Brown paper packages tied up with string.

I love packaging materials!
And I am wiggly in my seat for these awesome handwritten thank you stickers from K is for Calligraphy to arrive in the mail. I get my usual kicks from all manner of paper products, but these new additions have me doing high kicks!
I think the best part of having an etsy shop is doing the branding and packaging. Look out Hello Grey Day customers, there are some cute wrappings coming your way this Fall!

The Cute Factor

Greta girl is growing fast. She is beyond cute and knows it.
She will sing any song you give her these days.  From Twinkle Twinkle to Can't Buy Me Love, her little voice trips over complicated lyrics in a way so perfectly adult and babyish iphones are always on the ready.
And she has been learning to work this all in her favor.
For example, girl is nuts for Shaun the Sheep. We don't blame her, because it's awesome, but we try and limit it to once a day. So when time is up and all other pleading fails she has used that Blessed tune "If your happy and you know it... clap your hands!" to try and swing the situation around.
Greta: "If your happy and you know it...watch Shaun the Sheep?"
Mom: Nice try kid.
But she's no amateur. She knows that all cuteness involving the bible gets a double cute score. So the other day when she insisted she be allowed to drive us to the store, and being turned down so predictably, she endeavored to ever so gently lull us to her bidding by softly singing in the back seat not "Jesus-Loves-me-this-I-know" but a more timely gospel for her parents... "Babies-need-to-drive-a-car...for the bible tells me so."

For the record, we didn't let her drive the car. But if you ever see us on the 6 o clock news "Local Washington family drives car into crowded Chipotle restaurant"...we blame the cute factor.

Praying for all of our friends and family in Virginia...

"Hurricane" by *intao via deviantart

Uniforms: The Apron

Do you wear a uniform? (Definition being: Something you wear just about everyday. Something you have to actually try hard NOT to wear. )
I have a few trusty items that fall into this category, top of the list I think is the apron. Why is it that people assume you must be cooking if you're wearing an apron?
Chances are on any given day, if I'm in my house I am wearing an apron. Perfect for sparing your clothes unnecessary washings as you scoot through your day shrugging your shoulders at splashes at the sink, coffee spills at breakfast, and little snotty noses (Why do they masquerade giving you a hug when all they really want is to rub their snotty little nose on you. And why doesn't it bother me to the degree it probably should?...Aprons!)
But I think the pockets alone are what really sells me. There you are, everywhere you go you have your phone, your list, your pen, and that spare bobby pin...pockets! You are hanging out up upstairs you find random object belongs downstairs, too lazy to make the trip...pockets! You find a handsome pile of pennies in the dryer and since someone told you once that you could go to jail (destruction of government property or some such rubbish) for throwing them away, you just sock 'em in your pockets to pass on to someone else less bothered by their pointless existence. Pockets for the win.
When I was a kid I used to want to work in corporate America so I could wear heels and skirt suits everyday. But I think I am perfectly satisfied in forgoing Nylons for now. Especially when I look at the sweet frills and tucks on these perfect aprons...
LOVE.

aprons from anthropologie

Laughs.

Something my fella sent my way the other day, and guaranteed laughs for you HP fans.
Spoiler Alert! If you haven't read or finished the books you might want to pass. After all we have a saying around our house that goes "Friends don't tell friends Harry Potter secrets."

Homemade Basil Lemon-Limeade

 

It all started with a box full of Meyer Lemons from Costco. I had never bought Meyers before and was so pleasantly surprised by their buttery smooth skin, orangey tint, and slightly sweeter flavor. I could have almost been content to look at them piled in the kitchen bowl, but today was hot, and it was time to put them to practical use.
The day called for homemade lemonade but I wanted to have a little fun with it. Here's how I did it...

Basil Lemon-Limeade

• 6-7 Meyer lemons
• 2-3 Limes
• The zest of 1 lemon and two limes
• Fresh basil
• Sugar (to taste, but about 1 cup) For fun I made a flavored sugar by grinding some of the zest in the sugar with a mortar and pestle, until it was a cheerful orange color and the house smelled amazing!
• Half a pitcher of water.

I garnished mine with a sprig of fresh basil and a dollop of rum over ice. Yum!

Portal 2

Kent and I just finished playing Portal 2's co-op game last night. (We saved science!)
There are only a handful of xbox games I genuinely enjoy playing (Lego-anything for example), but this game is one of my favorites. It's multi-player so you are working together to solve puzzles so there's a lot less hate going around, which keeps the evenings fun*.
The game is smart, the dialogue is sarcastic humor at its best, and it's science I can get behind, with plenty of speed, momentum, flinging, springing, and of course...portals.
And contrary to what I used to think, not just for boys. Why should they have all the fun?

*I'm dirt mean if I get into a competitive game...of just about any sort.

Love & Marriage

Kent's parents are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary today. All of our congratulations go to them! As well as our thanks, for building a legacy we are so proud of.
Love you both!

Weekend Ahoy!

We had a nice start to the weekend.
Our small group does a Friday night babysitting co-op. Which means 4 out of 5 Fridays are date nights as we rotate out who watches the whole mess of them once.
Our turn to watch the kids was some weeks back and we have been enjoying our free Fridays like a couple of carefree swells. Tonight we had sushi at our favorite place we don't take Greta, and then lazed about the pier with ice cream cones...sweet serenity.
Watching the boats bob in a row put me in a proper state of mind I think. I grew up in a small harbor kind of town and I don't think I realized how much I missed all the good in just sitting on a quiet pier. At any rate, it had a good effect on me because I can't remember the last time I laughed such great deep belly laughs so freely in public. (I usually spend my time in public scanning my surroundings for hidden hazards while nudging and guiding my little chick too and fro.) And it was fun to draw smiles from strangers. (Because who can't help but smile when you hear someones genuine laughter? Isn't it so nice to know that someone is having a good time? Even if it's not you at the moment.)
 Anyways, the weekend is in sight, right off the starboard bow, I hope you find some delicious laughs in it.

Lately...

The cure for the common cross.

I've been so cross today I could kick the cat*.
It all started with a whim and an absolute must to do something and do it well.
But there are some days where excellence is just not on the docket. Every paper, canvas, document, I put my hand to spoiled at my approach. But I grew all the more determined to try something else and grumpier with each failed attempt.
Finally my fruitless efforts brought me to the living room floor in a very unattractive state of ennui.
When attempts all around to rouse and cheer failed miserably I decided that what I needed was (and I premised it with "you're going to think I'm silly but"...) "Ice cream and some quiet time with pious women."
And so I took myself to my little office room, shut the door to keep the rest of the family safe from my grumbling and opened Little Women to chapter 11.**
And what a timely read! I was probably only in my time out for no more than 15 minutes, but it worked wonderfully.  If you have the book, the chapter is called "Experiments", and dear Marmee knows just the cure for these cases . It's terribly old fashioned, and deliciously moral, but not without truth, as she recommends...

"Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well. Then youth will be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life will become a beautiful success. " -L M Alcott

In my case, I knew which of these was lacking, and there was a great bounding down the stairs and a booming cloud of industriousness followed. Although I had wanted to do something well all day long and for the life of me couldn't manage it, I had been ignoring the more obvious tasks in front of me (laundry, picking up toys, cleaning random bowl of popcorn kernels, etc.) The cleaning of which not only guaranteed a sure success, but also in the process of making home more pleasant for everyone I found my cheer, and (surprise of all surprises) my creativity which was hiding sneakily under all those mundane chores.
The devil.

* We don't have a cat.

**I have just recently given away a copy to a friend, and although it is not nearly time for me to read it again, I thought I would just have a little taste in honor of the gift, and read it until I found something else to read for realsies. I'm not sure if this tasting scheme will work, because I am full steam into chapter 12 now and I don't see me quitting til it's through.


Hemingway kicking a can source

A picnicking....

Happy Weekend everyone!
We are all astir at our house (mostly me) for tomorrow we are having our first Summer Picnic of the season with some of our dear friends.
I have been saving a few special picnic this n thats for the occasion, (although I have misplaced my gramophone...that thing is awesome.) and if the sun comes out in full force the girls and I might go for a float on the water whilst the boys watch the littles on land.
The last time I think I was in a tube or raft was the fated voyage of Victor the II*. However, seeing as we are picnicking at a lake, and a very small one at that, high adventure is unlikely.
Just a nice relaxing Saturday with friends.


*I was a Freshman in college and my friend and I thought it would be jolly to go for a sea voyage (on the peninsula) in a holey little raft called Victor the II.  Full of spirits and a can do attitude we only rowed ourselves halfway to our point of interest before the band aids quit hole stoppering duty (my brilliance) and the most unexpected storm brew up determined to pitch us and sweep us out into the open sea. (and in our excitement) to our watery graves.
All came to right in the end, we just let the waves flop us on to shore a little ways up and we walked back home a little colder and wetter than we left. It was a completely foolish thing to do, but such fun eh Juice?

image source: You know I don't have a clue? It has been around the internets so many times it's lost a home that I can find.

Talking to little girls.

I spied this cool article by Lisa Bloom mentioned while combing blogs the other day. It is an awesome piece on how to talk to little girls.
A good read, all about engaging little girls minds and modeling the importance of brains and character over appearances.
The article states that "25 percent of young American women would rather win America's Next Top Model than the Nobel Peace Prize." Sad. But not unbelievable. We are working on that Peace Prize at our house. (And if this picture is any indicator, I think we are on the right track.)