Tiny Doors

Brace yourself because this might be the most adorable idea ever... 

Every house needs a teeny tiny door! The brilliant folks over at Design Sponge featured this little DIY and I can add it to my list of reasons why kiddies are awesome. This is the perfect time of year to fuel the imagination of any little in your life with a mini door for fairies, mice, elves and the like to come and go as they please. I love that it is so realistic and subtle. It's even sort of arty and stylish in its simplicity. And what a brilliant solution to the Santa problem for a chimney-less house! I know I would have LOVED this when I was small, and I am pretty sure I would still get just as much enjoyment out of it now. The possibilities for making this magical with rotating props and surprises are endless...tiny mail, a daily paper (The Gnome Chronicle? Elves Daily? Tooth Fairy Times?), muddy footprints, a welcome mat, seasonal decor, glitter trails... I'm in love. 

Emily Moldy Music

Kindergarten was a big year for me as far as making friends goes. That is when I met the majority of the girls that I would grow up with and still keep as soulsisters. There were a few important additions to the kindergarten bunch along the way and now I can truly say that I am one of the lucky ones when it comes to friends.

One of my tribe members is the beautiful and talented Emily Moldy. Her voice will tickle your ears and your heart and her music will move the corners of your mouth and your feet. And now the world is getting a taste of her magic in the latest Nature Valley Granola Thins commercial! Enjoy the full song below and be sure to keep an eye out for the commercial. The song is called "My Own One" and it is worth a listen (or 3 or 4)! 

Find Emily on Facebook, Youtube, and on her blog here. 

And lucky for you, this beautiful song is available for $1 to download here!

Want List

Why does this bag have to be so pretty and so expensive? I want to put my belongings inside of it and carry it around. Please and thank you. If you want to crush my dreams and buy this Rebecca Minkoff gem for yourself, you can find it here.

--thanks to Creature Comforts for the pretty arrows to illustrate the bag of my dreams!--

Bits & Pieces

A visual re-cap of the past week:

Upside down and out the window view. 

Pretty packaging is my favorite part of getting ready to ship Parcel Mint orders. 

I wish our house looked like this all the time.

I was a fortune teller on Halloween, me and Joey danced our butts off despite his hangover and me being sick, and my brother won the costume contest with his entire body painted as a zebra. Success! 

Joey and I sat in the grass and drew a picture for his niece and nephew.

We learned that I am controlling and he has to focus to draw.

Parcel Mint

Parcel Mint is two weeks old today! The first orders have been wrapped, packed, shipped, and received by happy customers and now I am busy working on some lovely new things for the shop. This batch of cards and journals is a little more mysterious and a lot more golden. Truth: I'm addicted to gold embossing. Here's a little peek...

Moon phases and feathers and triangles... parcelmint.etsy.com

Places She Remembers

The incredibly talented Danielle Webster (who just happens to be my cousin and one of my favorite people) took on a really fun and inspiring challenge last month. She decided to take a photo every day for 30 days, and she actually did it! Her photos are gorgeous and she has such an amazing eye for finding beauty and wonder in everything she sees. I have gathered a few of my favorites to feature here, but be sure to hop on over to her site and look around! Browse the archive to see the whole 30 Day Project and do not miss the black and white series taken in New Mexico or the lush greens of the Portland series. Enjoy!

November First

Dear Marley,

Today is your tenth birthday! We should probably just call October and November your birth-season because we don't actually know your real birthday. November 1st is just the day that we picked for you to make things more simple. 

Your life is drastically different because we adopted you a decade ago! You and your brothers and sisters were found under a freeway overpass somewhere near Mexico, and you ended up at our local humane society. I was the first one to see you there, all cuddled up in a puppy pile, and I sent Austin and mom and dad to see you too. It took some convincing but we all agreed that we would adopt one of the puppies as a family. You were still too little to be adopted, so you lived there for a few more weeks. During that time we knew we would get one of the puppies but we didn't know which one. I visited you all the time and stuck my fingers through the bars of your cage so you guys could all chew on them. Finally the day came to pick a puppy and when it was our turn the rest of us were too overwhelmed to choose so Austin picked you for us. You were such a ball of cuteness, we just snuggled you and smelt your puppy breath for days. It is so hard to believe that was ten years ago! 

You are so strange and have such a unique personality. I think it's safe to say that you never would have survived in the wild, and especially not in the mean streets as a stray. You are fragile and easily become nervous. You have to eat special (expensive) dog food. You sleep a lot these days and you are really scared of babies and small children. Maybe you would have adapted to a less cushy lifestyle, and maybe you are the way you are because we made you that way (sorry). But even though your life with us lacks the adventure, the mystery, the danger of the life you would have had without us, I think you are one pretty lucky dog. And we are so lucky to be your family! 

Happy Arbitrary Birthday! 

love, 

Leanna 

Sometimes I do things like this to you and you don't like it but I do. 

You destroy most toys, but some you choose to keep as friends.

Even though you don't like new things very much you love adventures! Walks are your favorite. 

You are my shadow around the house. You like to sit right next to me, but you don't seem relaxed.