a letter of sorts.

Dear Blog,

I'm writing because I realize I have sorely neglected you of late. This was certainly not intentional... but life somehow seems to speed by at rate which continues to surprise me.

And I find that, in those rare moments of solitude and rest that I get, you're kind of the last place I want to be. 

oh dear. Have I offended you, blog? Don't take it personally. I mean, you're great and all, and I still love you, and I'll always be around, but... well, it's just that you're not quite as wonderful and rich and alive as so many other things in my life. Friends. Family. Books. Creativity. Adventures. Conversation. My husband. My girls. My Lord. I'm so richly blessed, you know, in so many ways, and I don't want to miss out on any of these things. So, please, don't mind if I spend a little less time with you... you know it's all for the best!

oh! I must tell you about something lovely... Spring. Yes, spring! For it has arrived here, and the days are cloaked in many and varied glorious shades of it. The daffodils have lifted their cheery golden heads and bob merrily at me in my backyard. My ranunculus bloom layer by delicate mauve layer, and the tree in our front yard has burst forth with such a show and abundance of blossoms that I have christened her The Pink Lady Most Wondrous. As I write this letter to you, Emma, Annabelle, and Rosalie are in the backyard, barefoot and carefree in the sunshine, their hair teased and mussed by the fresh breeze, their cheeks kissed with light. I throw my windows open in the afternoon when the temperatures have warmed and I sigh happily at the blue, blue sky.

After I've told you all these things, dear blog, I know you won't hold my absence against me. And I'm glad, for I shall be absent again for a little while. You see, my sister is getting married very soon! We are traveling to Denver to be there for that most special day, and I'm just so excited. ALL of my family is going to be in one place for the first time in well over two years, and I can't wait to wrap my arms around them all and soak up each moment while we celebrate and rejoice together.

The preparations for this trip have me running around and filling every moment with something, so you can see why I won't have time for you this week. I know you'll understand; you always wait patiently for me.

Will you do me a favor, blog? Will you please tell all my lovely friends who visit you from time to time that I shall be thinking of them and that I'll be back again soon? I'm going to have so much to tell you, and them, about! The adventures of this month are going to be many, from travels and wedding and family and birthdays, to the excitement of new additions in our little house. (I'll give you a hint: one of them has two legs and opposable thumbs, and one of them has four legs and fur.) 

So, I bid you farewell for now, dear blog, and will write to you again when I return. As you can see, I've included some pictures I snapped of my happy lovin-the-springtime beauties. I hope they'll make you smile until the next time.

With sincerest love always,

Talia

xoxoxo

ps. would you like to see something fun? My good friend Lorie, who has a blog of her own (oh! maybe you two know each other, being of the same type and what-not) put up a post about some beautiful ladies and a very lovely time we had here at my house not too long ago. You should take a peek. (And will you please make sure everyone who stops by knows about it too, in case they want to see? thank ye kindly.) k, bye!

Good golly, Miss Molly!

Sometimes, in this vast blog-land, one stumbles across friends. And by friends, I don't just mean people you know who have blogs (although that's neat,too)... no, I mean the sort of thing where you start to read a blog simply because it looks cute, or someone you know linked to them, or something. And then, soon, that person makes you laugh. And then they write something that speaks to your heart. And maybe they inspire you. And then you fall in love with their adorable red-headed twins.... and well, before you know it, you desperately wish you lived by each other so you could really hang out, because somewhere along the way that person stopped being someone whose blog you read and became a friend. A genuine, real-life, wanna-squeeze-them, tell-me-about-your-day kind of friend. It's a beautiful thing.

Molly June is one of those people. I honestly can't even remember how I came across her blog in the first place... but I do remember the first comments we left on each other's blogs. They went something like this: (me) "Hi! you're funny and cute. Let's be friends!"  (her) "hiiiiiii! hi! hi! Yes! let's!!"  Hmm. yes. that sounds about right. :)

Well, guess what?


Miss Molly herself, along with those adorable red-headed twins of hers, drove up to Bakersfield just so she could meet those of us here who've been stalking, er, reading her blog and just dying to hang out with her.

A few things about Molly:
1. She's even cuter in person, if you can believe it.
2. She's one of the easiest people ever to talk to.
3. She's sweeter than honey and funny as anything, with a laugh and a smile that you just can't resist.
4. She's an amazing mom to Ellie and Audrey, those girls of hers. Having twins must be a challenge, but you would never know looking at her.
5. She makes you feel like you've known her for ages and ages.
6. She rocks a headband and has amazing hair. Yep, I'm jealous of her bangs.

We all had a blast. Lorie, darling dear that she is, invited all the craziness into her home and wonderful backyard, where the children played and became fast little friends, we ate ridiculously good food (I actually had a dream that involved Lorie's homemade chocolate cake and cornbread. For reals.), we laughed a LOT, and all of us generally just had so much fun that the evening went by far too quickly and I was sad when it was time to leave.


The sight of our girls playing together and the cuteness of it all just about did me in. Makes my heart happy.



I fell in love with her girls even more than I was before. They are just so adorable, words cannot express. Ellie sports the headband and wields the hose, and Audrey tries her best not to get water in her face... ha!


See that cake?? YUM. See Lorie??  She's crazy. And I love her.


Perfect. There were many moments like this.


Ellie and Emma, bonding over some coloring and cheeeeese.


This was about the time all the kids started to get really crazy and really loud, and about the time we had to disband. Poor Lorie's husband.

It truly was a great get-together, with so many amazing girls that I was on happy cloud nine. The lovely Alyssa was there, with her beautiful sister Kristin and too-cute-for-words niece. Olive Oyl, always stunning, came with her Swee'Pea. And Davi, charming and sweet and pocket-sized, showed up with Twain.
Add to this list Lorie, who is always a wonderful hoot, and her two mini-men; Molly and her two girls, and me and my three... and well, you begin to get a picture of the craziness and fun that ensued. I truly love these girls and am always so very very glad to get a chance to spend time with them all. Ahh, it's good to be friends... real-life, I-got-to-squeeze-you friends.

come back again soon, Molly, for we shall miss you... and next time I shall give you my house tour and play the piano for you and bake you cookies. :)

My pictures are sadly lacking (not a one of Olive Oyl, Alyssa, or Kristin! sad!), but Lorie and Molly both blogged about it too, so go here and here to see!

take a look-see

Did you happen to notice? I got a bit of a blog makeover!

I just love love love love my new header.

But not as much as I love Molly!

She's the one who made it for me.... isn't it just lovely?? Yep, that Molly is pretty amazing and wonderful and sweet. If you haven't been to her blog yet, you need to go now, because everyone could use a little bit of Molly in their lives.

(and oh! if you like my header, you should definitely check out her Etsy shop.... she's one talented lady)

I keep coming to my blog just to look at it again... I know, I'm silly. But it just feels like my little blog has new life again... it's so fresh and pretty. Happy sigh.

Thanks again, sweet Molly friend! xoxoxo

Wherein I direct you to a guest post by me.

hi friends!! as you might know, I am in Denver right now, with my three girls and minus my husband (sad face... I miss him), having an altogether lovely time with my amazing family, eating too much yummy food and staying up much too late with my sisters and watching my children play in the fresh-fallen snow.

But... more on all that later, when I am home again.

Today, I'm not blogging here at my own little home, but I was asked to do a guest post for the lovely Lauryn of Laureality, while she is on a tropical cruise (I know, jealous much?). Lauryn has become a great bloggy friend over the past year or so, and I always so enjoy reading what she has to say. I'm sure many of you already "know" her, but if you haven't, go check her out and give her a read!

Also, you know you all want to go leave a comment on my post... Lauryn and I would BOTH love that, I'm sure. :)

have a wonderful week, my lovelies! be back soon!

Hello, strangers.

My poor little blog. It's suffering. Not from lack of posts I could write (I've got about 1983357.5 I should be writing)... no, this is from a pure lack of TIME. Honestly, I think I've been in catch-up/recovery mode the last couple weeks, from the holidays, from all the birthdays, and basically from the whole month of December. I'm slowly but surely getting us back into our usual routine, getting schoolwork accomplished again and making time for all those things that fell by the wayside in the past month (you know, like the gym and, oh, CLEANING MY HOUSE.) I've still got lots and lots of catching up to do when it comes to getting everything organized again, and the number of projects I'm positively itching to do (MUST.PAINT.SOMETHING.) does not bode well for that whole house-cleaning thing, but at least the Christmas decorations are down and I've found out that my child does indeed remember how to add and subtract. hurrah!!

Anyway, I do promise to post something substantial soon, with pictures and everything, but for today I wanted to do something rather fun. I just found out via the charming Ashley at Our Little Apartment that it's National Delurking Day! I've had my blog for almost 3 years now, and I've never had an official "delurking" here... even though I've always wanted to.



So, in honor of today, I invite you to make yourself known! Whether you're brand new to my little corner of the blogosphere or have been reading along (sounds so much better than "stalking", don't you think??) for quite some time now, I'd love to know who you are. It's always thrilling to discover new blogs to read and make some new bloggy friends too... I would be delighted to make your accquaintance. :)

Need an ice-breaker? Tell me, what is one of your favorite winter-time memories, new or old? Do you live where it's cold? How do you spend the days indoors? Can I offer you a cup of tea??

Come on in, sit down, and let the delurking begin. HI!!

ps. lovely-people-whom-I-already-know, don't be shy, you can play along too. You know I always always love hearing from you!

An Autumn Give-Away, Etsy-style!!

I am excited. SO excited. I would even go so far as to say that I am quite thrilled!

For one thing, today was a pleasant 80-something degrees. Tomorrow, it is supposed to be in the 70's. When I went for a walk this morning I could hear leaves crunching beneath my feet. I had hot tea with my breakfast this morning, for the first time in a while. And when I drove down the street this afternoon I couldn't help but notice that certain trees were starting to turn lovely shades of orange and red. You know what this means, folks. FALL! It is finally and at long-last arrived, and my little heart is happy and glad to welcome it.

If you have been reading my blog for a little while, you know that around this time of year I get into a mood... a blissful, happy, dreamy, let's-all-wear-sweaters-and-drink-tea-and-cuddle-on-the-couch-all-day sort of mood. I can't help it... I just LOVE fall and everything that comes with it.

This year, I am passing on my love of all things autumn to all of you, in the form of a give-away!! And really, I could not be more excited about this particular give-away, because I am able to feature the Etsy shops of some of the girls I know and love, whether it be through blogging or otherwise. Oh, I am SO glad I can do this, because really, these ladies are all not only incredibly talented, but also super-sweet and totally loveable.

And now, let's take a peek at the wonderful things up for grabs, shall we??


Leafy felt wallet, mustard with teal leaves by yourwishcake. Also known as Kerri, or One of the Loveliest People Ever. I'll be honest, it was when I saw her brand-new batch of adorable fall-colored wallets that I knew I had to have a give-away-- the colors are so cheery and wonderful!


Silver nature leaf cut-out earrings by oh, hello friend. This little lady has done amazingly well in the Etsy world, and no wonder. Not only do I want everything listed in her shop, but Danni also happens to be a true sweetie. With these beautiful earrings of hers, you can have leaves under your feet AND on your ears!


Embroidered felt coffee-sleeve cozy by Joyful Star. (It looks like this one, but in blue and brown instead.) Ashley is pretty much a doll in every way. I've never had the privilege of meeting her in real life (just like many of these girls), but I'm sure that if I did I would love her even more. Everyone needs to wrap their hands around a good cup of coffee or tea when the weather turns cold-- and with this cute lil' cozy, that starbucks treat will be even more fun to drink.


Yellow and gray leafy hair pin by Pinned Up. Yay, more leaves! Could there be anything more autumn-ish? This adorable little one comes to us from Miss Alyssa, who is a dear girl with a definite eye for the crafty and domestic.


Red Posy Hair Clip by Little Lovelies. The ever-fabulous Morgan from Mrs. Priss has put together a shop full of very lovely indeed accessories for ladies both small and large, and I wish I could own them all, for myself and my little ladies. Also, this girl is a complete sweetheart, so there's that, too. This particular clip caught my eye because of the beautiful red color... just like an autumn tree.


Home Sweet Home Print by tankandtink. Have you become accquainted with Molly June?? Because if not, you really should. She is pure sunshine and will definitely brighten your day. I really love this print of hers, because when cool weather and early dusk rolls around each year, there is nothing I yearn for more than home and all its comforts and blessings.

Be sure to check out these girls, and especially their Etsy shops. You never know what other treasures you will find, for all of them are simply full to the brim with lovely things!

In addition to this package of Etsy goodness, there is also a bonus give-away of a $10 Starbucks gift card.

Because there is nothing better than a Starbucks on a cold day (it's definitely one of my favorite things). So, that means there will be TWO special winners! Get your happy-dances ready, friends.

To enter, simply leave a comment on this post by October 8th, 2009. Tell me your favorite thing about fall if you wish-- I would love to hear how you celebrate and enjoy this beautiful season. If you so desire, you can blog about this give-away, and I'll give you an extra entry! Just leave me a second comment with the link to your post.

A big huge thank-you to all you Etsy girls, I am so grateful to be doing this giveaway. And thank you to all of you, my friends, for making things like this so fun. :)

I wish you all a most blissful and cozy, colorful and leaf-crunching, delightful autumn!