hello...

i'd like to say hello and i love you to the beautiful weather today(please stick around for longer than a couple days),
my new magic owlie shirt(you are the best),

and my picture frame collection that i decided would look better in the kitchen(it does). 

so glad za husband climbed the ladder and listened to my demands of moving each one over a bit or up a little. 

love is the key

[painting i did this weekend]

here are a few of the things i've loved the last couple days:

-spending so much time with will. weekends are the best, even if he is on call this weekend.

-painting.

-lounging around watching movies.

-the smell of rain.

-marking things off of my super long list.

-yoga.

-taking the hot rod for a spin and not cooking alive because the weather has been quite lovely.

-za husband protecting me from the storm.  i'm wimpy when it comes to that stuff. 

-hiking trip in the very near future.

what have you loved lately?

whoooos ready for fall?

obviously i am based on the things i painted today.

it might pain me to get rid of these, i guess i'll part with all of them when the shop is open.....reluctantly.

oh and i think kitty is ready for the seasons to change too

 

considering the way she bundled herself up in za husbands shirt. 

caution: contents of this post are adorable

i love when za husband thinks it's a great idea to get me a surprise.

i love it even more when this surprise is something he knows i've been craving.

then i love it even more than that when the surprise comes packaged up so cute like this,

and it arrives on an otherwise ordinary wednesday evening.

yes it's true....there was so much cuteness i nearly fainted.

it's all in the special little details.

so my magic seahorse necklace and i have a secret to share with you...

my etsy shop will be opening soon.

here is a preview of what adorable things you might find in there.

get ready for the cuteness that this shop will be.

za husband/russian

why is will called za husband or za russian sometimes?  and what's with all the russian references?
for those of you who were wondering, and i know there is at least one of you, here's the story:
it's not really a big fancy story just a tiny one. 
let me start by saying will is the best at doing voices.  i always tell him he should be the voice for animated movie characters.  with that said there was one night when we were dating that will left me a voice message using a russian accent.  from that point it kind of turned into one of his commonly used voices because he knew i loved it.  basically that evolved into an entire act that he puts on, with that act came his newish name of za russian.  then somewhere along the line it evolved to za husband because of me.
so....
our little dictionary:
za russian or za husband = will
muzza russia or muzza = my mom
and pretty much any other weird spelled word either means it's part of will's made up russian act or some other hilarious voice that he does.  

when you hike...

you are sometimes lucky enough to stumble upon a very adorable horny toad.

you hold him and squeeze him (gently) and love him because he is so very cute. 

you even wish you could take him home and keep him as a pet but then you realize that he might miss his family so you don't do such a thing.

then you come home and admire the artwork you made for za husbands birthday last year because it's a horny toad.

p.s. we named the little guy in the artwork spotsworth (to be said with a brittish accent)

going batty

this is twice now that we've had a visitor of the bat variety right outside our front door. 
see...

this post is mainly for mia, she turned 6 today. 

it does not seem like it was 6 years ago that she was born.  i was lucky enough to be there for that moment and it was magic.

(this is one of my favorite pictures of mia being a vampire)

 the last time mia heard we had a bat at our house she was so curious and wanting to see pictures.

so here you go mia and i hope your birthday was fantastic! 

when root beer attacks

we took a little trip to the health food store today. 

will spots some root beer in the cooler section that looks interesting. 

he picks up the cardboard package which holds 4 bottles. 

the package was slightly defective.

i'm watching the whole thing play out in slow motion.

the four bottles jump out of their defective holder.

we were pretty embarrassed when the people who worked there came running back to see what the crashing sound was. 

root beer everywhere. 

us apologizing. 

blood coming from za husband's hand because a piece of glass decided to jump in his hand. 

we left with two of the four bottles of root beer and a slightly cut hand.

too bad will was interested it getting the root beer, because that root beer was more interested in getting him. 

and just for fun a late night photo shoot....

friends, loves, and weird events

today was a day of well wishes and surprise visits and a day to truly appreciate all of the loves of my life....like za husband, friends, family, everyone.
thank you for the sweet emails,texts, or hugs...you know who you are and you should know i appreciate it.  my lovely friend barb visited me today out of the blue.  as if our conversation wasn't fun enough she added to the fun with a present which i love....

hello awesome owlie shirt!  it's adorable and i love what it says. 
barb....you are so funny!  i never grow tired of our conversations.  we hardly get a chance to talk so when we do it's like months worth of information crammed into a short amount of time....and it's always quality stuff.  this is barb by the way for those of you who don't know her...

other than that today was a day of weird events.  some of which i prefer not to discuss but a couple that i'd like to mention.  this evening za husband and i treated ourselves to dinner and a movie.  we drove to bullhead for this little date of ours.  while driving we hit a bird.  first time i can recall hitting a bird.  i've come close before but never actually done it.  i saw it coming, cringed, and yelped when i heard the loud thud.  then felt really bad for the birdie.  we were both a little sad about the experience because we like to pretend that animals are like they are in the movies.  like they have conversations and families and try to avoid tragic events....kinda like remy in ratatouille (which happens to be one of my favorite movies)

on to the next weird event...
we decided to see this scott pilgrim vs. the world movie.  didn't know a thing about it but we've seen a few other quality michael cera movies so thought it was worth a try.  we go to the theater inside the avi.  according to google the movie started at 7:30.  we bought our tickets right at that time.  when we got in the theater it seemed odd that the movie had already started because usually there are billions of previews, but whatever, we went with it.  after about 10 minutes we are both looking at each other totally lost and wondering why this movies is so insanely weird and not making sense at all.  after about 20 minutes i tell will we should leave and see about getting our money back.  we wait 10 more minutes out of sheer laziness and what do you know the end credits start rolling.  we are somewhat stunned because i know the time change isn't in effect yet, so either this is the shortest movie in history or we sat in the wrong theater or something.  either way i was glad for it to be over because it was not worth watching.  i'm even sad i wasted 30 minutes on it.  we ended up getting a refund and come to find out they've had recent troubles with their website not updating properly so they times have been off on a few movies lately.  glad to know we aren't losing our marbles. 
all of the weirdness was remedied with a quick trip to target.  that always does the trick!

b. wise

x really does mark the spot around our house....

just ask kitty who is modeling our new rug at the front door.

x also marks the spot at our two sets of french doors in the back of the house and at the door that leads from the garage to the house......thanks to someone lovely who enjoys giving perfect gifts.

that same lovely person gifted me with this perfect case for my phone....

who doesn't love that you can change colors based on your mood?  i do.

who doesn't love that it's called an otter box?  i certainly do.  cute!  and i love cute.

gifts are amazing and i've been lucky enough to get a few for no real reason this week.

 a different lovely person gifted us with a perfect autumn scented candle that crackles as it burns.  talk about cozy!  it's so cozy that the owls, which came along with the candle, had to cuddle up to it like they were in front of a fireplace in some rustic log cabin that is nestled in the mountains....

how's that for a daydream?

please hurry beautiful fall weather, so i can cozy up with my husband owl just like this!

we can talk and laugh and drink hot chocolate.

i dream about it a lot lately....just like you brandi.

this autumn scented candle is only making my desires for fall stronger.

not only are these owls adorable for the obvious reasons....

but they also came with awesome names

cute plush owls+perfect names they came with=win win, in my book.

thank you to you kind gift giving people...you know who you are...give yourself another hug from me.

things multiply

my mom gave me a good laugh today.  we took a lunch break at my house.  after lunch she's looking in the mirror, she gasps and says SKYE!  i think something is really wrong and ask repeatedly what, what is it?  she proceeded to laugh hysterically, then blush, then explain what was so funny. she had a hitchhiker earring. 

this is what her earrings for the day looked like according to her right ear.

this is what her earrings for the day looked like according to her left ear.

apparently she had gone all day with an extra earring attached to the set she intended to wear.

she probably just started a new trend. 

maybe not so funny to you but we laughed REALLY hard!

she said she had talked to tons of people through out the day but nobody said anything....my guess is nobody noticed.  but when she finally noticed she got so embarrassed at herself that she blushed which is part of the reason we laughed so hard. 

blushing is a curse i inherited from her......thanks muzza. 

in other news za husband made me laugh tonight when he brought me some chocolate chips cut in half.

  there were hardly any left in the bag so to give the illusion that dessert was plentiful he made the chips multiply by using his nano powered micrometer laser infusion device....otherwise known as a knife.

he's silly.

hugs and loves

not that all of you don't already know this but...life is fragile. 
i've been reminded of that fact today while hearing about the death of someone we know.  while i may not be extremely close to these people it has really affected me.  i hurt for them.  i remember how the husband, who is now dealing with the passing of his wife, gave will and i a very sweet wedding card. 
this is what he wrote......we pray that you both find and experience the blessing that marriage is intended to be!  you two make a great couple and we are glad that you have found each other. 
the saying above our door in the picture below is a wedding gift from that sweet couple. i've been out of sorts all day and the only thing i can figure is not only do i feel the grief that family must be feeling but it brings back those really hard memories of the death of my dad.  that....and i feel like i have so much more to lose these days.

basically since will and i got married i have frequent panic attacks about something happening to one of us. 
lets just say i'm reminded once again by myself and my wise husband (sometimes i swear he's 100 years older than me because he gives the best advice) that i have so much to be thankful for and i need to focus on that rather than worry. 
so hugs and loves to all of you!

[bella sends her hugs too]

i'm focusing on my happy thoughts like......za husband, my family, my friends, the 5 fur babies, kitty, good health, etc.
the list goes on and on.

polished and pretty

why is it that something as simple as painting my fingernails and toenails makes me feel like a pretty princess? 
i don't know why it does, but what i do know, is that  i need to take the time to do this stuff more often.

maybe it will counteract my extremely pale skin that za husband and i were laughing at today as we were out and about with me in a skirt showing off my painfully pale legs.  we both just laughed when i noticed in bright light how truly pale they are then he said....i just love you so much. 

i'm a vampire....what can i say? 

pale is pretty.

who's with me?

denali & brulé

once upon a time there was a very adorable naughty puppy named denali.  she was the love of my life for the brief time she was on this earth.

6 months after i got her, she went to heaven.  it was a very sad time for all of us. 

as mentioned in a previous post i wrote a little book about this.

that story recently made me think of doing this painting....

 

this is my painted version of denali...

and this is brulé

you might be wondering why this pretty girl

is in the form of an alligator on the painting.

ever since she was a little puppy she's had tons of nicknames....one of which is alligator.

so basically this painting is of denali and brulé in heaven and denali is sending bru to me with instructions.

because that is what i believe truly happened.

p.s.  steinway(denali's sister and brulés mom)stayed at my house while my mom went to the store today.

ordinarily steinway is pretty laid back about these sorts of things but not this time.

she was not happy about my mom leaving her.  she whined as soon as my mom walked out the door then proceeded to whine off and on until my mom got back.  she stayed on the floor facing the door the entire time.  i called my mom and told her what was going on, she felt so bad that steinway was sad and promised to hurry.  it was like i was watching a toddler who won't stop crying because she wants her mommy. obviously steinway really loves my mom/her mom....with good reason.