Happy Thanksgiving Dear Friends!

Wishing you and yours a wonderful and joyous Thanksgiving!

Cannot wait to spend the day with my family.   It's just the best time.  My darling grandson helped me bake the pumpkin pies this morning.  Things are smelling pretty yummy around Bellamere Cottage

I've been making little birdies for my tree.  Can't wait to share with you.  

Happy, Happy Day dear ones..

xoxoxoxox

Spencer

Aloha!

 Oh my.....  Ten days of bliss.........    :-)    

My darling husband actually grew up in Hawaii.........in this very spot...........Kailua, Oahu.  His mom still lives there so this was the view for much of that ten day visit.   It rained one night........while we were sleeping, but other than that we had perfect weather every, single day.  We usually go in the fall, so I'll remember that May's a much better choice.   Not nearly so humid......and my hair wasn't plastered to my head for ten days straight.

Normally we are on the go the entire time we're there, but this time the trip was dedicated to my husband's mom.  Aging and in the latter stages of dementia.  I think they said she was in stage 7 out of 9...  or something along those lines.  She asked my husband if he was older than she.  So, so sad.  

 These photos are from her back yard.......Oh yes, I took lots and lots of photos......but, par for the course deleted most of them from my memory card when I was trying to download them.  NUTS.

My Hubby did lots of paddle boarding on the canal and grew up surfing out there in the ocean.  EVERY DAY!  And, we have the dermatologist bills to prove it.    :-)   Sunshine's not such a good thing in large quantities. 

 The view looking the other way.  Isn't it just beautiful?

 My sweet and ever so funny daughter loves Dog The Bounty Hunter.  Crazy, I know!  But wanted a shirt or something with Dog on it.  We loaded up my mother-in-law and went to Hawaii Kai for lunch and a smidge of shopping at the Dog Store.  I found her a cute, little pink hat.......she was tickled......just the ticket for her.

 Had lunch in Hawaii Kai at the Kona Brewing Company........YUM!......and stopped by the Blow Hole on the way home.....

We had Chinese food twice.........it's WON.DER.FUL there.......so different than the Chinese food here........Minute Chicken with Cake Noodle.......my favorite.  I order it every, single time.  

Italian food one night at the yummiest restaurant with lots of the fam.........and sushi with our wonderful friends another evening......and a Mother's Day party for the lady of honor on Sunday.........My hubb's family can COOK!  Deee.Lish.

I'm afraid to hop on the scale.  

Nope, we didn't do any of this fine dining.......who knew they had gourmet Spam Mac Nuts?

My grandson loves the stuff......  his request?  A Spam slicer.  Found that at Long's, but didn't buy the Spam Mac Nuts.   I had to take pictures of the huge Spam selection at Safeway, but sadly, those were some of the pix that were deleted.  You wouldn't believe how many different kinds there are.  Everybody loves Spam!

We went to Honolulu one morning to check out the Ala Moana Mall.....HOLY COW!  We have some of these stores around here, but certainly not all of them.  Some of the brands can be found in some of our stores, but WHOLE STORES of them?  WOW!  And, I've never been in a Harry Winston.......they had the prettiest ring in the window.  My heart was going pitty-pat.     :-)

Neiman Marcus

Betsey Johnson

Chanel Boutique

Escada

Juicy Couture 

Tory Burch

Dior

Coach

Dooney & Bourke

Fendi

Gucci

Hermes

Louis Vuitton

Prada

Salvatore Ferragamo

Cartier

Chanel Fine Jewelry

Harry Winston

Jimmy Choo

Tiffany's

If I could walk in heels Nordstrom had a pair of Valentino shoes that were sooooo cute.......well, and about 1500 dollars.....   :-)    not in my budget, for sure.

We actually got back on Thursday last week, but when I fired up my computer to blog about the trip........well, it just didn't fire up.

The handy-dandy repairman came yesterday.  Thanking Jesus that I have a warranty.

I took some photos around the neighborhood........I'll show those to you in the next few days.  AMAZING!  So glad those weren't part of the deletion tragedy.

Missed all of you........Happy to be home.........raining here...........but was beautiful while we were gone.  Naturally.

xoxoxo

Spencer

Check out dwellable HERE for more information about Kailua.

Ten Things About Me....You Probably Didn't Really Want To Know!

Ok.....Tuesday's Post Continued.........

Ten things about me.......hmmmm.....I'm thinkin' ya'allllllll really don't want to know all this stuff.....(no, I'm not from the south, but doesn't ya'allllll just work so nicely?)

1. I'm sort of a girlie girl......I started out that way actually. I didn't wear a pair of pants until I was eight years old and I can remember being in third grade crying all day because my Mum put my hair in a pony tail......I had long curls, after all......oh brother......no wonder I'm high maintenance. And, if I got my little, starched dress (hey, it was the 50's) dirty, I needed a fresh one.... My poor Mum.

2. We live in a small house that is nothing fancy. We don't have a boat, an RV, a vacation house, or fancy cars, but I am so content with what I have. I feel extremely blessed and am so grateful. God has been so generous to me. I nearly have to pinch myself sometimes because I'm so blessed.

3. Ok, I know this one is really weird. I'll admit it. I confess. I have to cut my coupons EXACTLY on the lines. If they're not perfect I'll just have to trim them up.

4. I simply CANNOT sing the National Anthem. I am so proud to be an American....how did I get so lucky?? At any rate, I TRY......I open my mouth and I'm so choked up nothing comes out. Yeah, I generally cry too.......Ditto the Pledge of Allegiance. We have such an awesome country. I love to thank our Military for their service........yeah, I get all choked up and cry then too.

5. I can't let myself have a day to just play around unless my house is clean. Do you think I might be OCD??? :-)

6. I get hives every day.

7. You know that birth order thing? The fella that wrote the book that explains your place in the family and how it effects your personality???? Well......I'm the oldest, the youngest, the middle and an only. Wonder why I'm quirky??? My older sister was five when I was born. She passed away when I was three. I was an only child until I was seven when my younger sister was born. Three girls, all blue-eyed blondes born in July.

8. I love rainy "Make a Pot of Soup" kinds of days. I mentioned to my DH when we were dating that there's nothing like a nice, cozy pot of stew and a fire. Yep, he's still waiting. He asks me about it all the time.

9. I never go anywhere without a project. If my hubby and I go for a drive or vacation I always tote a little somethin'.....

10. Ok. I realllly debated putting this one out there, but what the heck, we're all friends, right?? I've been married three times.......YEP.....count 'em THREE!! The first one to my daughter's dad.......nearly 22 years. Then I married my daughter's best friend's dad. Mmmmmm........not a good choice. Those darn rebound marriages. Then I met my dear, sweet hubbs. We've been married since October 1997. I teased him at one time and asked if I could go ahead and celebrate my 25 year anniversary........hey, it would be 25 years if I added them all up! Oh, and by the way, the hubbs???? He's been married three times too. We met at a singles shin-dig at church and have been so happy ever since. He always tells me "it's a GOD thing"......we match in so many odd and wonderful ways.

So, there it is. Now you know it alllll!

Wishing you a wonderful and joyful day.

God is sooooooooo good.

Bless you!
Spencer

PS!!!  Cath Kidston is having a 15% off everything sale Wednesday ONLY!    :-)