I typically am not into all the “I want-ness” that sometimes exists on blogs. I tend to shy away from it, not because I don’t want anything, but because I seem to have to wage a daily struggle with discontent. I’m trying not to buy, and I’m trying to save, and I’m trying to reduce, reuse, recycle, etc. Buying just isn’t on my schedule much these days.
However, in all this frugality still lies a woman who loves beautiful things. I can’t and won’t deny that there is an essential place in every life, and every home for those things that reflect who we are, what we think, and, to some extent, reveal a mini-worldview. It’s important, no matter our financial or idealogical viewpoint, to express ourselves with what is around us. Many times it turns out to be, not to be too syrupy, a sort of journey of discovery. What we surround ourselves with, quite frankly, says a lot about us.
So I allowed myself to browse today. I clicked and scrolled and clicked and scrolled and found and sighed and loved.
And so I will share with you, my dear readers, what I have found. And, hopefully, you will be inspired and maybe find a little treasure that speaks just your language.
First, I found this lovely piece of whimsy in a shop called ‘and furthermore‘
Isn’t it just great? I found, all of a sudden, that none of my clocks worked properly. Honestly, they don’t. I need a new one, now, don’t I? The whole shop is full of big ones, little ones, for the wall, for the top of the nightstand. Maybe one for each room, right? I do believe I will be stalking this particular shop until I see one I simply can’t do without. My eye is on this one…we shall see. I had my eye on one earlier and, alas, it has been snatched up already. *sigh* I shan’t give up.
After I drooled over the clocks, I found something else:
For my desk. See the trend here? I’ll just call it a business expense. After all, every business person needs a good phone. The rationale might seem weak to anyone who is in love with their Blackberry. But I don’t have a Blackberry and I honestly don’t ever think I will have one. Too much clicking and punching, and too little actual conversation. If I don’t end up getting a phone like this, I might snatch up something else from the shop DomestiKate, for there is a trove of fun little vintage finds that would brighten up my little desk. Or side table, or bookcase, or mantle.
Okay, moving on. I, then, in all my browsing, happy, temporary laziness found this shop.
Oh, the joy of a truly sweet pair of earrings.
I’m not much into necklaces, as I have a fear of strangling myself whilst trying to do something innocuous like loading the dishwasher. Not that I have loaded a dishwasher lately. It’s been broken for almost a year. But, in my mind, that is entirelly beside the point. The real point? I adore earrings. And these call out to me ’cause they’re sweet and modern and fresh and old, all at once.
So, there you go. Some sweet, summer finds, no? Go browse and find a few things that will add a bit of bright panache to your day.
Have a happy Tuesday.
*all photos used with permission and are property of shop owners*
We had another clean-out day. Now everything left in the garage is either donation items or trash.
That feels seriously good.
Two garage sales and over 200 dollars in extra cash from selling our junk. Can’t beat that.
I am sure over the winter I will find a few more things that I can let go of. Things that hold very little or no importance to me. And then next summer I will sell again and, at that point, will have hopefully caught up from a decade of marriage, six moves, and all that comes with having three children.
So, I got up out of bed at around 5:45 a.m. and began pulling things out, pricing, re-pricing and wiping down items with a good 8 or 9 years of storage-induced grime.
The morning was lovely, almost chilly. But that didn’t last long. Along towards lunch, the sun started reaching through the tree cover and heating our asphalt driveway, which heated everything around it.
And the humidity. We could have used a snorkel, I’m tellin’ ya.
So, by the time I wrapped and started handing things to random strangers and saying, “It’s free! It’s free! Take it home with a happy skip!”, it was pretty hot. And I smelled bad. And looked bad. Kinda wilted and icky like a forgotten load of laundry, still in the washer after languishing at the bottom for a couple of days.
And all this time, my husband was bustling here and there and ran an errand that seemed to take a very, very long time. I thought he was getting milk and cereal. Nope, he was getting milk, cereal, steak, asparagus, peppers, mushrooms, watermelon, onion, tomatoes, grapes…let’s see…I think that is all.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, I was grateful (he had found some awesome sales), but I was puzzled as to why the trunk of groceries.
And then I found out.
I know, right?
So as I was sweating and tired and trying not to be grumpy in the heat, my lovely husband was fixing a little feast. He is amazing.
And so, we sat down to this yummi-ness and sighed and talked and, sometimes, didn’t talk. Just drank in the rewards of a little hard work and true love and all that comes with it. And listened to a vintage records of Alvin and the Chipmunks and Doris Day. (The Chipmunks was supposedly for the kids, but I thought it was great. Just imagine “Downtown” being sung in high, squeeky voices.)
The reality of difficulty lately, with the economy really leaving us in hard straits, has made us more aware of little blessings. And we are trying, very much trying, to find God’s blessing amongst the hard stuff.
And then, sometimes I wonder if the blessings are truly small.
Maybe the small blessings aren’t small, after all. Maybe they are big. Really, really big.
I was listening to a sermon on the radio today and heard this quote:
“I am the master of my unspoken words, and a slave to those words that should have remained unspoken.”
~I have no idea who said this. I pretty much encapsulates where I am right at this moment.
lemonade-stand lemonade:: warm, overly sweet, and undeniably charming
tennis:: or something like it
books, books, and more books:: at least in theory
lazy squirrels:: check it out. a squirrel in our yard made a dash for our very tall tree stump, scampered up and then unceremoniously flopped down for a rest. I kid you not.
later hours and hazy air:: equals amazing sunsets
sunshine:: that soaks into everything and cooks all the grumpiness out
projects:: that surely must get done…after the pool and the bike ride and the market and the nap and the kisses and the wet, coconut-scented hugs, etc.
lightning bugs:: can they, indeed survive overnight sealed in a jar with a hole poked in the top? Indeed, they can.
free movies at the local theater:: have seen Tale of Despereaux and Kung Fu Panda, finally, on the big screen…for free. Can’t beat that.
jazz concerts in the park:: looking forward to what the newly-formed Arts Council will bring to the area.
swing-dancing:: in our bedroom to old records played on the free record player my lovely friend found for me at a yard sale. Thanks, Sarah…you. are. the. best.
garage sales:: see above. ‘nuf said.
*sigh*
I’m off to keep working and not working and doing what needs to be done or what wants to be done.
Or, maybe not.
Happy Thursday.
This weekend…went to the new farmer’s market here in our little town, where I found a gluten-free pastry chef. I was floored. Here? We are like the definition of podunk-ville. I bought a lemon, coconut, banana mini bundt cake. I would post pictures of it, for it was very lovely, but we ate it all up and now it is gone. yummers. I really, really hope this market works this year and for years to come. It was a lovely thing to look forward to on a Saturday morning. Oh, yeah…they had live music, too. I know, right?
For awhile now I have come to realize I miss having the arts and other cultural niceties available to me. I grew up in a mining town out west where we were fond of comforting newcomers with a hearty, “Don’t you worry when you look around…it’s beautiful out here, it’s just that all the beauty is down there.” And we would point to a vague area around our feet, apparently trying to point to the unseen tangle of mining shafts below us. And then we would chuckle and expect them to laugh and they wouldn’t, and then it would be a bit awkward.
Now, for all the physical ugliness of our little city, we had some stuff goin’ on. It was almost as if the hunger in our souls for something, anything beautiful, drove us to extreme lengths to find it. Our community theatre was one of the best I have ever seen, there was an actual Symphony Orchestra, of which I was a member. The one and only bassoonist, I was. They weren’t fabulous, but they were good musicians, and they cared.
Oh, and we had museums out the wazoo. They were mostly having to do with the whole wild, wild west thing. Basically, they showcased all the various outlaws who had resided in the vicinity in the last 150 years. It was all very fun and educational and somewhat scandalous. In a good way, of course.
And then there was the random, but always well-attended rodeo. After all, we had two kinds of Wyoming gold. The first being whatever we could dig, scrape and bring up out of the ground whether it was coal or other stuff (there was all kinds of great stuff down there), and the other was what was produced after a herd of cattle had a good, long day grazing in the sage.
So, yeah. I grew up thinking coal and cow patties were gold.
There was plenty to do most of the time. Except, of course, between the months of January and April. So bitter cold and absolutely miserable, but it was pretty funny that every year there would be a rash of babies arriving from October through Christmas. hmmmm. Keeping warm, I guess.
As for myself, this is when I learned to love a good book. My older sister and I would lock ourselves away in our room after our chores and read and read and read. Sometimes stupid books and sometimes great ones. The great ones we still talk about. The stupid ones, thankfully fell off the edge of our minds and have left room for more.
Lately, as is common with most women I know, I have become too busy to read. The books I have ended up reading are all research-driven, a necessity when you are a mom. But a bummer if you have tasted and have loved really good literature.
So, I made up my mind last week. I asked myself, Why am I not reading? I mean our little Indiana town has defied my expectations and has started a open-air market and they have spear-headed an Arts Council. It just seems to make sense that while we are all thumbing our noses at practicality, I need to take the opportunity to pick up a book and find myself, or maybe lose myself, again.
So, I decided to read this one. It was recommended for reading by an online book club and I am loving it. It is thoughtful and interesting. Insightful and self-deprecating. I recommend it, even though I haven’t finished it.
Just a sample. The closing paragraph of the chapter I just finished.
“I hope that the writing and remembering I’m doing now will save me too. I find that not only am I haunted by my own memories but by those that belonged to my mother and to her mother before her. What an odd legacy, and what do you do with it? Keep passing it on? I think some things are better not remembered, and though they are inheritances, they are not good gifts.” *excerpt from Vinita Hampton Wright’s novel, Velma Still Cooks in Leeway.
Go find something good to read. Enjoy it, think about it and come back and let me know what it is you are reading. I would love to hear.
So, if you have been scrolling through my posts, you will have noticed that all the pictures are somehow gone. Yup, I know. Trying to find ‘em and put ‘em back where they belong. Story of my life, right?
Anyhow, I hope I got everyone contacted that needed contacting and I hope I gave everyone enough notice of the move. ‘Cause when I cancelled my other blog, they were like ‘okey dokey’ it it was GONE. In an instant. Along with all the pictures from my new site.
Weird.
So, I’m still working on getting it ironed out and getting it just as I want it. There’s a lot to still do, but it’ll get there.
In the meantime, I would love for you to check out another brand-new blog. The blogger is an old friend of mine, recently rediscovered, and her artwork is amazing. Here is her link.
More news. Yup, my shop is finally up, but I haven’t had the time (bein’ a mommy) to put in the first few items. They shall be in by the end of the week. And the banner might change a bit. I know, I’m like that.
And, finally, to celebrate the opening there will be a giveaway soon, so stay tuned to this bat channel. You won’t want to miss it.
So, I’m off to finish the little things that need doing. Like finding stuff and putting it away, including this blogs pictures. ha.
Have a great Monday.
