Ok, I never say peeps, but I have marshmallow chicks on the mind. I am dieting you know.
Let’s kick this month of love off the right way, with Romance on a Budget. That’s what I’m talking about today at An Army of Ermas.
Come visit me and I promise you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll love…ok, so maybe you’ll just snicker, but it’s still worth a click over.
Now here’s where the favor comes in…
Do you ever get sick of me asking for favors?
Of course you do, but this is just one more. I promise!
*fingers and toes crossed*
When you visit me at the Ermas site, please leave a comment over there and not on my blog. Well, you can leave two comments if you wish. I do enjoy some comment love, but it’s not necessary. The only way to know if a certain article is well received or not is to to judge it based on comments. That gets confusing if half the comments are here and half there.
Today I’d like to welcome Jeanne. She is a super-creative, delightful woman who has accomplished so much in her young life. She has a lovely family and a thriving business. Her blog inspires, challenges, and guides women to find their passion and pursue it. I cannot think of a better person to inspire us this summer.
Is there a passion you’d like to pursue, but you think ‘life’ is holding you back?
Read on and be inspired. Let your creativity loose this summer.
Hello, I am Jeanne Oliver and I am the owner and designer behind Jeanne Oliver Designs. I have a clothing and bag line that I release twice a year. I am also a mixed media artist and I am grateful to be able to travel around and teach art classes.
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When I was growing up I could often be seen drawing in the yard, being the director of a neighborhood play, making up stories or painting art for a friend’s birthday present. As an adult it took me many years to get back the love of creating just for the love of creating. As a child THAT was what summer was all about. There is no reason we have to lose that.
I know that summers are busy and for those of you that don’t have children home in the school year…I know you think that you don’t have as much time to be creative in the summer but you need to look again. I like to think of summer as your time to dip your toes back into your childhood. I homeschool my children so they are usually with me. If I had to wait for them to be gone to create I would never get anything accomplished. Just like the children love to cuddle up at night and listen to me read a book…so do your children love to be led into your creative world.
I think summer lends itself to more relaxed creating. More sketching, experimenting and more spontaneity. You can create art anywhere. When was the last time you sat under a tree, opened a brand new sketchbook, looked around you and just relaxed….and created? No purpose. No outcome. Just for you. Just to grow and explore. If you have the freedom to do this without the children I highly recommend it but if the children are with you don’t let that stop you.
You can’t create if you don’t carry the right tools with you. I carry a journal with me everywhere. It fits in my purse and I always have pencils and pens handy. If I see something that inspires a new idea I write it down. If I think of a new dress I sketch it out quickly. If I am talking to a friend and her words make me think of a new piece of art I pull out my journal and record those thoughts. I would hate to think of all the little things I would miss without carrying my journal around. All the ideas I would never record and make a reality.
One of my favorite create escapes in the summer is to take a few hours for myself and drive. Just me and my camera. I don’t do this nearly as much as I would like. If you are anything like me you have music going, children talking, computer open, making dinner etc. I have to get out of the house to truly give myself time to think, reflect, hear my heart, ponder new ideas. Some of those drives have given me some of my favorite photos and time for me that I really needed.
A child doesn’t wait for everything to be perfect to create. They just do it. They just pull out their crayons and paper and sit down anywhere and create. We could learn a lot from them. Summer is a sweet time to slow down and remember all the things that were wonderful about your creativity when you were younger and to bring those things back into your life.
I hope there a few new sketchbooks purchased this week:-)
I’m so very excited to introduce you to Melissa from Huckleberry Prairie. When a blog is named Huckleberry Prairie, I cannot imagine not loving it. Melissa’s blog is filled with sugar & spice and everything nice. She has a beautiful baby girl and the most fantastical kitchen ever. You really need to see this kitchen renovation, because it may be the best one I’ve seen yet. She pretty much has my dream kitchen. I only recently stumbled upon Huckleberry Prairie and I’m excited that Melissa agreed to write a guest post for her newest fan.
I’m definitely trying her strawberry pie!
Welcome Melissa.
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The sun is shining bright making the days long and warm, the honey bees are busy buzzing, and the farm fields are brimming with abundance…it must summertime on the prairie!
By mid-summer, the rivers are becoming lazy and the nut trees are ripe for the pickin’.
There are full grown corn fields as far as the eye can see.
Knee high by the 4th of July does not apply to our California corn.
It is ready to be harvested by early to mid summer!
Indeed, the summer season is a bustling time for our farmers.
And, being right in their backyard, we reap the benefits of their hard work.
The Farmer’s Market.
Once a week, the local growers bring their produce to sell directly to our town’s residents.
Every fruit and vegetable of the summer season, picked fresh.
Fresh corn from the stalk.
And sweet watermelon straight from the vine.
Pistachio, Almond and nuts of every kind.
And, if you can’t make it to the Farmer’s Market, there are country stores and local growers selling their crops in stands on every corner. There is no shortage of fresh picked produce.
There is such an abundance of crop that the long days of picking continue by the light of the full moon into the night.
The Farmer’s Almanac has even given the moon a different name each month, according to what is being harvested by it’s light.
The full moon in June is called the Strawberry Moon.
The full moon in July is the Hay Moon.
The full moon in August is the Green Corn Moon.
The September full moon is the Harvest Moon.
The moon rise makes for a spectacular sight.
Dusk makes way for cooler evenings.
A time when you look forward to being outside, enjoying the beauty of the summer night.
And nothing makes a night sweeter on the prairie than sitting on the porch, listening to the symphony of crickets and wind chimes, with a slice of fresh Strawberry Rhubarb Pie.
Although she probably needs no introductions, I’m so happy to introduce Emily from Remodeling this Life. Her blog is inspiring and she truly has found the secret to living a simple, filled life and enjoying every moment of it. I’m so very glad she agreed to be my guest, because I know you’ll love her too.
Thank you so much to Tricia for having me here today. I’m here today
to share some ideas about having a simple summer. I feel a little
intimidated in such company of host blogger and guest bloggers for
this series, so please bear with me and my simple ways.
I’m one of those mamas that cannot wait for my kids to get out of
school. Don’t get me wrong, I love when they go too, but I really look
forward to the slow lazy days of summer, days that are full of
possibility and opportunity. Days that can be spent any which way we
want them to be.
To me, summer is all about embracing the moments for what they are,
going with the flow and being flexible – all things we can’t quite do
as much as I’d like during the school year. I can call off activities
for an afternoon if it seems like my kids need nothing but quiet time
coloring and I can swap out plans for naps if they really just seem to
want to swim all afternoon. And at the end of each day, I can feel
like we did the best we could with what we had. To me, that’s the
center of simplicity.
I feel spoiled beyond belief that my family has a cottage on a lake
away from the humid south where we can spend weeks on end playing and
exploring and living the good life. I know that’s not how it is for
everyone, but the fact is we all have to make the most of what we
have, explore whatever is around us and savor the days of laughter and
fun while we have them.
Some days are spent doing nothing but jumping in the water.
Other days it’s nothing but legomania.
There is nothing quite like waking up and feeling like the
opportunities are endless, yet at the same time there is no pressure
to be, do or go anything or anywhere more than what we truly want to.
Simple summer days are those that are embraced fully, savored the
most, and what memories are made of. They are wonderfully fabulously
imperfect, peppered with the realities of arguing and stress that come
with living but they are truly the most wonderful days.
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Thanks for visiting, even on a Saturday. Hope your weekend is simply wonderful.
Wow. This has been a really excellent Summer Series, hasn’t it? I’ll kinda feel bad when it’s all over and you’re stuck with me again. I hope you’ve been as encouraged, inspired, challenged, and motivated as I have been. I really appreciate each of my guests. They’ve gone the extra mile for us and that makes me want to pass it on.
Today I’d like to welcome Megan from Faith Like Mustard. I’m generally not a fan of Mustard, but I love Megan’s blog. I haven’t known her long in blog time, but I feel a kindred spirit with her. She’s also a pastor’s wife and she talks a lot about faith on her blog. While my blog is a different kind of crazy every day, hers is more focused. She knows what she wants to say and it’s always a blessing. Today is no exception.
Read on and be encouraged on this hazy, HOT, and humid summer day.
Summer is the perfect time for picnics. The thought of spreading an old quilt over a patch of soft, green grass, and gorging on the finest summertime delicacies while tiny birds serenade from the treetops makes me squeal with glee. Throw in a cute little old-fashioned picnic basket and I may faint with giddiness.
The funny thing about picnics is, they don’t always match the ideal picture in our minds: the grass is dry and crunchy, there are ants in the potato salad and you’re too busy sopping up armpit sweat to eat anyway.
Similarly, we often conjure up an image of what the Christian life will be like—all smiles and potluck fellowships—only to find that we have our fair share of heartbreaks, disappointments, and times when we feel so alone, that we can only wonder if God has abandoned us.
He hasn’t.
C.S. Lewis, a much smarter guy than I will ever be, nailed it with this quote:
“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” ~from “The Problem of Pain”
So, be encouraged. Your ice cream may be melted, but you can always stick a straw in it and call it a milkshake! Even if your picnicking conditions aren’t ideal, at least take comfort in knowing that you’re not dining alone. God will never leave you nor forsake you. That’s a pinkie-promise.
Megan blogs at Faith Like Mustard. When she’s not watering her mustard seed-sized faith, she is busy being a mama to two girls, loving on The Husband (who happens to be a Preacher Man), teaching teens how to love literature, eating chocolate, avoiding the laundry and reading a pile of good books….but not usually at the same time.
Today I’d like to welcome Jennifer from Mama’s Minutia. She is the most creative cook I know. She and her family share a zeal for life that cannot be matched. The antics of her children are always entertaining, and after reading her blog, I cannot help but have a desire to ramp up my foodie groovie. Unfortunately, I cook on cycles and have more kitchen mishaps to confess than I care to admit on this fine, very hot Thursday. Even my family has crazy recipes.
Last year I hosted a Summer Recipe Carnival and we all shared some good recipes, but this year I decided to pull out all the stops and call a real cook.
So enjoy a salad right out of Jennifer’s garden!
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Right This Very Minute
Cooking can become a rather pressurized activity in the summer months when it’s a race to eat (or can or freeze) all the food that’s tumbling in from the garden. When it rains, it pours (corn! corn! corn! or, tomatoes! tomatoes! tomatoes! or, zucchini! zucchini! zucchini!), and while it’s wonderful, fun, and crazy-busy, sometimes I just want to throw up my hands and call it quits.
Beets are where it’s at right now. I pulled up my patch last week and Sunday morning I set two big pans of the bulbous beauties in the oven to roast while we headed into town to go to church. There are many things to do with juicy, sweet beets (put them in a cake! pickle them! saute them in butter and salt! make a soup!), but each year, the first ones get put into this salad. It’s a real doozy.
Here’s how it breaks down:
Run out to the garden and pick two or three medium-sized red beets and two enormous onions (or, if you’re like me and you already ripped yours out by their hair, then go to the barn where they are curing on newspapers and grab a couple dandies).
Back in the shade of the kitchen, gulp a glass of cold water, sloshing some down the front of your shirt in the process. Continue.
Cook the beets—boiling, roasting, whatever, just get them cooked. When they’re done, peel and cube them. (If, by chance, you are using canned beets—do not allow yourself to feel like a loser, everything will be just fine—pick two 15 oz cans from the pantry shelf and drain and quarter the beets. You’ll need 4 cups of prepared beets.)
Wipe the sweat from your brow but don’t forget to first wash your hands or you’ll have bloody beet smears all over your forehead.
Take a couple handfuls of pine nuts and stir them around in a hot skillet until they are toasty-brown. Chop them and set them aside.
Peel the dandy onions, cut them into thin slices, and then quarter the stack of slices. Put some olive oil in the skillet that’s still hot from toasting the nuts, toss in the onions, sprinkle with salt, and stir them around on medium high heat until they start to blacken. Turn the heat to low and continue cooking till charred and crispy. About 30-45 minutes total. You have just made caramelized onions! You are a culinary whiz.
Do not be side-tracked by your wizardry or daunted by the stack of dirty dishes in the sink. Keep going!
Now for the dressing. In a small bowl, mix together the apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, and some S & P. While whisking continuously, add a bit of olive oil in a steady stream.
Don’t stop now! You’re nearly done! It’s almost party time!
Toss the chopped beets with the dressing. Sprinkle on the caramelized onions, the feta, and the pine nuts, and…YOU DID IT!
Eat the whole entire salad all by yourself, right out of the mixing bowl, grinning like a fool, making loud yum-yum noises, and sighing loudly.
Feed the rest of the family cereal.
Red Beet Salad With Caramelized Onions and Feta
Adapted from Epicurious
4 cups beets (or 2 15-ounce cans, drained), cooked and quartered/chopped/sliced
1 pound (2 medium) onions, sliced into rings and then quartered
3 ounces (½ cup) feta cheese
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted and chopped
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
5 tablespoons olive oil, divided
To make the dressing: whisk together the vinegar, mustard, black pepper, and ½ teaspoon salt. Whisking steadily, add 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a steady stream. Set aside.
Saute the onions with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1/4 teaspoon salt until they are soft, golden brown, and crispy black in places.
Toss the beets with the dressing. Sprinkle the caramelized onions, feta, and pine nuts over top. Serve immediately.
Jennifer lives with her husband John and their four children on five acres near Harrisonburg, Virginia, where she (kinda-sorta-maybe) homeschools the kids, gardens, bakes, and reads. You can find more of her musings and lots of recipes at her blog Mama’s Minutia.
Thank you Jennifer for a wonderfully refreshing recipe. I had no idea what to do with beets until today! I’m inspired to get some healthy dinner on the table tonight. Thank you so much for joining us.
In the comments, please tell us about your favorite summer meal.
So far I LOVE this Summer Series and am wondering why I didn’t think to host it sooner. Shannan and Laura have been so wonderful in sharing their hearts and talents with us. If you missed Summer Fun and Summer Fashion, please take a moment to read. Today Meg from Whatever is talking about Summer Art and I cannot think of a better woman to speak on this subject. Meg is incredibly creative and fun and wears super-cute outfits. She has a delightful family and recounts their always fun days on her blog, Whatever. Meg, thank you SO much joining us today!
Please join me as I welcome Meg from Whatever.
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hello.
i am meg and i blog at whatever.
i have five kids and three who are young enough to still want to craft with me.
tricia asked me to share about summer art with my kids.
we are pretty artsy craftsy over here.
my first suggestion for YOU to get crafty with your kids is to get some supplies!
we have an big cabinet FULL of art supplies.
watercolor paints, glue sticks, glitter, construction paper, white paper, markers, scissors, crayons, oil pastels, tape, and low temp glue guns are STOCKED. it’s ok to slowly build your supply list.
you can still be crafty with a small amount of goodies.
when it’s nice outside we often work on our projects at our outdoor table…less mess and change of scenery. i check several websites, magazines and books for craft ideas.
i clean up the space we’re going to use just so it feels more peaceful (if only to me).
i turn on some music…sometimes i set out a snack too.
i give them instructions or ideas or which step to start with
and then we CRAFT. i say many times while we work “it doesn’t have to be perfect”
“it doesn’t have to look a certain way”
“any way you make it will be great!”
“don’t worry about mistakes….make them into something else”
because art is supposed to FUN!
i want them to love art for what it is.
not to make a cookie cutter project that looks just like someone elses.
i want them to take that idea and make it their own.
so i wanted to encourage YOU to today to get crafty even in a small way with your kids.
even if it’s just sidewalk chalk in the driveway.
let them create however they want….without you doing it for them.
and enjoy it.
they are washable.
you can mop or vacuum your floors.
even paint isn’t permanent.
let that go and sit down a color with crayons yourself beside them.
they will love it.
I don’t know about you, but this makes me want to gather my kids and paint a chicken or maybe a dancing cow or something. Thank you so very much Meg! You’ve inspired us today.
Now go create something with your kids and be sure to post pictures. If my kids weren’t in camp this week, we’d definitely have art day.
I’m so very excited to introduce you to Laura of Broken Poet. She’s a lovely woman who has a passion for fashion and style, but also has a fabulous perspective on beauty, inside and out. Not long ago she gave us an enlightening and refreshing talk on real beauty (She ain’t pretty, she just looks that way), and today she is going to help us with summer fashion.
Heaven knows I need a little help. How about you?
Please don’t miss her Vlog. She makes the best! And she has a wonderful little Etsy shop, so be sure to visit.
I’m super excited FringeGirl asked me to be a part of her summer series!
One thing that I really love about summer is the easy, care-free vibe everyone gets. You are no longer strategically bundling up in layers to prevent frostbite; you can relax, just slide into some flop flops and go. It’s wonderful.
So, in the free & easy spirit of summer I want to share some summer fashion tips/suggestions & beauty products that I love.
But, right before I do that, just a friendly reminder to WEAR SUNSCREEN!
I don’t care what kind you buy, just wear it – faithfully!
I love UV Essential SPF by CHANEL.
It makes the best make-up primer: it’s not greasy, has no smell, helps make-up stay put, makes skin feel velvety soft & look brighter. I love it so much I would still wear it daily in an alternate universe where there is no sun.
Now, on to the fun stuff! COLOUR (yes, I spell it with a u, so does the Queen. I feel I am in good company)
I always try to wear more colour in the summer, whether it be my clothing, my nail polish, my accessories, or my make-up. This may be due to the fact that for the last 6 years of my life my work dress code has either been 1. All Black or 2. Black & White. If you also have dress code dilemmas than get ready, I’ll talk more about dealing with dress codes in the summer below.
If colour-coordinating is not your strong point then paint chips are your friend. Seriously. The Benjamin Moore website could be a fabulous tool for you.
You can select a specific colour like in the frame below
and then it will recommend 2 colours to compliment it!
Not sure about the 2 accent colours, click ‘more colour combos’ amd it will suggest 2 more.
Or, you can see what other shades match to make a monocromatic outfit
Since lime green, excuse me, “Margarita”, is not a colour that maybe anyone could pull off let’s look at it
It suggests pairing it with either a dark slate gray or soft mushroomy gray.
Either of those neutrals could be worn by just about anyone. If you love that green why not find a skirt in the shade and wear one of the accent colours on top. Or, maybe go head to toe in a light gray khaki with lime shoes or a bag as an accent.
Another way to wear colour is with your make-up. This is the time of year when you can push the envelope so to speak with your make-up. Put on a bright, but sheer lipgloss or balm. Wear a colour lighter and brighter than you would for the rest of the year. Anything lip product says ‘sheer’ or ‘tint’ is your friend in the summer. Be brave, be bold, be bright!
One colour that I love in the summer is a M.A.C lipstick called Perpetual Flame in the problongwear lip creme formula. Warning: it is not sheer!
I wear it with either a hot pink liner or sometimes the Magenta liner also by M.A.C. shown above.
If you’re really up for the 3B’s, here’s a funky eye make-up look you could try.
It’s a fun look for a beach party or outdoor concert.
I also like bright polish on my toes in the summer. I’m usually found in dark nail colours, all those ‘almost black’ shades. But in the summer I tend to lighten up. I keep my fingernails pretty bare and neutral and let my toes pop! Nails are also a great way to wear a trend colour that you may not be bold enough to wear in clothing, like bright yellow or electric coral.
either a bright colour or neutral shimmer…and usually just one colour at a time :
Now. some tips on summer dressing:
Maxi dresses and skirts are really in. If you’re petite like me (I’m only 5’2″) you can still wear maxis!
The rule with petite dressing is that if you go long you have to really commit, I’m talking ankle bone. Alternatively, if you go short, kneecaps should be showing. If your hem hits somewhere in between you just look even shorter than you are.
I’ve used the same blouse so that you can see how one piece can be dressy or casual. Also, blouses are great in the summer for many reasons. Find one that is at least 80% cotton. They breathe. It’s so nice on a hot day. Also, the shape of a blouse is really flattering as they skim over any lumps and bumps. Take a look at these same outfits with just a white fitted t-shirt
The blouse smooths away my tummy area and the jacket camouflages the area.
Committed to the comfy white t-shirt?
Cardigans & blazers work well too. I added a bright scarf to the blazer because I wanted to bring in some colour. I love the khaki green, but I need something brighter by my face. If you know ‘your colour’ find it in a scarf! You will gets lots of mileage out of it.
Are you, like most of us, on a budget this summer?
Then think outside the box.
I can wear this skirt as a strapless dress. I added the belt that came free with the purple blouse because I felt that it made this look more like an outfit…and less like I just pulled my skirt up to my armpits.
This might be an example of a summer work outfit in an office casual environment. Shorts can be work appropriate in most offices if the material & style is right. These are cotton, black, and on the longer side. Denim short shorts are not going to be welcomed in most workplaces as professional. These capris are a great alternative if shorts aren’t allowed & you don’t like skirts. Fabric is key for keeping these seasonal. I have seen fall capris for tucking in knee high boots – these are usually a heavy fabric like a wool blend – definitely avoid them this time of year. A warning with capris – as you can see in my photo, they do nothing for petite legs. I for one don’t mind because they’re comfy and often practical.
Wearing a sandal with a heel helps counteract the short vibe – just make sure they don’t have an ankle strap. That’s just too many horizontal lines cutting up your already short leg.
Either of these would give height and elongate the look of the leg.
(silver are unknown, black are Michael Kors)
When I start to crave summer colour at my black and white workplace I bring it in through accessories. Ask if wearing a colourful scarf is allowed. What about coloured shoes and purses? Wear some fun colourful costume jewelry, nail polish, and nothing cheers me up and brightens my face more than a bright lipstick.
I’ve worn this ensemble to my black and white dresscode workplace many times.
I not only have a scarf, but a pink broach too. My nails are a hot fuchsia colour and my earrings are dangly and made up of various pink shades. I chose to stick with a black belt and sandals. I chose a raffia belt to go with this cotton dress because to me it’s more of a summery material.
Last but not least, some of my favourite summer things – fashion wise!
Hat with a brim – essential. I also have a really wide brimmed hat that I wear at the beach.
Scarf – to use as a headband or ponytail holder. Or, tie one around a hat to coordinate it with your outfit.
Spin Pins – those Goody hair accessories are the best! They make a fab messy bun and they’ve just come out with minis!
Dry Shampoo and Natural Bristle Brush – just spray this dry powder directly on your roots and then brush out. Takes away that greasy, stringly look of 2nd or 3rd day hair. It’s also great for adding volume even if your hair isn’t dirty!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this post! I’m curious about all of your favourite summer fashion items. Please let me know what they are in the comments.
I absolutely love your style and I so appreciate your post.
BUT
Dear blog readers, I have transgressed Laura’s rules repeatedly this summer. In fact, after she sent me this post, my exact words to her were…
“Laura, you broke my heart forever! I am the girl in the comfy skirt and t-shirt…like every single day in the summer time. I think this post is just for me, because I also have tons of skirts that hit just to the top of my knee or just below. My legs are way too flabby to wear a shorter skirt and I never actually hem a skirt. You know?
I’ve been faced with my own fashion failures and am dying the death of a frump. I’ll try to ramp things up a bit, but I’m not sure I’m ready to break up with my t-shirts.”
I offer you proof, but don’t be quick to judge until you start showing your photos.
It’s like my uniform every single day of summer. A skirt and a twenty-five cent junk t-shirt that I rummaged out of a yard sale.
I do much better in the winter.
Kinda.
How about you? What’s your basic ‘uniform’? Come on, spill the beans….
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Laura is a wife, youth leader, blogger, make-up artist & and wannabe image consultant. She works daily to empower women of all ages by teaching clients to simply enhance their own naturally beautiful features. To her close friends and family she has become the go-to authority on what to wear and her closet has supplied many an outfit for everything from Halloween costumes, graduation dinners, weddings, and the ever popular “theme days” at various workplaces.
Follow along as she writes on the random happenings of everyday life and occasionally shares beauty tips and tricks at her blog Broken Poet.
Don’t forget, Laura wants to know “all of your favourite summer fashion items”. Let her know in the comments!
PS. Yesterday I posted at An Army of Ermas. I’ll be honest, I need some comment love over there. I’m sharing a recipe, but I’m not much better at cooking than I am at dressing, so read at your own risk.
Today I’d like you to help me welcome Shannan from Flower Patch Farmgirl. I’ve got to be honest with you, I adore Shannan’s blog, her sweet little kids and their antics, and her heart. She has a beautiful spirit and lavishly gives her love away. I am blessed every single time I read her blog. When my blog grows up, it wants to be just like hers.
Welcome Shannan!
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Right now, as we speak, there’s a little box of raspberries in my fridge. I absolutely adore raspberries. It always feels so decadent and splurgey to buy them, and right now, at $2 a box, there’s really no reason not to.
The problem is, I love them so much that I don’t want to squander them.
I like knowing that they’re in my fridge and as soon as I eat them, they’ll be gone.
So what do I do?
I wait.
I look at them every time I pull out the milk or the lame old grapes and I smile just a little. Until one day, I’ll notice that they look a little mushy. They looked so good when I brought them home! Wait – when was that? I’ll do the math in my head. I’ll realize I’ve waited too long and then I’ll force the best ones down and pitch the rest.
Trust me, I know. I’ve been down this road before.
So, it seems I have a habit of idealizing a good thing. I want it to be perfect, that good thing.
This year I made my first Summer Fun list. (Idea courtesy of Meg Duerksen at Whatever, but you already knew that.)
I made this list months ago and it seemed a bit optimistic. Maybe just a touch overzealous.
I almost kept a few things off because I didn’t want them on the list if it wasn’t really going to follow through. I wanted my pretty list to be perfect and then I wanted to carry it out perfectly.
In the end, my saner self shoved my crazy self aside and I listed up with abandon.
We have four weeks of Summer left and we never did make it to the Silverhawks game, but we found a few new (old) parks that were pretty rad.
The strawberries didn’t grow this year, so we didn’t make jam. But we did pick buckets of berries and package them up for some of our favorite people.
We made it to the beach once, but it wasn’t Silver.
The Chief was just as good in our underwear as it would have been in our jammies.
We have yet to paper mache, decoupage or craft robots from cans, but we have taken a whole lot of bike rides.
And who the heck knows how many books we’ve read, because I’m not writing them down this summer.
(photo via my honey)
Of course, there’s still time. Maybe we’ll make it to the Drive-In yet, but if not, our Winnie the Pooh matinée will suffice.
Summer is for dreaming. Big dreaming.
But it’s also for plucking up every single day and LIVING.
I’ll keep checking things off and mentally adding new things on but I’ll also wind back over and over and chuck the list.
Also? I’ll eat the raspberries, because they won’t be on sale forever.
Shannan Martin is an ordinary girl who searches for and finds beauty in the everyday. She’s the wife of a man who thinks all of her jokes are funny and who regularly indulges her late-night, thinking-out-loud ponderings. They have three funny babies, Calvin, Ruby and Silas, who came to them across rivers and oceans. Together, they are embarking on a fresh adventure and are confident that God will meet them there.
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Shannan, thank you for joining us and reminding us to enjoy our days, eat the raspberries, and have a little summer fun. I didn’t pick any strawberries this year, mostly because of last year’s mishap (for the love of strawberries), but I’m going out right now to buy some raspberries!
I’m over at An Army of Ermas today sharing some fun in the kitchen and giving you all a simple recipe that I created myself. Yes, go ahead and be scared.
Today I’m over at An Army of Ermas reminiscing about everything but the kitchen sink. Come join me on a road trip from Maine to Florida and hear about the totally gross and completely disgusting thing FringeKid did on a trip to the bathroom.
After that lead, who would wouldn’t want to go read my story!
For me, road trips began…
My brother and I eagerly climbed up into the back of our 1977 burgundy Oldsmobile Station Wagon. Because vacations of my childhood always began in the pre-twilight hours when most of the world was tucked into their beds, my parents folded down the back seat, giving us a queen size snooze through New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia. We never closed our eyes; surprises awaited us, every mile a new adventure to discover. My mother packed everything we owned. At seven years old, I heard the kitchen sink cursed more than once; however, packing forty-two bags, a grill, an adult size cooler, two children and the kitchen sink was acceptable. Wagons could hold anything a family packed, even my four-foot Raggedy Ann.
Click HERE to finish the story. It gets slightly more interesting I promise.
John 10:10
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
It was just an ordinary day. With my extraordinary family. I’m not using many words today and that’s more difficult than it sounds. I’m simply trying to chronicle a day in photos, only I fell off the picture-taking bandwagon. I should have snapped a photo of my dashboard for all the running around I did, [...]
One year I made mason jar lamps filled with pine cones and gifted them to almost everyone in my family. Another time, I upcycled the baskets used to hold wedding paraphernalia on my big day. I painted them white and learned to sew by making liners out of fabric filled with tiny gingerbread men. I [...]
I considered taking a week off from blogging, because winter only provides so much blogging fodder. It’s not that it’s boring (because of my children, I’ve banned boring from our vocabulary), it just gets a little dull. There are only so many times I can say, it snowed today, while I sat in front of [...]
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Sanity is a touchy subject. Some of us think we’re sane, but really we’re tip-toeing on the balance-beam of crazy. You know? If any of you ever visit the old blog and don’t picture me with a thousand tiny marbles rolling all helter-skelter in my head, it’s because I have a fabulous family. I mean [...]
I am the girl in the comfy skirt and t-shirt…like every single day in the summer time. I think this post is just for me, because I also have tons of skirts that hit just to the top of my knee or just below. My legs are way too flabby to wear a shorter skirt and I never actually hem a skirt. You know?
I’ll try to ramp things up a bit, but I’m not sure I’m ready to break up with my t-shirts.”
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