"It's a Sip of Wine, It's Summertime"

It's been almost 2 months since I've posted. We aren't being lazy.  Quite the contrary actually.  With cold winters, we have to embrace and enjoy summertime as much as possible.  As my friend Skyler would say, "we've been too busy living life to write about it."  We just returned from Oregon on vacation (more on this next post), and I was bummed to learn that we completely missed strawberry picking season while we were gone. Matt called every farm within a two hour drive and no luck. But at least the raspberries and blueberries are coming into season! Looks like I'll get to do some berry picking at least.  However, despite the strawberry picking disappointment, we have been able to check things off our summer to do list here and there.

Sunrises - My alarm didn't even need to go off at 5:15 this week.  The beautiful colors were enough to wake anyone up and resulted in me running out to the backyard, pajamas on and camera in hand to snap a few pictures.  It was just glorious!

Farmers' Markets - Love them!  As pictures will show, Matt seems to enjoy them too.  I turned around to look for him at one point, and there he was - bucket hat and donut in hand.  I had to laugh.  I love fresh farmers' market flowers too.  Way better than the store bought kind.

Biking - We spent a lovely June Sunday afternoon biking around the Uptown with our dear sister Andie.  Matt managed to actually break his bike (twice!).  The pedal broke on his bike as we were leisurely riding around which resulted in him renting a bike and breaking the chain on the rented bike.  As they say, third times a charm and after that there were no more issues!

Rainy evenings - We sure have had a lot of them this summer.  Perfect for curling up with a glass of wine (or beer in Matt's case), a game, or an episode of Gilmore Girls.  At least the garden is growing, and the grass is green!

Projects and Wildlife - This heron (below) likes to visit our new and improved dock at least once a day.  When we spot it, Matt scrambles for the camera and this time, actually did a pretty decent job photographing it through the living room window.

The dock was a mid-June project (please ignore the weeds in front of the dock - we are busy saving up for the shoreline project plans) .  My dad and Matt tore out the old dock, and built a new dock using recycled cedar from my parents' deck around what was a pool last year before it decided to collapse.  With a few coats of stain, the dock is as good as new!  Thanks dad for all of your hardwork and recycled lumber!

 

Visitors - My parents visited last weekend, and Matt took them to Stillwater.  I came home from work to a fridge looking like this.  Looks like the boys had fun while Mom browsed through the shops.

 

Country living - My heart CRAVES the country, so I didn't object to driving out to rural Stillwater last night for a barn sale. I loved seeing what these ladies did to old things and am looking forward to future barn sales. The very little creative juices I have are now flowing. It was inspiring! Now if only I had more time to search for old things, and get to work sanding, painting, and distressing.

For now, I'm focusing on finishing the dining room which is a project in itself. If you have any idea where to get high quality dining chairs for a good price, please let me know! I'm trying to be patient while I search for quality dining room chairs that I love, have character, and are within the price parameters Matt has set on it. My dream chairs are from Pottery Barn, but even with my 10% off coupon, they still don't make the budget and Matt won't budge. :)

Whew! Okay enough for now. Hope you are loving summer and all it has to offer!