minnehaha~haha

so.... late last night~ after a fun evening dining & gabbing with girl friends outside sea salt restaurant at minnehaha falls, we said goodbye, hugged tightly and started to our cars. then someone decided to walk over and look down at the falls. then we decided to take a picture of the 4 of us that were still there. then that one picture turned into a full blown post-senior picture session. we ALL thought it was a particularly good hair night for each of us- and i concluded that we look SO MUCH better in the dark that that is the only way i will ever have my picture taken again. amen.

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we thought it was a wrap and then someone-(i think it was the funster

on the right) suggested we go take pictures on the rickshaws for rent. : )

by the time we wrapped up the fun we practically needed to eat again.

p.s. the wait for food at sea salt was so long that cheri

practically gnawed her own arm off. if you head there to eat i

suggest you bring appetizers in your purse~

thanks for bringing your real life ballerina along cheri-so fun to see her-home from the new york city ballet company!

hello beautiful lexi!

keep it sunny today~

xo, beth

tumbled glass...

i have so many fun pictures from my weekend on the north shore that i can't wait to share more but for now...here is a shot of my beach glass. my friends and i cannot WAIT to set our arses in the sand and start digging when we get up to lake superior. it's always a contest to see who can find the most beach glass. we sit for hours with our heads down, digging and squeeling with delight when we unearth a particularly fabulous piece. heart shaped rocks also call to me.  i also like unusual rocks. and driftwood. and smooth rocks. oh and agates.

and did i mention piano keys from the titanic?

for now tho- it's back to reality. i must get ready for work and that really cuts into my

bogging time ladies- anybody else ready to retire? 

xo, beth

if you're going to the fair...

BE CAREFUL! I just heard on the Today show that children are getting the swine flu- and a lot of it is being contracted at local fairs- children and swine- could be t-r-o-u-b-l-e. i for one will avoid all pigs this weekend.   "sooooooooooooey"

            *poor little fella on the right- he obviously did not win a gold medal.

in a small town (pop. 23) near our cabin, there are pig races every fri. and sat. night. admission is $3. we haven't yet driven over for them- but it will happen!!! we drove by the arena last fri. and that little town was on fire!!!!! there were cars parked as far as the eye could see. i asked the nice little girl at the gas station- who attends these events?  she quickly replied- "people from allllll over the united states come". well in that case-  girlfriend needs to get there don't you think? 

these pigs are trained!!!!  these are not just any litter mates let loose on the tracks. they are "trained". serious small town fun dear readers-  i can't wait!

i hope you have some fun weekend plans- the weather will be pritnear perfect in mn. i hear and i am headed north. for the first time in many years i will miss the carver county fair, but combing the shores of lake superior for heart shaped rocks and beach glass is going to make it worth it!

xo, beth

my RX for happiness? candy helps.

a road trip to the north shore with my friend maggie? yep that cures everything.

she and i have so much fun together doing dumb, harmless stuff that it's a wonder it's not illegal. here are some examples~

                                                                      oink

                                                      dollar store masks

                                      girlfriend is tall... my face lined up smack dab in the
                             center of this cutout...(she was getting sick- don't be mad at
                               me for posting this red eyed picture k. maggie?)

              here we had stopped at the little church she got married in, on the north shore.

                being the goofball that she can be, she got out in the parking lot and was

                  shooting some "air" balls. the pastor's wife saw us and yelled out the

             window~ HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   we booked it to the car and took off!   :  )

she and i are headed up north for the weekend, all my bags are packed and i'm off to buy snacks----  we will drive fast, sing loud, eat junk, stay up late, laugh at each others jokes and comb the shores of lake superior for beach glass ~  i will come home all sleep deprived, crazy haired and happy. does it get any better than that? bye bye now- i'm off to join the circus.

                                                             xo, beth

have i mentioned i like a good yard sale?

well, have your sale in a barn and i am over the moon excited. aren't old buildings just the greatest? the history, the charm (forget about the potential mice girls- be brave)... oh the stories they could tell~ it all comes together to just fill my "happy cup" to overflowing. here's more evidence of my summer fun.

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the gal having this sale told me some of the history of her farm. this house was built in the 1800's! for real~ this sale wasn't about the "stuff". i only drove away with some garden tools and a hunk of linen- but it was such a treat to walk around and marvel at the beauty - it was a summer favorite. 

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 i  also want to tell you about cottagewood general store. it too has stood it's ground since the 1800's. it has always been a general store- (altho at times it has been closed). presently the homeowners that are blessed enough to live in the community called cottagewood, on lake minnetonka, have purchased stock in- and own this remarkable old building. they take turns working there- like a coop and have grill outs every fri. night, parades in the summer, local meetings are held there and you can run a tab there. young readers maybe don't even know what that means! in small towns across america-long before credit cards had even been thought of, you could just go in general stores and local haunts and get what you wanted, and the storeowner would write it all down and trust you to come in and pay later. i know!!! can you imagine that today? well, the cottagewood general store still lets the locals run a tab. i watch the local kids come in for candy and soda when i'm there- and they just put it on their parents tab. NICE!

~hi big gold dog~

i drove over there last week and hung out for awhile- even had a chance to visit with a woman who used to shop in my fabulous store (maybe i should do a couple posts about the store i used to own?) it was so fun...she recognized me and had to go on and on about how much she loved bella pear and how she missed it. : )

and here is what i treated myself to from the store.

(no i did not start a tab. i paid cash.)      :   )

see how the little juice glass says cottagewood? love it!

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make it an orange crush kinda day will ya?

xo, beth

cool ideas and stuff

                                     this would be fun to wake up to huh?

                                                       crazy cool stool~

                     girlfriend needs some raised garden boxes like these

           i've got a cool old shelf/box kind of like this with one old clock in it.
                                 ~  there will be more!  ~ love this!

                   
                  mismatched stools? i dig it~ i've been collecting mismatched
                   chairs for around the table at the cabin. i sit on which ever
                  one looks the most appealing on any given day. :  )

tree trunk path- call paul bunyan - going to need some help with this one

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i'm always saving things i see and want to share on my blog- it gives me a chance to just coast a bit- not have to write much some days- just give you some fun things to look at.

it's friday- or as my friend maggie calls it "fun friday"! i'm staying up past my bedtime every nite to watch more of the olympics- i told the hubs- i think they should stop programming at
about 8 p.m. and give us all a chance to take our showers and get settled back in with a bed snack. we need an intermission!!!!!

let's all agree to get outside a bit more this weekend- i've heard in mn. it's supposed to be a tad cooler. i'll take whatever "tad" mother nature wants to throw our way!!!!

xo, beth

                         

z.o.o.

sunday in the car, i casually mentioned that it'd been years since i'd been to the mn zoo and that id like to go again. just like that my son son said to his son "hey do you want to go to the zoo tomorrow?" well yeah! of course he did, and since eric is still off work after his rotator cuff surgery we set our alarms and headed off on a monday morning!

                                         the 3 musketeers take on the zoo!

one of the coolest things we saw was the dinosaur exhibit. they are huge my friends...like so huge that we watched several small children have breakdowns screaming "i don't like the dinosaurs!!!!" (i think it would have been really scary to be 3 and see all the smaller animals behind bars and then be taken into jurassic park and see these huge animated creatures right out in the open, moving, eyes blinking- emitting guttural noises--- hard to explain the whole concept of what's real and what's not real to those little people).

my grandson was not afraid. nope not seth, he just got on his own dinosaur and battled back.

      it's august- and summer is flying by- just 4 more short weeks and all the kiddies will be back in school. if you have little ones- please let them sleep in, don't over schedule them, play with them....let them be little. they grow up way too fast.

xo, beth