new table

Yesterday after church Brent, Kira, and I drove down to Cannon Falls to a large antique store to look for photography props or decorations for our house.  I am drawn to green glass jars, dark brown bean pots, old crates and boxes, and antique kitchen utensils.  And of course, Red Wing pottery items that cost more than my truck does.

We were walking through a furniture area when I saw a bench I REALLY liked.  It was definitely old, but I wouldn't be nervous sitting on it.  The stain and the quality of the wood was gorgeous.  I couldn't find a price.

Turned out there were two benches, and the went with an old farmhouse table.  The whole set was gorgeous.  Brent and I paused and looked at it for a moment.  We both loved it.


Long story a little shorter:   we left with the table and two benches.  I love it!! 

On a related note:  is anybody looking to buy a table and 4 chairs??

pioneer woman

The Pioneer Womans' new cookbook came out yesterday.

It's a wonderful book.  I like her first one better, but probably because it changed my life.

Think I'm exaggerating?  I'm not.

I bought her first cookbook just kind of on a whim.  I was walking through Barnes and Noble and saw it.  I like cookbooks, I like ranches and horses, and I didn't think twice, I just bought it.

A lot of people bought her book because they had been reading her blog; I started reading her blog after I bought the book... and have been reading it every day since.

I remember the first time I saw her on tv.  I was SHOCKED that she had a southern accent.  It's funny to me now, why wouldn't she?? She lives in Oklahoma.  I guess I just thought she's sound like me  : )

Reasons why I love her, her books, and her blog:
1.  She makes recipes I actually make.  There are pictures and directions, and she makes it hard to mess up.
2.  She gardens.  I love reading about what she plants, from tomatoes to herbs.  I feel less crazy because she shares the same OBSESSION with basil.  I dream about planting basil, and I feel less crazy because she writes about her love of basil!
3.  I love reading about/looking at pictures of their horses.  Growing up showing horses and being completely obsessed, its hard not to still daydream about owning acres of land and looking out and seeing your herd.
4.  She homeschools her children.  I think sometimes homeschooling moms get a bad rap.  I might be one of them someday, so I like to hear about her experiences.
5.  Her blog taught be about photography and introduced me to the amazing Donna Boucher.  This fact right there truly has changed my life.  Ree takes pictures of her life and what is around her, and the beauty of simple things amazes me. 
6.  I met her, and just really wanted to be her friend.  She smelled good, and I was jealous of her long hair..... I kinda feel like a creeper writing this, so i'll move on.
7. She cans!  I sometimes feel odd telling my friends about my love for food preservation.
8.  Even though she's never come out and said exactly what she believes in, I feel like we share the same faith.  I like that.

There are probably many more reasons, but those are a few.  Go out and get her books, you won't be sorry!

sick, but full of joy

I've been down in my hometown since Friday.  I had hoped to see the high school's production of Footloose, but Kira and I were just too sick.  Kira had a fever of 103 which scared the pants off me, but it came down with Tylenol, so I felt better.

Saturday morning I went to my favorite town of Hokah to catch up with a friend and smell the barn.  I miss it.  Here are a few pics from the morning.

When I got back home, it was clear Kira had gotten worse.  I canceled plans with my friend Amy and took Kira to urgent care.   She had a double ear infection.  Poor girl.  The rest of the day was spent hanging out.  Brent was in Winona getting his conceal and carry permit and learning about the history of guns in general : )

Jenny and Ruby came home Sat. night.  My parents are watching Ruby while Jenny is in Florida for the week.  Lucky girl.... even though I think we might have the same weather here in MN!  Kira loves Ruby.  They're cute together.



My friend Carly and her husband Steve were also down in the area for one of Carly's showers, so I asked if we could do her maternity pictures on top of a bluff!  They agreed, though at the time neither of us knew it would be daylight saving time and we'd have to get up EARLY.  Here are a few of my favorites. 

Even though it was windy, chilly, and really early in the morning, it was a fun shoot.

Last night my mom and I went to Fiddler on the Roof.  My dad had surprised us with tickets at Christmas.  It was an EXCELLENT performance.  We laughed, got goosebumps, and even shed a few tears.  That darn sunrise, sunset....   My dad had been looking forward to playing with Kira, but she slept most of the time we were gone.  Here is the three of us before the show.

lots of words, no pictures

It's been awhile since I've blogged.  Here's what's been happening.  There will be no pictures in this post because I am too tired/lazy to post them.

1.  I got new running shoes.  They look a little boyish, but they make my feet and knees so happy.
2.  I read all three hunger games books.  I've known about them for awhile.  I read the first one in an afternoon.  I bought the second on the next day, but when I got to page 127 it skipped to page 188 which obviously did not make sense.  At first I thought maybe it was an intentional trick, like one of those chose your own ending books, but really, the book was missing a huge chunk.  I returned it and got another with all of the pages.
3.  I got sick.  Real sick.  I have this disgusting and painful hacking cough.  Yesterday I had sinus pressure so bad I thought my cheekbones were going to break.
4. We went to Hibbing to visit Brent's side of the family.  Kira's cousin Jaycee is 2 months older, and half the size of Kira!  Must be my Swedish genes.
5.  I have been having CRAZY dreams, probably due to cold medicine.  Last night I dreamed that Jenny and I were trying on dresses.  I should have known it was a dream at the time because Jenny and I were the same size.  Anyway, we wore our new dresses to a gas station to get a diet mountain dew and in that gas station was Steven Tyler.  We told him we liked American Idol.
6.  Today I booked a wedding for this summer.  There have been a lot of things I said I would NEVER do.  Weddings was one of them.... huh.
7.  My mom went to a home and garden show last weekend.  I was bummed I couldn't go with her, so I started some basil seeds.  I love basil.  And tomatoes.

Maybe I'll be better at blogging in the future.  I like writing things down, even if it's just for myself, since things seem to happen so darn quickly these days.