Just kidding!

The weather wouldn’t permit for Oh dear, things! to make the trek, but it looks as though the fair went swimmingly for the time it was open! Silly rain.. not that I’m not grateful. It’s very cozy to hear while sleeping and reading. My feet are itchin…

Here’s my husband, Harold!

Yours,
Rebecca

Fall Flair Art Craft Market

Oh dear, things! will be participating in our very first fair! Hosted in the town that boasts Dr Pepper’s birth, the fair will take place in the backyard of a local coffee shop called Common Grounds on the 3rd of October in Waco, Texas. 10am-6pm, with live music to follow! Come on out, if you’re feeling dapper – or dainty, as it were.

Austin has decided to let fall in. It has been raining for nearly a week now and we have turned off both of our window units, all of our box fans and just today I turned off both ceiling fans because our house was TOO COLD! We leave the windows open and when we are home the front door and the kitchen door (not quite a back door, as it is in the front) are wide open which Swigart the cat happens to love. The screen doors are the only things keeping him our indoor pet, I’m sure. We’ve been slowly cleaning and arranging and rearranging little bits and pieces at a time, but things are slowly coming together and it feels cozy now. My mother asked if I enjoyed cleaning more now that I’m married and I had to say – yes! I don’t now why, really.. there are twice as many clothes to pick up, dishes to clean, clothes to wash, shoes to put away, etc. etc. but somehow it’s more enjoyable. Even picking out laundry detergent is more fun! The only thing that still lacks some kicks or giggles is parking for work. Yeesh. Give me the country, working outside and room for everyone! 

Harold surprised me and ordered us a Voigtlander Brilliant from South Africa. It’s medium format so I’ll have some learning to do! Our good friend Bac “gave us” (I can’t remember exactly, I’m pretty sure I stole it and he was too nice to tell me otherwise) a Holga which is the only other medium format I’ve played with, so I’m excited to broaden my horizons a little.
Harold also ordered me 3 sets of earrings from Etsy for my birthday which I am also excited to try out! He’s pretty swell.

I’ve been reading a lot more recently, mostly anything from the 50s that I can snatch my little grubby hands on. The list consists of Dot for Short, A Little Girl from Long Ago, Molly Make-Believe, Father of the Bride, the Egg and I and then I just finished re-reading Cheaper by the Dozen and got teary-eyed yet again this go-round. My crush-store is only open Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday so I have to jump on the chances to get something when possible!

Today’s photograph is of our exciting tea canister!

Thanks for stopping by, pal!

Yours,
Rebecca

Mrs.

Whenever I was in elementary I remember wondering if I’d ever get to use the prefix Mrs. like all my favorite teachers. Welp, I do. And so far (twoish weeks) it’s wonderful! The wedding was warm and as far as I could tell pleasant.. the main word that comes to mind to summarize it all is overwhelmed. Not by the wedding itself, but by the floods and floods of kindness we received from so many people. It was one of the most humbling experiences of my life thus far. In a way, I’m glad that we are poor [not in love!] or else I’m afraid I’d be tempted to try and repay everyone by buying them little gifts. Not that gift-giving is a bad idea, but it seems as though it would be easy to think that I had somehow broken us even and now we owed these people no more gratitude. I’m not entirely sure that would be the case, but I’ve been thinking how that would be a temptation and how I’m grateful that I have no choice but to sit and revel in the fact that we are so blessed to have the friends and family that we do.

We spent two glooorious weeks in the Great Northwest and guess what? We wore outerwear! It was a very nice way to jump into the married life, and now we are back sweating in Texas waiting for Monday and the real world to roll back around. We have been busybusy trying to get our little house in order – but what girl could I kid? That’s the best kind of busy any normal female could ask for! Although now we realize we have to start doing all the things we’ve always told ourselves would wait til “Well, when we’re married..” I definitely remember thinking at camp when I was about 14 that I’d somehow be an amazing cook once I got married and I would also pick up after myself. The latter comes a little more naturally, but oh poor Harold – hopefully I can practice better cooking for his sake.

HOORAY: I have a new niece! We haven’t met her yet, but boy oh boy I can’t wait to get some kisses! Her name is Patience Jubilee and I hear she is pretty pretty. 

The photograph for today is from our wedding and is sponsored by our friend Greg.

Yours,
Mrs. Harold

Portapotties versus words.

Hello! I’m not sure of the precise daily countdown, but Harold and I are getting married quite soon. I’ve most definitely been overwhelmingly thankful for people and the things they do continually, from the small things to the big things, to help us get all our little tidbits together. Because of beginning a new job recently and wedding details, I am really anticipating our little honeymoon! It will be so nice to not have to set an alarm for two weeks – and to wake up in a city whose temperature is not 90+, oh my. Oh dear, things! on Etsy is inching along! If you get the hankering, shop, shop, shop! This is most likely a “ta-ta for now!” type post until after the honeymoon, and I realize it’s mighty boring, but thanks for reading anyhow.

Grandma and Grandpa

Song of the moment: Dead Man’s Bones (Ryan Gosling)
“In The Room Where You Sleep”  (thank you, SEG, for the news!)

Book of the moment: Please Don’t Eat the Daisies by Jeanne Kerr 

Yours,
Rebecca

Have some dirt.

Today while cleaning my soon-to-be old-room I happened upon an old diary of mine, dated back to the early 90s. Wow. I shared some entries aloud with Harold, my mother and my oldest nephew Ashen and they got quite a good laugh out of them so I decided to share them with you, with hopes that they can produce a little smirk for you. Real quick-like, before you get to read the goodies, for those that may not know any of my family background: I am the youngest of four children; I was a “surprise” and there is a four and a half year difference in my next oldest sibling and me. I also have always had just a pinch of martyrdom syndrome.
Here are just a couple of excerpts to show some of my best work:

August 23, 1995 (age 9.5)
“I’m in 4th grade. We just got back from Daddy’s office. Everyone’s ignoring me. Mommy told me just a minute. She forgot. Only Ruffles and my special doll can read this and mabe one day my husband can see this. Mabe!” 

December 18, 1995 (age 10)
“Heather kicked me in the chest and pulled my hair, but of course no one cares. Well this is the last straw, I’m probably going to run away. (far) Heathers always reading my letters! Of course Heather, Brent, and Colby never get whipped! (perhaps because they were well into their teenage years by then) Well, Bye!” 

Yikes! All the childhood memories I can recall now are nice ones that create a pleasant fluffy feeling inside. My sister Heather (who, in a different entry, I described as “turning into a creep big time”) has warped into my very best friend. Although I did run away.. luckily the radius of my (far) was the six acres we lived on at the time. Thinking back now I can only remember happily playing in those woods for hours with my dog and having wonderful adventures! 

In other news.. everything is going swimmingly with wedding and home-sweet-home plans! Harold has moved into what will soon be our first little home – we can call it a cottage. We’ve painted it to suit and moved most of our bigger things over, including Swigart the cat who loves his new home. There is also a stray cat (which my nephew Ashen has decided will be called Marvin) which we are trying to feed and water, with hopes that he’ll stick around to patrol the outside. My mother and I purchased the fabric for the wedding dress that my Grandma has graciously agreed to sew! I found a vintage pattern on Etsy that is very simple – I love it and I love the fact that I will have a dress my Grandma made for such a meaningful time. Hmm, things are good.

Here’s to summer, family, and childhood!

 

Silas

Yours,
Rebecca

Owls.

Since today was Memorial Day, Harold and I decided to go back to the area where he had proposed and maybe or maybe not rent a canoe. On the way we passed by a garage sale and my eyeballs were going as fast as the car searching to see if it would be stop-worthy. I spied one old lady and several tables full of things, plus some hanging clothes so I decided it was worth pleading to stop. Of course, Harold obliged in his obliging and kind way and we turned around and went back. About an hour later we were getting back into the car with a box full. Within that hour we had the opportunity to learn the life story of the older woman and the middle aged daughter (who lost the tip of one of her fingers as of a few days ago) and were offered a tour inside their home so that we could see if we may want some items inside (we did).

We felt a little sheepish being led around this lady’s home with her seeing me eye an owl and asking cheerfully, “Ya like that one?” and taking it off of her wall or shelf and adding it to my armful of owls. I started wanting to get carried away and take any and all of the hundreds (literally) of owls that appeared as though they could be pre-70s until I caught Harold’s pleading eyes full of rationality.

I’m pleased to introduce you to my new family members:
(L to R) Hanging Owl – apparently an ash tray (will be used for plant or candle)
Yellow Owl the Piggy Bank
Big Brown Owl Whose Entire Purpose is to Hang
Green and Blue Owl Planter
Little Shiny Green Owl
and finally, Multi-Colored Napkin Holder Owl

As we drove off  with our box full of owls, dishes and linens I’m pretty sure I told Harold at least three times that I was SO happy we had stopped – and not only for material reasons! Interacting with friendly, down to earth strangers always makes you feel like life is gonna be good and for some reason makes me want to never watch TV again.
In other news Oh dear, things! has opened up an Etsy store! Go visit and buy up.
We will be adding things evermore so be sure and check frequently!

 

Yours,
Rebecca

For Laura, for Rose, for kicks and giggles.

 

My windows are almost always down in my car when I’m driving. Since I don’t brush my hair with a brush, I just let the wind do the job for me! Some days (such as today) it’s pretty sweltering out and I find myself missing Kentucky’s slightly less sweltering heat. However, there are also days (such as today) where I find myself passing by sights and smells that make me think about how glad I am to be in Austin. At any given point when I’m going down 183 I will catch a whiff of some ridiculously good smelling barbecue and Tex-Mex. In Kentucky if I wanted to get up on Saturday and go to a coffee shop, I’d always see at least one person I knew (not relative to my popularity, just relative to the size of the town). Now that I’m in Austin, I have right at about one bajillion choices of coffee shops at my fingertips, where chances are I will not run into anyone I know. Do I appreciate that option now? Sometimes. Which reminds me of a snippet from one of my favorite songs..something along the lines of:
“the sea’s so pretty from the shoreline
shoreline’s sure pretty from the sea
which one’s better than the other now?”

All in all, here are just a handful of things I am excited about this summer!

1. Paramount Theater Summer Classic Film Series
2. Bonnie Prince Billy show (though the show in Funtown, Ky with Harold was by far better than anything else I could imagine)
3. First Thursday (ok, not technically summer ordeal.. but it counts!)
4. Tubing (in Wimberly), hopefully!
5. No more UT students! Yippee!
6. Getting hitched and hopefully seeing lots of friends!
7. Seeing good friends during the honeymoon!

Today’s photograph is sponsored by fond memories in Kentucky, my favorite fence which, I’m sad to say, is now painted white, and of course..

LOVE

squinty poof'do

Yours,
Rebecca

And many more,

My youngest nephew Silas turned one.
It seems a little soon for that, don’t you think?

His parents chose “the Point” as his birfday party theme, and it was so much fun! There was a little bit too much of cute baby overload, but I suppose these things happen! The theme was really suited for Silas, seeing as one of his favorite things to do is point his chubby, tiny finger at everything as he exclaims a cheerful, “Ghee!!” Heather, Jeni and I got together a couple of days before the party and put together a ”Happy birthday” banner, pinwheels and some signs welcoming guests to the Pointed Village and also to the Pointless Forest.

 

the basics

pinwheels

handmade with love by Heather

before

after - Happy birthday, little baby Si-fi!

 

Oh, and Harold finally bit the bullet – we are planning our wedding for August 8th!

Hooray for love : )

Yours,
Rebecca

Happiness Road

Hello, hello out there!
Several things have occurred since the last posting, but to sum everything up into one statement: Hoorah. My father has given me work to do and has also encouraged me to pursue my now 12 1/2 year dream of owning my own bid’ness. We’ll see how things progress. So far everyone has been more than helpful and encouraging, which makes the goal seem likely!
For now, I am sitting in a log cabin in east Texas alone on six acres. I just made a pitcher of sweet tea and am waiting for it to cool down..in the meantime all the windows are open and it’s raining off and on, and one little bird is persistently singing a short song over and over again. As soon as my tea is cooled I’m hoping to sit on the back porch and finish my current find: Happiness Road by Alice Hegan Rice. No, not Twilight, which I hadn’t even heard of until the movie came out? Hehe. And anyway, I thought vampires were so 1998. But really, you should try to read this here Happiness Road book, because it’s the easy-to-read, easy-to-inspire type.
Well, seeing as I am out in the middle of nowhere without my own computer, photograph options are limited, but here’s one I took last week:

splash

Have a lovely day,
Rebecca

A mighty wind

Hullo! It’s been awhile .. 
Since I last posted I have moved to Texas. To summarize so far..being around my nieces and nephews makes me want to hug everyone at any given moment because it’s just so nice.

My cousin suggested a book to read and I happened upon it in Salvation Army the other day and can’t wait to read it! It’s called Tom’s Midnight Garden.

Friends are one of the best blessings God has ever given. You know who you are.

I’ve decided with all of my heart that I really love film 100% more than digital. I also refuse to photoshop my pictures in any way that will alter the original. Not to sound ungrateful; digital is incredibly convenient and wonderful to have! Maybe it’s because my general taste leans towards the little-bit shabby/imperfect, but at least with the pictures I’ve taken the film ones always turn out in a way that is more endearing to me, just the way they are.

My grandmother is turning 80 this weekend!

Well, it’s time to refill my cup of coffee and to attempt doing something productive!

Last weekend in Kentucky:

First weekend in Texas: 

 Yours,
Rebecca

 

PS. Congratulations to Harold! One of the albums he designed last year won a Grammy!