so, i’m just having one of those days where i’ve been thinkin’ a lot…like…

…i wanna blunt-cut my bangs again, but need a little more nerve…
…i’m desperately yearning to entertain again–to host dinner parties and late-night drinks, light candles, play jack johnson & diana krall and blissfully listen as guests laugh, *tink* wine glasses together, make toasts to “good friends” and stay late into the night because it’s just too good to leave…
…i wanna revive our annual halloween costume party this year and bring it back with the biggest bang of the century…
…i wanna go on a late-night date with my hubby and wear heels and lipstick and an open-back dress and his favorite perfume and remind the both of us that underneath the jobs and the bills and the laundry and the kids, it’s us–two people who passionately love each other forever and ever…and life’s too short to forget that.
…i’m sad that lainey is at the exact age that my sister claims is her favorite, and that she doesn’t live close enough to enjoy it with me…like i did her girls. ‘cuz she would so love it right now.
…i wanna simplify my closet to hold only the things i really love to wear, even if it’s not a lot.
…i wanna send packages to my cousins and nieces and sister & brother…full of collages and perfume samples and stickers and funny pictures i tore out of magazines–like i used to do when i was in college.
…i want the fuel crisis to be over.
…i can’t wait for the weather to cool down for fireplace fires again.
…i wanna have people over to play taboo and catch phrase…’cuz it’s fun.
…i want little baby pink crocheted uggs for lainey but will never justify me–or anyone else for that matters–spending $90 for a flimsy pair of baby boots.
…i want anonther baby…real bad.
…i want the energy to clean the heck out of my bedroom.

hope that doesn’t come across as discontent or too many “i-wannas.” i’m easy to please, really. just thinkin’…that’s all.

still always enjoyin’ the small things, though…like today. seriously this “dig-through-her-drawers/find-random-article-of-clothing/stretch-over-head and take-off-crawling-like-the-wind-head-a’ covered” thing she does…finally captured the entire thing on camera, and, well…it’s just really funny.

…and then we went for a dip in the pool where, after some major frustration with her sunglasses for not staying on her head…

…she was all smiles!

despite today’s i-wannas, my gratitude for all our happy small things is runnin’ thick as marmalade. ..enjoying the funny, the happy, the ponderings-of-tomorrow and, oh…the small things~k

we felt compelled to buy blueberries today…fresh from the produce aisle and straight from my homestate…box says “michigan” stamped right on it in red letters.

…and, like me (and the stories my mom tells of me standing on my tiptoes on a chair to reach the freezer, popping little blueberries into my mouth, one by one), cubby is in heaven with just a little bowl of ripe, juicy berries…

…i love to watch her pudgy fingers pincher-grasp each one, inspecting it first, then making its journey to her ready little mouth, over and over..

…sour-puckered face and blue-juice stained lips…clumps of fleshy berry mashed into the folds of her skirt…and finally, an empty bowl with just a few remnants of blue skin glued to its edges…

…enjoying the summer things… ~k

i’ve been waiting for this for weeks…my first album. a real professional photography album. i’ve been wanting to branch out and do some album design and eventually offer albums with photography, but didn’t know where to begin. so i started researching companies, layouts, prices, etc. and finally decided to make a sample album. thank you dad for investing in my first sample album…lainey’s first year (the cool thing is i benefit from it too ‘cuz this is one heck of a keepsake!).
i finished it two weeks ago and sent it away….and then waited…watching the mail, looking for the package. i returned from lunch today to a box outside my front door. my heart did a little leap.

i brought it inside and sliced through the shiny tape…

i dug through the peanuts to find this…
soft, buttery leather in its own chic case…

and inside…perfection.

thick pages, superb quality…crisp colors.

it’s divine…and not just because it’s the story of cubby’s first year of life.

pssst…i’m offering albums now…pass it on.
prices start at $550