i'm not sure if you've noticed, but it's mid august.

if you're a young mom you're probably thinking about

all the clothes, shoes and new boxes of color crayons

you need to buy.

well that ship sailed a long time ago for me.

: ) 

and i'm not sad about it.

fall is my favorite season of the year, but

this has been an amazing summer don't you think?

i of course have been taking pictures of some of

my favorite blooming flowers. every couple days i 

pick new bouquets and love how there's a never ending variety

of plants blooming so the bouquets are always changing.

there's nothing as great as my own garden bouquets, 

(that is, until spring when the ranunculous burst onto the

scene again).

yard sales are a favorite part of summer for me too and i'm going to 

show you a few favorite things i've found this year.

the chair below was $4 and it was bright blue when i bought it.

i loved the blue...

for about a day and then i scurried to ace hdw. and bought a can

of green spray paint and changed it up. it has sat by

the front door all summer

pretty bright colored zinnias are blurred out behind yellow cosmos

 about to burst into bloom.

i moved my vintage schwinn into the garden while lars mowed and

then decided it could stay right there for awhile.

i'm a bit obsessed with poppies.

 the sad thing is i never have much luck growing them,

so when 3 pink ones bloomed a couple weeks ago i practically

set up a tent and camped out near them for the 2 days they lasted.

this green rocker was a yard sale find~

i spotted this one tall sunflower blooming by a front door last week. luckily i

had grabbed my camera on the way out.

i wonder if the owners planted it. it's so random and fabulous don't you think?

wait a minute!!!! vintage furniture sale you say? why yes i will turn around...

and although there were tons of wonderful goods there, this little table with

a wicker drawer was the one thing that came home with me.

(only $15) doesn't it look like it belongs by my wicker chair? i've come to the

conclusion that cottage style is "my style" & if i can't live in a cottage i

will cottage up my casa in small ways that make me happy.

and this pillow was from another sale for $1. i know~a buck! i think its down filled too.

i sit in this cozy corner of the garage to unwind at the end of the day.

(a glass of wine is usually involved).

and this typewriter was a real steal... i'm not going to say how 

much though, cause it's going to a friend.

while dusting recently i decided it was long past time to switch up

what was on top of the piano. i took down a sign that said "family"

and used the same nails to tie a really beautiful bleached antler to the wall.

i bought it for adria's wedding and now it's part of my decor.

win-win.

some of my old dogs and an old meyers lemon box are part

of the new look.

this morning while my coffee was brewing there were

goldfinches happily munching away on my fading purple coneflowers.

 i picked some of the fresher ones yesterday and put them in a basket on the front door.
 it's easy to put fresh flowers in a basket like this, by just putting a ziplock bag full of water down in it.

speaking of yard sales, i'm loading up the jeep and heading to 

northfield to be part of one this weekend. 

i've dug deep into my stash of stuff and am happily parting

with some of it.

northfield is such a wonderful town~ if you've

never been there- put it on your list of

towns to visit in MN.

~later guys, have a super week!

xo, beth