my house

thankful for

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, “What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” - C.S. Lewis

i love letters :) letters are cute and fun and old-fashioned and i like them.

"Sir, more than kisses, letters mingle souls..."

-John Donne

an extra special thanks to my mom because she is particularly good at sending me homemade cards just to say 'i love you'. she's the best.

"With freedom, books, flowers, and the moon, who could not be happy?” -Oscar Wilde

picnic

right now, i'm obsessed with having a picnic, actually, being able to be outside in general, but especially picnics. i think about it probably everyday. partially it's an i-want-what-i-can't-have kind of thing and probably in six months i'll be wishing for cold weather and a roaring fire (scratch that, no i won't. after this winter, i think i will never again wish for winter). ANYWAY, i can't wait to be able to do things outside again. especially picnic. and lay in the sun.

love

H found something to be really funny at Starbucks today (himself? my dad?) and i caught the tail end of his laugh attack. seriously, cutest. ever.

what a week :) and it's only wednesday.

“ None can have a healthy love for flowers unless he loves the wild ones." Forbes Watson

farmer's market

just three more months!!

come on, come out

come on, come out

the weather is warm
come on, come out

come on come on

a spot in the shade

where oranges fall
a spot in the shade
away from it all

watching the sky, you're watching a painting
coming to life, shifting and shaping
staying inside, it all goes all goes by

a blanket unfolds,
a blanket to lie
the pieces of gold
they light up your eyes
and now we're alone
and now we're alive

watching the sky, you're watching a painting

coming to life, shifting and shaping
staying inside, it all goes
all goes all goes all goes by
stopping the time, the rush and the waiting
leave it behind, shifting and shaping
keep it inside, it all goes all goes all goes all goes by

it all goes passing by
all goes passing by

-a fine frenzy

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”

-Edith Sitwell

"A room without books is like a body without a soul."

-Marcus Tullius Cicero

i want a library. i would LOVE to spend the winter months snuggled up in front of a roaring fire with someone i love, reading great books

for your health

I watched Food, Inc. last night. It's fantastic. Watch it. Right now.

It's appalling to me what we put into our bodies...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eKYyD14d_0

this will be my afternoon

“It’s easy to believe in magic when you’re young. Anything you couldn’t explain was magic then. It didn’t matter if it was science or a fairy tale. Electricity and elves were both infinitely mysterious and equally possible - elves probably more so." -Charles de Lint

happy top ten(ish)

i think, since it' saturday, i will make a top 10 list of things that made me happy this week, in no particular order.

12. a hilarious night at yia yia's

11. a team meeting that felt like we're perhaps starting to move towards developing real community

10. eating dinner and watching Emma a few people who i happen to be quite fond of.

9. giggling in bed with H when he was supposed to be napping

8. surprisingly, the snow falling on Thursday. it was so beautiful and peaceful while we were snuggly all day at home.

7.5. and on that note, an amazing nap Thursday afternoon with a sleeping little boy and the furnace running and the snow falling.

7.25. picking up a very happy girl from school. love. her.

7.16. finding a broach for my coat for $2

7. actually, thursday in general was nearly perfection.

6. the world's most amazing 3 hour dance party at this house where i live.

5. banana pancakes and coffee on a saturday morning

4. cleaning rooms and listening to 90's music with Bobbi-Haircut

3. throwing away all the tupperware that doesn't have a lid (or lids with no containers..)

2. noodles with lindsey. coffee with christine. and nikki. panera with H and Blake.

1. a bubble bath with a good book and a glass of red wine.

ok so that was more than 10 but it was a great week :) i think i will try to make this a weekly ritual.

want.

ohhhhhhhhhhh i think it would be so fun to have a polaroid camera. like real old-school polaroids. amazing.

snow

it's snowing right now...snow mixed with rain. and H has been happily playing in the back yard for a good 45 minutes. He mows, and shovels, and drives his cars, and wanders around a lot. i would love to know what goes on inside his little toddler brain.

"I cannot fix on the hour, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun." (Pride and Prejudice)

"Love is helping people toward the greatest beauty and the highest value and the deepest satisfaction and the most lasting joy and the biggest reward and the most wonderful friendship and the most overwhelming worship — love is helping people toward God." -John Piper

JUNE 3-8

every year we take a camping trip to Halsey National Forest. it's like horses and a windmill and an outhouse kind of camping. in the middle. of. nowhere. (well, technically in the middle of the sandhills...) ANYWAY, dates are on the calendar, several days of laying in the sun, reading, campfires and time with family and dear friends. i'm so excited.

i want to be here. right now.

“No winter lasts forever; no spring skips it’s turn.”

-H. Borland

love.

A

A is SUCH my mini-best friend. We have girl dates and girl talk and giggle and have inside jokes. She is literally cuteness and sweetness wrapped up in red hair, freckles and usually a bit of sassy and fabulous. She doesn't miss a thing, has a hysterical sense of humor, a vocabulary that would rival most adults and such a tender heart.

HC

"The ordinary acts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest."

-Thomas Moore

My days at home with H are so unique and special. People ask me what I do all day with A in school and it's just me and the two-almost-three-year-old boy. I don't even know what we do but I know that I LOVE it. We eat and snuggle and play tractors. I delight in my ordinary, unimpressive time at home with him. He is goofy and loves to make people laugh. My favorite thing though, is that he is such a lover. Not to mention, he is literally, in every way, the cutest little boy that has ever existed in the history of time.

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around"

-Leo F. Buscaglia

addison bowls

i'm obsessed with my addison bowls from crate and barrel. i use them for EVERYTHING! five perfect sizes in five delightful colors. i'm already mourning having to leave them behind for five years! but the alternative option would be to ship them (yikes) or lug them from here to Spain, no thanks. what if they broke?? :) they don't make them anymore. they have the essentially the same thing called parker bowls but they're just not the same.

anyway, addison bowls, love them. maybe almost too much :)

"We see always what we are looking for, and if our mind has become trained to look for trouble and difficulty and all dark and dreary things, we find just what we seek. On the other hand, it is quite as easy to form the habit of looking always for beauty, for good, for happiness, for gladness, and here, too, we shall find precisely what we seek."
-J. R. Miller

"Living simply is not all that complicated, but it can take effort. Simple living is basically learning to live happily on less stuff. Learning to enjoy people over things. Trying to live more of life in nature and reconnecting to what matters."

(from www.bestgreenhometips.com)

it really is this easy..........

a white dress

I dream of someday getting married in my parents backyard. flowers in mason jars on picnic tables. maybe some twinkle lights. on a beautiful warm evening. stress-free and simple. and i've fallen in love with this.























now if only finding a groom were that simple.

bread

Thanks to this book that I got from my parents for Christmas, why would I every buy bread again when I could make it at home? Not to mention it's incredible tasting and so easy!

clean

I'm in the process of 'greening' my cleaning products, laundry detergent, dishwashing soap, etc., inspired my my delightful and dear friend Andrea. and i'm so excited about it!! i found some great recipes and info here

Today I mixed up my first batch of all-purpose cleaning spray and now I just want to clean everything! here are a few ingredients I've started wtih... Baking Soda, Borax, White Vinegar, and some classic Dr. Bronner's liquid soap.

love

journey

It so interesting to me how we change as we journey. The past few years for me have been especially wonderful and have also challenged my thinking and understanding of what's most important, or healthiest or just finding new things I love!. As with any changes, they don't necessarily come easy but overall I would say that I have desired and attempted to simplify life as much as possible. De-clutter my schedule, priorities, budget, home, and spiritual life. And I love it! So I felt like i just wanted a place to put down thoughts, pictures of pretty things and ideas about just living life, but simpler.