fancy

 

I stepped into this decade and got a phone that doesn't weigh 8 pounds.  I'm not gonna lie...I miss my dear slide.  But I feel very fancy now, and if I close my eyes and imagine really hard, my shoes are Prada.  

 

Trying to get the hang of the camera options is exactly that...tryyyyying.  It seems like the pictures should be more clear, yet I don't know how to make them that way.  It just doesn't quite compare to the real thing - I'm not ready to switch from my heavy canon camera anytime soon.  But here's a few happy things my camera found today...

 



 

 

Favorite Things #7

Its time!  Oprah gets a whole magazine full this month, give me the luxury of a whole blog post!

bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens.....brown paper packages tied up with strings.....these are a few of my favorite things!!!

Having our parents nearby to play with the kids.  I can't say enough how much I love this.

I'm totally hooked on it.  The can magically turns me into an extremely rad hipster.  

And the grapefruit flavor makes a mean greyhound.

The mother of all belts.  

Its rubbery and bendy and narrow and doesn't show under your clothes and actually holds your pants up!  They sell them at Main Street Company.

This lipgloss tastes good, goes on thick, and stays.  And it has a teeny shimmer.

Ryan's new speakers.  Best dance parties EVAR!

Read this book.  

I don't read much fiction.

I definitely don't read fables.

But somehow I read this book and it is awesome awesome awesome pants.

This frame salvaged from a friend's barn hangs over my bed and it makes me so happy.  I love that its empty and orange and I can't really explain why.  I just do.   

these are a few

Its time, friends.

Because, once again..............Things don't buy happiness but they sure do buy..................wait.........they really do actually.

I love pop.  I'm trying to call it soda instead because I want to be sophisticated like that.  We don't keep it at our house because we might as well shut off our water if we do.  Every once in awhile there is some left over in the bottom of a 2-liter from floats or pizza the night before and, oh my happy heart!

I was in search of the biggest sunglasses I could find.  $3.  Target, you just never let me down.

 Ikea placemats.  They bring out the best in us all at dinnertime.  This is no small thing.

Dance Partaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

Going on 3 years now.  I cannot live without this pair on my kitchen sink.  Don't try me.

This fact.

Ok, its called "Push Powder".  You sprinkle a teeny bit on your roots after your hair is dry and it magically no longer looks like this:

Lake Michigan.  Because she's sassy.  And the only lady who lays every single day.

The Arboretum.  We feed the fish and turtles there and pretend they're our pets.  Let's not get confused.  Ralfie The Turtle is not a favorite thing because he is bigger than Sage, who begs me to hold her but I can't because I'm too busy being held by River, the brave child.  But I digress.  We really really love this place.  When my kids write a story someday about their childhood, this will be the "setting".

These are a few of my favorite things!

favorite things #6

Its been too long since a Favorite Things post, don't you think?  Come on, don't you?!  

I've been collecting these for awhile.

Like bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens...

She can be one of your favorite things too, I'll share. What the world needs now is Sage, sweet Sage.

The netipot!!!!  Its insane.  You fill it with warm water and saline powder, and then you pour it into your nostril.  It runs through your sinuses and out the other nostril.  Let's see how many times I can say nostril.  It is amaaaaaazing.  Like a massage for your sinuses.  And your nostrils.  Not even a little glamorous, but no one promised that nostrils would be.  You know that incredible feeling when water drains out of your ear after you swim?  Its like that.  For your nostrils.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is the absolute best literary experience of my entire life.  Period.

It was written by a homemaker in 1935, who would get up and write - literally with her hand and her pencil - early in the morning before her family was up.  The plot is nothing remarkable, but the weaving together of words is phenomenal.  

The rooms in heaven have different smells.  One is babies' skin.  One is rain.  One is peppernuts.  One is old books.  I smelled this book every time I opened it because heaven is also a place on earth!  

Because the writing is amazing and because I loved this exact old copy of it, I rechecked it 3 times and still racked up a late fee.  Ryan bought it from the library for me for Christmas.  Most thoughtful gift ever.

I'm inept and can't capture the color.  But this new gray nail polish is only $2.89 and has a matte finish. The color is "sidewalk".  And for once, when it says "quick dry," its the truth!!

Its disturbing that its udder cream, let's just own that.  But its the best lotion ever made.  I bought a big ol' tub of it at an Amish store in Indiana, but I'm pretty sure you can get it at most pharmacies.

 Pomegranite.  An explosion in your mouth.  Every time.  What's not to love?

Look at my new legs!!  Just kidding.  Not mine.  But oh how I do love leggins.  Thank you, 1991, for coming back.  Sincerely, thank YOU, you have made my every day so much more comfortable.  Now if only I could figure out how to wear them with puffy vests....

gifts

Saskia brought us the most beautiful gifts...

All things she either made or had treasured and was willing to part with.  True heart gifts.  The kind of things you receive that touch new parts of you because they were given with such purity.  And because they smell old and have the feel of things that have been loved on already.  Like really good really old library books.

Like this gorgeous antique purse and hanky...

She found and wrote out a poem for us.   My favorite lines...

To scoop up a bit of rainbow glow and bring it down to the earth below.  Yes, Sas - that is what you did when you came to visit!

I can't ever make my camera work right in the important moments.  Her face is not the same color as the wall.  Der.

Sage liked her gifts so much, her hair stood on end.

Thank you, Saskia, for spoiling us!!

Favorite Things #5

Basil deserves a FAVORITE THINGS post all of its own.

Heaven tastes like basil.  

Have you made these recipes yet?  Do.it. Do it.  Do-to-the-it.

Basil Lemonade

Basil Pesto

Pesto-Quinoa Quiche

Fresh Veggie Pizza

Grilled Summer Pizza

Spinach Tortellini Soup

Thin Crust Pesto Pizza

Herb Butter

Tomato Bisque

Click on the RECIPES page for links to them all.  

And, bonus....if you live in H-Town and need some basil, come on over and pick.  

We have 9 plants.  You don't have to knock - just head out back to the garden and help yourself.  

Really - heaven is for sharing!

Favorite Things #4

It's high time for another Favorite Things.  

Money does not buy happiness.  

Money does buy some pretty great stuff.

Having the money I need to buy some treats makes room 

in my innerds for other things to make me happy too.

Don't you think?

So here we go...

In no particular order, things that make me oh so happy.....

When I've been extra well-behaved, one of these big patties 

finds its way onto the checkout counter.

The ultimate "I'm such a hard worker" treat.

I thought dry shampoo was just for people who didn't like to take showers.  

Not so.  I like to take showers and I like dry shampoo.  Very much.

We hug trees, so I never ever planned to use aerosol hairspray.  

Plans have changed.  I will never ever go back to squirt bottles for hair spray.

Sticker charts for the kids.

They're cursed, I guess, with teacher parents.  But getting to say "you get a star!" to reward good behavior has been taking us SO SO FAR in getting great attitudes out of the two Bigs for the last two months.  When the chart is full, they get a reward (Thank you Target $1 section).  Really, let's just make an addition here...

TARGET $1 SECTION

Need I say more?

Wind chimes.

These have been on 4 different porches because they were a wedding gift.  

The music of my spring.

Survivor.  

The TV show.  I want Troyzan to win this season.

Eva loves it too.  Maybe even more than I do - if that's possible.  

So buffs are now a part of our regular wardrobe.  Around home, that is.

Ryan needs to go on that show because he would win us a million dollars.  He would lay low, win in challenges, make a great shelter, and eat anything.

Baby leg warmers.

I'll still be putting them on her when she's 4, just because I can't help myself.

My new scarves.  

Scarves are my security blanket. 

What am I going to do this summer without them and my puffy vests?!

Getting lots of miles out of these two scarves before the 90 degree heat hits.

The Little Caesar's Pizza Ad Boy

You Newton people know who I'm talking about.  There's a total wackadoo guy that dances outside Little Caesar's every day.  He's supposed to be there to get our attention so we buy the pizza.  I'm not buying that gross pizza, but he sure does have my full attention.  We stopped at the video place next door last night and there were 4 cars full of people, watching him open mouthed in wonder, no longer caring about getting out to get a movie.  He wears earbuds and rocks out silently to whatever songs are playing, using the Little Caesar's cardboard sign as his air guitar.  

He is awesome.  Dancing so badly.  So uninhibited.  So alive.  He is my favorite.

Favorite Things #3

Here's run-down #3.  I've been collecting these pics for awhile.
They really are my faves!

Basil in my windowsil.  In winter.  

Since Gretchen gave it to me, I've been planning my life around it.  

Our weekly calendar.  

It has centered Eva because she knows what to expect every day.  

The kids have their own tree and ornaments.  

They can do whatever they like whenever they like with it.  

They readjust the ornaments multiple times a day and keep their mitts off the big tree in the living room.  Win-win for all.

Caribou Coffee thermos!!  

The mug is full of great quotes.  

Quotes, coffee, black and red, and even a sweater coozie...I couldn't be happier.

"Sip it, sip it good."

"Build communities, not empires"

"Life is short.  Stay awake for it."

This tastes like my favorite childhood memories of the cabin on the lake in Michigan.

Its hard to find here, but we recently found it in Colorado and bought 48 cans.

If you've never had it, I'll find a way to get you some.

I.love.Vernors.

Just look at her.

She smiles within seconds of waking up.  Every time.

She doesn't talk back.

And she makes us laugh.

I think our whole family would agree she's a current fave!