Summer Releases!

I've finished reading a few more books. I think I'm well on my way to reaching my goal of 52 books this year. The best thing about it is that I'm really reading at a leisurely pace and I'm only reading novels that truly appeal to me.

The Happiness Project	33
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo	34
The Homemade Life	35
Columbine	36

I loved The Homemade Life. It is definitley one of my "Top 5" this year. Here's the review I posted on Goodreads.com for it.

"Such a sweet foodie memoir. I LOVED reading this book. I felt like I was right across the kitchen table from Molly, perusing her recipes and hearing snippets of her life in relation to each one. I just loved this book and the warm, sweet, honey-scented feeling it left me with. Definitely recommended and would be a nice addition to one's bookshelf."

On yet another reading note, two books I've been looking forward to came out today (Fly Away Home and Sleepless) with another one coming out next Tuesday (Linger -- think Twilight with more wolves and no vamps). 

I'll have my reading cut out for me considering I'm already engrossed in another good read by a great author. 

 What are your favorite books? Any new recommendations? Send them my way!

 

An "Initial" Gift

My lovely mother-in-law has wanted some initial paintings for quite awhile. She kept mentioning that she thought it would be a neat thing to have displayed in the house. I thought it would be something that I could make her for a whole lot less than buying them elsewhere.

I considered buying picture frames and printing colors and letters for each person but I decided on just painting them straight onto canvases. That way I was able to control the exact color composition and size and shape of each letter. I designed it to be a 3 x 3 art piece/wall hanging display, but she couldn't pick only 9 (I made 12 total since our family is still forming). Each painting had an initial of someone in our family and the middle letter is the family initial. The three small letters on the bottom left canvas represent the three grand-dogs (O, B and P). 

She ended up finding another spot for the last (12th) canvas across the room. This one has D&G which are my in-laws initials. I thought they may want that to be the center canvas of the 3 x 3 but they preferred it here and I think it worked our perfectly.

Here's another close-up of the initial paintings.

I had to post one of my love hanging out in the newly renovated/redecorated room.

My MIL also wanted me to create a sign for a blank spot on the wall. Together we decided on Faith, Hope and Love. Since it came from Corinthians, I wrote the whole verse on the back border. It felt like a hidden secret to me, which I loved!

Here's another view before it made it to the wall.

I think she liked the end result and the room turned out beautifully! I love being able to create things for those I love. I think it is so much more personal and intimate than just always buying something off of a shelf so I try to make/create whenever I can. But I just love giving all kinds of gifts! I finished wrapping five gifts for August birthdays and anniversaries yesterday... 2 homemade and 3 store-bought. I love finding or making the perfect gift for someone and then taking the time to wrap it as beautifully as possible. Oh the simple joys!!

A few of my favorite things...

Since its late, I'm just going to share some photos of a few of my favorite things...

Christmas in July

Since I was on hiatus from blogging during the Christmas holiday, I thought I'd post some of our comings and goings from the holiday season. Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday -- in July.

From the top down you have my family's Christmas photo, my baby, Phinneas, in his favorite spot, our stockings hung by the chimney with care, my parents and their best friends Mike and Judy in Mesa and my favorite decorated house and cactus in Phoenix.

Happy Christmas in July. I hope you'll get at least one Christmas movie in this month. 

Where will I sleep?

We have trained our dogs to love to cuddle and snuggle, especially with blankets and pillows. I know, I know, it's silly, but it's what has happened. And now, I'm paying for that lesson. I'd like to show you what was in my bed when I went to get in last night...

Here is B snuggled on not just one, but two pillows, on my side, of course! What pillow will I use? How can I move that pretty face? He looks so much like a little puppy here.

I look to the other end of the bed thinking I could just lay lower in the bed to compensate for B and I find this.

...and this...

P is completely wrapped up in my blanket on top of the covers! Between them both, they take up my whole side of the bed!

Although it was late in the evening, I had to take a picture to document the nightly ritual. I don't know why it struck me as so funny last night, but it did. B eventually moved to the floor and P got "in his spot," which is in a ball at the foot of the bed by my feet and legs. That made it a lot more comfortable for me.

What I do for those dogs of mine! What crazy things do you do for your pet? I'd love to hear your story.

Also, stay tuned for some yummy dog-approved treats coming up in a few days. The boys go CRAZY over them. I've been trying to make the boys treats each week so that we're putting less and less processed food into our bodies and eating more natural, whole foods each week. I don't want to tackle their daily food since it took so long to find one that would work with all of their ailments so I thought that starting with their treats would be a good idea.

Minnie Mouse is in the House!

When my God-daughter Aubrey turned two last month I knew I wanted to contribute somehow, but being 5 hours away doesn't really facilitate easy party planning. Luckily, my best friend is awesome and let me contribute some craftiness to the party. I wanted to share some of what I did here for you to see (and duplicate, if you ever have the need).

I made these treat bags from felt, grossgrain ribbon in two sizes and my sewing machine. Dimensions and detailed instructions are available here.

Because of the light, I couldn't get a good shot of the banner but it says Happy 2nd Birthday Aubrey in the Mickey ear font. I used an exacto knife to cut out all of the ears and letters. I used a sturdier felt for the actual pennants Then I sewed them together using a tiny ribbon and black thread.

I also made her a nametag using some scraps and a sash to wear that said Happy Birthday using up the leftovers from the banner. They were adorable but I forgot to take pictures of it in the moment... go figure! I promise, I'll get better at this. Since I missed a lot of photo ops, check out this Minnie party.

Notice the re-usable pink polka dot bag with mouse-eared tag above. That was our contribution to the goodies (which has a Woody doll inside). We also made her this one-of-a-kind stool since she's at the height and age to want to start helping her mama.

It was so much fun prepping for the party. I think the birthday girl had fun, too!

Pens, pens, everywhere pens!

Sorry its been a few days since my last post. We've been busy!

My beautiful cousin, Andrea, the baby of the 11 grandchildren, got married in a sweet ceremony in Warsaw, Indiana. It was a long haul for Jared and I but they are such a darling couple, we wouldn't have missed it.

Congratulations, Andrea and Greg! Thanks for letting us be a part of your day!

 Anyway, it feels like we just got back and we're already packing up again to go camping at Lake Geneva this weekend with some awesome friends. Jared's never been camping so I'm excited for him to have this experience, but I've never been camping without my dear friend, Marianne, so I'm a little nervous on what it will be like without her. Stay tuned!

I did decide that I needed to spend some time sorting through my purse today as it seems to have gotten out of control! I managed to organize it nicely save for these....

I still don't know where I'm going to store all of these pens! Maybe I'll need them on my camping trip.