Bits of summer...

breakfast muffins made with farmer's market blueberries...

just one of the reasons summer is good.

ying and yang

fourth festivities

This is where I spent my fourth of July.

Sometimes holidays defeat the purpose of having time off... relaxation usually doesn't occur. But, I must say, it was hard not to unwind at a friend's lake for the holiday. Located on 88 acres, there wasn't another house to be seen. We were surrounded by beautiful nature, great family and friends, tasty food, and awesome fireworks. I hope everyone had as good of holiday as I did.

a collection of finds...

I like change. I like changing my hair color and style almost on a monthly basis. I like changing every room's furniture arrangement. And I've been changing our kitchen around lately.

It's gone from completely red to completely yellow in a year's time. I was, at first, going for a Mexican theme... lots of bright colors and such. Then, I realized to make our kitchen truly authentic, we'd have to do so much more than change the color and throw up a few decorations. So, I'm trying to go with more of a gut feeling this time. We're keeping the yellow (it's my favorite color and makes me feel happy when everything is so bright in the morning). But, I think I'm going to try to make things a bit more "country chic" with a few antiques thrown in for fun. Alton is king when it comes to antiques, so I might as well partake. So, the above picture is what I have thus far. Note: the picture frames need pictures, but I might do some fun embroidery to go in at least one of them. Also, the round dish at the top is one dish from my grandmother's china set. It's pretty ugly... yellow flowers with green leaves, but in my kitchen, it seems to find it's place quite well. A nice surprise.

prolonged life...

During our newest landscaping project, we transplanted some flowers. Sometimes being gentle on the root system isn't Randy's forte, but we gained some pretty foliage inside.

First Experience

So, I know I haven't written much about my new, more natural lifestyle. No worries... while I have been tardy in writing updates, I really have been experiencing a new, organic way of being. Last weekend, as a part of our wedding anniversary weekend of "us time," Randy and I went to our first farmer's market. It was such a great experience! We talked with people, petted a few dogs, bought some great food, and overall enjoyed our time being organic together. I think more farmer's markets are in the future plans. In addition to the farmer's market, I decided to bite the bullet and buy (expensive) cage-free chicken eggs. And I felt very good doing it. And their brown... which makes the experience that much cooler. SO, enough of my babbling... here's the proof.

The goods: shallots, baby potatoes, fresh wheat bread,

and lettuce. All organic. Yum. (Not shown: awesome

home-grown sugar snap peas. The best thing ever.)

It's Official

Just made reservations for a little August getaway.

Really cute. Close to historic Cedarburg, WI. Will really need the break by then.

Learning

Over the past month, I've slowly been making a shift to becoming more green, more organic, more natural, in general. With a little inspiration from my sis and some library books, I've come to realize the importance of living a (naturally) healthy lifestyle. While I fully admit that I'm a victim of convenience foods and quick-fixes, I also understand the reality of the health problems that plague our nation.



So, don't be surprised if my blog begins to seem a bit focused on my task-at-hand (and oh, what a task it will be!). And please forgive me, if I lement about foods that I will so dearly miss (good-bye Dairy Queen's Tin Roof Blizzard). I am only human :)