light and shapes

saturday we hit the road with amy and her boys and headed to cincinnati. at one of our stops we ended up at the krohn conservatory...an art deco era greenhouse filled with the most beautiful rainforest plants and flowers. it's been so chilly, it was nice to spend an afternoon tucked in sun and warm air. and so much of it reminded me of pictures from alphonse mucha's studio...lavish and layered and exotic. so inspiring...especially on this rainy rainy monday. it makes my fingers itch for a greenhouse of my own next year and palm leaves big enough to wrap up in.

happy monday, loves.

stars and stripes and hot dogs

i hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

ours was full of celebrating and getting festive and feeling oh so thankful.

there was also a lot of color coordinating going on and a straight diet of hot dogs and lemonade and neil diamond.

sunday night we met my sister and friends downtown for dayton's fireworks by the river. i don't know if it's me getting older or if i'm just genuinely sappy these days...but fireworks get me every time. they make me hold my hands in a pre-clap position and forget to breathe. i'm a real sucker for them.

more pictures tomorrow!

happy happy happy monday, my friends!

xoxo

old friends and even more root beer

 me and max got to spend the day with my best childhood gal niki and her little lady today.

we loved on each other over hot dogs and more root beer (it's a root beer kind of summer!) and danced to elvis on the jukebox. 

it was a real treat!

times like this are terribly few and far between...but it was so good to be together with our little ones...seeing them play and dance and shove and boss...she and i remembering each other at that age and wondering how time flew so fast.

it was the perfect start to our july and a full and happy weekend!

 

have a happy one, friends!

xoxo

world a'fair

 there's only one place in dayton where you can watch can-can dancers from the 1830's while eating a german bratwurst and dutch appelflappen with a coffee from columbia for dessert.

it's just a shame you can only do it once a year. 

the world a'fair is where a slew of countries are represented at the convention center through food and music and dancing. a little group of our friends went and traveled the world in two hours flat last friday night for my brother-in-law nate's birthday.

it was a wonderful time! and without fail, every time i leave that place, i end up aching for tradition or more culture in my life. 

it's a slippery slope from the world a'fair to joining the south slavic republics folk dance troupe of dayton. 

(i've looked into it)

in related news...

this is why i'm in love with matt.

and this is why you should never take me out on a friday night. 

dancin' in the street!

happy happy friday, everyone. 

be true to your school

 my 10 year high school reunion is in a few weeks!

it's been such a funny process rummaging through old clippings and photos and ribbons....remembering back to days when, in the midst of having absolutely no clue, you thought you had the world completely figured out.

but i guess when your world was as small as ours was, you'd have it figured out too.

i grew up in a tiny town with one school building for all of elementary and jr high and high school.

i graduated with a class of 45 friends i had known since i was 5.

it was such a beautiful upbringing...and it allowed our roots to grow big and deep and strong.

then they tore down my beloved school last year to build a newfangled one with all sorts of bells and whistles...

 a fact my sister amy and i were none too happy about. 

there were talks of chaining ourselves to the building on demolition day....

i suppose i'm a sentimentalist.

and i'm sure it would come to no surprise to all of you that i was annoyingly spirited and peppy and outgoing back in my school days...something i've been a little embarrassed about now that none of that really seems to have mattered one bit. 

but last weekend i got the chance to visit the new school and see some of my old friends and admire decades and decades of old photos hanging on brand new walls.

 and i didn't feel so embarrassed anymore. 

because being apart of something...building on a legacy...even in such a small way, is something to be proud of.

but wouldn't you know they turned the old building into a parking lot?

hmph!

did any of you go or plan on going to your high school reunions?