Winter, already?

This week, a "small snowstorm" dumped 7" of snow on us here in Denver. Fortunately, Mr.T had the day off work, and we all piled outside to enjoy it. Little Berry was quite bundled up. We still haven't bought snow boots for us grown ups, but the toddler has every warm thing we could find.

We also took ourselves to the polls in the afternoon to Vote (Sunshine got to go on my back in the Ergo as we have done since she was a tiny baby).
And THEN we went to KrispyKreme and Starbucks to warm up- and satisfy our southern-sweet-tooth cravings :)
Tonight we will have a few friends over and finally!!carve our pumpkins! :)

How are you spending your weekend?

First Snow

Did I mention that it snowed??
Here in Colorado, winters are much different than in good ol' Charlotte NC.
It turns out that here, winter starts in early October. Just when fall is really going strong where I'm from!
So last week, I woke up at 3AM to walk the puppy.
I stumbled out of bed to her persistent whimpering that translates roughly into *i need to go outside right now, or imma set fire to the rain all over your floor, fool!*

I had on pajamas.
I grabbed my keys.
I was barefoot.
So I grabbed her leash.
Then stepped outside,
and boy was I ever surprised!
It was white everywhere. Snow was blowing in my face, my ears immediately tried to freeze off my face. My toes tried to jump into my pockets. My fingers felt like ice cubes.
I was COLD y'all. I need to invest in some wool pajamas or something because this place doesn't play around!
I think in all it snowed maybe half an inch- enough to shut down Charlotte for 5days. Not so here-people didn't even flinch. I've been told this is a *skiff.*
This is what was left when I finally got Little Berry up hours later, dressed& breakfasted. Then&only then did I point her to a window to look out! Hah.

So that's it. Our first real Colorado Snow.

Making a mini terrarium

I know you are coming here just to see this. Right?
Well, Pappa Starbucks' Mom and Sister came over yesterday.
So I made a terrarium for his sister who is still just a kid. I wanted it to be fun and cheerful and a bit fantastic- like a mini fairyland in a jar. I've been saving glass jars and reusing them a lot lately (because suddenly I'm realizing all the things I need glass jars for!- buttons, q-tips and band-aids, embroidery thread, miniature toys that I keep for things like terrariums,needles,dried herbs, spices, ginger syrup for making ginger ale, candied orange peels that I made so I wasn't wasting the peels...and because they're deeeeelicious- etc)
I'm looking at my photos of this terrarium and a little disappointed. I've been "copping out" a lot lately and using my iphone camera for things I should just use the regular camera for. And I didn't take any pictures showing the side of the jar either and how full it is.
So Little Berry and I went on a walk taking this little jam jar that I had with us. We found a patch of moss and proceeded to find a piece about the size of the base of the jar. We also had a spoon with us and scraped up enough dirt to fill the jar about three inches. We gathered a few tiny grasses and acorns and took this all home.
At home I mixed in some richer dirt from a flower pot that was also much looser. And then we tamped the dirt down for the moss because moss likes firm surfaces. We placed the grass, acorns, and tiny bird next. There's about an inch from the top of the jar left.

Next I placed the polymer clay mushrooms. I got three packages of polymer clay at the check out at AC Moore or Hobby Lobby and made these mushrooms. It baked under five minutes and I chose to leave them unpainted. I would have left holes in the stems for pins if I had thought about it but they're fine without them and haven't fallen over at all.

I will definitely be making more of these. I think they would be really nice for college students or as gifts for young people getting their first apartment. Low maintenance (needs lots of indirect sunlight and occasional watering) and lovely to look at. Also is rather dreamy and I know a certain young girl I want to make one for still.
*I'm looking at you Caitlyn!*
--> on another note, I am looking for a seamless way to round the corners on my photos. I've tried photoshop (I only have 5.0) and can't get it to do what I want, and I haven't found any good online generators. Any tips besides buying a new computer?

Snow**

\

We got snow flurries today. I guess they don't exactly count. Little berry loved them, staring out the window squealing about the "rain!" which is exactly what it turned to. We did Christmas cards last week with her in front of the tree:

Gave her a candy cane and a hat and she really loved it~

She loves the tree. After these pictures were taken she started trying to pull everything off the tree because she's now convinced it's candy.

Lovely finds

I was trawling through bins at the Goodwill last weekend when I came across a whole stack of sweet, great condition vintage children's books. They are so sweet! I've got quite a collection now and am finding a lot of great titles in the local thrift stores.

I keep telling Pappa Starbucks that I will sell them on etsy but once I get them home I always find excuses not to.

Excuses like how sweet is this!!? and oops, this one is a little scuffed up! and well..I don't know how to price them...




This last one, the Shopping Book? It is SO stinkin' cute! It has the best illustrations I've seen in a while, I love it!


Oh, I love vintage story books so! It's a bit of a thrill still to find ones in good condition for inexpensive prices simply because I know how much love they will get around here.
What's your favorite children's book?

Sewing Table

Since we moved into this apartment we have lived in a seeming hodge podge of disorganization or non functional spaces. Finally I have created my own corner where I can actually point out as my own sewing space, (with my own sewing table!) or to write or just doodle. When we were students, I simply made my school desk work, even though it didn't. But when we moved here, and I became a full-time at home mamma, well, I begged for my own crafting space.
And I got it! I haven't included photos here of my fabric stash...or of my bookshelf loaded up with sweet vintage children's books, but I wanted to share my sewing table space and my sweet little wall behind it.

Strung up you see my vintage-style French children's "manners cards" we picked up in Paris. I wish I could remember the name of the shop...I can tell you we were accosted by a gentleman outside of the shop who was angry that A0 we didn't speak French and B) that Little Berry wasn't wearing socks and C) that the sun was shining. The sun! Shining on our daughter. How dare we let that happen!
You know, because we should have stayed in if the sun was shining, it makes perfect sense.
Anyway, back to my space.

I also put up some handmade mustache's. Because I can't seem to get enough of them lately and I can't decide what to do with these at the same time.
I have so many ideas though.

I have a little bit of room on the wall for things I don't want Little Berry to get her grimy paws sweet little baby hands all over- that's to say it isn't big enough to hold EVERYTHING I'd like to keep her from of course, but that would just be called a SEPARATE HOUSE.

16 months of joy

Today my Little Berry is 16 months old. She's so big, and such a baby all at once.
She is still not much of a morning person (see above photo for proof) but I'm in love with this age, this stage of development, with all of its words and even its frustrations. This morning she got angry ANGRY because she wanted so desperately to dress herself and isn't capable of doing it all at once, she just doesn't have nthe motor skills for it, but you should have seen her try. She was intense, desperate, breathing heavily, picking up her foot with both hands and trying to poke them into her pants. In the end she settled on letting me put the pants on her that she picked out because any other pair? Elicited shrieks.
And she tries to read, pointing at the words on the page, making up garble about them. Everything has a name whether she gets it right or not, but boy oh boy does she try! A few weeks ago she started saying "airplane!" and now everything in the sky- from the moon, sun, birds, clouds, to airplanes themselves are pointed and called out as such.
If we're in the kitchen, she drags over her high chair and waits to be fed, grinning, and making messes with it whenever it's placed in front of her. She's very sensory oriented and specifically, loves feeling, touching things to see what they do.
She rolls her eyes when she doesn't like what we're telling her. She's been doing this for about three weeks and it's simultaneously hysterical and absurd.
I bought a vintage quilt recently at the Goodwill and she has spent so much time while we nurse stroking it, pointing at different images, licking it and right this very moment she has her whole face plastered against my computer screen watching the letters be typed and saying NnnnnOSE!
My girl, she is a joy.

24 things

24 things because It's my 24th birthday!
Sweet things I love:
1) My Little Berry
2) My wonderful Pappa Starbucks
3) "Crazy" by Seal
4) Handmade toys
5) Phish Food ice cream from Ben and Jerry's
6) Co-sleeping
7) Vintage children's books
8) Sewing
9) Dogs
10) The color yellow
11) Bicycle rides
12) City life (and the bookstores that come with that)
13) Chap stick
14) Mint, paprika, rosemary, lavender....
15) Trader Joe's (and their mangoes!)
16) Sunshine
17) Rain
18) Pride and Prejudice
19) Chocolate
20) Cloth diapers-I'm especially loving the Bum Genius right now
21) These printable bookplates
22) These sweet fabrics
23) Vintage paper dolls like these
24) My new etsy shop! More dolls coming soon!

Missing

We all know what it's like to be busy, to be overwhelmed, to have more on our plate than we'd like. And sometimes it's not that we're busy, or too busy to do what needs to be done, it's just that we don't want to do what we need to. Oh, procrastination. The truth is, if I applied myself, I could accomplish a lot. A whole lot. I'm not what I would call a lazy person, but I am creatively motivated. By that, I mean I am highly motivated when it comes to things creative. Organizing the bookshelf thoroughly? Oh, I can do that. Baking bread? Absolutely! Folding the towels and patching Little Berry's pants where she wiped out too many times wore them out? Yes, yes! Sign me up. But when it comes to seeing that the bedroom isn't exactly in tip top shape or that the scum in our tub has began turning pink, well. I'm not the best at this. I look at it like this:
How long ago did I get on my hands and knees and scrub the bathroom/kitchen floor/ etc? And if the answer is more than a week ago I think
"well...I will clean it tomorrow."
And then the next day I actually DO follow through on those tasks and usually also end up doing way more than I *realized* needed doing. Of course. And then I get all huffy when Pappa Starbucks doesn't comment on how great everything looks, but that's another post.


What about you? How do you maintain a clean home?
(I'm talking to you, Nichole, Sharla, and Lynette!)
***And anyone else who might be following along here :)

Beginning

It started innocently enough.
I have never truly been a Christmas person. Even when I was little- I always resented the moods of shoppers crowding the aisles, and the hubub of visitors invading our tiny home.
And sometimes, the disappointment.
But now that we are three, we have agreed to have Christmas traditions of a different sort. We agreed to not do a tree, or lights. Or presents for everyone, and we agreed that we would stay here in our sweet town for Christmas and avoid my batty, crazy family.
But then we took some photos of the babe in sweet Christmas form, and today we mailed $20 worth of Christmas cards to friends and family. Most of whom will not look at the shiny piece of paper again after Christmas.
And we bought a wreath for the door, because it was our one festive agreement.
And then, decorations to fill a bowl on the table.
And now, my living room is filled with stacks of presents for all the tykes in my family. My mother guilted me into visiting for Christmas so we will be hitting the road for an (at least) eight hour car trip with the Cuppycake on Tuesday.
And then, today, while picking up those crazy expensive photo cards from Walgreens, we decided their $10 Christmas tree was a steal. And to go with it, we HAD to have ornaments. Lights. Garland. A skirt. And at AC Moore, with my dear, we found they too were having a sale, and bought MORE ornaments, cookie cutters, and wrapping paper.

It is all too familiar, and all to invasive. I would SO rather not get started on this....but how does one avoid it?