30 days of happiness: 23

happiness is Sundays, I look forward to Sundays when my mom comes over for a day and gives me a day off. She baby sits, cooks delicious food and just being there to talk to.

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As an aside...
...sitting down to write something here has been difficult this week. Both kids were sick, which means sleepless nights and getting stuck in the house not being able to get things done. I have many new finds from the previous week that needs to be photograph, and can’t wait to show you, but hopefully I’ll get it done soon once the kids go back to school.

I also fell behind my 30-days of happiness posts; there are plenty of little things to be happy about but have been overshadowed by all the heartbreaking news of the calamities that are happening across the globe, which had me contemplating more and more of how short really is our lives here on earth, how to better myself, put a little more in taking care of my family, my kids, etc. Anyhoo, this is supposed to be a happy post so I'll end it here now and will be coming back with new and fresh vintage finds next week. Stay tuned!

30 days of happiness: 22

happiness is a basket full of freshly picked pears to give-away.

30 days of happiness: 21

happiness is...











~gorgeous Saturday afternoon in Seattle

~picnic at a newly found park

~walking along the marina and

~drawing hearts on the sand.

30 days of happiness: 20

happiness is...



...cooking up a new recipe (pasta primavera) for the first time and getting a great result (like good as in everyone-went-for-seconds-and-scraped-the-bottom-of-the-pan-clean good).

Being that we’re not big pasta eaters, everyone loved it, the kids even ate the veggies. I got the recipe from a magazine while I was waiting in the dentist office the other day. I made it last night. It’s meatless and I added some portabello mushroom, asparagus, carrots, red bell peppers, grape tomatoes, parmesan cheese and a squeezed of lemon just before serving. And Bam! Yummy, light, healthy pasta dinner, I’d say great alternative if you’re tired of the saucy pasta recipes.

30 days of happiness: 19

"It's surprising how much memory is built around things unnoticed at the time" ~Barbara Kingsolver


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hello autumn, my most favorite time of year!

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30 days of happiness: 18

happiness is a day at the fair






There’s always something innately magical about being at the fair. The roller coaster rides, the games and cute stuff animal prizes, a wide array of deep fried foods (saw a deep fried chocolate covered bacon this weekend), ice cream, gigantic burgers and fries, etc. It’s the next best thing to Disneyland really.



This weekend we took the kids and my nephew to a state fair, the weather was nice and we spent a whole afternoon eating, waiting in line for a couple of rides, petting some livestock, more eating and half the time explaining to the kids why there's no way we're going to buy a $15 Dora or Diego baloon.



At the end I gave in and bought each of them a bubble gun instead, which my son later used to try and get this cows attention and the woman behind him (silly kid).



When we got to one side of the park we decided to ride the cable car to get back to the other end. The ride can only fit three person so I rode with the kids and my husband and nephew went to another. Of course I was a nervous wreck and started thinking of hundred and one ways something is going to go wrong and we're all going to crash and die, of course nothing bad happened and the kids really enjoyed seeing all the attractions from up above. (sigh) Parenting undeniably made me an uncool and paranoid mom I am sure.



We had some cheesequake burger (they're huge), fries, and some shaved ice, sorry no pictures but I thought this was cute I sneak a photo of this lady having snack with Mr Tiger.



And just before heading back, I lined up for ten minutes to get one of this, because it wouldn't be complete without having one buttery, sugary elephant ears to go.

It was a great day overall, despite the fact that I am now paying the prize for eating all that junk food.

30 days of happiness: 17

happiness is...


...the almost-ready pears in the backyard.


...thrifted dress-up clothes for the kids at a dollar each.


...finding the last melon ice bar when you're really craving for one.


...a sugar treat for my sweetie after a day in school.


...her even sweeter smile.

30 days of happiness: 16

happiness is to see the kids all "grown up" and going to school, gosh, time do surely go by fast...







yesterday was the kids first day of preschool, Jovan had a tough time at the beginning, he didn't want me to leave, but by the time I picked him up he couldn't stop talking about how much stuff they did and fun he had with his new classmates. Sofia did surprisingly well and just blended in with the kids in her class. I'm so proud of them!

seven years

seven years ago today my husband and I got married. It was one of the most special days of my adult life. Though there are certainly highs and lows of being married, I can honestly say that each years that passed I am finding something much deeper than happiness in our relationship-- contentment. Here's to many many more years!

30 days of happiness: 15

some things that are making me smile today...

...my Friday find; a beautiful 1950s Royal typewriter with a cursive font. I took it home and started typing and to my surprise could not find the exclamation point (!) key. After some googling, found out that it's a combination of three strokes; you have to type a period, a backspace and the apostrophe. Wth! Talk about a serious carpal tunnel syndrome at the rate of how much I use it!

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other happy thoughts....

~a promise of a small package in the mail

~listening to my boy singing while he's working on a puzzle

~playing hide and seek on our backyard

~the smell of fresh cilantro (having tacos for dinner)

~and looking forward to some R & R with my honey this weekend.

30 days of happiness: 14

some random things that are making me happy today...



taking photos of my items (I've really been enjoying photography lately, wish I had a whole day for myself setting up my stuff, and taking photos without any distractions. I've also been thinking of taking a photography class or two in the near future)

looking at Yvette Inufio Photography shop; I love the muted pale colours of her photos and that she incorporates vintage to her subject. So dreamy and romantic.

personal watermelon, ok just having a sweet watermelon on a gray day at the end of summer is happiness in itself.

this week old sunflower that still look vibrant and fresh from the day it was picked.

30 days of happiness: 13

happiness is creating/sewing.



I made this tote last year and gave it as a gift. I really wanted to keep it for myself, but thought I could always make another one. (I used a combination of natural linen and Etsuko Furuya fabric and embelished it with some vintage buttons)





year and a half later; today, I finished this one (it's a very simple tote, but I waited to sew in the handles because I wanted to try using a leather) I hope it will hold up toting some books from the library.

30 days of happiness: 12

happiness is...





...comfort food for lunch on a rainy day; grilled cheese, tomato soup and brownies.

30 days of happiness: 11

it rained all day again today, I didn't mind

another lazy day of doing nothing (I'm so glad we didn't plan anything this weekend)

the kids and I baked some brownies

then I picked up two book shelves to housed some of my small knick knacks

at 6:00 p.m. the rain stopped and I saw a rainbow

did some painting of kids favorite subjects; flowers, balloons, dinosours, cakes and muffins

had a leisurely bath

had fun taking this rainy photos

it was a good day!

30 days of happiness: 10

~ a fifty cent vase I thrifted yesterday (it's a teapot without the lid)

~a huge buoquet of flowers from the market for $5, I divided it to six different vases and scattered it around the house

~hearing Sofia say "i love you mommy" at random times, like she would be eating her cereal and she would pause in between spoonfuls of cheerios to let me know she loves me, how sweet!

~getting all the rents on time (we run a couple of rental units and we never get the rents on time and yesterday we did)

~rain, it rained yesterday and it made me happy because...

~it's enough reason for me to lay in bed for fifteen more minutes, had cereal for breakfast, left-over pizza for lunch, took the day off from working at my online shop and just being lazy all day.

~and happiness is being a night person (see the time of this post? it's almost 3 a.m. and I'm still wide awake)

30 days of happiness: 9

This post is going to be my "30-days of happiness/estate auction report post", since I don't have time to do more than one post today and this is what I'm most happy this morning; photographing all the goodies I found/won last night without breaking the bank.

So without further adieu here's my new finds...



lot of smallish modern oil paintings...



I think they would look nice as is all grouped together.



two sets of SP tea service.



group of antique brass candle holders and note holder.



antique tins and small objects.



a box full of vintage coin banks.



beautiful pair of cut glass lamps (probably need to be rewired)



this lot is an accidental bid, I wasn't paying attention and thought I was bidding on some antique journals, they're "Roycrofters Small Booklets".



last but not the least is this pair of framed antique trade cards.



now if I can only find a storage place for all these stuff I would even be happier...

have a great weekend everyone!

P.S. If you see anything here that you like, please email or convo me thru my shop and I can list the item for you. Thanks!