{ Farm Chicks...better late than never! }

One very unexpected-and-delightful "side effect" of being married has been the sharing and enriching of my friendships by the addition of Mike to these relationships. It's as though a deeper, richer element is being unearthed--an element I didn't even know existed, didn't know to miss. It's like discovering that your favorite books, dog-eared and tattered from years of loving and re-reading, have sequels that you knew nothing about! More chapters! More storylines and characters to love, every bit as good {or better!} than the originals!

Such was our road trip to Spokane last month. Chelle and I have known each other almost-forever, and her family's move 4+ hours across the state was such a hard thing to accept last winter. The Farm Chicks Antique Show in early June was the perfect excuse to spend a weekend with David, Chelle, Anniebelles, and Jack. Cooking the "Tumblr kitchen" David made for Chelle, sharing meals in the breakfast nook, playing with Jack and Annabelle, waking up in the blue-white-and-yellow guest room, roasting caramel-flavored marshmallows over a bonfire in the backyard...so.much.bliss.

Farm Chicks was great, too! It was sensory overload: So much beauty and creativity! I only took a few photos--I was too busy soaking in the gorgeousness. It was such fun to see Courtney and her sweet sweet booth {hers was definitely one of my top 5 favorites!}, to meet Jessica and Becca {Becca's booth was another top 5} and Jenny!



This is one of the only photos I took while at the show, and I don't even remember the name of the vendor! Don't you love love love this idea for a lampshade? I'll share photos of the goodies I acquired in another post...soon, very soon.

One evening David and Chelle took us to a park...oh darn, what was that park's name?! {several seconds pass} Thank goodness for Google! Manito Park, that's it. We had the loveliest evening there, complete with rolling down grassy hills and meandering through a formal garden and a pinecone fight in a little grove on the edge of a rose garden. Mike accidentally nailed me on the noggin once....but that didn't slow anyone down for long!

{Trying to see into the upper pool of the fountain, curious if there are any coins in it. I love how even Jack is trying to see!}

I am in love with these hedges. In spite of all the beauty that was at Farm Chicks, these arched hedges--three on each side of the fountain in the formal garden--may be my most favorite beauty of the weekend. They make my soul happy. They are so perfectly Hobbity/Narnia-esque/Little Women/fairytale/Alice in Wonderland, all at once!

I fell in love with Mike all over again, too. He and David spent most of Saturday and a good chunk of Sunday entertaining Annabelle and Jack while Chelle and I gallivanted about the countryside. And Mike loved it. I felt badly because he and David spent so much time babysitting and had very little "guy time," and that just didn't seem right at all. I was apologizing to Mike about that, and he interrupted me: "Babe, don't feel bad!! I had a blast! I love hanging out with Jack and Annabelle." Pause. "And David." He was completely sincere. He really, really loved spending most of the weekend with David and a four-year-old girly girl and a one-year-old grunting-eating-mischief-making baby boy!

This picture makes my uterus weep. Use me! Use me! it pleads. Someday, dear, someday.