favorite things

there is something about farmer's markets that just puts a smile on my face.

the little baskets filled with perfect fresh produce.

the colors of homemade pasta noodles covering an entire table.

free samples galore: jalapeno or chokecherry jelly, fresh bread, armenian yogurt dip.

friendly people who just want to give you a taste of something homegrown and better.

i love a good farmer's market, a chance to support the locals, a reminder of france, a true taste of summer. bring it on summertime!

those little baskets

cheese = great

 friendly alpacas?

market colors

before we hit the market, we experienced another wonderful summer activity.. hiking!

we went to seven falls with sue and her kids and it was a blast.

it is such a blessing that anj and i both work later in the day so we can have such fun mornings,

though the falls were a little wimpy and the stairs were a little scary, we all had such a fun time.

just some wildlife camouflage

 thanks ben, thanks.

 how do they measure up?

check those stairs

 quality signage. we may have scrambled a few times. woops.

 creepy floating staircase?

some flora and fauna

 some mads and anj.

 a butterfly!

 showing our respect for helen keller... oh wait, helen hunt jackson?

 we made it!

some more quality shots

stairs!

some falls

 me and fam

 the creepiest elevator in the side of a mountain ever.

 the classic everyone close your eyes and pull out a rock and see who gets the coolest game was a hit.

 all seven!

and of course you can't forget our trip to see the kissing camels... can you spot them?

it was a perfect summer day!

an outfit and sunday picnic among friends

another lovely week,

another lovely sunday.

i was able to go home this week to see my sweet sister graduate from high school [crazy!]

more on that to come

today i decided try a kind of risky pairing... dots on dots

i texted mom and jenn for support, mom said, "I think it is adorable!" and j said, "it might be a little much but you could probably pull it off". i took the chance, and i quite liked it!

 i just got the top on a shopping trip with mom, we stopped at this fun little boutique called francesca's... it was full of great treats!

 anj was looking pretty darn handsome today too. 

 just using self timer behind the nearby albertsons.. super classy.

 we also got invited to a sunday picnic with some other married couples from our ward who live in our little apartment complex. we were in charge of a side dish and whipped up this fruit salad.

 it was a perfect day for a picnic.

 jack spent most of the picnic chasing cute little lily, and she spent most of the picnic running away. 

starting off young!

 it was quite a feast!

 picnic love

 tasty picnic fare. one couple brought this delicious toffee dip for the apples. yum!

 the whole bunch.

 it really was a great way to spend a breezy sunday afternoon, and it is so fun to have made some new friends here!

hope you all have a great week!

can i do an outfit post?

moving to colorado meant we had to fit everything we wanted to bring with us into our one vehicle. fitting everything into one vehicle meant that space was very limited. limited space meant that we had to pack very light. packing very light meant that my wardrobe had to be pretty limited. 

and all of that means that i get to explore my closet every sunday and try and find new combinations to mix everything up a bit. it has actually been fun to try and make new parings with some of my favorite pieces that i haven't ever tried together before. the past two sundays i thought i had some pretty good success, so i decided to put it on the blog. 

new outfit one: i just got this green shirt on sale at anthro and i decided to try it out with my peach skirt from fancy france. yippee

 new outfit two: i've had both of these peices for a while and i finally put them together. i think the brown shoes pulled it all together and it worked out. 

 i was also excited about throwing a bow to dress up my messy bun.

i'm really obsessed with collars right now. i love that this blouse has a fun sailor tie. 

 i'm also trying to wash my hair less often, exciting right, so messy buns definitely come in handy. 

 another messy bun style...

 and what would a post be without a quality self shot?

 or two...

we will see what other combinations i can come up with to keep things interesting here in colorado springs. 

p.s. a big thanks to my husband of dreams anj for being willing to take artsy fartsy post church pictures of me! :)

memorial day baseball dreams

memorial day on monday was an extra special treat. because anj got off early, we decided to head up to denver for a rockies game! we were extra excited because the tickets advertised fireworks after the game... who doesn't love fireworks?

the rockies happen to be anj's favorite team, so we were pretty pumped for the game.

 we ended up buying tickets in the 'rockpile' and so we had an awesome view of the field and everything that was going on!

it was fun to meet up with sue, sam, and ben. and we had a grand old time eating baseball treats, cheering for the team, and avoiding numerous beer spills. (the joys of baseball)

 though i begged anj for some peanuts and cracker jacks, they cost a pretty penny, so i decided to brave my fears and eat a hot dog. yikes! everyone else played it safe and stuck with nachos...

 doesn't look half bad does it?

 nacho cheese

he's na-cho man, he's mine!

 view from the rock pile!!!

i had a great old time watching my bud dexter fowler tear it up in the outfield. we have the same wedding photographer and appear next to each other on her blog so obviously we are now buds. best buds. 

 it was a pretty intense game and it even went into extra innings, of course my man dex scored the winning run and the rockies won their second game of the day against the astros!

 rockies win!!

 though we didn't know this at first, we found out that because the rockpile is right in the firework danger zone we all got to head down to the field to watch the show!!

 i think it was a super fun dream come true for all of us to walk and play and sit on a MLB field. sam and ben were picking grass for good luck, people were making baseball field angels, everyone was cheering.. it was such a treat!

 me and susie probably standing right where my bud dexter did. 

 lots more pictures about us being super stoked on the field

 a great memorial date!

 a little love in the foul ball dirt

 laying on the field with my love watching probably one of the best firework shows i have ever seen just made me so entirely happy. it was the perfect end to a super fun night and it made me so grateful for my wonderful husband and for this wonderful country i live in!

i hope you all had a lovely memorial day too!