I'm getting all geared up to head back down to Brazil, and was cleaning up my in-law's car that they so graciously loaned me while I'm Stateside...the front hood and grill were caked with dead bug juice, etc. (a near-plague we encountered on the West Texas Roadtrip) Anyway....wanted to de-bug the car...Did you know there's a secret weapon in removing bug juice??? Dryer Sheets!!! Yes, the things you put in with your clothes to make them all cuddly and static-free. Something in those suckers just melts bug juice off your car - make them a little damp, and then there's very little elbow grease needed! Crazy, but true!

Anyway, I'll be "buggin' out" here shortly, and will probably be offline through the weekend, but I wanted to leave you with a few little pretties I've been wanting to post...

In a not-so-past-life, I designed and made jewelry, and one of my all-time fave stones to use is turquoise - it's classic, organic, and comes in all sorts of beautiful shades. I stumbled upon a feature in this month's Traditional Home mag that made me drool, drool, drool! Now, I can't even imagine the price tag on these things, and considering the economy, even admiring them seems shallow, BUT even in tough economic times, one must give credence to things intrinsically lovely....