Tuesday, November 29, 2011

link love.

i want to go there.
cannon beach. oregon. ahhhhh. there's something about oregon that lures me.
the ocean.
coffee shops.
a loved one.
new experiences...
i feel it's all promised in a trip there.
someday, maybe.

good ol' volks.
gosh, that post and all its pictures makes me want to have one..re-do the inside a bit, then travel a little while by the coast or something.
sigh.
wake up in your own little place . . . look out the window to see the ocean on the shore, the sun shining, sparkling on the water, bright in your eyes.
reminds me of the song world traveler, by andrew peterson.


oh little me, it's okay.
i've been completely, steadily, obsessively, and restfully devouring vintch's blog.
i just love the sweetness, the beauty, the realness.

i will be sweet for you.
melted my heart.

ah! chambanachik is having a lovely spree of giveaways, so please head on over there and check them out as they roll. :)

my problem with christmas.
i completely and utterly sympathize. i'm in the exact same boat. me and abbie are definitely related somehow. :P

douse the sunrise, a new edition, is now available on my etsy shop. :) just an fyi.

and crazy people who make perfume that smells like gathering apples. sounds appealing, i must say. that, and the summer kitchen one...

new house textiles: aprons.
i don't know what it is . . .

i adore their sweetheart tablecloth. oy.
and scroll curtains...
yeah...going to exit that site now...
[via]
i hope you have a wonderful wednesday :)

Sunday, November 27, 2011

the best weekend. ever. ever. eeeeever. :]


well, this is the follow up post that i promised to those dears that commented on the last post.

thursday night was pretty darn good.
they [justin, jonathon, and jacklyn] arrived at 7:30; an hour or two earlier than i was guessing at first, since it's a 6 hour drive and it was, after all, thanksgiving. family gatherings and all, ya know. 


friday was awesome.
i read a chapter of 12 + me to rach, jacklyn, and lyddie until 1am.
anna, jonathon, justin and i went to meet martha, where she was ringing bells with her mum for the salvation army . . . it was a gorgeous day, but oh so cold and windy.
we sat at caribou coffee for a bit; laughed over swing dance stories and people we've met there and stories from the restaurant where anna works, and a song title that neither anna nor i could finish saying.

when we got home, we made vegetarian tacos, and then lyd challenged justin to a game of war with cards, and a complicated string of games took place. lyddie, mostly winning . . . laughing at her brilliance and/or good luck. ah, dramatic siblings. ;)
we took a short trip to church to practice dance with me, it being the special we did today.
after practice, i napped in a pew and the guys were awesome and set up some trees for Christmas decorations . . .
we came home, the guys had an adventurous game of air soft in our front and back yard [ahem]... 

then we parted ways [guys to gram's house and me upstairs] and two of us got fancied up.
you might be able to guess.
well, some of you. ;)
Photobucket
you're welcome for the gif.

mhmm. i guess i should come out and say it now, shouldn't i??
meet my boyfriend.
justin.
:)
he happens to be the younger brother of my best friend, pj, whose family we've known for about 10 years.
he's hilarious. sweet. plays drums. loves God and people.
i kinda really like him.
we went to the restaurant for dinner around 5:30. stopped by to see chelsea and her husband [good friends from bible study] so he could meet them... :)
anna got a few pictures of us with the handy dandy flash on my camera. 

after a lovely discount because anna works there; a while of eating great appetizers and gelato; lots of talking and getting to meet all the people who anna's been telling me amusing stories about these past couple months . . . we headed home around 8:30.
the family was playing spoons when we arrived.
so what do we do when we get in there? sit down and start playing.
 photo cred: ma seester, rach.
then someone requested a dessert.
so, what do i do?

i start making those famed pumpkin cake bars. ;)

after the 'rents went to bed, we all headed over to gram's house to watch wolverine with a borrowed projector on an empty wall.

mum came to give us a container of the bars that had finished baking . . . someone pushed pause on the movie, and i don't even have to describe how fast they were devoured by all the siblings. i stepped into the kitchen to find several of them rubbing their stomachs. rachel told me i shouldn't
have made them; they were so naughty...hah.

because of the impending arrival of early waking time for some farm work bonding with dad and cousin david, justin went to bed around 11:30 and the rest of us finished the movie.

the guys came home just before 10, cleaned up nice, and then i watched the first half hour or so of the green lantern with them and the sisters at gram's . . . came home with justin around 11:30am to start lunch: chicken curry.

after chicken curry, anna, jonathon, caleb, justin and i headed off to meet heather, derek, steph and casey [and ryan and michaela] at a coffee shop for a couple hours.
hilarious time over coffee. :)
some of them got to razzing me, and after some comfortable conversation and teasing from everyone, even justin, about some amusing things and quirks of mine, heather gave a few of her cents: "i approve of justin; he gives beka a hard time!"
hah. hah. thanks. i approve of him, too.

sadly, i don't have any pictures on my camera of the gathering; i'm waiting on casey to post some pictures on fb so i can save a few for the date. hence the lack of photos right now for saturday afternoon out. stay tuned for an update.
. . . when we got home from the coffee shop, i washed dishes and justin dried . . . he's kind of an awesome dish-washing partner. ;)
sarah, justin, eliyah and zechariah came over after they got some house-hunting done. it was all good. :)
justin holding not-so-little zechariah.

. . . fill in the blank. :) 

soon enough, i started on making one pan of lasagna while another pan from a friend sat, warming, in the oven. a pan of chocolate cake may have went into the oven, too.
right before everyone started arriving, we both sat down on the kitchen rug against the cupboards and closed our eyes. i'm lucky enough to have second and third winds; he was hitting rock bottom from his day starting at 3:45am --all good stuff, though of course quite tiring-- and sadly, he doesn't have second winds as to my knowledge yet. super freaking early mornings do that to a person, i guess. :P we're going to have to try to change that . . .

grandma and grandpa t. came over; so did uncle bob, cousin david, and david-cito.
talk about the most wonderful party ever.
afterwards, justin and i started washing dishes --him, drying--


as you can tell, saturday was jam-packed and a grand, lovely time.
grandma t brought a pan full of her famous apple slices.
everyone loved that. :)
after the eating and clearing the table was done; we started doing dishes.
grandma t came by our side. "can i help dry? or wash the dishes?"
me: "uh....the position's already filled..." [insert smile here]
grandma: "are you saying you don't want my help?!"
we all laugh.
grandma: "well?" [smiling expectantly] 
me: "well....i guess i could let you do the silverware." huh. my least favorite part of washing dishes.
grandma: "alright! put the plug in and get some water and soap in that sink!"
i stepped back and didn't return to my place until after the dishes were all done . . .
how could i interrupt that?!

it was a darling sight.
to be sure. :)

when everyone left, tiredness hit us again.
someone snapped a picture of it for posterity, obviously, or else this picture wouldn't be here. ;)
rach and jacklyn amused themselves with blogger and youtube vids by julian smith and playing classics by colbie and jason mraz --lucky; i'm yours. you know; the classics. ;)

then, lyddie challenged him to another round of war.
oy. i swear, it's his favorite game ever now; that utterly amusing littlest sister of mine cracked us up [and herself while she was at it] endlessly while she beat him once again with the cards.

all us siblings went over to gram's to watch a movie . . . then someone suggested charades.
everyone was brilliant.
i don't mean to steal the spotlight that everyone envies, but i sincerely sucked.

he asked me to shoot him. :)
[didn't you?? ;) ]
turns out, it was a scene from a film i haven't seen . . . the matrix.

yay for motion shots. lol.
because there was church the next day . . . and supposedly sleep is a necessity . . . us girlies went home to sleep and the guys had some chill time. 

sunday was full and beautiful and more sweet than bittersweet.
there was a ton of meeting people . . . so much of our church is just like family; so, of course, all these people got to meet who they'd been hearing about, and vice versa.

pretty little jacklyn :)
when we came home from church, we had lunch . . . then they packed up . . .
then it was picture time.
rach got into photog mode after her little rampage of funness in the car.
us at the park while they were having fun.
. . . now we know what it is to be on the other side of the camera.
it's not that bad. ;)

as i said on fb, my younger sister, rach, is brilliant. she almost fell off the bench edge getting this of her own inspiration. :]
shoe photo credit: anna. :D

today was the coldest day of this whole weekend. hence the fingerless gloves. but hoods off for pictures.

left to right: ben, caleb, anna, rach, jonathon, justin, me, jacklyn, lyddie.

all of us :)
the men.


the ladies.


and . . . see-you-later's . . .

thus ended a very wonderful weekend.

how was your thanksgiving? :)

Thursday, November 24, 2011

thank.you.

3:11pm
Only 9 more minutes, then I wake Dad up.
Him, Caleb and I came home 15 minutes ago…earlier than the rest of the family from the huge family gathering with Dad's side of the family.
I’m tired.
So tired.
Not too full. Thank God for self control. [Finally. ;) ]
When Dad and David come home from the farm, we plan on finishing Capt. America, then starting in on some chick flicks. David says he’s going to stay and wait it out till “he” comes.
El oh el.
So…line up?
Letters to Juliet
Leap Year
Roman Holiday.
Yes. Chick flicks.
And leftover chicken noodle soup.
As we wait for some very dear friends to come . . . there may be a post coming on that. :) Some of you know what I'm talking about . . . It's finally Thanksgiving weekend! YAY!
It looks like it could rain.
Check out D's post on thanksgiving.
Today . . . is a very good day.
I plan on brewing some peppermint coffee after said nap, and cleaning/organizing until Dad and David come home. :)
Then let the fun and waiting begin. :)

Monday, November 21, 2011

artistic endeavors: coffee types. and faces.

september 7.
i was on a coffee kick in the canvas world. mhmm :)
see the ice cubes? el oh el.
even that one has a face. :)
dang, i wish i could find that lip balm somewhere. rachel perry. best stuff ever. and yes, you read that right: chocolate bliss. :) dangit, internet; can't you find it supplied somewhere for me to buy 3 at a time or any at all? lol
oh wait.
speak of the devil.
i just searched it and found this bull crap deal. 3 lip balms for 23.99 plus 2.00 s&h: on ebay. what the!! that. is. crazy. :P so going to search for a better deal....
and my personal favorite to paint:
today i went to work.
a friend from church owns a store with her husband --good quality, awesome furniture and beautiful wood pieces and taxidermy and all that great stuff. thursday she trained me for four hours, and then her and her husband went up north to enjoy what a lot of people enjoy doing this time of year. :)
ya know. guns and all that.
so i worked from 10-5 on friday, the most blustery, chilly day ever. sold 2 pine candles to a nice couple who were looking at some living room furnishings and a bed frame of lovely aspen.

and then i worked today from 10-5. sold two night stands to a lady who browsed for a long time, then came to me and said "i want those two." sweet customer. really patient and understanding.
funny thing...2:30, no one new coming in, i called ben and we talked for a while....half an hour, to be honest....and it ended with me asking him to bring his self over with the tiny 4-cup coffee maker, coffee beans, the grinder, water, and milk in a jar.
mhmmm.
i asked nicely, reminded him how bored i was and how much he loved me/i loved him, and my beloved brother was at the store's door with a box of blessed supplies at the end of the 34 minute call.
all i could do was laugh as he lounged on the office couch and i ground beans, brewed a full tiny pot and offered him some from my thermos because he didn't bring one for himself. :)
quite a memory, even though when anna heard of it she was shocked and appalled [are they the same thing? lol] and may have called me a few things like wimp, weirdo, and princess.
i don't like being called princess.
but anyhow. that's besides the point.

we drank egg nog with whipped cream on top, and watched 10 minutes of a new set of dvds anna bought--more of the business of being born.
ricki lake and/or ina may gaskin....definitely read/watch stuff by them if you're interested in having bebes. el oh el. or...don't listen to me.

after 10 minutes of that, and a few minutes of family time around the table, anna, ben and i set off for bible study 10 minutes away. we're studying philippians with a group of young adults and, this time, pastor chuck is leading it. every week lately, he's had a lot to say that just speaks straight to the heart of stuff me, anna, chelsea, and everyone else are dealing with. it's flippin' amazing to witness something like that weekly. so thankful for how God's spirit moves and He speaks through down-to-earth people of all sorts.

oh. and, because my little sister tagged me, tell me this:
if you could describe me with one word, what would it be?

this night is finished off by writing someone special and listening to the avett brothers on spotify. pretty darn good. i'm thankful for it all.

i have a cherry pie to make for the huge thanksgiving lunch with dad's family thursday, so wish me luck...