so i popped in the car with my thrifting buddy, we pulled up into the goodwill and did our usual 1, 2, 3, 4, LUCKYLUCKY! chant and headed in. i found a handful of vintage dresses, all of which i put back (broken zipper not worth the fix and a few other wonky issues that just didn’t make the cut)

and then i saw this bike:

cute. good bones. love the aqua. and my street name just so happens to be hawthorne.

so i move in for a closer inspection. and then i see the price tag.

and this is when i do a giant eye roll and wonder what the heck these peeps at the goodwill are smokin. y’all. 300 bucks. THREE. HUNDRED. i mean! the bike is in very obvious need of some very serious TLC, so let’s just get that part of of the way. also. it’s the goodwill! it’s a dang thrift store! it should be thrifty! i think they managers are spending half their days now cruising ebay with dollar signs in their eyes.

and let me remind you: i picked up one very fantastic 50s schwinn 4 years ago for a buck thirty five. that’s right. $1.35. i took it home, cleaned it up, and it remains one of my best thrift scores ever. and just lookit how cute mister henry was riding it.

and look at that shiny chrome!

so, goodwill… what happened? how did we go from $1.35 to $300??

farmer henry misses you ever so.

and my favorite new iphone app: photomaton.

starburst lamp + starburst clock = happy me

i walked in, and the lamp caught my eye immediately. didn’t even think it was for sale but lucky me, it was! i am a sucker for these 50s fiberglass shades and this one with the stars? i melt.

also, i have always wanted a starburst wall clock for the house and for some reason (probably price) i’ve just never managed to pick one up. this one was 5 bucks, hard to beat. (and it works, bonus points for that)

so this is the view from my desk at the moment. i will probably end up moving the clock up to the living room, but the lamp? oh, she’s alllll mine.

what about you? any amazing scores from this summer’s yard sales? or seasons past?

not her first taste, mind you. this girl loves her some ice cream. but this was her first time eating it from a cone. henry had a sleepover last week, and we took the kids out for pizza + ice cream. and since dotty has begun to want to do anything and everything that her big brother does, it was cones all around!

of course she ended up wearing at least half of it, but boy, she enjoyed every minute of it.

we met my dad + his wife yesterday for a little picnic and kayaking at beaver creek. it was hot- like, upper 90s hot, but the breeze on the water was perfect. and when we weren’t out on the water, you better believe we were relaxing on our picnic blankets in the cool shade.

what about you? what did you do this weekend?

i’m not sure what happened last week, but it left me feeling kind of chewed up and spit out. just exhausted. it was one of those weeks where i could just not get a flow happening, no matter how hard i tried. nothing was working and everything was difficult. one day turned into a week right before my eyes and i felt like the queen of non-productivity. i guess we all have those weeks? i felt like it was a big growing pain called Summer With Kids As A Work At Home Mom: Ready Set Go! Make It Work! and i was failing.

so on friday morning, we were out running a few errands and we came across this mini carnival set up in our downtown park. i think i actually gasped in the car. it was sort of like the universe said, hey- i’m handing you some fun. go have it. you’ve had a rough week and you all need to take a load off. you need to giggle and squeal. you need to sit in a bucket seat with your son and scream your head off as you spin wildly on that thing we all know as The Scrambler. you need to see the wonder in your daughter’s eyes as she experiences her very first merry go round. you need to stand on the side and watch your son ride the Silver Streak a hundred times because your cheeks will hurt from all the smiling. you need to watch your husband kiss and love on that baby girl he’s missed all week under the lights of the ferris wheel. you need to walk around with your camera, romanced by all the color and the twinkle. and oh yes, you need to eat some funnel cake.

that’s what it told me. so that’s just what we did.

yesterday was the official start of summer here- school let out at 11:30 and when henry got off the bus, dotty and i were right there in the front yard, screeching and dancing and whoop-whooping for summer. i would have loved to have slept in just a tiny bit this morning, but wouldn’t you know it, i woke up with a sore throat at a quarter after six and there was no going back. grr

we ran a few errands this morning and i asked henry if he wanted to explore a bit and thankfully he was into it- so we decided to check out this antique store about 5 minutes by my house- for some reason, i’ve never gone inside- i guess it’s because it’s in a direction that i never go? but it’s just past the recycling center, where we were just leaving, and i’m so glad we checked it out. the place is CHOCK FULL of vintage + antique signage, for starters. and most of it is waaaaaaay outta my price range. but i happened to spy the above sign, it was laying on it’s side and all i saw were the letters EX and SPE and as i was pulling it out, i closed my eyes real tight and made a little wish that it said extra special. and the extra S on the end of special? makes me love it even more. EXTRA SPECIALS! THAT’S WHAT YOU ARE!! i think i will hang it in my bedroom. it makes me extra happy.

and on that note, i’m signing off. i have to race race race to tape up some boxes and get dotty up from her nap, pack the kids up, drop henry off at his violin lesson and then drop off packages at the post. because that dang lack of communication between shopify and USPS is just not making it very easy for me to just click, print and leave out for pick up. maybe i’ll get this figured out over the weekend.

i’ve added a bunch more things to the shop all week, so if you haven’t checked since that first update, have a peek! there’s more on the way, too.

love to you all, have a great weekend!

an after dinner walk was a must. especially after a week and a half of weird, moody skies and rain.

this is the part where i have to be thankful for all that rain we’ve had because it is so green outside, and it smells so sweet.

and there are peonies and roses everywhere you look.

and pretty colors at every turn.

even in the most unexpected places.

so while henry cruised around on his scooter,

dotty sang songs in the jogger and speck got to yap with a few of his buddies.

i stopped and sniffed every magnolia blossom i possibly could. they. smell. amazing.

and of course we had to stop for a little taste of honeysuckle. that brings back memories for me of being at my grandparent’s house at the beach. they had a fence that was covered in honeysuckle.

somebody didn’t walk a bit, but still managed to have those summer feet that needed their own bath once we got back home.

so happy for some sun.

another trip to the antique mall.

*sigh*

where is the sun?!