Time To Read More Words (and share some more of my own)

So happy to have connected in the internet with this cool lady: Check out her blog (at which she and her hubby are renovating an incredible home and barn!)and her fabulous etsy site!

I have made a new decision for this upcoming year of my blog reading. Reading blogs is one of my favorite things to do after work, while cuddled up on the couch with my wife and our dogs and fat cat (often with a cup of tea and glass of wine-bliss!). But, after reading a few blogs over the past year or so, I have noticed that I feel terrible about myself after I read them...like I'm not one of the cool kids again. And it is totally ridiculous and insane but it is even more silly that I keep reading those sites (and following a few of them on twitter). I know this is totally about me and not them or their blogs but I know that there is something small beneath the surface that is a bit pretentious and maybe not so real. I can just feel it. So, my decision is to only read blogs that fill me with inspiration and depth rather than begin questioning my worth or productivity or "coolness." This is not to say that I will only be reading blogs about world peace or climate change, I will still hunt for the perfect vintage outfit, the best red lipstick, the perfect barn renovation project done on a modest budget, and I will blog about these things, too. I will also look inside myself a bit to see why not being the cool kid still hurts like hell.

With this said, I also happen to read many other inspiring and ego-less blogs (like AO and hers and hers and hers and this one and this one, too! Ooops, and more (I will share more as I find them). See, there are many fabulous women who create blogs full of art and design and crafting and share their recipes and photographs and share my love of vintage and thrifting and reading. They also share stories of their lives and all of the great parts and the sometimes not-so-great parts. All which are pretty incredible secrets to share with strangers. And I feel lucky to read them. So, thank you, great bloggy ladies! Happy New Year!

p.s. I have a twitter so feel free to follow me. I mostly post about drinking coffee, knitting, tweeting about raising our cute little chickens, or commenting about my wonderful wife's pet sitting business (to help market her).

Oh, and I got a new computer! Wooooot! So, now I will be able to blog more. My computer was slllllooooowwwwing down the past few months and I was frustrated every time I used it. Well, no more! Oh, sweet, sweet Mac, how I love thee always!

I love how Atwood loves to be right in my lap while I knit. <3

Depth and Vainity

So, I have been wanting to buy a matte, red lipstick. It sounds quite silly, but finding the "right" red lipstick is difficult. Not difficult like curing-cancer-difficult, but in a vain-pointless-silly-way-difficult. Believe me, I am aware of the depth of this post. But, this is more for me and Kristin as she helped me pick it out. It took 15 minutes of both of our lives. Oh, and her hubby was a trooper, following us around and around, even offering up a lipstick while saying, "What about this one?!" Ahhhhh, friends!
Whatta think?

She said, "I've been killing zombies all night."

So, Shaun is home, on the couch, zoned out, playing a Wii video game in which she is killing zombies. Now, I am NOT a fan of video games to begin with, nor am I a fan of violence, but her comments while playing are cracking me up! Now, does she LOOK like a zombie killer?


I just got home from cutting my friend's hair. You know how sometimes you meet someone and then you think, "huh, how did I not have this person in my life before?" I think this often about many of my friends and it never ceases to amaze me that I am so lucky to be surrounded by so many strong and brilliant women. One thing that this particular friend has said to me many times is: "change your thinking." This small sentence has truly shifted the way in which I process things. It is so true...sometimes we just have to alter our thoughts and by doing this, we can create something positive from something troubling and/or painful.
Picture of Marsha and I at an art show last summer:


Every night I go to each of my favorite blogs...Here are some links. Enjoy!!! this one, this one, too, yup-love this one, and I'm a big fan of this, and this.

I am lucky to have a very creative friend, Kristin, who has this blog that I frequent for inspiration. Kristin is an artist, an art professor, a fabulous friend and a wonderful neighbor! She and I both bought our first (and probably forever) homes this past summer and we often get together and talk design, thrifting, art and our ever-crazy schedules and supporting each other in finding balance in all that we love to do.
Kristin and I...At Havana Hideouts, eating tacos and drinking triple berry sangria:

Two beers equals a too-exhausted-to-link-to-the-resturant-kind-of-girl

Ah-hem....I know that last night I promised to link to the Havana Hideouts page on but I was so tired and full and chilly (50 degrees in SoFla!) and I immediately got in to bed and viola, dream land shortly arrived!

So, here is the link to Havana Hideout

p.s. it just took me 15 minutes to create that link above and now I am off for a POWER walk with my friend, K. I will attempt to create many more links later, b/c Buddha knows, I need the practice!
A picture from a few months ago of my friend, K and me, at Starbuckies, playing scrabble!!!