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.

grateful friday... (travels)

well, i cannot believe it has been a week since my last post. as usual these days, it's been busy. my daughter finished her last week of preschool. it was a fun experience for her, but i think we are all ready to move on to something new. we have been preparing for a big trip. our first family vacation, with just the four of us, in, oh... ever?!  we are taking a road trip... up to d.c (can you believe i've never been?), and then up further to ny. we haven't been back since we moved, and i am feeling oh so many emotions about seeing it and everyone again. i will be gone for two weeks. a good chunk of that will be out of the car, but boy am i little nervous. any of you taken a road trip with a 7 and 4 year old? i can remember the ones i took as a kid... somewhat fondly. mostly fond memories in hind sight. our motto (as parents) for this trip is... togetherness, patience, and low expectations. i don't really mean that last part negatively, i swear... just to remember to enjoy the little moments. i find if you don't expect grand things, you are pleasantly surprised by what comes. i'm taking my computer, so we will see if i can share bits.

i will keep the shop open but no shipping until i come back. be well!

etsy favorites... (pretty pretty)

floral plate, from alice's looking glass

who couldn't use a little bit of romance in their lives? these lovelies all make me swoon.

splendor in the lace, from shabby rose studio

i know it's not just me, but i love this whole movement towards a pretty feminine look in decor.

cashmere and twig wreath, by winsome hollow

the colors are so appealing, and the softness. 

deepest blue sky glasbake baking dish, from prairie seed

the pictures don't hurt either. i don't know how many times i have said "i just want to fall into that world'.

take me out tonight limited addition print, by groundwork

so, i hope that this brings a little bit of pretty romance into your day!

see you next week.

grateful friday... the spirit of adventure

today i am grateful for childhood... and the way it reminds us anything is possible. as we get older, i think we often tend to see the world and it's possibilities shrink. think back to those days of childhood though, when you truly believed that all kinds of adventure was just waiting for you. you lived in a world limited only by your imagination. i have to remind myself of this now. i am limited only by my own mind, and what i tell myself i can't do, rather than what i can.

today i have captured my children in the middle of an exciting motorcycle race. my son, the driver pauses briefly in the pit stop, while my daughter quickly gets his bike back into top racing form. they were lost in this world all afternoon. they spend endless hours telling me about the hundreds of jobs, and places they will live when they grow up. anything and everything is possible, and in their minds they can do it all.

so today, i am grateful for this reminder from my children and all children.... including jessica watson. who has accomplished something very few grownups ever will.... the ability to believe in endless possibilities and the courage to explore this great big wide world!

shop update...

some new items in the shop this evening. a little deer... the fawn will be listed tomorrow. also, a new sheep that is ready to ship (a tongue twister!). i have a custom listing for a sheep as well, if you would like to personalize one a bit more. i was planning on showing you a photo a of a black sheep i made for someone, but unfortunately my daughter has hidden my camera cord so i can't upload it. it is probably stashed with the ipod, and my credit card i had to replace last week. it is like living with a crow.

anyway, i will list the fawn tomorrow (if i can find my cord). i also have some new photos of animals already in the shop. they were spruced up a bit for their craft show appearance, and i felt they needed some new photos to show them off. i am working on a new elephant as well!

(is anyone else having a hard time with the new blogger formatting? my pics are always lined up wrong. i can't link pictures... is it just me?)