the weekend and the holiday market

The holiday market went well this weekend and Christmas is starting to feel very close :)

The plan for tonight is to go home, put on a good Christmas movie and start wrapping. I really love that part. And happily this year I was able to do all my shopping without once stepping foot inside a mall.

In other good news, I found out that I do in fact have a job next year, plus a couple weeks off which will give me the perfect opportunity to take a trip to Mt. Shasta to see some good friends, play in the snow and possibly squeeze in a little work for Morgan. That is of course a HUGE relief and a wonderful Christmas gift.

weekends at the coast

In the last two weeks I have spent two great weekends at the coast. With good friends, clear skies, amazing food, and walks on the beach. Its been nice.

Now its time to start wrapping Christmas gifts. ;)

xo

found here

Have an awesome weekend friends!! xo ~S

the weekend: mushrooms and winemaking

The wine is coming along. And we are having so much fun. And with a little luck I think it just might taste alright too.

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A new addition to the house. Deer skull and antlers against a lovely piece of otter fur, hand tanned by my man.

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A day of driving, walking in the woods and a little rain brought us to this lovely sight. A bowl full of clean chanterelles. And let me just say, there was more then one bowlful.

That bowl full led to this full refrigerator, which led to some very yummy meals.

Hope everyone has been enjoying their fall weekends!

a walk through the woods

Mushroom hunting.

This weekend M and I took an hour or two to wander through the lovely Oregon coast woods. The rains have started, but its not too cold.

It was a nice weekend, though it went too quickly, and I am finally really feeling ready for fall (but I am NOT quite ready to put away my flip flops yet... :)

happenings

Its been a busy week, but good busy. M surprised me late Wednesday night and was able to stay around last night, which was wonderful.

At work we are getting close to harvest, which means there are a million things going on.

I started to paint again.

And this week I wrote three poems.

I also have a few book designs swimming around my head that I am excited to get home and try. They combine leather, birds, branches and my sewing machine.

Tonight I am looking forward to a night in, doing laundry, painting, cleaning, a quick nap and then a coffee infused 1AM drive to the coast.

Have a fantastic Friday friends!

Here's hoping that we all get out and do something wonderful this weekend.

~S

image found here

a lovely rainy weekend

This weekend I spent a fantastically rainy two days at the beach. It honestly poured the entire time, but it was somehow perfect, and very soothing. I got to spend time with M as well as have a nice Saturday night to myself while he went to work. I took a hot bath, read, wrote, watched a movie and listened to the rain in the dark.

Somehow the rain seems to have washed away something.

What was so unclear for these past months is becoming clear again. And it is such a relief.

I have always tended to make things harder then they needed to be, and lately has been no exception. But at least for right now I don't feel a need for perfection. I can see the beauty in the mess and find joy in it. At least for right now I can let go and not hold myself or the world to some crazy standard and expectation that should never have even entered my head in the first place.

Right now I see possibility and good things in the future for all of us.

Have an awesome Monday chickadees. ~S

weekend

I had a lovely weekend spent partly at the coast and partly at home spending time with M, listening to the waves, and flying a kite we found in the grass on our walk to the ocean.

Hope yours was fantastic! xo

weekending at the coast

It was unusually and fantastically warm for one day last weekend at the Oregon Coast, and I just happened to be there on that day. It was wonderful. We went to a great little local place for lunch, napped on the beach and hung out with some of M's new work friends.

I also was lucky enough to get to accompany him to work that night, which entailed being on a boat in a river from about 9pm to 5am catching, tagging and releasing fish. I of course had never done anything like that before and had a great time.

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend.

~S

This weekend though I was in some beautiful places I managed to only have my camera when driving in the car.

Besides driving, the weekend also included: clamming, eating said clams, finding baby crabs in said clams, watching the ocean, naps, a new (to me) marble coffee table for the living room (it looks great and is a fantastic book making workspace), finding a mirror which I will spray paint yellow, old episodes of Weeds, car repairs, and chocolate pudding.

All in all I'd say it was a good weekend.

snippets

The house is starting to come together and and actually feel more like where I live.

Also I sort of wish it would rain today (or tonight), which is odd because I am going camping this weekend.

My good mood yesterday lasted precisely until I got home from work and things began to go wrong. Well, not wrong exactly, but not according to plan, which yesterday felt like the same thing as things going wrong.

The wild mood swings are starting to be less interesting and entertaining then they used to be.

I am also feeling more and more strongly lately how I need to get better at letting go of the plan.

I desperately need to find some balance. I am trying, but so far just haven't found it. But I will.

I am happy to have at least the start of a decent workspace. Hopefully that means I might at some point in my near future do some actual work.

I have been grumpy today. I wish I hadn't been. But hopefully a solitary drive and trip to the movies in a new town while I wait for my man to come meet me after a few days away will help lift it.

If that doesn't then I'm pretty sure seeing the ocean will.

Have a wonderful weekend birds!! xo

a good morning

Here is why today is already pretty awesome and its only 8:07 AM.

1. I am wearing an outfit that makes me happy. My favorite Sanuk flip flops that are even better because I bought them in Hawaii, cut off denim capris, a grey flowery tank top with a black cardie, my blue leather clutch and my noisy plume "I love your soul" tote. Also my toe nails are hot pink.

2. When I opened my door this morning someone had left me a very small and very fantastic antler. Over the weekend M had brought me an antler he had found in his travels the week before and it spent quite a bit of the weekend outside in the sun bleaching away some of the stains it picked up while laying in the woods. I can only assume that someone saw me out there with it and figured I like antlers. Whoever they are, I think they are wonderful.

3. I got a mocha and chocolate chip scone for breakfast.

4. This weekend will be spent camping at the beach. And its going to be sunny. :)

With a morning like that how can the rest of the day not be good?

the joy of organizing

Lately it seems that the work I have most needed to do has been organizing. My home, my thoughts, my day job, my life... Slowly but surely things are coming along.

And luckily I really like organizing...

But I am looking forward to the next creative stage :)

Have an awesome start to your week lovelies!

count every beautiful thing

found

I am taking Friday off this week so my weekend starts now. And its going to be a wonderful weekend chickadees!

a few things...

1. I love those moments when maybe you are feeling a little lonely or a little sad and suddenly you read something or find something or get something in the mail that makes you feel a whole lot less that way.

2. The move this weekend was successful! Yay! That is not to say however, that I am all unpacked. But I am well on my way. Decorating and rediscovering things I forgot I had is a good time.

3. Awesome quote via etsy's facebook:

To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. SO DO IT.

-Kurt Vonnegut

Hope your weekends were lovely and full of lots less work and heavy lifting then mine was. ~s

moving!

photos via Apartment Therapy

Well, I have survived the week my moving day is (finally) almost here. I am mostly packed already, but will be 100% ready by tomorrow morning. I am pretty excited to get on with it already.
Unpacking and settling in is of course the best part of moving. And I am looking forward to it. I sort of just want to skip from right now to tomorrow afternoon...
But it will be fine. No worries :)

From the photos above apparently right now I am into bright colors, wood, displays full of small loved objects, full book shelves, and lots of plants.

Have a wonderful weekend all!

grassy leather love

I finally finished the grass belt I was making for myself and I am super happy with it. Grass and belts are two of my very favorite things, so whats not to love??

I'm so happy to finally be able to wear it around.

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This ones for you!

I also whipped up a little grassy leather key chain.

This baby will be in the shop shortly.

Hope everyone is doing something fun this weekend. Mine will mostly consist of fixing my car, packing, and of course a break on Saturday afternoon to see Harry Potter :) I cant wait!!

rushing water and the weekend

This weekend included:

really yummy tinfoil dinners with steak and veggies washed by cold river water, reading by the river, some really great rocks, naps, beer kept cold by sitting on the river bottom, sunshine, and good company.

It was a relaxing, good weekend.

I am also feeling a bit odd. Like I need to pay more attention to the lower layers of things. Time is moving faster then I want it to. I find myself needing to remind myself that everything is ok, even though I already know it's true. Though I am not terribly behind I don't feel on top of things either.

Maybe this week I will try to fix that...