Celebrate!

Above is a new party invitation that I created this week.

For more info or to order, visit my etsy shoppe: Paisley Prints Etc.

Have a great weekend!

Rainy Vacay

7 days of vacation. 

2 days of sun. 

bummer.

It's always sad to unpack after summer vacation, but it's especially sad when you can put the large supply of packed tank tops and shorts directly back into your drawers, while it's debatable if you should launder or just burn the one pair of jeans, sweater and socks that you had packed "just in case". All you have to do is look at our photos from throughout the 7 days to see that we were wearing the same thing in all of them. Ha!

Record low temps for the highs. Great. That's one record I didn't need to live to see... especially while on vacation.

Yes, we still had a ton of fun. It's always fun for my husband and I to hang out with my brother, his wife and their two kids. We will definitely be going back again next year, although I'm sad to say that we will be changing our week from July to late August next year. We just didn't think we wanted to squeeze the 6 of us into our 4-person cabin again next year and couldn't get a larger cabin during our usual week. 

It's a sad change - I'll miss our cabin neighbors who will all be going in July again next year and the traditions that we've started with them over the past 3 years. Who will we have a BBQ smoke-off competition with next year?! 

It is also a GREAT change though, too. I will not miss our lack of doors on the bedrooms (short curtains across doorways do not block the giggles and cries of small children for those of us who like to sleep in!!), or the fact that my sister-in-law had to sleep on the couch in the livingroom because the second bedroom was filled with her 4.5 y.o. on the bottom bunkbed, her hubby/my bro on the top bunk and her 1.5 y.o. in a Pack-N-Play which took up most of the walking space in the room. Our new cabin is a 3-bedroom with the bedrooms upstairs (with actual wood doors) and plenty of room to sprawl out on the main level. Hooray! I can't wait to go back!

Oh yeah, for those who read my pre-vacay blog post.... My hubby, Rich, won the BBQ smoke-off competition for Brisket this year! I'm a lucky woman with a guy who knows how to make good eats!

like a kid before Christmas...

The "kid" I'm referring to is myself. In less than 48 hours I will be up at the lake cabin that my husband and I annually rent with my brother, his wife and their two kids. Woo-Hoo!!! This will be our 3rd annual trip to Pelican Beach Resort in northern Minnesota, but for some reason it seems more like it's our 13th annual. It just feels like home -- a very small home -- and I now can't imagine a summer without the trip. Our "neighbors" at the cabin have been going to the resort for 27± consecutive summers and every other cabin in the resort have similar histories. After you go once, you get hooked. We did.

Why do we love this place so much? I'm not sure exactly. I think it's a combination of a lot of things: a beautiful, clear lake; a clean, sandy beach that you can walk out forever in before it goes above your waist; great cabin neighbors; great resort owners; great towns nearby with fun shoppes; and great company in our own cabin. It MUST be good for us to be thrilled with the idea that we are shoving six of us into one very small, humble cabin. Especially when you consider that two of the six are under the age of five! It's aaaaa... cozy. We have our request in for wanting a larger cabin, but until one becomes available during our same week, we'll keep stuffing ourselves in our small one.

For the past week, I've been making lists of everything that we need to pack - basically updating the list that we had from last year. Speed boat - check, Kayaks - check, cooler full of yummy beverages - check.... I guess that's all I really need for the week, right? Oh, I can't forget that we need to bring our BBQ smoker. This year will be the 2nd annual smoke-off competition between my husband and the neighbor from Kansas who is a semi-pro smoker. Last year my husband smoked the competition (sorry, couldn't resist) and won the taste-test for ribs. This year it will be brisket. We even have a trophy that is a garden gnome named, Rayski.

Another thing about the cabin that I hate and love at the same time is the inability to go online. **GASP!** I am so dependent on the internet, especially since I have a web-based business. It will be good to be unplugged though and I think we should all do it more often. That just leaves more time for hanging out in the boat and sipping on umbrella drinks!!!

Cheers!

Invitation to Grandma's Birthday Party

I was recently commissioned to create invitations for my grandmother's upcoming 80th birthday party. What I came up with is this double layered 5" x 7" card held together with a pink satin ribbon. I do not currently have this style available for purchase on my etsy shoppe, but would be more than happy to offer this design, or something similar, upon request.