Archive for the 'Life in Longmont' Category

When I think of Portland, I get all mushy lovey-dovey feelings inside. Mostly because of those amazing food carts. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that they are mobile? You know I love little traveling pods!

Well, Longmont isn’t quite Portland yet…but we’re getting there! We were SO excited to see food carts in Prospect last weekend…and hope to see them there again soon. After talking to the owners, it seems like they might be there every Monday. I would LOVE to see this entire park packed with people and food carts and love. Yes!

Pico and Quesadillas from Comida

Top of The Hill Grill — A new fave!

BBQ Tempeh wrap with coleslaw and goat feta. Yes please.

Cupcake!

Hey people! Where is my cupcake?!

*I fell in love with Prospect the first time I laid eyes on those funky & sweet homes. Wanna know more? Check out this great Dwell magazine article from 2002.

After traveling the country far and wide, the places that we love the most are those in which we made true connections with the community. No matter where you live (on the road or in a home), if you don’t feel that “connection”…my guess is that you will eventually be unhappy there. But connection doesn’t just magically happen…it takes a little work on your part.

Here are 3 simple ways to help you build that connection:

1. Go out your front door.

This is as simple as it gets. Walk out your front door and look around. Pull up a chair and sit there for awhile. Read a book and drink an iced tea. Take it all in. When someone walks by, say hello. Know what happens around your neighborhood…who comes and goes, etc. See it all with fresh eyes and BE SEEN. If your neighbors see you out there regularly, they will be more likely to come out of hiding as well.

I’m challenging myself (and you too!) to spend 1/2 hour a day “out on the block”. Taking a walk, sitting at the park on the corner while the girls play, throwing down hoops, working in the yard. In addition to just being fun, it gets me out there in a place to truly know my surroundings.

2. Talk to people.

3. Do Nice Stuff.

4. Attend Events

5. Plan a Community-Building Event

What have YOU done lately to engage your community? Let’s share ideas!

Each week after Raccoon Clan, we’ve been heading up the road to Madhava Honey for a treat. There is a little “sweet shop” outside their main building in Lyons, CO with all kinds of lovely honey-related items for sale, including beeswax candles, lip balms, lotions, and lots of candies of course !

As soon as we walk in, Lucy makes a bee-line (sorry, couldn’t resist!) for the honey candies. She has a very specific one that she gets every single time. Just one little chewy candy. She puts that little itty bitty candy into a big basket and carries it around proudly. Bella’s favorite part is searching out the queen bee in the hive. Right now there are only 500-700 bees in there, but in the summer there are 5,000-7,000 (or so they tell us…we’ll have to check it out for ourselves in a few months)!!

We’re big honey fans at our house and we love getting it locally from Madhava!

*this is not a sponsored post…just a big fan!

 

 

Every Thursday morning we wake up and drive across the breathtaking Colorado meadows into the foothills.

We pass our favorite horse…

…and soon we arrive at the place where children run free.

…where they find confidence and appreciation for God’s creation.

It’s Raccoon Clan!

Raccoon Clan is one of the programs available through “Her Feet On The Earth“, a non-profit with a “vision to help raise young people who are ready to meet life’s challenges and be of service in the world: youth who have a positive sense of themselves as young women and men; who know what their gifts are; feel deeply connected with nature; have strong community support; and are full of resilience and vitality.”

So what does Bella do at Raccoon Clan?
She explores the mysteries and wonders of nature.
She wanders along the stream banks.
She searches for good things to eat.
She makes tracks, plays games in the field and shares stories.

Each week she has new adventures and nourishes her connection with nature by learning about the animals, birds, plants and trees around her and learns important skills to help her feel at home in nature, such as fire making, navigation, shelter building, archery, and more. (paraphrased from HFOTE)

We drop her off at 9:00 a.m. and pick her up at 3:00 p.m. There is a tipi on the land and so much beauty to explore. Lorene and Mary are fantastic with all of the kids and so mindful about what they are teaching.

I have noticed such a difference in her level of independence and how she interacts with others…and she LOVES her new friends there. She talks about going all week and loves packing her lunch for the big day. As you can see from the photo below…she’s pretty excited about it.

We are thrilled to have found this program and hope to continue in it for a long time.

 

The Mullers are in Colorado! That’s right…our dear friends from Omaha, NE came out for a few days to visit and we had a blast. These should be familiar faces to you if you’ve been around my blog for awhile. After spotting each other at the Des Moines Farmer’s Market in the summer of 2004 (both of us slinging our babes)…we decided we had much in common and have been hanging out  for the past 7 years.

So…what did we do?

We smooshed into our van so we could drive around together and do fun stuff.

Isaiah stalked all of the best skate parks…and we loved watching his sweet tricks.

We played A LOT.

We drove up to Nederland and enjoyed the mountain views.

Denise showed up sporting brand new baby dreads…how cute is she?! I was so excited to see she finally did it!

We spent time on Pearl Street.

And found cool new shops.

We hiked up the trails at Chautauqua and I only had to stop 4 times to catch my breath. To my defense, I was carrying an almost 2-year-old and a very heavy camera.

All smiles on the way DOWN!

The kids loved climbing on the rocks.

We showed those mountains who was boss!

We ate lots and lots of yummy food…John Henry and Annora have celiac disease, so we were on the hunt for gluten-free and vegetarian options. Boulder has LOTS of that…and we were pleased.

But most importantly…we spent time talking about life. Laughing together over tea and other delicious hot beverages. Reminiscing about times gone by. Reconnecting with old friends is the best.

We can’t wait to see them again SOON. We crammed a lot of goodness into just 3 days, but there is still so much to do! You can see the full set of photos here.

Oh, and be sure to check out John Henry’s company, What Cheer. If you need a website created…he is your man. Seriously. He rocks. And if you live near Omaha…go to one of Denise’s classes at Bhadra Yoga. She just started teaching there and she’s amazing.

We have two more sets of friends coming to visit in the next 2 weeks…the Hasslers from Indiana and Monica from Portland. Yippeeeee!! I’m more than a little excited.

Hope you’re all having a great week!

Our house is quiet today.

Dan and Laura flew home Monday.
Nana and Papa left this morning.
Bella is out running errands with Jess.
Lucy is asleep.

I wanted to share a photo of my new “Happy Wall” with you. I printed out a bunch of photos from our travels taken with the ShakeItPhoto app on my iPhone. Matt hung some ribbons on the wall and then we secured them with some clothespins. I love having our favorite memories out there for us to see every day!

Speaking of photos, I don’t even want to think about how long it’s going to take to edit all the photos I took this weekend! We’re slowly getting back into our normal routine after having such an enormous amount of fun!

And now, I think I will put down the computer and settle into my corner for a cup of hot tea and a good book.

 

 

Bella turned SEVEN today…so the morning started with a celebration!

We had breakfast, a candle, and presents… and Jess surprised Bella and drove up from Boulder with her favorite treats from Starbucks!

The next stop was dropping Bella off at “Raccoon Clan“… her nature/survival day school.

The land where they meet is so beautiful! I will be blogging about it soon…

Nana and Papa arrived from Iowa while she was gone…so they went with us to pick her up. It was a fun surprise!!

When we got back to the house, Laura and Dan had arrived from Minneapolis and were waiting impatiently in the front yard

Such sweet reunions…

We went out to the Pumphouse Brewery for supper. We laughed, ate delicious food, drank margaritas, teased each other, encouraged each other, and just had a fabulous time together. Everyone is in town except for my brother Michael (we miss you!!)

We ended the evening with a “family viewing” of last night’s American Idol performance and tonight’s results show. I feel so blessed that my family is so stinkin’ amazing…we have such fun together. It’s like spending time with my best friends.

Looking forward to an amazing weekend with them! I’ll be taking the weekend “off” from the Internet to focus fully on my family. Can’t wait to connect with you all next week!

 

 

I love this happy little corner. It’s inviting, cozy, and it has all of my favorite things! As you might remember from my living room tour, it used to be a bit more sparse. I’ve had this vision for a plant shelf here since we moved in…and Matt decided to build it for me on Sunday. He used the wood from the fence he tore down in our backyard. Have I told you how amazing he is!?

I’ve always wanted to have LOTS of plants in my home. They make me smile…and they filter our air! (check out Tara’s article about this topic on Sustainable Baby Steps).

Succulents. Oh the succulents. I love love love. However, we shall see how long it takes me to kill them. For some reason, I’ve never been able to get my succulents to thrive. Any tips? I would love to hear about  your favorite varieties of plants too.

Having my “current” books displayed and accessible inspires me to SIT DOWN and read. So often I just run around all day like a crazy person and forget to just take a break for a bit to feed my mind. Or at my first break in the action, I grab my computer…which does nothing to SLOW me down at all. I’m working on creating new habits in this area of my life.

This corner is my sanctuary…especially when my family is sleeping. I sit here to read my Bible, drink my mate, watch my HGTV It feels familiar and calming.

Where is the familiar “corner” of your home?
(take a photo…we want to see!)

*for more inspiring corners from other homes, check out this fun Flickr set!

I was SO excited for our weekend project of painting the bathroom! The “before” photo may look white…but it was more of a dingy yellow. Every time I walked in, I would cringe I need color!

BAM! Color! A big thank you to my amazing hubby who is the painter extraordinaire…he remained positive and upbeat even after doing remodels all week at his “real” job The color is a bit darker/richer in person…it’s the Valspar color “City Chartreuse” in the Olympic No VOC paint base for kitchen and bathroom.

This shower curtain was my inspiration…I found it World Market and I love the design and rich tones.

Bella’s room was another beast to tame. Her room goes from spotless to “were we robbed?” in 3 seconds. We’ve been continually purging unwanted toys to get it down to a reasonable level. Less stuff = less cleaning!

The main playthings in her room are her kitchen, her dress up clothes, her art supplies, cash register, books, stuffed animals/dolls, and her TV. We tidy her room twice a day to keep it under control and that seems to be working. Where there is open space…there is joyful play!

And lastly, my desk! This has been completed for awhile, but I did some major decluttering and have resolved to keep this surface open for activity and not for storage! (Thanks Francine!). It’s amazing how having completely clear surfaces can make you feel instantly inspired.

This little nook is in our kitchen and is such a great example of how you can use wasted space to create something wonderful! There used to be a high table and a couple of stools here (they belonged to our landlord), but we removed them, built shelves, and made a desk out of our old front door. Add the chair we got on Craigslist for $15, and voila!

It’s nice to have my printer/scanner up there, but it’s out of the way. The gray wall “file” is for papers I need to sort through. I like having somewhere to keep it all in one place! The large clear bin is for recycling and the drawers on the right are mailing and letter writing supplies. I would eventually like to replace those with lovely fabric covered boxes and put them up above on the shelves. The blue cupboard above my desk is our pantry for dry foods.

I love to sit here and work with the door swung open while the girls play in the backyard.

…and that was our weekend.

* * * * * * * * *

Many of you are asking for book and blog recommendations for decluttering and minimalism. I will compile a complete list when I do my longer blog post about it, but you can start with these! If you have a favorite that is not listed…please leave it in the comments so I can add it to the master list!

*For those of you who think minimalism is only about living in a sparsely furnished tiny house with white walls…think again! To me, minimalism is clearing out the things and thoughts that are cluttering your life so you can LIVE FULLY! Now get inspired!

Blogs:
Miss Minimalist
Becoming Minimalist
Minimalist Packrat
Zen Habits

Books:
The Minimalist Mom
The Joy of Less (highly recommend!)
The 100 Thing Challenge
The Radical Minimalist
30 Day Clutter Bootcamp (I’ll be writing more about this later!)
Sell Your Crap

 

 

 

I know many of you have been patiently (and some not so patiently ) waiting for more photos of our house in Longmont. We’ve been slowly making it HOME and I wanted to share a little tour of our living room with you. We have plans to paint the bedrooms and bathroom soon…and I will continue to post more photos as we get those rooms finished.

I love the fireplace and mantel! One of my favorite memories so far has been lighting the fire and snuggling in for the night with my loves while snowflakes came down outside. The Arian Armstrong print reminds me to be content and to remember that “where my treasure is…there my heart will also be”.

Every time I walk into our living room, I get happy.

**You can click on these photos to enlarge them.