Memorial Day weekend trip.....

"Sunday Favorites" is a Sunday meme designed to give bloggers a chance to share a favorite post from the past!!! Today I am joining Chari and all the other bloggers with a look back at a wonderful and unforgettable trip that I took in 2009. Many happy memories from that adventure and lots of lovely photographs to remind me. Life is good.

Princeton Pansies

Niagara Falls view from the Maid of the Mist

Smilebox of pictures from MacKenzie-Childs in Aurora, NY <------Click there
I'm back from my trip up to New Jersey and New York with the BF. We had a wonderful time. We went to Princeton, NJ on Friday, then we headed up to Auburn, NY where we made "base camp" on Friday evening. Saturday morning we headed to Niagara Falls, NY (so cool!) and Sunday we went to Aurora in the finger Lakes of NY to visit Mackenzie-Childs operations. What a beautiful farmhouse they have decorated with all of the MC furnishings. If only I was wealthy!

Monday we went back to Newark and just chilled for the day. Time just went by too fast but it was all wonderful. Thank you, Bee! <3

Crystal Cherry Necklace

I just finished creating this Crystal Beaded Cherry Necklace. I've received lots of compliments on it. I'll post it for sale in my Etsy shop. It measures 19 inches long. I used 1/2 inch Swarovski Crystal beads to string the Glass Cherry pendants on. The pendants are about 2 inches long each. Click on the Title above to link to my Etsy shop.

Pickford's Sundries Lives On.......

My friend Paddy and I went this afternoon to have lunch at the remodeled Pickford's Sundries that is now the Cafe & Bakery on Hillsborough Avenue. Having lived here in Tampa for many years, I have always thought this was a really cute little pink building that somebody should make into something. Well finally, it has been restored and it's the cutest little cafe & bakery now.
I had a delicious Roast Beef sandwich and a Cherry Coke. Paddy said her BLT was great, too. The sandwiches were so filling that we didn't have room for any of the yummy lookng dessert but we will make another trip there just to have dessert. Their breakfast menu looked awesome, too. The blog title above will link you to their website. They're open Tuesday-Saturday.


After lunch we ventured down to the new IKEA store that opened last week in Ybor City. It's my first trip to an IKEA store. Pretty cool stuff. I'd love a red kitchen like the one pictured above. I'd love a craft room designed with all of their cool storage units. It's a huge place and we did plenty of walking. The temperature was a little warm for our taste but it's a cool place.

Key West April 2009 Smilebox Scrapbook

Please join us all at Happy to Design to see our Sunday Favorites. We share our favorite post from the past.

I am a Winner!!!!

Yes....I'm a winner of a $100 Publix supermarket gift card. Cool! I participated in the POST Return to School Sweepstakes and I'm a winner of a gift card it seems. It came in the mail this afternoon. Awesome! That's the 3rd thing I have won this year so far. :-)