hello again...

how have you been? Me? Oh you know, busy with school starting back up, busy with soccer for the boys, busy keeping up with a sassy little sixteen month old...the usual.

Two Fridays ago we up and decided to take one last little vacation before school started up again. I have dubbed it the Tour de Tejas: Late Summer 2008 Edition.

On the 15th (a belated happy birthday to my friend Tammy!) we headed down to Houston to visit with my sister and her husband for a couple days.



While we were down we did some Girls Only letterboxing and my sister and I even ventured out all by ourselves for the first time in a very long time. We had a really good time!

On the 17th we ventured further on down the road through Webster where we stopped at the Challenger Seven Memorial Park to do a little letterboxing on our way to Galveston.



The view from our room in Galveston was lovely (as long as you didn't focus on the brownness of it all).



The kids loved the beach, loved getting to swim in the hotel pool and I managed to get absolutely zero pictures of them on the beach or at the pool. My excuse is: the threat of rain was always looming and while I would LOVE to get a bigger, better camera I don't think Lynn is on board just yet...

We visited Galveston State Park on the 18th.



We hunted a letterbox while we were there...unfortunately, it seems a good sized fire beat us to it.



We woke up to this on the 19th so we decided to make a day of it at Moody Gardens.



We enjoyed Moody Gardens for the most part. Do yourself a favor though and AVOID eating at the restaurant in the main pavilion. You'd likely find more appealing food at a hospital cafeteria.

On Wednesday we packed up and headed on around to Victoria for a visit with my grandparents. We attempted to do some letterboxing while we were in Victoria with no luck...there were only four boxes listed and they were all planted in 2004 and none had been found in a year or more. A bit of a disappointment; more so because my grandparents went out with us to hunt and we came up empty. To make up for the lack of letterboxes in the area I carved a new stamp and planted it with my grandmother's help. We anticipated my aunts and Bella would find the box first but they were beat to it by a family who lives an hour and a half away!

Friday rolled around again and we headed up to New Braunfels for a couple days to visit with my brother and his wife. Lynn and the kids went to Schlitterbahn a couple times and I hung out with Nolan and Jana. I didn't take a single photo the entire time we were in New Braunfels! How can that be?

Anyhoo, we finally made it home Sunday afternoon and have been running ever since!

Logan started back to school today...he's a second grader now! I volunteered to be the room mom this year...too early to tell if I'll regret my decision...fingers are crossed that everything will go swimmingly though.

I'll be back later this week with a cool story about Ethel and her awesome gloves and next week I'll announce my next round of ATC swaps!

Have a great week everyone!

the elfa report - one week after installation...

Okay, elfa totally, completely rocks. If I could marry elfa I would. I wish December would hurry up and get here already so I can do the rest of my closets with a 30% discount. I am actually shocked that the pantry has remained in order. Normally a week after a clean out things are already creeping out of place and back into wreckage mode. So far everything is has ended up right where it's supposed to be.

My mom and I have been working on getting my studio relocated to the upstairs t.v. room so Molly can have her own bedroom. We've found all sorts of finished work I'd completely forgotten about. This coming week I'll be posting all sorts of goodies for sale. There are tons of snowmen, Halloween and Christmas things with some everyday things as well. I'm debating on how to scatter things between the main website, here on the blog, over on etsy and maybe even ebay. Will keep you posted!

Tomorrow my mom, my sister and I are heading down to Dallas to check out the LOCAL Paper Source store. Can't wait! After that we'll swing by James Avery to find a cross for Logan. He makes his first communion this Sunday. So lots of inspiration going on around here right now...that's bound to mean some fun show and tell to come in the next couple weeks. School starts back on the 26th and from there I'm positive the show will get back on the road!

Better run. Time for bed.

her mother's daughter...

Yesterday Molly kept herself quietly occupied for a good twenty minutes or more by covering herself in (washable, thank heaven for washable) markers.



She removed every single cap from every single marker. Her hands and forearms were covered in blues, purples, greens, oranges and pinks. Her knees were scribbled to bits with violet and indigo. Her lips were a lovely shade of green. All this and not a speck, nary a smudge of ink, was left on the carpet, her brother's bed, the chair cushion or her outfit. It's as if the thought never even crossed her mind to color on anything except herself. Now in that respect, I don't know whose child she is because I know good and well I used to color on the walls and every other surface I could get to. The coloring all over herself? Now that's my girl. My sweet little creative soul. Can't wait to see what she'll cook up next time :).