Friday, August 31, 2012

If I could choose a talent.......

If anyone asked you, what super power or talent you wanted, what would you choose?
I wish I was more practical, but if I was given the choice, I would choose "the ability to dance magnificently". Once and awhile I watch an episode of "so you think you can dance" and cannot help but marvel at how beautifully the contestants move.
 
If I could dance, and I mean REALLY dance,  I would dance to a song by Chris Rice called "if God is for us". It makes my heart leap and soar and fills me with the most incredible joy and hope. When I hear it I can't help but dance, and I almost always do, typically in my dinning room with one of my girls on my hip. I twirl and whirl and leap make a complete fool of myself, but in my mind I am in the very throne room of God, and He thinks it is beautiful!
 
 I love this video because it features a whole bunch of long haired men and bunch of  conservative, plain looking Mennonite women dancing to the very song that I often butcher. It certainly isn't a "so you think you can dance" masterpiece, but it makes me SMILE.
 
Enjoy :0)


Thursday, August 30, 2012

Northern Vancouver Island

 
Oh my goodness it took me F.O.R.E.V.E.R to upload these pictures but I feel like it is has been a long time since I shared a whole slew of photos. Before we went to Esperanza, we visited Nathaniel's family in Port Hardy. They graciously took us out on their boat and we spent the day searching for Indian beads at a secret spot, fishing, and watching sea lions. It was an awesome day and we all had so much fun.
 

 
I love how people left their beach combing finds on logs and large rocks.


The beach was white with shells and broken pottery - it was beautiful!

 
This is all that remains of a historic longhouse.



We all searched VERY hard for Indian blue beads..... 


ta da!!!!!!!    I found my first one!!







 
 


Even Claire got in on the action and did a bit of beach combing....


 
 
 
 
On the way home we caught some cod.
 



 
 



 Just check out these sea lions. They were awesome and very loud!!!!!
 









 

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

*Sigh*


One of my favorite places on earth.
Our family spent five glorious days there this past week and I cannot even begin to tell you how wonderful it was.
More pictures to come in the next couple of days!
 
*Sigh*

Friday, August 17, 2012

Projects and other things...


My creativity definitely goes through seasons. Seasons when I am happy to pin myself into oblivion on pinterest, or read interior design magazines by the piles. These periods are typically followed by a season where I am happy as a pig in mud  giving a piece of castoff furniture new life, scrap booking into the wee hours of the morning, moving furniture around, sewing, editing photos, and making making cards. I LOVE when I am putting my ideas into motion. So often I find myself in the "daydream stage". At the moment I am at a loss as to what I want to do with my master bedroom. Since we were blessed with a king sized bed, I have had to re-think my color scheme, linens and overall decor.  I initially wanted to try my hand at upholstering a headboard, but I am having second thoughts. I can't decide between something in a bold fabric like this:


or something more subdued and traditional like this:



I LOVE LOVE LOVE tuffets and nail head trim but I also know that I am not terribly detailed or patient and I don't want to do a sloppy job.  I love bold, beautiful patterns, but  I know that eventually I would grow tired of it and want to change it. ( I thrive on change). Perhaps I will save loud, statement fabric for accent pillows, or something else that is interchangeable. Another option I am entertaining is this little wooden beauty. My husband could make it with minimal  time and money and I could paint it whatever color I wanted. I could even change the color every year if I wanted.....

 Speaking of paint.... have you heard of chalk paint by Annie Sloan?





















It is such an easy paint to work with and can be used SO many different ways on any surface. I can't wait to try it out


The other day, while I was out picking blackberries with my girls, I noticed an old dresser sitting beside the road. Two older gentlemen where cleaning out a large shed and I asked whether or not they were getting rid of anything. They happily pointed to the growing pile beside the house and told me I was welcome to take anything I pleased. I immediately claimed the solid teak dresser with ornate pulls, a vintage doctors' bag, a couple of children's books from the 1930's and a lovely little hanging lamp.



I intend on painting the dresser, adding the books to my growing collection of antique books and hanging the lantern on my deck (once I have a pergola). I have NO idea why I took the leather doctors bag, but it looked so ancient and I couldn't help it. I love castoffs, especially when they are old.  I can't wait to give this beauty of a dresser a new coat of paint. Now I need to decide on a color.







I recently picked up a ottoman for a song and a dance while I was out picking blackberries the other day. It is the perfect size and height for our living room and provides hidden storage as well. I plan on practicing "tuffeting" on it and hope that I will end up with something resembling this one (but with deeper tuffets).


Yum Yum!


Hope that you are enjoying all that summer has to offer! We got got back from a fantastic camping trip and I have not yet caught up on my laundry. I will post soon :0)