California for Stefani

Anyone who knows me and has been to our house knows about my love for knick knacks… I think they represent little moments in time and they are are a remind of things in our past.   My house is full of these things and i love looking at them all the time.  In our bedroom is a wall of pictures of our various travels, and just about every morning I lie in our bed and just look at them and smile about all the fun we have had in our lives.  Right now we are going through some trials, but in a few weeks, we will be adding more knick knacks and pictures to our home as we travel with my parents to Hawaii and visit Aulani.  Right now we can’t really afford it, but it will all come together even if it means dumpster diving for food.  Our strength is in God and that Doug will find a job soon and that I might get a few more clients for bookkeeping.  We are both feeling an amazing peace about it all though and know that no matter what, God will keep us safe.  I hope we can keep our condo here at the beach… we love it here and would hate to move.  So here is praying that rent will be made at the end of month, the car payment can be made and that food will be on our table.  I think we will be ok though, it is what is promised by our God and Saviour (aren’t we lucky to have that?). 

So… on with the knick knacks… here are a few pictures of them in our house and an explanation of what they are:

From left to right… first we have a little dinosaur that was bought by my sister and I think given to me for either Christmas or a birthday.  I just thought it was really cute and have kept it for years.  Then there is a picture of my mom when she was a kid, again, I just thought it was really cute and think it is perfect in our knick knack wall.  Next to that is a little lantern which I think I got as a kid from my parents.  I have kept it all these years as a representation of my wonderful childhood.  In front of that is a crystal, again, something I got from my parents and I have kept it all these years.  The little knick knack on the far right is from a family friend from my childhood and she gave that to us on our wedding.  It says “he gave us love”… very appropriate for a wedding gift and a wonderful memory of the Fast family who brought us lots of laughs and great memories.

The next picture is three little souvenir glasses from a Princess Cruise.  They came with Limoncello in it, but we drank that on the ship.  On top of the middle one is a replica of our dog Louie, who passed away a few years ago.  I got it custom made and she used a picture of Louie to make it, so it looks just like him.  There is also a seashell on this shelf and that just represents our love of the ocean.  The spoon is from a co-worker and friend named Becky who has a wonderful love of life and a great example of a wonderful loving Christian woman. 

Now this shelf has some unique items on it… first we have two “ship on a stick” from Carnival.  One is from our cruise on the Carnival Splendor, which went from a Mexican Riviera cruise to a Pacific Coastal cruise up to Victoria (due to the swine flu).  The other ship is from the Carnival Dream which we did with my cousins from Florida a few years ago… great memories.  Then in the middle is a picture of Doug’s brother Gregory who passed away less than a year after that picture was taken.  We will always keep a picture of him on our shelf.  On the far right is an agate, which I found one day at the river (many years ago).  It is fairly big and heavy and is sort of shaped like a foot.  I don’t think we have every found an agate that big ever, so I have always kept it with me.  It actually was packed with our suitcase to go with us to Mexico.  Then you see three black labs… they were from my aunt and uncle (Klaus & Esther) who thought they looked like Louie and figured we would like them.  I love these kind of things because it shows that people do think about us when they see something.

I have a lot more knick knacks around the house, but I just wanted to show off a few of them.  My friend Grace from California has bought me a number of Disney things in her travels as most people know I am a sucker for Mickey Mouse.  Our house is full of Mickey Mouse / Disney stuff from people seeing them and thinking to get them for us.   Our bedroom is full of Disney items and I will never get sick of that (since I have a Mickey tattoo, that better be the case).  On our fire place mantel is the Mickey/Minnie candle that my friend Conny bought us when we were in Hawaii last.  All these little things all over our house has memories attached to it.   We are blessed to have these memories and I look forward to adding more to our life.

Here is to many more knick knacks for our home because that means we love to explore, travel, are loved and are thought about… all this is thanks to our wonderful God/Jesus who allows us to have fun in life.