Celebrating the Family

Shannon over at The Redheaded Hostess contacted me a couple of weeks ago and asked if I'd be interested in participating in a blog hop to celebrate families. [Can we do a little celebratory dance together? This is my first blog hop, and, who wouldn't want to celebrate families?]

My post will go up tomorrow - I'll be sure to link to it tomorrow so you can read my thoughts on the following paragraph from The Family: A Proclamation to the World:

"By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed."

Reasons

Really great excuses for not blogging:


1. Work is keeping me insanely busy... lots to read after hours. (Not complaining.)
2. The Boy. (Deeeeefinitely not complaining.)
3. Life. (Okay, I'll complain a little bit about a dirty house, laundry pile, and a sink that is clogged.)


Here's to prioritizing. Sorry Blog, you've been beaten out by a clogged sink.

Is that vintage?

A couple of weeks ago, I purchased this necklace:

There's a story with this necklace. Curious?

Last night I stopped at Whole Foods after work to grab a couple of things for dinner with Boy. The female employee at the cash register said, "I really like your necklace. Is it vintage?"

I smiled and had to bite my tongue a little to keep from laughing. The first thing that popped into my head when she said that was "Harvard Sailing Team + Hipster." I thanked her sincerely and said, "No. I just bought it at the mall a couple weeks ago."

If you haven't see this Harvard Sailing Team episode, watch it now. I hope you chuckle like I did when you hit minute 2:50.(I suggest watching the whole clip, but for the sake of Grandma's fashion and vintage necklaces, definitely watch through 2:47.)

 

Big sigh

I have a couple of (very sigh-worthy) things here for you to enjoy over the long weekend:

Source: justbesplendid.tumblr.com via Katherine Rushforth on Pinterest

Source: piccsy.com via Tracie on Pinterest

Source: wanderlustnix.tumblr.com via Ashley @ Organized Stress on Pinterest

Source: bhldn.com via Sandy on Pinterest

Cinnamon Ink

Okay - have you heard of Cinnamon Ink? Well, now you have. It's a darling blog and the author, Kate, is celebrating the one year anniversary of her Etsy shop by giving away one of her darling prints. Go enter!

The Satorialtwist

No, I didn't spell the title incorrectly. It really is "The Satorialtwist. I'm sure you've all seen the regular Satorialist website, but this little twist of a website makes me laugh. Here are some examples:

Fall fashion

I haven't quite had my fill of summer, but I am getting excited for this:

Source: polyvore.com via Ashley @ Organized Stress on Pinterest

Classy layers...

Source: polyvore.com via Ashley @ Organized Stress on Pinterest

Beautiful peacoats...

Source: polyvore.com via Ashley @ Organized Stress on Pinterest

SCARVES!

Source: polyvore.com via Ashley @ Organized Stress on Pinterest

BOOTS!

Dinner last night

Last night, the Boy and I went to Whole Foods together after work and picked up the fixings for this:

Source: souvlakiforthesoul.com via Noa on Pinterest

Caprese salad, which falls in my top two favorite meals. Main ingredients: tomatoes, fresh mozzerella cheese, fresh basil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and a pinch of salt. We grabbed a loaf of delicious bread and enjoyed every bite of the meal.

Here's to good food and good company.

Friday lovin...

A few favorites for you...

Sam's TJ Maxx recommendation... I went. I conquered. Oh ya.

Can I please discover the gender of my future babies the way Joanna posted here? Then can I buy one of these from Elle?

Have you heard of Kid History? If not, watch one of the episodes from Katelin. They're hilarious.

Don't you wish everyone had one of these: The magic "Make Everything OK" button

Can I please live what Sarah just went through? Please?

I'm incredibly excited to try this. Thanks Kayla!

Strawberry salsa and a bookshelf

Hi!

Guess what I did two weekends ago? (Yes, this post is a bit late, but I've been busy at work and I'm catching up on blogging.)

1. Spent four hours at the local farmers market...without my phone... and with a boy. (Yep.) Fresh cherries and raspberries, and strawberry and mango salsa accompanied us home. (The cherries and raspberries didn't make it far though.) Have you ever tried strawberry salsa? De-lish.

2. The boy and I went back to my house and we put together my new Ikea bookshelf. (Read: HE put together my new Ikea bookshelf. I watched and handed him the tools.) I finally have a bookshelf...and she's beautiful. She fits perfectly in my room. I had a hard time deciding between the black and creamy white - but I ended up going for the creamy white. My room is a light taupe color and I have a ton of black pictures frames to hang up, so I wanted to keep things light. (Pictures to come.)

With all the books on my shelf, I wanted to spice things up a little... I found this idea on Pinterest:

Source: assets4.designsponge.com via Kristy on Pinterest

See those two bookends? They're bricks...covered in fabric or paper, I can't tell. Isn't that great? The fabric here isn't my favorite, but I love the idea. I think I'd like to try this and see what kind of spice it adds to my room.

Girl gift

Need an idea for a bridal shower gift? I saw this on Pinterest and decided to do it. I got on Amazon and ordered Scrabble letters for less than it cost to ship them. Grabbed a $5 frame from Ikea and glued the letters on. I've done this for a couple friends and they turned out pretty cute! I know I'd love to get this as a gift, so hopefully they liked it.

Grandma

The grandma I knew best passed away a little over three years ago. I was on my mission in Germany when I read my mom's email telling me my grandma had passed away - while resting in her rocking chair. Perfect way to go, right? She deserved a peaceful passing like that. She was, and still is, incredible. Saying I miss her is an understatement.

All three years of high school I took darkroom photography classes. I ate that stuff up. My senior year, I was going through some of my grandma's stuff with my grandma and my mom and we came across a roll of film that had never been developed. WHA?! So, with my life in my hands, I took that roll of film to school and carefully developed it. My friend recently referred to this story as a real "time capsule." Seriously. I couldn't believe the pictures I had and the stories we discovered because of them. This is one of the pictures we got from the film - my grandma, Eleanor. Isn't she fabulous? She now occupies space on my dresser so I can remember to try and be as fabulous as she is/was.

And if you notice that gold heart locket to the left of that picture, that belonged to her. It has her initials carved into the gold. Love that little memento of hers.