You should do a Christmas album with Zooey.

So I've been watching a lot of "New Girl." You are too, right? Don't you love it? Like, in a light "this temporarily erases my memories of the kids throwing up today" kind of way?

But every time I watch it, I think, WOW, those outfits! Shauna would look so cute in that.

WOW, Shauna would buy that onesie in a heartbeat.

WOW, a red dress with turquoise shoes? Really???

Is she reading your mind?? It's getting weird, don't you think?

The most recent episode I saw, where Zooey's character is the LEADER OF A HANDBELL CHOIR was just so, so rad.

Did you know that the church I grew up at had a handbell choir? Yeah. They rocked it at every big occasion and were a GIVEN at Christmas time. Jon Acuff reminded me toinight about what a critical part of Christmas handbells are! Don't you agree?? (I cracked up at his post linked above on wanting your contemporary church to go oldschool at Christmas.)

So tell the truth. Did you ever play the handbells?

That outfit (minus the handbell gloves) has your name all over it!

The point? You and Zooey should do a Christmas album and throw in some handbells. You could wear matching onesies on the album cover too. Except then when she asks you to start a blog with her, it may break her heart when you said "No." You'd have to let her down gently.

Alright, enough of my late night silliness. Here's some of hers, from one of my all-time favorite Christmas movie scenes (turn up the volume, it's sorta quiet).

come to the pumpkin patch!

to follow this sweet family to the pumpkin patch....
click here

Printable pretties

OK, the good free printables right now are everywhere, so I just need to share them with you.

They are so great, I'm giving them awards:

1. MOST BEAUTIFUL

Thanks to Megan from Contented Sparrow for this piece of autumn lovely.
(Except it's going to be up in my house year-round, I think.)

2. MOST USEFUL

Designed in order to be used for the Thankful on Paper tradition started up by Rachel over here. Totally using this beautiful paper.

Thanks to Heather from Life Made Lovely for this one. She's such a talented designer. We heart Heather.

3. MOST INSPIRING

You knew Julie would be on the list of award-winners, didn't you? This is inspired by her & Jeannett's upcoming Happy Day Project, about which I'm SO excited.

4. MOST POETIC



Laura from Splendor is responsible for posting this bit of beauty. I love how melancholy it is.


5. MOST LIKELY TO STICK WITH ME

Aly from the mommie diaries created this printable in a series of three. She displays them all on this post so that you can hang them in a series, comprising more lyrics of this great song.
Who doesn't love this old hymn? I already have it stuck in my head.


6. MOST NECESSARY

And when I say necessary, I mean these words are so important. I need to read this every day. Aly posted this one too, since she's got a good eye and a creative brain for stuff like this. Love that girl.


7. MOST ENCOURAGING

Christie from Storehouse Crafts thought to bring back this printable that Heather made last year (Christie links to that post). I'm so glad she reminded me about it! It is so simple and uplifting.
Plus, there's another deer. I like deer.

So have you seen any cute, free printables lately? Perhaps on that little planet of Pinterest?

I'm excited to find some Christmas ones. How perfect for inexpensive, seasonal decor, right? 



linking up with Kristy @ Paisley Jade

My magnum opus is finished

Michelangelo had the Sistine Chapel.
Beethoven had his fifth symphony.
Tolstoy had War and Peace.

I have this.
The piece of art I shamelessly copied from one I saw at Cost Plus. I think it has become my magnum opus, my greatest work. (You know you love how dramatic I am.)

But remember how I started it IN JULY?? I have never spent so many hours on a project in my life. And had I known what kind of time it would have taken in the first place, ummm, I would not have done it.

But I'm so glad I did, because now it's hanging in my entry and it makes me really happy.



And I feel proud of myself when I look at it. Don't you think Casey will be proud of me too, the artist that she is?

Here are a couple more cutey things I recently hung next to the front door. (Excuse the shadows caused by the coloring pages taped to the windows.)

I love my new bulletin board. You can get one here (except I found it at their outlet store for cheap!).
The 4x6 printables were little treats from Blog Sugar if you attended the session with our pal Julie.
The black & white "Blessed" graphic was a postcard in my Blog Sugar swag bag, from here.
The giant-sized push pins are from here.
The key-shaped wall hook is from here.
I won the birdie plaque from a giveaway, made by her. I customized my own saying based on part of this passage. Love this company. Check them out. I got sucked in and bought gifts too.
And the turquoise metal container, which I'm using for mail, is actually from here (their back-to-school section from the summer).
And the calendar! My favorite one. Not practical, but so beautiful. Can't wait to get the 2012 for the same spot. Check it out here. YUM.

What's new around your house??

I know you have some little - ok, maybe BIG - projects you've been workin' on! Show us, show us!

{in the house with Heather today}

 

shopping in my own jewelry box...

of course you know about how when you clean stuff out of your closet and organize it, it almost seems like you have more options....
well, the same is true with your suuuuuper messy jewelry box apparently.
at least this is what's happened to me.
i conveniently forgot to take a "before picture" of all that nonsense.
but take a look at my freshly organized loot!
(yes, you can borrow whatever you want)

i just got two metal racks of hooks from lowes.
i liked them because they have a bit of a vintage feel.
and for the earrings, i got a giant embroidery hoop, filled it with burlap and then wrapped yarn around it a million messy times.
for me, i love it.
for you that last part about being messy might make you crazy...but i bet you could figure out some genius, mathematical way that would be even better.
this is what that little card looks like in real life.

just a nice little reminder not to get too sucked into worrying about my appearance as i put on my earrings.

leslie's pinterest

hey did you know you are on pinterest?
you are.
i saw this tonight.

and i know i've already told you this, but you do have your own little section of pinterest called, "shauna's 'leslie' board" that you really should look on there soon.
there are many new things....that you will love.

words like this...

and this...

oh oh! and ideas like this!!!

also, i was thinking that we should make this for ourselves (and the kids) one tuesday after school.

since they get out early.

doesn't that look so super good!

do you think nate will like it?

fruit salsa with cinnamon sugar chips!

on a different note, are you getting a bit concerned about wardrobe for blog sugar?
is meg really gonna wear sparkly platforms!?
i think i may be under dressed.
oh my, when i think about these kinda details i just really want to back out.
what happened to you convincing me to go and stand in the back with iced teas and dark glasses? do you remember that?

....and also one happy thing is that i got a super cute trench coat at H&M last night!
(and i scored it for 20 bux!)
which could still be a really good accessory to the teas and glasses...just thinkin out loud.
will it be fun?
will we be this happy?

talk me down, friend!
or i may panic and bury my head in the sand....

Back to School Lovely

Alright, I just can't wait for you to come over anymore.

I want to show you my Back to School decor. I don't usually get too excited about these kinds of things. The times are few and far between when I feel like I have AND know how to coordinate an ensemble of things to display for a given season. You are the supreme expert in this area, and so I learn a lot from you.

So this time, I tried really hard. I spent a long time. I thought and shifted and added and subtracted.



I just want to explain my process, since I'm not super confident in my display planning, in case others are reading this who feel the same. My starting point was a square vintage tablecloth I have that is red and navy plaid with a bit of yellow in it. I tried to stay focused on using only items that coordinated with this, or were white. For instance, for my crayon jar, I picked all the primary colored bits out of our broken crayons box, and allowed a few chalkboard green ones in too.



I also wanted to express our love for books. I stuck to the narrow color range in choosing the books for my stacks, trying to stick to classic looks and titles, and ones we love. I also had the idea to make a book page garland to hang across my large, old screen. I found one book in our collection with simple illustrations in colors that matched my backdrop, with childish text, and interesting images, and spent a bunch of time photocopying (2 book sheets per page of paper) and cutting them out. I could have ripped the pages out of the book. But I didn't want to ruin it. This book was one from the Nate the Great series. This garland is my favorite part of my display.

I really struggled to find things I already had to fill my three jars. I didn't want to go buy thirty erasers, although those kinds of jars I've seen all over the internet crammed with school supplies are so cute. I wanted it all to be free. So I had to stretch the category of "school supply" a bit. I filled one jar with red and yellow yarn. One with empty coin rolls (let's just pretend there are coins in them), and into the third, I put the pieces to one of our wooden puzzles (much to my son's dismay. angry voice: "Look what mom did to our puzzle!")

I got to thinking about 1st and 4th, the grades into which my kids are going. Ya know, there is a freeway exit nearby called "1st and 4th." Those are street names to me. So I made these. A little freehanded shape on green paper, white paint pen outline, and chipboard numbers made them look like street signs! (I did diverge and use some orange crayons here. It can't look too matchy matchers, right?)

So that's it. I'm so glad I took the time to display things that reflect our family and what we love. My kids were so happy to see it when they woke up on day one. They loved that I posted the 1st and 4th grade signs.

I love honoring and celebrating their milestones. Thanks for being a good little example to me, Shauna, on lots of creative ways to celebrate our kids.  

Book love for my imaginary coffee table

I have a love affair with books.

I love the words, but also I love the feel of them, and the smell of them. One just can't take in all a book is with a "reader." I understand its place of convenience, but how could we as a society ever permanently trade away the feeling of opening a hardback in your hands and flipping the crisp pages for the first time? I can't imagine we ever will. I have this dream of one day having this incredible stack of super special, big, beautiful coffee table books - on a coffee table - that people actually look at and feel inspired by. OK, realistically, that's not happening anytime soon. Hello, motherhood. But a girl can start a collection, right?

So today when we went to the going-out-of-business Borders bookstore and everything was 40% off, I was hunting for treasures.

And I found them.

Oh. My.

I had no one to share my absolute glee with when I happened upon a single remaining copy of this book in the design section. I'd been wishing for it, but had never seen it in person. It is so beautifully substantial and inspiring. I want to take a picture of every page and post them.

I WANT TO LIVE IN THIS BOOK.

Check it out. I know a couple people with this wallpaper....Joy & Ashley Ann...both ladies with incredible taste.

Heaven will be decorated by Orla Kiely, I believe. This book is going on the top of my coffee table dream stack.

I also found this beauty at the bookstore.

It was in the children's section, and is a sort of vocabulary book with amazing graphics and colors. It was originally in French, so some of the vocabulary words are not standard for American children, such as "bocce" (as in the game) and "tapping" where people are crouching next to trees in a forest, presumably harvesting maple syrup. Look how pretty and 'me' it is.

I bought it to (gasp) remove pages to hang all over my house as the seasons change. Yes, I'm cringing at the thought of damaging this book. I'm also considering buying a second copy to ease the pain of watching it be dismembered. I'm so weird, I know.



 This is my favorite page. How fun is this book?



These books are on my wish list for Christmas.

This one, well, because Capri is my favorite spot on earth, and having a giant book of incredible photography will 1) remind me of being there with my love on our tenth anniversary, and 2) ease the pain from our camera getting stolen on our last day there and ending up with zero photos. Yeah, it's been four years. And yeah, I still a little bit want to cry about it. This book is a mandatory part of my dream stack.

And this one seems like a book you and I both would love. Remember we saw it in person at that cute boutique a couple weeks ago? Yummy.

And oh. One last thing. I saw this today at Borders.

I did a double take at the author. Yep. Good ol' Pioneer Woman. Which tells me one thing: when I get to be a famous blogger, at least I'll finally have an "in" for getting my children's books published (that I have not yet written). That's one bonus for being a famous blogger. Next she'll be coming out with an album and sporting a cameo on Grey's Anatomy.

So what's in your dream stack, ya know, if you had a coffee table all to your big girl self that was magically repellent to Legos and Disney princesses?

linking up with Kristy at Paisley Jade today!