Snow is a Four Letter Word

S-slushy
N-nasty
O-over-the-top
W-wet

Is anyone with me out there? Okay, it is beautiful and makes the world soft and quiet. Yes, there is something magical about walking in a woods that has been silenced by deep snow. But it is also very wet, very, very cold, dangerous on the roads and did I say it's cold? It's not really the snow that I despise. Its the whole cold thing. Winter is not my scene. I have southern roots and can't understand for the life of me why my relatives would have chosen, yes CHOSEN, to move to a cold climate. I was born here-had no choice.

There are certain things that I do enjoy about winter and here are a few of them:

Crackling fire

Hot cocoa

The sound of snow under my tires

Tree branches frosted with snow

Cute snowmen with very fashionable accessories

Did any of you brave black Friday? I was one of those very silly woman that started at 4:00 am. You heard me right I got up and went shopping at 4:00 am. It was my nieces fault. She insisted that we start early enough to get a free Victoria Secret bag. I said do you really think they Will be out by the respectable time of 9:00 am?

To my surprise the store was packed at 4:00 am along with several other stores. We passed a few large department stores with lines circling around the buildings and no parking spaces to be had. This is in Michigan, the unemployment capital of the USA. Maybe the media has it all wrong. I heard that sales were up everywhere but somehow the media failed to make a big deal of that.

It was fun and I did survive without a nap, just lots of caffeine.

Have yourself a beautiful snow covered day or sun shiny day depending on where you live.

XO-Mya

Extreme Makeover Home Addition in Michigan

A star is born- well almost.
More on that later.



Extreme Makeover Home Edition came to Michigan last week and they built a fabulous house.








This deserving family lost their father and husband to the dreadful Hep-C virus. He unfortunately contracted it while working as a nurse at a local hospital.









My husband's company was one of the contractors on the job and to my daughter's surprise he set it up so she could help build the interior stone wall. Imagine her excitement as she did her hair and picked just the right outfit for her debut. Dani sue had visions of meeting the man- Ty Pennington. Well he was no where to be seen on that day- off on another assignment.







She decided that it was okay that she didn't see Ty when Micheal asked her to be his assistant for the unveiling of the T.V. He told her to hide behind a half wall and pop up when he said the T.V. will appear out of nowhere. She quickly jumped behind the wall and fixed her hair but at the last minute the producer gave her a piece of cardboard to push up instead of her face. She didn't find it very funny as they all laughed at her question-How are they going to see me?



Micheal was sweet and signed her shirt. Then he called her his little T.V. bitch (in an endearing way) and told her to put on her resume that she was his assistant.

Although she didn't become a star or get to meet Ty, she had a good time and it was a very worthy cause.

Sorry Dani Sue but I had to share this- it was just too good to keep to myself :)

XO-Mya (mom)

Pink Saturday: My Pink Point of View

Happy Pink Saturday.
I just had to share the view from my window a couple of mornings ago. It was absolutely breathtaking! What a beautiful Pink morning. The steam was rising off the pond and the sky was the perfect shade of Pink. Michigan mornings don't get much better than this.
Stop by the Queen of Pink herself Beverly from How Sweet The Sound and take the Pink Saturday tour.

I am so glad you stopped by for a visit.
Have a wonderful weekend.

XO-Mya

Show and Tell Sunday Road Trip

Fasten Your seat belts we are taking a trip.


To the beautiful west side along the shores of Lake Michigan.







Took a road trip just for you. I have so much to share with you. I want to show you the fun and funky side of Michigan. The west side of the state is not only beautiful but a mecca for art lovers. The two places that I will feature today carry everything from architectural salvage to art and antiques. They are a bit out of the ordinary, which means that you just never know what you might find there. So sit back and enjoy the ride. After our trip check back with
Studio Pink http://www.littlepinkstudio.typepad.com/
to see the other exciting stops on the Show and Tell Sunday posts.








The first stop was Amsterdam of Saugatuck along Blue Star Highway. This is my fav place to hunt for treasure. the proprietor of this shop Michael Mains has wonderful style and great connections.
You can browse the shop on line at http://www.amsterdamartandscience.com/

Come on in I have the keys.



Amsterdam is an eclectic mix of art , science and antiques.
There are two buildings and a large yard full of unusual treasures.
This store has items to totally redecorate a house or revamp a corner.
You decide.






Here is a collage of some of the things you might see. There is a massive crucifix that hangs in the back of the building and two large stone cats to guard the shop.

I had so many pictures uploaded to my original post that I used all of my blogger memory.

This left left my post in a frozen wonderland and totally unusable.

Unfortunately I had to collage many of my pictures and down size the pixels a bit.

To get a close-up view click on the images to enlarge them.






This is a wonderful vignette just outside the main shop.
I would love, love to have this mirror. It is absolutely stunning!
The merchandising of this store is fantastic. It gives you such a great sense of what you can do with your new purchase both indoor or out.









There are more dishes than you can imagine. I love a table set in all creamy white dishes.
Simply elegant. I wonder if Martha shops here?
Furniture, paintings, mirrors and many oddities can be found at Amsterdam.










Who doesn't need a wonderful blue gazelle for their home?
The wrought iron tables with marble tops. Love it! I'll take two.
They have everything you need to complete your decor both
indoors or out.
This giant glass bottle would be an awesome piece to reflect light in your garden or next to a reflecting pool.
Every where you turn there pots and urns scattered around the grounds, too many to count.










Candle sticks, pots, angels and oh, more creamy white dishes. The color of the pots and other dishes are endless. This group of celadon pots is wonderful.
The black palm chair would be perfect in a urban loft or any other modern home.













Here is another sampling of what you will find. I know some of you would love to get your hands on those large wooden dominoes for your art projects.
The bugs in resin cubes are fun too.


I just loved the turquoise colored Chinese Lyons.
They were really quite beautiful.
Can you believe the impressive display of white cake plates
and other dishes?
It is simply amazing.

I could have spent all day at Amsterdam but it was a long drive

and I had to move on to the next stop.

Thank you, Jeff for being a wonderful host and allowing me

to photograph this awesome place.

With so many things behind me and yet so many things to photograph ahead of me. I was on the move down the road a few miles to South Haven Michigan,

but first...

I had to make a quick pit stop.

MR. Mya made sure to record that one.

After this stop in the town of Saugatuck it was down the road to

The Sunset Junque Shop.

The Sunset Junque Shop is located just north of South Haven on Blue Star Highway. The link to their web sight is http://sunsetjunque.com/index.html

The shop proprietor is Ray Melinder.

This place is as much like a museum as it is and antique/art stop.

It is unbelievable the variety of things that you might find here.

I know, I know aren't these statues fabulous.

There really is a huge variety of things

but as you will see I am kind of stuck on my favs.

I love architectural salvage and you guessed it, statues.

This place goes on forever and ever. It has a huge and I mean huge lot with many out buildings all filled with unusual treasure. Everything you could possibly imagine from large to small they have it all. Okay, I had to throw a rhyme in somewhere.

Just look at the that wonderfully distressed green iron work.

Simply awesome!

I told you they have a little of everything. Even a boat with a fair maiden attached.

The salvaged doors are wonderful.

Couldn't you just see that vintage urn in your herb garden?

I may have to go back.

More doors, statues and iron work. Love it!

The buildings were full of merchandise too.

But as I said blogger is a bit stingy with memory for each post.

I did manage to snag a little treasure in between shots. I brought home an iron mermaid, to sit among my shells, from Sunset Junque and a couple strings of turquoise beads from Amsterdam.

I managed to make a few beautiful necklaces for Studio Pink.

Only one made it to the shop though, my wonderful girlfriends snagged the others.

I hope you all had a great trip. I so enjoyed this assignment. It gave me a great excuse to visit my favorite area of the state and indulge in a little shopping therapy.

Hey it's good for the economy, right?

If any of you are planning a trip to Michigan or live in state,

I highly recommend a visit to both

Amsterdam and The Sunset Junque Shop.

You won't be sorry you visited,

just be sure to tell them that Mya sent you.

Have a wonderful Sunday and thanks for stopping by.

Don't be shy, leave me a comment :)

-Mya

Sneak Peek

Took a little road trip today in order to bring you a fresh scoop for "Show and Tell Sunday" on my fav shopping haunts in Michigan. This is just a little tease the real full feature post will be next Sunday May 4th. Now, you know I'm not going to show you anything very revealing and trust me I do have some good stuff. You are defiantly going to want to tune in next Sunday. Here is a hint of where I shop. It has to do with a very big lake, it is west of me, and a mecca for art.


Sheena the ship maiden or queen. Isn't she awesome? Yes, she is for sale. I did buy a few things but you will just have to wait to see them.
Grapes anyone? The next shop is my fav.

Here is a sneak peek at what I saw and captured for you. These places are not your typical antique/art shops, no ma'am, they offer so much more. So unique that it was worth 4 hours of driving for me and MR. Mya to bring them to you. Well at least it was worth it to me, MR. Mya would rather have watched sports and taken a snooze. That's okay I am very glad to get him out and culture him a little.

Just look at these wonderful guardians of my very favorite place to browse. They look so attentive sitting up on a high shelf with the perfect view of the main shop. If you've seen this place you know that it is defiantly worth protecting. I am sorry but I won't give up any more you are just going to have to wait. Even though it is usually me that just can't wait to give someone their present or secretly unwrap mine. See you next sunday. You won't need your purse, just grab a cup of joe or whatever your pleasure and sit back and drool.