hold on

it has been a while. i have tried to sit down and add to our blog for months with no success. i was walking this morning and thought, i need to do this. i am going to do this for me, for kel, for wil, and for em. i love looking back on our past 4 years. it makes me appreciate all that we have. i need that today. so much is changing in our lives and i don't do change very well.

so in an attempt to get this thing going again, and so that we can have our daily comings and goings saved, here we go...

i spent the better part of yesterday and today cleaning out my new art room and unpacking boxes. i am about one tenth of the way there. i will be teaching em this year...every afternoon...all year, in an advanced art class. what a gift. and what a challenge. and i get to be on the same campus again with wil for his last year at darlington. another gift. it seems like just yesterday that i was writing about em leaving me alone at the lower school campus and heading to middle school. where did the days go?

roll away your stone, i'll roll away mine.

our saturday... started with coffee and the front doors open like it was an april morning.

i walked. i went to the grocery store. we moved some firewood and got the smoker ready to go. it was 74 degrees on this january 12th. we smoked some wings with lemon pepper and a blackberry farm bbq rub, and made a spinach salad to go with them.

they were delicious.

then we had a fire and listened to some newly downloaded, live mumford and sons.

a good day.

it's the little things.

sweet like candy to my soul...

photo boy and painter girl are reconnecting with our blog for 2013. with the many additions to our social media portfolios, the blog took a back seat this past year. it seemed like every time i turned around, someone was writing a blog, or i was catching up on all the blogs i had bookmarked to read. i needed a break from the blog world. instagram turned out to be a quick and easy way to visually document the everyday goings and comings of our life. pinterest, while made fun of by pb, proved to be a viable teaching tool for me. i have been able to connect with other artists and teachers, and expand what i am doing in the classroom and personally over this past year. so not all of the social media onslaught has been negative. we were walking home from a downtown stroll this week and i told pb that i wanted to bring the blog back. i want to do it for our friends and family as well as ourselves. it is a diary. when i am having a crappy day, i can look back at this blog and see how much i have to be grateful for and how far i have slipped away from that joy at times. it is so easy to get caught up in the stress of life and in my case, making it more stressful than it needs to be. i've never been a big "new year's resolution" maker. i'm my own worst critic so i am constantly aware of what i want to change or do better. so all of a sudden resolving to improve, reconnect, give something up, etc. is not a novel or highly anticipated idea for new year's day. however, when a trio of string musicians played "amazing grace" table side, just for us, at our anniversary dinner thursday night, some things hit home for me. a few wishes on my list for 2013: letting go and relaxing just a little bit more, relishing the everyday...like time when we all sit down for weeknight dinners and everyone is talking at once, writing this diary, loving a tuesday as much as a friday, loving the ones i'm with even more than i do now. from us to you, happy new year. cheers!

you know the nearer your destination, the more you slip sliding away

what a great song...

summertime. it is the best. we have had such an amazing time so far. and as em reminded me today, "it's not over yet!"

but every year, after the 4th, i get so melancholy. i start preparing myself for the end. i do love fall but i am so sad to see summer coming to a close. our heat won't be going anywhere until october, but the carefree days are slowly slipping away as august approaches. it is during this peak of summer as we are nearing the downhill slide, that i start planning and scheming...thinking of all the things i could do to avoid school, schedules, busy mornings and busy nights. and thinking of how much i am going to miss summer days and nights.

as i have been reminiscing today about all the fun we have had, i decided to share a few photos of the lake, the beach, birthdays, night photography, food, friends visiting, feet, knees, and our cat. (and once again, instagram followers have seen these...but now you can see what i deem as my favorites.)

hope everyone is surviving the heat and relishing the month of july. what happened to 3 months of summer???

and a happy anniversary to my parents today!!!

summertime, and the livin' is easy

so far this summer, we have been busy photographing, painting, celebrating my birthday week, tilling up our back yard, waiting for sod, watering the new sod, taking and picking emily up from camps, cheering on wil with his first job, sitting on the front porch, sitting on the back porch, reading, listening to new tunes and getting ready for the beach.

this afternoon, i am inside, trying to stay cool, and compiling a few photos of my favorite summer discoveries.

i stumbled upon copious on my bday while drinking coffee and reading someone else's blog that morning. it's a boutique version of ebay. here are 2 of my finds.

this multi chain bracelet. i looks vintage but not sure how old. i have worn it every day.


these "already broken in" frye boots. i am most excited about these. and they arrived sans dirt. if i could wear jeans and boots 365 days of the year, i would.


here are a few other items i have noticed.

this leather cross-body bag that would be cute with so many things.


and these hobo clutches for a great price. i love anything made by hobo.


new summer nail color i got for a bday treat. it's called enuf is enuf. good summer toe color.


another bday treat. this is so fun to mix with body lotion and wear for an evening out to dinner.


and my bday treat from pb. these are worn every single day but not at the same time as the chain bracelet.


and we have been streaming this in the evenings while cooking dinner.


the best honey ever. another treat from a friend. a piece of ezekiel bread, toasted, with a slice of avocado, fresh cracked pepper, and a drizzle of this honey is amazing.


perfect little summer tanks. these were a find from a best friend with a great eye. and for the deal that they were, em and i are sharing 4 of them.


happy first day of summer!