{ Public Service Announcement }

In case you were wondering, alcohol-free wine tastes like

 

weird grape juice.

 

 

Since the alcohol has been removed, I guess that's actually what it is.

{ this and that }

last week i spilled soup on my laptop.

it was really good soup too, this random paleo recipe with chicken and sweet potatoes and kale and peanut butter, so good that mike has told me like five times that if i ever want to make it again, he fully approves {and he never says that about soup!!}. moral of the story: don't try to eat lunch, answer emails, and play with lainie on the living room floor, all at the same time. otherwise you will spend the next hour scrubbing sweet-potato-orange goo out of the carpet, using toothpicks to scrape sweet potatoes out from under the keys on your laptop, and cursing your tendency to over-multitask. and then none of the number keys will work, so you can't log into your email or facebook or even log onto your computer, and even mr. computer fix-it husband o' yours can't make the numbers work. so you are relegated to using mr. husband's desktop computer, which has a host of issues of its own, plus it's like not portable and stuff, so you just aren't on the computer much for now. hopefully someday soon you will have a chance {and the stamina for a long car ride with a baby who doesn't like her carseat} to drive to the computer shop all the way in seattle to get your keyboard replaced.

that's my excuse for not blogging lately.

ironic because i've wanted to blog lots of times since paleo soup fell from the sky onto my technology.

it's fall. really truly fall. the air is crisp and chilly, the sunlight is gorgeously yellow, and i want PUMPKIN EVERYTHING. like, seriously, everything. must go through the comments on this post asap to find all the yummy pumpkin goodness i can. until very recently i hated pumpkin everything. i'm not sure what changed; maybe it was the pregnancy?? but anyways last fall i could.not.get.enough.pumpkin.spice.lattes, and the same thing is happening this year. {and salted caramel mochas. oh yes. but pumpkin spice lattes have the top spot, and not from starbucks--much more pumpkinny and not overly sweet if you get it from an independent coffee stand.} i still don't like pumpkin pie, but i'm all over every other pumpkin-related concoction.

we're dedicating lainie at church on sunday, and my whole family minus one brother is coming! {dratted weekend work schedules.} i'm excited to see everyone...it will be a crazy couple days, but well worth it. mostly i'm excited for them to see little miss. she has changed so much since my parents were here in july...she wasn't even four weeks old the last time they were here.

we're househunting. like really seriously househunting...keep us in your prayers! it's a huge decision, not to mention an incredible financial commitment...and after consoling myself with the thought that we will most likely buy a short sale, so it will be months and months before the deal is closed and we have to move, one of our top contenders is not a short sale and if it happens, we may end up moving before the holidays. golly gee whiz, i should probably start collecting boxes! do you think mike will help me hang a couple more pictures on the wall here, or will he say we ought to just wait till we move??

buuuuut, on the plus side, i'm getting totally stoked about decorating and re-arranging and making a new nest!! driving around running errands today, i had this burning desire to go home and read "hidden art" and flip through domino's big book of decorating. and i'm seriously crushing on this blog...so many cool, do-able decorating ideas!

sometimes i just feel like writing all smalls. not sure why. i think i feel like i can type faster, keep up with my train of thought better. i never know how long i have before little miss will require my attention, so anything that gets the words out faster is a-ok in my book!

in case you were wondering, i'm a few weeks in, and i totally love cloth diapering. especially when i arrange the diapers in roy g. biv order. i never understood people who talked cloth diapers all the time, the internet forums--the great passion people have for, um, cloth diapers?? like, really? now i get it. i don't understand what happens when you start cloth diapering, but i totally get the passion. somebody should probably scan my brain.

and now i'm going to tackle the mountain of dirty dishes taking over my kitchen.

{ Today I: }

:: painted my fingernails for the first time in a.g.e.s.

:: packed for our second road trip in less than a week {yay for a little brother getting married!}

:: wanted to blog about our trip last weekend, but clearly ran out of time...*ahem*...chose to take a nap instead

:: read this post from The Nester and now want to give houseplants another try...it's just that with only north-facing windows and last year's lack of success, I think I'm already doomed to failure

:: ran across this beautiful image

via

:: came to the conclusion that maybe the reason Baby Girl does gymnastics when I lie down is because when I'm moving around, it lulls her to sleep...so maybe my sleepytime is her awaketime?

:: vacuumed for the first time in an embarrasingly long stretch

:: had a sudden, intense craving for roasted vegetables at about 10:00 a.m., which resulted in making and eating roasted carrots at about 10:45 a.m.

:: missed my husband an awful lot

:: took this brooding self-portrait when I realized I was having a good hair day {such days may be in short supply in the future: it appears that Pantene has stopped producing my favorite curly-hair-taming product ever...and so far I have not been very successful in finding a replacement. My last bottle of the good stuff is just about gone.}

:: needs to get going or I'll be late for dinner with friends!



{ Idaho: the Critters }

For the past three years, Mike and I have gone to Idaho to visit my family over Labor Day weekend. In 2008, we'd been dating about five months...and he was the first guy I'd ever brought home to meet my family {I should probably clarify: Aside from a disastrous six-week relationship when I was 20, he was also the only man I'd ever dated.} It was a big deal. In 2009, we'd been married less than two months, and my family threw a big reception for us. It was amazing! And a big deal. Mike's family also made the trip and finally got to see where I grew up. In 2010, we actually went the weekend before Labor Day {that's when I was able to get time off}, and Mike's parents again joined us for part of the time. It was a fun, relaxing, laid-back long weekend.

My littlest brother, Obediah, with his two new horses, Teko and Bandit. I can't remember which is Teko and which is Bandit, but they are both gentle as kittens and love people. They think they are people. While both horses are very accustomed to humans, they are young {three and four years old} and need to be broken/trained. Obie has his work cut out for him--but if any not-quite-16-year-old guy can break two horses, it would be him!

My Dad petting two of his babies, Hokey Pokey {the Shih Tzu on his lap} and Ali {as in alley cat}. Or maybe that's Tu Tzu on his lap, and Bitty {as in bitty kitty} that he's petting. I really don't know. My parents have two Shih Tzus, which I can rarely tell apart when they're next to each other and never when it's just one of them. They also have two black cats with white markings, which I can never ever tell apart. Why they have nearly identical duplicate pets, I have no idea. It's probably to confuse the visitors. Come to think of it, Obie is following in their footsteps, getting two dark-colored horses, each with a blaze down his face, and I can't remember which of them is which either! Is it a conspiracy? I honestly never realized this before. It probably reveals some deep-seated psychological damage. I ought to suggest professional counseling for their duplicate-identical-pet issues.

Gus. Or, Angus Dougie McDog. This is sad. Gussie is now in the Happy Hunting Grounds. He was an old fellow, probably 12 or 13. {And there was only one of him.} Goodbye, Guster-buster. I'll miss you.

Either Bitty or Ali is an incredibly laid-back feline and will let Obediah do pretty much anything with her. As evidenced by this one photo, representative of numerous un-catlike poses that Bitty/Ali nonchalantly allows Obie to put her in. Bitty? Ali? Bali?

{ Lots of Linky Love }

Hey peeps!

We don't have internet at home right now....it's part of the new-office changaroo, and should be fixed in the next few days...but I've managed to find all sorts of great nooks and crannies on the interweb that are dee-lightful.

Like this post from Young House Love that has me itching to re-organize our closet and get rid of a LOT of my clothes that I almost never wear. Though I know I can't pare down my earring collection like she has!

I think that I am going to be forever grateful to find this post about favorite paint colors over at Holly Mathis Interiors: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, and Part Four. I'm heading to Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore after work today to get more paint chips. Fear not, dear husband, I am learning that accent colors are NOT wall colors. No more apple green walls. I'm very happy with how our home looks, but, well...if we were gonna do it over again, I wouldn't paint our living and dining rooms light green.

Another delight: this gorgeous nursery.

Notice the sidebar full of links to tutorials: how-to-make-beautiful-things, with lots of photos! I'm loving this wreath, and--these fabric flowers!!! Someone please tell my ovaries to stop emitting this continuous high-pitched sqealing noise! I'd like five girl babies right now so I can dress them in hats, headbands, sweaters, and dresses decorated with handmade fabric flowers, please and thankyouverymuch. Mercy, the cuteness!! Makes me think of my chubby new loves, Audie and Lottie, whose names are actually Audrey and Charlotte--two of my cousins had babies three days apart in March, and I got to meet them for the first time last month when we visited my family in Idaho. Audie and Lottie would rock the fabric flowers. Their mommies are going to hate me for calling them Audie and Lottie. Especially Lottie's mommy. {Love you, Julie!}

Maybe it's the autumnal quality in the air: A sort of extra-golden tint in the sunlight, a hint of orange leaves in the scent of the wind. Maybe it's the rain and the fact that I had to turn the heater on the other night and all the home decor blogs I've been consuming. Whatever it is, I am in a fiercely home-making phase. Can I start working part-time, in order to dedicate those other 20 hours per week to crafting and creating and painting?

Or at least be a mommy like this lady someday?

A crafty do-it-yourself-er like her?

I feel so blessed to be able to learn from read these women, to garner inspiration from their lives and creativity and to apply what I learn to hopefully make my home and life more beautiful. Seriously, what did people do before the internet?!

I'm excited to show you allllll about our camping trip last month, and then our trip to Idaho. So many beautiful people and places to blog about!

{ Bits and Pieces }

1. 2.3.
4.

1. Can you see them? My long-awaited dahlia buds?

2. I'm so impatient for them to bloom! I love dahlias; these are of the dinnerplate variety, and the plants grew much bigger than I expected. I've forgotten what color they're supposed to be...
3. It's not every day that you glimpse a Boeing DreamLifter parked by the side of the road as you're stopped at a red light on your way to work, is it?

4. In the midst of tearing apart, packing up, and moving his office from our second bedroom to an office space, Mike took a call from a client.

P.S. We'll be working on this office move for most of the rest of the weekend...wish us luck!