where have you been?

// picture taken in a big mirror at resturant while eating out //

Sorry for the lack of posts ya'll. I've taken lots of photos, but Picnik is being strange and that's where I edit all my photos. So no Picnik, no post. But this morning I found Pixlr.com. I was super excited. And they have retro vintage effects too! Do any of you use Pixlr? What do you think of it?

// pretty clouds //

More posts coming soon...

-haley

i thought you should know...

I thought you should know...that I had clementines and almond milk for breakfast. Healthy :D

I thought you should know...that I destroyed the healthiness by having chocolate frosting and graham crackers for a snack. Oops ;) 

(photo credit, little sis)

I thought you should know...that this is what I wore today.

Blue tank: Old Navy

White undershirt: Gap

Cardigan: Old Navy (it's ancient)

Shorts: Aeropostale (please excuse the wrinkles)

Watch: Target (close-up here)

 I thought you should know...that you can't see these in the photo, but I'm wearing them ;)

Shoes: Payless

Earrings: Gift from pen-pal!!!! 

(See her blogs here and here)

(photo credit, little sis)

I thought you should know...that I went down to get the mail this afternoon. The walk was glorious. The breeze was blowing. I'd even dare to say that fall is coming soon.

I thought you should know...that today our "new" chickens started laying today. See those adorable cute little eggs? Those are from them. The bigger ones are from our older chickens.

I thought you should know...that this came in the mail today and I couldn't help but laugh. Pretty words. Cute cat. Together -- no.

I thought you should know...that thanks to my pen-pal's guest post on blogging tips, you now have a new way to contact me :D Under the "contact" section in my accordion menu on the sidebar -- is a button/link to my contact form. Just click on it, type your message, et cetera and then it comes straight to my inbox and the reply will go straight to yours! It's genius.

I thought you should know...that I added more links to the "lovely places" section in the accordion menu also.

Go check 'em out!

I thought you should know...that I still love vintage things.

Happy Thursday!

-haley

eleven.

Eleven. Yep. Little sis isn't so little, I guess. Haha. As promised...pictures of Little sis' real birthday :D First it started out with chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast (ok, if you've never had some...go make some...whip up your regular pancake batter and dump some chocolate chips in...you won't regret it).

We decided it would be best to let Dad get in on the fun of opening presents with us, so we waited for Dad to come home for lunch -- and when he did, he came bearing pizza.

Then it was finally time to open presents. I got her some lip gloss and kids' fake fingernails. Mom and Dad got her office stuff (like receipt books, date stamps, etc.). She loved it all. And what's better than playing office with fake fingernails, shiny lips, and authentic office supplies when you're eleven years old?

She drew everyone a picture for our efforts. That's mine. I'm keeping it forever. Too cute.

For dinner we had Little sis' favorite, manicotti (ok, that is totally spelled wrong, but it's not in Blogger's dictionary apparently?)

Next comes the best part. After dinner Mom made cheesecake and we dug out old home videos and watched Little sis' birth. But, all the tapes weren't labeled -- and I mean we had stacks of these things -- so waded our way through them. 

(I apologize for the terrible picture... photographing the t.v. doesn't work well.) That's Little sis the day she was born. How adorable is that?!

That's my Grandpa helping me figure out how to wind my Kodak disposable camera. Oh, how I love old home videos. Everyone is still the same. You know what? I was two, two years old, people, when Little sis was born. Guess what one of the first things I did was? Pull out my disposable camera and start snapping pictures of her, then I begged for someone to go get my nail polish so I could do "my new little sister's nails". 

Skip ahead 11 more years to this Easter. Thirteen years old nails painted and I traded my disposable camera for a dSLR. Not much has changed ;)

Happy Birthday, Little sis!

-haley

little sis' 11th birthday party.

*Today is Little sis' real birthday, but the day isn't over yet, so more pictures to come of the actual birthday -- for now, pictures of the party.*

This weekend was Little sis' 11th birthday party. I know. Eleven years old. Yikes. Camping was the "theme". Above is the cake that Mom and I made/decorated. The tent is chocolate pop tart with chocolate frosting on top. The tree is a sugar cone upside down with dark green stars piped on it. The fire pit is made out of chocolate rocks and the firewood is a pretzel rod broke in half.

So first off, friends and family came out to our house and after a water balloon fight and going down the water slide we headed down to the fire pit to roast hot dogs.

Then my Grandpa taught Little sis and her friends how to "drown" flies and "bring them back to life" with salt...ewwww.

Then we came inside for cake and ice cream.

When it came time for the classic "hold up how old you are on your fingers behind your cake" picture. We had to settle for one finger on each, because Little sis is officially out of fingers.

Next came present time. Little sis is the best present opener ever. She reads each card aloud and everything -- too cute. Seriously.

Then each girl decorated a pillow case with fabric markers. Way too much fun. They all signed each other's pillow cases -- they even let me sign them -- even though I'm old.

(photo credit, mom)

(photo credit, mom)

At dusk they ate watermelon and swung on the tire swing, then they all huddled inside on the couches and watched Tangled.

Then it was time to roast marshmallows and have smores, so we went down to the "camp site" again. Dad had hung Christmas lights between the trees. It looked like something out of a movie. A picnic table covered in red checkered tablecloth, fire pit made out of stone, fire blazing, citronella tiki torches flickering, and lights twinkling in the semi-darkness -- I would have loved to capture it for ya'll to see...sadly...ok, confession: I'm terrible at taking nighttime pictures. I don't like shooting with flash at all and I can't shoot well with flash. Sorry.

When the weather radar showed storms heading our way...we decided it best not to camp outside -- but inside. So we squeezed the huge tent through our doorway and they all camped out in the dining room. They stayed up til 4 o'clock. I went to bed.

For breakfast in the morning, Dad made the Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls. Yum.

Happy Monday!

-haley

sneak peek.

Sneak peek of what's been going on here...

more photos next post.

While you're waiting,

why not give me your thoughts on the new design?

What do you think about the accordion menu?

(Thanks to Carlotta for helping me out with that)

Happy Saturday!

-haley

grapes.

I promise a more exciting post next time ;)


-haley

sunday evening.

Sundays are my favorite. Sadly, I couldn't go to church this Sunday because I still had a stomach ache and cold, but I'm feeling much better and am on the road to recovery. I mean golden light, a picnic, campfire, smores, and of course a camera...that's enough to make anyone feel better.

Little sis is one of the proud gardeners in our family. That's her with her carrots and water melon freshly picked.

The carrots she fearlessly eats without washing. What's a little dirt gonna hurt?

She also grew a sunflower patch. The bees like the pollen. I like to photograph them.

Tell me Little sis' freckles aren't one of the cutest things ever.

We were coming back from taking pictures of the garden in the evening light and she says, "Haley, look! I'm a true farmer."

Then, we settled into our "fire pit area" for the Sunday dinner.

As we settled in, golden hour, made itself comfortable too.

Who doesn't love some good bolka?

Dad made meatloaf in the dutch oven and cooked it over coals. Yum.

The cats were more than a little curious about it.

Little sis kept the fire going for us.

How was your Sunday?

-haley