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Happy Mother's Day

Here's my Mother's Day post, a littlw early but I have a busy Friday and weekend ahead of me. Enjoy!

Anna M. Jarvis is who we have to thank for the celebration of Mother's Day. Back in 1907 she proposed a day set aside for children to pay tribute to their mothers. Miss Jarvis so missed her beloved mother she petitioned tirelessly for seven years to create the national holiday. She arranged a special memorial service to be held for her mother and provided five hundred carnations - her mothers favorite flower - as corsages. Finally on May 8, 1914, Woodrow Wilson declared Mother's Day a national holiday. Thank you Miss Jarvis.

I must admit that growing up as a child I rarely remembered my mother with a gift on mothers day. Yes, I faithfully made the card my teacher required and graded me on, I picked flowers in the yard and made paper chains with " I Love You" written in crayon: but I don't remember going out and actually purchasing a gift.  One year when I was about 6, I remember opening a box of Cracker Jacks: I gleefully opened the small white paper prize package to discover a miniature suitcase. I put a special note inside and a peanut ( I didn't like the peanuts back then) and gave it to my mother. I can still remember the wonderful surprised look on her face. She made it seem like I had just given her the Hope Diamond.

Before I had children of my own the thought of my mother having no store bought gift on Mother's Day from me to open  literally made tears well up in my eyes. You see my mother passed away from aggressive breast cancer when I was only 13 and she a very young 42. It wasn't until I had children of my own that I realized I had probably given her the greatest gift: my time, my innocence and my sheer love. Through the years I have received many gifts on Mother's Day, but the ones I remember the most are the hand-made ones. The clay cup from Timmy, the hand-made earrings from Sarah. The Polaroid of Timmy holding the "Happy Mother's Day" sign that hangs in my closet by the light switch so I can see it everyday. There are a couple of cards the kids made me in school that I will hold on to forever. I laugh out loud whenever I pull them out. When prompted by the question " I love my mother because: Sarah answers " she does the dishes". Don't get me wrong, I also remember the first gifts they purchased for me on their own without prompting from their father. From Sarah, a recipe book and Timmy, Lindor Truffles and what has become my favorite soap. But it is those hand made ones I know I will hang on to forever.

Through the years my husband has done an outstanding job of purchasing Mother's Day gifts for me from our children. But it really hasn't been his job. You see he has a mother, a wonderful one, and it is his job to make sure she is honored and remembered on that day. It is a far better gesture for him to remember his mother than expecting her daughter-in-law to do it. It makes me love him more because of it and he sets a good example for his own son. I owe a lot to my mother-in-law, she raised a small boy into a wonderful man who would eventually become my husband. Thank you Rita!

In honor of all those wonderful hand made gifts I decided to make my own Mother's day gifts this year. For my mother, a scrap book page. I love this picture of my mother. I cropped the original photo of my mother and father on their first date, sitting at a dimly lit table as a restaurant photographer snapped the picture. My mother looks so glamorous with her hair slicked back, impeccable black beaded dress and chic patent black box purse. It has a certain French flair to it even though the photo was taken in Los Angeles.

For my mother-in-law Rita, a crown which reads "Dear Mother". I know what you are saying, I am contradicting myself. I shouldn't be making my mother-in-law's gift. Well my answer is I didn't have to do it, I wanted to.

So this year I am forgoing the hoopla since I am receiving the best gift of all. My son Timmy will be returning home from college on May 9th, just in time for me to hug him on Mother's Day. My daughter Sarah's Prom is on the 9th as well and I will be spending the day with her, helping her get ready. What a wonderful memory for both of us.

I have decided that from now on it is the intangibles I will seek on Mother's Day. An act of kindness, a visit or letter. A small gift to show first and foremost remembrance, nothing lavish. Brunch with my family and my favorite cake is how I will spend this Mother's Day and that is just fine with me.

Now just for fun;)

 My mother-in-law Rita with my husband Tim in her arms, can you believe she was only 20, and she already had Kevin, my husbands older brother. Love the glasses Rita!

My mother with my older sisters Gina on the left and Julie in the center. She was pregnant with my other sister Carolina. This photo was taken at MacArthur Park in LA.

Happy Cinco de Mayo

I woke up today to the pounding of pouring rain and wind. Hardly the Cinco de Mayo's of my childhood. Growing up in Southern California, Cinco de Mayo was always a huge holiday with lots of sun, fun and friends. My father was born in Columbia and raised in Panama and my mother was born in Nicaragua and moved to New York as a teen, but the fact that we are Hispanic at all gave us the right somehow to proclaim the holiday our own.

I can remember Olvera Street in Los Angeles with all it's shops and stands. Narrow at times and filled with visotors then wide open with room enough to dance.  I never did, too shy I guess, but I always enjoyed seeing the beautiful dresses of the dancers and the elegant gate of the men. I would buy my one small souvenir and home I would go before the real celebration would begin. I like to remember it this way and I am glad I was never there in the evening when I am sure my childhood memories would have been tainted.

Today we will celebrate with a "Happy Cinco de Mayo" hug and a little history of what it all means. Technically, Cinco de Mayo isn't even a national holiday in Mexico. It only marks the victory of the Mexican army against the French at The Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. Like fortune cookies at a Chinese restaurant and corned beef and cabbage on St. Patty's Day, Cinco de Mayo is more an American Celebration than a Mexican one.

Well, enjoy it anyway. Have a Margarita and some chips and salsa or do as I do and hang a sombrero on your door; however you choose to celebrate remember we live in a great country with lots of diversity, let's embrace each others cultures with respect and dignity.

Holiday Homage and signs of Spring

I am an avid believer that each Holiday on my calendar is equally created and deserve the same rights. I refuse to shop for Holiday decorations in July or forget about Thanksgiving because Christmas falls only three weeks instead of four in some years. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE all celebrations, just ask anyone who knows the Lebel's and they will tell you that we spare no expense whenever decorating for a Holiday. As a kid my family celebrated the major holidays meaning Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter, but we weren't really into having corn beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day, makeing a maypole  or spookifying the house at Halloween. It's not that we ignored them for any particular reason it's just that my parents didn't put any special emphasis on it. As an adult I take any opportunity I can to celebrate: it reminds me life is good and of course it means we always have something to look forward to. What I do object to is rushing through them. I am always saddened when I see the St' Patrick's Day decorations on sale next to the Easter ones, or Halloween and Christmas together: Thanksgiving is sometimes all but forgotten. I understand retailers doing this, they must meet the demand and time constraints they are on. But I do believe that in our homes we should honor all holidays equally. Since most holidays have a particular month they fall in with no other competition I try and give that holiday the entire month at center stage. In other words you will not find me taking down my Thanksgiving decorations in November, November belongs to Thanksgiving and I will pay it homage all month. I am trying to do this with my blog as well. I don't want to forget about one holiday in order to move on to the next too quickly, but a few of you have asked what I have up my sleeve for Spring and Easter. Well seeing that the first day of spring was last week (BBRRR!) I will let you know. I was up at Lasting Memories a few weeks ago when I ran across the new Cut and Paste line fromK&Company. I was so inspired by the retro playfulness of the images and the colors: FABULOUS! It threw me back to my childhood. I will be creating a SPRING banner with the papers next week and hopefully displaying it for you with directions by the end of it. You will love this. For now I wanted to leave you with some fun images of Springtime. These are a couple of my favorites. Few things scream spring like fairies, bunnies and chicks. Enjoy them. You can download them and make your own cards with the images. For now I will leave it to your imagination.

St Patricks Day craft

I found these plain paper "Pots of Gold" at Jo Anns last week and thought I might dress them up for St. Patrick's Day. This is nice as a small centerpiece or maybe one at each place setting for your Corn Beef and cabbage dinner on March 17th.  It also makes a nice teachers gift filled with gold covered chocolate coins. Even better take the green coins, attach a broach pin to the back, and give them to the teacher as "Emergency Green" pins to hand out to any of those unfortunate kiddies who may show up at school laking a bit O' green. She/he would probably appreciate it more than the chocolate.

I started by getting out my Cremacoat paint in evergreen and giving the paper mache pot a couple of coats inside and out. Looking back I probably should have painted it gold for more POP. Green will do though. I printed out a copy of the vintage postcard I put up earlier this week just big enough for the front of my pot. I then cut it our and embellished it with green and gold glitter. I rimmed the top with green mini garland by Bethany Lowe and then took some green garland and wound it around the handle. I filled it with green excelsior, chocolate coins, green beads and green plastic coins. I also found a mini green and gold glittered pot of gold and put that inside with an old Irish Blessing attached. The whole thing took about 25 minutes and $5 dollars to make. I could probably make another 3 or 4 with the supplies left over. This is a really easy project and could be done with any paper mache box you find. Wrap it up in a cello bag and tie it up with a green ribbon and a tag shaped like a shamrock. People will think you are so clever and crafty. That's all for now, take care and don't let any of that silly Friday the 13th stuff get to you.

St. Patrick's Day Postcard

St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner, have you began searching for shamrocks?  The earliest American observance of honoring St. Patrick - the patron Saint of Ireland - was in Boston in 1737. St. Patrick's Day became the day the new immigrants remembered their strong ties to the "auld sod" with parades and banquets. By the turn of the century the celebration became distinctly American with everyone , no matter their nationality, wearing a piece of green.  As a child I remember having to wear green to school or else suffer the consequences of a painful pinch. It made for a long day.  As I look back my heart goes out to the teachers who had to try and keep us all in line for a day filled with running, giggling and pinching.  As I got older, I did the typical "out for drinks" night, which was also fun but only lasted a few years. As a mother, I serve up corned beef and cabbage with Soda Bread. It wasn't until about 10 years ago I realized that corned beef and cabbage wasn't even Irish in origin, but Irish-American. The national dish of Ireland is colcannon. It is a potato, leek, cabbage and cream dish, quite yummy really. I will give you the recipe this week.  I will share my own families traditions with you as well as a fun craft. For now I hope you enjoy this vintage Victorian St. Patrick's Day postcard and remember, "there is no fireside like your own fireside". (Old Irish Proverb)

Oscar Night

Another full weekend! Saturday I spent the day working in the yard, about 8 hours total. We have a huge yard so there is always work to be done. All the fruit trees got pruned, the sword ferns were trimmed, the moss was raked up and so on and so on...  Wasn't I glad that on Sunday my Supper Club friends got together for Oscar Night Festivities. Incredible food, vintage wines and great friends makes for a memorable evening. I love my Supper Club. We have been together for 5 years now and these are some of the best cooks I know. In fact I am sure we ate 100% better than the Oscar nominees did last night not to mention the great champagne and wine. Thank you Tim and Cindy Ries for opening up your beautiful home to us last night.  Cindy and Tim rolled out the red carpet for us. From the moment we walked in and were photographed, Oscars in hand, to the popcorn and champagne tasting we were treated like the Hollywood A-luster's we came to see. The Oscar goes to Tim and Cindy for "The Best Oscar Party 2009".

And the winner is...

What a weekend! I feel like I was running around the entire time. I hope you all had a wonderful Valentines Day. Mine was fun. Tim and I never really do anything spectacular on the February 14th, our anniversary is right around the corner on February 27th so we always left the celebrating for later. We do always have Valentines Breakfast. As the kids were growing up I realized quite quickly that you can never guarantee everyone would be home in the evening for dinner, but I did know that my family loves breakfast and no matter if it was a school morning or not, they would always gather around the table for a warm meal.  The traditional Valentines Breakfast consists of heart shaped pancakes sprinkled with powdered sugar, strawberries and whip cream. I decorate the tables with cupids, hearts, red and white linens and of course a banner declaring "Happy Valentines Day". Each person has a small basket which I fill with a few pieces of their favorite candy and a small gift. My family loves Valentines Breakfast. So, I promised to show you the small gift I made my husband this year and as promised it was very inexpensive yet fun. Anyone who knows me knows I love glitter! One of my favorite rides at Disneyland is "It's a small World" just because of all the glitter. As I was rummaging through garage sales the other day I noticed all those unloved trophies people literally cannot sell and are forced to give away. You know the ones, your kids probably have a closet full.  I spied a couple of older trophies in a pile,back when they used to make them with a real marble base. There was one short one and one tall one. I bought them both for $2.  I brought them home and took them apart. I used the angel and the base from one trophy and the pedestal from the other. Most trophies these days are interchangeable. So you can configure them any way you like. I got out my German glass glitter and got to work. Lots of glue and glitter transformed an old dance trophy into "The Worlds Best Valentine" trophy presented to none other than my hubby Tim. He loved it and we will now display it in the bookcase of his office. The whole thing with glitter cost about $5 to make. Use your imagination and you could make one of these for almost any occasion. Next time you are at a thrift store check out the trophies you just may find your next Valentines gift.