Of Weddings and the Northland

At the end of May
I was so excited and thankful to be able to spend a week in Minnesota!
Wait what? Did I just say May?! Wasn't that forever ago?
Yes, yes, it was....but after being gone from blogging for so long,
I'm still playing catch up guys! Bear with me.
 

As I was saying,
this past May I went up to my once home-state of Minnesota to be there for my best friend's wedding.
It was most beautiful and I was more than thrilled to be a part of such an important day!

Her awesome family is near and dear to my heart,
and I consider them an extension of my own.

Spending time with them was more encouraging, refreshing and motivating than I can say!

Some days were spent in the Cities- oh yeah baby, I drove in the Twin Cities and survived!
Praise Jesus! I think I missed at least one turn every time I got behind the wheel,
but hey, I eventually got where I was supposed to be!

Picture not mine, courtesy of Facebook.

The wedding was beautiful, touching, significant, and tear jerking.
I saw my best friend- who I spent the greatest, scariest days of teenage life with- marry a wonderful man and step into a holy, exciting chapter of her journey!
It was a pretty weighty experience for me, in all honesty.

I was also able to visit with old friends and in general have a splendid time.

After leaving the cities, we (my travel companion, co-driver, and brother Anthony) made the trek further north to join my grandparents who were finishing up a camping trip and share a corner
of their camper for the night.

Ahh...I fell asleep to the sound of soothing frog chirrups and calling loons. 

Sitting on a picnic bench I had the lake shore in front of me, trees behind me,
and these wonderful people to each side of me- my brother and grandparents.
Don't worry. My brother wasn't being one of those on-the-phone-while-surrounded-by-nature
kind of people, he was taking pictures.

This was such an unusual and eye catching tree formation.
Grandma told me this is actually tree cancer- the tree grows around
the area like this.
Isn't it amazing how something harmful made this tree unique and beautiful?

In the park we stayed at, there is a white deer that roams the forest!
We were blessed to get a look at her!

These shots are blurry because she was so far away, but you get the general idea.

I love all the adorable little churches scattered across this country.

Even the fields of dandelions were gorgeous in my eyes!

Once you have lived in a thirsty land for a while,
this is a heavenly site!

After leaving the camping grounds, a couple more days were spent relaxing with more of the family back at the 'home base' with all the aunts, uncles and cousins around.

 BOOM!
Oh yeah...I decided I need a motorcycle!
This is my uncle's ride- he is the teddy bear driving. ;)

I'm not even kidding.
I want a bike now.
Or a guy who has one.
Yeah, that might work.
We'll see which one happens first.
Good times.



Old friends, family, stimulating conversation, and open hearts coupled with deep drinks of bountifully green and grassy landscapes...sunlit tree canopies...and lakeside walks, made this trip deeply restorative and motivating.

What has this summer taken you so far?
Where will your travels take you in the months ahead?
I'd love to hear all your exciting plans!

Animal Babies!

Animal babies!

Need I say more?!

Everyone knows spring brings babies,

and we saw the proof of that here on our little country acres this spring and early summer.

I'm gonna make a confession right here and now...
these pictures....I kind of took them like...almost a month ago.
But I'm too lazy to go take new ones (AND it is reallllyyyy hot outside, so I know you'll forgive me).
Besides these are SO cute!
Just know, all the babies are growing up!

Say hello to this little cutie!!

This adorable pup was a a stray that some of our town friends

found wandering about.

After asking around and putting up posters that sat for a week without response,

we decided she was a drop off, so we got to keep her!!

We don't know what breed she is, her coloring looks similar to a German Shepherd, but she has small paws and a curly tail.

We *do* know this much... she is 100% adorableness!

Case in point.

She loves eating the garden plants and cooling off in the damp dirt.

I told her she really shouldn't be doing that....

...and this is the face I got.

Those eyes!!

*Melts*

Her name you ask?

After changing numerous times over the course of three weeks...

Pepper...Pipper...Princess...Paddy...and those were just the ones we tried out,

we finally stuck with Lucy.

What do you think?

Did we make a good choice?

Let's move on to some of our more furrier editions.

Our first batch of kittens were 'The Wild Ones', given the name

because their mom was the daughter of a stray wild cat that adopted us.

I give you Miss Fluffykins.

She is the only long haired fluffy kit in the bunch.

And as you can see, my sister's favorite.

The two boys we named (respectively) Milo and Otis.

Childhood memories anyone?

Yeah, yeah, I know Otis was a dog...and Milo should have been the orange cat.

Well...it was a cute idea, and my memory just slipped a little and I got the names mixed up.

Still stinkin' cute if you ask me. 

Otis, occasionally called Cheese Puff, is my little brother's buddy.

And the mild mannered, tummy rub lovin' Milo is my baby.

He will just lay in your hand, on his back, while you stroke his tummy.

So sweet!

Lucy wasn't quite sure what to think about the fur balls with legs.

She got used to them and would tease them mercilessly.

In sad honesty, just a couple days ago while we were gone for the weekend, 

she got a little too rough and friendly and we lost one of our little kitties from the later bunch. :(

No fun.

Now we are being extra careful to watch her and train her to leave them be.

The later batch here was from one of our favorite momma kitties, Buttons.

She birthed five kittens, one didn't make it, and was left with these four, now three.

Not long after, Wild Momma Cat up and left, so Buttons adopted

the three Wild Kids as her own, with a little help from the Kitten Relocation Services...aka,

concerned kids of the house.

The kittens from right to left we named Callie, Zeus, Daisy and Percy.

Zeus is my favorite from this batch.

I love them in this early, baby tiger, folded back ear stage!!

That should give you your cute fix for the day!

By the way...want a kitten?

Here is to the dog days of summer.

Smuggled Identity, Short Film

Some of you are familiar with my brother's YouTube channel,

and are aware that they make short skits and films.

If not, you can read this post as well as this one, to get in the know.

 

I remind you of them because today I am excited to announce the release 

of our latest project and short film,

Smuggled Identity

 

 

 

Filmed this past spring, I was excited to have my first major, speaking role in this project!

Not only that, but I was brought on board with script writing and editing.

I'm pretty proud of the little work, comparatively, that I was able to contribute.

It was a lot of fun, and helped me better understand the world of filming

that these boys have set their sites on.

 

To date, this is the biggest undertaking they have tackled!

In total, it took about six days of filming, only two of which I was part of,

and countless hours of editing!

 

All around, we really enjoyed making this film!

My brothers were able to work out the fight choreography with friends, 

throw each other around the house, and in general just enjoy playing heroes and villains.

For me, it was fun to explore the emotions of being a bad guy.

I tried to take it seriously, and really put some effort into my performance.

 

What do you think?

Would Loki be proud?!

 I hope you enjoy!

Summer & Ponderings

Hello my lovely, wonderful friends!

Things have been really too quiet around here,

and I knew I needed to peep my head in and check on all of you!

So... summer, right?!

It is here!

Welcome to the days of 100 degree temps, which has brought the rain, storms, hail and tornadoes.

Thankfully none of those last two have made their way to our immediate area.

Yep.

Summer is in full swing.

Happy late Fourth of the July by the way!

I'm sure there is a little curious question that has been pestering you lately....

"Where has she been?!"

I've been gone for about four months, you guys!

I wish I could tell you I was working on a book launch, a store opening, a line of my own designs, or at the least an Etsy shop...but sadly it is none of those things.

Here is the story.

 My heart and energy has been pretty wrapped up in 

mapping out and taking steps towards where I want to go with myself.

That includes searching for a consistent job to fund some classes I am 

wanting to take on the path to having a career or at least a focus for this stage of my life.

Pretty simple and straightforward.

There is also some praying and thinking going on about moving...

 I've made some progress in charting a course, laying down some goals, and getting a direction,

 but nothing has been decided in any certain manner about the move, where or when that would be.

So don't worry about that one yet friends!

Anyway...that is where I've been lately.

All this other stuff kind of zapped my sewing and creative mojo...

even though I have a stack of projects, many of which I have a vision for already!

It will all return in time, I know this for sure.

But I've just had some bigger things that were too concerning to allow me to give much 

(ok, any) thought or energy to being creative.

Aside from not blogging myself,

I haven't even been keeping up with my regular blog reads either!

Sorry about that ladies.

I hope you have all been having a great summer so far!

I do have some upcoming posts to share with you a little bit
of what has been keeping me occupied...sharing some fuzzy new arrivals,
a wedding and trip, and a recent foray into the wonderful world of cakes and cake decorating!
Be sure to check back!
Oh, and thanks so much for not up and leaving my little following of readers.
It means a lot. :)

Franklin Bound

You're back!

Ready for that stroll through Franklin, like I mentioned?

Then let's be off!

For the duration of about two hours, our party of six drove past scenes like this,

before arriving at our first stop...an antique shop, on the outskirts of Franklin.

There I found the most extraordinary doll house I've ever set eyes on!

The exterior was covered with tiny colorful, pebbles, and some of the windows

were made of green and red glass.

There were two stories, and a balcony!

Aspen stands next to it for scale...
she is about, oh 5.4 I would guess {Correct me if I'm wrong dear.},

and it is taller than her!

Shall we have a look inside?

This is the front door entrance...there is a room off to the left...

....which houses an lovely ceiling light and a sweet little 'hanging' painting.

The other door you saw front the entrance,

leads to a flight of stairs in the back... shall we see where they take us?

Look!

It is an adorable little stage with a painted backdrop and a chandelier!!

I mean, how cute!

This upper room was all open and very large...at least for dolls.

While the details were darling, and while most interesting, overall I found it slightly creepy.

So I didn't get it. 

Not to mention it would fit in my suitcase.

And not to mention it cost over $200.

Yeah...not worth mentioning.

BUT...

I did find a little souvenir!

I finally converted to a tea cup lover and collector last year,

and have slowly been building my collection.

I found this old, slightly stained, but still so pretty cup and saucer.

I know...they don't match.

But they are both blue, and they were together, so I went with it.


After a bit more driving we found ourselves in the heart of downtown Franklin!

Some pretty, old brick buildings.

One of our first stops was the amazing store, Anthropologie!

I've always loved the style and look of their merchandise, 

but this was the first time I had been in one of their stores...it was amazing!

Look at this scrumptious collection of vibrant dishware!!

I was completely in love.

These tea cups...I mean...*sigh*...they have little legs!

We went into many more shops...but it was so busy and full of people,

I forgot {or was too camera shy} to snap shots of each one.

I'm really not the type that feels comfortable carrying a camera around 

and taking pictures, but I always wish later that I had, so I'm working on changing that. 

 

We stopped for a sit down on the steps of an old church, I think it was,

which was home to this gorgeous blossoming Magnolia tree.

It was dripping with full, creamy blooms.

 

The bud pods were fuzzy, isn't that interesting?

Our final stop of the night was supper at Whole Foods Market.

Oh. My. Word.

I had never been in one of these stores before,

and I'm telling you, it was pretty amazing!

Any sort of healthy, natural, organic, gluten-free food can be found in this

Wal-Mart sized wonderland of edible goodness!

Oh, how I wish we had one near us.

If you live near one, please, count yourself supremely blessed.

Because you are.

Like I said,

I'm not used to carrying a camera around,

so this concludes my photographic documentation of my week-long stay in Tennessee.

Believe it or not, this was my grandest and best effort to date!

It is my dream someday to go on a trip with the understanding

that we can and will stop at any given moment for pictures...and I will

unabashedly tout my camera along with me everywhere.

Since that day has yet to come,

I hope you enjoyed my present efforts!

{If you want more pictures of our day in Franklin

you can see lots more pictures in this post at Aspen's blog!}

And guess what,
it just so happens that today is Atlanta and Jordan's 1st Year Anniversary!!
 Happy Anniversary you two!