Yes, we're still working on the kitchen

We did finish painting the kitchen. And for all that debate, and all those paint samples,  I chose the most amazing color of all.....Navajo White.
Yup, plain old off-white to complement the white cabinets.

 So, to add that pop of color I so desperately crave I decided, on advice of a friend, to add new hardware to the doors. As you can see the old hardware is yet another lovely shade of off-white.
But holy cow hardware is not cheap! Scouring the intra-net I found the perfect DIY solution that added just a touch of that industrial/vintage look I am currently obsessed with. It involved Ebay, a couple of failed attempts at bidding, and some convincing of mr. bejos. Some people just can't see the potential in scrap vintage metal.
These arrived in the mail.

We scrubbed the heck out of them,

prepped them,

Painted them a fun new color.

 

 I hit a glitch attaching them to the doors and only about half made it up.

Let the problem solving begin.

Jam

There is no shortage of jam in our home. 

Peach, strawberry, blackberry. Take your pick

Happy Birthday Nana

Guess what we did this weekend?

 

mr. bejos was the most dedicated, demonstrated by his haul

and his battle wounds

baby bejos ate his weight in blackberries

and cleaned up nicely in the creek

kicken bejos attempts fudge frosting

While visiting home this summer I got yet another crash course in fudge frosting. 

I tried it this weekend.

 the secret recipe

 ingredients

 exercising patience...do NOT stir

 stir

 stir some more

 let someone else stir some more 

and viola! a birthday cake

Haircut

As I mentioned recently, I thought baby bejos was looking shaggy. So, during a recent sink bath at the end of a muddy day I performed a little hack job. With mr. bejos as my assistant, "hand me the scissors", I blindly started cutting.

The cut isn't too bad but the way it makes my baby look like a big boy breaks my heart. This is why people have baby after baby, isn't it???

rain

For some reason when the bejos family leaves home, and only then, it rains.

And I am not kidding.

Neighbors anxiously await us to leave on our annual trek back east simply so the monsoons will reach our little community south of town. I can honestly say that in the three years we have lived in this house I have seen only a handful of summer storms.





So what a pleasant surprise yesterday when the rain fell and baby bejos and I were home, at the same time! We were, of course, already outside since I cannot keep this kid inside the house.

this new "look" is starting to concern me....

Happy Birthday !

Today is Papa's birthday. 

We LOVE you. 

Hugs and kisses

xoxo

Tent Camping

Last year we took baby bejos on his first camping trip. He was an angel baby, sleeping better than he did at home.

This year baby bejos was a hoot to watch as he followed the dogs around feeding them sticks, picked flowers, and climbed "mountains".

All was well except for sleeping time.

It was then that baby bejos was allowed into the "play dome" as I am sure he would call it if he was speaking just yet. Not only was this a new fun space, it was filled with blankets and soft things to break a fall of one wild toddler running from end to end while squealing with delight. 

Needless to say bedtime was a struggle.

But, nothing quite compares to the 1.5 hour play date we had in the middle of the night.

Morning was rough....

Aurora Shoes

Shopping and camp don't necessarily go together but just down the street from camp is the Aurora Shoe Company.  Mr. Bejos already owns a pair or two of these beautiful handmade shoes but I have always wanted a pair all my own.

The shoe store was nothing more than a pre-fab building from the outside, but a charming small scale operation once inside. A cat and dog wandered about while mr. bejos and I poured over the wall of shoes to choose from.  Having just finished a novel about a small shoe company trying to make it with hand crafted shoes (Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani) I was curious about everything.

I was kicking myself for not bringing my camera but somehow I convinced Mr. Bejos to take part in a shoe photo shoot.

shoe love :)

Cousins, take two

Another attempt at a photo shoot with cousins.

Staged photos and baby bejos just don't seem to work, yet.