When I moved in, I didn’t do anything to my room.  I mean, I didn’t even hang anything on the walls.  I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it so I focused on the other rooms of the house first.  But recently, I got a vision!  So it was time to paint…… PINK!  I know, everyone I told that to looked at me weird!  But  I promised them it was pretty.

Here’s what my room looked like before.

And here it is now.  I just love the color and the whole feel of it.  It’s a little hard to tell the color here.  I still need to get curtains, but it just makes me smile.  Every. Day.  The bedding is from Target.  Oh, and my sheets…. they are awesome!  They’re organic cotton sheets from the Home collection at Target.  I didn’t buy them because they’re organic, but because they are so stinkin’ soft!  I love them!

I’m just in love with this pillow I ran across at Target just a few weeks ago.

I got these little drawings from Jeanne.  I don’t know the history on them, but since she traveled so much, I’ve decided that she got them in Paris on one of her trips.

And these are just some photos from my various trips.  It’s just some jute twine and curtain clip things.

My roommate showed me a photo of a cool earring hanger that her brother made for his wife.  So I copied the idea.  It’s just an old frame that I spray painted and hot glued some screen in the back.

These all belonged to Jeanne as well.

So it kinda makes sense why I love to go to New York.  BROADWAY!!!!!  When I’ve gone to New York in the past, people that don’t know me as well as I thought they did will ask me, “Oh!  Did you see any shows?”  Did I see any shows?  I want to look at them like they just asked the dumbest question that could ever be asked and say, “Why else would anyone go to New York?”  But I don’t because, ONE, that would be very rude, and TWO, I do realize there are other reasons to go to New York.  I will, however, politely tell them which shows I saw and will often tell them the story of the time I was there and saw SIX shows in FIVE days.  Or the time I went to Aruba and stopped through NY “one the way”.  We were there for less than 24 hours and I managed to see two shows AND have lunch with a childhood friend.  We mean business, I tell you.

So I thought, since my love of theater is such a huge part of me, I would bring it here and share it with you, my friends!  I’d love to share some of my favorite musicals or musical moments with you.  And maybe if you see one of those shows come to town, whether at a big or a small theater, you might want to go see it.

My first Theater Thursday focuses on my latest obsession, In the Heights.  I saw it at the Pantages about a month ago and loved it!  I almost saw in in February when I was in NY, but I decided to wait since I knew it was coming here.  And I SO glad I did, since the guy who wrote it and starred in it on Broadway did it here!  Not to mention, Corbin Bleu from High School Musical was playing the lead guy and there’s no way he was as good as the original.

In the Heights won the 2008 Tony for Best Musical and is the story of a little community in Washington Heights, an area in northern Manhattan.  I wasn’t sure about the semi-rap elements of the music at first, but now I love it and Lin Manuel Miranda was such a treat.  The music from the show, with its Latin flair, is meant to reflect the culture of that area.  The dancing was awesome and I loved the messages of the importance of community, finding one’s place and ultimately, discovering home.

It’s playing at Orange County Performing Arts Center through this weekend and there are half price tickets available still through Goldstar.com.

Here is their 2008 Tony performance and a cool video the cast did to make one 10 year old fan’s dream come true.  I love it!

But first….. it’s been a long time since I’ve done an update on my house!  I’ve been doing some little projects over the last little bit and here’s one of them.

Jeanne, who had lived across the street from my parents since before my mom & dad moved in 40 years ago, passed away a few months ago.  She was an intriguing, independent woman with gumption!  She worked for American Airlines from the time that she graduated from USC as a young woman, til she retired.  I used to love to go visit her and hear her talk about her childhood and her many adventures around the world.  And I always loved her house.  And she liked to hear about what I was doing for work and where I was traveling.

When she passed away, I got a few things from her house.  One of them was this little dining set that I found stacked in her garage.  Here’s the before and after.

And here’s what it looks like at night in my magical backyard!  Anyone wanna come over for dinner?

I also found this chandelier at Jeanne’s house.  It’s the perfect final touch!

We divided in to smaller groups, by region, to pray for each other and to talk about starting these types of gathering in our own areas.

A few weeks later, Shaun Austin of Kiss Wedding Books opened his home in Fullerton to start meeting.  Our group is small but has been so meaningful to me.  Every Friday morning we meet and read a Psalm and a Proverb and talk about them and how they relate to us and our businesses.  We share what’s going on in our lives and then we pray for each other.  I love it!

I can’t tell you how many people have told me in the past that they could never live how I do, not knowing where my next paycheck is coming from.  Such is the life of a small business owner!  But through my business I’ve learned to trust God in a much deeper way.  It’s Him who provides for me over and over.  He has my best interest in mind so I can trust Him.  And what a blessing to be meeting with  a group of people who understand that and are living it out themselves.  I have been so encouraged and these people have have brought life to my soul!  This is why it’s one of my favorite things happening in Fullerton.

If you’re a small business owner and would like to join us we meet every Friday morning from 9-10:30.  Contact me for more info.

I have several templates, one for weddings, one for kids, one for Christmas, etc. But here is the one with just my name.

A couple of years ago I saw a post on Becker’s blog about creating custom stationary in Leopard for Apple Mail.  This was right after it came out I think.  I followed the directions on this post on the Graphic Mac’s site.  It takes a little bit of Photoshop know how, but the step by step directions are easy to follow.

Have fun!

But last night, after I turned out the lights in the living room, I noticed the moonlight.  It was shining through the mason jars on my dining room table,  Just barely.  But It looked kinda cool.  So I grabbed my camera.  I could barely get it to focus and it looked WAY darker than this to the naked eye.  I shot these at 3200 ISO (as high as my 5D will go) f 2.8, .8 sec.  I held REALLLLLY still.

Just a glimpse into how I see the world.

Kevin proceeded to tell me about how Max Bloom’s Cafe Noir came into existence.  He had a lot of these cool vintage items decorating the office of his former business.  He also had a kind of online specialty movie rental for film noir.  When the idea for a coffee hang-out in Downtown Fullerton came to him, they decided that a film noir theme would be perfect (think old detective movies).  They brought the online movie rental in and combine the two.  They started with only serving beverages and baked goods, but have recently started serving breakfast and lunch.  They even show old movies every Tuesday night and have open mic nights.  And it’s free!  How cool, huh?

What I love about Max Bloom’s is, of course, the theme.  I love the old fridge that you open to get a glass bottle of “pop”.  I love all the vintage details.  I love the old phone that actually does ring when they get a phone call.  I really like the little detective desk with the type writer.  I like that there are regulars and locals that seem to have claimed the place as their own (like I do!)  I like the old theater seats and I love love love the music that they play.  It’s a perfect place for me.

But they’re back!  It’s nice knowing I can look forward to these little beauties around town every year.

*I should add…. these photos are not of my yard.  I went down the street to take these.

So today’s Favorite Thing is the wonderful Rialto Cafe.  This delightful little gem has become my favorite little lunch place and I like to introduce people to it as often as possible.  It just makes me happy.  Giddy happy.  Not only is the food amazingly delicious, but the decor is just so great I could sit in there all day.  I went in the other day and met Leslie Morter, the owner, to get the story behind Rialto Cafe.

Leslie grew up in Fullerton and shares my love for the Downtown area.  She worked for Anthropologie as a visual manager, which explains a lot!  Opportunities were arising for her to be promoted, which would mean relocating.  The idea of opening a restaurant in Downtown Fullerton that serves breakfast all day came to her and the doors started opening.

I love hearing about the creative process and inspiration.  So it was fun to hear that the decor was inspired by a black and white couch at Home Goods! Later finding the exact same fabric from the couch, the look of Rialto was built around that black and white theme.  When coming up with the name, Leslie researched the history of that block of Fullerton, finding that the Rialto Theater opened around the corner from the restaurant in the 1920’s.  So keeping with the black and white theme, she framed photos of the Rialto Theater in its hayday.  It was also a goal of her’s to reuse and repurpose as much as possible so many of the items, like the sconces have been reused and some of the wood pieces were made from reclaimed wood.  I love it!

You know, it really is about the little details.  I love the tile as you enter the restaurant.  I love the antiqued mirrors and the potted succulents.  I love that there’s often an old movie playing on the tv behind the bar.  I love the coffee cups with the big “R” on them.  AND the fact that the Rialto logo looks just like the old sign for the Rialto Theater.  And I love that they bring your bill in a little jar.  How cute is that!?!

So take a took at this cute place that Leslie has created.  And stop in for lunch or breakfast some day.  You’ll love it!

This is Leslie (the mastermind behind all this)