A fun vintage blue suitcase

Wow! This suitcase is a classic. My grandma had luggage like this. I associate this luggage with every time my grandparents would come to visit. They would bring us a little surprise most times and they would have to go searching through this luggage to find it. No wonder I have such fond memories of this luggage. You can find this suitcase here.

A nice little get away with a twist

Wow! What a whirlwind of a week. It all started when Clark and I decided we needed to get away from real life for a while. We started our journey in Nephi, Utah. Both of us have problems sitting for long periods of time in the car so we were breaking up our drive on the way to St. George and Las Vegas. While in Nephi we stayed in a nice little hotel called the "Economy Lodge". It had the basics and was clean but the most important part was, they had "HGTV" and Wi-Fi. I was in heaven.

Clark had fun swimming in the pool and it looks like he found a few snacks on the way back.

Of course, I gave him a turn to watch his "sportys" as I call his love of watching anything sports related on T.V.

In the morning we got up and made our way to St. George. The weather was BEAUTIFUL. Low 70's the whole time. We found this little retirement community to get out and walk around in. It was on top of a mountain in Washington City. The grounds were immaculate, the flowers in bloom, and the neighbors looked like they really enjoyed where they live. It made me wish I was 55 already so I could move in. :)

The views from atop this mountain top community.

I got a little cold but Clark thought it was perfect weather.

After all that hiking up mountains we were hungry, so we stopped here for lunch. This is also in Washington City.

This palm tree is actually in Mesquite, Nevada. Had to stop in and hug the palm trees (no, I don't consider myself a tree hugger but in the literal sense maybe).

Then it was time to shop till we dropped. It was so nice to see flowers at the mall in St. George and the Outlets At Zion. The sun was so warm. None of this snow stuff that I have to live with in Salt Lake.

I loved everything about these outlet stores. Even the light fixtures.

I'm loving the denim on denim look. It used to be a no-no to mix different denims but now it's all the rage.

This store had a great sale going on and I had to buy a few things.

Yeah, I bought that pink skirt in short and long. You can't beat $10 a skirt.

This is where the trip got a little interesting. We made our way to Las Vegas and had planned to stay two nights but as soon as we got to the Motel 6 on Dean Martin Drive we knew it wasn't going to be good.

The swimming pool was out of order, we had a scary next door neighbor that was hanging out in the outdoor hall the whole night, the front door in our room had about 2 inches of space where we could see outside if we got down on the floor and looked under, there was mold growing in the bathroom, it smelled like smoke in a non-smoking room, and it only gets worse from here.

At about 3:00 a.m. our neighbor decided he was going to have his own personal karaoke night right outside our front door. We could hear his ipod playing while we were in bed. Then he started singing at the top of his lungs, "Been spending most our lives living in the Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio.

I was like, "Really? You're really singing THAT song outside my door at 3:00 in the morning in the heart of Sin City?" The irony did not escape me. He had to sing one more tune but I was too delirious to catch his next act.

He finally settled down but it gets worse AGAIN. There was a car alarm going off for an hour. I'm not kidding! It was a straight hour. I could hear every detail of what was going on out in the parking lot since we had a two inch space under our door for all the sound to come in. I could hear other upset hotel guests going out there to see what was going on but they could NOT get that thing to stop.

Needless to say at 7:00 a.m. we were out of there. We didn't even want to see Las Vegas after that. We drove out of there as fast as we could to Cedar City where Clark was able to FINALLY get his employee discount at the Spring Hill Suites. When we walked in, we thought we had died and gone to heaven after the experience we had just had. Just look at this hotel. It is beautiful!

Clark got to watch the BYU game which he was so excited about.

I need a hotel that has had the touch of an interior designer's hand. And this definitely had it.

This was me doing funny Facebook poses in the hotel in Nephi.

The lights were very bright, that's why I'm kind of squinting.

Clark wanted to get in on the dress up action. Too bad he couldn't have worn this out on the town in Vegas.

Overall, we had a fun time. Especially after we got to Cedar City. Clark got to use the exercise room and the pool at this hotel and we call the Spring Hill Suites in Cedar City our home away from home now. Clark has vowed we will never stay at the cheapest place in Vegas again. I second that motion!

A little teaser for the big blog post

Again it's been too long since my last post. My husband and I went on vacation and I'm getting my big blog post ready. But for now I'll just share a fun ring that was very similar to some jewelry we saw while on vacation. You can find this ring here.

I'm just getting back into the routine of things and this is just a little reminder of the fun we had this week.

Do you need a blog and an Etsy shop?

Wow, this week just slipped by without much blogging going on. I've been working on my taxes :p, attending an HOA owner's meeting (it was very dramatic), two cleaning appointments, and trying to keep up with my house work (not doing too well with the dishes).

So today I wanted to share an article that Etsy sent me. It has some wonderful blogging tips and explains how to have a blog to support your Etsy shop. But this article applies to you regular bloggers out there too. Here is the link. Have a relaxing Sunday everyone. :)

I love apothecary jars

This is an apothecary jar I found at the Quilted Bear. I did two variations with what I put inside.

In this one I used crushed sea shells that you can find in most craft stores. The bigger sea shells came from the actual beach in San Diego but craft stores also sell the larger shells and starfish.

With this one I used mung beans. These also come in a bag at your local craft store. And of course the same sea shells.

I then created the bow from instructions in one of my floral arranging books. It was very simple.

This is my favorite way to browse apothecary jars, glass canisters, and other stunning vases from Pottery Barn. They were the inspiration for my own little creation above.

Mason jars at sunset on Etsy

I love this Mason jar trend. Everyone has these lying around the house. Throw some sand or rocks in the bottom and then a tea light candle. They even have battery operated tea lights now so you won't have to worry about a fire hazard. Add some wire hangers and you're done. These might just do the trick for curing my longing for a party on the beach. Any backyard can become a beach party.

My favorite hand carved ceramic artist on Etsy

This bowl goes along with my blue theme this week. Doesn't it remind you of the ocean? I think it's about time to take a trip to San Diego. It would be so fun to throw some decorative balls inside and set it on a coffee table or entry table. Here is a link to it on Etsy.

I fell in love with this lamp from the same artist about a year ago. The $760 price tag is a bit steep, but it is definitely on my wish list. I think I would worry about it getting broken if it were in my home though.