home sweet home

in one corner of one room if you stand on one foot (okay i made that last part up) … we have internet! truth is we’re stealing it from my great aunt that lives next door. the result --> remote blogging! :)

we arrived in m’ville late sunday. and kicked our vacation off by sleeping in until 8.30 monday am. that’s 3 hours later than usual! wade picked up a copy of hemmingway’s the sun also rises and i started a little sewing project. about midday, i finally changed out of my pjs and we took off to palestine, IL to hit up my absolute favorite antique store. i had been anticipating a visit to wonderland antiques for months … and they’ve moved to ARKANSAS. (congrats to my arkansas readers – best antique store ever.) we finished off the day w/ a trip out to the fairgrounds for the tractor/truck pull.

tuesday we slept in again and wade finished his book while i finished my sewing! (pretty excited to share my little creation once photographed.) we spent the afternoon at the city pool ... and wade has another killer sunburn. poor irish husband. in the evening, we went back out to the fair for the rodeo. wade was disappointed that i wasn't about to let him enter the last event of the night. get this - the first redneck to get a ribbon off a mad bull's horn won $100 dollars. and it only cost you $1 to enter. yikes!

confession: when i’m home in IL, i really really want to move back. wade reminds me that we have a great life in nashville (including careers!) – and that i would be bored out of my mind after a week. but when i’m here, i’m very convinced that a move to the country is just what i need. i mean truck pulls? rodeos? and tonight drag races? this is the life! ;)

today ... i’m daydreaming about this little farmhouse built in the mid-1800s:

it needs a little work ... okay okay the floor boards are completely rotted out. but $40K - for 4 acres and a pond ... i see possibility!

{simple things} retreat

{source: pinterest}

i have been incredibly absent this week. and i'm really hoping i haven't lost all of my followers (still there, mom?). it's weeks like this that i really wish i had a blog partner - any "mundays" out there want to jump on board? ugh. too specific blog title gets you every time.

it's 10.40 on saturday morning and w/ the addition of 3 hours this am ... i am at last officially ready to leave town! wade comes home from dc tonight - and then we'll leave after church tomorrow.

where are we heading? well unfortunately we don't have the funds to go some place exotic this year (aka morrocan getaway part deux). instead we're heading to martinsville, il - pop. 1194.

it's fair week! the martinsville agricultural fair to be exact. my entire life we've headed to my grandparent's home for fair week - the only week of the year that grandma would lock the door. we would bet malone's taffy on the horse races, peruse the art hall and livestock barns with grandpa, and spend our evenings enjoying the events under the lights of the grandstand. when the sun was just too hot on the midway, we would head to the moonshine country store for a moonburger and a coke (cash only of course). or head to the casey swimming pool for a dip. or even better play a round of back alley bridge w/ my great aunt leona.

this year will be different than any year before. the house will be empty when wade and i arrive. my grandma is now living in a nursing home and my mom is spending the entire month of june visiting my sister leigh in hawaii. we will be thrilled to see my sister brooke and her family, my brother ross and his girlfriend, my dad and my aunt jill late in the week.

we are grateful for the retreat. and i am anxious for quiet ... for peace ... for walks ... for the smell of my grandpa that still lingers throughout the house ... for fresh watermelon on the sunporch ... for long drives through the country where you can see the entire milky way.

packing my sewing machine + knitting needles. and wade will pack too many books ... guaranteed. hopefully there will be spotty dial-up internet enough that i can blog. but if not ... i hope you find time to retreat this week too.