Things I'm loving...

Is it really Memorial Day? I know today is supposed to be the symbolic start of summer, but here in the Pacific Northwest, we've hardly seen Spring. Here's hoping for more sunny days in the 70's. Someday I will have a playroom/reading room just like this. With yellow stripes instead of blue.

Other things that have caught my eye...

Great tutorial on how to tie a summer scarf from my favorite Canadian fashionista. 

Amazing yellow and gray wedding, shot by one of my favorite photographers.

Whenever I'm in a funk, I pull up this photo and laugh and laugh.

The pretty pretty bedroom I would want if I had stayed single

A few lively chaps living my fantasy of living at ikea

Wanting to get this grill for my New York family

Anthropologie designed a swimsuit for me!

New way to make a sweet herb garden

Want to get this print for my husband

Funny free background wallpaper

Perfect summer dessert. Yum.

Cute Memorial Day ideas

Coolest bookmark ever

Cooking light lunches

Instant comfort box

Lovely Advice

Tie on crowns

 bruschetta

yellow

Collin turns two!

One of the best parts of moving to Boise is being close enough to family to share special occasions with them. And not just Christmas. Even a two year old birthday party is reason to get together. 

And to stay for a month or so.

Two is a great age for birthdays. Just a cake, a few ballons and a couple gifts and it's perfect.

Actually, that works for almost every age. (Except 16, 21 and 30 of course.)

(You can get yourself one of these darling hats at Dainty Couture.)

First time making chocolate cake from scratch. And it tasted....exactly like a mix :)

Collin seemed to like it.

"No. I will not smile. I have jelly beans to attend to."

We thought we would have the party inside.

Until we looked outside.

So the guys went out to build a birthday bonfire.

Cause what goes better with a 2 year old party than roasting sticky marshmallows over a roaring fire?

"Um daddy.... who is this gift from again?"

"MAX and WUBY!"

 (Thanks grammy)

"That Ruby doll is really for me right?"

It was so fun to have my sister Molly there with her baby Sam and my cousin Lindsay and her family. I know. They're gorgeous. I practiced a little "professional photography" with them before the party. 

 Oh yea. I'm really blond now.

Happy birthday to the sweetest boy ever. 

Speaking of parties, the winner of the Peartree Greetings invites is Samantha. Congrats! Email me and I will get you your prize :)

Happy Birthday Sweetheart

I have a million photos from Collin's little birthday party that I am going through to post on Friday. But I got all nostalgic tonight, thinking about how my sweet baby isn't a baby anymore. It really is such a bittersweet thing, to say goodbye to your baby forever, but to see an amazing boy take his place.

Collin can say just about everything and is speaking full sentences. He knows his letters, shapes, colors and numbers. It would seem he is left handed. He can sing anything and is singing constantly. His favorite tunes are Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Feist's "1234", "I love you" and the Alphabet song. Sometimes he improvises. Like when I'm changing his diaper "Twinkle twinkle little bum. bum bum, pee pee bum bum bum". He says the sweetest prayers. He can sit for hours if you read to him, and sometimes he will spend that much time just reading to himself. Daddy is his favorite person on earth. He loves Max and Ruby; the show and the books. His favorite game is "Mommy Monster" where I put this one green blanket over my head and chase him. 

He still likes to cuddle.

I can't believe we've already had him in our life for 2 years. It seems like just last week we were holding him for the first time.

I'm so glad we didn't get our wish for a second daughter. (yet) Because having a son is phenomenal.

Happy Birthday love.

If I could plan my wedding over again....

The royal wedding and celebrating my 10 year anniversary has got me thinking about my own wedding. It was wonderful, but there are always things I would change.

I loved my dress. But this one is amazing. (are those pockets???)

And this one with sleeves would be, well, extraordinary. 

Oh my. This bouquet made of vintage brooches would be the perfect "something old". How lovely to pass down through the generations.

Though this one is so soft and classic.
(photo source) 

But this one is so so me.
I remember when we first moved to the south we filled our county home with wild blue hydrangeas.
Every room had a bouquet.
(photo source)

The women making my wedding cake had a medical situation that did not allow her to finish it. I never did get a wedding cake. Though my mom ran to go get a small cake at my favorite bakery for us to "cut" the morning after our wedding. It was delicious. But not as pretty as this frilly three layer beauty.

 (With yellow flowers of course.)

How about a sweet a bird cage veil?

The morning of my wedding I realized I'd forgotten my earrings. I ended up running up to my high school jewelry box and grabbing the earrings I wore to my junior prom. 

They were fine, but these Tiffany dangles would have been better. 

(Not that I had $3,000 to blow on earrings. But we're dreaming here.)

We chose to have a very intimate formal dinner. I would chose to do it again. But sometimes I think it would have be fun to have an alfresco receptions with 100 of my closest friends and family. via little lizzy

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Our honeymoon was perfect.

 But France would have been nice too.

That's okay. We've got our 2nd Honeymoon in Hawaii coming up. YAY! 

Come to think of it, who cares about the wedding. Honeymoons are the fun part.

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What would you change about your wedding?

Etsy Feature Friday - Crzy Bag Lady

I have been a bit frustrated with the selection of toddler boy's clothes lately, and I started branching out to see if I could find something sweet and boyish (ie, no superheros!) I came across a gold mine when I found Crzy Bag Lady Designs!

The hand embroidered onesies were the first thing to catch my eye. Mainly because they were exactly what I was looking for. Unique, age appropriate and perfect for a two year old. (At least he will be this weekend!) Since they're organic they are incredibly soft.

Just some of the great designs available. If I had a girl I would be all over that grill onesie for 4th of July. 

The baby combo packs would be most amazing shower gift. Get some friends to go in together.

Some of these are $9 each. Maybe that is where the Crzy in Crzy Bag Lady comes from. They are hand embroidered for goodness sake!

Collin loves his "hewocopr" shirt. 

For his birthday this weekend, Collin will be getting his own Crzy Bag Lady crayon caddy. He is a coloring nut, and I'm tired of the kids fighting over the crayons. Each kids has a caddy to keep the crayons nice and neat. There is a flap that keeps the crayons from falling out all over the place.

 Love that. 

(They each come with 32 soy crayons.) 

Just look at the baby blankets! I want this one so badly. It matches Collin's room perfectly. 

But, he's not a baby anymore...

But enough about the stuff for the kids. I have a list a mile long for things I want for me! (Hey, my birthday is only 4 months away.) 

Crzy Bag Lady has some of the best fabric choices I've seen on Etsy, and I'm especially loving the aprons. Just look at the yellow and gray! Great prices starting at only $21.

The yoga mat bags are enough to make me actually attend the pilates class I've signed up for.

Also therapy bags for only $2.25!

With so much Modern and trendy design, this shop is a mecca for birthday and baby showers gifts.

Make sure to check out all the lovely wears from Crzy Bag Lady for yourself! 

While shopping at the mall today.

I'm not going to claim I'm a fashionista. But when exactly did the tacky grandma tourist look become the newest thing? These pants are rayon. RAYON!

(And, I personally think the outfit to the right is hideous too. Just saying.)

TLC Book Tours - The Beach Trees

I’m so excited to be part of another TLC book tour with the new Karen White novel, The Beach Trees. I think I have read every Karen White novel and have enjoyed them all, but The Beach Trees is my favorite so far.

In the Beach Trees, Julie has been handed a very unexpected inheritance: five year old Beau, the son of her close yet mysterious friend Monica. With no friends or family to provide support, she moves from NYC to the Gulf Coast beach home also willed to her. Her despair and fear overwhelm her when she discovers this beach home in utter ruin after Hurricane Katrina. She is left with no home and only one clue to as to how to find any of Beau’s relations, a portrait painted by Julie’s famous grandfather. Julie finds herself struggling to understand why Monica would have left her childhood home behind 10 years before. And why, inexplicably, Julie and Monica’s pasts seem to intertwine. 

While each of Karen’s novels have their own feel and style, Karen stays consistent with three elements. First, each work has a subtle romance, sweet and believable, but not overwhelming to the plot. Second, a historic home is usually a "character" of great importance. Her love of old American architecture is contagious. And third, each work holds a riveting mystery, only to be solved when the characters search for answers within their (often long forgotten) past. The present and past blend together to bring insight and answers to those struggling to find their place in the world and find solace in their own loss.

One paragraph in The Beach Trees sums up my thoughts on the Karen White philosophy. “...some things should never be forgotten. Whether it’s a memory we should learn from or a memory of something precious, sort of like life’s rewind button. Sometimes that’s all we have left.”

The Beach Trees is a story of loss, and the human spirit’s need to rebuild from the rubble. Poignant and hopeful, I highly recommend adding it to your summer reading list. 

The Salad Days

When I was reading "Water for Elephants" I was struck by a beautiful passage. I came across it one night while reading in the bath, desperate to get a little solitude and quiet after dealing with a toddler's meltdowns, a princesses constant pleading for attention and piles of laundry. It made me smile. I felt my 80 year old self whispering to pay attention and I read it over and over again.

Those were the salad days, the halcyon years! The sleepless nights, the wailing babies; the days the interior of the house looked like it had been hit by a hurricane; the times I had five kids....and a wife in bed with fever. Even when the fourth glass of milk got spilled in a single night, or the shrill screeching threatened to split my skull, or when I was bailing out some son or other -- or, in one memorable instance, Bobo -- from a minor predicament at the police station, they were good years, grand years.

Here's to the exhausting best days of my life.

Teacher Gift Ideas

Note - Almost all of the sweet anniversary messages you left on Wednesday's post were lost when blogger shut down. So sorry I didn't get a chance respond to them. They warmed my heart. 
Especially yours Shane. 

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It's that time of the year again. Time to look for a sweet little gift for the teacher who has helped mold your little one over the school year. You saw what I put together for Liddy's teachers. Here are some more of my favorite ideas:

Darling wood block set from Wood n' Stitches on Etsy. 

Sing Loudly magnet set from Paper Pumpkin. 

Sakura Hana ring from Sora designs.

Bamboo Earrings from Truche.

My sweet blogging buddy Misty from Queen of My House made me this awesome Scrabble name plate. Oh so yellow and gray! I thought immediately it would be a cool handmade teacher gift. Let me know if you end up making some!

Cute key fob from Sweet Pea Totes, only $6!

For the teacher with the "magic touch", a wand from Modern Crush.

I love thinking about this laying on my favorite elementary school teacher's desk.

I'm so proud. My daughter "graduated" from twice a week preschool. Of course, I graduated from college, so I'm smart enough not to buy these grossly overpriced photos. (I was a bit tempted though.)

GIVEAWAY!!

 Had a child "graduate" from school this year? Throwing a birthday party? Bridal shower? Baby shower? Or girls night out? One reader will receive 24 custom invites from Peartree Greetings! 

Just leave a comment below and you're entered.