time to be still.

I've had the best time getting to travel around this September.
But I am so happy that I have no plans to hop on a plane any time soon.
So happy I have no craft fairs to prepare for.
BEYOND happy that some of my back-to-school obligations for the school are getting lighter.

Because I've missed this stuff.
I love these rare moments of post-homework / pre-dinner chill-out time.
{this little person loves moon sand. i really really really hate moon sand.}

This guy hijacked my kindle to read Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

That same guy went on an overnight field trip with all of the 4th grade classes this week.
He was gone two nights {along with gary as one of the chaperones}
and they had an amazing time. 
They panned for gold, learned about the gold rush, and went on a seven-hour hike.
{they were here.  such an amazing program.}

The other reader in the house has a skinned-knee and was reading about animal burrows.
He prefers to read in the quiet front room where he can really stretch out.

And after she finished playing with the Moon Sand
{aka once it was all over the floor}
she moved on to showing her favorite dress-up items to Lucy.

Lucy gets lots and lots of attention from Avery.
She has the patience of a saint, but would really just rather be taking a nap.
She usually gives me that look that says, "can't you please just make it stop??".

Today I bought three mini pumpkins at Trader Joe's,
and tonight the air was chilly enough that I threw on a sweatshirt.
I think fall is finally here, and I'm going to be still for a minute and enjoy it.

{and then I'm going to sweep up the moon sand.}

i guess i can run.

Hi.
My name is Keri,
and I'm a reluctant runner.

I didn't run track in high school,
I hated running the mile in P.E.,
and it's not my exercise of choice.
I usually do walk/run with Lucy most mornings when Avery is in school,
but I hate the running part.

But...I know it works.
{darn it}

So this morning some runner friends of mine
invited me to run with them.
These girls are awesome athletes.
I was intimidated - big time.
But I went.
And I hung in there until almost the bitter end.
{my stupid shins were killing me at the end.}

And when it was all said and done,
I was red-faced, sore-legged, and oh-so-sweaty.
But it felt good.
And I'm going to keep at it.
Maybe I won't be such a reluctant runner soon.
{someone tell me: is it possible to actually enjoy running?  i'm not sure.}

See - I wasn't lying about the sweaty part.

one sweet weekend.

This weekend was a whirlwind.
My friend Liz and I headed to our kids' soccer games Saturday morning,
and then Saturday afternoon hopped on a plane to Long Beach.

We spent our Saturday strolling around downtown Seal Beach,
eating the best fish tacos ever,
watching the sun set over the Pacific,
and then meeting a bunch of great friends for cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory
at Fashion Island.
{ooh la la - fashion island.  tres fancy.}

Sunday morning Liz, Kate, and I wandered around Huntington Beach
and shopped {hello, havaiana's store!}
and lunched and people-watched from our table at Fred's.

And then we headed to this:

I listened to my friend Julie and the awesome Jeannett speak about using your blog to uplift others.
I listened to the sweet Lindsey Cheney speak about balancing a business and family.
I listed to my friend Meg speak about God using each and every one of us in a unique way.
I saw great friends
and worked up a major sugar high thanks to all of the goodies.

And the thing about these great friends:
with the exception of Liz, we met through our blogs.
And I get it...that kind of sounds weird.
I could see it on friends' faces when I told them where I was going last weekend.
They were thinking:
that's weird.
You're weird.

I guess it's possible. :)


But the thing about "blog" friends,
is that they become real friends.
They are real people with real stories who choose to share those stories on their blogs.

And I'm sorry I didn't get more pictures of these lovely ladies,
but I left inspired.
I'm inspired to share more and love more and serve more.

And...I left with a new pair of Havaianas for Avery and I.
Score.

insta friday - the 'it's finally fall!' edition

It's Friday!
It's fall!
Bring on the pumpkin-flavored desserts.
{and, please...no more 90 degree weather already.  ugh.}

I'll try not to make this too long,
but I did miss last insta-friday.
Here goes.

I texted this picture to Gary when I arrived
in Wichita a couple of weeks ago.
I was happy to be alive after the flight on the little plane
from Houston to Wichita.
Holy turbulence, Batman.

But I made it and all was well.
Flower courtesy of Julie.  She's the messy flower master.

After I got home from craft weekend,
my favorite guy and I snuck away for coffee after the kids were in school.

I love that he loves pumpkin spice lattes.

And I love that she is wearing my 7th {or was it 6th?} grade
Halloween costume.
My Mamma made me that poodle skirt.
She would have been over-the-moon happy
to know Avery and see her in that skirt.

Working hard last week getting ready for the craft fair.

She has come to the conclusion that sometimes dinner attire includes sunglasses.

Tuesday: I cooked this.
Everyone loved it.
Salmon, brown rice, and broccolini.
I think broccolini is our new favorite veggie.

It looked like she was practicing her annoyed teenager look,
but she was actually just being silly.
But I can totally picture what she'll look like as an annoyed teenager now.
And I'm afraid.

Oh, Jessica Simpson.
What were you thinking?
Not good.
I would say the picture doesn't even do them justice.

And finally, tonight we bingo-ed.
It was No Screen Week around these parts,
and to end the week the school hosted bingo.

We all had a blast.
Friends and bingo and bowls full of red vines and m&m's.
That's a recipe for a good Friday night.

And now my bag is {mostly} packed
and tomorrow afternoon I'm heading with her to see a bunch of girls I really like.
This one and this one and this one and this one and this one and this one and this one and this one and this one and this one and this one and this one.
And I know there are more.
Whew! Can't wait.

But tomorrow is our soccer snack day so
now I'm off to cut oranges
for our 8am game tomorrow.

{have I ever told you how thankful I am for friends who offer to bring you starbucks to 8am soccer games?  no?  well, i am.}

linking up with jeannett

the craft fair and other stuff.

So the craft fair last weekend didn't go as well as I had hoped.
I was disappointed at first, I won't lie.
SO MUCH work goes into something like that,
and it's a bummer when you feel like your hard work was for nothing.

But it wasn't really for nothing.

I learned what worked,
and what wasn't worth devoting my time to.

I shared a booth with my friend,
and next time I think I would do my own booth.
I learned I needed more merchandise.
I needed my stuff to be more visible.
I have a better idea now of what to do.
I'm not throwing in the towel. :)

So, even though it wasn't a total success,
it was worth doing.

And Gary and the kids were proud of me.
They bought me flowers that night to make me feel better.
Awwwwww.

And since the fair is over,
I haven't been holed up in my sewing room as much.

Fat Dog and I have been running. 
{actually running/walking.}

I'm sore, and I'll bet if she could, she would tell you she is, too.
We live in a hilly area.
Hilly + running = ouch.

Avery made this pin at preschool.
She's so proud of everything she does at school.
She has 'homework' this week,
and is so excited to sit down with her crayons and trace her letters.
I love this age.

Her favorite thing at preschool?
Art.
No surprise there.

Our soccer game Saturday morning is at 8am,
which, of course, means we have to be there at 7:45.
The coffee is going to be free-flowing that morning.

And that afternoon my friend Liz and I are hopping on a plane to the LBC.
{i always think of sublime when i say that.  or snoop dog.}
We're heading down to this to hang with friends and have some fun.
Good times ahead.

cork boards: my craft weekend contribution.

I didn't want to show up to craft weekend empty-handed.
So I took my plethora of burlap and some embroidery hoops and went to town.

I gave you a little sneak peek in this picture from a couple of weeks ago.
I made for each one of the ladies at craft weekend.

All you need is an embroidery hoop, some cork (from any craft store),
some burlap (or fabric, if you prefer), craft paint, and letter stamps.
And your glue gun, of course.
{What did we ever do before the glue gun was invented?  I shudder to think.}

I painted some of the hoops I took to craft weekend,
and then realized that maybe not everyone is as partial to aqua paint as I am.
So I left most of them unpainted.

But I painted the one I made for myself with 'Bahama Blue' craft paint.
After it dried, I cut out the cork to fit the inner circle of my hoop.

Then I cut a piece of burlap just slightly bigger than my hoop,
and put it inside.

The back doesn't have to be pretty.
Just hot glue down the excess.

Stamp whatever letter you choose.
You could even do an ampersand or no stamp at all.

That's it!
Then you can hang it on the very cluttered wall in your craft room
that you keep meaning to paint, organize, and rearrange.

And if embroidery hoops aren't your thang,
you could do the same process as above in a picture frame.

Ugh.  Paint chips.
The never-ending wall paint selection process continues....
{dining room.  martini shaker.  thoughts?}

the craft weekend finale.

The last morning of craft weekend we woke up to more goodies.

Loved it all!
I've got to find the right place for that print.

That last morning we all finished up our projects,
and got busy taking pictures.
Ashley and Meg make it look very easy.

That morning I sat on the porch for awhile,
just thinking about what a great weekend it was.

It was a creative inspiration,
which I knew it would be.

But I didn't know I would meet some amazing women in the midst of the creative.
Not only Meg, Kimberlee, and Ashley,
but also
Kate {i've read her blog for awhile, and she is the nicest person.  and she's an aggie, too.  whoop!}
Crystal {my fellow california girl.  so creative.  we spent some quality hours together at the airport.}
Melissa {she lives in colorado, and is so sweet.  and she has the cutest little girl.}
Amy {she is hilarious, and has the best southern accent.  you can't not like this girl.}
and all of the other great girls, who don't have blogs.  I wish they did.

And after some goodbyes,
and some see you soons,
it was time to head to the airport for a super-crazy day of 9/11 travel.

I followed the moon to Houston, and then back home.

I'm looking forward to seeing Meg, Kimberlee, Kate and Crystal
again this weekend at Blog Sugar.
{hooray!}
And, rumor has it, there may possibly be a craft weekend reunion in the works.
{hooray again!}

One more craft weekend-related post to come....

easiest treat bags ever.

I still need to finish up my craft weekend posts.
But I'm still recovering from the craft fair yesterday.
{i wasn't as successful as i would have liked.  boo.}

But we did have a successful 8th birthday party for Colin on Friday.
It wasn't at my house and I did practically no work for it.
Aren't those parties great sometimes?
I made the cake and the treat bags,
and the laser tag place did the rest.

For the treat bags:
brown lunch bags + typewriter letter stamps.

I stamped 'thank you' on each one,
and filled them all sorts of healthy treats.
{ummm...not}
Swedish fish, smarties, pretzel m&m's, twizzlers, gumballs, and gummi coke bottles.
And a couple of toys from the Halloween section at Target.

Fold the bag down, and sew with red thread.
Done.

And I can guarantee you that these turkeys didn't mind the simple treat bags.

Sugar high, anyone??

so, so busy.

I'm taking a little break from the craft weekend posts
because this week is so darned busy.

I'm getting ready for this weekend's craft fair.
Sewing, sewing, sewing.
More sewing to do still,
and I've yet to label anything for pricing, buy bags, and do twenty other things.
I will get it done.
I will get it done.
I will get it done.

I'm getting ready for Colin's {quite belated} birthday party on Friday.
I need to think about party favors.
And I'm trying to convince myself that I really don't have
to bake Colin's birthday cake.
A cake from the store will be fine.
It will be FINE.
{argh - i just can't make myself believe it!!}

I'm finishing up tallying orders for our elementary school's spirit wear.
This always takes forever.
Inevitably at least ten people forget to write
the size or the color shirt they want to order and I have to track them down to ask them.
I might have to give someone else the pleasure of this job next year.
{i've done it for three years.  that's enough...right?}

Avery is student of the week at preschool next week and
needs to bring a board filled with photos.

My house is a w.r.e.c.k.

And...exhale.
I feel a little better now that I've told you all of that.

And, just for fun, this made me happy when I watched it.
Grandma and Grandpa were trying to figure out
how to work their new webcam.
How fun are they?

whoops - guess i should have worded that differently.
they're not my grandma and grandpa,

and are apparently from oregon.

i just think they're adorable.  :)

saturday in kansas.

On the second morning of craft weekend
we woke up with instructions to be awesome.

Such cute little treats to start off the day.
Every day there were more goodies.
Fun, fun goodies.

After a cup {or two} of coffee we loaded into the big ol' van
and headed out to shop.

First stop: the antique store.

This store had some amazing old quilts!

{i still think you should go back for it, meg.}

Meg told us this store the most organized antique store ever.

She was so right.

My only purchase was a vintage book I had as a kid.

Then we headed to the Barn.

It is chock full of good stuff.

I think Crystal and I were tempted to rent a truck and drive a few things back to California. :)

We left the barn in time to hit happy hour.

{one diet cherry limeade and tots, please.}

The view across from Sonic.

Kansas is so flat!

It's strange to not see any mountains anywhere.

After another fantastic dinner and dessert prepared by Kimberlee,

it was back to crafting.

That evening we made pillows and necklaces.

{and had coffee...round two.}

Ashley helped us with the necklaces.

She is so creative it's unbelievable.

This is what I came up with.

The other ladies made beautiful necklaces as well.

I'll tell you more about those ladies tomorrow.

They were pretty great, too.