everything else

Dear Autumn,

Hello, my dear… Oh how I have missed you and your cool breeze. As I snuggle on my couch with a mug of hot coffee, my cold toes remind me of your presence. I love how you make everything smell clean and fresh. The brisk air made my run today so much easier. Good riddance, hot and muggy summer. Thank goodness for open windows and the curtains blowing in the breeze!

I have already started working through my lovely scarf collection. Clothes in your season are better than all others. Layers, without huge bulky coats, are my favorite. Scarves, cardigans…they help complete a cute outfit.

Soon the trees will be glowing with the beautiful yellows, oranges and reds. The lovely colors of your season make me incredibly happy. With those beautiful leaves comes raking and jumping in the piles of leaves. I don’t think I will ever be too old to enjoy that. I can’t wait to pick out our pumpkins to fill our porch. They are so welcoming.

And fall, you taste so delicious. Pumpkin desserts, apples and apple cider… I will never tire of cinnamon and spices that go so well with you. I can close my eyes and almost smell the caramel apples I will soon be enjoying.

Thank you Autumn, for finally arriving. Please don’t leave too quickly as you often do.

Always yours,
Kimberly

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I have been trying to go the Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago for years. I always ended up scheduling a session or wedding for the same weekend. This year I looked up the date months ago and put it on my calendar. To say I was excited would be an understatement.

Josh and I left first thing in the morning after dropping Jasper off at my awesome babysitter’s house (my parents). We got into the city and drove around looking for a parking spot. I seriously thought we were going to park miles away. As we turned down a street, a car backed out. Josh quickly pulled in and we saw that we were a half block from the fair.

We made our way through the fair looking at all of the amazing vendors. We even ran into Katie which was awesome. Josh got the two things he went for: a leather wallet and cycling hat. I, on the other hand, could not make a decision. There was so much pressure especially since we took a set amount of cash to spend and no more. I just kept thinking I would know something when I saw it. I did introduce myself to Elsie and Rachel since I’ve been reading their blogs forever. I felt like such a fan girl/dork but knew I would be mad if I didn’t say anything. We made it through once and I had only bought a small robot pillow for Jasper. So we stopped for lunch and regrouped.

We met up with our very good friend Brian after lunch. We haven’t seen him in almost two years so it was great to be with him and meet his boyfriend. I had told Josh before that I didn’t know how to dress for the day. 1. I would be outside and walking all day. 2. I would be surrounded by hipsters. 3. I would be with my gay friend who’s into fashion. This presented quite a dilemma. Luckily Brian approved of my outfit and commented about how he liked my “style”. Score.

Josh and I went through a second time continually saying “we lost our gays” because Brian loves talking to everyone. However this gave me time to make my decisions. I tried on a necklace that I looked at the first time around and realized I didn’t want to take it off. So I didn’t. I picked out earrings that I had seen online and a couple small pins. I was really pleased with my purchases and we left the fair $1 under our budget (which included food).

Next up was the amazing pizza that is Giordano’s. Oh good grief, that is the best pizza I’ve ever eaten. My friend, Fran, met up with us so we got a chance to visit quite a bit. It was so great to spend time with my friends.

Before we left the city we had frozen yogurt with Brian and his boyfriend. Great end to an awesome day. I absolutely loved the fair and hope to go back next year.

I felt extremely spoiled on Saturday. My husband planned/coordinated a birthday party for me. I think everyone had a great time. Our awesome neighbors hosted the party at their house. My sister-in-law, Emily, made decorations.

My mom made a delicious cake. I requested it be both chocolate and white. New favorite…seriously, yummy. She did such a good job decorating it too.

Cotton candy and popcorn. Need I say more?

My brother set up his amps and we had live music. He even wrote a silly birthday song just for me.

The party wouldn’t have been complete without the dunk tank. I couldn’t believe Josh lined that up. We had a lot of fun taking turns dunking people. Tori was first up!

Tori couldn’t wait to dunk Josh. I think Josh was a little surprised at how cold the water was.

Everyone sang happy birthday to me and I blew out the candles.

Josh knew that I always had wanted a root beer keg so he had our friend drive up to Chicago to pick one up. It rocked. Jasper loved playing in the ice too. It cracked me up to see Jasper playing by the keg. The little man had a great time at the party even though it was super hot.

We played Baggo, air hockey, and badminton. And we finished the day sitting outside, avoiding bugs and laughing a lot. It was a great party. Thanks Josh, for planning it!

You may or may not have noticed that this blog is slightly different. I have made the move from Blogger to Word Press. Some links in old entries probably aren’t going to work right for awhile. And if you subscribe to my blog you’ll have to unsubscribe and re-subscribe. Which…you’ll probably have to do again once all is said and done. Hoping for a cool looking blog sometime this year…

Tonight I went into my bedroom to find one of Josh’s hats sitting on the bed next to one of mine. It made me think of an old Disney cartoon I used to love about two hats in love. Just a little googling brought me to it: Johnny Fedora & Alice Bluebonnet.

Then I started thinking about one that probably started my obsession of wanting a blue Karman Ghia: Susie the Little Blue Coupe.

And that lead me to The Little House…

“The best place to find peace and happiness is in a little house on a little hill way out in the country”.

I was lucky enough to have a robin’s nest in our evergreen tree last year. This year it seems they have made their home in my lilac bush. Hopefully I can see them when the hatch again!

I did not leave my house this weekend. Besides occasionally taking the dog out, I did not go outside. With Josh’s bum foot and both boys having colds…it was just as well. It’s strange to not go anywhere for a whole weekend. But I did do a few things… I did laundry (lots of it). I snuggled a cute baby. I folded laundry (lots of it). Took a nap. Watched a few movies. So really, not going anywhere wasn’t so bad.

Over the weekend my father-in-law got a motorcycle. He’s wanted one forever and was finally able to get one. Sunday evening Josh and I stopped by to check it out. I had never even sat on a motorcycle so I asked if I could. Scott, my father-in-law, asked if I wanted to go for a ride. Josh agreed for me. I stuttered around and asked if they had a helmet for me. Of course they did. I said that I was wearing flip flops but they agreed it was okay. Scott got on the bike and they explained how to climb on. My mother-in-law reminded Scott that I was pregnant about four times before we headed down the driveway. Baby and I had our first motorcycle ride at the same time.

We headed down the block with my hands clinched on the handrail as tightly as I could. He drove down about five miles to a nearby town (sticking to the speed limit!). As we slowed down to turn around in the town Scott leaned back and asked if I was doing okay. I didn’t tell him that I had just prayed the whole way there and how stupid I felt for taking my first ever motorcycle ride at 7 1/2 months pregnant. “Great!”, I said.

Overall the ride wasn’t bad or even really scary for that matter (once I got used to it). I just felt so…exposed. I kept thinking about what terrible road rash I would get if we crashed. I thought about how fast the other drivers near us were going. Josh excitedly asked after my short ride if I loved it. (Poor guy would do anything to have his own motorcycle.) I said, “Uh, it was pretty good”. Later in the evening Josh admitted that he was a little bummed I didn’t really like it. He said, “I always thought my wife would like riding motorcycles with me”. Doesn’t look like that is the case for me…

I didn’t want to say that I can’t even imagine him having one now.

Josh’s parents are camping this week so Josh has free reign over his dad’s 1968 Corvette. (Or as Josh refers to it “his inheritance”.) Last night after work Josh went over and swapped his car for the Vette. He suggested we take a cruise in it and get some ice cream. The boy sure knows how to make me happy!

I love that it now will feel like summer. I love the food, flea markets, parades, all of the people out and about, the cookouts, the walking around, and the fireworks!

Have a happy fourth of July!