feb. 29th, 2012.

life can be good, life can be unpredictable, it can be long, hilarious, challenging and beautiful. 

life can be scary, miraculous, disappointing or eye opening, life can be be serious and silly.

life can be brief, it can also be a roller coaster. it can be amazing, like a gift. life can be sad, fragile, sweet, confusing, maddening, exhausting or fulfilling. life can be terrifying, lovely, delicious.

                         life can be.

      but good or bad, happy or sad, we only, each one of us
get ONE chance at this thing called life. even with all it's ups and downs, i hope that we are conscious of how very lucky we are to be living this life together. on the same planet, at the same time.
   I am glad to know you.

today is february 29th. they threw in an extra day for us. an extra day of life. let's not waste it okay? today's a bonus day. hallelujah! head out and make it a GREAT one.

               xo, beth

i c e

here's the scene outside my window tonight. it started with snow, then turned to rain and now?

now we have freezing temps and all the that wet stuff is freezing on everything.

i was outside taking pictures in my big sweetie's bathrobe (cause mine's in the washer) and dress shoes.

*if my neighbors pay any attention to me at all they must surely think i'm a little loco*

-but...

wanna see more?

ok!

do birds have tongues? if they do i hope none of them stick their itty bitty ones on the flagpole tomorrow

cause they're going to stick. just say'n.

have you ever seen this happen to a person-and not just in the movies?

i have. it was in elementary school~ it was my neighbor boy. he is very, very smart-like genius iq-

but you wouldn't have known it that day.

 if you have to park your car outside~sorry bout

the extra 20 minutes it's going to take to scrape your

windows- pretty sure i'll be out slip-slidin away

taking more ice pictures come sun up.

now my memory card and i are headed to bed.

we got the thrilling news last night that we

are going to be the proud new owners of

a hunting property "up north".

i was so excited i didn't sleep too well-and today? well i was

sooo excited about the 12 inches of snow we were supposed

to be getting. i'm feeling a little cheated-but get this~~~

as i was watching the news just now i heard

that the school district our CABIN is in is

closed tomorrow

due to the major snowfall.

yep- you heard that right

girlfriend is going to be decorating a cabin.

lots more details to come~ :  )

it's not a typical place- it's going to be interesting/challenging to say

the least-

i am ex-cit-ed about the challenge!

sleep tight

 and don't let the bedbugs bite.

they are not an urban legand friends, my boss was

in vegas last week and some of her friends in the same hotel were attacked by them

in the dark of the night.

xo, beth

aunt opie

my grandmother irene was one of 5 girls. edith, evie, onie, irene and opie. yesterday we celebrated the life of the youngest and last of those hardwick sisters. opie lived to be 95 amazing years old and until the last day of her life she was funny, feisty, had her mind and an opinion to share. opie's daughter judy adopted my 2 little brothers when our mom died, so she was more than just my great aunt, she was my brother's grandma. (confusing-but not really- ).   : )

opie and her husband had 4 girls and she was a farm wife. she was hilariously frugal. some of my favorite funny stories about her are that having been a child of the depression, she saved everything. she'd reuse tinfoil, bags, gift wrap...the normal things that generation was so careful with.

the thing about aunt opie though was that she took it a couple steps further, for instance she would take a hot water bottle to bed with her at night and then in the morning-pour the water out of it and use it to make her oatmeal. yumm-mee---hook me up with some of that heart healthy oatmeal! remember-the girl lived to be a ripe old 95 tho. i don't care if her oatmeal did taste a bit like rubber, it must have still been just as healthy!
one other funny "opie-ism" i have to share, is that she would come in from working outside and go to the bathroom and wash her feet in the toilet bowl. when we teased her about it, she'd say "well that's just cold, clean water in there". she was only about 5 feet tall and i don't think she could get her foot up in the sink to wash them quick like i've been known to do.

i asked my brother what some of his favorite memories of opie were, and he said, when they'd stay overnight he remembers waking up to the smell of delicious breakfasts and that she was such a good cook. another favorite was that his grandpa took him out hunting and he shot his first goose there. i guess opie hand plucked that goose, (which is very hard to do) and then cooked it for him.

 opie was outspoken and she outlived 2 husbands. she was legally blind for many years but she'd get around town on a scooter chair. she'd type long, long letters to people and mail them. they'd be full of stories of neighbors of hers that none of us knew, but she would go on and on about the details of a meal she'd had with them listing each food served, and she was always listing how much things cost. she had a particular thing about toilet paper and when my grama was still alive, she'd bring her some as a hostess gift!! she felt sorry for my gram, who had a really big family-cause she always said she just couldn't IMAGINE having to buy that much toilet paper! how funny is that?

i guess opie planned her own funeral for a long time. several of her great grandchildren were part of her service. the front of the church was lined with pink flowers, her favorite color. the pews were full and i was very touched when i happened to notice that a whole row of little white haired ladies, most likely friends from this small town, were weeping softly and wiping their eyes after her grandson sang.

i cry easily, but i did not even get choked up at this service. the only emotion i felt yesterday in that beautiful little church was a sense of a life well lived. when you die peacefully in your own bed at 95 years of age, that's a good life.

                                     xo, beth

fly away home

i had a parakeet when i was young. i named her paulette. how original. i liked her in theory, but i was actually terrified of her. every time i had to stick my hand in her cage to put in food, give her water or comb her, she'd peck me like crazy. i'd jerk my hand out, consequently spilling the water all over and i'd have to repeat steps one and two.

my gram used to let her out of her cage once in a while-DO NOT ASK ME WHY- i really have no idea. she'd fly around sporadically and if she got anywhere near me i'd run hide in the bathroom. have you seen alfred hitchcocks THE BIRDS?

maybe it was training for the house i would later live in with BATS!

i've never been much of a pet person. sometime i'll tell you about the baby kitties my sister and i got from the neighbors.

i have a picture of me and my sis with baby bunnies we got for Easter once,

i have no idea what ever became of them.

oh my gosh i just remembered i had a pet turtle too!

i named her myrtle.   again, how original.

i wasn't quite as scared of it, i could out run it- even on

a bad day.

a goldfish. now that's a good pet.

p.s. i was kidding when i said i combed paulette. : )

xo, beth

can we talk about hair?

i've been stocking up.

 stocking up on pictures of good hair.

i don't know about you, but i suffer

from good hair envy.
every day presents a new challenge when it comes to my hair!
if my hair looks good (and this doesn't happen very often friends),
it just seems like the birds are
singin a little louder.

it's time to share the love tho,

so here goes~~~ check out these beautiful heads of hair~

do you think her hair looks like this for

10 minutes, or allllll day long?

maybe it's not so much the hair, but the fact that these

girls are just plain gor-geouso?

*stinkin cute!

this is "wedding hair" cute!

oh my gosh, i just noticed a pattern here~

now tell me-- do blonds REALLY have more fun?

i don't think it's true.

who started that rumor and what's that all about! (and why did
demi moore name her daughter rumor?)

us brunette girls- or should i say "before the gray

snuck up and bit us in the butt" brunette girls,

would like the world to know

 that

WE can have fun too,

we can have fun, and be fun and embrace fun.

we can invent fun if we have to.

that's right,we won't chase fun

we'll invent it!

here's a little vintage dustin hoffman thrown in just for fun.

dude was rocking the stash and a swim suit small enough to

be called underwear...HELLO dustin-you're on a boat in nothing but

your underwear. your curly dark hair looks good tho. (after all it was the 70's.)

not sure if that's a guitar pick in his mouth or a shark's tooth.

it looks like he would be fun to hang out with tho right?

and how flippin funny is this?

i suppose us girls need to be more sympathetic to guys.

we think we've got problems?

they have sooooo much more hair to obsess about.

should they grow a beard? can they grow a beard?

a stash, goatee, chinstrap?

they lose their hair in ways we don't even have to think about.

their ear and nose hair can become braidable.  (lol)

back hair? umm hmmm

oh yeah, back to me and my hair challenges.

i guess when i was about 2, a great aunt of mine looked

at my mom and said, "she'd be a cute kid if any two hairs

went in the same direction".

nuff said~

gotta run, the curling iron is plugged in,

girlfriend's got some work to do

xo, beth

in the back alley

you just never know what you'll find if you veer (what a great, seldom used word) off the beaten path my friends. these pictures were taken in a back alley. what~ you may ask, am i doing in back alleys? well...lookin for a parking place of course and some photo ops along the way. : )



they mean business in this little town. do NOT congregate & i mean it. there will be consequences.
 i am a rule follower. (well for the most part- i have been known to pull up right in front of the library and run in to get a quick book when there are no parking places)-so i didn't cruise and i didn't congregate, i just parked & it can't be considered congregating if you are by yourself right???
*oh this sign was so threatening & confusing, i looked around for gang members and didn't see any.
 i so did not want to be raped, get a ticket or go to jail.

 and then in that same back alley there was this random couch.... it was fabulous too I might add....that sucker would have come home with me if i had had a truck. the sign said nothing about picking up rogue couches. : )



look closely. kitties or squirrels have obviously been having a party on this bad boy. nice.

wanna go exploring with me? road tripping? looking in back alleys?

come on, let's go!
i came out unscathed (another good word)

p.s. have you spelled squirrels lately?  now that's just
a weird word when you think about it. did
i spell it right?

xo, beth



30 ROCKS!

being part of a friend's 30th birthday party yesterday was a blast!!!!

* i can not even remember what 30 felt like friends...well i guess maybe i can a little~i was pregnant, i was big, i didn't feel so good with most of my pregnancies, so i guess that's what 30 felt like to me. that baby born in my 30th year? he's 23 now...you do the math. : ) it seems like another lifetime ago.

to me 30 sounds so young, so fresh, so full of possibilities. your whole life is ahead of you yet rosie....happy birthday sweet girl!

                                                go ahead, eat the cake!

yes, we LOVE your new boots ms. s.



if you get a chance, have your birthday at a vineyard-seriously! the party was supposed
to last 4 hours. 5 hours later we walked out of there, smiling and happy and we
promised each other that it wouldn't be the last time we gathered there to
raise a toast and celebrate the day one of us was born.




ummm, yeah the girls had had a bit of wine now-we were at a vineyard remember?

it was the cutie in the white blouse's birthday too- double the fun!

these  3 girls have been friends for years -sorry karissa, didn't get
one with your eyes open


having friends help you celebrate is one of the
BEST parts of growing older.
(that and the presents) : )

i gave rose a real present but i also had a funny idea. i scooped up 30 rocks from our landscaping
wrapped them real purdy and added a little sign that said just that---30 ROCKS-
she laughed and said "i'm not throwing these, i'm going to put them around a candle."
go ahead, copy me. it was kinda clever don't you think?

xo, beth









 

that's what friends are for~

busy, fun week here in chanhassen. valentines day was great, and  i spent an evening at a friends planning a bridal shower...how did the days get away
from me so fast? now it's friday and we have a busy weekend of plans too!

here are more photos of my fun with the girls last weekend~

"friendship teaches us to care about anothers pain, anothers joy...our friends help us to be
ourselves but they also help us to be more than we knew ourselves to be." stephanie paulsell



maggie, our hostess just got a new puppy -HI BAILEY-how flipping
cute are you?




i fell in love with this vinyette in her newly redecorated bathroom



these to-die-for cups were on the counter, ready for us to use (can you spell anthropology?)







josie k. left for the weekend with her daddy, but i got to take a
few sweet pictures of her first.



do you remember that pink flamingo i snuck in leslie's garden in the fall? well lookie
here, she reappeared all bedazzeled up and ready to party...do you think we had
enough junk food selections?   hahaha



the sisters peruse jewelry in an antique store

she always cracks me up!



we always, and i mean always look forward to sharing new magazines!
the whole time we were eating dinner we each had our heads stuck in a favorite~

artful bloggin magazine-a buffet for the senses!

and i'll leave you with these polka dotted wellies-one of maggie's hostess gifts. these girls know how to have a good time-and i can never WAIT to be a part of it!

part of the fam is heading up north again tomorrow... to the park rapids area this time-to look for hunting land. this is hard work-i find myself obsessively looking at listings, hoping, praying and crossing my fingers that we will be lead to the perfect place to build family memories and hang together in the future!

sunday i am more than excited to be a part of a 30th b-day parTAY for a friend of my daughters. a winery, wine, cheese, presents, fun women and gifts will be part of our afternoon. what could be better?

i hope you have some fun plans too, and if that includes time to do absolutely NOTHING, well then yell "YEEE HAAAA"!  see ya sunday or monday, have a gaaa-rate weekend!

                                          xo, beth

conversation hearts. don'tcha just love em?

i made this stacked collage just for you! even tho i already posted earlier today,

i couldn't let the day pass without sending it your way~

like the picture says,

sweet wishes for a

happy valentines day

thanks for stopping by to see what i had

to share today.

i love you guys for following me! i love blogging and it would

be no fun at all if none of you cared.

if i could i would have brought each of you a decorated sugar cookie today-

seriously!  not even kidding

these are the favors my friend brought us this weekend.
we like to call them bed prizes.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
that's extra hugs and kisses today
beth

love is in the air, and in the fridge...

look at the valentine cake my hubbie made for me. it's heart shaped, pudding filled,

 raspberry whipped cream frosted and delish!

to top it off he plunked a marshmallow peep that says "i heart u" on top. he told me he thought i loved peeps. (i've never even tried one, but how cute is that?) there's still some in the fridge if you want to stop by. 

when he retires from his current job i think he may have a future in the bakery at byerlys don't you?

years ago we lived in alexandria and the local newspaper had a valentines contest.

it was called "the sweetest lips".

we were young and kinda poor so i thought, why not.

a friend who worked for the paper assured me that names

would not be published, so i put on red lipstick

delicately kissed a piece of paper and sent my entry in.

when the paper arrived that week, low and behold---

I HAD WON!

and there, by my lip print was my name, AND address

in case there was any doubt that i'd been

goofy enough to enter.

i knew a lot of people.

i got teased a lot.

but somehow it all felt worth it when

my love and i were sitting at raddison arrowwood enjoying

a night on them!

i hope you get to be with the ones you love today-

or call them, tell them you love them-tell them why,

and then do it again tomorrow.

mu-waaaaa~

xoxoxox

beth



saturday steals~

on friday i promised you a peek at my fabulous finds from the girls weekend i had. here they are in all their glory- if it all seems a bit random-well? it is!! haha

we are looking for hunting land and in my mind i am already decorating a little hunting cabin. just because it's a hunting shack doesn't mean it has to be tasteless does it? well not in this girl's world. if i have anything to say about it- (and i may or may not-after all i am the only "non hunter" of the 6 of us), whether we buy something that already has a building, or we have to build a little somethin somethin... i got a few tidbits to get the ball rolling.

p.s. a few years ago my hubbie and the boys built a deluxe fish house on our driveway... well guess who was in the house making curtains for the windows and assembling a cork board with great pictures of past fishing trips etc. to jazz it up inside? yep- girlfriend can't leave it alone. i guess you can say i like a project- in my own way i am a hunter too---what do you need, i can go looking for it for you!  :   )

the first few pictures are not cabin related...we'll get to them~


had to have these glasses~  5.95



i love old silver pieces, this will make a fabulous vase.  2.50



i'm going to tie a pretty ribbon from the sides of this so it will hang and use it as a vase too~ 2.50

*******************

now let's get to the cabiny stuff k.?



throw made at the faribault woolen mills- seriously?  14.95



green tray will be used for a million different things, a real dealio at 13 bucks.





now this---brand new queen sized  quilt with shams- 34.00. they'll be fightin over this one
for their beds.

and this little vintage picture of a pup was my very favorite find of the day.  i am in love with the little
guys expression. it's actually wrapped up and will be part of my hubbies valentines present.
my hubs loves dogs. loves, loves, loves them. our dog is his best friend.
9 dollars my friends. SCORE!

and as if i wasn't excited enough already about this old dog picture, the man below was sitting in
the gas station i stopped at on my way home. my girlfriend went in to get some pop and she
came out and said "em, (my nickname)-you have GOT to go in there and bring your camera, there is the nicest looking gentleman in a wheelchair in there, holding a little dog, and you're goina just die! ask him if you can take his picture"! well i thought about it for a minute and then did just that...and i think the nice guy
felt kind of honored that we thought he and his little sidekick were so adorable.

little pups name is lu-lu

had a fabulous weekend with the girls, may circle back and show you more of the fun later in the week.
happy monday friends!

xo, beth