au revoir pour maintenant

well, i must leave again. i am headed to st. louis for a very good friend's wedding and to spend some time with my best friend in the whole world--kelly sue! needless to say, i am very very excited and very much looking forward to the trip. but alas, this again takes me away from this loverly internet world (hehe).

so today, i will be posting pictures of an outfit that incorporates some more of my favorite things.

my tan wedge heels, which make me feel all tall and elegant--a rare feeling for someone who tops out at 5'3".


a jean vest i picked up for THREE DOLLARS which i wear alllllll the time...it's comfy. and the coral tank top is not exactly "special" but i absolutely adore the color. it makes me all happy and smiley and confident.


and then there is the heart pendant--very '80's and lots of sparkly fun! i like to think it goes with anything. maybe that's just wishful thinking, but i like wishful thinking. that's probably why i agree with the peter pan ideal: 'i do believe in fairies.' now, say it with me, "i DO believe in fairies!"

and on that note, i bid you au dieu, until next time.

well, hai ther!

hello all!
it's been quite a long while since i've written, and for that, i am most sorry!

when i left you last, i was on my way off to michigan (which was amazingly loverly!), and i promised to post about my finds from a goodwill thrift shop stop.

i love old china; i suppose i am somewhat of a collector, and i found some beeea-u-ti-ful pieces at goodwill--my favorite being a dinner plate from bavaria.






also, i found the most wonderful pair of turquoise wedge sandals from the '80's. it was a good day.







on another note (and as you may have noticed already), i have had a big thing for wearing flowers in my hair this summer. it makes me feel light-hearted. and light-heartedness is priceless. i so much appreciate anything that helps me forget the doldrums and brings me into a better mindset. flowers in my hair, sun flares in my eyes, watermelon juice on my chin, flip flops on my feet...summer at it's best. one of my favorite summer songs right now is "all summer long" by kid rock. don't know why, but it makes me feel really good when i listen to it, so have a listen if you get a chance! summer is slipping away faster than i can keep up with, and part of me wishes it could go on forever, but as with everything, it must come to an end. change is inevitable. here comes fall.

so long for now!

It's been awhile. This week has been a bit crazy for me. At the moment, I am actually just taking a break from ironing some things for my grandma, but since I leave with my family on vacation to Michigan tomorrow morning, I decided to write for a bit.

On Monday I babysat a kid I've been babysitting for close to 8 years now, on and off...his parents divorced earlier this year and he's taking it rather hard--I need no further example to prove to me how easily divorce can destroy people. Anyway, I digress. His mom lives in a new town house complex basically in the middle of nowhere and it was gorgeous at sunset while we were outside--him riding his fourwheeler and me, limping along behind on my sprained ankle. And of course, I took some pictures. So, all of the pictures (lovely or not so lovely) in this post are from that night.

Tomorrow, bright and early, I leave with my family to go to Cassopolis, Michigan. My grandparents have a cottage there, right on Diamond Lake. It is so gorgeous! By far, the best sunsets that I have ever seen have been over that lake. I can't wait to post some pictures from the trip and it hasn't even happened yet--I know, I'm silly. But I think silliness is highly underrated. Silliness is sunny and bright and spontaneous. Silliness is childhood incarnate. And I love being silly! So, for all you fellow silliness-lovers out there, do something undeniably silly today. In fact, do something silly every day. It's important, I think. Lightheartedness, no matter how it embodies itself, helps me get through the boring days, the hard days, the terribly long days. Whether you wear polka dots, a big bow, neon pink shoes, red lipstick, or just skip everywhere all day, silliness is simply delightful!

Today, I found some wonderful things while shopping at Goodwill with my mom and sisters. I will have pictures and the story when I return from my peaceful getaway.

So, til then, so long, au revoir, good morning, good afternoon, and good night!

Geraniums and the Great Spirit

I love Native American folklore, so this pin is one of my favorites. It depicts a marriage being blessed by the Great Spirit--the highest deity in Native American lore.

The yellow glass ring in the pictures is another one of my favorite things, purchased at a quaint little town in south-western Michigan...I also have a dress that was purchased in that town that I will hopefully have pictures of soon.

And, of course, in my hair, I am wearing my favorite blue rose hairpin and some freshly cut geraniums for a summery twist. I do love wearing flowers in my hair; not in a hippy way really, but because it makes me feel breezy and automatically pretty.

This is a rather short post, I know, but I am feeling rather ill today and just wanted to post some pics in a swift way. So, voila! And have a happy weekend (or at least a happy sunset).

pretty lil pictures, jon dunham, spanky and the gang

today has been a day. that is the only real way to describe it. it has not been anything spectacular, but it has left me feeling contented and unhurried. my boyfriend re-introduced me to an amazing comedian, i had my i-tunes set to shuffle and a song by spanky and the gang came on and made me smile, i had a fresh salad for dinner (cilantro and chives included!), and am now about to watch the movie confessions of a shopaholic with my wonderful family. ah. a lovely day. (plus, the cubs are actually playing it close with the phillies tonight instead of getting themselves run over again).

as for the beginning of that title up at the top of this blog...i just rather like pictures....and the phrase "pretty little pictures" cannot be said without a smile (:

so, as i finish up this short and sweet post, and begin drinking my peppermint tea, eating homemade popcorn, and watching a movie (which may or may not be a good film but should still be entertaining) with my wonderful family, i leave you with this:

"Your sorrow shall be turned into joy."--John 16:20

"The brave don't live forever, but the cautious don't live at all."--The Princess Diaries

"Now we should live when the pulse of life is strong. Life is a tenuous thing...fragile, fleeting. Don't wait for tomorrow. Be here now!"

some of my favorite quotes, those are! hope you enjoy them as well!

and of course, to finish up, some pretty lil pictures!

as promised

sooner than i thought, here are the pictures i promised!

a bite from the bug that is nostalgia

today, as i sat outside in the backyard with the sunshine blanketing my tired self, reading "my sister's keeper," and painting some antique chairs for my mother, i found myself on the verge of tears.

nostalgia is such a strange phenomenon. how can a memory of something so good or somethings so wonderful cause gut-wrenching tears?


i miss high school (which is odd, i know). i miss my first college, greenville. weirdly, i miss when i was ill there--i have a chronic illness that was first manifested my freshman year at greenville, and yet that is still a time i look back to with fondness. i miss being a child, when i asked impossible questions because i really wondered what the answer would be; unlike now, when i hardly ever ask questions anymore, because i can either figure out the answer or i already know the answer. it's sad in a melancholy sort of way. i find myself wishing for nothing more than to throw off all social restraints and act childish again, peter pan style. can't we all take a lesson or two from peter? what is so great about growing up? i can't really think of anything that i like about the way "grown-ups" are supposed to act. there is something to be said for maturity, most definitely. but when you start tossing around words like "responsibility," "work," "mortgage," "priorities," it makes me want to just run far and fast down an unpaved country road and fall headlong into a sun-drenched field teeming with bumble bees and clover, and just lay there until i'm ready to get up and do something else. spontaneity is something grown-ups lose. and i don't want to lose that. ever.