, as I didn't want to miss my youngest daughter's soccer game!!! Here are my finds for the day...























I love old walpaper boxes, this one has a tray in the middle for sewing notions...























... darling little sewing chest of drawers and cute rose box...





... lovely rose painting (love the colors!)...










... wonderful piece of vintage fabric...





















... love, love, love this silk fabric!!! How adorable is it??!!























... vintage ephemera...







... I fell in love with this old pink sconce!!! Can you blame me?





































... couldn't resist this great vintage knitting bag and the darling crochet trim...


... This old apron is beyond cute!!!!!



... a couple of old boxes... Love the detail on the box with the lady!!





















... cute wallpaper hatbox... One can never have too many!!





... and look at how cute these things are??!! I am a big sucker for vintage baby clothes, the crochet trim was a steal and those little wall baskets are beyond cute!!
















I am also beyond excited that both Zita from Mlle Magpie and Sue from Bella Shabby have honored me with a very special award... The Renee Award was created in honor of a special person, Renee (who is fighting stage 4 breast cancer) by her friends, Bella and Ces.




Bella had the following to say about Renee: "Renee is one human being who has made such a difference in the lives of many just by being. Her honesty, wit, intelligence, and grit are a tremendous source of inspiration. She can elicit raucous laughter and guffaws in her banter, and then turn right around and offer the most heartfelt, gentle words of wisdom and emotional support. She is a spreader of love,simple and true. And her love is infectious."This is a brand new award and I have the pleasure and honor of spreading the seed, watching it grow. I hope it finds its way to those who are like Renee: the acorn, a small package becoming a tall and sturdy oak, giving more acorns, becoming tall and sturdy oaks, giving acorns..."

Thank you, girls, for bestowing me with this special award, I am deeply honored!!!! It means a lot to me!!!!! I am supposed to pass this on, but I have such a hard time picking just a few wonderful people, I have over 170 blogs on my favorite list and I love them all!!!!! I am passing this onto all of you!!


Finally, let me gloat for a little bit as I share my girls' accomplishments.... Clara and Rita attended the Gymnastics State Championships yesterday in Eugene and did wonderfully!! Rita received a medal for 3rd place All Around for her age group and Clara scored a 1st place in Beam and 2nd place in Bars!!! Their team qualified third place out of 20 teams!! Clara was also honored at their gym's banquet (held last week) as Most Valuable Gymnast and Level 5 Gymnast of the Year (as chosen by her coaches and peers)!! We are so, so, SO proud of their accomplishments!!




24 April 2009

Monticello Garden Show

The Monticello Garden Show starts today, and I have to say this is one of the prettiest shows I have ever seen.... The dealers really outdid themselves this time, and brought out the most beautiful items!!!! Amongst these amazing beauty creators are our good friends Joy, Diane and Martha, Sue, Debbie, the twins Diana and Donna, Kathy, Melanie, Lynne, Braeda and Judy, Mitzy, Julie and many others! This event will last for a month, so you will have plenty of time to make it there (the dealers will be restocking periodically). In addition to the show, the mall is having a storewide sale, so this is the time to plan that visit to Monticello!! I leave you with some inspiring pictures I took yesterday (don't forget to click on the pictures to enlarge them...), enjoy the tour!!





















































































22 April 2009

SAUDADE...

Saudade...

... A word that only exists in the Portuguese language and, therefore, does not have a direct translation ... Saudade is a noun that describes a feeling, a feeling of missing or longing for someone or something, a feeling I live with and have learned to cope with every single day of my life!! The word "saudade", loosely translated, denotes "longing, "melancholy" or "nostalgia".... In the context of Portuguese, however, the term connotes a meaning that is irrevocably lost in translation.

Saudade was once described as "the love that stays" after someone is gone. Saudade is the recollection of feelings, experiences, places or events that once brought excitement, pleasure, well-being, which now triggers the senses and makes one live again. It often carries a fatalist tone and a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might really never return....

A recent post from a sweet friend and fellow blogger (who shares my name and my origins) really touched home, she described a place I used to visit when I was little... She used to walk by my street on the way to the park... I wonder if we ever crossed paths not knowing we would "meet" again later...

I miss Portugal. I miss so many things I wouldn't be able to list them all... I find myself often on the phone with my mom whining about things I miss, asking her what they had for dinner, where they went, how's the weather, who's getting married, who won the soccer game... I have to admit that some of the most tangible things I miss are food related... Why is that? They say a way to a man's heart is through the stomach, I say a way to anybody's heart is through the stomach!! I was compelled to look through my pictures and find images that could illustrate my feelings, my feeling of longing and missing someone or something...

Saudade...



























































Familia ~ That is a given, I miss my family!! I miss the laughter, the food, the trips, the fun... Yes, every family has a disfunctional side, but I miss it all!!























Castanhas ~ Roasted chestnuts.... Yummmmmmmy!! Yes, occasionally I find chestnuts around Thanksgiving (and I devoure them!!), but there is nothing like a charcoal roasted chestnut purchased on the side of the road...




















(from my Flickr favorites)


Mar ~ I grew up around the sea, looking at the sea, playing in the sea, smelling the sea, and eating the fruits of the sea... The sea is a part of me...






















(from my Flickr favorites)


Caracois ~ Oh, how I miss eating snails... I know, it sound gross to many, but for me that is part of my heritage. If you walk or drive around in Portugal and see people hunched around bushes, chances are they are gathering snails. There is an art to cooking snails, you have to have the right combination of seasonings, which include oregano...





























Retrosarias ~ There is a street in Lisbon just dedicated to haberdashery stores, where you will find buttons, lace, wedding dress fabric, millinery flowers, ribbon, etc! It is always a must go when I head home!























Marmelada ~ Marmelada is to us Portuguese what peanut butter is to American kids... Pao com marmelada is a staple! A thick jam made from quince fruit, marmelada has the sweetest taste, and is delicious with bread or crackers!!






















(from my Flickr favorites)


Futebol ~ There are no words to describe the pride us Portuguese feel about our soccer... It is bigger than life! I plan my trips to Portugal around the European Cup schedule so I can be there for the finals...

























(from my Flickr favorites)


Farturas ~ I have been told by my children that one of the biggest things they miss about Portugal are farturas, Portuguese fritters (like large churros) smothered in sugar and cinnamon... Watching them being made is almost as much fun as eating them!!























Musica portuguesa ~ For me, it was difficult to appreciate Fado until I was thousands and thousands of miles away, but I do miss the sounds of the Portuguese guitar emanating from small restaurants
in Bairro Alto... My sisters are pretty good about getting me CD's with newer Portuguese music so I can feel closer to home.





















(from my Flickr favorites)


Tremocos ~ This is probably one of the foods I find myself craving almost every day... This is another of those Portuguese obsessions that are hard to explain...!! Tremocos are salt water soaked lupini beans, and are absolutely my favorite snack food!! Any street cafe in Portugal will bring you a beer and some tremocos (peel the skin with your teeth and eat!). Nothing better!!




















(from my Flickr favorites)


Feira da Ladra ~ Attending street markets in Lisbon are one of my favorite activities when I go back home... Feira da Ladra (literally means Thieves' Fair, a reference to how it got started...) is a weekly market where you can find a variety of items... You can see more in a post I made about this fair a few months back, following my last trip to Portugal.



























Electrico ~ The tram has always been my favorite way to travel arond Lisbon... Even more so now since busy people prefer the fast subway ...! For me, it is frozen time, something that never changes, continuity...





























Baixa ~ Downtown Lisbon is a charming area full of wonderful shops, cafes and pastry shops... Even though a devastating fire destroyed a large portion of our Baixa (taking with it century old department stores) about twenty years ago, the rebuilt area still retains an incredible charm, with its cobblestone sidewalks and gorgeous buildings.





























Casa da mae ~ My mom's house is "ground level" for me, a place where I go back to being a little girl... A place where the incredible food can never be reproduced no matter how hard I try, a place where tea at five is as certain as the sunset, a place where all the family gathers to catch up with each other, a place where I eat tremocos, caracois, farturas, castanhas, where I watch futebol, and the mar, where I share my finds from the Feira da Ladra, and the finds from the retrosarias in the Baixa, where I feel at home in the company of my familia...!!























Saudade...
Related Posts Widget for Blogs by LinkWithin