Tidbits.

I love this free clip art from Martha Stewart.  It is colorful, fun, and could be used for so, so, so much!

We are super addicted to clementines.  Are you?

It will be a sad day when the season is over.  Sad, indeed.

Betsy stands at the refrigerator and sniffs the fruit drawer until I get the hint.  It's redunkulous.

This certainly isn't the best photo, but that is the current progress of our master bathroom redo. 

Lots more to do, but I think it's pretty rad so far.

And, finally...

we are going on vacation to Destin!

We have never been anywhere with our whole family except Chicago and Trout Lodge {one hour from our house}, so this is super exciting.  I cannot wait for my kids to see the ocean.

If you have any tips on where to stay that has 2-seconds-to-get-there beach access, full kitchen, and a condo pool, or tips for traveling hours on end with littles in the car...please share.  We are very new to this. 

A return & stuff on the horizon...

Well, we made it home in one piece!  It was the most fun anyone could ever have in the Arkansas death heat.  Which really was a lot of fun.  I have some crappy photos to share taken with my craptastic point and shoot from 2006.  You will have to deal.

If you have never been to a major music festival and you're old {like we are}, you may have a bit of culture shock as you pull up.  Luckily, I've had some previous exposure.  The photo above is the main stage camping area.  This is NOT where we camped.  We camped across the road in a lovely, shaded spot called West Woods.  This festival was 25,000 strong {maybe more}, so you can imagine some of the conditions.  It is not for the faint of heart.  I will say that I think the staff did a great job keeping everyone as happy, as comfortable, and as safe as possible!

The main stage grounds were full of fun stuff and dust and sun and sweat.  But also, art, food, smoothies, beer, and, of course, music.  Again, if you are new to this sort of thing...there is music nearly 24 hours a day.  Some of the food vendors serve 24 hours a day, too.  Which is good for fatties like me.

The photo above is of Big Daddy and my super cousin and musical-soul-mate-at-arms, Michelle.  They are walking off into the Mulberry Mountain sunset.  Yes, there is some sun haze/flare, BUT it is also an enormous dust cloud settling over the grounds after Mumford & Sons amazing, foot stomping set.

I'm not sure how anyone in their right mind could perform quite the set they did in long sleeves and jeans.  But they did.  No one passed out, no one gave up, no one disappointed.  It was hot folks.  Hotter than I can put into words.

So hot in fact, that about 98% of that wetness is sweat, and the other 2% is water from a very welcomed water balloon attack.  Michelle even has broken balloon remnants still stuck to her sweatyness.  We may have sweat a bit excessively because we were dancing up a dust cloud.

This is my favorite photo of the weekend.  The ferris wheel and the blue Ozark sky.  Do I need to say anymore?  When I took this, we were headed back to our camp for the night.  On the way we bought some fresh ice for our cooler.  Carrying it back was welcome relief from the heat.

The whole gang {my sis, brother-in-law, hubby, cousin, and me} was getting tired.  We had been on the road since 5:30 am, and couldn't hang any longer.  I wish we would have had some 20-something youth on our side to head back over the main stage area at about 2 in the morning.  It sounded bumpin' over there.  Alas, I couldn't drag my old ass out of the tent.  Nor could anyone else.  I will say that the temps dropped to a very comfortable 70ish that night.  It was amazing.

It really is a beautiful part of the country.  The views are amazing.  The people were friendly.  The music was fantastic.  I'm glad we did it.

In other news...I'm hosting an incredible giveaway early next week.  My friends over at Methane Studios are going to be giving one lucky reader their choice of a letter from their 'Ransom Lettters Series'.  Thanks, Carolyn!

I will post the deets on Monday or Tuesday, and choose a winner on Friday.

Cool, huh?

This just in...

We are going here:

for one night only.

To see them:

Just to clarify,

that's 'Mumford & Sons'.

Thank You.

The last 2 days.

Okay, so, back to what this blog is really about...

a whole lot of nothing.

Marcus breakin' it down at The Valarium Monday night

photo via Facebook by Deneicee Carter

{I was there, people.  I SAW that sick belt buckle.}

Monday morning my sister, my cousin, and my friend left for an adventure.

We traveled southeast to Knoxville, Tennessee to see 'Mumford & Sons'.

It was a beautiful drive, ending through hills full of trees all dressed up for fall.

Knoxville is an awesome big, little town.  And, we were completely unaware it is home to the University of Tennessee.  Duh!

We kept seeing people with backpacks all over, and finally asked the guy at the hotel's front desk.

His answer made us really laugh at ourselves, "Um, yeah, there's a college around here.  It's just a small one across the street and a block over, only about 26,000 students.  It's called the University of Tennessee."

Nice.

The concert itself was phenomenal.  The venue was TINY.  Maybe 500.  Maybe.

Everyone stood.  Everyone sang.  Everyone bounced.

There was amazing energy.

'Lover of the Light', 'Dust Bowl Dance', and 'Roll Away Your Stone' were my favorite.  New(er) song "Broken Crown" was pretty fantastic, too.

All lovely.

King Charles and Cadillac Sky opened.  Both awesome.  Marcus played drums for some of Cadillac Sky's set, then stood slightly back stage left and watched them finish their set enjoying a beer.  So normal.

Jerry Douglas appeared for the encore.  Brilliant.

photo via Facebook by Deneicee Carter

photo via Facebook by Deneicee Carter

photo via Facebook by Deneicee Carter

Then, they had to go and do an 'Avett Brothers' cover of 'Go To Sleep' during the encore AFTER King Charles did 'Lady of the River'.  Be still my heart.

Wow!

So great!

At the end of the day, it was one of the best live shows I've been to.  

I am very fortunate to have been able to go.

outside The Valarium the next morning.

The End.

'Country Time' isn't just a brand of lemonade.

Good friends, good food, & wide open spaces are good for the soul.

Friday evening we just hung out and had some pies
 from a fantastic local pizzeria.
Saturday held the promise of a day on the river.
It did not disappoint.

We played, lounged, floated.

There was tadpole wrangling, stone skipping, and lots of eating.

The tadpole fort {built carefully by all of the boys} 
in the collage above was no match 
for, Buddy, the retriever.

And, for the record, when the girls were on the the 4-wheelers, 
Jake went about -.8973 mph.

Thank you, Robinsons for a great weekend!

I will have s'mores for breakfast anytime.

It's just what we needed before the grind of school begins.

Jump. I dare you.

That's Lil' Jake on the zip line at Trout Lodge.

It's one of the MANY activities they offer.

He truly amazes me.

He just climbed up, and jumped off.

That was that.

No fear.

I wish I could bottle that courage up.

I'd be a millionaire.

Pete wasn't old enough for the zip this year.

Alas, he found a way to get his adventure on.

He did Pines Peak.

A really high, tough climbing wall.

Amazed again.

He just shimmied on up and repelled back down.

Boys.

There is nothing like them!

Their energy and zest make it look so easy.

I wish I could say it went the same for Big Jake.

He had a tougher time.

Age and strength were not on his side this day.

Poor guy.

Rest assured, he will begin training for next year soon enough.

Happy day, all!

I'm...

baaaaa-aaaaaack!

And, let's just say that I'm refueled, fired-up, and ready for summer 

and whatever it throws my way!

We had a great time on our yearly getaway at YMCA Trout Lodge.

While on the beach, I've been thinking up some good posts in my lil' ole head,

and will definately be posting photos from our trip.

I, also, read a fantastic book while the kids splashed away & dug in the sand.

If you have a summer reading list,

I highly recommend adding 'The Help' by Kathryn Stockett to it.

Alrighty,

I've got to get back to Photoshop.

It's a love/hate relationship.

Nighty-night!

The trip.

Jake & I ventured to Louisville, Kentucky for a little getaway.

The Swell Season played The Brown Theatre in downtown Louisville on Saturday night.

Thursday we celebrate 10 years of marriage.

Everything just sort of fell into place and felt right.

So, we went.

What a sweet surprise from the old man!

We saw Big Boy in Indiana.

We stayed in a super cool hotel.

We were surrounded by incredible modern art,

including this interactive art installation by the elevators.

The 'big bat' was a couple of blocks down from our hotel.

We didn't tour the Louisville Slugger museum/factory, 

but we did stop in and get the kids some fun souvenirs. 

I, somewhat, successfully gave Jake a crash course in the manual photography trifecta...

ISO, shutter speed, and aperture.

He did pretty darn good for a 15 minute lesson.

Let me caption this photo like this:

We are NOT champagne & strawberries kind of people.

Jake ordered this to surprise me, 

and we laughed the whole time we drank and nibbled.

Then did stupid stuff like this...

This is Jake in a hotel robe, with champagne,

making pretend million dollar deals on the phone.

VIP in full effect.

Are we the only thirty-somethings that do stupid stuff like this?

I sure hope not, because, man-oh-man, we have some fun.

Then, dinner, and off to see the other man in my life...

They did a cover of 'Gold' by Interference,
It was a-maz-ing!!!

It was such a great 30 hours!

I love that man...Jake isn't so bad, either!  Wink, wink.

Run, Fat Boy, Run.

This past weekend I went to Chicago with my sister, cousin, and aunt & uncle to watch my other cousin run in the Chicago Marathon. I've never been a spectator at a marathon (or, and this goes without saying, a participant). It was incredible. I don't think anything has ever made me feel so slovenly, gluttonous, lazy, and just plain fat in my whole life. Seriously. I can't read for 4 hours +, let alone run for that long.

I am amazed at what the human body is capable of. And, in some way, I think that it's our duty to our body to unleash it's potential. It has occurred to me that bodies that are challenged, pushed, and stimulated beyond what we think is their threshold, have minds attached that are equally fit and sharp. The interconnectedness of it all astounds me. These, certainly, aren't new ideas. Dualism has been around for thousands of years; Hinduism, Shankhya, Plato, Aristotle, Descartes. But, to see someone push their body with their mind, to actually have someone before your eyes who you know wants to collapse into the fetal position and cry, but keeps running from the fuel their mind is providing for them, well, it's really quite astonishing. I mean, let's face it, I don't think the 45,000 participants on Sunday could be wrong.

So, congratulations Mikey! You are a rock-star! Your time was awesome (3:40ish), your purple shirt was awesome, your running tights were awesome, YOU were/are awesome!

ps Next year, I think you should pace yourself with Mr.Cut-offs. He ran about a 3:10. Maybe it's the shorts, maybe it's the hair, I don't know, but I'm just sayin'.

Bon Voyage.

Be back Tuesday!

Have a great weekend!

The big brag.

That's where I'm staying for my trip to Chicago in October.

Yep! That's right!

The fabulous W Hotel City Center.

Modern, chic, urban-cool, AND Bliss toiletries.

Need I say more?

Life is good!