It’s been a few weeks now since I received a surprise package in the mail from Milla.

It was just the kind of surprise I like to get- full of good books! And two perfect handmade cloth bags that I have used a thousand times since.

Ella and Mycelia were very excited about all the items there were to remove from the box and peruse.

This beautiful coloring book was one of my favorite things included in the package.

And the girls got right to work coloring in it and reading through the sweetest li’l book, Children of the Forest by Elsa Beskow. If you’ve never seen her books, I highly recommend them as the perfect vintagey woodsy gifts for the children in your life.

I can’t wait until Mycie is old enough to read the Narnia series. Thank you so much for these Milla! I have begun reading The Golden Spruce, and I love how it transports me to a misty, numinous Northern land where boundaries are shifty and unusual events take place (it’s a true story!).

Milla also included two of the most darling mugs I have ever seen (and I’m a girl who loves and collects darling mugs). Both whale themed, I’ve used them every day since their arrival.

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Last weekend Jen, Lucia, and I did a photo out on the land where Lucia lives.

(For the record, it’s pronounced loo-sha, not loo-chee-a or loo-see-a). We were surrounded by beauty in this tucked-away community, where folks keep to the old ways and live off the land in a manner that most of us no longer do. Ramblings gardens, ancient barns, and manzanita pathways were all perfect backdrops.

Despite the natural beauty, I couldn’t help but tweak some of the images in iPhoto when I got home that night. Lately I’ve been debating with some other vintage sellers- is it worth it to try and create “artsy” photos, or should you just stick with straight-forward plain & simple clear images of the piece? What do you think? After 3.5 years of doing this, I’ve decided that the more creative the shot, the more views it gets, and the better my shop does. So I’m all for it.

It was another warm and sunny day.

The perfect setting for spending time with some of my dearest fellow Aquarians, just as we enter into our birthday season. We exposed our souls in hilarious talks about our kids, our men, our closets, our kitchens, our lives. And were richly rewarded with the sweet saturation of sisterly love.

Speaking of… Happy Birthday today to JenJen! How lucky am I to be able to count these lovely women among my closest friends?  Continue Reading... (238 words + 6 images, estimated 57 secs reading time)

She loves it.