RIP 50mm

My camera's 50mm lens met it's demise this weekend. We were at Long Beach Island, walking around exploring, when I just taken this picture and I went to place my camera on the stroller momentarily, and it literally just slipped through the crack, landing right on the lens, popping it open, guts spewing out, dead. Well..perhaps not guts, but it's pretty neat to see what is inside a lens! Of course, I was devastated, and I didn't even have my standard backup 18-55 with me. I was camera less! I watched several moments unfold where I would just think to myself "Ooh, that would make for a great picture!" I suppose there will be more...but for now, I'll survive..B and H ships really quickly. Just two more days and I should have a new one! Thank goodness!

A Soon to Be Outdated Moment

Just a photograph, no words, for you to ponder...Inspired by Amanda Soule. Happy Friday!

Jackpot!

My neighbor is the queen of yardsaling. She just seems to know where all of the amazing sales are and has the house to prove it. It reminds me of a Pottery Barn advertisement, except it truly is vintage beauty! So naturally, when I heard her stirring early Saturday morning, I assumed she was headed out for the hunt. She told me where she was headed...even gave me the address!



"Contents of house sales are always the best!" she said. A lesson not to be taken lightly from such a professional! Knowing we'd already had plans, I didn't initially plan to trail after her. After talking to my husband, he told me to go! I got in the car, iphone armed, ready to find her destination. After about an hour, I felt like I was on a wild goose chase. This so called house sale was nowhere to be found! So I counted my losses and headed towards home, hoping to hit a few smaller sales along the way.



The day was not lost! I hit the jackpot! Contents of house (and a phone number for later pokings!) later, I scored quite a few nice pieces of fabric, some notions, a great apple crate, and some hand embroidered pillow cases! How much better could a yardsale get?!

Field Trip!

Last Friday...Philadelphia...


Warm Weather....



Good food...



Good friends!



What more could a girl want?

A Nashville Tuning Moment

Becoming my favorite project of the week lately..one moment..a special moment from the week..one to savor and remember always..Inspired by Amanda Soule.

What was your special moment this week?

Off The Bookshelf

P has really grown a great love of books around here lately. He points and says, "book! book! book!" when he wants to be read to and he certainly has his favorites. Being teachers, we aren't picky about what books, as long as we are exposing him to a variety of media. So of course, that leaves us with a huge book collection: some we love, some he loves (and we don't!), and some we just have for now...



I recently purchased Mama, Is It Summer Yet? by Nikki McClure. Many of you are familiar with her beautiful papercuts, and illustrations for another book, All in A Day's Work. This book is just a joy to read to Patrick! It's simple, yet beautiful. Each page filled with amazing illustrations and a good sequence of events that lead up to summer. If you haven't picked it up yet, hurry up! It's the perfect time to share this book with Summer creeping right in on us!

What are you reading lately?

Saturday Morning Musings

Here we are, enjoying our Saturday morning. The trains were taken out and assembled, and for the first time, not disassembled by Godzilla himself. The whole weekend ahead of us, street fairs, BBQs, graduation celebrations...it's gonna be a good one! I hope your weekend is just as fine!

Thunderstorm

Earlier this week, we had some fierce storms rolled in. They were slow to come, the thunder off in the distance for quite some time. We played outside while the winds began to pick up, but headed in for the duration of the rains. It was one of those storms that left a yellow atmosphere outside when all was said and done. Everything was dripping, like newly fallen dew. Patrick and I headed outside to explore.



It was just before dusk, so the sun was off in the distance. Patrick found himself exploring every puddle with his chubby little feet. Boy was this amusing to him! It brought me back to my own childhood and the discovery of puddle stomping at summer camp. I think he's found the joy much sooner.



While he wandered around, I took a few moments to capture the beauty of the storms remnants.





Here's to many more amazingly beautiful thunderstorms in the coming season!

A Graduate Moment

Patrick and his uncle...


Just a picture, no words, inspired by Amanda Soule. Have you had any special moments this week?

Sandbox!

My child is OCD.

As a creative person, I try my best to introduce him to all kinds of experiences: from paint to gardening. Each and every time, he comes to me with his hands out wide and something on them. It makes him irritated. I try to show him that it's OK to get messy, but he doesn't like it!



That said, it was a big surprise when we took a ride to the beach a few weeks ago and found that he loved to sit at the bottom of the slide and play with the sand! I also often have a hard time pulling him away from the sandbox at our babysitter's house. I decided it was time to make him a sandbox.



We ventured out to Home Depot. We even had an associate kind enough to cut it all for us so all I had to do was screw the whole thing together and stain and seal it. We are quite happy with how it turned out. He comes out the door now and says, "Box! Box!" and we know what he means. Here's to a great summer with sandy toes!

Monkeys for my Monkey!

Between two school events and a Temple graduation, I promise I'm going to find some time this week to participate in the kids clothes week challenge and I started today!

This is Patrick's first year as a walker. Last summer, he was content to drag himself around on his belly like a little army man, but this year, he's full fledged walking! This means many many skinned knees! I made him this cute pair of flood pants so that he can fall on his darling little knees all he wants and hopefully, they'll be spared the scrapes!



I embellished them with some monkeys too! I deliberately left the edges of them to fray a bit...seemed to give them more of a boy feel.



He sleeps right now, but I was so excited that I just had to share before bed! How is everyone else doing?

A Rockstar Moment

Just a photograph, no words, for you to ponder...Inspired by Amanda Soule. Happy Friday!

Like Butta!

No one told me that a nicer sewing machine would make a better sewer out of me. I feel like this machine has opened the world up to me. It just feels right! Things seem to glide right through it, and straight, and neat!



I started my outdoor cushion recovery this week. I'll admit, the squirrels got the best of me in the last three years, picking little holes in my couch cushions, and pulling at the stuffing inside. Our cushions have been pitted with holes ever since! I decided it was time to remake them, but not without salvaging the zippers and the stuffing from them!



I started with the top two. They are obviously the easier to sew. I had no problem putting the zipper in the back, and the cushions fit just as good as the originals! They even give the deck new life, don't you agree?

Tea Party!

This is our weekend...



This is only one of two birthday parties. We are half way there!



So I decided to whip up a cute outfit for the birthday party...specifically, the Oliver and S Tea Party Playsuit.



I am really happy with how it came out, except I tried to use snaps and they didn't really work in our favor. I tried snap tape, something new to me, and this morning, as we got ready, my little guy was wondering around the house and snaps kept popping..and then I was promptly reminded that he does the same thing on his overalls! So I quickly took them off, took the seam ripper to the snap tape, and serged up the bottom, which worked out just fine. I would have preferred to serge before hemming, but in a pinch, it worked!



Thank goodness the weather was nice for us! Tomorrow should be just as beautiful for the other party!