a little of alot

The end of summer (the kids staying home part of summer, not the actual summer) kind of came up out of nowhere. There was back to school shopping, meetings, back to school nights, Dr. apts., more back to school shopping, and then there were all the things that I wanted to do with the kids before they got too busy with the new school year. Plus, I hadn't finished my summer reading book-list and there was a bunch of scrapbooking type projects to start. I needed to prioritize, which meant cutting back on things that I felt take up time that I always seem to be limited on. Blogging, I have a love-hate relationship with my blog. Sometimes it can be fun, sometimes I get almost resentful because I feel like it's eating up time I could be spending doing something else, and sometimes I just forget that it's even here. Love-hate at it's best. 

Then, I woke up today, peeked outside to see low grey clouds blanketing the mountains behind the house, the light tink-tink-tink of rain on the tiled roof above, and I thought: today is the day. Funny how the onset of a cloudy-drizzly day can make a hectic schedule seem to slow down to a much needed relaxed pace. 

So, here I sit... rambling about a few things I've done recently. The most recent is my color post with Crate paper. Colors that border slightly on Summer and a little on Fall. I have all these ideas floating about for Autumn color combinations but I have to be patient and wait! 

 I'm not sure how I ended up being so lucky but these friends came to spend last weekend with us. It's the second time in almost 2 months that we've gotten a chance to spend time with them both! (Jessica somehow convinced Jeff, or Jeffy as my kids like to call him, to drive up to my mom's house while we were there in July) and now she's done it again and they drove down to our little house in the desert last week. How does she do it??!! The last time they visited us in AZ I made up a welcome basket to greet them. This time I decided to forgo the idea of the basket and instead create a welcome jar! I tied this idea into my It's a Wrap post for Crate, there's more photos and details over on the Crate blog. Jessica had hinted that she'd really like a travel kit with the main colors of coral & grey ~ I have such subtle friends. ;) So, off I went to gather all sorts of small embellishments, some new, some found and alot handmade! It's probably one of my most favorite projects that I've put together, I love giving things away, but the idea of filling a jar with little things that I knew she would treasure was the best!

Jessica and I spent the entire weekend gabbing on about upcoming events and collaborations we want to do again, playing in my craft room, digging through my massive collection of fabric, hunting for treasures at a local antique store and cooking up a storm. I haven't cooked so much in a very long time - thank goodness I like to prepare and plan out my menus ahead of time! They sure come in handy when you've been out and about all day. Jessica and Jeff departed on Tuesday after the kids were off to school. The house seemed strangely quiet and empty, I missed them both as soon as they left. I'm truly thankful for how the internet brings people together like - Jessica and I (we met through Flickr, 5 or 6 years ago.) I only wished we lived closer together or at least in the same state! 

Because it's blazing hot outside still, sometimes food looses it's appeal and we end up making smoothies for breakfast, snacks, desserts. I think the kids and I have combined every possible fruit and yogurt together! I love honey-dew mixed with anything, Alaina likes peaches and berries together and Chase, my simple little guy, opts for just strawberries. We make a dessert smoothie of bananas, frozen chocolate yogurt, marshmallow fluff and ice of course.... it's amazing and I don't even particularly like bananas! ;)

I've acquired a few new instruments over the summer, with more on the way this month. Pretty

  soon I may be able to open up my very own instrument museum! jk.... sorta. Lastly just some random photos, they were too pretty not to share, as soon as our heat breaks, another month or 2, I'm taking the kids to the botanical gardens - it will be good to get outside after hibernating all summer long. One of the downfalls of life in the desert - our summers that last up to 5 months. After the 3 week vacation this summer, I'm almost convinced that I'd like to live in California again. Jessica tried for 4 days to convince Peter to move us closer to her, so her and I could be neighbors.... I think it sounds like a fantastic idea! 

Well friends, I need to prep the house tonight before the next set of guests find their way here tomorrow evening. Here's to great friends, being creative, and little kids that make life fun! Good night!