One of the great things about blogging...

...is that sometimes you get to meet the real people--the creative, funny, inspirational, warm, kind, and lovely people--behind the blogs you read. 

The first instance of this for me was when I had the chance to meet the crafty and stylish Ali of My Third True Love for a cup of coffee last August while visiting California.

(Never mind that I went to the wrong Starbucks...Ali graciously packed her kids back up into the car and drove over to meet me.  Add understanding to the list of adjectives to describe Ali!)  The next time I'm back in SoCal, a stop to visit Ali is most certainly on the itinerary.

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Another example of the connective nature of blogging? The amazing artist/funny-as-crap blogger Cindy Austin (of Cindy's Fractured Fairytale) and I live only 10 minutes apart.  Thanks to blogging we've gotten to know each other and enjoy chatting when we run into one another at the local shops we both frequent.  Since I shame on me don't have a photo of the two us, let me instead share a commissioned painting she recently completed.

It hangs in my bedroom...

and I truly swoon every time I look at the dreamy scene with the fluff-ball sheep...

and the SHEPHERD'S HUT. (If you follow me on Pinterest, you'll see I have an entire board dedicated to this obsession with shepherd's huts.)

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Over this summer, the blogging gods smiled upon another meeting:  Cindy of Cottage Instincts and Cindy (in the present tense) and I grabbed some dee-licious Ghirardelli ice cream at DisneyWorld when our families were both vacationing.

We chatted and laughed and I wished we could have had more time to visit because she's vivacity on a stick!

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Last weekend, the chance to once more meet another favorite blogger in person came about when our family took an overnight trip to Washington D.C. and northern Virginia.

For the boys: the Bruce Springsteen concert on Friday night in D.C.

For me: trips on Saturday to Lucketts in Leesburg, VA and The Empty Nest in downtown Warrenton, VA, run by none other than Janet of The Empty Nest blog!

I've been following Janet long enough that I can't remember when I wasn't reading her blog.   She's a delightful lady, who's full of life, oozes creativity, and simply has a great sense of humor.

This chalkboard sentiment in her shop captures Janet well.

Not only is she a shop-keeper and furniture-painter, she's an Annie Sloan Chalk Paint stockist who knows her way around a sewing machine, appreciates vintage items, and can be counted on to leave the best comments whenever I post music on this blog.  (I swear she and I are musical kindred spirits!)

So, it was a complete treat to meet her and visit The Empty Nest.  Here's a peek at her lovely shop!

And here we are chatting, completely oblivious to the fact my husband was taking our picture...

Now we're ready...smiles all around!

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I was also hoping to catch Cassie of Primitive and Proper on this trip to the mid-Atlantic area, but it just wasn't meant to be. This time anyway.  There will be a next time, Cassie!

And I hate to even mention this for fear of jinxing things since we're still firming up plans, but I may get to hang out with another blog friend at next month's Country Living fair in Georgia. It'd be a fairytale-wish-come-true (wink, wink) to meet this talented lady in Atlanta after all the emails and blog comments we've swapped.

Have you met any of your blogging friends in "real life?"  

Monday Morning Music: Sia

It's been awhile since I've put up a Monday Morning Music post.  But this infrequent series is back today with a good entry!

Sia Furler, known mononymously as Sia, is an Australian jazz-pop singer and songwriter.  As you'll see shortly, she's quirky as hell, full of joy, and out-of-this-world talented.



Now, I'm not going to pretend like I've known about and loved Sia for years.  In reality, I only found out about her a few months ago thanks to a Flo Rida song on the radio.

Flo who?

(He's a mainstream rapper whose recent dance single "Wild Ones" was written in part by Sia and features her vocals.)

Now, I could take or leave Flo Rida's rapping.  (Sorry, Flo.) But Sia's voice completely enchanted me.  I went home and made a beeline for Google after hearing "Wild Ones" to find out just whose beautiful throaty, soulful voice I was hearing against the dance beat and vacuous lyrics.

Well, long story short, I have a new musical obsession that I'm going to gently force on you. 

Sia's been recording for more than a decade, but she's recently hit the mainstream for her writing and vocal contributions to dance songs.   (Word is that she's working on songs for Rihanna's next album.)

However, in the last 10 years, she's put out several albums of her own that feature none of the beat-heavy dance tunes that are raising her profile at the moment.  Her best works--in my opinon--are her jazz-influenced, downtempo, and more indie-style songs.

Rather than me ramble on more, let's let Sia do her thing and convince you of her utter amazingness.

"Day Too Soon" from Some People Have REAL Problems (2008)




"Breathe Me" from Colour the Small Ones (2006)




"Soon We'll Be Found" from Some People Have REAL Problems (2008)




"I'm in Here" from We Are Born (2010)




The haunting "My Love" from The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Soundtrack (2010)



And finally, after extolling all the virtues of her non-uber-commercialized work, I have to admit, I do really like her latest collaboration with French DJ/producer extraordinare David Guetta.   Get ready to get your club on!  :)

"She Wolf (Falling to Pieces)" from Nothing But the Beat 2.0 (David Guetta)

Time Keeps on Slipping...

People, I'm freaking out that it's already September!   Anybody else feeling the same way?

Don't get me wrong, I'm so very glad September's here and that fall is soon to come.  I'm practically lusting for an autumn breeze and a change of color in the leaves.  I even had to stop and photo this leaf last week when I was mowing the yard, the colors of it thrilled me so much.

In fact, in celebration of autumn's approach, I've been making batches of Mulled Cider and Pumpkin Pie candles for wholesale orders and the Harmony Farm Candles Etsy shop. Sniff either of these and I guarantee you'll be yearning to dig out a cozy sweater, feel a nip in the air, and hold a warm mug in yours hand. :)

Mulled Cider Soy Wax Candle

Pumpkin Pie Soy Wax Candle

But I swear, I blinked and the month of August came and went.

Really, I shouldn't be surprised the month went by so quickly. We spent a week at the beach with my husband's family, then celebrated both of my parents' birthdays upon returning home.

School also started last week and my one and only baby is now a kindergartener!

Though neither he nor I boo-hoo'd, or did anything even remotely close to that, on the first day, it surprises me how seeing him off the subsequent mornings in the car rider line snags a part of my heart. Watching him walk into the building after a perfunctory adieu (Me: "Buddy, I love you! Have a good day!" Him: "Gotta go, Mom!"), just one little person in a sea of many, makes me want to snatch him back and keep him for myself just a little while longer.   But he's happy in elementary school, doesn't seem to have missed a beat in the transition, and so goes the growing up of a child.

With the new-found free time that comes with not having a kid at home for seven hours a day, I've been slaving in the perpetual and disgusting heat and humidity to finish prepping the beds around the house for landscaping in the coming weeks.  We had beds installed in early June, and it only took me two months to put down the landscape fabric (after weeding the beds close to half a dozen times--you'd think I'd learn!)

P.S.--Did you know they make these magical things called landscape staples?

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You insert them through the landscape fabric and into the ground, thus securing said landscape fabric in place. Well, I didn't the first time I laid out and cut the landscape fabric.  Only after laying tree limbs, random garden instruments, chicken-feeders-cum-flower-planters, and old fence posts (while thinking "there must be a better way!"), did I realize these babies existed.  But of course, this realization also only occurred after a windstorm blew away and/or twisted the fabric so I essentially had to repeat all my original work before I could use the staples. 

Moving on...

So, the plan is to get most of the shrubbery by next weekend from a local wholesale nursery, and in the meantime, order a few roses by mail from the Antique Rose Emporium.  Once the plants are here, we (hopefully my husband) will lay a drip irrigation system, I'll get the plants in the ground, mulch, and come spring there will be much loveliness happening.


I must be a glutton for manual labor because I also spent a good bit of time in the last part of August cleaning out the remains of the summer garden and readying the beds for a fall/winter garden.

The beds that currently house seedlings are spiffed up with this kitschy wire edging that makes me want to do jumpy claps every time I see it. I'm totally thinking I should paint the raised beds...too much?

Though this embellishment is definitely for looks, it also serves a purpose as I try to keep the bloody-free-ranging-fowl-that-think-they-can-eat-whatever-they-please-and-poop-wherever-they-want chickens out of the garden beds.

They totally munched the Romaine lettuce, spinach, and broccoli seedlings to nubbins a few days back.  Needless to say, the hens are locked in their pen until further notice and I'm ignoring the shade they keep throwing my way.

Someone please tell me the poor little seedlings will survive such ravaging? This one was originally three times this size!

So, that's where I am in the first week of September.  After all the recent gardening, I'm looking forward this week to thinking about (nay, even doing, perhaps?) some fall crafts and decorating.  And if this heat ever breaks, there are several pieces of furniture calling my name, just begging to be refreshed.

What are your plans in the coming weeks?

Happy Labor Day!

Home again, home again...

...jiggity jig.

(Yes, I'm a dork who quotes nursery rhymes.)

After two trips in the past three weeks, I'm totally out of sorts in regards to blogging.

There's so much I want to share and my mind lurches into warp speed when I consider what to write about first. But in the end, all I do is work myself into a mental tizzy and walk away from the computer. Ha!

Fear not, coherent posts will be forthcoming. I've been sewing and tinkering with much gratification in the craft room between trips.

And we also brought home a litter of piglets--which are all kinds of tiny adorableness--and a momma sow the other day.  (I never blogged about raising pigs last year, so be prepared for a couple of retroactive pig posts.)

Plus, I've finished several projects around the house I keep meaning to write about, but need to photo first.

So, in an attempt to get back into the swing of things, here are a few pictures from the first of the two recent trips. 

Jacob and I traveled to Bryson City, North Carolina--located in the gorgeous Great Smokey Mountains--and we met up with one of my dearest friends and her little daughter for an extended weekend.

We stayed in a rustic, green-tin-roofed cabin situated on a sunny dirt road deep in Bear Country in the prettiest mountain hollow.

The view from the front porch, overlooking another homestead in the hollow, made my heart swell a little bit.

As did the property's barn, vegetable garden, whimsical landscaping, and wildflowers flowers growing at will. (Is it weird that I enjoy vacationing in the country when I already live in the country?)

I was totally envious of the healthy corn and red tomatoes

Succulents in old boots

Hibiscus on a hillside

Swan planter shot for Ali

Marigolds in and around an old wheelbarrow

Trickling creek that fed a spring on the property

We hiked in part of the Great Smokey Mountain National Park and visited a waterfall. Then we tubed down the Deep Creek.

My birthday was a week before the trip, and my talented, creative and generous friend also presented me with this beautiful embroidery that she made!  It now resides proudly in the craft room.  Isn't the detail wonderful?

It was inspired by this art quote I'd pinned several months ago and I couldn't adore this handmade present more!

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But mostly we let the kids play while we gabbed in our jammies, drank coffee, and ate cobbler.  :) Which means this was a most excellent trip.

Where has this summer taken you?

Easy Blackberry Cherry Cobbler

Hello, friends! 

Looking for a quick and supremely easy summertime dessert?

Thanks to my Aunt Sherry, who made this cobbler and shared it with me when I was visiting her and my Uncle Gerry back in the spring, here's a most excellent one!

Her delicious version used home-canned peaches, but I used fresh blackberries and store-bought canned dark cherries for equally tasty results.  And, honestly, most any fruit filling will do, as that's the versatile nature of cobblers.

Easy Blackberry Cherry Cobbler

Very slightly adapted from a recipe courtesy of Sherry Hils

 1 cup of water

1 cup of sugar
1 cup of flour
1 stick of butter, melted
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)

15 oz. can of pitted dark sweet cherries with juices - I used Oregon Fruit Products brand

6 oz. container of fresh blackberries

Whisk together all ingredients except fruit(s) and pour into an 
ungreased 8"x8," 9"x9," or 7"x11" dish. 

Top batter with the cherries and blackberries. 
Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes until top is golden.

May be served warm or at room temperature. 
Serve with ice cream or whipped cream, if desired.  

This recipe is the epitome of "dump-ingredients-together-stir-throw-in-the-oven-and-eat" baking. 

Enjoy!