Shopping fix in downtown Snohomish and Irresistible Fall Decor!

When your last child is in school everyone will tell you to go out and get a pedicure, treat yourself to lunch and go shopping (although on the later, I don't need any more encouragement!)  "You earned it, you deserve it!"  is what I always hear.  Well the luxury of having all day to myself is still an adjustment.  You'd think I would use my time more wisely, have a perfectly organized home, meals cooking in the crockpot and extra time just for me.  Well I'm not good really at any of those things, and most times think I'm just plain lazy.  It's been an adjustment because once she gets on that bus, I'm alone, in the house -- all alone, and it's too quiet!  I want to leave and go somewhere.  Maybe it's hard because it came so quick, or sooner than I/we had thought, (but that's a whole other subject for another time).  I thought the adjustment to having more time to myself would be easier.


Well today, I went out and did some things just for me -- nothing at home, (need to get over the guilt for leaving a messy house and dishes in the sink!),  and had a great time.  I had a doctor's appointment in Snohomish and then ... went to browse in all my favorite home decor and antique shops in historic downtown.  When we were first married and I was having a not so great day (back when they were fewer and far between, LOL), Jeff would come home from work and say, "why don't you run down to Snohomish!"  So sweet that he recognized that I would maybe come back feeling better!  Well I don't go down there as often now, so it was a lot of fun to see all the new things and filled my brain with tons of new ideas.  (I think I have too many decorating ideas swimming around up there!)


I went to my favorite shop Joyworks (shopgirl with a blog, I love it!)  Their new theme was "time to feather your nest with pretty things that make you happy!"  (Sounds pretty familiar, at least in the home decor blogging world,  ie. Nesting Place)  Here's some fun inspiration pics from her shop:

Love the bird's nest! 

I love topiaries, especially faux boxwoods!

Had to get me one of these!

The shop owner and her partner made these pillows, how cool with the burlap!

I then headed over to Faded Elegance, my other new favorite shop. Everything is very French Chic, which is the direction I want to go in my dining room -- shabby, antiques with some french decor!  I think I still gravitate to this style of decorating because it reminds me so much of Nana's house.  She traveled alot in her day and I remember being facinated as a child with all the plates, artwork, figurines, and furniture that she had in her home.  I wish she were still here to help me today.

Here's some pics from Faded Elegance:

Mmm, I love the lamps, the chandelier, the antique mirrors and the pairing of black with the shabby white table!

The lighting is real bad, but fun to get an idea of how things are arranged on the wall!

I know, some of this probably seems so boring, but it's fun for me to go and see the creativity at work in these stores.  Someday, I think I might even like to work in a shop like these two!

Well that's it for now... I had more to share, but have to go get Maddie from the bus.  It's so fun to go down there to get fun ideas for Fall decorating as well, which I will post more of later.  I haven't been in the mood, really to start decorating for Fall, because we've all been very hesitant to let our summer go -- as short lived as it was.  But it's now time and nothing better than a trip to Snohomish to get in the mood along with the new Pottery Barn catalog in the mail as well!

images: pottery barn

Mmm, love that porch, don't you!

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Well, I ended up not publishing this post when I went to pickup Maddie, and got so inspired by all the pictures in my fall inspiration folder, that I decided to share some more of my favorites.  Hope you enjoy all the irresistible inspiration!

image: Centsational Girl

I love how she's added just a bit of color with her white decor and love that poem too!

Time to go out and clip some branches...

better homes & gardens

(images: Becky Higgins)

I love the fall pictures on display.

Beautiful frames, small touches of fall with pumpkins here and there.

better homes & gardens

(oh, I love this, but can't remember where I found it... somewhere in blogland.  If you recognize it, let me know who it's from so I can give them credit.)

 images: Sweet Something Design

Just taking some favorite fall pictures and framing them in black and white frames, is so effective!  I'm gonna do that!

(this is another unknown ...)

I love the idea of displaying framed pics of the kids past Halloween costumes! What a great idea to remember the fun of the season.

Sweet Something Design

Sweet Something Design

Loving the white plates next to the black hutch, with little sprigs of fall interspersed.

(another one I can't remember, sorry!)

I love how cute and simple this is with some vinyl lettering and a little ric- rack!

image: pottery barn

Just loving the white furniture right now...

image: country living

Love the wreath over the mirror!

image: Transforming Home

I love her whole arrangement here with the plates on the wall and wreath on the mirror.

image: Nesting Place

Last but not least, I always enjoy seeing what creative things The Nester does with each season.  Wednesday she's having a fall mantle link up party, so be sure to check it out for more decor ideas. 

Enjoy!

Oh and by the way, I did go and have that pedicure, and it was wonderful!!  Just have to find balance in everything :)

I Can Do Hard Things...

Wow, almost 3 weeks into school and things are going well.  I am still working on first day of school pics that I need to post! I had to share this though while the thoughts are fresh in my mind...

Mid-High (our school here for just 8th and 9th) has been going good for Tyler so far.  A few bumps in the road but he seems to be adjusting fine to the new school and environment, and enjoys his teachers.  It sure starts early though - 7:20 AM!  I'm so grateful Jeff can drive him across town to the school on his way to work at 6:50! 

(at the start)

He's taking cross country and this is a first for him, after doing track and field last spring.  We told him he needed to pick a sport or some physical activity for fall and since he's not doing football or soccer anymore, we gently suggested cross country.  He said, sure, since all of his friends were doing it.  Well after running 2 miles straight the first 2 days of practice, he said he was quitting.  It was rough, not being conditioned to do that, but we "gently" (you can't push too hard at this age!), encouraged him to stick it out longer! 

Well, 2 weeks into it and the first meet under his belt, he's still going strong.

The meet was held at Jennings Park which has gorgeous trails all over, but the hills on their running route were killers.

Here's his good friend, Tanner, just look at the determination on his face, pushing himself.  He's been a good friend for Tyler.

On the last hill of the route, (which you can see here is just gorgeous!), we watched all the runners make their way up and listened to the coaches giving encouragement - "Come on, you can make it, you're almost there!".  We waited, and watched, (and prayed) for Tyler until we saw him come around the corner. 

At this point, I had tears in my eyes, covered up by the camera... (I know for anyone who is a runner, this probably isn't a big deal, but for me to see him do this, it is!)  I couldn't do it, run almost 2 miles, up and down hills consistently like this.  Jeff used to run all the time when we were first married, so this is good for he and Tyler as well, to get out and run together. 

When you see something like this as a mother, your heart swells up so big with pride for your kid as they accomplish something they've never done before.  Hopefully he'll always remember as he goes through life, "I CAN do hard things..."

(Last push to the finish line.)

(I know, all the pics are a bit blurry, but I couldn't snap them fast enough as he was coming up the hill!  Just matters to me that I got them :)

You did it!! It's gotta feel so good and you make your family proud!

(Good sport. He's barely tolerating this picture -- more of a "come on mom, put down the camera so I can go home and rest!")

Fun with Collages - Labor Day Weekend at the Coast

So many pictures, so little time!!

(Addendum: Just had to add this little pic.)

Maddie all ready to head down to the beach!

 I just feel like I can't stay caught up with all the things I want to share on this blog.  We had an incredible time out at Pacific Beach on the WA coast over Labor Weekend and it was the last hurrah, and last days of warmth and sunshine out there before school started.  The weather was just beautiful!

So I started playing around with collages, and wow, how addicting! 

(I think I spent one entire afternoon putting some together, oops, shouldn't share that!)

What a great way to post a lot of pictures that tell a story! I found it saved me time, because it was easier to pick just 5 or 6 of the ones I liked the best and put them all together.  I used Picasa Web for this and if you haven't tried it, it's SO easy.  All you do is pick what kind of configuration you'd like, select your pictures, and Picasa just drops them in the windows for you and aligns the configuration for you.  If you don't like it, just re-do.  It was so easy!  (I probably created about 30 collages that afternoon, hopefully to post more later!)  On a side note, you can do these in Photoshop or Elements, which is what I have, but there's quite a bit of tweaking and more learning to do before I have it all figured out to do there. 

So enjoy the collages, just a few from that weekend.  They work well to show the fun we had, without having to write a lot about it.  I hope to write more later, (I know, I keep saying that!)

Playing around on the beach.

Flying that kite....

The water wasn't even cold!

See how far away that rock is?  I was just enthralled with the pictures I'd seen of it in brochures about Pacific Beach and knew it was called Copalis rock.  So we just decided to walk out there and get as close as we could to it!  It was so beautiful that day!!  There's no better feeling than just walking and walking with bare feet in the sand on a sunny day at the beach!

Maddie loved trying to chase all the birds away!

Some of these pictures were taken at earlier times we've been out there, but I decided to include these collages as well.

She is such the collector! 

We have buckets full here at home and I need to figure out something creative to do with them :)!

The Washington beaches are so rugged and I love it!  Wouldn't it be fun to take a horse ride along the beach?  We see that everytime we go.

Well, that's all for now!  This is my favorite of all the collages -- the sunsets there are absolutely gorgeous!

We're so grateful we have such a fun place to get away to...