The Wise 5

hair guidelines for the 2010 nutcracker

 

 only serious ballerinas need apply.

   yeah just kidding on that one.  i had a house full of ballerinas getting their pictures taken for the new hair guidelines for nutcracker.  you know, so all of the buns and such look the same.  pizza was involved.  insane chocolate cake was involved.  parker playing limbo and nearly knocking himself out on the corner of my desk was involved.  yup.  serious times.  i think we had 3 hours of constant giggling.  the evening ended in this pose.  yup.  those are my girls. 

 
 
 

so its not quite been 3 months

once upon a time i blogged 2..3..even 4 times a week.  that was long long ago in a land...in the other room.  i used to get so very upset with my parent when i was young every time they said "time just goes so fast".  yeah right.  i never thought i would get out of middle school.  this summer has officially flown by.  i want to grab a little bit of it and just put it in my pocket.

we were so very blessed this summer.  miss morgan spent a month in new brunswick with her very best friend walking on the beach and digging for clams.  miss abby spent a month in jackson, mississippi dancing her heart out and learning to show God's glory through her art.  mr parker got to be an only child.  he was equally as happy!  and as dad started a new job with better hours our lives found a strange and fun new rhythm.  i jetted (and by jetted i mean drove 14 hours each way) 3 times to mississippi and had some of the most gratifying work opportunities this summer.  busy...but amazing.

it wouldn't be summer without guacamole (top pic) and a good summer storm.  should be back to blogging now.  i hope.

 

 

exciting news

 we have had a whirlwind past few days around here.  my dear friend allyson,  owner of daddy cakes cupcakes here in topeka, has been chosen to be a part of "cupcake wars" on Food Network.  pretty cool huh?  she bakes the most insane cupcakes (and other stuff) i have ever had!  all natural ingredients.  no cake mixes here.  just a lot of butter and sugar and awesome.

how does this involve me you ask?  other than being over the moon about the whole thing, i was able to provide the pictures she needed to send to the food network and we taped the most fun video ever to send in.  wanna see it?  FYI...kinda PG13 with the language.  don't say i didn't warn you.  and be ready to laugh. a lot.  way to go allyson!  we are all so proud of you!

 

thrifting steals...err...finds

i dropped by my favorite second hand store yesterday to rummage through for a few moments.  note to self, it never takes a few moments.  i was completely enjoying my afternoon stroll through the linens and vases and cups and furniture when i saw it.  the sweetest little zinnia plate ever.  i loved the colors.  the style.  all of it.  

i found the owner to get a price on the plate and a few napkins (below) i had found.  none of them were priced.  she told me $2 on all five napkins (score).  but she said that the plate was a piece of a set that would only be sold together.  sigh.  i knew it would be more than i wanted to spend but she showed me anyway.  

as we opened a sweet white hutch there they were.  12 place setting of the same print.  lunch plates.  cups and saucers.  butter tray.  milk and sugar bowls.  dinner plates.  two sizes of bowls.  two serving bowls and a platter.  all noritake sunny gold from 1967.  not a scratch.  mind you 12 place settings of everything.  i am dying at this point.  how could i justify the expense?  and hen i asked with a deep breath, "how much"?

$30.

whole set.

its at my house now happily sitting on my shelves and i feel like i may be going to hell for stealing.  but it will be a ever so worth it.

is summer ending?

as labor day weekend rapidly approaches i realize that summer just bolted by this year.  the kids are in their school time rhythms.  business is picking up with family portraits and senior pics.  dance is starting.  nutcracker around the corner.  things go at a pretty quick clip around here during the fall.

so tonight for dinner i had my favorite summer dish (mind you its 65 and breezy outside - not exactly summer weather) and thought about how much i really do love the summer.  i love having the kids home.  i love the warm days and cool pools.  i love summer food like this romaine salad with grapes and cranberries.  so sweet and light i didn't even need a dressing.  

thanks summer for all of your fun.  it went too fast as always.  hello autumn.

why i have been so busy

it has been fun and exciting and exhausting all at the same time.  but i now have 24 pieces on display at New City Cafe.  i ended up going with a culinary/nature/flint hills theme.  i know.  they really go together right?  actually all of the pictures were printed in color and the colors were of the saturated kind.  so i think it worked.  the opening was last night.  we were joined by some fabulous friends and blessed with wonderful food and a wine tasting.  i mean does a night get any better than that?  now for the peices i need for a show in september...god help me.

row house

you know i love taking pictures.  whether its for my family, my friends, or professionally.  i wonder if i will ever get tired of lugging around that heavy beast of a camera.  i wonder if brides will ever start driving me crazy.  i wonder if there will be a kid who doesn't smile ever.  as of now, i only get joy out of this whole thing.  especially after nights like thursday night.

i had the opportunity to spend the afternoon and evening in my very favorite eatery.  the light is amazing during the afternoon.  soft and easy on the clean fresh linens.  kind of like the personalities of the chef and his staff at that time of day.  they went about prep in tshirts and shorts with the smells of the sauces for the evening lilting easily on the air.  chef's table was the first time i saw the staff all together.  gales of laughter and tasting of the evenings menu set the mood for the evening.  effortlessly they all seemed to snap into professional gourmet mode.  bustling people streamed through all evening and the next thing i knew we were drinking a glass of wine and laughing about how much fun the whole day was.  

if my job always consists of friends and clients like that i promise that i will never get tired of this.  thanks for the evening greg!  (more photos on flickr)

my kind of weekend

and why am i posting about my weekend at 8 am on sunday?  yesterday we had my favorite type of saturday.  completely unscripted.  there is so very little about our lives these days that isn't scheduled to the very second.  racing from one activity to another can be exhausting to say the least.  but this saturday was wide open on the calendar.  birthday parties?  none.  ballet events?  none.  hubby working?  NO.  mama working?  huh uh.  so what did we do?

i started with waking everyone up at the crack of dawn.  can't waste a day off right?  i didn't get much argument.  who doesn't love the farmer's market?  the kids always have their favorite places we need to hit.  the honey.  the mennonite bread.  the cookies.  do you see a trend here?  veggies, nah.  baked goods heck yeah!  next we were off to the art fair and then an afternoon of swimming.  pizzas on the grill (with whole wheat crust from the market) and i was in heaven.

but sigh, all good things must come to an end.  hubby is golfing.  need to herd cats, er, wake up kids for church.  then two major shoots this afternoon and evening.  no rest for the weary i suppose.  one amazing weekend day every once in awhile is enough i suppose!