white picket fence

happy birthday Norah

How has this been a whole year? 

From this:

to this:

And then. . . 

And now:

Oh, my little baby girl. Not such a baby anymore.

(I think I'm gonna need to have a good cry sometime today.)

february recap

Let's not talk about how it's already March 8 and I'm still talking about February, okay? Oookay. 

A little shopping. For as many tops or skirts I have from Anthropologie, I've never been able to find a dress there that actually fits, is flattering, and seems worth the 3 digit price tag. I did end up with a cute sweater though. 

Thrifted sheet fabric, soon to be part of some new art journal packs in my etsy shop. 

I assigned myself some memory work as part of my Lenten daytime internet fast, something to take up time I usually spend online. A psalm a week seemed like a doable amount but I'm behind already. My confirmation memory skills have obviously declined since I was 13. 

Kids on the Amtrak on our way to Minneapolis. Our weekend there was so fun, we enjoyed walking around downtown, and of course seeing all my family at the wedding was fantastic. Oh, my family! All so funny and quirky and comforting to be around. I wish we didn't live so far away. (I do highly recommend Amtrak for medium-length trips with little kids. It was amazingly better than being stuck in the car for 8 hours, and you know David just went nuts for it.)

One, or rather two, downers about the trip: I took most of my photos on my iPod. . . . which I left on the train on the way home. Bummer. And we're pretty sure Mike's iPod was stolen sometime in the train station. Bad weekend for our family's technology collection. 

My paper Valentine's Day garland, which was left up for weeks after Valentine's Day. I really liked it though. And guess what? I'm an adult, I own this place, and I can do whatever I want. Boom! to that. 

2011, in a single photo

These two are my bright shining lights.

Here's to 2011 and an even better 2012.

truck stops and sleeping toddlers

If you follow me on instagram, you may have seen some of these already. But I couldn't resist posting them here too. I feel like the instagram format works really well with road trip photos. 

On our way to my parent's this weekend, we took a break from driving at the Iowa 80 Truckstop (world's largest!) If you're not fortunate enough to pass this place dozens of times a year like we do, know that it's the King of All Truck Stops. And we've come to appreciate it so much more now that we have a small boy traveling with us. It's a welcome respite from being cooped up in the car, and there are tons of interesting things for the kids to look at while stretching our legs. In the back there's a huge truck parts and accessories shop; it's fascinating. 

Mike on the moving truck platform (it spins the truck around in a circle.) David was very concerned about this. "Daddy! Get off of there!"

Norah and I, reflected in the surfaces of various shiny truck parts. 

There was a display of at least 50 steering wheels. 

The boy. (I think this is my favorite shirt of his.)

That big white thing is the spoke of a wind turbine. They look crazy humongous when you see them up close. 

On the way home, exhausted from the day of presents and running around like crazy with his cousins. 

We had such a wonderful Christmas with our families. I'm holding it close for right now and don't want to write about it really, other than to say, I am so so blessed to have the family I do. 

I hope you had a joyful Christmas too, friends. 

happy advent

Fra Angelico, The Annunciation

It's finally time. Finally time to break out the sparkly lights. To cue up Handel's Messiah, Johnny Cash's Personal Christmas Collection, and Sufjan Stevens Songs for Christmas (all three of which are my favorite Christmas albums, all three of which make me cry every year without fail). Time for coffee and gingerbread cookies for breakfast, without a trace of guilt. 

But technically. . . it's not really Christmas now. It's Advent. A time to wait, and think, and hope. I'm kind of a curmudgeon in some ways. Every year I get more and more anxious about money and materialism and gift giving and what all that means. Every year I'm more and more convinced that it's not about presents or music or even Candy Cane Joe-Joes, as delicious as they may be. And don't get me wrong, I'm not discouraging any sugarplum visions. I currently have full virtual shopping carts littered all over the internet. There will most likely be more than one gift under the tree marked "To: Me, From: Me." And between the three cookie-eating members of our family, we've already gone through a whole box of those Joe-Joe's.

But I want to make sure that it's more than that too. More than just wordly things. I want Advent and Christmas for our family to mean growth, kindness, and peace. To be about waiting for the baby Jesus in the manger. And being like Mary who "treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart." So that's my hope for this Advent season. 

girls weekend

alternate titles: Treat Yo Self 2011!, and Self Portraits in Reflective Surfaces. 

First of all:

Mimosas: Treat Yo Self! (and okay, that's all, I promise I will not beat that joke to death.)

My friends Mindy and Renae and I have been planning this girls weekend in the city for a few months now. I was looking forward to it immensely. You know the last few weeks have been weird and stressful and yeah, I was super glad to get away and have some fun (and be kid-free!) for a little while. 

We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel. At first I kind of thought it would be cheesy, but it was classy for the most part. Our floor was the Bob Dylan floor. Fun. 

I love when out of towners come to visit because it's a great excuse to go to Millennium Park. It's not just for tourists. It was the perfect fall day, too: clear and cool but not too chilly.

And Mindy is into geocaching, so we spent part of our time in the park looking for a geocache. I've never done it before but it definitely seems like a fun adult scavenger hunt. 

We spent the rest of Saturday shopping downtown and in Wicker Park. I can't remember the last time I had such a girly shopping excursion: Anthropologie, of course, Zara, the Renegade Handmade store, Quimby's bookstore, and pretty much every shoe boutique in the neighborhood. (Though my cheapskate tendencies came out even on a supposed "treat yourself" day, I didn't buy much other than the few wardrobe staples I've had on my list for a while.)

Mindy and Renae have been two of my closest friends for a long time. Spending time with old friends is the greatest.

Plus! The official purpose of this weekend was for us to plan a Craft Social. We've been talking about doing a gathering of friends for a long time, but I think we finally got our plans nailed down. Next spring (mostly like Saturday April 28th), we'll be meeting somewhere in the Ames / Des Moines area for a day of fun and crafting, maybe an outing to the Des Moines farmers market. If this is something you'd be interested in attending, let me know! We're still nailing down plans and will send out invites early in 2012. We'd love to have you. 

sunday in the park (a steppin' out saturday post)

I've been meaning to link up on one of Mandy's Steppin' out Saturday posts for a while, and she's doing a giveaway this week. . .so that was the little nudge I needed. 

Yesterday afternoon we all headed out to a park nearby. Cantigny Gardens was the estate of some old rich guy that was really into war, so it's a really beautiful park and gardens. . . filled with old World War 2 artillery and tanks. It's weird but the perfect place to take little kids. David had a blast and Norah slept through the whole thing (too bad because her cute little face is missing from all these photos. Babies! What can you do?)

I'll most likely be wearing a variation of this outfit for the next three months straight. That striped t shirt is from Anthropologie and I'd wear it every day, except I don't really want to look like a obsessive weirdo. I stalked that J. Crew cardigan until it went on sale last winter. Boots are my beloved Fryes. 

My favorite shot of the day.

Look, a corn! (dumb family joke) Also, I painted my nails! Somewhat poorly, but whatever. Target had some of the newest Essie polishes that are sold out online so I couldn't resist.

We had a truly great weekend overall, lots of quality family togetherness. Church, farmers market, long walks. . . our storybook little suburban life. The weather was beautiful, I cooked lots of good food, and the kids were great, well, for the most part anyway. ;)

How was your weekend?

 

the marching bands

My in laws live right near a high school that hosts a marching band competition every fall. It's fun to sit on the front lawn and watch the kids march back and forth to the practice fields: like our own private parade. The weather was absolutely perfect and it was a fun way to spend the late afternoon this Saturday.

I played the clarinet and bass clarinet all through high school, but the main reason I stayed in band was so I could be in the color guard of the marching band. I loved twirling flag. I even did it for a few years in college; there's nothing quite like running out onto the field and performing in front of a huge stadium. I miss it sometimes. It's definitely one of those youthful experiences that has no real adult-life application. 

David decided he wants to play the drums when he grows up. Or the trumpet. I'll agree to either, though hopefully we'll have a soundproof basement by then. 

Renegade Craft Fair Chicago, 2011

Ah! Yesterday was a really beautiful day for the Renegade Fair. Every year I go, I am so, so happy to live close by and be just a short drive away. 

I finally jumped on the Instagram train, too. I resisted for so long because I definitely don't need another distracting technology thing in my life, but I buckled and downloaded the app yesterday morning; I wanted to take photos but didn't want to lug the new (huge) camera around. I'm pretty glad I did and now I can totally see the appeal of it. 

Top left: We parked right next to my old apartment on Augusta Boulevard in the Ukrainian Village. Another reason I love Renegade is it gives me an excuse to visit my old neighborhood. I wouldn't say I miss living in the city, but I have such fond memories and wish I made the trip back more often. 

Top right: my cappuccino from Intelligentsia! I think I was the first customer of the day (we were earlybirds) and the barista took such special care and time making my foam art. It was really cute. 

Bottom left: the entrance to the fair. 

Bottom right: Just some of the many business cards I picked up along the way. Lots of new favorites added to my etsy wishlists and internet bookmarks. 

I was primarily shopping for prints, and I bought a few I'd had my eye on for quite a while now. I'm thinking I'll share them here once I get everything framed and hung up. Knowing myself that might take a while... so maybe I'll do a links post sometime in the next few days. 

And my pals for the day! My great friend Renae and her daughter Cyan. Any time I spend with Renae is quality time, and even more so at an event like this. I think we've been discussing the possiblity of having our own booth at a craft fair for about 4 years now. Some day, seriously! And 5 year old Cyan did amazingly well on a hot day in a crowd full of big people, though I think by the time I took this picture she was ready to go home. ;)

The day was filled with friendship. So nice to see my internet-slash-real life pals Robyn and Kimberly. I had the chance to chat with Rachel from Red Velvet Art (and her blog Smile and Wave) and she was super sweet, just like you'd imagine. I enjoyed meeting Kate from The Little Things Studio. Sarah from The Small Object was so friendly and cute (just like her artwork!). Really, every encounter we had was so pleasant and the whole thing just gave me a giant crafty warm fuzzy. So: yay. Such a happy day. 

all night flea market

(a.k.a one of my favorite nights of the year.)

I live near a fairgrounds that holds this all night (4 pm- 4am) flea market every year. I've been going for years now and it's one of those calendar landmarks I look forward to every August. I used to stay up late and go, since the deals get better as the night goes on, but I can't jive with that lifestyle anymore. I think this year was the earliest I've gone: 8:30, right after the kids' bedtime. Some day I hope to go at 3 am because I'm sure by then the sellers are practically paying you to cart their junk away. 

My favorite part of going is just the people watching. There was a hippie band playing obligatory but not entirely unlistenable covers of CSNY. Random leftover early 00s goth people. Old guys fully commited to the beard lifestyle. High school hipster kids. Suburban older middle aged women alone or in pairs. Also, and this bugs me EVERY year, families with little kids. Come on! Don't bring your kids to this kind of weirdo factory at 10 pm. About every third kid I saw was crying or having a meltdown. 

Here are some of my finds. I think I spent about $8 total. Sweet.

As I walked over I thought about what I was looking for. I specifically said to myself, I probably shouldn't buy any more vintage napkins. Then this happened. Oops. But totally cute. 

These 2 books are collage treasure troves. 

A few pillow cases, and a sheet in that same pink floral pattern. I'm planning on using the sheet for the back of Norah's quilt. You know, that one I may or may not ever make but have already bought most of the fabric for. 

The books and the quilt were from the same seller. There are certain booths that are like pots of gold at the end of the rainbow, and this was one of them. I try to find the sellers that basically look like they took the contents of their grandparents basement and spilled it out on a table. The lady that sold me these said, "Yeah, we were cleaning out our closets and thought we'd see if we could make a little cash." Anyone that is too precious with their merchandise? You just know they're going to rip you off. Dude. Like those bad amateur oil paintings you can find at any salvation army for like a quarter apiece? Some guy was trying to sell them for $20 or more. I saw a terrible clown painting tagged $30! I actually laughed out loud. 

Funny giant bead necklace and cute leather bracelet. The bracelet, while it technically fits, kind of cuts off wrist circulation. Sad face. I'll probably save it for Norah's dress up bin, but if you have a really tiny wrist and want to lay claim, let me know. It cost me one bone so I wouldn't even make you pay for it. 

I could have spent a ton of money. I debated on a few vintage floral tablecloths. There was one I probably should have gone back for, because it was in good condition and that's the kind of treasure I don't normally run across at regular thrift stores. But when it comes to old cheap stuff I get really miser-y. It was $15, and in secondhand money that's pretty steep for me. 

Oh friends! I wish you all could have been there with me. There really is so much good stuff that you would have loved. Great condition and pretty colored Pyrex, old puzzles and games, nice linens, interesting furniture pieces, truly adorable vintage girls dresses, lots of weird old books and photographs. Of course, it's all mixed in with cheap sunglasses and sports memorabilia and the truly deluded people still trying to sell beanie babies or smurfs figurines for a ton of money. But it's so fun. You should all come visit next year. I'm serious.