Nashville part one

I did a bit of travelling this weekend. I hope you enjoy the pictures from my Nashville trip!

Lovely Tennessee roadside...Once Golden Hour hit, I was kind of a pain, I'm sure, dictating which lane my poor husband "needed" to be driving in.  I'm a sucker for light.

Antiquing was definitely on the agenda Saturday morning!  I found this cute little toy camera at a shop in Goodlettsville.  She came loaded with someone else's film which I promptly exposed on accident (maybe that's a good thing?)

We ate brunch at Sky Blue Cafe in East Nashville, and oh my, it was delicious!  I chose their Florentine Benedict (pictured above), and I absolutely loved it. YUM!

This garden is across the street from the Cafe; the entire front and back yards of this home are totally and completely full of lovely flowers.  Gorgeous!

Have you been to Nashville?  What's your favorite thing to do there?  Check back soon!  More Nashville pictures coming later on in the week....

Obsessed -- Tattly

I've recently discovered Tattly, a tattoo shop whose artist-designed doodles are completely adorable, and the perfect answer to my life-long quest to put something both hand-drawn and incredibly lovely on my arm (true story.)

Tattly makes their pretty, temporary tattoos with soy inks, meaning they are non-toxic and great for teeny kids as well as adults.  Above, I'm wearing my favorite Tattly design--so cute, right?!  (find Makers Gonna Make here)  I ordered this tattoo as well as the coffee set.  Each design is $5 and comes as a set of 2, with free shipping in the US.  Tattly also included a super cute little cupcake tattoo as a surprise with my order.


Here's a list of some of my favorites (although, really, it's very hard to narrow it down!)  I do think I need to order the first one in bulk...

So fun!! Which one is your favorite?  Do any of them fit your personality and life perfectly? 

Lomography Love - La Sardina

I absolutely love my sweet little La Sardina camera!  Photographing with film can be so freeing, because you can't check your photo on a screen and delete it if you don't like what you see.  It forces you to think (or not!), act, and be creative. It also yields unpredictable results, which is a great thing, especially when you get used to how your camera works.  Here are my own La Sardina tips:

• Take LOTS of pictures When my camera was just a wee thing, I was quite protective of the exposures on my roll of film.  I stretched the film as far as it would go, like trying to cover several events and travels with one 36 exposure roll.  This was disastrous.  I wasn't used to my camera, I wasn't learning it, and apparently I was doing it wrong.  The photos of my beach trip, two weekend trips with friends, Denver trip, and everything in between during that several month stretch -- ruined and unaccounted for!  It's okay if your photos all come back overexposed (or totally crappy otherwise), but figure it out early on.  Now I use one roll per trip if I can; it makes for a very special photo album later.

• Read the instructions Okay, you should probably do this before you take lots of pictures.  Read the instructions, reread them, and maybe watch a youtube video or two.  The little things can make a huge difference to how your photos come out, or whether they do at all.

• Look for inspiration You've loaded the camera, now what do you shoot??  Find inspiration by looking at galleries online.  Truthfully though, there's no wrong answer, and even the mundane can seem pretty cool once you have your printed photos in hand.

• Multiple exposures La Sardina is perfect for multiple exposures!  It has a switch on the top, which allows you to take a photo over a previous photo.  So awesome!  While you can do many exposures like this, I think it looks best if you only do this once per photo (take a photo, flip the switch, take a photo, advance the film)...just my opinion ;)

• Explore Locally If you're familiar with A Curious Commonage, you know we really push local exploration!  But seriously, this is perfect for that.  Walk around your town, your block, your village, your street, and look at things a bit differently.  I bet you'll find some beautiful thangs!

So what do La Sardina photos look like?  These are some of my favorites from my last roll.

What do you think?  Ready to give lomography a shot?

July Thangs

July is coming up so quick!  Here are a few of my favorites this summer, a sort of July wish list.  I actually bought the bee earrings already and they are so cute!!

one ... two ... three ... four ... five ... six

What's on your summer list?

Eat Your Breakfast -- Chicken Scramble

For years I'd been ignoring the rule about breakfast.  Is it really important?  Apparently it's a pretty big deal for your metabolism, and I like my metabolism to work, so breakfast is now a part of my day.  I make this quick breakfast scramble for myself three or four days a week.  It has great protein, healthy veg, and it's small on calories.

Chicken Scramble

2 oz. cooked diced chicken breast (yes, weigh it!)

6 TBSP egg whites (or 2 egg whites)

Bell pepper, chopped, about the same volume as the chicken

Small handful of fresh spinach

Cooking spray

Pepper to taste

Spray a small skillet with cooking spray, turn stove to medium heat, and cook chicken and bell pepper for about one minute.  Pour the egg whites in and scramble it up!  Once eggs are almost set, add the spinach, then continue cooking until the eggs are completely cooked.  Add pepper to taste.

So, small on calories? I've calculated it to be about 165 calories.  You can easily add a side fruit or whole grain toast and still feel great about it.  Serve with hot coffee and a glass of water.

What do you do for breakfast?  Do you eat a full meal, or do you just grab a coffee?

testing the waters of minimalism

If you're anything like my husband you are probably thinking "Why in the world would we want to get rid of all of our stuff? Our accomplishments? Our memories?" Well, for the next few weeks you can follow along as we test the waters and maybe even decide if minimalism is right for your family.

As you can probably tell,  this is totally my idea... it has taken months, if not years, to get my hubby on board. With a family of nine - yep, that's SEVEN kids - I really didn't think we could actually minimize our stuff. Honestly,  I figured we were doomed to a cluttered house if I wanted my kids to actually have anything. So I tried to organize everything really well... then I reorganized... and googled for new ways to organize... then color coded... and organized again. You get the point,  huh?

Somehow the idea began to creep into my head - probably as I was organizing - "if there was less stuff, then there would be less organizing and picking up, which means there would be more time and more space for our family". What a thought? 

In the past few weeks we have delivered seven or more garbage bags full to our local donation center and thrown out three bags of trash. We have started to see the effects, and I must admit, although its hard work (physically and emotionally), I'm really enjoying the freedom.

Mercury Glass DIY

Quite some time ago, I saw instructions for this super easy project in Martha's magazine, and I knew my home needed some diy mercury glass!  All you need is a little of this magic (I could not find this locally and had to order it from Amazon):

...plus a spray bottle, water, and some random glass vases, jars, or candle holders.  

Instructions: Spritz the inside of the glass, very lightly, with water, then spray with the mirror paint.  Let it dry overnight.  I alternated letting it dry upside down and right side up.  

For flowers, put them in a different container inside the painted vase (Martha says!).  I have yet to try using my 'mercury glass' as a candle holder, so I'm not really sure about flammability.  

Yay! There it is.  Try it, and let us know how it goes!