Busy busy!

I have so much blogging to catch up on!  We have been having so many lovely things happening since my most recent post.  Our last house concert of the season, Thanksgiving trip to Florida, and all the exciting holiday happenings...but I have no idea when I will actually have time to blog about them.  I'll get to it eventually.  In the meantime, these are some of my favorite things I've come across on the interweb recently.  Definitely reaching out for positive, beautiful, powerful, touching, funny stuff in light of all the horrible shit that has been going on in this country lately.  So, here it is, a little dose of love, laughter, and inspiration:

26 moments that restored our faith in humanity this year

this amazing video

I love that this mainstream commercial shows a woman breastfeeding in public.  Progress!

my favorite song from the Sufjan Stevens christmas collection

Scamper

 
We own this!  It's a 1985 Scamp camper (or Scamper as I like to call it).  And we are absolutely in love with it!!!

Oh my gosh I can't even stand it.  I am positively beyond words in my happiness over this little camper.

We've been talking about buying something like this for years.  Although we're not really "RV" people, we think this little guy fits us just perfectly.  It's about 30 years old, a little funky, and travels easily...just like us!

It fits three people and not really any more...just our size.

It's going to be GREAT for festival season..we love knowing that Sadie will be safe, quiet, and warm inside while festival craziness carries on outside.  And in the event of inclement weather, it will certainly make for an easier festival. 

It's lightweight (about 1,200 pounds), so we're happy that it won't change our gas mileage much (from what we hear), and when we have to buy a new car, we won't be tied to buying another gas-guzzler-SUV, we can easily buy a small SUV or station wagon and still pull it. 

 It's in relatively great shape, but we need to give it a good cleaning, swap out the cushion covers, replace the curtains, and add some additional storage options (shelving, etc.).  We weren't sure how we were going to store it, but it miraculously fits through our garage door (with mere inches to spare), so now we can work on it whenever we like.

We know we'll get tons of use out of it.  There are so many nights that we would camp Friday night during the fall and summer, but we have to be somewhere on Saturday.  If all we have to do it shut the door and head home, that means we'll be spending that many more nights in nature!

Can't wait for camping season to begin!!!  And planning a trip south to warmer climates in March or sooner (Utah?).  Woohoo!  We're Scampers!!!

Check out my "Scamp It" board on Pinterest to see some of my current inspiration for this little guy.

Halloween

Denver Puppet Theater

 My new favorite place.  This is such a treasure in Denver.  It's artsy and interesting and funky and old and weird and creative and imaginative and a perfect place for kids to explore and play.  What a treat to have a girl's day out with my mom, sister-in-law, and Sadie and me. 

 Cool things about this place:  beautiful gardens on the premises; animals (cats, dogs, and bunnies) about; puppets that the kiddos can play with; an art studio where attendees decorate their own puppets; a fascinating collection of vintage puppets (mostly marionettes) from around the world; funky puppet music (not even sure what that means, like gypsy-carnival music from the 18th century) playing in the theater; the owner's beautiful studio (where she makes all her own puppets) which was full of fiber, a spinning wheel and huge loom; and the adjacent, equally interesting and funky ice cream and coffee shop (owned by the husband of the husband and wife team). 

Jet Set

 

Another idyllic night of live music in our home.  I don't think I'll ever get tired of the magic that happens on house concert nights.  Two of the loveliest musicians I know, Jason Hicks and Amy Finders, graced us with their gorgeous voices on a beautiful, warm fall night.  You could feel that everyone was absolutely mesmerized by their flawless harmonies. 

 I heard from many of our most loyal attendees that this was their favorite house concert yet!  That's a huge compliment for Jason and Amy.  I don't disagree.  

one of my favorites from the night, and other videos at our youtube channel

Some Other Fun Stuff I Should Mention (and link to)

We've had some lovely nights out which have included DELICIOUS food, drink, and entertainment.  Thought I should give a shout out to all this fabulousness....

We celebrated our anniversary about a month late with dinner at The Bonefish Grill.  We LOVE Bonefish.  The service is always great, the atmosphere is nice, and the food is delicious.  AND, my favorite thing about it is that you can eat a healthy dinner and still feel like you're splurging.  Unlike most dinners out, I don't leave feeling like I've sabotaged my entire healthy nutritious lifestyle. ;)

And then we headed to one of our very favorite local music shops, Twist & Shout, and splurged on a big old pile of records (yep, vinyl...we're into it).  Faves include Brandi Carlisle's new album Bear Creek, Todd Snider's Acoustic Hymns & Stoner Fables, Widespread Panic's Live In the Classic City II, the new Old Crow Medicine Show; and some great used selections including: Uncle Tupelo's No Depression, some choice Hot Rize and Red Knuckles albums, and something called aerobic clogging.  No seriously.  And it's great (for old-time fans like us...)

It felt like the old days (in my 20s) spending the evening with earphones on at Twist & Shout, actually spending money on music (!), and hanging with my man in the big city on a Friday night.  Fun!


In October, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law took us out for a very fun night on the town to celebrate my birthday.  Margaritas at The Rio, dinner and delicious beers at a great new find, Freshcraft, and more drinks and skeeball (and Ms. Pacman!) at 1-Up Arcade Bar! 

 The night before our most recent house concert we finally got a chance to dine at one of the hippest, hardest seats to get in Denver, Linger.  (I know, don't we sound so fancy???).  It was an anniversary gift from my parents and it was AMAZING!  Such a delicious dinner..the hype and anticipation were worth it.  And then we went and saw one of our new fave bands, Elephant Revival atone of Denver's best live music venues, the Soiled Dove Underground.


Last weekend, courtesy of a vendor I use, Origins Laboratory, we had great seats to watch our Denver Broncos and our new quarterback Peyton Manning win against the New Orleans Saints.  We had a chance to tailgate on a beautiful, cool fall day with our neighbors Ryan and Amanda...a perfect Sunday. 

We sure are lucky that we have family in town and we get to go out and act like grown married people every once in a while (pretty often, in fact).  I swear, this is one of the most important things that we do to keep our marriage happy and healthy.  And all thanks to our village!!!

A Month of Birthday

It was full of all my favorite things.  Flowers, camping, music, friends, family, cupcakes, and good food.  Love birthdays.

Rorey Carroll Band in the house

 

We didn't completely know what to expect from our first house concert of the season, with the Rorey Carroll Band.  Murph, the guitar player in this band, is a friend of many years.  In fact, he was one of the musicians who played at our wedding six years ago.  And he happens to be one of our very favorite front range musicians and guitar players ever.  We know that any project he's involved in is sure to be wonderful.

 

Murph introduced us to Rorey and her beautiful music and we couldn't wait to have her come play as part of our series.  Rorey's songwriting is wonderful, and she's chosen some truly fine musicians to join her.

The first show of the season is always so much fun because after a busy summer off, it's always so much fun to get back to house concert season.  It's gotten to where fall doesn't really feel like fall until we've had a house concert.

The house was full of family and friends.  The potluck spread was great, as always, and it made me so happy to have my home filled with so many good people who have become a part of this community.

And the post-show pick was hands down the BEST pick we've had in the house yet.  Awesome way to end the night.

Preserved

Mom and I used Labor Day weekend to take another shot at this canning and preserving business.  Last year it was pickles.  This year we tackled a much more reasonable quantity of cucumbers, and added tomatoes to the mix.  We canned tomatoes, and also made salsa.  It took us all weekend to get it done.  Friday night we peeled garlic (and peeled garlic, and more garlic, and more garlic), washed dill, washed cucumbers, read and reread our pickle recipe and canning tips, loaded the jars in the dishwasher, and talked through our process.

Most of Saturday was about pickles.  But we were much more efficient and organized than we were last year.  We also did one batch of tomatoes before heading out for dinner.  The tomatoes were a pain in the butt...they have to be in the canning bath for SO LONG.  Especially since we were canning at 7,500 feet above sea level, we had to add another 20 minutes to all the canning times. 

When we got back from dinner we were over it for the day, so we watched a movie instead.

Sunday was salsa, which was easy and fun.

This past week we made and preserved applesauce and apple butter.



Sadie watched movies and played, and mostly let us do our thing.  And every year I'm hoping she'll be able to (and interested) in helping more and more.

Five

Five years ago today, I wrote my first blog post ever. 

I can hardly believe it's been five years!  In a way it seems like much longer than that...but at the same time, it seems like just yesterday. 

I thought this would be a fun time to look over some old blog posts and choose some favorites...

• improvements in the gardening department!  from this to this
• preparation for Baby Peterson here and here
• birth story
• sleep deprivation is an ugly thing!
• reflections on work/motherhood and balance here, here, and here 
• a good list
• my first mother's day
• love having a place to talk openly about breastfeeding here and here and here
• remember Niles?
• documenting house concerts
• and festivals

Also using today to reflect on why on earth I take the time to keep my blog current (somewhat).  Really for me, it's just a not-so-private journal.  I've always loved writing, but I've never been a great "journaler".  I DO find that writing about things that are important to me helps me get my thoughts straight.  I like that I can passively let people in my life know how I feel about things.  ;)  I love having a way to document what we manage to fill our very busy lives with...I swear I'd never remember a thing that I've done with myself if it weren't for the blog.  I like being a part of the blogging community.  I LOVE reading other people's blogs and like having something to contribute back to the larger "blogosphere".   I never think that anyone other than my mother, a couple friends and my husband are actually reading my blog, and I'm perfectly o.k. with that.  I just like having a place to express myself openly, a place to display pictures of my family and our adventures, and place to keep track of all the fun we're having! 

Gratitude For the Loveliest Night Ever

Solo dinner, wine, reading this beautiful book, eating a perfect meal at Colore Italian Restaurant, and then seeing my newest obsession, The Milk Carton Kids, perform at Swallow Hill with a good friend. Really doesn't get much nicer than this for a night off.

Folks Fest

Another perfect festival weekend...good friends, good weather, WONDERFUL music as always, good camping neighbors, great festival kid, delicious mimosas to celebrate six delightful years of marriage...

and lots of snuggling....