Phin bot this butterfly punch several weeks ago and inspired by her fun artwork, I had to get it also! Of course, with my 50% off coupon. :)

Hello, My name is Madeline and I'm an Amazon Junkie

I spend an unhealthy amount of time browsing Amazon's store. I know a whole lot of people who do the same with Target and while I'm also a big fan of Target, going there requires leaving the house. And sometimes leaving the house isn't fair for the rest of the general public.

Well, wouldn't you know it that Amazon would make it very convenient to set up your own store of sorts. It's not really your store, because it's still Amazon, but you can add any fun thing that you find while browsing on their site so you have a nice, convenient way to refer back to those goodies. And an easy way to show your friends what you've found. They're brilliant. More free advertising for them. A quick reference list for me. A peek for you to see what I like to browse and shop for. Well, whatever the motivation, I'm all for making shopping easier.

So, I'm really not sure where all this is headed. I might do a weekly post every...say...Friday...to highlight some of my favorite finds of the week. Or this might be the last time I post about it. As we all know, I have the worst time with 'stick-to-itivness'. That's an actual word by the way. At least according to the American Heritage® Dictionary, Fourth Edition. Who'da knew?
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Belated Valentine Wishes

I got home very late on February 14th, didn't even have for time for a romantic dinner with my sweety. Then, in typical Madeline style, I caught a cold as soon as I got home. So for the past few days, I've been sleeping, catching up on tv, sniffling, coughing, and very stuffy headed. So I haven't been able to write a coherent post since I've been back. But here are a few pics I took in NYC that I had hoped to share on Valentine's Day.

So I give you permission to celebrate again with your beloved, another Valentine's celebration on President's Day.
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4 of 7: Monday

Rain went away so I did a bit of window shopping at Santana Row.Wouldn't it be nice to drink my diet soda from one of these glasses?
Scented candles in funky tins. I was drawn more to the colorful tins rather than the scents.
Didn't buy either.

This would be a cool place for a photo shoot.

Waiting to turn left onto Hamilton Ave. Too many check engine lights.

While I was there, I saw Atonement. Sad but very good. I cried.
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A Christmas Miracle

I'm just about finished with all my Christmas shopping. I only have one person to buy for. The toughest of course: the husband. Maybe I'll get him a Paint like Bob Ross Kit.

But the hardest part is still to come. Wrapping and shipping said gifts. Hanukkah starts Tuesday so I'm under that deadline, but I still have 26 days before Christmas. And I'm really good at procrastinating.

Despite my shopping nirvana, I have yet to be filled with the Christmas spirit. It doesn't feel like Christmas. Maybe because in the past week, 6 out of 7 days have been sunny. Or maybe because it's not even December yet. But I think that since I won't be fighting crowds at the mall or Target, I'll enjoy the festivities more. I did catch myself singing "Donde esta Santa Claus" the other night. :)
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A Friday Afternoon

I needed to get the sounds of my last movie experience out of my mind, so I went to see Georgia Rule. It was pretty good. Not what I expected, but good, simple, dramedy.
Afterwards, I walked down the street to see if the Paper Source was open yet and it was. The smell of fresh paint and paper-almost as good as coffee. Note to self, Phin and any lurking stamp club members: grand opening event on June 2nd.

Also noticed that an H&M is opening in the shopping center in the near future. V.omg-you so have to come back and visit when it does! We'll go to Sausalito, too!

There must be an event going on this weekend because there were about a half dozen chalk artists drawing on the street. It was so cool to watch! Amazingly talented!

Window Shopping

After last week's spree, I had to become content with window shopping. The bad thing about having a mini shopping spree is that it's addicting. Last week I said I don't typically like malls, yet I found myself at one again today. I have a good excuse though: we're going to a wedding tomorrow and I needed to get a gift. So, aside from the gift for the newlyweds and 2 magazines, my venture to the mall was merely an excuse to take photos.

Ted Baker always has the coolest window displays:


I can't resist chickens, especially these feathered friends at Sur La Table:


And I was happy to see that one of my favorite stores is coming soon, 4 miles from my front door, rather than having to go to San Francisco or Berkeley:


A few of you asked what the little designer bag that I bought last week looked like. Now that the husband has clued in and I even spilled the beans on the ducats it cost (as if he wouldn't find out when the credit card statement came in), well...here's the precious little thing:
Fits my little camera, cell phone, CC and DL and car keys.

My oldest friend is getting married tomorrow; we go back since the 3rd grade. We were the very best of friends till high school graduation, but with college and different life choices, our paths went in opposite directions. We made efforts to maintain our friendship because we had so much history together, but her judgments regarding my spiritual path were too heavy for her and she couldn't put our differences aside and accept me for who I am. I was a heathen destined for hell because I chose to see, learn and believe more about alternate views on faith and not base my spirituality solely on the writings in the Bible and the United Pentecostal Church. My beliefs are simple, God is Love and God is in all things so love is in all things. God created all of us equal, not just all Christians as equals. I'm happy that she finds strength and comfort in her faith and that she's so passionate about it. I even understand her concerns about me - she doesn't want me to go to hell. I just find her to be close minded and judgmental and unwilling to accept people for who they are. But I'm happy with where I stand and where I am growing spiritually. I'm still searching for answers, every day. But I do know that her path definitely is not my path. I accept that, but I don't know if she can.

It's odd to me the direction of where this post went. When I first started the paragraph about going to the wedding tomorrow, I initially was going to question what I was going to wear. The female parishioners can't wear pants and don't cut their hair or wear make-up. Sleeves can't be any shorter than 3/4 length, no elbows showing. The men also can't show elbow, short hair and no facial hair are required. I don't know what I'm expected to wear. How formal of a wedding is it going to be? It's an evening wedding, but on a Friday and it's both their 2nd marriages. I have 3 skirts, all of them casual, but that's what I've got. No dresses. I suppose I'll figure something out, but I'm definitely wearing make up.

conspicuous consumerism.

You probably wouldn't be able to tell by the shopping bags here, but really, I'm not usually a big fan of the shopping mall. But today, yes...I had fun. No, I won't tell you what's inside the bags because that'll incriminate me to the husband. He reads my blog. As if he'll miraculously be blind to the little clutch hanging from my wrist. But I'm sure that I could have shopped at Old Navy or Target and gotten whatever is in them for a fraction. If I chose to forgo the almighty Brand Name. All Hail the Mighty Brand Name. She is Queen and deserves your righteous respect. Bow before her and submit your monies to her. In return, I'll make the husband something yummy with whatever is inside of that William Sonoma bag and maybe give him what's inside that Apple bag.

Home Alone

Jimmy's in Dallas so I'm solo for the weekend. The odd thing about this is that it's normally me that leaves him home so I'm a little out of sorts figuring out what to do with myself. Actually, I have a massive pile of DVD's waiting for me to watch, so I know I'll be cozy on the couch most of the time. Maybe, just maybe, I'll do a little crafting, too.

It was pouring rain when I dropped him off this morning, but by the time I left to meet one of my girlfriends to celebrate her bday at Junnoon's in Palo Alto, there were white fluffy clouds and blue skies. This place was awesome, so any of my bay area friends who occasionally read my blog, I highly recommend it if you like Indian. They call it "eclectic modern Indian." I just call it really good. It's kind of a special occasion restaurant and a little uber trendy but oh so worth it.


Afterwards, I wandered to downtown Los Altos and did a little window shopping. I was this || close to buying a Waterford crystal bowl because...well...I love crystal, and Waterford? Hello, can't go wrong with Waterford, AND it was 25% off. But I talked myself out of it because really, who "needs" a Waterford Crystal Bowl even if it was only $33. V, if you had been with me, you so could have talked me into it! But I walked away, hoping to find something more useful to spend my ducats on. Like cake.

No, actually, I didn't buy cake from this place. I certainly was tempted, but instead got the best fruit ice tea and a small package of cashew butter cookies. I would go back for the ice tea alone. Almost...almost as good as sweet tea from the Cracker Barrel and I don't have to go to the south to get it. Phin, it's "earl grey tea with syrup and assorted fresh fruit". And they describe themselves as "Japanese innovations of European style cakes." I know. Hard to believe that I walked away not buying a slice, huh?

On my way home I noticed fresh snow on Mt. Hamilton. (Click on pic to enlarge and see the snow, really, it's there)Now, I know there's a lot of controversy about driving while talking on a cell phone, but no one's ever said anything about driving while trying to focus an SLR digi camera, have they? Well, I learned today that you can clearly watch the road thru the little viewfinder and totally stay within your own lane. I digress. Yea, so that snow was from this morning's storm. And it was sunny when I took that photo. And my temperature gauge thingy in my car read 61 degrees. Cool!

So I came home and decided to make a big pot of beef stew. Jimmy doesn't like stew, so I could eat it the whole weekend. After all the ingredients were in and I was patiently waiting the 2 hours for it to cook, I heard the rain again. It was practically pouring. With the sun shining. Weird freaking weather we're having today.

Perfect stew weather, me thinkith.
Beef Stew
4 T olive or canola oil
1 C flour
1 T garlic powder
2 t kosher salt
1 t black pepper
2 pounds beef for stew, cubed
12 small boiling onions
4-5 large potatoes, diced chunky
6-7 carrots, sliced chunky
3-4 stalks celery, sliced chunky
32oz beef stock

-In a large pot heat oil over medium heat. In a resealable plastic bag, mix together the flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Add a handful of meat at at time, shake and coat well. Brown small batches in hot oil till browned, about a minute per side. Remove and set aside.
-Brown onions in remaining oil for about 3 minutes per side. Drain any excess oil.
-Add to pot with the onions: carrots, celery, meat and beef stock. Stir and bring to a boil. Stir, cover and reduce heat to low for 1/2 an hour.
-In the meantime, peel and dice potatoes. Keep potato chunks fairly big if you don't want all of them to break down. Some will breakdown, which will create the thick stewlike gravy.
-Add potatoes and continue simmering for another 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. Makes a lot.

On the House

Sunday we went to a superbowl/open house warming party and I brought this for the hosts. I don't drink wine so I had to ask the wine guy at Cost Plus for help. He said this was actually pretty good wine despite the elementary label. Thought it was clever for a house warming party.

The Mystery of the Upside Down Christmas Tree Revealed

Like it was a big secret. All I did was google "upside down Christmas tree".

Wikipedia says:
Artificial upside down Christmas trees were first used by retailers in order to better display ornaments, and place more gifts underneath the trees. When customers became interested in purchasing the trees, they were sold to retailers for resale. Their popularity is due in large part to their unconventional appearance, the way Christmas ornaments are more prominantly displayed, and for the space that is created for gifts and other Christmas decorations.

Want one? It'll set you back $600.

Kitty resting at the hideaway. She is one furry beast!

Outlet Malls

I went to the Gilroy Outlet Center the other day to return something I bought online from Eddie Bauer. Figuring it was an outlet store, I assumed the prices would be cheap and the sales would be rampant. Wrong. Maybe most things were a max of $10-$12 off regular price of last season's clothes. There were a couple of racks in the back that had 40% off, but nothing in my style or size. All I want is one simple summer skirt...you'd think that summer stuff would be marked 60-70% off...nope. In fact, there were hardly any summer clothes at all, 98% of the clothes in there were fall.
Last night, Phin and I went to Valley Fair and I found a skirt in the sales rack at Nordstrom, $21. That same skirt would have been $39.99 at the outlet center. That seems to be their magic number. Plus, if I decide against keeping it, Nordstrom is only 4 miles away, whereas the Outlet center is 30ish miles away.
Truthfully, I'm pretty annoyed at shopping. It's more of a chore rather than an event or fun thing to do. Remember in high school and college, or right after you had your first real job out of college and shopping was the best thing to do with all of your free time and money? Not anymore.

Bold squirrel in my MIL's yard.

A Good Friday

My dogs are tired, but it was a good day on the Peninsula.

We only had 1 car today b/c Jimmy's was at the mechanics so we carpooled to Menlo Park. He dropped me off about an hour before my train, so I stopped at one of my very favorite places to grab a bite, Crepes Cafe.
I ate brunch on the patio under the warm sun reading the daily rag. I laughed at Atherton's Police Reports:

"Police stopped to investigate a construction site that had a light on."
"Twenty bicyclists were in the roadway."
"A resident wanted to talk to police about a dispute with a neighbor about a fence."

Ou...real crime happening in Atherton. Atherton is one of those neighborhoods where crime doesn't seem to exist so the residents create something to complain to the police about. This is how the police fill their time. Jimmy and his buddies used to tease one of their friends who lived there about how the police would change the cat litter when he was on vacation because there was nothing else for them to do.

I also read an article that Stanford is looking for participants who suffer from sleep apnea. I'm seriously considering signing up for that. In addition to possibly finding a cure for my severe snoring problem, they'll also pay $500 upon completion.

Mostly though, I just savored my delicious Le Complete crepe and Guatemalan coffee (they were out of French Roast) while basking in the warm sun. Good thing I had a hearty meal because I had a lot of walking a head of me.
After breakfast, I headed to the train station. I love Menlo Park. It's one of my top-5-cities-I'd-love-to-live-in in the Bay Area. But that's not reality. :)
I was heading to San Mateo to meet Doris at the fairgrounds to go to the Gem and Jewelry Show. Well, I miscalculated where I needed to stop and ended up getting off at the wrong station. The next train back would have been another 40 minutes and I knew I could walk back faster than that, so I called Doris, told her about my snafu, and started walking. About 25 minutes later, Doris and I were wide-eyed looking at all the beautiful gems.

Well, it's almost a good thing that I've been really scatterbrained lately. Because I left my wallet at our hideway in the mountains so I had no credit cards and only a limited amount of cash. (Shhh...I've been driving w/o my license.) But the deals at the show were incredible! Many booths offered 50% to 80% discounts. But seeing all those colors, all those sparkly things in one building was the biggest treat. It was pure eye candy. Unfortunately, they didn't allow photos, otherwise I would have been snapping away at the rainbow of colors.

But one thing I kept thinking, man...my mom would have loved this. She loved discounted jewelry and she loved to haggle over prices. I was always so embarrassed by it, but it's one of those vivid memories I have of her.

We walked around the showroom for 3 1/2 hours then walked around Hillsdale Mall for a little while till Jimmy picked me up and we met the Bowens for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants: La Higuerita. It's new, but owned by the same people who own La Morenita in Palo Alto. After dinner, the 6 of us walked to Dairy Belle and had ice cream.

I'm in the middle of training for my 5k Training and typically, I wog (walk/jog) with Phin on Friday's but I had to bail b/c I Jimmy had the car and turned out that I wasn't gonna be around all day. But I wogged yesterday and promised to wog on Saturday since I thought I was going to be slothlike all day today. I'll still wog tomorrow, but I definitely logged my share of miles today!
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