In 16 days, my baby will turn 7. SEVEN years old! My Lego loving, pizza eating, video gaming, movie obsessing, wand carrying little boy. I just can’t believe it. And I love every minute of it. I’m certain I will regret this statement when I’m 70 years old, but I might be the only person not telling time to stop. Each day, each week, each year with this little person just keeps getting better and better! I relish in the daily doses of laughs. It’s the little things, like going in to wake him for school and seeing he has made beds out of toilet paper for his action figures. Or finding he has written all over my grocery list {you just can’t be mad when it says “you are the best!”}. And then there are the comments like, “Everybody’s butt stinks, mom”. How can you not laugh at that?!?

When I was a kid, I also loved to read all night and build elaborate Lego houses and play video games until I beat every level {Mega Man for the win!}. I notice that every year we grow closer and every year we have more in common. We share so many similarities and likes, some I feel bad he inherited, but what can I do. Can you blame your kids for not wanting to eat something you wouldn’t eat??? {I would rather starve to death than have to eat raw onions} But bad or good, it is magical. Every day I witness a little magic. I also bear witness to fights and fits, but the best parts are riddled with magic. Like a Christmas wish for his little sister that {quite literally} came true, to the simple joy of a boy with a pencil and his imagination.

I remember having that make believe in my heart. The fantasy we loose as we grow older. For me, I’m “Peter Pan” ing adulthood. I don’t want to grow up. So, I will run through a Disney park fan geeking over crazies in costumes, read every Star Wars conspiracy theory, cry my eyes out at the end of the 4th Harry Potter film,  Buy 1990’s toys for me… I mean my kids, and most certainly dress up for EVERY single Halloween. Because my kids love it, and so do I.

In the chaos of every day life, I find it more important now than ever before, to find those magical moments. And let me tell you, it is fun and it is highly contagious. 🙂

“It’s important to remember that we all have magic inside us.” – J.K. Rowling

I recently had the privilege to take a road trip down old Route 66 from LA to Las Vegas with my Hubby. There were so many cool sights to see. From mid-century gas stations to antique markets, it was truly exciting. One of my favorite stops was Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch in Oro Grande, CA. It was a smoldering 100 something degrees out and way too dry for this FL girl. I felt like the inside of my nose was coated in finely ground sand. This dry heat kept us from spending too much time there, but as soon as we stepped through the gates, we were bombarded with sunshine peering through thousands and thousands of gorgeous colorful pieces of glass. The historic trinkets and treasures were meticulously placed all around the property and strung with beautiful glass bottles and shards. My husband thought it was creepy and made a wrong turn reference. I thought it was stunning.

The man that has been living on the property for 32 years can sometimes be seen working on his passion. I have read that he started building these glass trees in 1953. I don’t know much about Elmer himself and unfortunately didn’t get to meet him, but this man has spent years creating a random outdoor glass museum that I could look at all day. Such beauty and creativity. Creativity.

Everyone sees things differently. A lot of people state they aren’t creative or maybe don’t care to be, but in reality, we are all creating something every day. It may not look exactly how we hoped it would, it may be a little broke, but in the end, it’s all beautiful. Try something new, make a last minute decision, and decide to make creative moves.

This random trip through the dust of California inspired me.

My 90th percentile 3 year old was still sitting in a toddler car seat. I was tired  of lifting her up into a bucket that would conveniently angle her legs and feet to so perfectly against my head rest while driving. It was time for a big girl seat. (yes, still 5 point harness)

Fast forward, seat installed, and we are left with this giant box by the door waiting to be taken to the trash. Less than 5 min pass before my kids have turned it into a spaceship and the empty hamper they dragged out of the hall into a space cafe. Most kids see a box and turn it into a spaceship. Seems typical, right? But it doesn’t really matter what they turn it into. What matters is what’s going on inside those brains! I see a box with crayon scribble and flaps so meticulously positioned into wings. They see a high functioning space station with a fully stocked space cafe and all you can eat ice cream buffet.

Do you remember that? The kind of imagination that lead to hours of adventures that truly felt real. (As I am writing this the box has turned into a dog house) So when does this all change? When do we no longer visualize and believe our own stories? I guess my point is, how much time do I have left before these outrageous quests and crazy made up lands disappear?

For now I will soak up as much imagination as I can. Especially from the panting child, i mean puppy, sitting next to me.

My little girl was only 2 and already showing signs of Barbie obsession. What did that mean for me? This momma was on a quest to find a vintage Barbie House to makeover! I rummaged through thrift stores, garage sales, and flea markets for months to no avail. I was beginning to lose hope and started paging through the over priced choices on ebay.

About 5 months passed.

It is almost impossible for me to see an estate sale sign and not stop. Just another day running errands with my funny bunny while big brother was at school and I saw the sign. Yup… we have to check it out. (random stops throughout the day are now totally normal to my kids) As we pulled up, I saw it. I SAW IT! EXACTLY what I had been looking for. Ok, not exactly. But the story that unfolded as I discovered it, made it perfect.

My daughter immediately ran up to the old, wooden, outdated house. “Doll house, mommy!” I was carefully inspecting the oddly electrically wired contraption of a house when an older woman approached me. “My husband made that barbie house for our daughter.” She looked at it with her heart full of love and her eyes full of tears. We chatted while my little one explored the little door and switches. Her husband had built this house over 30 years ago. She watched him put his heart into that house day after day. She was sad to be letting it go, but said they really had no use for it anymore. She pointed out that the numbers on the front door was the address of the home they had lived in. I love it.

$25. That was it. Twenty five dollars for a little house full of endless play and imagination.

How could I not buy it. Not only was it vintage and handmade, but it already had a season of love and many more years of love to come.

The now elderly father helped me carry it to my car as my daughter followed behind us skipping in joy. In his little bright eyes were tears. Happy tears. He seemed proud that not only could he still carry the damn heavy thing but that his hard work would live on. And my eyes were full of tears too. We hugged. A good long hug as if we were somehow no longer strangers. It was perfect.

And so, our Barbie home makeover journey begins!

This is so cliche’. I know. But how else do you introduce yourself in the blog world?

So let’s just get the awkwardness over with and just get right to it.

I was born in Tampa, FL. I was a military brat, so I lived in multiple cities and attended many schools. One thing that was always constant – my loving family. They inspired me, brightened my days, and always supported me. Even when I was 12, convinced I would be a famous actress, and married to 1990’s teen heart throb Jonathan Taylor Thomas.

I was never one of those kids that knew what they wanted to be when the grew up. What I did know was that I loved to read, make barbie clothes out of scrap fabric with my mom, cook with my Dad, and go on crazy adventures with my sisters. I still hold on to the memories of long days playing in forts with my cousins, fishing on the docks in Destin, FL, and countless summers in Peachtree City with my Aunt. I loved collecting rocks and vintage odds and ends. There was no denying that I was an adventurous child.

In school, my passion didn’t come full circle until college. I realized I would never pass college algebra to get an education degree (I suck at math), so I started taking every other Humanities course possible. I was addicted. I spent the next years immersing myself in Florida Native American History, moving to Memphis, TN with my husband and holding a position at a Native American Museum. And then….I became a mom.
Life changing…. LIFE CHANGING!

Now I spend most of my time sharing what I love with my little family.

So, outside of that random, short cut of a story of my life…
Here are a few of my favorite things:

• Reading all the signage at a musuem
• Beach days
• Estate Sales
• 1920’s tunes
• Savannah, GA
• Traveling with my hubby
• Playing legos with my son
• Watching my daughter dance
• Southern Food (Especially grits)
• Hot Tea (I know… not southern, but i hate sweet tea. please don’t send hate mail)
• Sleepovers with my niece and nephew
• Bad ass BBQ
• Sister wknds
• Wandering historic cities with a “made the night before” plan
• Scrapbooking
• amateur photography (taking too many pics of my kids)
• My long distance friends
• Organizing (over and over and over)

I hope i didn’t put all (probably none) of my readers to sleep… but what you don’t know, now you know 🙂