a blog on: being Snow White, loving people, and enjoying the small things.

Normally rainy days like today call for comfy pants, a good book (or an entire marathon of The Office), and *something-hot-and-cozy* while I angrily glare at all things work over on the desk.  However, I am kicking today's booty: Chuck Norris round-house style.  E-mails, check.  Blog post, check.  Album, check.  Mini-photo session for future blog post, check.  Cleaning house, check.  SHOWER, check.  The latter deserves a standing ovation.  Thank you, Internet.  Thank you.

stars of the show:

I re-painted a bright pink birdhouse (you're welcome, hubs) to make our apartment feel more homey and country (plus, I like to pretend I'm Snow White).   And I piled that thing high with bird-seed plus sprinkled the ground with it...to you know, entice them.  THE DUMB THINGS WOULD NEVER FLY ON MY HOUSE.  But I did have some cute Mama Goose and babies visit and pick my ground seedlings (first row, third picture).  *note: since said visit, birds of all sorts have found where the house is and fly there multiple times a day...something my cats both appreciate.
Karra fixing my purple peek-a-boo after a bad off-brand bottle of purple left half my head of hair slightly tinted blue (row two, pictures two and three).  A nice bleach, conditioning treatment, and much-needed girl talk, and I was all peaches when I got home.
Grandma's house is my peace (row three, picture three).  I feel God when I'm there.  I feel able to just breathe.  And I was able to visit her TWICE this past week: oh be still, my heart.  This woman brightens my life.
After reading Kelle Hampton's Bloom, I immediately composed a messy e-mail - with a mascara streaked-face and a pile of tissues next to me- to this girl who is my net.  The hour long calls where I have to hide in my closet so we can talk about boyfriends.  The long e-mails filled with our problems.  The happy every-so-often cards in the mail that make us smile.  I haven't seen her in six months, but it just fits when we're together.  And this past Friday, Adam and I got to hear her perform with her band (row three, picture four).  Her voice is powerful.  The room loved her.  And I needed to see her.


points of interest:

Sometimes, I'm lucky enough to have lunch with my husband during his busy day.  This past Friday was chilly, but I was determined to have a picnic (row three, picture one).  So we did.  In the car.  Blanket and all.  WITH bakery cookies.  I've learned that if you want the world, sometimes you just have to go get it yourself.  
I love this horse's mentality (row four, picture one).  He dreams big.
Lilacs (row four, picture four).  Oh, how beautiful to arrive at Grandma's house with a vase filled with these beauties that I blogged about only days ago.  Enjoying the small things in big ways.  Check.



*(Instagram is a free app for iPhones that features various filters that are easy-to-use and make posting to Twitter, Facebook, and ha, my blog, easy-peasy! You can follow me @ bgilsonburnett or on Twitter @brennigan)


This week on the blog: albums & dedications to my senior girls of 2012!  Wedding season countdown: 11 days.  I'm already full of appreciation for love and sweet touches and kisses and beautifully written vows.  And Hubs just called and informed me he'll be home an hour early: so if y'all don't mind, I'm ditching work early too for love-time! ;P

Happy Monday!

Lavender & Old Lace

I've had home-buying fever since I was old enough to use a hot glue gun.  And while my fever was quelled by marriage fever for hardly long enough while Adam and I planned our rustic+chic wedding, the home-buying fever returned the minute we returned from our honeymoon.  Or before.

OKAY, OKAY, I ADMIT IT.  It totally just never left.

I believe my love for all things vintage and country stem from my grandmother who lives on a large piece of property (once) filled with gardens of fruit and vegetables, tall and beautiful hydrangea bushes, and a dirt road that led to imagination-filled walks.  She donned her and Grandpa's home with hand-made lace curtains in the kitchen and let me hand-pick wildflower bouquets to place in the center of her table.  And when we'd sit on the sofa with our afternoon tea and the windows & doors open, a faint breeze would sweep through the hall accompanied the song of wild birds.



Early on in our relationship, I begged, pleaded with, made Adam promised to fill our backyard with lavender bushes.  We are thankful for our apartment: a roof over our heads and large enough to give us space when we argue and small enough to create a special intimacy during these first few months of our marriage.

But lately, we'll sit in our two-bedroom apartment and dream of redecorating a place that is all our own:  mud-rooms created from a gutted closet, palettes of color to set the mood of our rooms, a garden to grow everything wild and beautiful to sit in the mason jar on our dining table, and a green bead-board backsplashed kitchen complete with old lace curtains.