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It’s not really feeling like autumn here yet. It’s like 90 degrees outside. BUT as autumn is my favorite season in Minnesota, I’m just going to keep sipping warm cocoa & chai and sewing cotton flannel backed blankets in my air-conditioned studio. And if you missed it, I am running THREE giveaways this week. The band Scythian’s new album, a Blessed is She planner, and on instagram, one of my autumn blankets! Just in case you’re looking for a little gift for that babe in your life, I posted a bunch of autumn blankets perfect for swaddling, playmat, crib, car seat, snuggling, in my etsy shop, Whole Parenting Goods. Hop over and use the code “shippingfree” if you so desire! The most special part about these blankets is the top stitching on the border. It takes a long time and I pick the stitch as reflective of something I loved in the designer cotton top fabric itself–a wave, a semi-circle, an arc. The lemons have always been insanely popular! Same with the zoo creatures! Happy shopping, friends! There are a handful of bibs & burp cloths in the shop too. Stay tuned for leggings again in October. You guys cleared me out of my last-season clearance in just three days!! preview of fall leggings!
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I can’t say I’m a great planner. Ask my friends whom I stood up for 45 minutes the other night because I was sitting in bed thinking Gosh, I’m pretty sure I had something today but I don’t see it on my ical . . . . And I can’t pretend this summer hasn’t been a blur of pregnancy related illness, one massive trip to the East Coast we kinda fumbled through, a grueling soccer camp that the two older kids loved and I languished in the heat for two+ hours each morning (but honestly just talked to my mom friends the whole time so while eating the snacks I brought for my kids__^_^__), and now it’s August with more travel and trying to get my life around the fact my oldest will go to school and needs things hemmed. And I’ve reopened my etsy shop with fall blankets and gift sets! Leggings coming soon (if you want to be the first to know when they launch and have first dibs on fabrics and a discount, newsletter for it is here). And yet, it has been my favorite summer because we weren’t stacked up with a million activities. The day-to-day has been hanging out, enjoying the seconds of quiet between the indignity of children who live with other children, and remembering that pretty soon I’ll need to be “on it.” Like, don’t forget to pack a lunch for your kid so now you can’t just grocery shop whenever but must plan ahead,…
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Scythian. I love these guys! They’ve been close family friends for over a decade and we are always thrilled with they play a show in the Twin Cities because hot damn they’re good. And the kids really do love them, but apparently love ice cream more. SUNDAY, August 14, the Dakota Club 7pm all ages so yes, I’m bringing the older two kids with ear protection. Get your ticket now. They always sell out so you don’t want to be sorry that you missed it. It’s a sit-down venue with delicious food so come early to get a good seat so you can rock out for the show without food in your mouth. Who am I kidding? Last year I rocked out while eating french fries. We listen to their new album daily, because that’s how my kids roll. They’ve always been major lovers of the kid’s album “Cake for Dinner” but now they can’t get enough of the for-adults-too ones. These guys are frenetic, funky, soulful, americana rock with an ethnic twist as the main members are Ukrainian brothers and a sister. You’d think their instruments are part of their bodies, because, well, their amazing parents raised them playing basically from the womb along with their seven siblings. I even dug up this snap of them playing our wedding in the front yard! If you haven’t read this article about their mom, God rest her soul, do so and thank me later. On to the free disc part. Their newest…
Read MoreI’m linking up with my friend Ginny at her Yarn Along where every week she posts what she’s knitting and reading. She’s always reading amazing things and knitting even more amazing things. Don’t look for those knitting skillz here, friends. But the quality books? YES! The very first is my other friend Kelly’s wonderful retreat based on Thomas a Kempis’ Imitation of Christ. It’s called A Worthy Reception and I really enjoyed doing it. It was intense for this spiritual wuss but I’m going to do it again before the baby comes–really good to go deep and old school with a private retreat! If you have wanted to do some interior work but really can’t get away from your family or work obligations long enough to go on an actual retreat, this is the book for you. The next is a book a dear friend gave me I’m still working through called The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander. Talk about beautiful meditations about the Blessed Virgin Mary! It’s mystical but accessible. A must read for your fall. And what would a Nell reading list be without some pop psych book? I read Incognito: the secret lives of the brain by David Eagleman a while back and then lent it to my sister. I snagged it back when I was on the East Coast last month and hopped back into it. Eagleman is a neuroscientist who goes into the subconscious brain and so many factors that go into how our brains are developed and function. Fascinating…
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It’s another hot humid muggy soily (as in, my children will soil their clothing) Sunday morning. I am up early with the tot, then play pass off to my marathon-training husband who ran 26 miles this morning (!?!?! because he’s amazing), and doze a little. I dream of the perfect donut and sleeping forever. Did you know you could dream about sleep? You can. I haul my jiggly sore belly out of bed and semi-get ready for church. Throw on a dress and hoop earrings. Kinda brush my teeth and hair. As I pick up a hustle down the backstairs to the tunes of it’s mine and why does she always get it cascading as plaintive cries to the heavens, I think what if we didn’t have to get to church? We swap parenting again. This time for him to shower and put his legs up and for me to soothe the irrationally irate tot who wants blue mac & cheese for breakfast and insists on using a sharp kitchen scissors to trim the bushes in the driveway. They don’t need a cut. We all settle into reading about Little Bear and I sorta start a chai tea, iced. Like usual, I forget about it until the ice has watered it so down, no one would count it as mildly caffeinated anymore. We struggle the kids into their church clothes, we struggle them into their car seats, and I’m already ready to call it a day. It’s 9:56am. Mass is the center point of…
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My tot never ever loses the delight that a only stack of wooden blocks tumbling can provide. He’ll go again and again. When these Anthony’s Blocks arrived from Timberlocked, a small family run business of husband/wife woodsmithing talents, he has been in loooooooove with them. Karen contacted me about their desire to share their story of loss and love through these beautiful, hand-cut blocks made from untreated pin, coffee, olive oil, & beeswax. So they shipped a box to us as a treat! The family lost their baby Anthony Joseph to miscarriage on February 1, 2014. They donate 10% of every sale to their local crisis pregnancy center in his honor. You can read a little more about his story here. My heart pumps a little extra for those parents who have lost a child to miscarriage. The reality of a baby growing within you only to have that baby’s life stop? It makes this pregnant woman weepy just thinking about losing that joyful presence. I love the work they’re doing to promote love and healing through blocks specially devoted to their little one. And these blocks! Beautifully hand-crafted, sturdy, with nice bold lettering–a really great item for your little loves and certainly one for every gift list from birthdays to holidays. Oftentimes the actually alphabetical figure on the blocks is small or obscured in wooden blocks. Not these! My four year old spent a whole evening going through the alphabet song, the alphabet letters, and pointing out each to…
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