Finding joy in hidden places…

Mr. T and I have a favorite ‘thing’ that we do.  It’s probably the closest thing to date night that we manage to slip in on a regular basis.

It looks a little like this.

We head out, generally in the late morning, to our  little town to the North.  He drops me off at Goodwill while he visits the shops that he prefers.  I shop Goodwill then I take a little hike several blocks down to my next little ‘stop’.  Sometimes he joins me there and we shop together.  There are a couple of other spots where we visit on our way up to town or on our way back.  I generally fill up my side of the car and he generally doesn’t fill up his side.

At times I fill up my side, his side and the back.  You just never know what kind of a day it will be!  🙂

On our last visit I picked up this perfectly~red suitcase.  As I was walking down Main Street {red suitcase in hand} I had an extra few minutes so I stopped for a quick visit to our wonderful, little-town shoe store {you know, the kind where they actually help you by measuring your foot, trying on shoes, [taking all your money], etc…?…and they carry some of the best brands}.  As I walked through the doors {red suitcase in hand} there were about three sales-gals who nearly gasped because they loved my little red suitcase and would also love to be seen walking down Main Street with one.  My heart smiled just a little.  🙂

Isn’t it wonderful when we can connect with like-minded gals?  This was just a short~yet~sweet reminder of how, even if just for a few moments we can find encouragement and friendship in hidden places…we need only open our eyes and our hearts to it.  This actually led into another moment shared with two of the gals who had, on occasion, taken opportunities to encourage and speak into the life of one of my girls….as I left {red suitcase in hand} my eyes were brimming with tears and my heart was full.

♥

There is another little joy hidden within the case of this lovely red suitcase, a satiny liner with shiny, yet subtle polka dots!  [smile, sigh….]

I wasn’t even planning on keeping this little number but my own post makes me want to!

i’m hopeless

…what to do with salvage?

Do you love to take something and find a creative, fun, never-thought-of-before use for it?

I recently entered a ‘sale’ {in my neck of the woods} with a group of like-minded gals/friends who came out from the Spokane area to shop for great finds.  At one point I came upon two of my favorite junking life-friends, Celeste & Holly…they were standing there staring an item down with deep intent in their eyes. 

The definition of that look?: we making something out of nothing…right here and now.

I just wanted to climb into their little heads.  I could vision an idea for that piece of junk, but what was their vision?  Certainly it was completely different than my own.

A couple of weeks ago I had a great fire going outside.  When I burn, I BURN…I start looking for anything and everything that can just….be GONE! 

I had two old chairs that really needed to be GONE!  Honestly, I probably could have put them in my booth at Farm Chicks and had somebody PAY me to take them off of my hands but I could see no vision for them….until I turned them over and saw the fun coils that filled the underside of them.  My first little coils.  You see them at all the sales but now I had my own.  {silly me}  I enlisted my Mr’s help {who couldn’t see my vision AT ALL…but willingly helped} and we cut all of those little coils out of the bottoms of those chairs before they hit the burn pile.

Yesterday I finally brought one inside.  If I have something sitting around that seems to have no use I can begin to envision many creative uses for it just by having it around.

It took just minutes to slip one of my green, jar flower vases {still sitting on the table from the weekend’s art retreat} into one of the coils…perfect fit!  Since my eye likes things in 3’s, I went back out and got 3 coils that were still tied together….voila!

Another one of my… sweet pleasures = simple joys! 

{and it was free….I know my Mr. can catch that vision…btw, he think this post should be titled, “Spring Flowers”…he’s such a clever one}

We have had our share of hard freezes so the blooms are looking quite sad but yesterday I was able to pick a lovely bouquet of parsley and included blooms of sage and oregano….beautiful and fragrant and untouched by the frost!

attempting the undones…

Upon returning home from my week away, attending {the most amazing} The Creative Connection event, my eyes wander to all of the undones in my life.  Last month felt like a whirlwind of life and now I can settle my mind and heart a little and just take it all in and yet keep going at the same time.

…one of the undones being, this fun little chandelier that was forced out of my chicken house because one of my Rhode Island Reds insisted on roosting on it every night…her little head tucked high near the ceiling of the coop.  silly girl!  I truly did not want to disturb her because she found that to be her comfy spot each night but her eliminations were landing right in the waterer…therefore causing unnecessary contaminations!

solution: remove the chandelier until I can come up with a better idea

This morning it just sits there as one of the undones that I now need to attempt to do!

It shall be a happy, happy Monday as I hope your Monday will be too!

p.s. I also find myself singing this happy Cinderella tune…

I’m in the middle of a muddle
In the middle of a muddle I am
I wanna have fun, I wanna have fun
But the work is piling high

I wish I were twins, I wish I were twins…

all of the lyrics are super cute {and somewhat meaningful}! 

~:US:~

Who would have {or could have} known that we could make it all so perfect!

…and it’s not over yet…

excited for an early~May arrival

Dear Friends,

If leg warmers are no long in style, would you please not tell me?

i ♥ them too much!

The Happiest Place…

I woke up a few days ago in the happiest place on earth {so they say…I say it’s a wonderfully exhausting place…but that doesn’t make a very compelling tag line}

I was able to come with my daughter, Lauren and our friend Becky.  I’ll have to post more later.  Although I paid for a day’s worth of internet just so I could talk to you, writing a post on a computer other than my own just doesn’t work for me {apparently}.

..gotta love those shoes! {his not mine…he gets to dress for cuteness and I definitely have to dress for comfort while I’m here}

slippin’ out…

…for a bit of fun!

It’s fun to just get away and do something different…especially when you get to share it with a good friend.

Diane and I have been friends for about 15 years.  We meet 6 mornings a week at 5:30 and walk 4 miles together.  Because of our busy lives, most weeks, that is the only time we see each other.

She loves country music and Brad Paisley is one of her favorites so last night we went to the BP concert together.  It was fun to eat good food, laugh and enjoy good music together…celebrating friendship all the while…

my day…

Today was my day….my birthday.

I was able to spend it with all my kids…in Seattle…and it was perfect!

We crowded onto this beautiful, yellow couch at Anthropologie for a family shot…because Anthro was on mom’s list of want-to’s for her birthday.

It would have been more perfect with Mr T but he is in his ‘happy spot’…fishing in Alaska.

in the park…

This week my daughter is home.  She brought her best friend, Sarah, with her and her ‘nanny-girl’, Holly.

I say nanny-girl because Lauren was her nanny from the time she was a newborn until she was two…she is now four and Lauren loves to take any opportunity to spend time with her.

We have a perfect little park right in town that has a river running through it {a very small river}.  Today we decided that we would pack a picnic lunch and let Holly play in the water.

Holly has always called Lauren, Lala {as in la la…sing a song…}.

…such a fun, girly day!

{not so} Carefree, yet Happy!

Saturday on my way home from the west side of our state I followed this car.

Even when I had a chance to pass I felt compelled to just follow them.

Two young gals with blonde pony tails flipping in the breeze…driving down a beautiful Washington road in their red convertible.

I couldn’t help but think of all the things I didn’t do before I took the leap {@19} into marriage and family.  It also made me smile at these care-free girls wishing I had a red convertible where I could let my ponytail flip wildly in the breeze but my smile more honestly expressed how, if I could go back 27 years, I wouldn’t change a thing.  As I grew up I always knew that I only ever wanted to be a wife and mom…seriously ~ that really was all I wanted and it was a goal that I fit into comfortably.  Parenting has been far more challenging than I ever imagined but I still find it my perfect fit.

Love This Life!

p.s.  I really wouldn’t mind having a little red convertible that I could journey down a windy road with my blonde pony and a special girlfriend!

note to self…while driving down the road of happiness, make sure that my camera is out of reach!

≈ ♥ ≈

It’s time to announce the winner of my last give-a-way

Natty left comment #20 comment for the give-a-way and is the winner!  Felicitations to you!  😉