on finding inspiration

So far, I am finding my new locale a bit, ummmm, uninspiring. Denver is a really cool place to live and I knew I was spoiled having everything close by, but I'm little homesick for the awesomeness of Denver right now. Although there are cool things to do here, the phrase "it's only an hour or two away" is getting a bit old. I can't drive over an hour to everything. Ya know? Even just Target is five times farther from home than I'm used to, ha!

So Casey the other day said to me, "Well, babe, you just gotta find inspiration in the everyday." He totally said it with purposeful cheeseyness, but I decided he was right. He's so wise ;)

So today I just grabbed my camera and went looking. These are some things that are beautiful to me right now. Some inside our home...

 And then I went outside and found Layla (who just started riding with no training wheels yesterday)!

 This little tree is in our front yard. It's fun to watch the trees change a little each day.

 And this is up the hill in our back yard! It really is beautiful when you narrow in and don't just take in the whole wall of trees ;)

I am feeling better about things now, so you see? It worked ;)  

We do love how many neighborhood kids there are to play with here. It's so different from what we're used to, but it's awesome. Living on post, there are no fences and no crazy drivers and little parks on every street so the kids all just play and play and the moms just send each others' kids home at 6. Quite a lovely little system we have going here. 

Some other things we've noticed about Virginia: 

• They really love the Redskins. We seriously do not get why everyone here loves a team from the furthest away state possible. They even have a whole isle at Target where they sell Redskins stuff. What??? EDIT: I am now aware that the Redskins are from D.C., which obviously makes a lot more sense, ha! In my defense, it was Casey who was sure they were from Washington state and being the dude, he should know football better than me. (Wait, the Redskins do play football, right??) 
• Retail and Food service workers are generally much friendlier! In Denver, they're faster ... but here, they're nicer. 
• They think 80 degrees is a nice cool Fall day. Haha! 
• There is nothing like moving to the South to remind someone from Colorado (proudly the fittest state in the nation) that not everyone knows what gluten is. And not everyone will get that a bunless burger is not that weird. 

I'm happy to say, having a blog sort of forces me to look at things differently--if it weren't for my wanting to post something here almost daily, I think I'd not even bother looking for the beauty around me when I'm feeling isolated and uninspired. So thanks! :)

the cue

I read this idea on another blog, but then my Mom already had this going on in her sewing room, so maybe I'm late to the party. I took a few minutes while some new fabric was in the dryer to set up a little sewing cue for myself. I stapled a swatch of fabric to the pattern I have in mind for it and put them aside in a little basket.

 It's already working out great and proving a time saver for me. I don't have to dig through my fabrics and patterns again each time I'm ready to start a new project. I get hung up in all my pattern bins and have a hard time remembering or deciding what to make next!

 Oh, that's not all of them, those are just the womens clothing patterns.
Here are the rest--kids clothes, craft patterns, costumes and doll clothes. It's a lot.

So I'm liking the cue system. I don't have them in a special order, I still just pick what I want to sew next by flipping through the choices in my basket. It also helps me remember and actually get to the things I've promised to make for the kids. Last night I whipped up two pair of flannel pajama pants for Kelby :)

If you sew, do you have a simple system like this?

feels like Fall!

Well, for the first few weeks we were here, it did NOT feel like Fall to me at all! In fact, it kinda felt like we'd gone backwards into Summer again, haha! But, it has begun to cool off here at last. In fact, this morning it was light jacket weather even :)

Since I know the winters are much milder here than I'm used to, I've begun sewing some transitional Fall pieces for my wardrobe. Making short sleeved tops in Fall colors or even long sleeved ones in light fabrics in Fall colors is a good way to do this.

My first make in my Virginia sewing space was Butterick 5924.

I got this fabric at Denver Fabrics before I left and I really love the colors and the light weight of it. When you buy fabrics from their bargain section, though, which is pretty much all I buy there, you don't get washing instructions or fabric content. After I washed this, it really waffled up into a seersucker feel! I wasn't sure how cutting and sewing on it was going to be because it was difficult to press flat again. So I didn't have high hopes, but I ended up really liking it a lot! I like the length and I think it's perfect with skinny jeans and I think I'll get a lot of wear out of it this Fall and Winter.

I don't have any cool outside walls here to take pictures against here. There are no fences in the yards either and I would feel like a big dork setting up my tripod out in the open and taking pics of myself, ha! So, I'll have to get creative with the indoor photos--you'll probably be seeing more of my piano in the future ;)

I finished another top last night! Can't wait to wear it and show you because it's great!! Next I'm going to cut out a skirt. I gave myself September to sew for myself and then in October, the costume sewing must begin!

settling in

We restarted our school year today. I must admit, while I wasn't dreading it, I wasn't super excited for it either. Homeschooling is absolutely the best option for us, for now, for so many reasons, but that doesn't make it easy. Sometimes it's hard to motivate myself even more than it can be hard to motivate the kids. Ya know? It was a good school day, despite my having a bit of a cold coming on. Bummer.

On the upside, we have visited a church twice that we are really enjoying. Didn't expect that process to be so quick, but we were praying that it would be, so we shouldn't be suprised! Also, I found a homeschool mom's night happening at a church in town on Thursday. I'm gonna go, but I'm nervous. And, there are some cool kids classes here on post--a homeschool dance class for Natalie, archery classes and basketball and cheerleading after Christmas. So those are all excited things to look forward to and help us meet some people.

My sewing room is all set up and whirring away. I made a Fall top that I hope to wear tomorrow since the weather will be a bit cooler.

For now, I'll share our new living room with you :) I got the Legos off the floor long enough to vacuum the rug so I snapped some pics while I was at it.

Since we are only here for six months, we didn't want to hang a lot of stuff on the walls, but I didn't want it to look un-homey either, if that's a word. So we hung a few big statement pieces on the walls--our huge map, the window frame and a couple other large things in other rooms. I think they help the place look like home, even without curtains, which I am also not going to bother with.  Has anyone else lived in a place temporarily? What are your tips for making it homey, but not making it more work to move out of again?

moving in, flood drama, phone drama

I am not the type of person who takes months and months to unpack and completely move into a place. I prefer to do it in a matter of days. We got our stuff on Tuesday and today, Friday, every box has been unpacked. We have just a few things we want to hang on the walls, but other than that, the house is done and livable, whew! We have less space here than the house we came from, but I am liking it a lot. It's all one level, which is awesome, the bathrooms are big and the counter/cupboard space is more than I've ever had.

There is a lack of storage here, no linen closet, medicine cabinets, pantry, etc... but we determined to find solutions for those issues with the furniture we already had and it's been fun to creatively fill those storage gaps!

Here are a few snippets of master bedroom/bathroom solutions I've come up with.

 My makeshift vanity. My actual vanity is in Layla's room because it wouldn't fit very well in ours. This little dresser holds purses and hats, scarves and gloves. And even our extra sheets.

 the pretty plates help contain my long necklaces that don't fit in my little jewelry box.

 The bathroom is huge, but has no drawers or medicine cabinets. We have never had double sinks before, though, so that is rather nice!

 We have five of these stools from our tall kitchen table in the old house. We only have one dining space now, so that table (without the leaf) is part of my laundry room and these stools are finding other purposes throughout the house.

 See? It's huge! Theres a shower to the left and the toilet to the right that you can't see, with plenty of room for a little 3-basket shelf to hold feminine things and extra TP.

 We don't have nightstands, but the stools are handy for that too :)

I'm proud of how we've made things work and can't wait to show you more good storage ideas with things we already had!

As for the flood drama, our house in Aurora, which we still own and which our renter was supposed to move into today, had a flooded basement yesterday due to the massive crazy flooding in our town. We are beyond thankful for our friends and property managers who have been dealing with that. We know that is not exactly in their job description, but we feel so blessed. We are praying for those whose damage was even more extensive than ours and those who have lost their homes and belongings completely.

Annnnnd, for the phone drama! I mentioned I lost my phone in KY. We got me a new one, and even though I had two months until I was eligible to upgrade, the AT&T store lady felt bad for us and gave us a super good deal. But then my old phone turned up in Layla's suitcase :-/ She must have scooped it up with her clothes (I remember having dropped it on the floor that morning). I could tell she felt bad. It sure is nice having Siri now, though, especially in a new town, with crazy windy highways and trees everywhere so you can never see where you're going!

So today I got home from JoAnn's and Casey had just dropped his phone and the screen shattered! I told you, drama! ;) He's off to Richmond right now to get it repaired while I'm about try to convince the kids that  the yummy beef stew I've had in the crock pot all day really will be tasty. Wish me luck!!

I'll leave you with this cool shot of Casey on moving day:

survive and thrive

Well, we survived a 27 hour road trip and 8 nights in hotels with three kids. And we did it ... with no portable DVD players, *gasp*! I am not against these players as a thing, I just have such great memories of road trips as a kid and I want my kids to have those sweet memories too. Plus, have ya noticed how when kids watch too much TV, they forget how to entertain themselves when you unplug them again?

 (art by Confettielove on Esty)

We do like listening to things in the car, though. Here are some things we liked:

• Veggie Tales. Obviously. We have On the Road with Bob and Larry, a few silly songs albums, Veggie Rocks, Boyz in the Sink and the full collection of the Veggie Tales song and story CD's from the Chick fil a kids meals awhile back (best kids meal toy EVER!!!)
• Adventures in Odyssey. Since we were driving two cars, we each spent half of each day in the car with the kids--this was nice because we each got a break from the need-meeting that is part of driving with kiddos. Adventures in Odyssey is SO great, but not super cheap and we had one set of CD's that we had listened to several times. But, a family that was done with their 8 CD set donated it to our cause, hooray! I didn't get to hear any, though, because Casey really likes them while he drives with the kids and so I let him have that one ;) They all loved it, in fact, the kids always asked when Daddy could drive the big car so they could pick back up with Adventures in Odyssey, ha! There is also an Official Podcast that does have some full episodes plus interviews with some of the voices and characters. You can find that in the iTunes store by searching "Adventures in Odyssey Official Podcast". 
• Britt Nicole. Because Natalie is her biggest fan ;) Which is nice for me because it's not kid music. 

When I was driving the little car, I listened to my regular favorite podcasts, like Radiolab, Stuff you Missed in History Class, This American Life. And Casey really likes to listen to the Mars Hill Mark Driscoll podcast.

 

This church was peeking over the trees at our hotel in Kentucky.

It was a lot of driving, but we survived and survived with happy hearts :) I prayed for a week beforehand that I would just have a joyful attitude, because we all know how Mom's attitude rubs off on the rest of the clan, right??

Also, I'm soooo beyond glad I prodded Casey into getting walkie talkies for the trip because I lost my phone in Kentucky, which would have been a much worse situation if we hadn't had those walkies!

I can't wait to show you what Natalie did on the road to entertain herself. It is art related, of course and it is pretty adorable. 

We have one more night in our little hotel room here in Hopewell. We already have our house on post, but our stuff could not be delivered until tomorrow. We are so ready, to say the least!!

Mrs. Beaver

I have mentioned that we have been reading Narnia out loud to the kids. We finished The Magician's Nephew and have moved on to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I was taking a turn doing the reading one night last week and began chuckling out loud during Chapter 10, when the Beavers and three of the children are scurrying to leave the dam to beat the White Witch to the stone table. Mrs. Beaver is rushing trying to get food ready to go, of all things, while Mr. Beaver is asking her why she's wasting time getting food ready, to which she reasons, "You didn't think we'd set out on a journey with nothing to eat, did you?" (Lewis, 101).

(Artwork by Pauline Baynes)

It is a long standing joke in our family that the women are obssessed with food--not with gorging on it, but with making sure we always have it available to us. We carry food in our purses and plan outings around the next time we (and the kids) will be needing to eat. We eat often, ha! You can imagine this scenario with my mom, sister and I in Beijing last Summer--get lost, eat, repeat. So this page-long conversation between Mrs. Beaver and the others got me chuckling. 

But then!!

"Well, I'm nearly ready now," answered Mrs. Beaver at last, allowing her husband to help her into her snow-boots. "I suppose the sewing machine is too heavy to bring?" 

"Yes. It is," said Mr. Beaver. "A great deal too heavy. And you don't think you'll be able to use it while we're on the run, I suppose?"

"I can't abide the thought of that Witch fiddling with it," said Mrs. Beaver, "and breaking it or stealing it, as likely as not." (pg. 102). 

Haaaaahahahahaha! This is SO ME!!! And guess where my sewing machine rode to Virginia? In the front seat of Casey's car. Because I couldn't bear the thought of those movers fiddling with it. 

In case you're curious, we did make it to Virginia last night. The trip was wonderful and covered in God's mercy. I'll share more soon, of course! 

If you have a minute and like this sort of thing, you should check out more of Pauline Baynes' illustrations. She is no longer living, but illustrated for both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien and I really like her sketchy style. 

Cheers from Virginia!

Some favorites...

...from a photo shoot I had a few days ago.

So far I have only taken pictures for my friends and have never charged (although many times they gift me anyway, the stinkers). It's so much fun for me and I have really grown in knowledge and skill because they've let me use them as guinea pigs ;) But, if I were going to bring in some extra fun money, I am thinking maybe, maybe, I could do this. I would aim to be an affordable option for families who cannot spend $695 for a portrait session--this is the exact price of a 45 minute session with a mom photographer whose blog I was looking at last night. I have no doubt that this photographer has the skills and equipment to charge that much, but no one I know has that kinda money to spend on pictures! And I don't have the fanciest of equipment and editing software either. At first I saw multiple moves as a disadvantage, but I changed my perspective on that--it really just means new scenery and location choices for each place I live, right? Like the beach! Cool.

Anyway, these are just things I'm thinking about.

On Friday I get to do a shoot with little boys and a tricycle!!! Yay, I've been wanting to incorporate some props. It will be FUN!