weekend finds

Ready to hear about my weekend "finds"?

I went away to the mountains this past weekend--a retreat with some women, friends, sisters.

We were retreating from motherhood for a weekend to get some space, refresh, have uninterrupted conversation. The men held down the forts back at home, fed our kids pancakes and grilled cheeses for dinner, stayed up late and played Monopoly. Oh, and all slept in the same bed. While putting my daughter to bed last night she said, "Mama, I'm so glad your home. When you're home everything is normal." 

So I'll begin my weekend finds with one that is actually my daughter's: It is good to have Daddy time and do things the Daddy Way (sometimes), but deep down she must admit that routine, sugar-free meals, and restful sleep are actually good for her body and soul. (Do I dare say my job is done?)

Find number two: When you leave your camera in the car (up in the mountains) without the lens cap on the lens will gather condensation, and then continue to fog up in the warming morning air, after every wipe. Good for my patience level? No. But good for softening little bokeh that are dancing on the edges of the picture? Yes. 

Finds numbered three through fourteen are listed below.

I found that...

3. I love little turquoise stars. Simple as that. 4. Rusted old scales hanging in an antique shop look cool.  5. The knees of my jeans will get soaked on a dewy damp lawn when attempting to stoop to tiny daisy flower level.   6. My friend loves colored depression glass. (I love learning something new about a friend!)   7. I wanted to take this little clay pot with me but thought it was cuter in his cubby home so I left it undisturbed.   8. You can find your reflection in an antique Juice-o-matic.   9. I'd rather pick up my camera than pick up a book. Which is saying a lot because I am an avid reader.  10. Spotting a swing with out one of my children in it, just makes me miss my children.  11. I love numbers and letters. But I already knew this so it's not really a new find. This 8 was cool though. 12. Broken windows are only cool on other people's buildings.  13. I need to plant some flowers so I can have this little flower pot.  14. Little blue glass ink pots tucked away in a little home make me smile.

Find number fifteen: standing in the center of a grove of California Redwoods is a spiritual experience. Maybe it's something about the majesty of their height or the fact that they grow in families. Their roots grow shallow but spread out for hundreds of feet, entangling their roots with each other to form a massive support system. A new find? No, but one that I am reminded of when I stand at the feet of a Royal Redwood. Strength is not found in singularity but in community. A lesson I seem to forget.

And lastly, find number sixteen? Discovered after I came home when I finally got around to checking my email inbox. My collage entry for iheartfaces from last week won 6th place out of over 500 entries. What a sweet surprise. :) And my mother knew before me, who told my hubby. So I guess find number seventeen would be discovering that my mom is my number one fan, seeing as how she made it a point to check the iheartfaces website this weekend, while I had completely forgot about the contest and would not have thought to look until probably tomorrow. Hmmm, maybe find number eighteen would be: I need to go away more often because clearly my brain can't hold it all. 

Did you find anything exciting this past weekend? Do tell.

 Happy Monday! 

A little belief in myself does me good

The massive dump of rain over the last month has created a frenzy of growth with all things green and weedy. Grass that was an inch tall yesterday is now a foot tall today. I'm not joking. The kids and I were in the field across the street and I felt like I was in a new land. New wagon tracks had to be forged, and you almost needed a compass to navigate the landscape. Above: a small, budding, yellow, flowering, weed-grass, specimen of something I spotted in the sea of green. I love how his arms are outstretched towards the winter sun, as if to say, "Hallelujah, the sun has come!" Hallelujah indeed.

Below: a picture I have posted before at this post. Random? No. I am going to share with you how proud I am of myself. (Not easy for me to do.) I regularly follow one of the most popular photography/home/nesting blogs in the country called thepioneerwoman.com . The creator, Ree Drummond, basically lives my fantasy life: she lives on a ranch somewhere in the beautiful frontier of America, she cooks, is an amazing photographer, and has a hubby who wrangles cattle. Oh and she runs a lodge and home schools her kids. (Although that last part is not a part of my fantasy.) A few days ago on her photography page she posted an "assignment": share a photo that demonstrates a shallow depth of field. (That basically means the subject in the foreground is sharp and the background is blurry. Both pix I shared today are an example of that.) Anyways, I usually never consider submitting photos to contests as I always feel quite intimidated. (I know, working on that.) But this time I thought I'd give it a try and have fun with it. I went through my photos and picked one I thought demonstrated what she was asking for. This morning I went on her site to see the groups of photos she had picked for today's "winners" and was absolutely shocked to see mine among them. Of course my immediate thought was, "Look at all the other beautiful amazing photos she chose!" I swallowed my insecurities (with the help of hubby) and smiled at myself for my little accomplishment. 

So I am posting it again below, but if you'd like to see the real deal just click here .  

And please check out the rest of her site...especially if you are interested in learning some basic photography stuff. Her tips and tricks she posts are very easy to understand. And once you go through them, you can join me participating in her future assignments.