today a little bit of this and a little bit of that. this is just a catch up

with some photos of course, of what i've been up to in the last couple weeks.

lars and i spent a weekend in alexandria in february and on the way to

raddison arrowwood where we stayed we got to pass the farm we lived on

for 8 of the years we were in alex.

this spectacular old barn is on that farm.

i  believe it's well over 100 yrs. old and still looks so good,

so sturdy. ray, our dear old friend who owned the farm when we lived there, milked cows

in it with his dad, but it hasn't been used for anything for at least 50 years now!

*i've said this before, but have to say it again, that i just love these

old barns that dot the minnesota countryside so much and hate to think of the day

when they are all gone.

this is the farmhouse we lived in. 2 of our 3 babies came home from the hospital

to this house and started their lives here in this wonderful place. there is a big porch

that runs along the front of the house and i had a fun little shop in it for several

years. it was the best- i was open if i was home and closed if i wanted to take the

kiddos to the lake which was just a bike ride down the road.

: )

arrowwood is built next to lake darling and there was a little ice fishing village right out

in  front of the hotel. the sunset was beautiful.

we had a little deck and this was the view of another wing of the hotel from it.

pretty moss grows all over the old wooden shakes. can't be good for them, but it is pretty right?

back in chan, the birds have entertained me all winter. cardinals are a particular favorite

-maybe even more so because we don't see them all that often. i usually hear them

before i see them, so it tips me off to grab the camera and walk sneakily towards

the patio doors.

it's a different story with the squirrels tho- they are ever present and theo has been his

usual busy/mischievous self all winter- bullying all grey squirrels, or birds that

dare to get close to him.

pretty sure he was doing his morning yoga here.

I've been sewing a bit since christmas and had to show you this adorable

camper fabric- i just hemmed a little square for my kitchen table.

have you tried these yet? I've bought the chocolate croissants but

this is my first foray into the almond ones... tomorrow morning i

pretty much know my belly is going to be happy. so happy.

#thankyoutraderjoes

speaking of my kitchen table...a couple weeks ago i was

sitting eating oatmeal and (of course) looking at instagram on my phone and

it hit me that i'm very drawn to white.

white sheets, white cupboards, white tables and counters...

well in a flash i decided to paint the top of this 23 yr. old

pub table.

i ran to the basement to see if i had enough annie sloan paint in

"old white" to do it, but i didn't. there isn't a store real close that sells

it either so i decided to go to our local hardware store because i had seen

a different type of chalk paint available there.

if you've never tried chalkpaint and you want to- just do it! it's the easiest paint ever. it goes on

practically any surface with no more prep that just a quick wash or dustinig.

ace hardware didn't sell a color that i liked as well as "old white" but i bought the

closest color they had in the amy howard brand and got going.

it took 3 coats to cover, and this photo is when it was still wet. it dries to a matte finish and then

you wax to seal it. i must tell you that i wouldn't recommend this brand over annie sloans

and the color was whiter than i wanted so i used the end of a can of annie's old white

and that made it a creamier white like i wanted. refer back to the photo above

with the camper fabric to see it finished. i like it now. i like how everything i set on

the table pops!

now switching it up again, here are a few photos from a really swell wedding reception i attended

at the minikada golf club last Saturday.

my friend Jessica got married in antigua Guatemala last new years eve, and they had

a reception here for all of their friends and family that weren't able to go.

jess is half guatemalan and was born there, so they embraced that

part of her heritage for their festivities.

unfortunately i didn't get a good picture of the bride and groom (these are just

phone snaps) but i love this photo of my friend annie who is the mother of the bride,

bringing bloody marys to our table.

(she's a funster, this one). : )))

another way i'm bring white into the house is with these new curtains.

i credit chip and joanna gaines from fixer upper for my

new obsession with white, light filled rooms and decided to take down my

heavier curtains for the spring and summer and put up lighter ones that

let the sun stream in.

(these are from homegoods. love the little tassels).

my valentines flowers lasted over 2 weeks~

lavender on the piano

i picked up this cute vintage chick at an occasional sale. she was missing one leg and her beak.

i knew i could remedy that, so i glued on a sunflower seed for a beak and she's now balancing on

her one leg in a little ceramic egg full of sunflower seeds!

to end this random post, i hosted our book club this week and the local library had

free bookmarks that needed to be colored, so i picked up a stack and offered them

to the girls to color while we worked on solving the worlds problems.

it was fun to see them when they were done.

I've kept you long enough now but oh my, what have you been up to?

i just have to say that i am so ready for spring. this maybe feels like the

longest winter of my life...i find myself restless, wondering what i should be doing

that's meaningful to fill up my days, (should i get a part time job? where can i volunteer?

what can i paint white? should i write a book, take in a foster child, start another business?  haha)- seriously though, a

good friend had to remind me yesterday that i am a photographer, in my off season, and

to just breathe- it's going to be ok!!!!
in the late summer and fall i'm so busy with my business i can hardly breathe, but this time of
year the days kind of drag on...yep-finding the balance is hard.

and---soon the ground will thaw and i'll be outside digging in the dirt and

it's all going to feel right again. (i even rented a little plot of land at the community

gardens in town so i'll have more room to grow flowers for cutting!) yeah!!!

be well,

beth