5 Movies I Want to See

1. Begin Again. 
Same director as Once? Oh yeah, I'll be watching this one.

2. Chef. 
This looks like a feel-good-triumphant (and hilarious) story. Plus, food.

3. Magic in the Moonlight. 
Colin Firth + Emma Stone. Enough said.

4. Third Person. 
A thoughtful twist on living your life in third person.

5. Wish I was Here. 
This looks like inspiring story about parenting better ~ living your life better. Just the kind of story I like to see.

Peach Yogurt and Strawberry Popsicles

Peaches and summer go hand in hand. Mom used to make a die-for-delicious peach homemade ice-cream that was a staple of summer. Since I'm not an ice-cream maker, I thought I'd add peach to a popsicle creation.

I love Greek yogurt so I started with peach yogurt, although you could add fresh peaches to vanilla yogurt if you wanted (yum!). 

I added strawberries because peaches and strawberries are a heavenly pair.

I allowed the popsicles to sit overnight till good and frozen. If you're wondering, yes, I had one for breakfast; hey, it's YO-GURT. Plus, I knew once the kids saw them, they'd be gone, so I grabbed while the getting was good.

Do you have a favorite popsicle flavor or recipe?

Lately...

Last week my kids were with Grandparents for their yearly "cousin camp"; so my brother, sister and I got together for "sibling camp". We had a lot of fun catching up and hanging out! I came back rejuvenated and inspired to paint ~ these girls are the result.

She was in the business of capturing stories. 

She was about to discover how courageous she could be.

She was finally at peace with herself.

I hope you enjoyed a few glimpses into my studio. What've you been up to lately?

5 Cheap Family/Date Ideas for July

Around here, July gets pretty hot. It's perfect for outdoor adventures as long as you stay hydrated and don't overheat. Here are five cheap outdoor dates for July:

1. Drive-in movie and sno-cones.

There is something super fun about seeing a movie at the drive-in ~ throwing frisbees before the previews, laying out blankets in the back of your car (or reclining in camping chairs). It's a great mix of outdoor/indoor fun. I'm a movie-lover but my husband likes the interaction of it, so sometimes a group date makes it even better. Stop by your favorite sno-cone place before going or buy from the ice-cream trucks once you're there. 

No drive-in theater in your town? No problem. Make your own little theater in the backyard like this or this. No sno-cone place nearby? No biggie, try making your own with these recipes.

2. Progressive picnic in the park.

You've heard of progressive dinners, so why not make it a progressive picnic? Have appetizers of watermelon shishkabobs by the duck pond (with some bread crust for the ducks), fried chicken by the swings and popsicles at the picnic tables.

3. Catching fireflies and star-gazing.

Remember staying out late when you were a kid with a jar and a lid poked with holes to catch fireflies? Why not do it again? Take your jar and head out of town. Find a secluded spot, pull over and see what fireflies you can catch then lay on the car hood to gaze at the stars.

4. Walk to the ice cream shop.

Take an evening stroll together to the ice cream shop. Walking + ice cream may sound like a contradiction, but you're allowed to splurge in the heat, right?

5. Evening swim or water-fight.

I love to swim. Our neighborhood pool is a lot less crowded in the evening which makes it perfect for a date swim. But if you don't have a pool or lake nearby, there's always a water-hose fight or washing the car. Have only one rule: to get as wet as possible.

What do you love doing in July?

Canvas Quilt

I absolutely love quilts. I have some of my grandmother's that our whole family fights to cuddle in. I've been wanting to try a quilt-like painting for awhile, and since we had a quiet Saturday, I made my first attempt.

I started out by penciling in a grid with sizes I'd like to work in. This may sound tedious but I enjoy graphing things.

I decided on a few colors (some of my favorites) and spotlighted them for the background of my boxes.

I pulled out my sketchbook for inspiration and began playing at it. This is as far as I got. I may leave it with some blank boxes, but I'm still thinking about it. I may want to add a few more items to it. I'm letting it sit for a few days to help me decide.

What do you think, more items or blank?

Strawberry-Lemonade Icicles

Here in the states, celebrating Independence Day often means being in the heat for long amounts of time for cookouts and fireworks. To encourage everyone to drink enough water, I thought I'd try making icicles from strawberries and lemonade.

I found this water-bottle-ice tray cheap at a dollar store which seemed perfect because you can use the ice in glasses or water bottles. Since they're long, I'm calling them icicles ~ that's what they remind me of. :) I sliced up the strawberries and arranged them pretty side up.

Then I poured lemonade over them, although you could simply use water. I like the taste of lemon in my water so I opted for lemonade.

Leave in the freezer till they're solid.

Put them in glasses or water bottles and enjoy!

I added frozen blueberries at the end for the contrast of red and blue. The flavor was slight, but the water was beautifully inviting and that always helps me drink more water!

For those of you in the states, Happy Fourth of July!

Five July Goals

June, where did you go?? Oh my goodness, that month flew by, does anyone else think so? I think that old saying is right, "time flies when you're having fun".

So let's review June's goals before getting to July.

1. Berry picking. Still. haven't. I tried to take my kids so many times this month, but it just didn't work out. I may go with a friend this coming week but since it didn't make it into June, I can't count this as done. :(

2. Decorate my house. Done! We've had so much fun getting pictures on the walls (not too many) and arranging everything into cozy minimalist arrangements.

3. Clean up and cutify the backyard. It's not backyard-barbecue ready, but it's looking much better than it did. I've removed many tree limbs and yuck, removed weeds and growths. It's made me want to paint a pattern on the patio, but let's not get ahead of ourselves...

4. Finish some new upcoming features for this blog (hint: it involves capsule wardrobes)! Did it!! Wanna see? 10 pieces, 25 outfits post. I want to try that again for July. It was a lot of work but I really enjoyed the challenge and it helped me see what clothes work better on me.

5. Swim. Yes! We had a mini-staycation, and I went swimming with my kids. It was a lot of fun! The pool wasn't too cold or too hot, it was juuust right.

Finishing four out of five ain't bad. :D

Now on to July goals:

1. Make healthy popsicles. My kids are really into popsicles this year, which is funny being that they're teenagers. But I'd like to have some healthy options in the freezer instead of sugar ones. There are so many cute recipes on Pinterest, how can I not?

2. Make another capsule wardrobe post for July. I absolutely love doing this. I love making a capsule and figuring out all the ways to wear it. A few friends have asked me to do this for them which makes me giddy with excitement!

3. Wear nail decals. For awhile my nails were growing because I was keeping Jamberry nail decals on them ~ super durable. So I want to get back to that. I have quite a few left to continue with. My nails were actually growing out until I stopped doing this (I'm a nail-biter if you didn't know).

4. Do something nice for the people who helped us during our house crisis. There were so many people that preciously helped us out during our home crisis. People who helped us with the work, and others who gave ~ food and other things. I really want to bake cookies, or have them over for dinner or something. July would be a good time for that.

5. Chalk art. Summer is the perfect time for chalk art. I want to do some cute projects around the house and outside the house with chalk this summer.

Well, that's my five. Do you have any goals for July? I'd love to hear them!

{See June's goals here and August's goals here}

How I Painted an Abstract Piece

I've been wanting a large, abstract art piece to hang above our couch. Unfortunately the paintings I loved were far out of my price range. Luckily, I found a large canvas marked way down at Micheals, and decided to attempt my own version of abstract art (albeit waaay out of my comfort zone).

Anytime I've tried this before, it's come out looking like a big jumbled color mess without any form to it. It didn't look like the paintings I loved. So this time I wanted to try a few different techniques:

1. I painted with a palette knife instead of brushes. This was a little awkward at first, but I really loved slapping paint around with these tools once I began!

2. I covered the canvas. I put down the first layer of paint trying to place all the colors I wanted in each quadrant of the canvas without overwhelming it. Not sure I succeeded because it sort of looked like the jumbled mess paintings from before, but I still had a few other steps to try.

3. I wanted thicker layers, so after the paint dried, I slathered molding paste onto the canvas. I just happened to have an almost full jar on hand from a previous project ~ whoo-hoo!

4. When the paste dried, I spotlighted my feature colors and made them the focus of the painting. I'll admit it was difficult trying to keep the focal colors as the focus without making them stark against the rest of the painting. The only advice I have is to add lot and lots of layers.

5. I added cascading colors. The painting still didn't look right to me, or at least not how I wanted it to look. I noticed that the art pieces I loved so much had a cascading flow to them. When I finally realized that, I began working to make my colors "waterfall" from top to bottom. 

6. I loved seeing movement with the brush strokes, so I added more of that. I wanted lots of layers and lots of texture. 

7. I added white space. I noticed I wasn't happy unless there was a large amount of white space, so I indulged myself. 

Here is the final result:

It was a fun challenge, but painting an abstract piece is much harder than it looks!

Have you ever tried a project out of your comfort zone?

Lately... the beginning of summer

Drinking coffee on the porch is one of my favorite transitions into warmer weather. Of course, when the temperatures climb to meltingly-hot my coffee will be iced.

My eldest graduated high school. Isn't she stunning? I might be a tiny bit proud. This girl has enough moxie to take over the world.

Can you spot him? Silliness is a mandate of summer, and I love that he's not "too cool" to be silly.

We all went to see movies and mine was Malificent, which was magnificent! Seriously, you should go see it.

Rolling on our new carpet ~ we all took a turn. Nothing makes you grateful for carpet like cold, dusty cement floors.

I laugh every time my youngest daughter strikes this pose. It's her spoof on posing for selfies. Don't you love her curls? She creates them so effortlessly. When she was little, her head was covered in ringlets, so she comes by it naturally I guess.

Hanging out with friends and celebrating another school year over.

This summer has been off to a great start now that we have all our things back in the house. I only have a few more boxes to unload before being completely unpacked. It's so heavenly to be home. I've been taking stuff to Goodwill like crazy, so we've reduced a huge portion of our belongings which makes it easier to find a place for everything and keep it neat. I have yet to swim in our neighborhood pool but I'm hoping soon, very soon.

How is your summer going, so far?

5 Movies for a Jane Austen Fan

Do you love Jane Austen? You're in good company here! I thought it'd be fun to share five of my favorite Jane Austen films.

1. Pride and Prejudice {obviously!} with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth.

2. Sense and Sensibility with Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson.

3.  Emma, with Gwynth Paltrow.

4. Northanger Abbey with J.J. Feild and Felicity Jones.

5. Mansfield Park with Frances O'Connor.

Do you have any more to add to the list? Would you like to see a modern-day Jane Austen movie list?