etsy favorites... (going to the fair)

1) love is in the air, by irenesuchocki

2) reversible cotton bonnet, by anabelfuzz

3) americauna chick, by aliciaunderhill 

4) pink lemonade fine art print, by averystroy

5) toffee covered apples, by skippingstones

6) 1939 world's fair folding cane seat, from cathodeblue

i'm dreaming of the state fair these days. one of my favorite things to do in new york, was to drive up north and go to the fair with with our family. the rides, the food, and especially the animals... pure love. i'm a sucker for the fair... even though it was always a hundred degrees outside. we will have to find the local fair here... from what i can tell there are atleast two... one in october and one in the spring. the fair times two! and it it probably won't be a hundred degrees by then. i can't wait!

untill then we are enjoying the last days of summer. all the kids have already gone back to school here... though i can't really tell the difference because they were all in summer activities anyway before that. we are reading beezus and ramona (again, for sid this time). it is kind of sad to me that it seems like such a foreign world to my children... traveling to the library and the park all by yourself! they are in awe. the freedom from constant adult supervision seems such a new concept to them. this was so much the world of my childhood though. the books were so familiar when i read them as a child myself. i thought this world would exist a little more down here in georgia, but honestly i think parents are more fearful here than in nyc! i actually had a woman across the street lecture me because my four year old was crossing the street by herself... while i was in the yard working! i miss streets full of kids playing freely... i know they exist some places still (i have seen them). maybe i just need to find one for ourselves. anyway, has anyone seen the new movie? is it worth a visit? i hold these books so dear i am always skeptical?

we are seeing subtle changes in our own yard... the shifting from summer to fall. our garden is being turned over to new "crops" (while i am trying desperately to keep the eggplants still growing from hungry squirrels.. any tips? i put a bunch of my son's colorful plastic snakes all around it!). also, our yard has become a showcase for a whole assortment of new birds! i am enjoying watching them at the window feeders immensely... and have my little bird book out to identify them.

someone else is enjoying watching the birds too (can you tell she is hiding?)... 

bird watching is allowed only with the windows closed after they managed to catch a bird inside the house! oh, it was so traumatic... i came running in to a bird flapping and calling frantically all over my bedroom and the cat sitting in shock in the corner with a mouthful of feathers!! we managed to get the bird inside a pet carrier and amazingly she was fine and was able to eventually fly away. i never thought this would be a problem with indoor cats!

(oh man, after looking at this again i am seeing how dirty my windows are!)

home....

i am happy to be at home. maybe too happy, because in this heat is getting hard to drag ourselves outside. i have been really busy. really, really busy. painting and painting, moving furniture, sewing rearranging whole rooms... whew! i wish i could have better photos to share, but unfortunately my short camera lens is broken! oh, horror! i only have the long lens, which makes house photos (as well as work photos) a little more difficult. i thought i'd share a few shots though...

my favorite spot in the living room... my little collection of plants that continues to grow. i have this book shelf from ikea to hold books (of course), plants and also provide extra seating with a sheepskin for comfort. check out the beautiful succulent that is from katy's shop! also the little bird succulent i got for only $7 from my favorite plant seller at the farmer's market...

another shot of my living room. i'm still trying to decide what to hang over the couch. i think a shelf for art work and a lamp. you can see my new pottery barn rug that i bought with the gift certificate i won from decor8!! i love, love, love it! also you can see a few pillows i made and the cover for my ikea table. here some more from ikea that i made my own...

a very simple and inexpensive chair made pretty. it sits next to the fire place, and this little table witha  vintage globe and little wooden doll...

i also moved my office this week..... i know, finally! it isn't quite finished so i don't have any photos yet but it is so much better so far. i turned my old office in to a "hang out room". this is what my four year old dubbed it, and that is all she wants to do now....

the playroom got another update, with new art corner....

the bathroom got a new coat of paint (also the hall but i couldn't capture that one well)...

and of course, my mantel is an ever changing work in progress...

check out flickr for some other photos and more info.

a big thanks to be@home for a lovely blog award this week!!

Home & Garden Blog

looking back, part two...

after traveling up to d.c. we ventured farther north to nyc... our first trip back "home' since the move. it was definitely bittersweet, as you would expect. sidney wanted to visit our old house, but then had to ask which one it was! the only house she had ever lived in before! so strange. i wonder often what memories they will carry with them? we did some of our favorite ny things, even though we really only had a few days to do them in. we decided to stay in manhattan rather than brooklyn, so it would feel more like a vacation and maybe less sad. we got an amazing last minute deal on a beautiful hotel right near central park! we ate bagels in the park one morning, listening to a live jazz band. it was heavenly (oh, how we missed you ny bagels). we walked through the zoo, climbed rocks, and went on the stone slide, one of our most favorite outings when we lived there.

we also had a way over priced but amazing breakfast at the hotel, that the kids totally didn't appreciate... ahh, new york. i ventured to take the kids to the MOMA by myself... on a free day. hello?! what was i thinking? it was insane, the guards were snarky about the stroller, everyone was there on a date, there was a live performance piece where someone was just sitting silently staring at a chair that people took turns sitting in and staring back, my kids were INSANE. it was totally like going back to normal for me! we saw some some beautiful art, that looks terrible with no flash...

and the guards gave us more attitude about sidney "sketching" with pen, which i didn't realize was off limits but they were kind enough only to give us the eye and not make her stop...

it was a lot of fun! we ventured in to brooklyn to visit our old neighborhood, but mostly to see friends. that was the most amazing part. we invited whoever could come to the park to hang out, and when everyone showed up it was like no time had passed. these photos of the kids make me cry because they have known these friends since they were all babies. it was amazing!

thanks patti, for taking some of these, i treasure them. thanks to sonia and andy for letting us come up to visit you at your new house later, for taking us to ice cream and giving me some beautiful wool! out of all the wonderful things about ny, this was really the only thing we miss. so many of these dear friends have since moved on too, so nothing ever really stays the same i suppose. we do love you all!

next up, a little country living. to see my favorite nearly sister-in-law... and jay too;) oh, we miss you guys, and living so close. we spent the week just being, and that was so lovely. playing in the woods and tree fort, hiking and creek dipping (except for black flies... poor sid!), visiting a farm for fresh raw milk, chickies!! what more could we ask for? they are living the life i (not so) secretly want...

we really hated to go, and even the chicken didn't want to say goodbye. just as we were getting in the car to leave we found her here. she apparently had other ideas... maybe a trip of her own? i was ready to take her, but i think she would miss her life in the woods. i wouldn't blame her!

thanks for being so patient and sitting through all my vacation slides! i have some more from the beach. i will spare you though... until later at least.

yurting...

last week we took an absolutely lovely trip to stay in a yurt over looking a nearby lake. my friend nicole organized it (and took these beautiful pictures). she also organizes weekly hiking trips for home schoolers, and was able to put together this amazing trip for nine families! it was so much fun, especially for the children. i especially enjoyed floating in the water for an entire afternoon... this seems to be the major theme of my summer?!

so much fun! thanks nicole!

so, other than floating in water all summer i have also been super busy around the house. i am truly possessed. i have been busy painting walls all week, and have my office half moved. i am really excited! it will be a wonderful new space to work in.... i am so exhausted though! mostly i have been only working on special order sheep this summer... you all seem to love those sheepy. i have a wonderful new idea for a very long and challenging project though!! i'm really excited about it, and hope you will too. i will let you in on the details soon.

thanks for hanging in with me during my sporadic posting. your lovely comments mean so much, as does your understanding of the hectic life of a mom with two kids at home full time... all the time!

xo

looking back...

summer is not nearly over, but it has been so wonderfully busy for us! we have been so on the go that i have hardly had time to share some moments with you. so, i thought i'd have a few posts looking back over our summer so far, starting with our trip 'up north'. that seems funny to write... i feel so far from being southern, but living in the south is starting to sink in some ways. our two week trip turned out to be lovely. we drove up to richmond virginia and spent the day, getting the chance to see one of my mother's childhood homes.... visiting a lovely estate, and wandering around the home of thomas jefferson.

afterward we drove up to d.c., a first for me and the children. my husband had tried to get a white house tour but was unable to. instead representative john lewis's office offered us a tour instead. we were very surprised when we arrived to meet mr. lewis himself! he is a wonderfully kind man, with an amazing history!! i wish i had been more prepared to meet him, but he was very welcoming, especially to the children. looking around his office at the photos of him with martin luther king jr. and kennedy gave me chills. he was only 23 when he was chosen to speak along side king when he gave his famous "i have a dream" speech. i hope the children were able to take in some of the importance of the occasion. after meeting him, one of his interns gave us a private behind the scenes tour of the capital, that began in the underground tunnel that leads there. it was beautiful, and we learned later that president obama had been there at the same time as i us! we saw his motorcade go by while we walked up the mall.

if you visit washington i highly recommend emailing your congress person first. it was a great experience. we hated to leave but were happy to drive up into nyc...

i will save that to share for next time...

skipping off into the sunset...

not really, but maybe it seems that i have! my poor blog and shop are sorely neglected... as they often are in summer. i'm doing some reorganizing and i am planning to overhaul the look of the blog this weekend. so next week i will be back to regular posting, and sharing some photos from our many adventures so far this summer! have a lovely weekend... and until next week here is a little photo from our recent trip to the beach to tide you over (ugh, terrible pun unintended)!

 (umm, how cute is this little guy?)

etsy favorites... (summer snow)

1) porcelain tea light delight, by wapa

2) romanic summer dress, by mylolafashion

3) turkish bath towel, by turkishbath

4) porcelain urchin bowl (on sale), by diterra

5) hanging air plant pod, by mudpuppy

6) albino blue jay print, by dsbrennan

oh, it is so hot here. not even the movie theater felt cold today (hello, toy story 3, i loved you so much though). i am just sitting not wanting to do anything. the idea of snow seems so refreshing to my weary mind. alas, no summer snow... the white sand beaches i will be heading to in another week will have to do.  here is a little cool white for you, more appropriate for summer than snow, however. enjoy!

etsy finds, ear to the ground....

it was a nice welcome back to see my little sheep on the front page of etsy today, in the etsy finds. i'm back to work this week, trying to finally get things organized around here. i'm moving my studio, so everything is in general chaos right now.

we had a nice trip to colorado. i was glad to be there for my husband. they had a lovely slide show at the memorial service, and it was very moving to see someone's life played out in small little bits. you realize how important those small moments are.... they make up so much more. 

(that's my husband on the far right, he looks exactly the same.. minus the beard)

so i will be back to posting this week, and hopefully adding more to the shop soon.

hello, goodbye

summer always seems to be busier than you expect... we have been on the go since summer break started! this is an actual picture of our car by the way... and i can't wait to tell you all about our two week long trip... but life has gotten in the way. my only excuse last week was laziness. we spent the week as you should in summer, laying around, reading, playing outside, riding bikes, swimming and so on. it was just nice to be home again. i planned to get back to work, and blogging this week. sadly, my husband's grandmother died. she was a lovely lady (our daughter was partly named for her), who will be missed. she was my husband's last grandparent... a sad passage in life. so he and i are flying across country to say our goodbyes (wish me luck or good nerves at least, i'm a terrible flier). i will be back this weekend, and hope to resume my scheduled plan then. take care... xo.