Etcetera- Delaware and beyond

Well......after 1,373 "ish" driving miles, a funeral, and a birthday ....here I am. Back at it.

I am so thankful that my whole family was able to travel to my uncle's funeral, and am even more thankful for the sweet time that was spent with extended family while we were there. I am overwhelmed with the sweetness and the comfort of just being surrounded by family.... those you love and are loved by.....just as you are...no questions asked.

It is good to be home...but I will treasure the renewed relationships, and the memories that were made.

Have a wonderful weekend!

xo,

Barb

Etcetera

Can you all even believe the lush, colorful beauty of my mountains?! I had to post a few more photos from our trip to the mountains last weekend for a couple reasons:1. The color and beauty just get my juices flowin'2. this weekend will be the polar opposite of complete relaxation in the mountains! hah!For starters, I get the keys to my new studio today, and that will begin the moving madness {yipee!}.... my cousin is getting married on Saturday, family is in town for the wedding, and my guest bathroom is being demolished and gutted as we speak! Woot!I am so very excited about the bathroom redo...it has been a long time coming, and I have lived with a huge hole in the hallway for about 6 months due to a leak that brought on this redo! The bathroom is going from seventies avocado green everything......to white subway tiles with gray grout, recycled wood, and penny tile goodness. I will be sure to photograph along the way and show it off when it is complete.I hope you all have a great weekend!xo,Barb

Found Goodness

While the hubs and I were away this past weekend, we wandered into a little town up in the mountains of NC called Brevard. There are a few little shops I love to browse in, our favorite place to eat, painted alleys, a great chocolate shop, and charm just oozes from the streets as you walk on them.As I was browsing in one of my favorite consignment shops.....I spotted this beautiful picnic enamelware set from France. I picked up the box, which just happened to be painted in one of my very favorite shades of green, and started looking for a price. My eyes spied a little brown tag, and I could not believe what my eyes were telling me.......20.00 for the entire set of stainless steel, made in France, white and gold picnic ware! I looked at my husband with the " I think I want to buy these and use them every day at the house" eyes and we were on our way to the register to make the purchase.When we got to the register to check out, I double checked about the price just to be sure I was not seeing things.....and I do believe the sweet lady at the register wished she had spotted them first! I am just so happy with this purchase and can't wait to put them to use!What are you all finding lately? xo,Barb

FYI

As you can see, our weekend away was so beautiful and fantastic! This little getaway was so needed.....a time to curl up on the couch for a few hours and read, a time to hike in the quiet of the woods, a time to lay on the rocks next to the falls and let the words come that may, a time to eat super delicious food, a time to connect and recharge, and a time to appreciate the many blessings and things so often taken for granted.

xo,

Barb

Etcetera

I wanted to share just a few photographs from our lake vacation this past week. It was four days of complete relaxation {minus my phone being gobbled up by the lake...but once I buried my head in my husbands chest, cried about the stupidity of it all, and got mad at myself for being careless, I was over it} and we had the most fun we have had in a while. The weather was so beautiful..... it was mid 60's to low 80's the entire time and very low humidity, which is a dream for this time of year here in the south!You know how you have those awesome trips where everyone gets along great, weather is perfect, the food is delicious, and the friendships and memories just nurture your soul? Well, that was this trip. We jet skied, went for many boat rides, tubed, wake boarded, kayaked, and water skied. You name it, we did it....and we did it until the last bit of sunshine peeked below the horizon.I tried something new on this trip! I was challenged by my friend "J" to try wake boarding and I literally had butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it! Every muscle in my body hurt from my very first wake boarding experience...but it was so worth every muscle pain. I was so afraid to try, and almost defeated myself before ever trying because I knew it was going to be tough. I have never snow boarded before because I don't like the thought of both feet being strapped down, so the thought of not only having both feet strapped to a board but then also being yanked up by a boat just had me questioning my sanity. I lived to tell about it, and I got up not once, not twice, but THREE times! It was so great to conquer that little nagging " you can't do this" voice in my head.....and to hear my friends and family cheering me on from the boat ahead. My husband and my son also got up on the wake board for their first time as well! Woot!One of my favorite things has to be the tubing though......that moment of sheer panic when you hit the "vortex wave of death" {created by crazy boat driving friend!} and go airborne.....yeah, it's pretty dang amazing! It was such good times. I am so thankful for the beauty of these memories that were just written across my heart forever.Have a great weekend you guys!xo,Barb

Introductions

We had a wonderful weekend with family, celebrating the 6th birthday of our very spunky little niece! We laughed till we cried playing games, ate birthday cake until we were sick, {that cake looked amazing....and it tasted even better!}, enjoyed the flea market, and as always were surrounded by color, color, color! My sister in law is so very creative in all that she does....it was inspiring to see the labor of her hands.

so good. 

xo,

Barb

Etcetera

Well you all....I must start off with a confession: I WAS A TOTAL SLACKER THIS WEEK!  I had every intention of finishing some furniture for a post on Monday, but would you believe that I played hookie from the studio all week?! I can't remember the last time that has happened......but with the big deadlines behind me, and the constant push for the last few months....this week was a perfect week for me to take a break......and I totally did! 

I really enjoyed my author photo shoot, and spent some time preparing for that......but the rest of my time this week was spent at home doing laundry, making smores beside my new fire pit, my son's first soccer games, my daughter's basketball games, coffee and lunch with friends and packing for our trip today to see my brother and his family in NC. It was a great , great week......and I will be ready to be back in the studio next week! I am not making any promises.....but I will try to have some furniture goodness ready to go at some point next week!

 I am really looking forward to hopping in the car with my parents, hubs and kids today and heading to spend the weekend with sweet family. It will be so good....and my sister in law who is an amazing artist, crazy thrifter, and all around creative soul.....has already told me of her plans for us.....and it is going to be so fun!

{p.s. the above photos are more sneekie peekies from the book photo shoots! I know you love me.....}

Have a great weekend friends!

xo,

Barb

Grateful

image via pinterest

I will be, and I will be grateful for this week, this month, this year, this life, this abundance of goodness, this everything....the good, the bad, the broken, the ugly......because all of it shapes and molds, and brings forth transformation.

....

It has been a very busy past couple of weeks here at Knack, and this week, I will be heading out of town with my family to celebrate Thanksgiving. I want to take this week to completely unplug, reflect, laugh, love, pack suitcases, eat derby pie, shove some mashed potatoes down JB's shirt, have impromptu dance parties in the car, watch Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, hit the JCrew clearance store, wear fuzzy socks, and take a million pictures. 

I hope you all do a lot of the same, and I will be back next week!

xo,

Barb