Summer 2010

Top Five Tuesdays

Top Five Scents:

#5 New Baby Smell
If I suddenly snatch your newborn out of your arms and sniff the top of it's head like crazy I apologize. Clearly one of the best smells of all time, who knows why.

#4 Lemon Verbena
Light and crisp and fresh and delicious. I especially love it in lotion form from bath and body works.

#3 Cherry Blossoms
Have you ever drove around Flathead lake in the spring time, when all the cherry orchards are in blossom. If you have, then you know the millions of little blossoms mixed with the smell of lake and pine trees is pure ecstasy. I like to roll down the window and stick my head out like a golden retriever and gulp it in.


#2 Mint
I love mint anything, mint mojitos, mint ice cream, mint gum, mint lotion, mint toothpaste. I especially love that when I realized that my crazy neighbour ladies yard smells like cat pee, I could plant mint in my yard to overpower the scent. Thank-you thank-you mint for saving me from having to smell that every time I step on the front porch.

#1 My Hubby right after he gets out of the shower. Smells like soap and sexiness, and security, home, masculinity, and everything that I love.

Sandwiches

I Love this girl!

Hit the road jack.....

Wanderlust

I have a dream........ no really, I do have a dream. I want to sell everything we own and take Ella out of school for a year and travel EVERYWHERE in the United States. I think that in a former life I must have been a gypsy, because I certainly have the wanderlust. I can imagine nothing more perfectly beautiful than travelling the continent for a year with no purpose or agenda, other than just soaking it all in, the good the bad and the beautiful. I want to gasp in awe at evey peice of american scenery that anyone has ever gaped at. If you could visit any scenic place in the USA, or Canada for that matter, where would you go?

The Yard Sale Queen

Yard sales are one of my favorite things about the summer and I believe in all sincerity that I am the reigning queen. Here are a few of my recent finds and the summer has only just begun!

This chandelier is from Restoration Hardware, and is on sale on there website right now for 360.00 (425.00 normally.) I paid 30.00 dollars for it at a yard sale a couple of weeks ago, and I also got three panels of pottery barn curtains ( lined and 12 feet long, now I wish I had the high ceilings to go with the curtains,) and I paid 2.00. She was asking 3.00 and I had to talk her down a little. Yesterday I bought this darling gap kids winter coat. It will fit Ella next year perfectly and it is mint condition, any guesses? You'll never guess. 25 cents!!! Now you are ready to come with me, aren't you. Then I stoped an estate sale and these darling little bird figurines caught my eye. They are both pink, a much nicer shade than this one in the picture that I found on ebay. The asking price for this one on ebay is 36.00 dollars, gasp. I bought two of them for four dollars. Four dollars is actually really a lot for me to fork out at a yard sale, but this was an estate sale and I just couldn't resist. Now I am glad I did, I think I will put them on ebay and make myself 60.00 bucks.

Here are a few tips for those of you just getting your yard saling feet wet:

1. Be patient, there is a lot of crap out there. ( don't buy the crap!)

2. Start early, get yourself some hot chocolate, and have fun!

3. Be friendly, it goes a long ways, and I have met some really nice people at yard sales.

4. Always negotiate, I never pay the full asking price, start low and try to meet in the middle.

5. Don't be afraid to walk away if they are unwilling to negotiate. I find the negotiating the funnest part actually and if you do it with a sense of humor it goes over better. Some people do not have a sense of humor and I choose not to buy there stuff.

6. Don't look for exact addresses, it is frustrating and a waste of time to find adds online and try to find those exact yard sales. Just go to a neighborhood you like and drive around and see where the wind blow ya!

7. Carry small currency like quarters and dollar bills. You don't want to talk someone down on their price and then hand them a twenty. That's just rude.

8. Every yard saler needs to have at least one yard sale a year of there own, clear out all the junk to get ready for next year. ( this one is my husbands rule, but I still like it.)

Whats gonna work.......teammmmm work!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whew, somebody get me an easy chair, or a masseuse, or a really good therapist. We are just finishing up moving, and it was move #7. We have been married for six years. Ummm, what can I say, we really like to buy houses, this will be house purchase #4. Other than a few necessary moves for work and school, I think we might also be a little crazy. One thing positive to come out of all this is that me and Steven have really learned to work together. We are a team and a dang good one if I do say so myself. And lets not forget our littlest Flockhart who is the sweetest most helpful five year old you'll ever meet, and thankfully she never tires of picking out new paint colors for her bedroom. Lets keep our fingers crossed this will be out last move for a long long long long long time.

Spring Break in Houston

We finally made it to Houston to visit Jan and meet my new little nephew, Wheeler Swan. The weather has been fantastic, especially when I hear it has been snowing all week at home. We have soaked up plenty of sun, enjoyed the zoo, the butterfly center, blue bonnet season and given a million kisses to squishy little cheeks. (Wheelers, not Jans). We are missing daddy and hope he can play hookie with us next time. Thanks for keeping your ladies of leasure in such great style honey!

Spring Break in Houston