Bon Weekend!

We are looking forward to a fantastic weekend FILLED with so much fun! Tonight we are having a bbq with family and a few friends, and then tomorrow, the Nickelback concert at the Gorge. Not only will we be going to the concert, but we will be meeting the band - more on that soon~

Have a lovely weekend my friends!

xo

driving the back roads~

There is something about taking the road less traveled.

Driving through the heartland of this incredible country.

Amber fields of grain,

endless wildflowers,

fantastic old barns.

There is something about stopping in the smallest of towns.

The cafes. The old gas stations. The antique stores.

seeing the flowers your mom grew when you were a child~

There is something magical about being alone in your car. Turning up the radio. The summer sun. The meandering country roads...

pool time

This past week my handsome husband has been away in Germany on business. #2 has also been staying in Minnesota at my dad's for a few weeks. That left me with three boys and, for a couple of days, some pretty warm weather.

One day I decided that, seeing as we don't have a pool, we needed to find one. When we were doing our floors a few years back during our big kitchen renovation, we had to move out for nearly a week, and we decided to stay at the local Marriott as it had a great pool for the boys and was relatively close to home. It is located at a local outdoor mall, which was nice when it came to walking to restaurants, coffee, or the movie. (okay, and maybe to do a bit of shopping when I could sneak away...)

As we had such great memories of our "stay-cation" back then, I thought that this would be the perfect place to spend a night hanging out with the boys and playing in the pool.

We had a great time - lots of swimming, dinner at one of our favorite burger joints, and a movie with popcorn before bed.

I highly recommend it when you need a little break from the ordinary!

autumn inspiration

~found here

Lately I am finding it difficult to find myself inspired.

~found here

I don't know what it is, but I am feeling a bit, well, out of sorts perhaps.

~found here

It isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I don't feel that I have the desire to sit on my computer and find pretty things right now.

~found here

I am quite certain that it is simply that the end of summer is approaching and I am going into autumn mode.

Now, as many of you know, autumn is my very favorite season, and when I began to think about that this morning (seeing as it is cloudy and cool and terribly cozy today!) it lit a little spark deep inside of my inspired place.

This was a very good feeling, indeed~

hello? it's me

Hello there~

Remember me?

Come on, just give it a second.

Is it coming back to you? Oh, please tell me it is.

Please please.

Because I have missed you. I really, truly have missed you.

I don't know how I came to be gone for so long. Oh sure, life has gotten busy, wrapping up our summer, soccer season, back to school shopping, travel to distant lands. Okay, so maybe not distant lands, but the midwest seems rather distant some days.

And then there is my little shop. My poor, sad, neglected little shop. She has missed me - of that I am certain. And it isn't as if I haven't spent hours and hours making linen flowers. Hours on the plane. Hours at the airport. Hours while visiting my dad. And yet, I don't seem to ever have enough to complete all of the things I dream of completing. Back-orders keep me up at night. They weigh on my mind. Guilt has become my constant companion. I don't like my new friend much at all...

And don't even get me started on my house. Please don't take this the wrong way, but I am sorry - I just can't have you over for coffee today. There is no way you can come visit when this house is so dreadfully dirty! It simply won't do~ My cleaner, whom I adore, has decided to take the summer and visit her family in distant lands. Real, true distant lands. And no matter how often I dust. And vacuum. And wash. it is never really clean. Not like it is when she leaves. You know, that first five minutes after she is finished, when you lock the children outside, so that you can enjoy your perfectly clean house, by yourself, before it all goes to hell in a handbasket again. That five minutes. Oh, I do love that five minutes.

And you will notice I haven't even mentioned cooking. Or baking. I am hoping this is a byproduct of summertime. Life outdoors. Gardening. Bon fires. BBQs. Croquet. I have been so bad about actually feeding my crew this summer, it is embarrassing. Truly. Mortifying really.

Or what about Francis? If she was a child, CPS would be here by now. Probably the lady that cornered Kasey at Trader Joe's. Francis would have been carted off to a proper foster home, due to lack of attention, neglect, under-use. The poor girl - the only time I seem to pick her up lately is to shoot a photo of one of the boys, and that is only because I feel guilty (look - there it is again - GUILT) that I have so few photos of them from this summer. What sort of (camera)mother am I?!? What if she never forgives me? I could be destined to awful photos for years to come...

Honestly, I wish I had something that I could toss all of the blame for my absence on. I wish that I could use a serious head trauma, or a dead laptop, or, or, or, oh, I don't know - alien abduction. But really, I got nothin'. No reason at all. Don't get me wrong, I have wracked my brain for some reason that I have been so INCREDIBLY. UNINSPIRED. or inspiring for that matter. Computer burn out maybe? Month-long PMS? Un-aligned stars? And please, if you have a diagnosis you would like to offer, I am all ears! Truly.

So I am really, truly hoping that things will return to normal around here soon. Well, soon as in as soon as my husband, whom I really haven't seen for nearly two weeks comes home next Tuesday. And as soon as my dad, who comes next Tuesday as well, with #2, returns home the following Monday. Oh, and as soon as these little monkeys go back to school on the 2nd/3rd of September. So soon. Really soon.

xo

treasures

~I love these old stamps

~I picked up a few more folding tape measures

~I had two back pillows that went with these chairs and they are now covered thanks to some old grain sacks

~I fell in love with these old white bowls - perfect for cereal!

"wash and brush" - because really, can we ever remind the children enough...?

~I found a few more white napkins to add to our family collection

~I am going to use these knobs for my chicken wire cloches that I have been making

~my very favorite grey blue scale

~a couple more frogs

~I found four more clocks - I especially love the old pewter colored one

~I found a few new cameras

~I really liked this blue scale from Snohomish

Well, I have returned from what could quite possibly be one of the best weeks of my life.  Honestly, there is something about seeing friends that you have known for, in some cases 25 years, in some cases, even more.  I was once again reminded that you don't have to see someone every day, or every week for that matter to share a special friendship - the sort where when you see each other after many many years, it is as if no time has passed at all.  It really is nothing short of amazing, and I feel nearly teary thinking about how the time, as short as it was, was so incredibly precious, not to mention outstandingly fun!

While I was back in Minnesota, I was able to spend five hours wandering the streets of Oronoco, as it was their annual town-wide vintage sale.  I am not sure heaven really encompasses the feeling, but it is a good start.  I found so many fabulous treasures, the best one being my time spent with Jill of Forever Cottage, whom of course I didn't take one photo of...  Visit her blog - you will see photos of her there!

A couple of the treasures above were found at the Hot Blogust Nights event the evening before I left.  Some were found when my dad - yes, my wonderful dad of massage fame, took me shopping one afternoon.  The rest were found in Oronoco.  Ah, Oronoco... I have two words for next year.  Panel Truck.  'nuff said.

I am hoping to have my shop open again by the end of the week, but I want to get a few things done first, and I have a few custom orders that I need to finish before opening again.  

Have a fabulous week,

xo