kdottie designs

We've Gone INTERNATIONAL!

Just letting everyone know that KDOTTIE DESIGNS has gone international!

Please check out our etsy site for more details!!!

Guten Nacht!
-ashley k.-

INSPIRATION. . . . .

REACH HIGHER. REACH FOR YOUR SPIRIT.
Rumi

~ Have a good day and a better tomorrow ~ Caren

THEY'RE TELLING ME ALL THINGS ARE GOOD!

In a previous post, I was trying to figure out why I kept hearing "Wind Beneath My Wings" and what my mom was trying to tell me. Ashley also heard it at her friends college graduation party - not the kind of music you expect there! A few days ago, I received a package in the mail from an organization I joined and in it were daily inspiration cards...The first card said - "May the thoughts in this little package become the wind beneath your wings". I just stood there - what can I say? Ashley and Mark had the same reaction...kind of "You gotta be #######kidding me! This is too weird!#

This morning I went to church and we were having communion (the Methodist church doesn't offer communion every Sunday). I took the bulletin and had a seat. I was reading it and during communion there was a list of songs to be sung during communion - the second one was no - not "WBMW", but "How Great Thou Art". You see, my dad used to play that song - ALOT - on the organ. I thought great - I bet it will be time for that song just as it will be my time to go to communion. Sure enough! I called that right! I kept walking down the aisle saying to myself - don't cry, don't cry, no one cries at communion over a SONG!

I knelt at the altar took the bread and wine (or grape juice) said my thanks to the Lord, and all of a sudden a calm feeling came over me ---I had to chuckle--I thought "Hi Dad - you wanted to get your two cents worth in too! It's the songs...you all just want me to know you are okay and everything is and will be good here. Thanks, I love you and mom, too!"

I came home and was putting dishes in the dishwasher and looked out the kitchen window and saw as I do every day - the angel trumpets that I had planted on the railings of our deck. They usually look like this:

But today - it was the first time the ANGEL TRUMPETS had bloomed two at a time!

Call me crazy, believe what you want - but I think THEY'RE TELLING ME ALL THINGS ARE GOOD!

Oh, and by the way - the church version of "How Great Thou Art" wasn't played exactly like my Dad played it - he never read music - he just figured out things by ear and played EVERYTHING in fox trot rhythm...gotta love him!!!!!!

Have a good day and a better tomorrow!

Caren

SOMETHING TO LIVE BY

BE THE PERSON YOUR DOG THINKS YOU ARE!!!!!!

HAVE A GOOD DAY AND A BETTER TOMORROW!

XOXOX
CAREN

Tumbleweeds and Dandylions.....

While moving Ashley into her apartment, we discovered the greatest shabby chic store in Venice ~ Tumbleweeds and Dandylions:

It has the greatest things - furniture, frames, bedding, candles, pictures, garden items - and so much more!
I was in heaven. The only problem was I couldn't get it back home on the plane ----however - and there is always a however in life ;) - they had beautiful Italian pottery. I had to - I just had to buy this gorgeous platter:

It has beautiful detail on the handles:

NO - I didn't take it on the plane - I had it shipped UPS - gotta love the UPS man!!!!!

Sorry, I don't have pictures inside their store - I felt weird about taking pictures or even asking!

Next to this shop there is a barbershop - just loved their sign:

There are more cute shops - but I don't have pictures to share. That's a shame. I did of course, snap this one: I believe it is where the small fairies live:

We had a good time - and we will be back at the end of July after the road trip across the USA to take Ashley's car to LA!

But, it's always good to come home:

Have a good day and a better tomorrow! Caren

CALIFORNIA HERE WE ARE AGAIN & ADVENTURES AT THE FLEA MARKET PART 2

We are changing the lyrics to "California, Here We Come" to "Californina, We're Back Again"! Seems like we just left....oh well, it's fun and always an adventure.

Ashley got her apartment - she is sooooo excited!!! It seems so big to her after her small 550 square feet studio apt. in NYC. Want a tour of her new apartment? Of course you do - come along....FIRST......

I must WARN you first - since Ashley was about 2, she has been the "Queen" of picture posing - so why change it up now at 22!!!!!

WELCOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm going to skip the boring pictures of empty rooms and just get to more interesting ones - you don't mind do you?

Ashley decided it was possible to run track in her bedroom because it was so big and just because she could! I think that is a good reason.

Posing in the walk-in closet or dancing?

Hanging upside down in the hall closet is always a good idea....or if you rotate the picture (or stand on YOUR head) she is doing push-ups on the bar...take your pick:

In the kitchen - posing - certainly not cooking!

In the laundry room (closet)...I always sit like this before doing the laundry, don't you? It is nice she has a washer and dryer in her apartment - no more having correct change!

Taking a break from the tour...we went back to the Rose Bowl Flea Market (one of my favorite places) to find a dining room table and chairs for her. It was crowded and HOT! I didn't know California got so hot - it was like being in St. Louis again. I guess it was because it was in Pasadena and away from the ocean....:(
Anyway - we found the perfect thing and what a great price! We even rented a truck so we could get it back to her apartment.

Don't think I didn't do anything besides take pictures - I helped Mark and Ashley - some. . . .

Actually, NOT EVERYTHING is in the truck.

Back to the apartment - this is the greatest find! Sorry the picture isn't better, but there weren't any lights yet.

A closer look at the chairs....

The movers finally arrived from their long trip across country and suddenly that nice apartment was not so nice and neat anymore...

But always room for one more pose!

We did do other fun things while we were there....I will have to save them for another post. I have to go for now. I will leave you with this:

HAVE A GOOD DAY AND A BETTER TOMORROW!

CAREN

Together Again

Sorry it's been so long! However, this past weekend was our recital!! Here are some fun pictures from the weekend: (i'll have more "onstage" pictures soon- thanks to hillary! )

senior dance

brynley and i

alison and noodle

maisie and i

more pictures to come!

A BIG THANK YOU to everyone who was there watching, performing, and helping this weekend!! It was a great success! ALSO i will post the grand total of our fundraising efforts for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society later today! So check back!!!

xoxo-ak-xoxo

thanks papa

thank you papa

xoxo-ak-xoxo

FAIRY DOORS ARE UP AGAIN!!!!

For those who have checked our shop lately ~ what a surprise you encountered! Only one fairy door! NOT TO WORRY ~ they are all listed again. Check it out! Sorry for the confusion. Caren

WIND BENEATH MY WINGS

My Dad was a Fighter Pilot in World War II. After finishing his duties at Iwo Jima he came back to the United States and married my Mom. They were married over 50 years before my Mom passed away of ovarian cancer. The last 10 (?) years or so before my Mom passed, my Dad began to build and fly remote control airplanes. He enjoyed doing this tremendously and although my Mom complained about the mess - she really enjoyed watching him fly.

One weekend they attended a "fly-in" where people gather together and fly, compete in contests, eat and generally have a great time. So, being the creative person my Dad was, he decided to have the song "Wind Beneath My Wings" played for my Mom while he was flying his plane, doing roll-overs and a million other tricks he liked to do (just like when he was flying his real plane). Needless to say, if was a moving moment for both Mom and Dad.

He continued to buy her things like a music box that played that song - Even though my Dad was not one to come right out and tell my Mom how much she meant to him, I believe he was doing so in his own way with this song.

After she died and we were going through the motions of planning the funeral, Dad insisted that "Wind Beneath My Wings" had to be played at the funeral. There was not a dry eye.

For years everytime we would hear that song, my family would always say "Mom's" visiting - and try not to cry. As the years have passed, you don't hear it so much anymore. However, on Mother's Day as we were at the aformentioned Rose Bowl Flea Market - we were walking down an aisle and out of nowhere that song began to play on a beautiful reed flute. I thought it was a recording, but NO, it was being played by a
Native American Indian (which my mom studied their culture, endlessly). I stopped in my tracks - Mother's Day, the song and a Native American playing it? It was too much!!!! Ashley said "don't cry and be sad, Mama's just saying HI". Whatever!!!!????

After we got home from California, Ashley and I were running errands and had gone into a shopping center and guess what? The song was playing AGAIN! Twice in five days??? I believe she is trying to tell me something, but I am not sure what it is. I hope it is something good or do you think she is trying to warn me of something?

Oh, and by the way - when my Dad passed away ----------we played the "Air Force Song". You know, " Off we go into the wild blue yonder. . . . . . "

He always said, "Fighter Pilots never die, they just fly away".

I miss them both sooooooo much!

Caren