Fave Finds Friday #6 and a mini-vacation

I'm basing today's Fave Finds Friday post on my upcoming vacation to Trout Creek, Montana.  

{ photo via }

I heard they're still enjoying summer-y weather in Trout Creek, which is much more than I can say for our three-week-long Seattle summer season.  { Yes, I am one of those disgruntled Seattlites who complains about the weather but is too lazy to pack up and move to a different climate. }

  Sun, warmth, cookouts, family and beautiful scenery equals perfection, if you ask me.  My mom, two boys, and I are leaving the man-of-the-house behind to fend for himself for the week.  For anyone feeling sorry for the guy...He'll be fine.  I'm sure of it.

As far as Fave Finds goes, I've been really into wall art and prints using creative wording, and found this awesome print from Etsy shop, Banda Prints:

{ photo via }

Here's a closer look of the Montana silhouette print,

{ photo via }

 I love how the cities are carefully placed and the font is just large enough to squeeze in among neighboring towns.  Banda Prints offers customization, too.  I know I'll want my hometown listed among the others on the map when I order my Washington State silhouette!

{ photo via }

I think these prints qualify as subway art.  Don't they?  And we all know how much I've been lovin' some subway art!

What's your favorite place to take a mini-vacation within a day's driving distance from your home?

Dreaming of a Redo

My home decor needs a makeover.  Bad.  Normally, when I feel something is outdated I just apply a coat or two of spray paint and abracadabra...good-as-new!  But I'm really feeling a big change coming on.

I have a ton of great ideas for redoing the room my two boys share, thanks to Pinterest.com.  In fact, I have an entire board dedicated to ideas for their room's face lift.  I'm on a tight budget, so nearly everything needs to be handmade by me, thrifted, or salvaged.  I'm on the lookout on Craig's List for two matching white twin beds for the day my baby turns into a man...or is ready for a big boy bed, whichever comes first.  They'll also need a tall white dresser to take place of their wide, low dresser...It'll save space.

With all the sewing I've done in my life, I've never made a quilt.  But I think I can tackle it.  I plan on making matching grey and white chevron quilts for their beds, 

{ photo via }

making a giant "A" and a huge "M" in navy blue yarn to hang over their beds,

{ photo via }

And hanging fun prints in bright white frames with bright white matting like these:

I've been in love with all the subway art I've been seeing on different blogs and in different Etsy shops lately.  Since my budget is tight, I decided to play around on picknik.com a bit today to see if I could make a great one on my own to go with the boys' new decor.  Here's what I came up with.  Feel free to copy, save and print if you like it!

I consider this one a rough draft.  I plan on playing around on the website to see if I can get all the blue colors to match exactly.  I'd like more of a variety of fat and skinny lines, too.  And maybe even a different font.  

I plan on taking a before and after picture of their room and keeping a close count of how much money I spend doing it.  I think I can do the complete room { furniture, bedding, everything } for under $200.

So far, I've spent $0...

What do you think?  Have you tackled a huge project on a tiny budget?

Have you completed a Pinterest inspired project?  How did it go?

a to z of m.e.

I found this A to Z of me post over at A Sorta Fairytale, and thought it would be fun to copy, paste and share it with you!  { with my own answers, of course!  not hers. }  If you decide to copy, paste and share on your own blog, please leave a link in the comments.  I'd love to get to know YOU!

A. Age: 28...for 23 more days!  But who is counting?
B. Bed size: Queen, and it almost takes up the entire room.  Thankfully my dressers are built-ins to save space!
C. Chore that you hate: I hate loading the dishwasher.  And scrubbing the shower.  And making dinner.  And...
D. Dogs:  None!  Even if you swear you'll never let your dog sleep in your bed when you first bring it home, it will always end up there eventually.  And that grosses me out.  So we'll just stick with no dogs.  Period.
E. Essential start to your day:  Coffee while checking e-mail, FB and blogs, of course!  I make breakfast for my boys in there somewhere, too.
F. Favorite color:  Purple!  And I have a real good reason for that. 
G. Gold or Silver: Silver
H. Height: 5'7"
I. Instruments you play:  None, although I have been told I have "piano fingers", what does that mean, anyway?
J. Job title:  Work at home mom, Etsy shop owner, volunteer event coordinator for my local MOPS group.
K. Kids:  My sweet boy, Mason.  He's 4 1/2.  My funny boy, Avery.  He's almost two.
L. Live:  The beautiful, green Western Washington!
M. Mother’s name:  Donette.  My boys call her Gwamma and Momma.  We're still getting used to the last one!
N. Nicknames: James
O. Overnight hospital stays:  Plenty.  Twice for birthing my babe-uhs, and about semi-annually for kidney stones.
P. Pet peeves:  Is there a limit for how many characters can be in a blogger post?  Anyone?  Anyone?  I guess I'm kind of irritable, because I have a lot of pet peeves.  But the first thing that comes to mind { because it's lunch time } are the sounds people make while eating.
Q. Quote from a movie:  "I love to smile, smiling is my favorite!" -Will Farrell in 'Elf'.  Pretty much anything Will Farrell or Vince Vaughn say makes my day.
R. Right or left handed: Right handed.
S. Siblings:  Four younger half-siblings: Zach, Jake, Scott and Danica.  And a boat load of step-siblings.
U. Underwear:  Yes, please.  The bigger and more cotton-y, the better.
V. Vegetable you hate:  Saurkraut...is that a veggie?
W. What makes you run late:  Over-sleeping.  Always.  Always-always.
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Dental, Collar bone, and Pelvic (kidney stones) 
Y. Yummy food that you make:  Most of the delicious things I make are hand-me-down recipes from my grandmothers or my mom.  Maybe I'll post my favorite ones soon!
Z. Zoo animal: Baby ones.  If you're ever in the PNW, visit Northwest Trek and take the tram ride.  It is especially awesome in the spring season when the babies are running around everywhere!

So there you have it.  A to Z of me.  

The Highlight of My Day

My boys, the man-of-the-house and I regularly go on day-long road trips on the weekends.  Today was no different; just a typical day for us.  We decided to drive into the mountains above a nearby town.  We had driven about two hours on logging roads until we reached our destination, or at least as close as we could get by vehicle.  The point of our day trip to Clear Lake today was to see if we could find a hiking trail that would take us to the lake since there is no road access to it.

We were enjoying the view, eating our sack lunches and trying to map out the best way to get to the lake when we heard something that sounded like a radio and people talking.  This would all seem totally normal except we were so far out in the middle of nowhere, chances were slim that we had happened upon other people.  Plus, the radio in our truck had quit working an hour ago since we were in such a remote part of the forest.  

After some time of listening and wondering where the radio voices were coming from, we discovered this peeking over some bushes:

We stood there listening for quite some time and discovered the man was talking to someone on a walkie-talkie.  I guess you could say we were snooping.  But really, we had nothing better to do, and what in the world was this guy doing, anyway?  

Turns out, he was talking via radio to another man who was parking cars at the Puyallup Fair.  The parking guy wished he could be there because he knew, "This is the weekend."  He could feel it.  Turns out, the pair are Sasquatch hunters.  That's right.  Big Foot, ladies and gentlemen.  

The real deal.  Although it seems to me that with all this equipment to detect sounds and movement or whatever he would have at least noticed the curious family of four peering at him from 100 feet away...Nope.  

I do have one little tip for this guy, though:  If I were an elusive creature,  I'd spend my days hiding out in the hundreds of thousands of forested acres in Washington without road access.  

Also, if I were hunting elusive creatures I would want more up-to-date equipment than an over-sized antenna from 1976.  But that's just me.

On another note, we stopped for a few minutes to pick some mountain berries.  They look { and taste } just like regular blueberries.  There was one bush that produced more of a pear-shaped berry than a round one, and the pear-shaped ones were definitely more sour tasting.  After the stomach aches the four of us have had the last few hours, I'd say we probably shouldn't have eaten the pear-shaped blueberries.  And now we know.

Maybe we should go back and warn the Big Foot hunter?

21 Day Challenge: Day Eleven & Twelve

Life totally got in the way last week, so I'm falling behind on my 21 Day Challenge posts.  

Thursday's prompt was "Wear a dress or a skirt".  I cannot even remember what I wore that day.  I'd like to think I wore something that fit the criteria, but I just can't lie...I'm not sure I did!

Friday's prompt was "Jazz up jeans and a tee".  I wore a pair of denim shorts, and a plain white tee layered with a fun thrifted button-down top, and a bright beaded necklace.  This is now one of my favorite casual outfits I own.  

{ hoping a close-up will show off the red & blue print on the shirt...not so. }

I wore this outfit to our family reunion at a local park.  Here I am with my lovely cousin Nicole:

And here I am with Nicole and her husband Brian.  Brian and I went to high school together, but didn't meet each other until years later.  He and I became great friends, and I am happy to have been able to play a part in introducing him to his lovely wife!  Family gatherings have never been so much fun!

This girl's love story. Part One.

If someone would have told me five years ago that I'd be spending weekends waking up early to go hiking with my family in the mountains, pointing out deer and bears to my boys, and seeing some of the most beautiful sights this country has to offer, I'd tell them they definitely had the wrong person.  I liked going to loud concerts, pub crawling with rowdy friends, sleeping until noon and working two jobs to support my shoe habit.

If someone told me five years ago that I'd fall head-over-heels in love with a man who was the furthest thing from a preppy, tan concert-goer { the kind who used more hair product than me } I'd tell them they were crazy.  I had a "type"...I thought.

Although I would pay to be allowed to sleep until noon now, most everything else about my life changed just over five years ago when I began dating a co-worker I'd worked with for over three years.  We had never met in person, { he worked at a different location } but we talked on the phone multiple times every day for work.  Over a short time, a friendship developed and soon after, I found my heart skipping a beat when I'd see his name show up on the caller ID in my office.  I suspected he had the same type of crush on me.  He was smart, funny, kind, generous and hard-working; things I knew I wanted but hadn't found in earlier relationships.

What I now know was a complete misconception, I thought he was shy.  I knew he knew I was single.  I knew he was single.  Besides the blatant fact that company rule stated managers { him } were not allowed to carry on relationships with other employees { me }, our obvious chemistry left me unable to figure out why he hadn't attempted to spend time with me outside of work.  Finally, I manipulated encouraged him to ask me to a movie by mentioning there was one playing that I "reeeeeeally want to see" but had no one to go with.  

That's all it took.  He asked me to dinner and a movie.

There were a few days to spare before our big night out, so I prepared by shopping for a new outfit, getting some tanning in...and oh yeah, I sent my mom into his office to check him out for me.  I had to know what I was getting into.  Plus, my mom is totally cool like that.  She went in and pretended she was interested in placing an order with him, then reported back to me that he had really nice arms, green eyes and black hair.  And he was tall.  After my previous relationship, where I was forced into only wearing the flatest flats just to see eye to eye, I was thrilled to hear this bit of information.

I built this man up to be Prince Charming.  He was going to pick me up from my studio apartment in his Ford F-250 and sweep me off my feet.  

Not so.  

To be continued...

Introducing...

{ photo by Stacy Jacobsen Photography }

The first time I laid eyes on this boy I feel in deep love.  The kind of love that only a mom knows.  Ever since that day, Mason or "Nunny"  (he's gonna kill me for that when he's older) has been the light of my life.  He has always made me proud.  He is polite and generous and friendly.  He receives compliments everywhere he goes about his sweet nature and kind spirit.  

He is a GOOD boy.

He is also four.

Four years old is an all-new territory for me.  I love that he and I are able to share real conversations.  He can put on his own shoes.  I love that he's smart and so willing to learn.  He likes to help out by making his own sandwiches.  His behavior is the envy of the other parents at playdates.  I love that if he had a choice to do anything he wanted, he'd probably still choose to cuddle with me or his dad while we read him a book.  Usually, lots of praise is all it takes to keep him on the straight and narrow.

It dawned on me today that in exactly one year we'll be buying his kindegarten school supplies and seeing him off at the bus stop for the first time.  People always say to cherish the time you have with your children because the time goes by so quickly.  It really does.  And this realization is what's behind this sappy post today.  

Every day he takes my breath away with a new phrase, dance move, or when I notice his latest growth spurt. He made his mark on my heart four years ago as a teeny perfect little mini man and I love him more each day.

Fave Finds Friday: make believe

Confession:  My kids are driving me nuts!

I've desperately been trying to come up with new and exciting ways to entertain my two lovely boys before I buy a one-way trip to somewhere warm.  And sandy.  With plenty of frosty, umbrella-clad drinks.  Ahhh, a girl can dream, right?

For the last, oh, year and a half I've been in the process of making one of those felt card table playhouses for the boys similar to this one.  I'm hoping to finish it before autumn sets in here in the Pacific Northwest and my boys start spending a lot more time indoors.  Which means I better get on it! 

To go along with the felt card table playhouse, I thought it'd be fun to have an entire trunk full of pretend-play costumes and clothes for my boys to use any way their little imaginations please.  Of course I searched Etsy first, and you'll see my awesome, fun finds below.  Click on the name of the item to go directly to it's shop.

knight's armor
dino tail

treasure map
incognito beard mask
felt chainsaw
reversible vests

viking hat
felt crowns
mailbag
felt baking set pattern

Fun, right?!  I'd totally rather my boys spend time make-believing and being imaginative than watching Sponge Bob reruns, and I think a pretend-play trunk will be just the thing to get those creative juices running!

Oh!  And while we're talking about make-believe, check out this awesome teepee I made for a customer recently:

I'm super proud of this one, and my kids are dying for a teepee of their own.  Spoiler Alert:  I'm scheduled to give one of these bad boys away to a lucky reader of one of my favorite blogs in September.  Keep checking back for the details.  I'll reveal where you can go to enter just as soon as it's official!

No Teddy Bears or Choo Choos Allowed

As you may know, I'm the only female in a house full of men.  I don't have a mini-me to parade around in dresses, skirts, sparkles and curls, so my time is {wisely?} spent dictating what my boys will be wearing from day to day...at least, the days when we actually venture out of our pajamas, but that's a whole 'nother story for a different day.

Around here, there's a rule when it comes to dressing the little fellas; no teddy bears or choo choos allowed!  As tempting as it {never} is, we just don't buy the cute matchy sailor or dinosaur outfits for our boys.  T-shirts or shoes with cartoon characters are out of the question, at least until the boys are old enough to decide for themselves...

...Until then, I like to either buy packages of plain white Hanes tees from Target (so I can bleach the heck outta them later) or browse Etsy for awesome handmade graphic tees and accessories for my guys.  I don't mind spending a few extra dollars when I'm buying directly from the artist, crafter, maker, etc.  Nearly every time, the handmade items I purchase on Etsy are a far better quality than what I'd find at a local department store.  I feel satisfied when a screen-printed tee I picked up {straight from the person who hand screened it} two years ago for my oldest boy, now fits my youngest and looks brand new.

I do respect the opinions of the mommies out there who find the cute characters and fuzzy animals irresistible, and I do know their boys are just as sweet and charming as any Etsy wearing child of mine.  But this is my blog, and I'll do with it as I please.  Hee hee.

Here's a collection of to-die-for boys' Etsy.com finds to prove that frogs and puppies are not the only option when it comes to styling your little man.  Enjoy!

{ shoes & accessories }

clockwise from top left:
striped belt- belties, $15
knitted button loafers- three kittens knitting, $10
elastic toddler belt, playful peanut, $18 for three
lightening bolt shoes- boy girl boy girl design, $28

{ basic tees }

clockwise from top left:
birthday number tee- happy family, $16
military stripe tee- b. childrens' wear, $25
organic recycle design tee- apericots, $14.99
grow baby onesie- culpeper general, $75 for set of twelve

 { jackets & cardigans }

left: elbow patch cardigan- b. childrens' wear, $30
right: unisex peacoat- little star clothing, $90

{ you can never have too many tees! }

clockwise from top left:
tattoo onesie- mama monkey, $12
grey stripes organic v neck- jessalin beutler, $26
top gun aviator onesie- ovelo, $15.99
dad tattoo tee- wren willow, $22


Let me know what you think of my boys' finds.  I'd love to hear about it if you make a purchase based on what you see!  'Til next time...I've got clothes to fold!

Something for Dad

This post is a little late for Fathers Day this year, but excellent timing for us.  The man-of-the-house's birthday is Monday (yes, the fourth of July!) and I came across this perfect little DIY printable from Daffodil Design. 



{photo courtesy of Daffodil Design}



It's a questionnaire about Dad, and your child fills in the blanks.  It reminded me of Mad Libs...ahhhh, nostalgia!  It's free to download.  All you have to do is print...and laugh.  Because kids really do say the darndest things, don't they?  This is how ours turned out:

For some reason, my scanner didn't pick up on the mustache detail at the top and bottom of the printable, but I don't care.  I'm still giggling hysterically about that last one and wondering, "Where in the heck did that come from?!"  It's all framed and wrapped now, ready to give to Daddy on his birthday.  I have a feeling he's gonna love it!

Also, for the record; Daddy's hair is black.