Vintage listings in my Etsy shop!

I have been accumulating various little vintage items in hopes of listing them in my etsy shop. From a pink and silver floral vase with a retro feel to various bud vases and glassware, I have added fun items to bring some fun to the shop. Head on over if you are in the market for a little something old and interesting!

xx

welcome autumn

While walking to the bus with #3 this morning, I noticed that old familiar chill in the air. I grabbed my scarf as I headed out the door, and was thankful for the warm cup of chai tea in my hands. We stopped under the chestnut tree in search of one of our favorite autumn treasures, some chestnuts bare in their rich, smooth brown skin, some with their pokey green protective coating. We stuffed as many as we could fit in the side pocket of his backpack before hustling down to the end of the road.

I took my time walking back to the house, as I was enjoying the smell of burning leaves in the air, the cool breeze on my face, and the leaves beginning to drift out of the trees. I realized that it is now time to begin visiting our local cider shop with its varieties of cider as well as so many apples. We love to dry them for winter snacks, so time to pull out the dehydrator as well~

I do love this time of year - the small break between the heat and blazing sun of summer and the dark, wet days of winter. In that brief moment, there is this feeling of coziness, the desire to nest, to organize, to tidy. It is that time when the gardens still hold their bounty from summer plantings, markets begin to offer that gorgeous produce that is to become our favorite comfort foods, and warm sweaters are enough to keep comfortable.

I am a nester at heart - a girl who loves being cozy and comfortable. It seems that autumn is just about perfect in my eyes~

xx

end of summer color

Bright, bold, vibrant zinnias

Another beautiful group of flowers I found yesterday

Aren't they just gorgeous with their hot color blazing in the sunshine?

I loved finding this field of bright color

The red, the orange, the pink, the salmon

Divine

Cosmos

Today I discovered a secret garden just moments away

from our home.

What a treasure!

I am so pleased with how these shots turned out~

Have a lovely week my friends,

xx

shades of blue

~I absolutely love this bedroom - everything from the floors to the bed to the wall color to the chair beside the bed!

~I find the orange accents interesting in this room

~I love this kitchen, as it reminds me of mine, which I adore

~again with the orange

~adore this settee!

While I have a very neutral/linen/white canvas in our home, I do like the occasional bit of color injected here and there. With autumn here, and winter approaching, I often add a bit more blue, or red, or brown as accents to warm up the house a bit.

When it comes to paint, the only color I have here aside from my French Canvas on most of our walls is the two blues (which we mixed to our liking) in the kitchen and main floor bath. I like blue - it is cool, and calm, and peaceful to me.

I loved these photos, courtesy of Martha Stewart, for the feeling of calmness I get when I look at them. Wouldn't you agree?

Happy Sunday,

xx

Friday night date~

So I went on a date tonight~

I had so much fun~

We started at the school BBQ, with games, a bouncy house, and popcorn.

For a moment, I thought he might ditch me in favor of one of my very favorite girls in his class.

We decided to skip the school food in favor of visiting our favorite sushi restaurant. It was so nice to sit and visit with this young boy. You hear so much more when you take them out and spend time alone with them.

~what looks like a rumble in the making is actually three really nice boys talking in the bouncy house line...

After sushi we went to his favorite toy store here in town where we walked around looking at all of the treasures there.

I can't tell you how many times he said to me "thank you mommy for taking me out and spending this time with me".

I do adore that little man~

xx

lens *love*

There are days when I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

Yesterday was one of them~ Today I am still enjoying the afterglow of being so incredibly spoiled by the best. husband. ever.

oh, and I LOVE this lens...

xx

happy first friday of autumn

Autumn - my favorite season.

Friday - a pretty fabulous day of the week.

I hope you have something wonderful, or relaxing, or productive planned for your weekend.

I am looking forward to a market visit, a soccer game, time with Francis, a date night, and time with my family.

xx

a few photos of chez taylor~

I have wanted to do a bit of a home tour for some time now. There are so many things I absolutely love about our home.

There are also many places that I know need something - what that is I am not sure, but they are simply lacking. As our home is always a work in progress, I am okay with that. But I wanted to share the places that speak to me, the places that reflect who we are as a family, or who I am as a girl living in a house full of boys. (that was inserted specifically for my family members, who would surely read this paragraph and shriek - "this is NOT our style - we would vote for new! color! modern!!!".

Alas, being the only girl has its perks...

So let's start outside~

I will do a proper outdoor property tour sometime soon. We have a fabulous property with such incredible potential. We have done so much in the past six years, and have dreams of what we would like to do in the future~

We then have the entry~

The dining area - part of one very large living space on the main floor which includes dining, living, and cooking.

The living room, with some of my collections, and a lot of linen~

~la tour eiffel my handsome husband built for me out of legos

~we have started putting out some of our Halloween decorations

The kitchen is my favorite room in the house!

The main floor bath~

Our master suite - definitely in need of some TLC...

And the master bath~