normal~ish

industrious

::  load contents:  leaves, dirt, plastic snake

tgif

::  happy friday!  it's been one of those weeks.  here's to a warm fall weekend ahead, more blogging, less craziness, and lots of chubby eight-month-old ankles for nibbling ...

whorl

::  the top of charlie's head.  that whorl of new hair, shadow darkening daily {it appears he may not grow the baby blonde, unlike his brother}.  as he sleeps on my lap, the palm of my hand is a perfect fit, fingers softly wrapped around and resting on the downy fluff.  one of the most tender, amazing, kissable things I ever did see.

renee & jeremy

This duo made such an amazing debut album. It is one of my very favorite in our {fairly extensive} family music collection. I can't wait for their new release next month ... and here's a free little preview:

ablaze

In these parts, fall color has exploded this week.  The boys and I took a walk to the post office and library on Monday, which just might win the award for the most stunning, colorful stroll of the year.  The sky was so clear and vivid.  The yellows and golds and oranges against that bright blue were awe-inspiring.   Amazing, amazing autumn!

 

 

 

 

 

 

FFF, v.2

Last week, we joined our moms' group for the biannual group visit to a nearby family farm.  It's an organic livestock operation -- and it is always so great to see those happy animals and take in the sights of their beautiful surroundings.  Henry just radiates joy in such a setting -- so much so that it always gets my mind wandering about moving to the country.  Maybe someday ...

::  henry happily free-range

::  the view from the hayrack

 

::  riding to the fields to visit the turkeys and chickens

::  black beauties

::  gravel pile = henry heaven

 

::  watch out, chicken!

::  feeder logo = graphic goodness

 

::  busy hands

 

::  hi, puppers!

 

::  king of the hayrack

 

::  "just you wait, little brother, until you can run around here too!"

FFF

We spent Sunday afternoon kicking off what shall be known henceforth as "FFF" (fall farm fun).  Two local farms that are in the same "neighborhood" -- a dairy/cheese farm and a pumpkin farm -- held fall open houses over the weekend.  This was our second annual visit to the open houses and I must say that they know just how to time this event.  Both last year and yesterday the weather was fantastic.  Huge blue skies, sunshine warming the crisp autumn air ... perfection.

I am a total sucker for all the sights of a farm.  The older and more dilapidated, the better.  Rusty fences, peeling barn paint, and bales of hay make me swoon.  All of the crazy gorgeous color of the winter squash and gourd crops are icing on the cake.  Needless to say, my camera was working overtime.  So I'll let the photos do the talkin' ...

::  oh, how I love orange

::  "sandboxes" filled with corn kernels = lots o' fun.  henry has kernels a-flyin'

::  sleepy sheep and their lovely, peely trough

::  can I just move in, please?

::  charlie's first autumn.  he loved flirting with the heifers and their big, long-lashed eyes

 

 

::  heifer barn

 

 

::  mud puddles.  oh yeah.

::  henry trying his hand at milking

::  natural play structure loovve

::  gourds, two for a dollar

 

::  this "animal" was crazy for kettle corn

 

 

::  big blue sky smiles

giveaway winner

To select the winner of the normalish vintage nest & nursery giveaway, I had Eric randomly choose a number between 1 and 86.  He chose 51, which corresponded to Katie W. in St. Paul, MN.  Congrats to Katie!   The vintage Richard Scarry dictionary will be on its way to her doorstep tomorrow.  Thanks to everyone for participating in the giveaway through comments here, Etsy hearts, and the Facebook fan page.

hello october

www.normalish.etsy.com

::  vintage nest & nursery

Over to the left you see a peek of a new venture of mine:  normal~ish, v.2, an Etsy store!  I will be selling vintage goodies to feather a modern family nest,  including many of my very favorite things to find on treasure hunts -- children's decor, clothing, and books;  vintage linens;  vintage kitchenware, and more.  All things happy, colorful, low-tech, and a bit quirky.  Fun!

To celebrate my "grand opening," I'm offering a giveaway.  The winner will receive {shipped to their doorstep} a vintage copy of a charming children's book, Richard Scarry's Storybook Dictionary.  There are three ways to enter the giveaway drawing -- and anyone can do all three to have more chances to win:

1. Leave a comment on this post sharing a title of a favorite book from your childhood.  Be sure to fill in the field with your email address so I can contact you if you win.
2. Sign in to Etsy {create an account if you don't already have one -- it's easy!} and add normalish to your "hearts" {favorite shops}.  I can contact you through Etsy if you win.
3. If you're a Facebook user, pop over to my normalish fan page and become a fan.  The fan page is going to serve as a mini-blog for the shop, including peeks of treasure-hunting adventures and notifications when new items are listed in the shop.

At midnight Friday night (October 2), I will collect all of the entries from all three locations and put them in the hat.  We'll draw a winner and make contact to get a mailing address.  I'll also post the winner here and on Facebook.

Thanks for joining me as I embark on this new adventure!  I am a treasure-hunter to the core and am so excited to have a venue to share my finds.  Yay for vintage, yay for Etsy!