Wise Woman...

I wish you a beautiful weekend!

Making up costumes...

My cool mom and dad (the two on the right) looking snazzy in their costumes. So cute, they really did put in a good effort this year. No grumpy scrooges this year for Halloween! So Daniel and I were invited to a costume party on Halloween this year, and D was pretty excited to dress up but I really wasnt feeling it after the move. I just wanted to sleep for days...well, I wanted to go see everyone but I wanted to skip the costume party...unless mine could be my pajamas. :) D wouldnt have it, and neither would my mom. I had absolutely no creative energy....scratch that, energy left at all so I was lucky when my sister decided that she needed help designing her mermaid costume and we were going to do that at JoAnns.

She was hoping to be more of a of grunge-type, barnacle encrusted, natural sort of mermaid. It was actually fun!

We found a really great green stretchy velour (?) type fabric that we could wrap around her waist and cut into strips to tie at the side - looking like seaweed! Super easy too! Then we took two different sheer, tulle-type fabrics in taupe and brown colours and layered and tied them over a tank top to make her upper body and fins in the back.

The colors were less sparkly than the turquoise bright ones that Ariel or other disney mermaids wear but they ended up being really beautiful together...kind of the opposite of what she expected. We found little gold/pearlescent shell-looking chips and decided to use elmers glue to put them all over her body and face to look like barnacles. It was such a neat idea and really fun. And those turned out to be the most noticed and appreciated part of the costume on Halloween. A little bit of hot glue, an old ring, a few saftey pins and some sea shells and we were done! Super cute idea for anyone wanting a homemade, cheap, creative costume!

The best part was that after she wore it on the 30th she was kind enough to let her lazy sister wear it for our Halloween party!

While Kendra and I were at looking at fabrics at JoAnn's D was running around looking for idea for his own costume. He would pop up enthusiastically, show us an idea and dart off again to find more goodies. He was really cute and I was, again, impressed with his creativity. His Batman costume was born from a childsize Batman mask he found at JoAnns. He also decided to buy this really great shiny black material to make the rest of the face mask and his cape...he sewed it all himself too. Check out how creative he was with his underarmour underwear and tshirt, a belt, his bike pants, and (the best part) his little black work shoes. :) So cute! He had so much fun. And everyone wanted a picture with Batman :) Superheros are always a great way to go. Everyone loves them!

My first walk in our new neighborhood...

The first Saturday we were in our apartment I decided to take a walk through the mall to see what kind of businesses and people were in the area. I am really suprised by the treasures I am finding around this city. There seem to be a lot of unique, creative people with good ideas who are sharing a lot with the community. I found an organic co-op about 7 minutes away (by foot!!! so exciting to be able to walk places!) and I bought Daniel and I some Kombucha to balance out our stressed and pressed little bodies. It was delicious and fun to be able to suprise him with that. :)

I also found a cute vintage shop with lots of jewelry called Vintique and took an hour or so to talk with the owner and play with the jewelry. So many really cool pieces. I found these earings and I knew we were meant to be together as soon as I saw them! Ha, ok, so seriously, I never buy gold. I used to love it when I was younger...when I had these gold skinny hoops that I wore everywhere. So when I loved these, I thought, doesnt happen very often! Unfortunately the really nice consignment shop down the way from me was closing but I did get a great deal from it. I found this winter white sweater and bronze purse... and they were 75% off!

The Place We Call Home...

"Lincoln Park" as Daniel calls it. It's really Bronson Park but Lincoln spoke here 4 years before he became president. How amazing to imagine him giving a talk here in the park. History is so romantic! Do you ever feel enchanted by such things? The holidays are starting here! Last week all the flags were changed and the trees were decorated with lights...those really great LED ones...so sparkly and pretty!
Walking mall and Kalamzoo Valley Museum, all right out our door!

Thats me in our window!

Hugging a sweet LuLu B :)

My super orange kitchen. Its interesting that we picked this place considering I feel orange is really best left to pumpkins and squash.

The free-standing "closet" my sweet and handy husband built for me...since we only have ONE tiny working closet.

These are photos from the day or two after moving in...not much decorating had been accomplished yet. Those fine little touches that I love to spend time on hadnt happened yet. But it was a great start!