Decor Vieux Rouen

Translated to

Old Rouen Decor
From a Cardboard Draw
Speaks Famous Monks
Jumieges Abbey

Of all the ruins in France, this historic abbey in a lazy loop of the lower Seine might be the most impressive. In the river oxbows of Normandy, between the towns of Rouen and Le Havre, the village of Jumiège is home to an old monastery, left wide open to the sky since the days of the French Revolution.

The Benedictine monastery at Jumiège was first established in the year 654 by an abbot (later saint) named Philibert. It was a pretty spiffy place, well-appointed and well-staffed, which meant just about everyone from the Vikings to the Huguenots wanted a piece of them (mostly the Vikings, who sacked it with some regularity).

In the middle of all the invasions and rebuilding, in 1067 coming home from his victory across the Channel, William the Conqueror stopped by for a re-consecration. With his protection, things started off again on a long course of (mostly) smooth sailing. The order was able to rebuild—spiritually, financially, scholarly, and artistically—although with some setbacks during the Huguenot Wars of the 16th century.

Check out the listing for this dinner plate here.    Based on that history, it is definitely worth $99 per plate!  I paid $160 for the set in Palm Springs.

While in Palm Desert, Mo and I went out thrifting one day in La Quinta.  As we were walking into the Goodwill, I totally recognized a gal walking in ahead of us…I yelled COCO, COCO!  Hahaha, it was our good friend Coco that we haven’t seen in a friggin year because of Covid.

Here we are with Coco in the Goodwill!

Here is a better picture of Coco, her sister Robin and me back in the day….2014 to be exact.  Coco’s nephew (Robin’s son Erik) played baseball for the San Diego Padres and Erik was kind enough to meet up with Houston on numerous occasions!  Such fun!

This photo comes from an ezine I wrote in May of 2014 and it is kind of a fun walk down memory lane as it tells about the first time I took Houston and Indy to tour Pepperdine.  WILD!  Here is a link to that ezine if you want to read it.

While in Palm Desert, I got together with Candy, Mo and Kel.  I had brought them little gift bags with some of the Shannon Martin line that we carry in the store.  Her stuff is soooooo much fun!  The cocktail napkins sell for $5.50 and the post it notes for $4.95 and both have been a huge hit!  Here are the girls with their loot.

Here is a close up of some of the post it notes!  They make a great little extra gift 🙂

Speaking of little gifts (actually big gifts), last Saturday I got to attend Val’s daughter Taryn’s baby shower!  What a blessing….some great news in a tough year.  It was a super fun chill shower and it was so nice to be outside in the sun with other people!  What a concept!  Here is a photo of three generations….Val’s granddaughter Olivia, Summer and Taryn (Val’s daughters) and Val.   Val’s mom Grace was also there…so 4 generations.  How cool is that?

OK, one more photo from the shower.  It is Summer and me making the Everett sign.  Let me explain…Everett is Summer’s son (Val’s grandson) and she sent me a video of him recently mimicking his dad on the Peleton….it soooo cracked me up and I loved it when he made the peace sign.  Here is a screen grab of that peace sign.

Here we are at the shower mimicking Everett mimicking his dad….LOL!  You gotta have fun don’t you?  And yes, that is Everett’s dad Steven behind Summer.

OK, so back to the reason that Emma was still in town when I got home from Florida…I know y’all are dying to know.  She was going to fly out on the Wednesday after I got home to visit Houston (my son who is her boyfriend…as I know this is getting COMPLICATED!) in Oklahoma City.

And since we are on the subject of Bikes and Peletons, this will all make perfect sense soon…..Emma was being a great girlfriend as she was flying in to watch Houston’s first Crit bike race.  OMG!  What was he thinking?  Those are some dangerous races.  Here he is at the starting line.  That’s my kid in the yellow!!!  Great news…he finished and didn’t fall 🙂

The store has been taking in some amazing consignments lately.  I am NOT kidding.  Please stop in and check out the store.  I can’t possibly get everything photographed and into a newsletter or on the website before it sells.  Things come in and sell on the first day sometimes.  Check out this amazing painting that came in this week.  It is priced at $495.

Our “newish” front window (that I absolutely LOVE) is dwindling down & disappearing right in front of our eyes as we sell many of the items.  Here is what it looked like originally.

We have sold the three Asian panels and all of the wicker look furniture (except for the Ethan Allen Wicker Chair).  Oh my!  I love my front windows so much that I seriously HATE it when anything sells.  Just kidding….kind of!  Val found the perfect tapestry to replace the Asian panels today.  Check it out….magnificent and priced at $995.

And one more AMAZING item that just came in today.  This burlwood mirror….Oooh La La as my grandmother would have said!!!  Price at $495.

I want to send a HUGE shout out and THANK YOU to all of our AMAZING consignors.  You guys ROCK!  And keep the store hopping and happening.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart for continuing to bring us the best of the best….the store has never looked better, nor had more fun & unique finds.

I had to pinch myself this past week when at 4:30 pm, George (one of my very first consignors) rolled up in his truck with “10” items at closing (mind you) in typical George style.  He is just so sweet you can’t turn him away no matter how late in the day.

I said to Val and George…”All is right in the world!  George is here at closing time and things are finally back to normal!”  He hasn’t brought stuff in since before COVID so it was a banner day!  Here he is with one of his recent “finds”…we love you George!  Framed Horse etching priced at $295.

After graduation today, I am taking the six of us….Indy (of course), Houston, my mom, my brother Lee, my ex-husband William (the kids dad) and myself out to a celebratory dinner at Geoffreys in Malibu. I have not been there since before William and I were married and we were there on a date :). Should be fun!

And then on Sunday we are having a party for Indy at the house. Taco truck and all! To get ready for this madness, Sandy (bless her heart) came over on Monday to help me clean. She brought her shop vac, pressure washer and Kirby the amazing brown Lab. It was a hoot! Thank you Sandy!

My mom flew in yesterday…yay! Mor Mor (mother’s mother in Swedish and what my kids and my sister’s kids call their grandma) was at the store today helping out so I could write this ezine… among other things.

On my list was was dropping off Cha Cha off to get bathed so she will be all pretty for the party. Here she is after her grooming with Val and my mom. Hahaha can’t get her to sit still for a picture…such a Puppy!

So, the Theatre awards happened a few nights ago.  As you may remember, my kid is a Theatre major…..hahahaha.  It all went down on Zoom and the parents were invited to watch.  Pretty cool if you ask me.  Every year they give out an award to the outstanding Theatre Senior.

I have been down this road before and both Indiana and Houston have gotten some amazing awards–it still blows my mind.  Indiana received the highest honor bestowed upon a Senior when she graduated from Xavier College Prep in 2017.

Here is what I wrote about that in an old ezine…keep in mind that this was about 10 days after my dad (aka Papa) had passed away.

“Luckily, my mom was in town for Xavier’s awards assembly so on Wednesday morning we headed to the school. Once inside I scanned and scanned the crowds and did not see Indiana. Where could she be? I knew that there was a possibility of her receiving an award, but where was she?

About half way through the ceremony, it dawned on me. She was taking an AP make-up exam. Darn it! I remember other kids missing the awards assembly for that same reason last year. Indiana had taken off so much school for Papa that she was missing her senior year awards assembly.

All of the 10 senior awards had been handed out and there were three left to go. Still no Indiana.

Principal Tricco announced the final awards. The first went to Patrick, who was Indiana’s homecoming date, and the second to Clauds, another of Indy’s great friends. The third and final award was about to be announced and it is the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a graduate of Xavier College prep, I held my breath as Mr. Tricco said the St. Ingatius of Loyola Award is presented this year to……Indiana Wilson.

I immediately started shaking and crying. Papa would be so proud. I was so sad that he wasn’t there with us, but I knew that he knew.

Mr. Tricco told the student body that Indiana’s grandfather had recently passed away and she was taking a makeup AP test. Indiana would be brought in at the very end of the ceremony and he asked that as she entered the gym that they all clap and give her a very loud welcome.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Indiana enter the gym with the test proctor and Mr. Tricco say, “Indiana, please come up here.”. She looked so confused as the students all started cheering and clapping. It was awesome!

Mr. Tricco said, “Indiana while you were taking your AP exam we decided to bestow upon you the highest honor that any graduating senior can receive. You will get a certificate today, but your actual award will be given to you during graduation where a letter from one of your favorite teachers will be read. Congratulations Indy!”

OK crap, now I am crying!  I miss my dad so much and I can’t believe he won’t be here tomorrow to see his “favorite” and I do mean “favorite” girl graduate from college.

When Houston was deciding which college to attend, I knew that he should go to Pepperdine, but he was so adamant about attending LMU.  As a mom, I just knew it wasn’t the right fit.  One day I had a “flash” or a “vision” and I saw my dad standing up on the hills above Pepperdine watching a graduation.   I couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t at the graduation with the rest of us.  I didn’t tell Houston about this until after he had started at Pepperdine.

When I mentioned it to Indy the other day, she said, “maybe he wasn’t at Houston’s graduation, maybe you saw him at mine”.  OK, damn it…I am crying now.  This picture popped up on my phone today and I just know my dad is here with us and Indy is probably right as usual…He will be at her graduation tomorrow.

So back to the Theatre awards.  Here is Dr. Bradley Griffin on the zoom presentation applauding all of the graduates as it was beginning.  AND I had to do a double take.

Dr. Griffin had obviously chosen a photo from a past graduation as his green screen, but out of the corner of my eye I saw Noel, one of Houston’s best friends.  Then I saw Logan (another of his best friends) and Lo and behold, there was Houston….”What in the World?” as my dad would have said!  And Houston even had his hand around his mouth and he was cheering.  No way!  Such a cool Godwink moment.  He is under the white arrow 🙂

What I LOVED about this year’s Theatre award is that they didn’t just give it to ONE student.  They gave it to all 15 of the senior Theatre majors.

AND instead of a plaque with just one kids name…all of them have their names on this plaque that goes in a super special place in Smother’s Theatre.  I have goosebumps and am so grateful that they acknowledged the terrible year soooooo many of our kids had because of Covid.

Wow!  Pretty powerful huh?  I think that every kid that went through Covid Hell deserves their name on a plaque like this.  And I am not kidding.

Before I wrap this up and get my beauty rest for the BIG day tomorrow, I want to share one last photo of my kids from when they were little and one from tonight (that they just text me).  The photo of them when they were little was taken at Desert Willow golf course on Easter back in 2007.  If you want to revisit that ezine, it can be found here.

Just a reminder of Our CURRENT HOURS:

Tuesday through Saturday 11am to 5pm
Sundays 11 am to 3pm

HOWEVER THIS SUNDAY…..We are closing at 2 pm for Indy’s GRAD party!

Can’t wait to see you in the store! Don’t forget we have gotten in 100’s of new consigned unique items. You WON’T want to miss out!

And a final photo from our 2nd year anniversary March 1st 2010 before all of this Covid CRAP!
Sandy, me and Val…….Keep the faith and keep smiling (as my dad would say)!

Thanks for reading my ezines!  I appreciate it….as always!

eBay with Heart & Design with Heart……Lynn

P.S.  All of the professional photos I use on Instagram, Facebook and in these newsletters were taken by my friend Denise’s daughter, Jaclyn Sabo.  She is amazing!   To learn more about Jaclyn….https://www.jaclynszabo.com/

P.P.S.  If you have a friend who wants to sign up for this newsletter.