Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

I don't want a lot this year, as I truly feel I have everything I could ever want or need (if you don't count unlimited travel access to France, a home in the French countryside, and a pink bicycle with a basket to ride to the village market).

However, if I were to find something under the tree, these would be quite lovely~

~found

~I thought I would slip this in, just in case...

~found

~found

incredibly inspired

Last night I had the amazing opportunity to see one of my favorite authors, not to mention my favorite inspirations.

Greg Mortenson wrote the book "Three Cups of Tea" which I read last spring and loved. It was the second book I had read on developing countries and the need for education, not to mention the discrimination of little girls worldwide. Ever since then, I have had this little seed sitting in my head, constantly saying "what is it you want to do my friend...?".

Greg has now written a new book, "Stones for Schools" which is the continuation of his journey to educate the children - especially the girls, of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

After his talk, we waited in line to have him sign the books that we had purchased. While I had only purchased one book, when he heard that I had four boys, he was so incredibly generous and gave me FIVE more books - one more of the new book, signed to #1, one "Three Cups of Tea" signed to #2, and two of his children's books, one signed to each of the younger boys. He also gave me an extra "Three Cups of Tea" to donate to #2's school. I think that I will donate one of each to each of the boys' schools as the books themselves are incredible and as his entire purpose is to educate children, the idea of educating the children here in America on the plight of children worldwide is something I know he supports.

I also want to say that he spent nearly five minutes talking to me. The man is one of the kindest human beings I have ever met. We are both from Minnesota (as was his "handler") so we talked at length about that, as well as what needs to be done out there. I shared my dream of one day taking photos of the children that he educates, and he said that I should follow that dream. In my book, he wrote "to a fellow Minnesotan, be inspired"~ I now have an author crush...

Have a lovely Wednesday mes amies,

xx

my sweet savannah sale

I thought I would quickly post a couple of photos from the sale at Melaine's from my sweet savannah. It was a lovely evening and so nice to see some readers there!

I had dyed some fabulous vintage slips, made cards from some of my favorite prints, and added some ruffles and flowers to a few of my organic re-usable bags.

Have a lovely week mes amies,

xx

etsy shop update

I was up before the sun getting my etsy shop updated with a number of things that I had been working on the past couple of weeks.

I am really excited about the shantung flowers for winter. They have a wonderful texture and are so pretty with a slight sheen to make them a bit dressier than the linen flowers. I have done them on pins, headbands, and bobby pins for your hair. I wear the silver flower pins on my coat, my scarves, and my purse~

The silver grey is my favorite color and I wear the flower pins and hair clips all of the time!

I also love the little bookmarks and their sweet little charms. The velvet ribbon is so soft and lovely~

Head on over and see what else is there!

Have a fantastic Sunday~

xx

my inspired weekend

Good morning mes amies~

I wanted to share with you a couple of photos from this past weekend - my wonderful two days spent with my dear friend miss Kasey. I was fortunate enough to attend her incredible "Inspired Evening" and let me tell you, if you have the opportunity to attend if she has another, I highly recommend it~

~oh how I love self-timer photos.

We were joined by Jill, whom I was able to spend a day with this past summer, and Martha, whom I met this trip. They were so much fun and the four of us had a wonderful time hanging out and getting ready for this fabulous event. We did a bit of shopping - visiting Kasey's favorite flea market first thing Saturday morning.

~both of these were taken at the fabulous booth done by this amazing woman

The evening itself was magical~ Everything sparkled - Kasey's beautiful home, the gorgeous guests, the wine glasses. If you want to see all of the photos from the evening, visit Kasey at Lola B's where she has posted the entire evening!

Have a lovely day and, depending on where you are, stay warm!

xx

'tis the season to eat

~found

For me, the holiday season is definitely about food and family - not particularly in that order. I absolutely adore that my husband closes down the office for the week between Christmas and New Years so that everyone can spend quality time with their loved ones. Definitely my favorite week of the year!~

Food, however, begins early in the month. I love spending time in our fabulous kitchen with it's huge island baking all sorts of cookies. I love deciding each year which ones we will make - and I know the boys love choosing their favorites~

I also love finding new things that we have never tried and experimenting a bit. Thankfully this is the season when wonderful recipes are readily available~

With apples abundantly in stock at most markets and grocery stores, I definitely want to try these~

~cannelle et vanille

How incredibly delicious does this look???

~smitten kitchen

The boys will absolutely adore these~

~joy the baker

As well as these!

~sweet paul

And who wouldn't want to make hot cocoa like this???

~cannelle et vanille

So, please expect me to put on a *few* extra pounds this season, as I really am in the mood to bake and you know how much I love eating~

Bon appetite!

xx