catching up: part two

in may our life got all kinds of complicated, hectic and sad, but there was of course some goodness in there too.

 

summer started flirting with us a little, giving the squirrels and i whole entire days to spend outside soaking up some much needed vitamin d & hanging our clothes out to dry. i was also treated to breakfast in bed on mother's day, had a few extra fun hangouts with some of my favorite ladies and went to salt & straw at least five times which honestly isn't enough, it's so delicious!! oh, and we got to eat all those avocados that we brought home in april

 

jake's family very suddenly & unexpectedly moved back from eugene, oregon to the farm where we have been living since last september. the sudden & unexpectedness of this big change made it physically and emotionally exhausting for all of us, so much so that in a fit of exhaution i dropped a cabinet on my face and split my upper lip wide open. it was bloody & painful & gross. once we all got settled and rested we were able to start enjoying living close to each other again. we like being able to see them whenever we want. right now we are living very close, all at the farm, but soon we will be moving back to portland.

 

you might want to stop reading here if you're tender hearted... the end of the month was a tremendously sad one for our little family. our boy kitty, milo, who was our babe for six years, one month and fifteen days was hit by a car on the road in front of our house. losing a pet was much harder than we could have imagined it would be and i find myself still looking for him or calling after him all the time. i miss all the silly things he used to do like walking over to me and laying all over any and everything i was trying to work on or batting his food out of the dish and eating each piece one at a time off of the kitchen floor or twisting himself into the strangest positions when he'd sleep or sleeping in bureau  drawers. i miss him a whole bunch.

that's all for now, stay tuned for part 3.

catching up, a series: part one

ohey, it's been a while. shall we pick up where we left off? let's! in april the littlest squirrel turned into a seven year old and i turned into a thirty year old. we celebrated with decorations made from pendleton wool scraps, silly birthday cards, breakfast at the waffle window, a beehive birthday cake (requested by the littlest squirrel and made by me) and our first ever visit to disneyland! while we were in california we stayed with jake's grandparents who have the loveliest home and about a trillion avocado, orange, lemon, grapefruit and pomegranate trees. we brought thirty-five pounds of avocados home in our suitcase, it was awesome.

 

 

 

 

 

april was good to us. stay tuned for part 2 of catching up!

a happy easter was had.

last thursday we dyed eggs. this is always a lot of fun at our house because we use natural dyes and making the colors is just as fun as coloring the eggs. we feel a little bit like mad scientists cooking up all of our gathered plants/fruits/vegetables and watching them change colors before our eyes. this year we used yellow onion skins for orange, beets for a dark pinkish-red, purple cabbage for blue, dandelion & spinach for green and a random gathering of flowers and plants from around the back pasture that ended up turning a pale pink. we used an assortment of brown, green and pink eggs from our hens and they all turned out so pretty!

this year our easter baskets were jars rather than baskets, vintage anchor hocking storage jars. every year we choose a different basket, always one that is useful outside of being an easter basket, something we need that is also good for holding treats. last year we used kid-sized farmers market baskets, they were the cutest! the year before that they were small-ish toy/treasure storage boxes... you get the idea :) i think the jars worked beautifully, and they will make a fine addition to our collection of glass storage containers in the kitchen.

the squirrels are big fans of sweet treats. we don't buy candy very often, but easter is a good excuse to indulge... though we like our food as natural/organic/local/fresh as possible, even when it comes to sweet treats. this year we found all natural, locally hand-made peeps. the squirrels were very excited to see & eat them! their baskets were filled with homemade paper grass, natural solid chocolate bunny, peanut butter filled chocolate eggs, lollipops, and a single-serving packet of justin's chocolate peanut butter. oh, and most special of all a squirrel-sized sterling silver/fresh-water pearl ring. the rings look so sweet on their tiny fingers, they were a big hit!

we also had an early morning egg hunt, this has been a family tradition my whole life. when i was little my grandparents would hide tons of plastic eggs, some filled with small candy and some with money!! we do it the same now, but this year traded the plastic eggs for hand-made paper eggs. i sewed these up, stuffed them with goodies & tied them closed with a little twine bow. they worked perfectly and we will certainly be re-using them next year!

it was a wonderful day, happy spring!!

:: by the way, you've probably noticed that a lot of the photos i post here are instagram photos. i love instagram, a whole bunch. you can find me there if you'd like: @zephyrsarah ::

a whole bunch of goodness.

the sweet, simple, lyrics. the melody. the stomping. the mandolin, i'm a sucker for the mandolin. the flickering lights, suspenders and confetti. these are all things that put a smile on my kisser and i can't get enough of this song/video. check out the lumineers if you haven't already, i think you'll be glad that you did. you can download their EP, tracks from the attic, for free!

wishlisting // birthday edition

one // two // three // four // five // six // seven // eight // nine

ohey, it's my birthday month and i get almost the whole thing to plan/celebrate. it's not til the twenty-ninth that i stop being twenty-nine and start being twenty-ten. i'm feeling pretty good about this upcoming change of age. many-a-people i think quite highly of turned/are turning thirty this year, plus i keep hearing all over the place that your thirties are way better your twenties. so i'm not stressing or panicking or doing anything drastic, but i do plan on celebrating as much as possible!