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! 

color challenge & travel pages

My color challenges are back on track over on the Crate blog! I took off the month of July with them, due to all of the CHA excitement and the release of 3 new collections. But now it's August and the commotion has settled enough that the blog has returned to it's regularly scheduled events! If you have time and  like the color-combination I've put together this month come on over and join in! I give away a collection of products every month to the winner of my color challenge! Pretty enticing right? 

I've broke ground on filling up my travel journal! Here's the first couple of pages and a journaling entry.

In other news, I spend last week tracking down a few things my sister requested we send her asap. It's amazing the amount of stuff we take for granted because it's readily available to us. Alaina and I made a care package and Dana at the last minute asked us to find her a fan because the base that she's currently at, in the South, doesn't have air-conditioning. So, being the good sister I  am, I somehow managed to make a fan fit along side everything else we were sending her and I certainly took advantage of the Post Offices' motto of 'if it fits', it ships.' 

I love care packages. Dana use to send me the most elaborate boxes stuffed full of fun random little things while I was living in Hawaii. Now it's my turn to return the favor. I can't wait until Christmas, I've been keeping a mental list of items to purchase and send her. :)

This is the last weekend before the kids go back to school! The summer went by fast, at least I think so, and  now the kids are anxious to see their new teachers and reunite with their friends. I think one last family outing is in order for Monday and then back to school nights, Parents Day, and the first 2 days of school take up the rest of next week.  Welcome back all too busy school schedules! 

paper and photos and Crate

I'm around I promise. Just busy trying to get back into the swing of things on the home front which is taking longer than usual this time! I'm currently preparing a post for Crate Paper set to publish in the am, so I'll be back to update this place some time tomorrow. In the mean time check out Crate's blog tomorrow for my Color Combination challenge - it's oh-so summery this month! 

friends, food & kids

These past 5 days have been super quiet. The kids and I have been house/dog sitting and we've been a bit confined to the house... which I wasn't totally expecting but when life hands you lemons you invite everyone to come over and see you instead! Peter's family was able to come spend the day with us on Wednesday and 2 of my favorite crafty friends arrived to spend Thursday and Friday with us!

Jessica from Srumdillydiily blog and her equally creative husband Jeff came to stay the night with us while passing through town on their way to Nevada. They arrived with gifts and were met by 2 very enthusiastic kids! It's been a little over 2 years since we've seen them in person and both Alaina & Chase were set on making up for lost time it seemed. Jeff is so incredibly patient with them both, I don't know how he does it!  Alaina somehow convinces him to play Barbies or in this case Monster High dolls with her and both kids tend to see Uncle Jeff as a jungle gym.... poor guy. :) Jessica and I got to discuss all of our upcoming crafty/blogging ideas - I'm so excited to get back home and get to work. I need to be creative - I miss my craft stuff!

While our guests were visiting, I got to play the role of a cook and planned a little menu around locally grown fruits, veggies and honey. Have I mentioned how much we're enjoying the home-grown produce! For breakfast the menu was: white peach/blueberry or blackberry shortcakes with fresh whipped cream & wildflower honey served with roasted chicken-apple sausage.

and for lunch I've been playing with my mom's panini maker. I'm not sold on the idea of absolutely needing one but they are kind of fun to use! We made 2 types of paninis, one being more of a grilled lunch sandwich: roasted turkey, bacon, tomato, spinach, red onion, avocado, mozzarella, with dill mayo on a garlic french bread. Then we tried a sweeter version with blackberries, honey and basil leaves, which I think I'll make a few adjustments to today and then try them again!

My parents are on their way back from North Carolina tonight (little sister graduated from Army boot camp this week!) and then we have 2 days of playing and shopping before we fly home to AZ. Got to make these last couple of days count!

fields of gold & fruit

While the kids and I were flying from Arizona to Northern California, Alaina was getting restless mid air (it's only a 2 hour flight but both children seem to have inherited my patience levels :)) and asked "are we even in California yet?" I told her to lift the shade on the window so I could see out. I took a quick glance out and saw the quilt like fields that we were flying above and told her that yes we've been in California for awhile. Of course she wanted to know how I knew and if I was sure. So we got into a little discussion about those fields and I asked if she knew where fruit and vegetables came from - "The grocery store?"

No, sadly living in AZ has completely sheltered my kids. (I've said this before but - 2012 is the year I start planning our great escape!) Once we got to Grandma's house it was easy explaining that all the fruit and vegetables we eat either grows on the ground or grows on a tree. My mom's fruit trees are full of fruit and the kids are able to go out each day and pick their own. Chase goes out with his bucket and shovel and scoops up fruit that has fallen to the ground, so proud of himself for what he's found!

I'm definitely adding a vegetable garden and a few fruit trees onto my wish-list for the new house when we finally do move!

I've also been making friends with the local hummingbirds. I think they may be getting use to seeing my camera. :)