Sunday, November 30, 2014

Life Update

Upcycled Piece
So I made myself this holiday necklace. Certain gaudy things attract my attention. 

This poinsettia is one of them. It is from a broken brooch that belonged to my late great aunt. It has been sitting around for years now and I finally brought it back to life! The velvet choker is also upcycled from some old costume jewelry piece my mom had given me back a few years ago.

New Computer
Jim built me a computer! Yes, he has this special skill. These are the bits and pieces needed to do so.
It's not pretty but it costs way less than going to the store and buying a name brand PC. This will also last 10-15 years with components being upgraded as needed which is another huge money saver since brand name PCs don't last that long. 
Although it's not pretty, it does have a cool blue light that glows inside! 

I was surprised at some of the cool computer towers available like pink and white. However I am very basic about my technical stuff and this one is easy for Jim to get his hands in if need be.

Zinfandel
I couldn't resist buying Zombie Zin since Jim loves the Walking Dead and we love red zinfandels.
Ok. It wasn't great, but it was fun for a laugh!

Chocolate
I've been playing around with chocolate! 
This one has large salted peanuts in it. Fun and delicious to make!

Snow
We had our first significant snowfall Thanksgiving night when only flurries were predicted.
It was the heavy wet stuff! There are still some hot pink rose petal holding on for dear life behind this shrub.
I'm looking forward to Spring!

Vintage Jewelry
My parents gave me my grandmother's jewelry. 
Whenever I receive a lot like this I keep the pieces that call me to wear and cherish. Then I will need to decide which pieces to pass on to another vintage jewelry lover and which to re-purpose. 

Thank you for stopping by! Wishing you a marvelous week ahead! ~Val

22 comments:

  1. Fun necklace, and one with a history (even better!). I can see that working well with some black velvet for the holidays. How amazing that Jim is so handy with computers, and I would love the blue lights :) We drove in that awful weather Weds to RI - what a pain. But we were careful and safe and had a lovely holiday with family. Hope you guys stayed warm and had a wonderful holiday as well

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  2. i like your 'gaudy' christmas necklace. especially since it has family ties. :) and the grandmother's lot, too. i inherited a bunch of pieces from my mother-in-law (a lot of jewelry from southeast asia where they were stationed in the air force) and displayed my favorites in a glass window box. really like it.

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  3. How special that you got your grandmother's jewelry collection! And the chocolate looks good, I always thought chocolate and salt wouldn't go together, but they make a great couple.

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  4. The necklace is gorgeous, and your photos are lovely.

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  5. A new blue glowing pc, how cool! Chocolate and salt do taste very good together - I remember years ago trying some chocolate covered pretzels which were delicious :D
    Snow's lovely as long as you don't have to go anywhere! We haven't had any in the UK...........yet!

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  6. Val, that brooch is just beautiful!
    I have so much of my mom's, grandmom's, aunt's old jewelry. Now if I were only as talented as you are, I could do something with it! :-)
    LOVE Zombie Zin! :-)

    We were in western MA for Thanksgiving, and oh my goodness, the snow! So, so pretty though.

    I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I wish you a great week ahead.

    P.S. And he builds computers??? That Jim is true keeper. :-)

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  7. I like your gaudy necklace ;o) LOL! Us gaudy girls have to stick together ;o)
    Cool about the computer! Way to go Jim ;o)
    The chocolate looks good ;o) We don't have any snow ;o(
    Have fun with your grandmother's jewellery ;o)
    Hugs ;o) Hope you had a good Thanksgiving ;o)

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  8. I really like your necklace! You've made it in to a very wearable piece. Enjoy sorting through the rest. Not sure I could have drunk wine from a bottle like that!

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  9. Hi Val!
    I love recreating new pieces from old costume jewelry. I spotted some really lovely pieces
    your grandmother used to own :) Yay, for the new computer! Mine isn't pretty either, plus my hubby
    also built it from individual components! The one requirement I had was that it be silent :)
    Yummy chocolate! And wow, that's a lot of snow :-/ It's 0°C here and I'm freezing!
    Have a terrific week ahead!

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  10. What a great and festive necklace! You gave that old pin a really fresh young look with the velvet. Beautiful!
    I LOVE your grandmother's stash! You must have a few ideas swirling already as to what to do with some of the pieces.
    Enjoy that new computer, built by your honey ~ what a savings and what a great guy to have around :-)
    We got 9" of heavy snow on Wednesday...a very white Thanksgiving! Ugh.

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  11. Mmm... the chocolate looks so good! My son is sitting next to me right now and when he saw it he said to me, "Mommy, what's for dessert?" :) Silly kiddo!

    I think your necklace is beautiful and very eye-catching (in a good way). Love your snow! Hugs to you!

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  12. i love the poinsettia necklace you upcycled from your great aunt. what a beautiful tribute. jewelry means so much more when it has MEANING. your hubby should go into business! LOL to build a computer is awesome. i have to buy one and i was looking at the prices. my eyes popped out of my head. lol you guys did get some snow!
    http://www.averysweetblog.com/

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  13. Getting a new computer is always a love/hate situation for me. I'm so excited to get it, and it's always faster and better than the last one, but I hate installing all my programs and transferring my files. It's worth it though in the end.

    Love the Zombie Zin! That would be a great gift for all my Walking Dead friends!

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  14. I love the poinsettia necklace that you repurposed from your late aunt. You'll think of her whenever you wear it. Your grandma's jewelry is a wonderful keepsake.

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  15. I like your upcycled jewelry - the poinsettia definitely has come back to life. Isn't it nice to have a guy who can build computers? My husband is like that and non in our family has a store bought computer; all are built by him. Ha, I also love zinfandels, but I've learnt that these "Halloween" zins usually aren't that good. The labels though are fun!

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  16. I think it's fun to upcycle! =0)
    Hooray for a new computer. That's great. And super cool that he built it for you.
    I love making chocolates. Your peanut clusters look yummy.
    We used to sell our treats in our Etsy shop, but we just don't have the time this year.
    The snow looks pretty. We just had a big rainfall here in Northern CA, with more on the way. It's much needed, but because because of the drought, we had flash flood warnings last night!

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  17. Cool computer. I am more into quality then looks.

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  18. Lovely choker! And I'm so jealous you have snow! I love winter, but I'm living in the UK right now, so I usually don't have winters, only cold, wet autumns where a winter should be.

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  19. Hi Miss Val, I bet it was a wonderful treasure receiving your grandmothers jewelry. Greetings!

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  20. wow grandma's jewelries, super vintage it's great :)

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  21. Oh Val! Don't play with food, just eat and enjoy the chocolate ;) Wish I could show you at your place!
    And you got snow! How wonderful! Over here we are still waiting for snow and at my country there are the Alps!!! One cannot rely on mountains these days ;)

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Thank you for stopping by! I love reading visitor comments! ~Val