Hello there March!

Hi. How are you? I took a little break from blogging last week and it was nice to just be away for awhile. Sometimes I feel pressure to post (from myself) and last week I didn't feel it for whatever reason. It was nice and we had some lovely weather, so much time was spent outside enjoying it! Well, March arrived whilst I was away and I can hardly believe it. My beloved February is over with all of its red, hearts, chocolate, and whatnot. I guess I'll have to put away my little red collection of books I gathered that sat on our coffee table for the month. See Romeo & Juliet on the top? We got that little gem in Verona whilst living in Italy...it's one of my treasured little trinkets.


Well anyway, it's just about time to welcome all of the gorgeous spring colors that I love just as much and I cannot wait to start seeing everything turn! It's supposed to be just perfect today and the rest of the week, so I'm sure we'll be outside soaking it in as much as possible. Hopefully though I can pop in and share some of the going-ons of our green nest because I have surely missed doing so and hearing from each of you! Be back soon...

You are my sunshine

Yesterday was a sad day for me...I said goodbye to one of my sisters who is moving away to South Korea to teach for at least a year. She recently got married and each of them had planned on teaching overseas prior to even meeting (re-meeting actually) so it's all working out to get to fulfill their dream together. I'm so happy for them but will miss her very much.


We decided to spend our last day together for awhile doing some things we love - eating good food (at our fave restaurant - the BEST pancakes EVER!) and enjoying beautiful art at the Kimbell. The current exhibit is an Impressionist collection from The Art Institute of Chicago and it's gorgeous - truly inspiring - my faves were Van Gogh's The Bedroom and Monet's Water Lily Pond. Although Monet's Stacks of Wheat series is pretty amazing as well. Lovebug really enjoyed it as well...her Daddy wore her in the Ergo and she actually seemed to like many of the paintings and the vast array of colors and textures. So I see many art museum learning trips in the future - YEA! :)


My Love and I lived in Italy for awhile in college at our school's campus and got to travel Europe so we have been blessed to see many of the world's most wonderful museums (here's one of my faves - I LOVE Pollock and Kandinsky), but the Kimbell is such a beautiful one as well. The building's architecture, interior, and grounds are gorgeous, and we're blessed to have it and other such wonderful museums locally. My Love has a background in architecture and urban planning so he gave us an overview of the Kimbell's famed architect as well which was quite enjoyable - have I mentioned how adorable I find my Love to be? :)

So it was a sad but fun day with my sister and am so glad we were able to have that day before she left! Here's a shot of her and her Love I captured yesterday...


This is for you my beautiful, strong, passionate, and bright Sunshine:

You are my Sunshine
My only Sunshine
You make me happy
When skies are grey.
You'll never know, dear,
How much I love you.
Please don't take my Sunshine away.

You will be in our prayers and thoughts as you embark on this journey - we will all (even Lovebug) miss you like crazy Sunshine (and Sunshine's husband:). We love you!

So fresh and so clean clean...

Yesterday's weather was glorious...just beautiful, and I was able to put the laundry outside to air dry which is one of my favorite things (see Lovebug's adorable rainbow of diapers air-drying above). To me, there is nothing better than line-dried laundry...especially sleeping on crisp air-dried sheets that smell so fresh and clean. To me, there is something so beautiful and nostalgic about seeing laundry blowing in the breeze. When we lived in Italy, it was something we saw all the time (as you can see in the pic below in San Gigmiano) and I loved it. I started line-drying in college on indoor racks but am so happy now to have an actual line outside. Not only does air-dried clothing have its beautiful look and scent, it is also better for your laundry and the environment!

Switching to air-drying can decrease your household power use significantly, thus helping the earth and saving you money...It will also keep your clothes longer-lasting (as well as cold water washes only) as dryers are tough on laundry. Do you know what the lent is that builds up in the lent drawer? It's tiny pieces/fibers of your laundry that are being stripped away...and dryers can shrink and stain your clothing!

Air-drying can also make your whites whiter as the sun is the oldest and best natural "bleach", as well as a disinfectant and wrinkle releaser...Plus for me, it's something fun to do and it's a bit of exercise too! Some people say the sun fades their clothing, but we have never noticed that with ours.



Not everyone can do a clothesline due to lack of space or HOA rules (which is ridiculous!), but you can still do drying racks which we also use and they work just as well. They can easily be found at discount and hardware stores or online at places like Abundant Earth and Gaiam.

When it's too cold to put our laundry outside, we dry most of it on racks inside, which acts as a great humidifier to the dry air.

So, consider giving air-drying your laundry a try...and I hope everyone was able to enjoy yesterday, even if it was for only for five minutes, before the weather changes here in Texas and is cold yet again...