Another Day, Another Fair!

This weekend was the Scottish Festival, another interesting fair we have here in MN. This one is actually very near and dear to my heart, since my Grandfather was from Scotland! He died before I was born, but my parents and family went to this festival every year from the time I was a baby until I was 15! Every time I hear the bagpipes, it makes me think of my Grandpa.

So, we decided to go this year again since Josh had never been to the Scottish Fair. Josh lived in Scotland for his semester abroad during school and really loved his time there. We took some friends who also love the Scottish culture (and also lived there for a while).

We ended up having real Scottish weather too! It was really cold and rainy, but we made it through with lots of hot tea and a couple breaks to warm up in the car.

We had some meat pies with HP sauce (yum!) and fish n' chips with malt vinegar. Mmmm. I'll be posting a recipe for these soon! They are soooo good.

They had tons of great music- a few different celtic bands and lots and lots of bagpipes. Do you like bagpipes? There seems to be a rather mixed reaction to them. I love them, but probably because they are so closely tied to my Scottish heritage and remind me of my Grandpa. We had two pipers at our wedding, and some of our guests were a little shocked at the volume! Hehe.

Another fun part of this festival is watching the "Highland Games." One of my favorite sports is the "Caber Toss." These fellas pick up what looks like a telephone pole (and probably weighs that much too!) and attempt to toss it end-over-end, wearing kilts no less! They are judged on form and the height the caber reaches. I've never actually seen anyone throw it end-over-end, but I imagine it would be pretty impressive!

We also watched the Highland Dancing competitions. It really amazes me the strength and endurance these dancers have! Of course, they make it look way easier than it really is.

At the end of the day, all of the pipe bands that are there at the festival gather together and play en masse. It is really an amazing sight, watching them march up and down the field. It's so loud, you can feel your bones rumble with the bass drums! I love visiting the Scottish Festival! We'll definitely be back next year.

Do you like to visit festivals throughout the year? What are some that are unique to your area that you enjoy visiting? I'm guessing other places hold Scottish Festivals too, have you ever been to one?

Delicious Details

Lately, I've been finding that the things I love most about our house are the little details that I didn't put much thought into. It's kind of ironic how much time I've spent hemming and hawing over things like wall colors, accent colors, artwork, and how it's actually the tiny, everyday details that seems to matter so much more. 

In my living room, it's the small stacks of books sitting by a comfy chair that I love most. They aren't just for show, but they are books that are picked up frequently, especially my little green leather-bound Bible. I love sitting here with a cup of tea and listening to the birds happily chirp outside as I read God's word.

In our bedroom, I love my little multi-functional nightstand that has pretty much everything I need neatly (ok, maybe not so neatly) tucked inside. Even though the drawer looks small, it holds a coaster for a nightime cup of tea, earplugs for unfortunate nights when my cat decides to wake up at 3:30 am, face lotion, whatever I'm currently reading, and kleenex. I love that even though it gets cluttered sometimes, I can open the drawer and swoop everything inside. Ahh. So nice and clean.

At the top of our stairwell, a little note that I made a few months ago is tucked into the mirror. If you can't see it, it says "Rejoice in the Lord always." I stuck it there a while ago, and it's become a great reminder to get my heart in the right place as I'm getting ready to leave the house, or even coming home for that matter!

Another one of those details that I love is where our bonsai tree is sitting. At first, I moved it there on this little orange table out of necessity because it's the brightest spot in our house and this guy needs a lot of light. But now, I love seeing it there everyday, and seeing the kitten curled up on the floor underneath it. I think it's her favorite spot in the house! 

So what are the details you love most about your home? What makes you feel settled and "at home" the most?

Sunshine and 70's

Yes, it's sunny in MN right now. And, we are looking at seeing some high's in the 70's this week, but that's not the 70's that I was referring to, my friends.

I am just totally obsessed with the high-waisted 70's style jeans that are back in this season. In fact, I've actually been looking for a pair of these jeans for years. So either I'm ahead of fashion, or way behind.


After my post last week, I was out shopping again and stumbled on another pair of high-waisted jeans on clearance for only $9.99. Oh yes, I snatched them up.


The only thing that's annoying about these jeans is even if you have the slightest pooch on your tummy, it is magnified x100. Sad face. But, I think we are all way more critical of our bodies than other people are, so I've decided to just wear them proudly (and avoid pigging out on food while I do)!

Jeans: LUX
Top: Fossil (I'm in love with that brand)
Sweater: Pretty Good, from Marshalls
Belt: Mossimo, Target

Fiber Festival

Last Saturday, Josh and I got to go to a "Fiber Festival" that's held here in MN every year. I know the name sounds strange, but that's exactly what it is. It's a chance for all the knitting, crocheting, yarn-spinning people in the area to get together and share their craft!

We watched them shear some sheep (pictured above). Josh's mom, Jody, gave a demonstration on a "Great Wheel." This wheel is 200 years old, and is the same type of wheel that Sleeping Beauty supposedly pricked her finger on!


We also took in some sheep herding. It's pretty amazing to see 1 small dog herd that many sheep into a pen.


Outside, they had a huge "Yurt." Unfortunately, I don't know much else about this thing except that it was really cool.


They had some really great folk music artists there throughout the day.


I think my favorite part of the day was meeting this cute little guy:


His name is Dewey, and he's a French Angora rabbit. Jody (Josh's mom) bought him so she can use his hair for spinning. When he's full grown he will be around 8 pounds, and brushing him once a day will yield a fair amount of angora fibers.


We got to take him home for the evening too! We were so lucky. =) Since Jody had to work at the festival the next day as well we were happy to help out and have him stay for a night. Our cat wasn't so happy though, this is what happened most of the evening:



So that's part of what we did for mother's day weekend! How about you?

Oh Spring, Where Art Thou?

Sometimes, you just need a change. I've been thinking about chopping my locks pretty short for a while, but in reality I know that I'm not ready to party with my long hair just yet.

So, this little haircut was the next best thing! My mom is my personal stylist (she's amazing, and self-taught), and I pretty much told her to take off 1 1/2 inches and do whatever she wanted. I just wanted a change! I really love what she did.


Do you know how hard it is to get a picture of the back of your head? I feel like I should try out for Cirque Du Soleil with all the acrobatics it took me to get this photo...


Ahh. Much better. Do you ever make a change and then wonder what took you so long to do it? Me too. All the time. So, I would encourage you to take a small step this week. Try a new color of nailpolish, buy a cute outfit that is fun and different, try a new flavor of coffee. I promise you, it will make all the difference in the world!

Outfit Fun

Two Birds is hosting their fabulous "Inspiration Monday" fashion link up party. When I saw the inspiration photo (above), I just had to join in because it's been one of my favorite outfit inspirations for a long time! No joke, I have had this exact photo saved on my computer for ages now.

Luckily, I just bought some cute high-waisted jeans yesterday too. So really, there's no excuse for me to not link up!

I really love Katie Holmes' style. She's just cute without being fussy, and I like the simplicity and comfort in the outfits she puts together. Here's my take on this outfit:

Cardi: Banana Republic
Jeans: H&M
T-Shirt: Target
Shoes: Nine West
Album: Vintage Don Maclean =)

Sorry for the deadpan expression. But it's more about the clothes anyway, right? So there it is, my take on the fabulous photo that's been sitting in my files for ages. I think I will be wearing this outfit a lot.

Tea for Two

Josh and I recently found a new Tea place to buy loose leaf tea (it's called TeaSource, for any of you hardy Minnesotans!). I love going there and browsing through all the different teas and deciding on a fun new one to try!

But even more than that, I love coming home and pouring the new tea into my pretty tea canister. I know, I'm a huge dork. But I just LOVE blue and white ceramics. Ahh.


Last Saturday, after our excursion to the tea shop, we returned with some new tea. However, after throwing away the bag with the directions for steeping, I realized that it might be nice to remember the name of the tea and the brewing directions. Then, I also remembered seeing somewhere that it's super easy to write on porcelain with a dry erase marker.


It was an epiphany.

Friends, I went a little crazy after I found out how easy and fun it is to use porcelain as a dry erase board. I know it's been done before but never actually tried it myself. The possibilities are practically endless!

Here's my favorite idea:


Isn't it cute? Another fun idea would be using tiny porcelain plates for nameplates at a fancy dinner, or you could even hang a plate on your fridge for a handy white board. I think these are so much cuter than the plain ol' white boards you can buy at the store.

In other news, we are still waiting for Spring to arrive here in MN. So if any of you Southern bloggers could try to coax the warmth up here for us, it would be greatly appreciated!