"What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you" Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Fall is absolutely and completely in the air. I love everything about it, the colors, the smell, the dark evenings, and stars in the sky once again. (Here in AK we have so much daylight in the summer that it really only gets dusk at night.) I miss the stars.  The weather here continues to give us sunshine, we are not free from the briskness in the air though, I even woke to frost on my truck this morning. By evening I was freezing my tootsie off but I have to stretch my summer to the absolute max since ours is cut relatively short up here.

Life has been so busy these days and I am worried that this is just my life. With three kids and two of them in school that start and end at different times I feel as if I am running all the time! My housework is never caught up and dinners seem to barely make it to the table. I am need of some major reorganizing and reprioritizing I suppose. I have been thinking on life and the importance of keeping priorities straight lately. What are my priorities? What should they be? I know that God foremost and my husband, children, and family are at the top of my list. I strive each day to make sure these people know they are important and valued by me. This seems to add up to be so much of my day. I've been pondering about where friendships fit in my life. Friendship is hard. I am in the thick of raising kids and all that jazz but I need some interaction, some give and take, accountability, you know? The problem I am finding is that life is BUSY and friendships take time...lots of it. That is why I value and enjoy blogging so much. I appreciate the security in that whatever I am feeling or choose to write, you all are there, reading, and listening, interjecting advice or just a kind word. I appreciate you. Every blog I read I have some sort of kinship or connection with it's author, whether it being they are a mom, lover of vintage, having a bad day, completely inspired by the next girl, or incredibly in love with their other half. I connect with you all on one level or another. Thank You.

WHAT:
Shorts: Old Navy...clearance..$4
Sandals: Born...thrifted...$9
tank:  ?
Blouse...vintage...thrifted
owl ring: Target
Sunnies: borrowed from daughter...found underneath school bleachers :)


WHERE:
Errands around town and then over to the in-laws for dinner and to process and butcher our meat for the winter. (hubbie got a moose! YAY!)

"Life never becomes a habit to me. It's always a marvel." Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923)

Happy Monday!
How was every body's weekend?
Summer finally decided to happen here in Alaska. We had the most gorgeous weather this weekend, when you add the fall colors, you have magic!!! My weekends usually are not conducive to fashion. My family and I will usually be found in the mountains, on a river bank, or camped out on a sand bar. Most likely I am clad in my hiking boots, North Face jacket, some sort of hat to cover the mess on my head, and jeans...
I do however always have my camera with me and I wanted to share a few images from my weekend.

enjoy.

Are the colors not amazing?!!??

This was a real rainbow that "followed" us in our plane. It was a complete circle and absolutely breathtaking.

So majestic...don't you think?

And of course the obligatory self portrait...I love that guy!

Funny flub ups...

Yay! It's the weekend already my friends!!!

 Lately I have had some quirky photos roll across my screen at editing time... I love seeing everyone else's outtakes so I thought I'd share a few of mine. This is one of the many aspects of blogging I love. The fact that we are all real people who do funny things on a daily basis, not just models who look perfectly polished upon every page turn.

Enjoy.

Way to cool for words!.....I think NOT
Not to mention my belt is crooked and my 4 year old somehow buttoned my
cardigan without me knowing...?

Its a UFO!!!!!

The hazards of blogging...wet uneven stumps and wedge heels do not mix.
I did recover from this without cracking my tailbone but it was close. I did however
 get some great shots before I almost died...

<><>

I am a one-legged wonder!!!

Have a Happy Friday!!!!

"When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike you, do not wait until he has struck before you crush him. " Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945)

So My day consisted of pretty much nothing except doctors offices yesterday. What an annoying process! Through the course of some changes this past year, our little family has been blessed with double coverage insurance for a few months. WOO-HOO, right! I was totally pumped about this in the beginning, even jokingly wishing that something big but minor and non life threatening would happen to myself of the husband.(spare the kids right?) I wanted to use this double insurance, I imagined in my mind how incredibly satisfying it would be to not only whip out 2 insurance cards at the receptionist desk but to see that infamous doctor bill come back with the words printed at the bottom...You owe this amount...$0.00!!! I jokingly said these things for the first week we had this glorious double coverage... that is until I got a phone call from my husband late one evening after out practicing for his upcoming snowmachine, or snowmobile race for all of you in the rest of the world. We call it a snowmachine up here in the great north, and no I don't mean it makes snow!!! Anyways he called me and said that he had good news and he had bad news....UH_OH. The good news was he was still alive and the bad news was that he thought he may have broken his back!!!! Yeah...joking OVER! I said I wanted minor...non life threatening!!! Funny thing as we were hobbling him into the ER he looked at me and said..."this is your fault". I said" WHAT! How is this my fault!"  He replied with a smile on his face," you are the one who wanted to use this double coverage insurance!" HAHA.... quite the jokester. A few hours later, a lot of tests, and a hefty bill that I didn't have to pay any of I might add... He was released with a clean bill of health, just major bumps and bruises and maybe a cracked rib or two, no broken back...THANK YOU LORD! Ok, Ok ... back to why I was in the doctor all day yesterday... being the thrifty bargain mommy that I am, our double coverage ends the end of the month and being the horrible procrastinator I am I waited until now to get all dentist, doctor and whatever else I could think to squish into this last month! Frustrating though because you never walk out of the doctor office being done, we are always referred to another specialist or need another X-ray or something. It seems to be just an on-going process. GRRRR.... I guess it's ok with me as long as we get it all done by the end of the month, and the bottom of the page says, You owe this amount...$0.00!!! HAHA!

WHAT:
Boots: Frye....Thrifted...$24
Tights: Forever 21
Skirt: Target...clearance
Sweater: Banana Republic....ebay
Cardigan: ???? OLD!

WHERE:
All over Anchorage and Wasilla.... THREE separate doctor appointments!!! UGH.....
Dinner at the in-laws

"Scientific truth is marvelous, but moral truth is divine and whoever breathes its air and walks by its light has found the lost paradise." Horace Mann (1796-1859)

Another lazy day here at just my style. Mondays or pseudo Mondays seem to always be a major catch-up day for me. I have piles of laundry from the weekend and everything to put away, it's just easier to put on a pot of soup and hibernate for the day. I adore this sweater...I gasped in delight when I saw it a few weeks ago at dollar day...the ballooned sleeves, the chunky texture, the length...Ahhh I digress. Perfect fall attire in my book.


WHAT:
Sweater: Thrifted...$1
Jeans: James
Booties: Target
Scarf: Thrifted
Tee: Target...clearance...$3
Sunnies: borrowed from hubbie

WHERE:
No place special, just errands around town.

Labor Day Weekend

Happy Labor Day everyone! I had an incredibly fun filled weekend. Friday started out meeting Delightfully Tacky's Elizabeth for a photo shoot. It was so much fun and she is just as fun and down to earth in person as she is on her blog! Her hair on the other hand is even more impressive in person!!! HA! The photo shoot was fun and completely awkward all at the same time, it's alot different to have a professional photographer with lights and the fixings standing across from you, than your 11 year old daughter!!! The upside to it though is that you don't feel near as awkward when people walk by and see you taking pictures. It was a blast though and I am completely grateful to have been able to have participated in this project with Elizabeth.

The rest of the weekend was spent up in the mountains at our cabin. Our days were filled with family, friends, afternoon naps, campfires, Merlot, blueberry picking and smores.... Good times! I hope that your weekend was a pleasant as mine.

Fall Foliage

*taken by me on the mountain

*****Style post later today!

"The mistakes of the fool are known to the world, but not to himself. The mistakes of the wise man are known to himself, but not to the world. " Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1832)

This look is what I would classify as "mommy wear". This type of thing is what I wear when my hot water heater/boiler goes out and is out for TWO WEEKS! Yes this means no hot water.....for TWO WEEKS! No showers, boiling water to do dishes, no laundry, ok so maybe I'm behind the times and didn't know there was such as thing as cold water Tide.  Luckily I have family in this town and we've been able to desmellify(not a word but I like it anyways) ourselves every night across town. I bought some cold water Tide and stayed home all day yesterday to tackle the GIGANTIC Mt. Everest looking pile of laundry that was  spilling out into the hallway. NOT FUN! I am hoping, praying and crossing every body part that can be crossed that it gets fixed today. On a fashion note...I am in love with short sleeved sweaters.

WHAT:
Jeans: True Religion
Shoes: Dansko
Sweater: Thrifted
Sunnies: Target

WHERE:
Laundry Room...Pepperd Central