favorite moment of the year (so far)

Yesterday, Violet and I drove to Morden for haircuts at Holly's Salon! We had a great time and I love my new bangs and layers! On the drive home, we stopped at a pumpkin wagon and I bought 3 pumpkins for my front step, then we headed home :) Violet and I were talking when all of a sudden, I saw the best thing in my world...

A mini horse farm!!!!! (Remember my buddy Peanut?) I screamed "Mini Horsessss!" as I 1) pointed! 2) did a u-turn! and 3) found a dry spot in the ditch to run up to the fence! Then I got slightly electrocuted by the fence, brushed it off and had one of the happiest moments of my year!!! So perfect!

Afterwards, Violet said she thought I was exaggerating how excited I was the whole time but then realized I was for real, I was fully that happy!!!Look at my cute harvest ready pal :) She's such a good friend, love you Violet!

we've got the goofies

Violet and I are having such a great time together!!! I'll be back soon with a big giveaway post and then tomorrow, more fun stories of our adventures together so far! Yesterday I had a moment that made my YEAR and can't wait to show you pictures of my glee! Plus cute photos of our new haircuts and so much more :) Be back soon, xoxoxoooooooo

4 Stories: Vintage

This weeks topic is "Vintage".

one. The Story

I love vintage for it's uniqueness, quality, variety and charm... but most of all, I love it for its story. To me used is the best part, I love picturing the mom who made cakes with my pyrex mixing bowls, or the wife who removed the buttons from her husbands shirt before it became rags or blanket squares, the way a cute girl once wore my dress a totally different way or the date she went on in it... I just love imagining the stories behind the pieces I now love :)

two. The List

You probably have one too, whether mental or written down... a list of the things you really want to find or the additions to your collections. I call it my "Jackpot List"... no matter what thrift store, flea market or garage sale I visit, I look for these jackpots and get the *most* excited when I find the things on my list (but also love the unlisted discoveries just as much). My list includes 2-pile floral towels (I'll show pretty photos of my collection in a week or so), school & office supplies, colorful kitchen items, pyrex bowls, vintage dresses, pillowcases, bags of buttons, charming blankets, containers and furniture that feels really me :)

three. Jill

I love hearing what treasures and scores my friends have found, Jill especially! She's incredibly good at thrifting & vintage shopping, being selective and giving it the best new home! Whenever I go to her house, I love looking for the new things in her home, hearing the history and if it was a good deal compared to the true value... it's a fun game we play :)

four. Look at my Face

Last month my sister and I went furniture shopping for my house. We wandered into a poorly marked Antique's Warehouse and the first floor was loaded with floor lamps... like, everywhere! Then we wandered upstairs and it was a huge-huge warehouse of old, strong furniture! We were quickly talking in high fast voices, racing from favorite to favorite and both dropped our bags & purses  in the middle of the store in order to speed up all the skipping we were doing! With our smiles so big it hurt, Amanda grabbed my shoulder to turn me around and said-- "LOOK AT MY FACE!!" (HUGE SMILES). We were clearly in a furniture heaven and it was impossible not to see our excitement (and full on dork moment).

4 Stories Details:

- You can read about the 4 Stories Group Blog Series here. Everyone is welcome to join :)
- You're welcome to use the header/topic pictures in your weekly post :)

- If you participate in 4 Stories, please link back to FN in your post and invite others to participate.

- Find 4Stories widgets in the bottom right sidebar (if you like).

- I'd love to read your 4 Stories! Please leave a link in the comments here if you join in :)

Fuzzy Friday "Six"

Mom & Owner: Pepper
Cat: Six (domestic shorthair cat)
Location: Australia, Sydney

Six likes to be aloof and nonchalant, to ignore 99% of the population and to do anything like exercise. She follows her Mom around but pretends not to, eats a lot and loves sleeping under Peppers armpit.

Six is also allergic to fish, a total oxymoron! Eating fish has no immediate symptoms for Six but continuous exposure leads to side effects and health complications. Of course, being a cat, Six loves fish... can't get enough! She is banned from fish and there is a glad-wrap on the fish bowl (to protect the cat, not the fish) and the neighbors have been told to be aware (if they're feeding their cat outside) that Six may be lurking in the shadows trying to get a fix ;)

Florence and the Machine

My sister recently emailed me this song and a few others from Florence and the Machine. I loved it so much, I bought the album (lungs) and I wanna listen to it the whole way to Fargo, North Dakota today (Keith's coming with me to calm my highway-driving anxiety... so it'll probably be a back and forth between Florence and raps... lol)! I'm so excited to see Violet and start my holidays this Friday :) Have a great day!! xo, LA

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy and z

I can't believe my eyes... incredible, tiny carvings from pencils by Dalton Ghetti. It took 2.5 years for Dalton to carve "Alphabet" using just a razor blade, sewing needle and sculpting knife for tools (and no magnifying glass)! See more of Dalton's pencil carvings here, his work and ideas are so shocking and pure. I love it!

4 Stories: Swimming

I'd like to introduce you to Freckled Nest's new Group Blog Series called 4 Stories. Every weekend, I'll announce a topic and share my 4 stories that relate to it... and you're invited to join me that week and blog four of your stories about the same topic & link to it in the comments... we can Group Blog! 

Everyone is welcome :)

This weeks topic is "Swimming".

one. Swimming Lessons

I wouldn't categorize myself as the "athletic type"... I lack coordination, didn't understand sports and was horrible at dance and gymnastics (super funny and awkward to watch, back then and to this day), so my extra curricular options were limited. Mom and Dad wanted us to be safe at the beach & pool so they signed us up for swimming lessons. I was so happy... I loved being in the water, picking out a swimsuit every season and gliding through the water like a seal. As I grew up, I went through the color levels earning my badges and felt like I was excelling at something :) I wanted to be a life guard, marine biologist and swimsuit designer and I felt the best when I was in the water. When I was 16, I registered for Diving Lessons and showed up for level one a little late in the game. I was surrounded by nine and ten year olds and a cute 19 year old teacher "Dave"... I was a nervous wreck, lol!

two. Grandma and Grandpa's Pool

My Grandparents live in the country in a home they built from the ground up and they installed an amazing underground pool in the backyard (that my Grandpa dug out by hand!) so that the grandkids would have fun! The first time the pool was filled (with ground-cold well water), we were MAJORLY excited to jump in; there was no ladder, no heater and no fear! We climbed in with that shoulders scrunched, arms not going in the water, slow motion tip-toeing walk you get to raise your body up from the cold water a bit and hiding our chattering teeth-- we wanted to swim so bad!! That pool gave us so much fun over the years, there was kids pool parties every weekend, ring diving, soaking with Grandma, holding your breath contests, fashion shows on the deck, helping grandpa clean the pool, playing mama and baby whale with my sister and a few 'skinny dips' when it was just the girls (or awkwardly around my brother, lol). That pool is one of my favorite childhood memories!

three. Canada Day Fireworks

Lol... a few years ago on Canada Day, Keith brought fireworks out to the cabin. Mom had made margaritas and we were all getting a "bit giggly". Mom, Kody, Amanda, Matt, Keith & I walked down to the beach with drinks in hand (cabin style) and set off the fireworks, laughing our faces off and cheering! Once they were done, Keith and Matt were all of a sudden stripping to their skivvies, running into the water! Amanda and I said, YAAAA, let's go too! We were down to our bras and underwear running into the water with only the stars lighting our way. We swam, floated looking at the stars and Keith & I snuggled in the water... it was one of the most magical moments ever :) When it was time to get out, I realized I was quite tipsy (my first time every being drunk) and I was having the hardest time getting out of the water with the combination of the waves, rocks under my feet and said tipsyness. I fell over at least 10 times, laughing and everyone laughing at me... so tricky!!

four. Diving for treasure at Big Whiteshell

My family went on a week long camping trip at Big Whiteshell Campground and I was at the prime of my swimming obsession. I had snorkel gear, flippers, multiple bathing suit options, and pretty much thought I should live in the water. There was a huge dock and I quickly discovered that there was an incredible amount of treasures surrounding it underwater. I spent the whole week diving for old bottles, awesome fishing hooks, money, weird lost items and anything I could find. It was so fun and the regular campers would stop by daily to see what the days finds were. I'd see fish as I was swimming underwater (one swam into my leg, so freaky) and I met lots of neat people :) By the end of that week, I could hold my breath for over 2 minutes, had an amazing tan and an adventure that suited my soul :)

A few 4 Stories details:
- You're welcome to use the header/topic pictures in your weekly post :)
- You don't need to participate every week... just when you want to.
- Feel free to share topic ideas in the comments.
- If you participate in 4 Stories, please link back to FN in your post and invite others to participate.
- I'd love to read your 4 Stories! Please leave a link in the comments of the weekly post if you join in :)
- You can add a '4 Stories' widget to your blog if you'd like (it's a "4 story building"!):

pug.

Lucy lives down the street from my house, is much puggier now and loves keeping watch :) Her dad used to dislike dogs but when his son/roomate had a pug and moved out, he missed the dog so much... this little Lucy soon joined his bachelor pad :) Adorable!

If you'd like your pet considered for a Fuzzy Friday feature, please email me: 
- your pets name and best quality
- your name + blog address + hometown
- a few cute portrait pics
- fun facts or stories about your fuzzy friend

List Love & iPhone Screenshot How-to

While waiting in line at the Apple store, I learned that you can do screenshots on your iphone! COOL. At the same time, click the power and home button (main screen button) and the screens picture will save to your photo folder :)

I have a really bad memory so I use my Notes App a lot and add to often (plus I use a notebook). Sometimes, when I'm bored or my head feels too full of ideas or just to track silly things. Last night I tried out the iphone screenshot feature and totally love it! Here's a few of my ongoing lists...

Do you make lists too?

What's your favorite list theme and way to keep track of things & memories?

Stories from Guatemala: Bad Translation

In 2001, I went to Guatemala for one month, living & working in an orphanage for 2 weeks, then later living with families who hosted the students from our group as we worked in local communities. I will share more about the this trip as my Odyssey unfolds (probably around chapter 5 or 6)... but I thought it would be interesting and fun to share some of the little stories and tales. 

Funfact: The pictures through these stories are taken with 35mm film. It feels really long ago that we used film and waited to pick up our developed roll to see if we 'got the shot' ... are we our parents talking about the days of a-tracks and vinyls? Yes, i just realized I called them a-tracks... I always say that by accident, that's how out of my world they are.

So like I said, we were living in a large orphanage (helping with a build and playing with the children in our spare time). We were warned that lice is a common problem, so being the paranoid traveling girls that we were, we checked each other every night (in the photo above, I'm checking my friend Karisa... and she's about to be told by me 'I see something'). We r-u-n out to the school yard and find two girls, 12 year olds.. we point to her partline and Karisa (with her high school spanish) asks them something like: "What's this??" Well, either her high school spanish was a little rusty or things were lost in translation (and fear filled in the blanks)... but she understood them to say was "BUGS".  ie. DOOOOOOM

Well... that was it, us girls were in full freakout mode assuming we all had IT. I called my Mom in Canada COLLECT (it was a $75.00 phone call), and she ran out to buy some of that special shampoo because another Winnipeg translator/chaperone team was leaving for Guatemala that night for the second part of the trip... and we needed that shampoo. Bad.

The day went on and all the girls assumed we had "it" and felt super crawly and majorly contagious. In the photo above, I had been video taping in the school ground (with my large video camera that was as big as a loaf of bread... oh technology) and the kids wanted to see themselves on the screen, so they swarmed around me. And I'm like, "GUYS-- back up! be careful!" But I had no spanish and couldn't communicate. Eventually, one of the kids wanted to take a group picture of us (the top/first photo)...so I just posed and hoped I hadn't made the problem worse. (I *love* the energy & joy of the kids in the photo... they were so awesome! I also love how skinny I was, lol.)

The next day, we were talking to the nurse who was a missionary from the States (ie. strong english and strong spanish)... she took a look at Karisa and Me and declared... "you have dandriff. The water pressure here does that to me too."

All that panic due to one word translated wrong. Lol. The translators arrived in Guatemala with the shampoo and we kept it on hand just incase... but never ended up needing it, at all.

I have been meaning to tell you...

Our online sewing class ended this weekend and I'm sad that it's over... we had such a wonderful group of women excited to learn to sew and thrilled everytime they completed a project-- they inspired me daily :) Now that Home Ec is over (ie. the projects are all posted), I have lots of things to catch up on and then I'm taking a long overdue holiday (I'll still be blogging and doing emails on my holiday, but I'm looking forward to no list for a week or two). Being so busy this last month, I feel like I've forgotten to tell you some stuff!


Here's a little list of exciting things:

- My friend Violet is coming for 2 weeks and I'm really excited to spend lots of time with her! We feel like sisters and have the best time together. I'm driving to the States on the 22nd to pick her up and we're staying there for a night to shop... then she's coming to Winnipeg for 2 weeks where we'll do lots of fun stuff... a hair day at Holly's salon, fun meals, Violet's 1st time at the cabin, practicing new make-up techniques (i've been obsessed with Youtube make-up tutorials this weekend), a fondue party, crafts, grocery shopping (Violet LOVES grocery shopping), and lots of silly girl time :) And maybe, a live episode of LA-TV with both of us! :)

- I'm making over my blog in October and I'm very very excited! I've had this on my to-do list for months and I'm finally making it a priority!

- Freckled Nest Design is expanding again! I'll introduce you to our newest designer in the next month and I think you'll love her just as much as Kyla and I do... she's a beautiful soul and talented designer & illustrator!

- Keith and I are working on things and I can see us getting back together officially in the next few months :) I've missed him like crazy and he missed me. We've been hanging out and he's making me incredibly happy :)

- I got a new computer last week, a 17" Macbook Pro. It's crazy amazing and takes up my whole lap.

- Pumpkin Spice Latte's are so good.

- I have some really fun blog posts coming up (starting next week): a craft tutorial, Q & Answers, the Dress Series Part 3, features on cool flickr & etsy people, and a video blog that's making me laugh constantly (need to make it still).

- Reno's on my house will be starting soon... it's gonna be a crazy experience (living amongst it with Lola) and I'm excited to show you some peaks along the way! First = new floors!

- Lastly, I wanna say that I really appreciate you. When I started this blog, I added a site meter and it gave the option to start your counter at a certain number. I was so relieved because I didn't want to lose the 32 hits I had collected in my first few months (mostly my Mom)... and now to be past half a million and still growing rapidly, I can't believe my eyes! Thank you for reading my blog, it really does mean a lot to me and I love sharing my world & faves for you to read :) I'm honored to have you here.

xo, LA

Fuzzy Fridays: Trixie

I met Trixie a few years ago in Ontario and she lovvvvved belly rubs! And I loved everything about her, don't you? Happy Friday!

Score: Study 25 Melodion

When I'm out thrifting, I have regular searches and departments I scour, but I especially love falling upon the extraordinary... things that I've never seen before, things that my nieces will think is magical or cool, colorful conversation pieces :)

[How it Works: A mouth piece goes into the end by the green label and you hold it vertically with your hand through the strap on the back. It's kinda like the recorders we played in elementry school, but with  a keyboard... actually, it's kinda like an accordian now that I think of it. It makes a pretty loud sound and is crying out for a comeback.]

Sometimes I don't know what I'll do with them, but I can't walk away. This was one of those finds, a small keyboard/flute type thing, in perfect condition, in my favorite color annnnd in a very cute case (I love things that come in cases)! Even better, it was $4! I found it in the Spring while I was shopping with my bestie and if you've ever been shopping with me... you know when I've found a score = there's semi-restrained squealing and semi-restrained jumping ;) Jill laughed at me and we continued shopping :)

What have you 'semi-restrained public glee' over lately? 

I'd love to see your sweet finds, please share/link a pic in the comments!

Hugs, Leigh-Ann

I'm pretty excited!!

Last week Els told me she had a surprise (which she knows would drive me batty waiting)... I tried to guess but was totally off and yesterday, I got these 4 photos by email...

...as I scrolled down, I had no idea what it could be! When the last photo appeared, I yelped and got teary eyes!! I phoned her right away squealing and giddy... I said yes, for sure!!!  Els and I have been good friends for a couple of years and I think her and Jeremy's relationship is one of the most beautiful pairings I've ever seen. They couldn't be more perfect for each other & it's really an amazing thing to witness! I'm so honoured to be a bridesmaid (with 6 other amazing women) to one of my three best friends :) Thank you so much Elsie, this surprise was worth the wait!! xo

oh yum!

This dress is my reward if I finish my big list today.
Majorly motivated mine :)

Fuzzy Fridays: Lola

Me and my little teenager spent all week in the new porch and it was so awesome :)

I'm off to buy a new mac then I'm coming home to work on emails all night... I'm pretty behind and am on lockdown till I can't keep my eyes open ;) Hope you're having a great Friday! Love Leigh-Ann

perusing mr.Etsy, I found...

'Divine Twine' from OliveManna

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'Women's Special Ed. Docs' from Bootmeister

I need to measure my feet... I kinda wanna get these!

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'Unbelieveable Moustache on the C' by Sophie Blackall
I love this entire series inspired by Missed Connections, it's beautiful!

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'Nancy plus Don' Dress from Vera Vague

(I pondered b. reduction surgery so I could own this dress)

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'3 Vintage Mixing Bowls' from OneLateNight

 Listen to the divine color names: Lime Green, Robin's Egg Blue, Buttermilk Yellow. I think buttermilk is one of the prettiest words in the world. (Moist is the worst)

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And two of the most stunning models on Etsy...

from I Heart Norwegian Wood

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from Thief and Bandit

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September is here (woah) and I'm happy to introduce to you my new sponsors!! Pour a glass of coca-cola and take a look through their blogs & shops with the featured images in my right sidebar :)