New Series

I'm really excited to introduce a new series I'll be doing here on my blog. I'll post a letter each week and give you a little peek into what makes this mama tick. If you are a blogger, make yourself some widgets and join the fun! (Send me your blog address and I'll link to you in my A-Z posts!) 

Look forward to the letter A coming soon!

Rebel

James got a camera for his birthday! It's the one I've always wanted, but it really is his, not mine. He has spent hours reading the manual and learning what everything does. James is a natural at photography. He has a good eye for composition. These are some pictures we took of the kids tonight. I'm not sure who took which. They're mostly of Ambrose because Beatrice just runs away...

Bird Finger Update

So yesterday we had another trip to the ER with our little wild child. Beatrice got her cast off! She lodged her hand between the sofa and window sill and pried it right off.

I had found her a few times earlier that day picking a whole in the cast so she could touch her index finger and saying, "hello finger."

At the hospital, they just wrapped it up as best they could. I'm glad they didn't put on a whole new cast!

Anyway, the pins will come out tomorrow!!!

On a totally different note: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FAVORITE HUSBAND!

Photobooth Silliness

I spent the past two days on a marathon vintage treasure hunt. I am a very happy girl and can't wait to start listing all the fun new items in my shop!! So many funky, eccentric oddballs! 

Happy Fourth

This is the first time in my adult life that I have dressed patriotically on purpose. This is kind of a nautical slant to the red, white and navy with a vintage flavor. I had a cute little get-up for Amby, but he spit up on it. Oh, well. At least my dress survived!!

I hope you have a great holiday with friends, family and fireworks!

On Being a Seeker

Let me preface this by saying that this is not a post about Harry Potter.

I have been interested in and inspired by Hermann Hesse on and off the past almost-decade. Have you read Steppenwolf? It is about feeling like you don't fit in and all the struggles that come with accepting who you are regardless of what anybody else has to say. And learning that your dreams and the world's expectations of you are not always the same. I'm just going to share a little excerpt that I've gone back to a number of times.

"You have a picture of life within you, a faith, a challenge, and you were ready for deeds and suffering and sacrifices, and then you became aware by degrees that the world asked no deeds and no sacrifices of you whatever, and that life is no poem of heroism with heroic parts to play and so on, but a comfortable room where people are quite content with eating and drinking, coffee and knitting, cards and wireless. And whoever wants more and has got it in him- the heroic and the beautiful, and the reverence for the great poets or for the saints- is a fool and a Don Quixote... You are much too exacting a hungry for this simple, easygoing and easily contented world of today. You have a dimension too many... Whoever wants music instead of noise, joy instead of pleasure, soul instead of gold, creative work instead of business, passion instead of foolery, finds no home in this trivial world of ours."

I think many of us spend our youth dreaming of all the wonderful-exciting-amazing things we are going to do someday. But if you look ahead too much, you miss out on all the wonder of right now. I've found that my happiness has nothing to do with how many of those Someday Things I've checked off the list.

It's more about how much I've treasured the little things and it's about enjoying being myself and living my own life (even if it is insignificant in the grand scheme of things).

I love God and the universe he put us in. I seek out beauty every day. I laugh and make my family smile. I am there for my friends. I love who I am. And I love that I have a long way to go to become who I will be.

How have your dreams changed and evolved?

SHOP UPDATE

I'm really excited to share this with you! Please check out my shop today and tell me what you think! Here are a few of my personal faves:

  There are a few items that include amazing extras. (Like a little dress that includes a jacket AND purse!) Happy shopping!

SHOP HERE