My Leprechauns

My two leprechauns are always up to some sort of mischief ;) We celebrated over the weekend by attending the parade downtown. What a hoot! They are sure generous with their candy here...Lizzie came home with a bag full of loot and even caught a stuffed pony the size of her head. Wishing you and your leprechauns a Happy St. Patty's Day!

Puppet Master

Puppet Master, original collage on scribbled book cover

Two years ago Patrick and Lizzie were well into their Oz adventures. This week they are finishing up the 47th book in the series, Trouble Under Oz. It has been a fantastical journey and even though I don't sit in on the nightly readings there has been a bit of Oz seeping into my own work. I've dubbed it Oz-mosis ;)

A Special Day

Patrick and Lizzie shared a special day together last Friday. We trekked back to Manhattan to attend Patrick's commencement ceremony at Kansas State University and Lizzie celebrated her 9th birthday. The six year journey through graduate school is officially over! In Lizzie's words....'Congratulations Dr. Daddy'.

And...

And...it's June. When did that happen?

And...Patrick defended his dissertation today. 

Lizzie is now calling him "Dr. Daddy" :)

And...we move to Springfield in 2 weeks. 

Time to get cracking with the packing!

And...today also marks our 13th wedding anniversary.

And...the moving sale at Sushipot Vintage continues for now.

And...I'm going to take a little break from this space 'til next month.

And...I wish you a Happy June :)

See you soon.

Springfield Home

Our house-hunting excursion to Springfield, Missouri was a success. We viewed all sorts of houses....and I mean that literally.

 

Patrick did well navigating our new city. It helps that it's laid out like a big grid and we were armed with Google Maps.

Took a bit of time to explore one of the local parks and skip a few rocks on Lake Springfield.

We did our fair share of eating out at many of the fantastic local restaurants.

Lizzie finally got to visit a Krispy Kreme...Daddy's all-time favorite doughnut place!

Spent some time on campus and visited Strong Hall to see where Patrick will be working this Fall.

Lizzie says the back yard of our new home smells like a fairy garden 'cuz it's surrounded in honeysuckle. 

Now time for the part I'm dreading.... p-a-c-k-i-n-g.

Gobble, Gobble

Our Thanksgiving Day preparations are well underway and I'm busy wrapping up loose ends in the shop so I can take the day off tomorrow! This will be our second year celebrating with a purely vegetarian menu and I think I've got a better handle on it this time 'tho lemme say it'll be a little bit heavy on the carbs. haha! These pictures were taken last year....we made fruit turkeys which have been a tradition in my family since I can remember. I'm gonna pop back in later today to announce this years BIG Sushipot Holiday Sale. Planning to have it up and running so I don't even have to think about it on my day off. Wishing you and yours a Happy Turkey Day if you reside here in the USA. Gobble, gobble!

Sundays Fundays

Lizzie hasn't missed wearing her Little Miss Sunshine, Sundays Fundays shirt, for a Sunday since she got it over a year ago. Now Sunday's are officially our family fun-day. (I swear she was having fun despite that look. hah!)

Today we decided to take our co-pilot bike trailer on a long-ish ride and explore the Linear Trail here in Manhattan. It was a gorgeous Kansas day and before we knew it we'd covered over 6 miles and then had to pedal back to our car.

Twelve-ish miles is not bad for us and the longest ride for Lizzie yet. And yes...she did pedal the entire way!

Of course we had to stop for a few Instagram shots on an old bridge.

Patrick is Mr. Chippy Paint over on IG. You can find him @elasticity if chippy paint is your thing.

I don't mind stopping for Patrick's chippy paint images 'cuz he's always patiently stopping for my "just-a-quick-look-see" at antique malls 'n thrift shops when we're out and about. I'm tellin' ya....marriage is all about compromise ;)

Mom (me!) insisted on a quick family snapshot at the end of our trail. We all agreed it was a great Sunday Funday....

....and then we polished off our day with "bicycle soup". Hope you had a Sunday Funday too!

I See Faces

Found Object Faces at Sushipot Vintage

One of my favorite tags to browse on Instagram is #iseefaces. It's always fun to see the faces that others discover in mundane objects or find obscured in the urban landscape.

I put together this set of faces for the shop. Many of these little faces have been following me around for years--most of them were picked up on the Gulf Coast. Guess it's time to set 'em free!

We have big plans this weekend. Patrick and I are celebrating our twelfth wedding anniversary on Sunday. You can peek at our wedding pics I posted last year but all you get this year is this family portrait of sorts. Hah!

The Oz Adventures

Last night Patrick and Lizzie finished reading the 14th book of the original series of Oz books by L. Frank Baum. They had begun the series this past summer and have continued reading a few chapters together every night. Today was Patrick's birthday and we celebrated with a fitting journey to the Oz Museum. They've now decided they will delve into more Oz adventures by reading the additional canonical books which I believe total a whopping 40+ volumes (thank goodness for Amazon Prime!).

And to Patrick....I just want to say thank you for instilling such a love of reading and adventure in our girl....Happy Birthday!

The Late Thirties

So am I officially in my "late thirties" now? According to Patrick and Lizzie I am! Oh well...I'm going to embrace it and say being 37 is g-r-e-a-t! I've been showered with lots of birthday surprises and phone calls from family near and far AND Patrick made me his best red velvet cake ever. He makes one for me every year on my birthday but this one topped all the rest. I mean it was perfection. Excuse me while I go sneak another slice....

Chippy Paint

Raise your hand if you have a thing for chippy paint! I know I do and from the looks of it so does my Instagram-ing spouse Patrick (aka elasticity). Thought you'd enjoy his collection of images documenting peeling paint that adorns decaying facades in and around Manhattan, Kansas.

Wabash Park Campground

Our recent family reunion was held at the Wabash Park Campground & Retreat Center in Clay City, Indiana. We were all housed in a lovely new lodge but Patrick took time to wander the grounds and the kitchen. I thought he captured the campgrounds character beautifully with these images! For the record....I'm going to claim all credit for his addiction to Instagram and I'm beginning to think he may be a *bit* more addicted than me. Want more of this grungy goodness? Take a look at his entire portfolio when you get a chance.