New Favorite Thing: Pinterest

One of my new favorite things courtesy of the internet is this little website called Pinterest where you can make virtual inspiration boards from any images you find online. Their definition of the website's name is Pin·terest (pĭn'trĭst): n. a place to share visual collections of things you love. I think the concept is fabulous, and the execution is spot on and beautiful.

Kitchen Herb Garden from LarkingAbout
I've been have a grand time going through my old bookmarks of pages where I liked a picture and have been able to post all those images to themed boards while still linking back to the original content. It's also helped to clean out my overcrowded bookmarks.

So far my fullest boards are Home Style Inspiration, full of things I'd love to see done in my home, and Project Ideas and Inspiration, which I love being able to go to when I'm a little stuck creatively.

If you'd like to use this website yourself leave your email address and I'll be happy to send you an invite.

New additions to the Photo Arsenal

I've always wanted a little film Pentax to play with. So when we found a Pentax MX at an estate sale for $20 with two lenses and the only problem was the light seals had long ago turned gummy, I felt like I had a gem. So I spent $10 on a pre-cut seal kit from a seller on ebay, and spent an entire morning cleaning up my new baby. Now I have a working Pentax camera and my first experimental shots were on some expired Kodak 200 speed rolls that I picked up at Goodwill.


The photos turned out with a bit of a green cast to them, but I'm still excited to see what will come out of that little lovely from a fresh roll of film.

For my birthday I received a film/slide scanner that has been just wonderful to work with. I scanned not only that picture above but I've been working on scanning my mother and grandmother's old slides so they can be printed as photos and all the siblings can have copies. I can't wait to get it set up again and get cracking on that project.

Up in the Air

Everything has been up in the air lately, along with many of our travel plans for this summer. I'll just try to sum everything up as best I can.

I took the trip out to New York for our family reunion and it was such a grand time. We went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, ate at the Carnegie deli, and saw my first Broadway show. We played the role of the typical tourist and went everywhere we could, squeezing in every sight we could into just three days.


The trip didn't end quite as well as I was greeted with the news that my husband Richard had been laid off from his teaching position. A total of 482 teachers throughout the district were laid off with no warning - just a pink slip in the mail on Saturday. Things don't look quite as grim as they did at first. First we learned that the district had not yet taken into account the 300 or so retirees from this year and what money/positions that would open up. Then we discovered that the way the layoffs were carried out for the Immersion school where Richard works were explicitly against the teachers' contracts. Both of those facts coupled with the degrees necessary for his position mean that the likelihood that there is someone else with seniority to take Richard's place is slim.

Hopefully he'll merely be asked to step back into in position come August, but until then we're tightening our belts and getting in as many doctors appointments as we can before our health insurance disappears. I've started applying at temp agencies and Richard is almost set to step back into his job at Apple.

We're still proceeding with the house, because there's really no reason not to. It will cost just as much to remain in our apartment for one year as it will for a downpayment and mortgage payments and utilities on the house for the same year. The only difference of course will be improvements on the house, but those can be delayed if need be, and we certainly know how to do clean up on the cheap. I'm also a freecycle pro, and I'll go ahead and put this out there - if anyone has house modifying skills I'm always up for working in trade if I can do something you need.

I wish there was better news to share, but I still had some great weeks traveling to North Carolina for my cousin Beaty's wedding and to New York for the Reunion, and I'll be sharing photos from both very soon.

Summer Calendar: These Days are Just Packed

Looking at the calendar I realize that this summer is set to be full of travel and fun little adventures! So many places to go, people to see, and things to do!

I suppose all this traveling started two weekends ago when I went to River Falls to see Jennie and go to the 100 Mile Yard Sale. And it continues tomorrow (already!) when I go up to Oshkosh for the graduation celebration of Molly, my roommate from sophomore year. She's darling and I can't wait to see her! I plan to leave early so I can spend some time bumming around Oshkosh, maybe hit up a thrift store or two and visit my ladies at Atomic Katz.

Next week its off to North Carolina for my cousin Beaty's wedding. It will be a great chance to see my grandmother, my aunts and uncles, and some of my cousins. I certainly hope Anna will make it to Beaty's wedding as she has another wedding to be at the night before in Charleston, and I miss her so!

In June I'll be heading by train to New York for a mini family reunion which promises to be full of Italians on buses. I don't leave until 3 pm on a Sunday so I plan to spend my last morning partaking in the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market which is just blocks from the train station. I especially enjoy traveling by train, it's leisurely and often feels like I get an extra day (or two) at the beginning and end of my trips.

There will be more traveling, and even more little local adventures, but I will leave the rest of my wanderlusting for another time.

It's Spring and the babies are here!

These three little baby bunnies were nestled in the front yard of a family I sit for. At the time they were just about big enough to hop away from the nest for good and they're all gone now. But aren't they just adorable?


The little girl was so excited to show them to me, and was very insistent on how far back we had to stay from the nest.


Now if only the ducks would return to the pond behind my parents' house to nest I'll have some ducklings to watch!

Birthdays: 24 times!

Yesterday was my birthday, and I certainly had a grand old time! My parents took Richard and I out to dinner at the local steakhouse where we indulged in a bit of wine and all shared a piece of turtle cheesecake for dessert.

It was a wonderful day, and I had a really great time just being with my family. My parents and Richard gifted me with some really awesome presents as well! (I will readily admit that saying that makes me feel ten years old!)

My father picked out a new bicycle for me that I am rather anxious to ride - we're supposed to be going on the interurban trail from Brown Deer on Saturday and I just hope the weather complies. My mom put together a s'mores kit complete with giant marshmallows the size of your fist! They also ordered the film/slide scanner I wanted - but I think they may have ulterior motives :) as there have been a lot of my mom and grandmother's old slides about the house lately! I really can't wait for the scanner to get here because I'm really anxious to start scanning my mother's family memories so that we can more readily share them with everyone. It will also come in handy when I start experimenting with 120 film in my Kodak Duaflex, which Richard is enabling with the dark bag that he gave me.

Two weeks ago today my great-grandmother Jean passed away. I want to write something for her, because I love her so and am so proud to have been named after her, but I'm still finding it a bit difficult. So I'll leave with that.

All 100 Miles

This past weekend I took some time to myself to journey across the state of Wisconsin to visit some friends in River Falls. My friend Jennie had heard of this wonderful little thing called the 100 Mile Garage Sale, which was a string of garage sales all up and down 100 miles of the Mississippi river.

We spent ALL DAY out and exploring. We didn't have any miraculous finds, but it was a fabulous time! Starting at 8 o'clock Saturday morning we were on the road and hitting the sales, we took a lunch break around 3 on a beach and spent another half an hour combing for beach glass (I came home with a whole pocket full!) before hitting a few more sales and heading home around 5.

I, for one, have decided that this year was merely reconnaissance for next year. It was super exciting, and a whole lot of fun, especially getting a whole day with Jennie.

Etsy Vintage Discoveries - Spring Gardens

Since spring seems to have finally arrived it's time to garden with some great vintage discoveries!

Antique Spoons Garden Markers Set $32
from Hammermann

Vintage RRP Co. Aqua Mint Green Jardiniere $32
from Haven Vintage


Herb Garden Pots with Wooden Tray $34.95
from 8point8

"If you'd have a mind at peace
A heart that cannot harden
Go find a door that opens wide
Upon a beautiful garden."

Our house... but not yet.

A few weeks ago we were told that the bank had unofficially accepted our offer on the house and that we just had to wait for them to send over the paperwork so we could close. That was three weeks ago and we haven't heard from the bank since and things haven't moved any further on the house.


I did get into the house a couple weeks ago with our floor guy and got to do some inspecting of our own. Since the last time we were there many of the things (but not all) from the closets and cupboards had been dumped into the trash can out back and it remains to be seen if anyone takes it to the end of the drive to be picked up. The yellow plates from the kitchen walls (see here) have been ripped down and we assume disposed of.

The bad news was that there was new damage to the house. Someone (we're unsure if it was the bank or a break-in) popped out the lock on the side door to the garage breaking the door, the frame, and part of the garage wall in the process. The bank put up a padlock so fingers crossed it doesn't happen again. When they finally winterized the house in early March, after winter was pretty much over, they removed the water meter which is par for the course, however they did not cap the pipe or even put a bucket below it to catch dripping water so there is now a king-bed sized puddle of water across the basement floor. Once we get in and get the water turned back on we'll see if any of the pipes burst during our long and cold winter.

The water in the basement coupled with the old couch that seems to be soaked in cat urine do not bode well for the clean-up process. We had really hoped to get in before it got too warm so the stink wouldn't be magnified. At this point we'd really just settle on closing before the end of April so we can take advantage of the tax credit. If it drags on much longer than that I don't really know if house ownership will be for us. We may just have to settle for continuing to rent where we are or renting somewhere else.

Etsy Vintage Discoveries - School Spirit

Majorette Medals on Ribbons - 1970s $12.99
from UncommonEye


Red Letterman Jacket $17.50
from FebruaryMarch


Vintage Mini Pennants $15
from Antiquarium


Vintage Alba Stockings Co-ed College Case $29
from Sass Box Classics

News on the homefront

So many things are going on here at our house and in our lives.

I've been slowly but certainly adding items up in the shop, including this adorable little metal badge from Captain Tim's Ivory Stamp Club.


We're still awaiting final word from the bank, but things with the house seem to finally be coming together. Everything was a bit more complicated than originally appeared and there was actually more than one bank to deal with. We keep hoping that everything could be resolved before spring break so we could have the time off to work on cleaning the new house and preparing to move in, we've still got a week left - so, fingers crossed.

We're meeting with our floor guy on Tuesday so he can let us know how much it will be to refinish the wood floors and how long it will take. It's hard, but I'm holding off on getting super excited because we all know how things can change at the last minute.

Well, that's about it from us, at least for now. Hopefully soon I'll have happy news to share about the house.

Up, Up and Away... Etsy Vintage Discoveries

Peruvian Hot Air Balloon $25
from Freshy Fig

Ballooning .. UNused Vintage Postage Stamps $10
from Verde Studio

Vintage Hat Box Luggage Set With Hand Painted Hot Air Ballons $90
from Bright Wall

Pyrex Turquoise Balloon Chip and Dip Set, 1958 $78
from Crabapple Vintage