Hello Again.

It's been awhile. The last time I wrote a blog post we had just returned to Japan from our Christmas trip to Kansas City. We were home one week and my husband had an arduous business trip to South Africa. Once he got there it was pretty cool.  One night he stayed in a preserve and saw a lot of animals. The trip there is a LONG one. While he was gone his father took a turn for the worse. Upon his arrival home one week later I had to break the news that his dad was gone. This was very sad news, but we were so thankful that we had just seen him. The next few days we planned a return trip for the funeral. 

This is the presentation of the flag to my husband after the service. Those military funerals are pretty emotional I can tell you that. We spent a few more days taking care of some business and getting a monument ordered. It was an emotional week and we really struggled with jet lag, yet again.  

Now we've been back a couple of weeks and my husband is off again to Mexico and Puerto Rico this week. We've done a couple of fun things in the past two weeks before he left.

Last weekend we visited the Toyota Commemorative Museum. My husband works for Toyota for those of you that haven't been around long. He's seen the museum but I had not. You might be interested to know that Toyota began as Toyoda Spinning and Weaving Company. Half of the museum is about the looms and spinning machines and the other half is about how the automobile business began. It was very interesting. 

Antique Japanese fabrics are beautiful.  

This is a replica of the first Toyota ever built. It was built based on a Chrysler that they took apart and studied. I hope you can see this sketch below.  It is only a portion and was blown up to a huge wall size. 

This is a replica of the first truck. It had only 65 HP. My husband's motorcycle has more power. 

The first car built for America. It had no power and evidently did not sell well. World War II came and the Japanese government wanted them to make only trucks. 

Eventually they were back at car production and the Corona was very popular in America.  This is the Corolla which is still in production.  Toyota has been on a roll since that time. 

About 20 years ago they brought in this steam engine as another example of the era of industrialization. It was a very interesting morning. I wish I could show you the kind of looms that they make today. Crazy fast and advanced technologies. I've made a little video of our visit.  Some of the photos are repeated, but you can also see the current looms.  Enjoy.


Well, thanks for hanging around through the silence and museum posts. Talk to you soon. 

Jet Lag Post

Hello everyone.  We are back in Japan after spending two weeks in Kansas City with our family.  The 3:00 am wake up this morning is getting to me and it's only 9:00 am!  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.  We enjoyed being with our girls and parents.

One thing we ended up doing was going through my MIL's collections and splitting them up between the sons and their families.  She's been gone almost a year, which is so hard to believe.  She loved beautiful things and I thought I'd show you some of them.  None of these photos were taken with the blog in mind, so they are not the best, but they will give you an idea.

I really wanted this lovely portrait of her when she was four.  It is rather large and since we are not living in our home right now, my BIL took it.  He didn't know that the doll in the basket was still in her possession so we found it and he took it with him.  This was hanging on a large wall above the stairs, it is almost full size.  

I did however leave with this beautiful painting.  I believe it was painted by a cousin or Aunt. My daughter is willingly storing it while we are in Japan. It's such a sacrifice.

My MIL had a lovely collection of dolls and some half dolls.  I came home with the half dolls.  These photos are not inclusive.  I brought some of the little ones without their pincushions to Japan with me.

My MIL also had a lot of beautiful jewelry, mostly costume. This ring however, was promised to my husband from his Grandmother. My MIL wore it all the time. I believe she had it reset at some point, but the diamonds were her mother's wedding setting. We ended up with other jewelry, but I haven't taken more photos.  

Lesson learned, document everything!  Write names on photos.  Maybe I should say, print off the photos AND then write the names. Write down your stories. Tell your children where things came from and who gets them. Be specific. It was difficult not knowing what was real and what was costume jewelry.  Fortunately, we had no arguments between siblings regarding who wanted what.  Probably because it was all brothers. I didn't put up a stink about the portrait. Aren't you proud of me?

* Sorry, Melinda that I didn't get a chance to meet up with you.  Between the weather and a health scare, the time ran out.  

A Collected Christmas - Home Tour 2014

Welcome to our home!  I thought I'd join in with The Nester's Christmas home tour.  It's for home's that don't have to be perfect to be beautiful.  Come on in, I'll just let you have a look around.

Let's go into the family room where most of the "hanging out" happens. 

I was in a hurry to cover up the label on the poinsettia wrapper before my party last Monday.  I decided to grab a quick scarf and it worked perfectly.  This may happen every year. 

Pottery Barn plates, vintage collectables fill my antique cabinet. 

Thanks for visiting.  I have a little more to show in the next post.  Make sure you check out the other participants in the House Tour.  Merry Christmas!

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder.  And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  

Isaiah 9:6  

Favorite Things

My girlfriends and I went to Matilda's Christmas event last Friday. We bought tickets for early entry and a delicious breakfast that they were offering.  It was very nice to shop before the crowds arrived.  Look at these beautiful centerpieces that greeted us!

 We sat at one of these beautiful tables.

 It look me a minute to notice this unique Christmas tree at the entry.

They also were incredibly creative as usual with this fun tree.  

You can see another version here from two years ago that was fun and creative.  

This front wall display was so beautiful.  It was really difficult to capture.  The wall are ceiling tiles that they randomly added glitter to.  I went home with one of those beautiful tinsel trees. 

 This armoire is huge and has been there for awhile.  

Every time the Matilda's girls do something fabulous with it.  Every time. 

Can you tell I like vintage ornaments? That's all the decent pictures I took.  

I think I was a little bit distracted.  

We had our fun "favorite things" gift exchange at lunch.  The requirement is that it has to be YOUR favorite thing and be under a $10 budget. That in itself is tricky.  I received a handmade pumpkin.  My friend did not make it herself, because that is against the rules.  Her friend makes beautiful pumpkins so she gave each of us a different color.  They are so well made.  Another friend gave a set of Party Lite votive candles, each a different scent. The third friend gave cute mugs with her favorite Teavana tea called Earl Gray Cream. It was delicious.  I gave the L'Occitane Lemon Verbena soap to everyone.  I love the scent of Lemon Verbena.  I hope you have special friends in your life to spend time with.  Those are the really important things about the holidays.  

I will be posting AGAIN!  I know, it's a shocker.  I have Christmas decor photos to share.  Then we will get back to Paris eventually.