Lots O' Lollia...

Lollia is an invitation to abandon oneself in girliness. The most feminine collection of goodies I have ever seen from bubble bath in wine bottles adorned with crystals, to tall luminaries scented with Apple Blossoms, Vanilla and Orchid. I am so happy to offer the Lollia Sleep Treat collection. As I walked through the isles at the gift show in January searching for something new and inspiring to bring to all my friends this Spring – I found it. And I said it just like that – Oh this is it! I’ll have to have these! All my girlfriends will want these!

If you would like to see the entire collection of goodies that we offer from Lollia go to Soul of the Rose Gifts and check out the Unique Loungewear and Fine Bath and Body products on the Womens page. Don't forget the Home Store page for our Candles and Scents. We are completely smitten with Lollia.

This is what you wear wineglass in hand, dancing barefoot to Nora Jones evenings. Demure and contemplative when alone, utterly romantic with someone you adore! Happy Spring to you all.

What a blast! He was totally surprised! What made this party so much fun is that we managed to get people to come that a lot of other people had not seen in a long time. Everyone had someone to catch up with so there was a lot of mingling about. A lot of people really dressed in 1950’s style clothes. I think dress up parties are always fun and they put people in a party mood instantly. I also think that having the common desire to surprise someone you love is absolutely fun. Matt was so grateful and happy to see all his friends there to celebrate with him. Now when he turns 60 I will need to do a 60’s theme party – oh well, I have a long time to plan that one.

My Hubby is 50 Today!

Wow, 50 – now that is old! Actually he is very cute for being 50. The kids sang him happy birthday to wake him up this morning. We have been working to prepare a surprise birthday party for him on Saturday night. I can print that here because he is not computer savvy and could not find my blog if his life depended on it.

This will be a “Nifty Fifty” party. Yes I am wearing a pink poodle skirt! Everyone is dressing up in some sort of 50’s garb. I am listening to all the 50’s CD’s I bought today – just to make sure they measure up. I am serving up meatloaf, mac n cheese, cake and ice cream and nostalgic bottles of coca cola, along with all the usual party goodies (martinis - those are 50's).

I love the couple in this photo. When Matt and I are this old we will still be in love just like them! Actually they kind of look like us! She has glasses and likes to accessorize and he is thin and looks very sweet.

I really hope the surprise works out. I feel a little bad because we are not doing much for his birthday today. The kids have commitments so we told him that we could celebrate his big day on Saturday, which is when I have the party planned for. He said he would love it if our friends could come for dinner, I just told him that they all seemed to be too busy so it would just be us celebrating. (Liar!!) How sad I feel to mislead him in this way but I think he will be really surprised. I know he will be really happy to see everyone. Well, I better get to cleaning this house up and put my skills together and see if I can make one of those strange Jell-O mold thingies.

In the mood for a road trip…

I am so in the mood to go up north. Northern California, Carmel to be exact. Although, if I can not get that far then Cambria would be lovely too. Both places are right on the beach. I do love the beach in the winter. Everyone goes to the beach in the summer - so predictable. Everyone is there and it is so crowded. It smells of Hawaiian Tropic oil and nachos. You should try the beach in the winter. It’s moody, dark, sullen and very romantic. Most importantly there are no crowds. I grew up in Newport Beach, CA. That is where I learned to love the beach in the winter. It’s quiet and everyone has gone. If you are lucky enough to get to the beach on a weekday in the winter – it’s beautiful. There will be just you, the seagulls, the rouge artist and a lonely writer perhaps. If you have no vacation days left I suggest considering a Ferris Bueller day off. These types of days can be soul affirming.

I live in a beach town, but the northern beaches seem to be the most romantic. I love pine trees near the ocean, especially Torrey Pines. But to see the best Torry Pines you don’t want to go to Torry Pines San Diego – you want to go up north to Carmel on the 17-mile drive! That is the coastline to see. Hmm… now I am really in the mood to pack up and go, but my hubby is such a worker bee. I can see it now – I will start working on this idea convincing him to go and by the time he agrees it will be June. Just in time for the summer crowds!

Carrot jam reminds me of Shamsi

I got this carrot jam at the middle-eastern grocery store. It’s about 45 miles away but I go there every other week. They have everything I need to make a proper Persian meal. Yep, my husband is from Iran. Rather than get into the political ramifications about all of that I will tell you that he graduated from university here in the states, Utah in fact. He is pretty Americanized but he loves all the things his mother Shamsi cooks. Don’t all men love what their mothers cook?

Shamsi has been out to visit about 4 times. I can not be exactly certain how many times she has really been here because I tend to get a little “drinky” when she comes out here. You see she stays a very long time, eight months last time. Usually it is about 6 months. It all becomes a sort of haze after 3 months. I do love her, but I love my hubby more.

Anyway, she is a wonderful cook and loves to make jam. She is the original domestic goddess of the Middle East. At 70-something, Shamsi wouldn’t learn a single syllable of English, so I learned to speak Farsi. I am such a Chatty Cathy. I always loved how she put on a pretty blouse and fresh lipstick when my hubby came home from work.

Whenever we have carrot jam I think of Shamsi stirring her little pot of jam simmering on the stove while wearing her black cashmere sweater over her housedress. The Persian ladies like their fashion you know. She would spend all day simmering jam while she sat and crocheted.

Carrot jam is light and sweet. It has only shredded carrots, sugar and a little vanilla. Shamsi used to put Cardamom in her recipe. Don’t be afraid to try it. If you have an international grocery store you should stop in and try new things. Jam is a good safe place to start.

Haunted Fridays!

Today is Haunted Friday! Most Fridays my daughter and I watch the Travel Channel’s Most Haunted TV show (Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT). We order pizza and make something yummy for desert and tune in for this pseudo scary show. Could you lock yourself in a haunted location for 24 hours? Well, the Most Haunted ghost hunting team in the UK does just that.

We first saw Most Haunted when we visited my sister in Scotland two years ago. We thought it was hilarious. There is a team of about 6 or 7 ghost hunters and they visit some of the most haunted locations in Briton. They use a lot of night-vision and thermal imaging cameras to investigate. It’s all very “Blair Witch” like. You certainly never see any ghosts or hear any ghosts, but you do see the team scare the wits out of themselves and that seems entertaining enough for us. We also spend a fair amount of time trying to get that British accent down perfectly – they have a lot of different dialects going on in this show. My daughter being an active theater student loves to practice here different accents!

So it is sort of a “thing” a ritual to watch this show and spend this silly time together. I don’t now that I believe any of this stuff but I love it because I know that in short time her Friday nights will be spent out on dates or rehearsing the current play she is in or just hanging out with anyone but me. So, I love Haunted Friday because it is my time with Nina!

Although, there really are some very scary places in Briton. You could not pay me enough money in the world to go into the mausoleum of the Grey Friars Cemetery in Edinburgh!

Check our Jacquie Lawson's e-cards

I just sent my friend an e-card. I do love those. I am sometimes behind on sending cards and I have relied on e-cards. I joined Jacquie Lawson in January. The membership is only $8.00 per year here in the states and I think she has the most fun e-cards I have seen. My sister turned me on to this site when she was visiting over Christmas. We e-mail a lot as she lives in Scotland, so the e-cards are fun.

If you would like to check out Jacquie Lawson go to www.jacquielawson.com - you can get on and preview all sorts of cards. I like the Chudleigh cards - that is the name of her chocolate lab. I hope you like it.

Welcome to my thoughts...

Posting this first entry on this new blog reminds me of my first day on a new job that I had years ago. It was a hair salon and I was probably twenty years old. Anyway I just kept circulating around saying hi to people and introducing myself as "Kim, I am new." Well, I guess I was also irritating because after a while someone came into the salon for their appointment and everyone said, "Oh, that's Kim and she's new"!

So here I will try not to be irritating. I will try not to misspell things and remember all about run-on sentences and dangling participles etc. But I can not make any promises here. Besides, this should be a place where I can run my thoughts down and hopefully I can communicate in a fun way with friends and some of my customers of which are all friends!

So, I will post this first comment with out much fan fare and grace it with a picture of my kitty Smudge, if I can figure out how to upload the photo. Have mercy on Smudge as she is a bit retarded - she is a kitty slow-mo, but we love her anyway. She is terrified of everything - mostly shoes, in particularly flip flops!