weekend projects...

We've been working the last few weekends on emptying, painting and re-arranging the kids bedrooms. We let both of them decide how they wanted their room put together and so they both opted to put their beds in a new location and they have about half as much stuff in them as they used to. They love their "new" rooms and it was so fun to have them a part of the process.

So nice to have a nice clean slate to welcome summer!

worlds apart....

I went on a long bike ride this morning and came across this sign about our location on the 45th parallel, half way between the Equator and North Pole. I always thought of Minnesota as being so far north! It also lists other geographical locations around the world that fall on the 45th parallel, such as Yellowstone National Park, Bracebridge in Ontario, Salem in Oregon, Bordeaux in France, Stavropol in Russia, Cres in Croatia, Wakkanai in Japan and others. So facinating! I love thinking about what those other places might look like, what would be different and maybe some things the same, even worlds apart. Here is a little glimpse of the 45th parallel where I live.This is really strange, I like to look back in my blog to see what I was doing on a certain day a year, two years, three years ago. This is one of the reasons I love having a blog. So I was looking back at 2009 archives and on June 2nd I had a post with almost the exact same name as today's post from when my husband came home from Japan. I love to see how subconsciously I think about similar things at the same time each year. Kind of a fun insight to have.Hope you have a fabulous weekend!!

purple and yellow...

Thanks so much for your excitment and enthusiasm for getting involved with my summer blog. I think it's going to be a lot of fun!Following the procession of spring flowering plants, I visited the MN Landscapw Arboretum again and the tulips were still in bloom, along with iris, lady slipper's and many others. It lead to a dazzling display of variety with a gorgeous purple and yellow palette.

Visiting artist Patrick Dougherty and many volunteers were working on an intriguing stick house installation.

Hope you have a fabulous weekend!

summer love...

I'm so excited about summer that I've created a special blog just to celebrate. I'd love for you to be involved.

Check it all out HERE!

local fun....

If you're local (twin cities) Bloom in May is happening at Rose Mille in Stillwater, Minnesota this coming weekend. Jennifer Murphy, Kaari Meng and Michelle Rose Jorgenson will be teaching. There's also a Soiree that Jo Packham is scheduled to make an appearance at. The blog has all the inside scoop! Here is Jen's class project. Lovely! Here's a peek at what's been happening here this past week. For several days it rained and rained, so Chloe made happy rainy day art full of flowers and sunshine.
Lowell lost his very first tooth!!Then the sun came out and everything was gloriously green! Time for sidewalk chalk and bare feet.
The hose made an appearance, which resulted in hours of fun for Lowell.

This is the time of year for birthday parties!

Also garage and estate sales galore.

Always an eccletic mix of old and new.

We visited the swans.

And found a baby toad.

I took so many photos the kids were getting a little tired of it. Love this succession that shows how persistence pays off. I ended up with one of my favorite photos of the kids together ever!

Hope you're enjoying this wonderful time of year!

let's talk trends...

Check out this fun little article I'm in that was just published on the inside source. Marni was kind enough to ask me to particpate in the column, so I gave my two cents about my love for granny chic. Love the other bloggers in the article, Jessica and Eva.

What's your favorite crafting trend right now?

More party fun...

Hooray...another party to plan!! Chloe and I have decided to go out to California in early June to celebrate my nieces golden birthday with my sister and her family. We cannot wait!! My sister has decided to do a woodland theme for the party, and of course I ran with it! I found some fun inspiration on flickr.

1. Kate's Fairy Garden Party - Cake Flower Details, 2. Birthday Party - Enchanted Fairy, 3. Kate's Fairy Garden Party - The Dessert Table, 4. Birthday Party - Enchanted Fairy, 5. the birthday fairy, 6. Caroline Grace's Fairy Party 078, 7. Caitlyn's Fairy Birthday Cupcake Tower, 8. Pretty fairies all in a row, 9. mushroom birthday card

Then I created a nice palette with scrapbook papers I found to make an album for all the festivities!! If you know of any good ideas on this theme, please leave a link in the comments.

This cake...wow! (via Vince.Lupo) Goody goody gumdrops!