button, button...

....whose got the button?

I was going through all of our buttons to find the perfect one for my day planner. (Click here to see more about that) I found some pretty cool ones and just some plain old weird ones.

I pulled these out and realized they matched my nails perfectly. What a coincidence!

There were quite a few anchor buttons. (These were the best ones) I've noticed anchors are becoming more popular so I pulled them out just in case.

I thought it was funny that this button said "French Toast." Why would anyone put that on a button?

I thought these buttons were some of the weirdest. There was one that was covered in some sort of fur or something, but I quickly put it back in the jar because it felt very weird.

Elephant buttons! I love elephants, so it made my day to find these.

I thought these just looked so cute and "buttony."

This is my collection of favorite buttons. So many different styles, colors, shapes and sizes.

A new addition to my wall

I used to have a big bulletin board up on my wall before I put up my map. I've been missing it. I like to have somewhere to hang pictures, quotes and reminders. The thing is that I also love my map. I didn't want to have to take it down to hang up my bulletin board. I tried looking for a smaller one that I could hang next to my map, but I didn't have any luck. I finally decided to cut down the bigger one that used to hang on my wall. It was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. I painted the frame, so that it would match the map. I love the finished product. It's not too big, but it's perfect for what I need it for.

Just a quick brakedown of everything on the bulletin board:

 This is one of my favorite quotes. It's from Monk, my all time favorite TV show.

 Just a random mustache I drew. I have aquired a love for them lately.

 A postcard my good friend sent me from Australia.

 I saw this on Pnterest and had to make one for myself. Take what you need: courage, hope, faith, bravery....

 A quote I typed up on this paintchip with my typewriter.

 I love the colors on this card I got. I had to do something with it besides putting it in a box or drawer.

I'm in love with this chair. I love the colors and the vintageness.

And just one last look at the new addition to my wall.

a trip to the aviary

We have a pass that lets us do a lot of fun stuff during the summer: water parks, baseball games, amusement parks, football games, visits to a bird aviary and a few other fun activites. Today we decided to visit the bird aviary. It was very hot, but overall it was pretty fun. We watched the bird show and wandered around to look at all of the different birds.

This peacock was my favorite bird that we saw. It was sitting on the roof of one of the structures. I don't know how it got up there because I didn't think they could fly. It was pretty cool though.

We found quite a few ugly birds while we were there. This one was one of the ugliest ones. 

my day planner

I always have a hard time trying to remember where I'm supposed to be at what time and what I have to do. I finally decided to try using a day planner. I had a plain black one, but it didn't really appeal to me. I thought I'd try to make it look a bit cuter. I covered it in paper and added a button to keep it closed. (To learn how to do this click here) I was a little nervous to put a paper doily on the front because I was afraid it would get all ripped up. I took the risk and modge-podged it on. I've been using it a ton. Not only is it very useful, but it's very cute.

chalk art

It was a beautiful sunny day, so we grabbed a bucket of chalk and headed outside. It seemed the sidewalk was just begging to be decorated.

the small things in life

The small things in life are often the best things in life. Laughter, smiles, a kind action, some nice words, or in my case today: cookies. We baked some frozen cookie dough. It took about 10 minutes, but it made my day a whole lot better.

a game of Boggle

Boggle has been one of our family's favorite games for quite some time. It's not the most fast paced game and it doesn't require a lot of strategy, but we have fun playing it. We took it out on the picnic table the other night for a quick game.

Summer Equinox

Happy Summer Equinox! Today is the longest day of the whole year. From now until Winter Solstice, the days will get shorter and shorter. It's a pretty amazing day if you think about it. I decided to create a new tradition and watch the sunrise on Summer Equinox and Winter Solstice each year. I did it for the first time today. Luckily I can see where the sun rises from my bed, so I didn't have to go outside. It took a long time for the sun to rise. It looked the same for about an hour, just a dim little light peeking up over the mountains. I was about ready to give up and get some more sleep when I looked out the window and saw that the sun was almost all the way up. I almost missed it! I quickly snapped some pictures before it could move anymore. It was gorgeous and well worth getting up at 5:50am.

This is what it looked like for the first hour, just a dim glow peeking up over the mountain.

a nature walk

We went on a little nature walk the other day. It was good for the exercise, but it was also a lot of fun. There were lizards all over the place. You would hear them in the bushes and then they would run out onto the path. It was hard to get a good picture of them because they were so fast and small. I think I got at least one good one.

It's kind of hard to see the lizard, but it was the best picture I got of it. Those lizards are just too fast.