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 On rainy days like this, I'm not very inspired about what to wear so this is what I came up with ,when Bogdan and I had stuff to do all over the places. Printed silk shirt, skinny jeans, burgundy flats and to animate this look a little bit more, I added this white floral necklace which layers this floral shirt nicely. I don't dress too often in black, but this look was one that I really liked.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone !



                                                                        Shirt : Gap/ another option Here
                                                                        Jeans: Thanks to Lulu's.com/ similar Here
                                                                        Flats: Charles David/ another option Here
                                                                        Bag: Innue /different  color Here
                                                                        Necklace: Thanks to Lulu's.com/ another favorite of mine Here 
                                                                        Sunglasses: thanks to zeroUV/ Here 

As you might have guessed, I like to do a little bit of shopping on vacation. (last vacation related post, promise) But I never really gravitate toward souvenir type things. We've already got enough crap at home, we don't need any additional t-shirts or koozie holders.

But there is one exception. Sea shells. For some weird reason I'm wicked psycho about seashells. It is physically not possible for me to walk down the beach without bending over every two steps to pick up a shell. It's great cardio. I even have a type of shell that I look for each year - this year was sand dollars. (told you - psycho much?!)

This means however that each year, at the end of our annual beach trip, I have a huge basket of seashells that I can't bring myself to leave behind. So I also pick up these old glass canisters from the local architectural salvage thinking I'll store all my shells like some awesome organized person.

And each year they sit in the garage of some awesome unorganized person.

So this year, damn it, I was going to get these things cleaned and put in their place.

First things first, I followed these steps to clean the shells. I had to do them in batches and they took forever to dry, but otherwise not hard at all.

I wanted to add a label to mark each year but I didn't want to stick or spray anything on the canisters. So I went to Michael's and picked up some labels Martha made some for me, and grabbed the twine from the garage. (which ironically was right next the the shells on the shelf)

I didn't want anything to precious or perfect but rather relaxed and easy - just like vacation. So I just wrote the year on each label and tied them around the top of the jar with the twine.

Voila.

Each year lined up and ready to go.

For now they are living on the bookshelves in the family room so I can look at them while I watch TV and remember good times. (the trips, not the tv show) Dynomite!

btw - I HATE taking pictures in the basement. Crap lighting.

What do you bring back from vacation? Does it end up in the closet? Have you found a special place for it?

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny

ABACAUSA.COM The attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya on September 12, 2012.

As more time passes we are learning conclusively of security lapses at the Libyan Consulate in Benghazi as well as it becoming clear the Obama administration has been less than truthful with the American people. Were it not for responsible journalists staying on the story we might never have known the dishonesty President Obama and his administration is capable of.

WSJ - In his United Nations speech on Tuesday, President Obama talked about the September 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya and declared that "there should be no doubt that we will be relentless in tracking down the killers and bringing them to justice." What he didn't say is how relentless he'll be in tracking down the security lapses and intelligence failures that contributed to the murders. Let's say there's some doubt about that.

None of the initial explanations offered by the White House and State Department since the assault on the Benghazi consulate has held up. First the Administration blamed protests provoked by an amateurish anti-Islam clip posted on YouTube. Cue Susan Rice, the U.N. Ambassador and leading candidate for Secretary of State in a second Obama term: "What happened initially was that it was a spontaneous reaction . . . as a consequence of the video, that people gathered outside the embassy and then it grew very violent."

Administration officials also maintained that the diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt, the site of the first attacks this September 11, were properly defended and that the U.S. had no reason to prepare for any attack. "The office of the director of National Intelligence has said we have no actionable intelligence that an attack on our post in Benghazi was planned or imminent," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last week, calling the security measures in place there "robust."

Cell phone video footage and witness testimony from Benghazi soon undercut the Administration trope of an angry march "hijacked" by a few bad people. As it turned out, the assault was well-coordinated, with fighters armed with guns, RPGs and diesel canisters, which were used to set the buildings on fire. Ambassador Chris Stevens died of smoke inhalation. Briefing Congress, the Administration changed its story and said the attacks were pre-planned and linked to al Qaeda.

You'd think this admission would focus attention on why the compound was so vulnerable to begin with. But the Administration wants to avoid this conversation. The removal of all staff from Benghazi, including a large component of intelligence officers, would also seem to hinder their ability to investigate the attacks and bring the killers to justice.

Journalists have stayed on the case, however, and their reporting is filling in the Administration's holes. On Friday, our WSJ colleagues showed that starting in spring, U.S. intelligence had been worried about radical militias in eastern Libya. These armed groups helped topple Moammar Ghadhafi last year but weren't demobilized as a new government has slowly found its legs. As we've noted since last winter, the waning of American and European interest in Libya could have dangerous consequences.

Deteriorating security was no secret. On April 10, for example, an explosive device was thrown at a convoy carrying U.N. envoy Ian Martin. On June 6, an improvised explosive device exploded outside the U.S. consulate. In late August, State warned American citizens who were planning to travel to Libya about the threat of assassinations and car bombings.

Despite all this, U.S. diplomatic missions had minimal security... {Read More}

I can't help but remember the rhetoric surrounding the Bush administration and the accusations that he and his administration lied about the existence of WMD in Iraq. Perhaps to a degree the criticism were correct, although they have never been proven beyond a doubt.

Here is a clear cut case of the President being less than honest and hoping Teflon layering works well for him. Although these reports are unlikely to cause the ObamaBots to even miss a beat in the march for "Hope and Change" and "Forward"

Via: Memeorandum

Update:

Presidential spokesman Jay Carney said the President and his administration did not initially lie regarding the terrorist attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi during which four American lives were lost. Multiple sources demonstrate the administration is; 1) totally inept, and 2) lying. Can there be any doubt of a cover up attempt by this administration?

Townhall - During a press gaggle on board Air Force One this morning in Virginia Beach, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney accused Mitt Romney of "politicizing" the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi in reference to pressure from the campaign to come clean about what really happened. Carney also referred reporters to an ongoing FBI investigation when asked about specifics on Libya. The problem? The FBI still isn't in Benghazi despite the administration saying repeatedly they are. Carney also tried to spin Obama's refusal to call the attack an act of terrorism and covered for the administration in its lie to the American people that the attack was "spontaneous" and not planned.

Skip

Q If the President does not call it, label it a terrorist attack as you and others have, is there some legal or diplomatic trigger that that brings? Why hasn’t he said that?

MR. CARNEY: I think you’re misunderstanding something here. I’m the President’s spokesman. When the head of the National Counterterrorism Center, Matt Olsen, in open testimony in Congress answered a question by saying yes, by the definitions we go by -- this is me paraphrasing -- this was a terrorist attack -- I echoed that, because this President, this administration, everybody looks to the intelligence community for the assessments on this. And it has been since I said so, the President’s position that this was a terrorist attack.

There are broader issues here that the President has addressed in answering questions, and he’s obviously interested in, as we all are, in waiting for the final result of an investigation. But let’s be clear about this. Every step of the way, the information that we have provided to you and the general public about the attack in Benghazi has been based on the best intelligence we’ve had and the assessments of our intelligence community. We have said all along that there’s an ongoing investigation and that as more facts come out, we will follow those facts wherever they lead and apprise you of our assessments as those facts come to light. {Read More}

Via: Memeorandum

I should be giving an update on my progress (click here if you missed last week). But really I'm going to use each and every one of you for your brilliant and creative minds to help me make a decision.

I can't decide on a color combo. Am I going:

1.Navy/White






So cast your vote - 1, 2 or 3?

And be sure to check in with all the other lovelies who I'm sure are farther ahead on their rugs than I am.

My Crafty Home Life

Pawleys Island Posh

The Pink Pagoda

Room Rx

Seekers Bazaar

Simple Details

Trapped In North Jersey

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny

Gary Johnson, a man with integrity, new ideas, and a proven track record both in business and as a two term Governor of New Mexico will be iced out of the presidential debates because of our rigged political duopoly. So the man who should be front and center with Frik and Frak on the debate stage will most likely, and by design, be relegated to playing spoiler. Not a bad spot to be in really if Johnson has his eyes on the 2016 presidential race, something this individual and likely millions more hope he does.

The following article is both interesting and informative. It certainly highlights reasons for liberty minded people to vote for Gary Johnson.

FOX BUSINESS - The fact that you may have not heard of Johnson does not make you uninformed. According to a recent report by the Pew Center for People & the Press, only a quarter of voters have – and only 5% have heard a lot about him. However, that doesn't mean you wouldn't agree with him. The website Isidewith.com, which features a political quiz that well over 3 million people have filled it out, suggests that if the Presidential race was based on people’s beliefs, it would be between Obama and Johnson. (Emphasis Mine)

Johnson's hard-line policies are ambitious—and in many instances, radical. If elected, he said he'd abolish the IRS and enact a "fair tax," reduce federal involvement in the economy by eliminating government support for mortgage giants Fannie and Freddie Mac, reject bailouts, cut spending by revising terms for entitlement programs like Medicare and eliminate what he calls "ineffective military interventions."

"People are usually voting for the lesser of two evils," explained Debbie Dean, an Ohio-based farmer and owner of Dean's Greenhouse. "But Gary Johnson is not being included in polls, and I think the American public is being prohibited [from having] a real choice."

Johnson, who calls himself more socially liberal than Obama and more fiscally conservative than Romney, recognizes that the recognition problem is a huge one -- and he said as much in an interview with Fox Business Network's John Stossel on September 13.

"Well, the issue for me is just being in the polls to begin with," he said. "If I were just recognized for where I was right now nationally, you know what the overwhelming reaction would be…. 'Who the hell is Gary Johnson?' and that would be a good thing."

Where Johnson is nationally is hard to track accurately since in most major Presidential surveys, third-party candidates are not mentioned by name. And while Johnson is now on the ballot in 47 states, he still is in the process of making his case in court for the remaining three states (Pennsylvania, Michigan and Oklahoma).

Despite the uphill battle, Johnson still might make a difference in this election. According to the latest CNN/ORC poll, 3% of likely voters would vote for Johnson and 4% of registered voters said they will vote for him.

But whether more people will vote – or know to vote for him -- is up for debate. On Friday, Johnson filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the National Commission on Presidential Debates challenging his exclusion from the upcoming presidential debates.

In a statement, senior Johnson advisor Ron Nielson said: "There is nothing remotely surprising in the fact that a private organization created by and run by the Republican and Democratic Parties have only invited the Republican and Democratic candidates to their debates. It is a bit more disturbing that the national news media has chosen to play the two-party game, when a full one-third of the American people do not necessarily identify with either of those two parties." (The only debate in which Johnson has been included was the GOP debate sponsored by Fox News on Sept 22, 2011, where he drew applause when he said: "My next-door neighbors' two dogs have created more shovel-ready jobs than this current administration.")

Not having Johnson at the upcoming debates seems to be positive for both of the big-party candidates. In the recent CNN poll, Obama leads Romney 52% to 46% when Romney and Obama are the only candidates. However, Romney's support goes down three percentage points with the inclusion of third-party candidates. Obama's support goes down 1% point.
Twenty-eight-year-old Marine Corp. veteran Josh Rawdon, a registered voter in Ohio, is voting for Johnson, regardless of whether or not he is at the debates. But Rawdon believes if Johnson was there, he'd make a big impact.

"If he was there to challenge Obama and Romney, he could be a challenger for the presidency because he is actually answering the questions," said Rawdon.

Rawdon may be emblematic of young voters who came out for President Obama four years ago and now see Johnson as an attractive alternative. The YouTube parody of the hit song by Goyte -- “The Obama that I Used to Know” -- which has garnered over a million views, seems to hit home with disenchanted former Obama voters. And Johnson clearly recognizes the importance of tapping into the young and passionate cohort that heavily supported Texas Rep. Ron Paul before he ended his attempt for GOP presidential nomination earlier this year.

On Sept. 17, Johnson told Fox Business's Neil Cavuto: "My voice right now is representative of the fastest-growing segment of American politics today. It's young people who realize that they are screwed. That they aren’t going to have any retirement. That they aren’t going to have any healthcare. Young people are graduating from college today with [the equivalent of a] home mortgage without a home and I’m talking now about student loans and what's the cause for high tuition in this country? It’s the government guaranteeing student loans." (Emphasis Mine)


Debbie Dean agrees.

"Young people are disillusioned. They don’t have jobs, they have school debt," said Dean, who is volunteering for Johnson's campaign in Ohio. "It’s easy for kids to get loans, but when they get out of school they can’t get a job and can't pay the loan."

Dean also said small business owners are disillusioned. She said she is worried that her family-owned farm, Dean's Greenhouse, which has been in existence since 1924, may not make it through after President Obama's healthcare initiative is enacted. She believes it could raise the current cost of healthcare for her employees.

"We’ve always offered healthcare, and I am personally on the plan," she said. "But if things get rough and I had to choose between providing healthcare and letting my business die, I'd have to choose my business."

Johnson knows a little something about small business. He started as a handyman in Albuquerque in 1974 and by 1999, he had a 1,000-person construction company called Big J Enterprises, which he sold for $10 million.

Johnson believes the Fair Tax, which would eliminate all federal taxes on business income and investments, would provide an immediate boost to small business.

"If, as others are advocating, reducing business taxes, such as the corporate income tax, would be helpful, eliminating them altogether in favor of a consumption tax would be a huge step in terms of freeing up capital, increasing competitiveness, and creating jobs," said Joe Hunter, Johnson’s communication director in an email to Fox Business.

Hunter also pointed out that ending "federal manipulation of the free market" and getting government out of the way would ultimately be the best initiative to help small business.

However, while Johnson's passionate and steadfast positions on everything from small business to abolishing the IRS to legalizing marijuana have appeal for a wide range of voters, the likelihood of his candidacy having any impact on this election is slim if he isn't able to take part in the Presidential debates, which start October 3. And Johnson knows that best.

"Someone has to stand up and call this what it is: A rigged system designed entirely to protect and perpetuate the two-party duopoly," (emphasis mine) said Johnson advisor Ron Nielson. "That someone will be the Johnson campaign."{Read More}

I don' know about anyone else but I'm definitely supporting the spoiler in this one.

Via: FOX BUSINESS

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny

Stein: Green Party nominee for President stands against dependency.

As an advocate of Objectivism and a true free market capitalism this site is surely not one to sing the praises of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his New Deal. However, when compared to the current occupant of the White House President Roosevelt seems the staunch conservative by comparison.

When the left leaning Green Party nominee for president, Jill Stein, comes out against the current President's policies of dependency it is clear how far our national leadership has fallen.

NEW YORK POST - It’s a hell of a thing when the nominee of the far-left Green Party espouses a stronger work ethic than the President of the United States. But that’s what we’ve come to.

For all the talk sparked by Mitt Romney’s remarks about the 47 percent of Americans who are dependent on government benefits, it’s not a simple left-right thing.

Dependency is good, of course, if your goal is to build a coalition of takers who live at the expense of makers. But not everyone favors that strategy.

I was talking with Dr. Jill Stein, the Green Party presidential nominee, the other day; she offered a different approach, one that harkens back to President Franklin Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Back in the Great Depression, FDR was more focused on getting people back to work than on handing out money. He set up the WPA and the CCC to provide employment for out-of-work Americans — jobs building needed infrastructure: bridges, post offices, courthouses and other federal buildings.

The idea was that taxpayers should get something out of helping the unemployed.

The Green Party’s Stein has a similar suggestion, and comments: “If you don’t have work, you’d go to an employmentoffice, not an unemploymentoffice, and you’d get a job, not sit home, depressed, with a check.”

At its peak, the WPA employed over 3 million men and women who would’ve otherwise been jobless.

And the Civilian Conservation Corps put the unemployed to work improving national parks and other pieces of federal land.

When I hike in the Smokies, it’s often on trails that were built by the CCC — and of course we’re still using many of the buildings and bridges that the WPA built.

By contrast, what will we have to show in decades to come for today’s 99-week extended unemployment benefits and other government giveaways? Not so much.

So why don’t we have programs in which “you’d get a job, not sit home, depressed, with a check?”

The short answer is because key power players would ratherhave you sit at home, depressed, with a check. There are a lot of reasons for that. {Read More}

Need we any more proof of Obama's far left policies and desire to create a greater dependency on government and the nanny state?

Via: Memeorandum

Looking thru someone's vacation pics can be a bit of a bore, but I promise you will like these.  We've done this drive a dozen times, so this year we decided to take our time getting down to FLA and take 'back roads', stopping in towns and shops along the way. (Do I have a great hubs or what?!)

I won't attempt to even remember where each of these things were, just know that next year I think I'll drive a U-Haul down.

Enough gibber gabber.



There were 8 of these chairs (2 arm and 6 regular). AND extra fabric and they were a steal. I don't want to talk about it.

 More Foo



 Love the white chandy.


Great vintage chandy for a little girls room.

And on the way home, we went to Heaven aka Scott Antique Market. I am FOR SURE going back for more of this. It was eye candy overload, so I didn't take too many pics, but here are some of the best.








Memories.

Some of these things I might have taken home with me (but not as many as I wanted to). Stay tuned...

I brighten my day by wearing yellow:) From the moment that I received this excellent pair of pants from Sheinside, I decided it that I wanted to wear them with a yellow top, in this case, a sweater vest. I love the fusion between these two pieces as well as the comfortable mood that I had while wearing them.
"The brighter, the better"is the motto of the day !
P.S Enter the Sheinside GIVEAWAY here  and you can choose great pieces from their website !




                                                                              Pants :thanks to  Sheinside Here
                                                                              Vest: Benetton/ similar Here
                                                                              Clutch: American Apparel/ simialr Here
                                                                              Heels: Zara/similar Here
                                                                              Bracelets: Poshlocket/ H&M

by Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny

An act of free speech and freedom of expression? Or an illegal act of a disgruntled Egyptian/American activist? You the viewer be the judge...

New York Post - Cops busted a lone protester -- angry with subway ads equating enemies of Israel as “savages” -- as she spray-painted over one of the controversial signs today.

A Post camera crew captured the bizarre conflict between suspect Mona Eltahawy, 45, and a woman defending the ads.

“Mona, do you think you have the right to do this?” said Pamela Hall, holding a mounted camera as she tried to block the barrage of spray paint.

“I do actually,” Eltahawy calmly responded. “I think this is freedom of expression, just as this is freedom of expression.”

Hall then thrusts herself between Eltahawy’s spray paint and the poster.

Eltahawy -- an activist who has appeared on MSNBC and CNN -- engaged her in an odd cat-and-mouse dance, spraying pink every time she had an opening.

“What right do you have to violate free speech,” Hall pleaded.

“I’m not violating it. I’m making an expression on free speech,” an increasingly agitated Eltahawy shot back.

“You do not have the right!” Hall said.

“I do actually and I’m doing it right now and you should get out of the way! Do you want paint on yourself,” Eltahawy shot back

As the poster defender bobbed and weaved to get in the paint’s way, Eltahawy mocked: “That’s right, defend racism.”

Finally an MTA police officer and an NYPD cop came to scene and arrested Eltahawy.

“This is non-violent protest, see this America!” she said as cops cuffed her. “I’m an Egyptian-American and I refuse hate.”

The MTA was forced to install the controversial ad campaign by court order.

The 46- by 30-inch ads are plastered in 10 Manhattan stations, including busy Grand Central and Times Square Stations.

The American Freedom Defense Initiative, a pro-Israel group spearheaded by activist Pamela Geller, paid $6,000 for the ad space.

Via: Memeorandum

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny

Congressman Allan West

Congressman Allan West is not at all admired by America's apologists. Methinks the following is one very precise reason why.

In his speech today to the United Nations, President Obama stated six times that the attacks across the Islamic world are attributed to a silly video. Furthermore, he refused to use the words terrorist attack in referring to what occurred in Benghazi Libya at our US Consulate on the 11th anniversary of 9-11. He continues to offer up apologies instead of defending our hard earned First Amendment right to freedom of speech and expression. There is no message to this silly video trailer, and it is beneath the dignity and esteem of the Office of the President of the United States to mention it at all. When tolerance becomes a one way street it leads to cultural suicide. I shall not be tolerant of the intolerant. I know about the UN Resolution 1618 which would make any statement deemed by the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) “offensive’ to Islam a crime…..NOT ON MY WATCH FELLAS!

My statement to the United Nations would have been, “The future does not belong to those who attack our Embassies and Consulates and kill our Ambassadors. The Angel of Death in the form of an American Bald Eagle will visit you and wreak havoc and destruction upon your existence”.(Emphasis mine)

We think your statement is really awesome Congressman. Certainly more fitting than the statement, er speech by the President and admired by the ObamaBots.

Just one more reason, not that we needed another one, to NOT vote for the reelection of President Obama on November 6, 2012.

More can be found here.

Via: Memeorandum

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny

The Iranian Wingnut...

From the mind and mouth a total wacko...

Reuters - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday Israel has no roots in the Middle East and would be "eliminated," ignoring a U.N. warning to avoid incendiary rhetoric ahead of the annual General Assembly session.

Ahmadinejad also said he did not take seriously the threat that Israel could launch a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, denied sending arms to Syria, and alluded to Iran's threats to the life of British author Salman Rushdie.

The United States quickly dismissed the Iranian president's comments as "disgusting, offensive and outrageous."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hinted Israel could strike Iran's nuclear sites and criticized U.S. President Barack Obama's position that sanctions and diplomacy should be given more time to stop Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Iran denies it is seeking nuclear arms and says its atomic work is peaceful and aimed at generating electricity.

"Fundamentally we do not take seriously the threats of the Zionists," Ahmadinejad, in New York for this week's U.N. General Assembly, told reporters. "We have all the defensive means at our disposal and we are ready to defend ourselves."

Ahmadinejad is due to speak at the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met Ahmadinejad on Sunday and warned him of the dangers of incendiary rhetoric in the Middle East.

Ahmadinejad, who has used previous U.N. sessions to question the Holocaust and the U.S. account of the September 11, 2001, attacks, did not heed the warning and instead expanded on his previous rejection of Israel's right to exist. Western envoys typically walk out of Ahmadinejad's U.N. speeches in protest at his remarks.{Read More}

With any luck Israel will take the decisive action the rest of the free world doesn't have the balls to take.

Via: Memeorandum