in my (sometimes) humble opinion

Saw my first firefly of the year the other night so it’s official: it’s summer! Thankfully it’s not full-blown Iowa summer yet (humidity and temps in the 90’s) and we’re still able to sleep with the windows open. Love it.

Heading out to Portland later this week to find somewhere to live. I’m just so excited to have our plans finalized so we can start this move, even if it isn’t exactly where we wanted to be going. It’s almost better though since we already have friends and family in Portland. Wow, us in Portland. Sweet…

So the first pic is of the cupcakes I made yesterday for my sister Trina who is finally here to taste them in person (and not just comment on how yummy they look!). The second is a self-portrait of my lovely niece Ava and I. She’s 8 months old and the cutest little chunk who finally is letting me hold her without crying (I’m trying not to take it personally. Just kidding Trin!).

Listening to: Dreams by The Whitest Boy Alive. Eating: delicious cherries, finally… Smelling: Crazy Libellule and the Poppies solid scent in Ananas Imperial (orange, lime, pineapple, and peach, blended with cassis and jasmine - I’m super picky about scents and I adore this one).

My sister Esther left today after a baby-cuddling and eating-out filled wonderful week. Tomorrow my sister Trina (+ baby Ava) comes for a visit - yay for family!

I’ve been able to do a little thrifting, found the gorgeous blue shoes in the first pic (the gray and blue remind me of Jenny). The second pic is darling Monroe, seriously one of the best babies I’ve ever had the pleasure of hanging out with. I can’t wait to get to know her as she grows.

The last pic is of the flowers in front of our half of the house (we live in a duplex. Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever said that out loud before. Weird). Our neighbors just spent the weekend landscaping their little patch of dirt, it has lovely red and yellow flowers (Cyclone colors) and woodchips. Ours is an overgrown mix of whatever was there when we moved in: something rose-ish, something daisy-ish, whatever the pink ones are and cherry tomatoes. Yeah, I have no idea. But it’s pretty to me (and tastes good in salads)!

ps - For some reason I feel the need to admit my love of So You Think You Can Dance. I don’t dance, I’m not even a fan of dance but that show is so great, it makes me happy every time I watch it. I’m such a dork.

We’ve decided: we’re moving to Portland! Probably. ;) We’re going out for a few days to check it out and look at places to live, if we don’t love it it’s on to SLC. But as of right now it’s looking like Oregon - yay!! So if anyone has any Portland expertise we’d love to hear it.

The top photo is of the Mother’s Day collage I sent my sister Esther which finally got to her yesterday (I mailed it on the 10th, “priority” no less). Then we figured out that it had actually gotten to the post office on the 12th, it was just sitting behind the counter for 9 DAYS (po boxes only, no delivery where she lives). Yeah, slightly aggravating. Well, at least she got it!

The second photo is my travel-themed Around the World Chunky Page Swap pages all ready to send. They’re wrapped in pages from an old French textbook. You can see the page here (and the back). I always save these things till the last minute, then am pleasantly surprised when they turn out halfway decent.

Anyway, that’s what’s going on here, just trying to figure out what’s happening this crazy summer. Esther (and her baby - yay!) are coming tomorrow for a week, hopefully I’ll have some good baby pics to post soon. Hope you’re having a beautiful week!

I forgot to say thanks for the collage love a few posts down, and also for the kind words yesterday. I personally would love to live in Seattle, but Matt’s actually been there this whole week and isn’t feeling the love. We’ll see, he gets home today so we’ll figure it out (more suggestions are welcome!).

Apparently it’s lavender day here: the first photo is of my favorite thrifted deer vase who just happened to steal some lilacs from the neighbors (naughty little deer!), a little gift on it’s way to Jenny in Uruguay (more purple! more deer!), and some cupcakes (garnished with the stolen lilacs) delivered to poor Kris who just sprained her ankle. That cupcake photo was also my 1000th picture on Flickr! And it made it to Explore! Not too shabby…

I keep forgetting to mention that my ridiculously talented friend Corey Moortgat finally has a flickr page where she’s posting her gorgeous collages. She also has a book coming out in October which I cannot wait for.

Also, check out the preview for this fascinating show starting this fall: Kid Nation (you’ll have to click on it - Wed at 8pm). By the way, is anyone else loving all the recent blog-eye-candy here as much as I am? ;) Have a wonderful weekend!

Matt and I just found out that we won’t be able to move to Vancouver until our Permanent Residency goes through (no idea how long - maybe a year?). We actually learned this yesterday, today we were supposed to fly there to find somewhere to live in July. So instead we need to decide where else we want to live until we’re able to go to Canada (and no, we’re not staying in Iowa another year. I love my family and friends but I am so done here).

I feel like I’m in mourning. We’ve been planning this for so long and I thought we’d been doing everything right. So I’m thinking about where we could live (Portland? Chicago? Minneapolis? Denver?) and none of those places has everything that Vancouver has. Dammit. Stupid expectations.

Anyway, I found this last week at the amazingly talented Nina Bagley’s blog and wanted to share: mother’s day is tomorrow, and even if you think you aren’t a mother (those of you who didn’t actually give birth to a child), you absolutely are. male or female, all of you. in so many different ways. mother to a neighbor, mother to a friend, mother to your own mother, to your sister, to your co workers, mother to the baby birds out in the nest beyond the window, mother to your pets. mother to your art. your garden, your space. mother to yourself. be that. for once, be just that. and remember yourself, always, when it comes time to remember to love.

Just wanted to wish a wonderful Mother’s Day to all of my favorite Moms today! The top photo (again with the photobooth shots!) is from a book of postcards I found in Boulder, CO that I thought was appropriate for today. The second photo is a collage I made my sister Katrina for her first Mother’s Day (the photo is my beautiful niece Ava). I love how it turned out, not too cheesy and I love the color combination, I never would’ve put those two together on my own. Anyway, hope you had a chance to send some love to all of the Mothers in your life today!

Took a wonderful little road trip to Minneapolis yesterday: lunch at the phenomenal Punch Pizza (they seriously don’t have a website? I guess they’re just too busy making amazing pizzas), shopping at Anthropologie and Hunt & Gather (where I found the gorgeous bird tin and the incredible tiny vintage stamp set), delicious dinner at Town Talk Diner with Megan and Jon (in the fun photo strips below). They’re so talented and fun, I’m glad they’re our friends.