Ardith...

.

Hello, my dear friends.

Today is a bittersweet day for my family.

It's Ardith's birthday.

This photo of her is sitting on my desk.

Usually, I check in on my computer

the first thing in the morning,

and the last thing at night.

So you see,

she's here to greet me as I start and end each day.

I don't know what it is about dates...

When you lose someone you love,

and those meaningful dates come around,

they seem to make the loss stronger.

Your lost loved one claims that date in your heart.

What a miracle it was that Ardith was born.

Her life led to my dad's life.

Which led to my life.

That circle of life, you know.

For this reason, and many more,

I will celebrate Ardith's life today.

I thought perhaps you'd like to know a few tidbits about her...

She was a magnificent cook and baker.

Her pies were like a poem.

She had a wonderful sense of humor and an easy, contagious laugh.

She had a keen fashion sense and loved Italian shoes.

Her middle name was Belle.

She was a bit of a lead-foot driver.

Her favorite color was green.

She was a voracious reader.

As a young girl, she saved her babysitting money
to buy her little brother his first bicycle.

~

As you've probably already heard,
today is also the last day of Elizabeth Taylor's life.

A woman who never stopped giving. 
Rest in peace, beautiful Liz.

I'll leave my thoughts of her for a future post.

Thank you so much for visiting, lovelies.

You always bring happiness to my day...

xo

Turquoise Tuesday Giveaway!

Yippee! It's Tuesday, which means turquoise! This isn't just any Turquoise Tuesday though. Today would have been my beloved grandmother Ardith's 90th birthday. She left us two Octobers ago and I miss her every day.

I wanted to do something to celebrate her birthday and to show how much it means to me that you take time out of your day to come visit me. Something to make it a happy day of celebration for us all. That's when I decided to do my first ever Fringe Giveaway. It just so happens that Ardith's birthday falls on a Tuesday this year.

To tie it all together, I chose to make this extra special Lily Lariat in turquoise. I made the lily leaves from a gorgeous butterfly pattern cotton fabric. When wearing this design, the lilies flutter about with your movements. To me, that's a somewhat magical combination with the butterfly fabric and the fluttery movement of the petals....

This Lily Lariat is a perfect spring and summer accessory. The colors are enchanting and will go with any complexion. Also, it's the perfect splash of color to take along on vacation. It takes up very little room, making it excellent for even the lightest packers.

You can see more examples of how to wear this style of lariat and other details here.

So, are you ready, sweet beautiful friends...?

-To enter leave a comment on this post. Winner will be drawn on Friday, March 26th.

-For additional entries, follow my blog, or mention this Giveaway on your blog or on Twitter, and let me know you did in a separate comment.

-If you already follow me, mention that and I will add an additional entry.

Good luck, everyone!

Finally, I want to thank you all. For those of you who stop in often, always with a positive comment, thank you a thousand times over for being supportive, generous and caring friends. To those of you who are new to my blog, thank you so much for dropping in and I hope we will have many more meetings...

Have a beautiful day, dear ones...xo

P.S. In case you missed it yesterday, I hope you'll take a moment to check out my Blog It Forward - Inspiration post. Also, did I remember to thank you for being you?