Summer Snippets

To see the summer sky
Is poetry, though never in a book it lie -
True poems flee.
~Emily Dickinson

If you've been following my blog or twitter for a while, it's no secret that summer is my favorite season! Being warm and outdoors just makes me happy, what can I say? Wanted to share a few sparkling moments of my life from these past few bright & sunshiny perfect months... Doesn't that bit from Emily Dickinson above just say it all? :)

In order:
1. I jumped in the pool with one of my favorite vintage dresses on - it was utterly exhilarating, and I love the picture my sister snapped.
2. Saw a double rainbow ("oh my god, all the way!" :p)
3. Lake day -I was on a date right here!
4. Finally took my boy to the Lego store which is located in a mall about an hour away. Lego-addict, that one! He was in HEAVEN.
5. Made some new girlfriends. Steph, in the middle, has a food blog with pics & recipes that will make your mouth water!
6. Pressed a bunch of flowers from my backyard for memories of summer, 2012. I loved the bleeding hearts best.
7. My sis & I attacking my mama with kisses for a picture. We were *so happy* she visited for a few days!
8. The ladies of my family toasting my sis on the beginning of her 3rd decade of life. ♥ She's darn lucky to have a summer birthday, and I tell her that every single year.
9. ♫sittin' on the dock o' the bay♫ . . . sippin on a rum & coke watching the sun go down. That day may have just been my favorite day of the entire year. :)

Hope all of you had some sparkling summer moments of your own! Fall is just around the corner, and though I'm excited about buying cardigans & getting cozy, I know it won't be long after till I'm pining for July again. . .

Different Flowers from the Same Garden

Return of the SWAMP LADY MONSTERS. (pardon my spotty mirror, I'm such a terrible housekeeper!)

My sis surprised me with a visit on Saturday. We ended up doing all sorts of girly things: homemade face masks, painting our nails, dressing up, having a lil' 2 girl dance party in my small apartment, and of COURSE talking about boys... :-p

My mom keeps a framed picture of us together that says, "Sisters are Different Flowers from the Same Garden". Isn't it crazy how different 2 sisters can be? I joke with her that she's Sporty Spice & I'm Scary Spice. She likes yoga, I prefer dance. She wears cotton jersey EVERYTHING, prefers brand spankin' new clothes, and hates puff sleeves. As you know I love vintage, really don't have a strong desire EVER for the mall ('cept Sephora!), and prefer girly details in my outfits. Different indeed! But sisters can be wonderful friends by default, and this girl knows me through and through. Because of this, it's nice to get her perspective when things go awry in my life. Also, I think it's amazing how relationships with siblings change over time - from kids to adults. A little over a year ago she was going to move to California. I'm so glad she didn't!

We have a creative project we've just started and I can't wait to share details!!!

Life away from Keyboard, Mouse and Monitor

Hello again blogger friends. I recently took a small much-needed vacation from the internet, do you ever need those? It was mainly to remember what I loved outside of the cyberworld again. I don't like forgetting about those things... and I feel like sometimes it's easy to, especially when so much of my day is spent online. Don't get me wrong, I love my little Etsy business, and I am grateful to be able to have part of my income come from self-employment. However, I noticed I was starting to think of my computer as a TIME SUCKER. Sometimes it feels like there are a zillion sites to "report" to on a weekly basis. Ever feel like you can't keep up? It gets a little overwhelming. I think a WWW vacay is necessary every once in a while, to get back in touch with one's own thoughts and creative pursuits. I feel like I used to be much more creative, and I miss that!

How's your relationship with the internet? Is it hard to be disciplined about your time on it?

I'm hoping that this little break has given me inspiration to start blogging more creatively on a regular basis. Only time will tell. ;)

Here are a couple of photos taken while I was away.

Meeting a new furry friend: I can't wait to have a dog again one day.

Shadow silhouettes with my son: He's growing up so fast, I feel like he's changing over night these days.

Creatures and Comforts

hello there friends. I'm still alive. If I haven't blogged for almost a week I always feel terrible about it and that lasts for about another week. oh the guilt! I've been a little out of sorts lately because I had a wisdom tooth extracted on Monday and I've been on pain relievers non-stop since then. My brain's starting to feel a little fuzzy. But that particular tooth had been giving me trouble all last week, so I'm glad I got it taken care of when I did.
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Just wanted to share a few recent photos since I haven't in a while. I'm also dedicating this post to Ms. AnDee Barrett, creator of what came to be my weekly inspiration, Fit to Be Seen. I'm saddened that she recently closed her blog but just wanted to mention that I *always* loved the beautiful images and honesty of her posts. There's something about the realness of her writing that makes me feel connected and reminds me to be grateful. Thank you Andrea. And just to let you know. . . I'll follow you wherever your next space happens to be. :)

Treating myself to a cardamom cinnamon tea at my favorite coffee shop. I like all of the light going on in this picture.

Fell in love with these flowers from my neighbor's yard this summer. I think they're called Moon Flowers. Every time I'd really stop to look at one I couldn't help but to think of the word, "perfect".

Mr. Green. Walked outside of my apartment to find this little guy just, you know, chilling out on my plant. He stayed still the entire time I photographed him!

Hearts in nature.♥ Found while out on an evening walk with my son.

8 times out of 10 this fuzzy creature of love is what I see when I pull up into my driveway. Every single time it brings a smile to my face.

Griping and (then) Celebrating

here's to personal happiness!

We all need to gripe sometimes, don't we? This weekend I made a big change in my life, it was a hard decision to come to terms with but I think in the long run it will be what is best for me. I know that this might sound a little crazy, but Oprah Winfrey's last show had something to do with it. ;) I know, I'm such a sap, huh? But yeah, I was one of the people bawling while viewing that last show when it aired!

I had been griping for a while with close family and friends about my relationship. Something just wasn't making me happy, as hard as I was trying to be, (and I was trying hard). It's very difficult when you truly love someone, and deep down there's a voice telling you that that person isn't right for you, no matter how much you care about them. And being the 2nd guesser that I innately am, I am always questioning my own decision making. It's enough to drive a gal batty, let me tell you!

But I did it. I ended my relationship. It's been a rough couple of days, but I feel a sense of relief and believe it or not, excitement already for the future. I even thought about documenting my dating from here on out via my blog. I don't know though. All I can say is that I'm dealing with some new territory now with this single lady stuff, and being a single mama and dating is another cup of tea altogether, believe me!

I know many, many of my twitter & blogger friends are either married or with someone, so this is my time to ask you for your support, single ladies! I'm kinda nervous. . . but still ready to celebrate! After all, it is the beginning of summertime, naturally my happiest time of the year since forever! 

Happy June and yes, welcome to a seriously personal post, my dears. ;)

XOXO

Longing and Reflecting

I've been at Mom and Dad's since Christmas Eve and will hopefully be home in the next couple of days. We'll see because it is unbelievably snowy here and I'm a little nervous to drive on these icy roads.

The snow makes everything in the country look pretty, it's true. But just today I found myself saying, "I'm already impatiently counting down the days till spring. . . "

I'm not a winter girl. I'm just not. I WANT to enjoy it, I REALLY do. I even made an effort to take a little country winter walk yesterday, which was beautiful. The best part to me, though, was getting back inside to get all warm again!

Warmer climates are constantly calling my name. I found this picture below and it reminded me so much of looking back on and longing for those sunny, humid days of June, July, and August.

On a positive note, I think that one of the sweetest things about winter is that it gives us such a perfect opportunity to simply REFLECT. Journal writing has been such a wonderful outlet lately. My next challenge to myself is to brave the cold more often and to take pictures of delightful things that I enjoy about this chilly season.

Wish me luck! ;)

P.S. Time for New Year's resolutions soon. Have you made any yet?



Photo from Glitter Feet on Flickr.