an afternoon at the river.

I thought a warm Spring visit to the river & park might have to wait until this weekend, but yesterday was just too sunny & happy. I couldn't wait. I had to make it my first official visit of the season. Oh, was it perfect! I packed a lunch for me & the girls. Tia & her youngest kidlet joined us for the fun too!

The shoes came off.

And the silliness began.

You know those pictures where some random person in the background tries to sabotage the photo? Tia & I tried to recreate some of our own.

This has to be one of the most randomly bizarre photos of me. And my teeth. And yet I post it here for all to see. It was taken from the underside of a park bench.

We watched a group of Japanese tourists, armed with their point-n-shoots, excitedly taking pictures of squirrels. I ♥ random stuff like that!

Ew. (No boogars were harmed in the making of this photo.) Yay for friends & sun & silly camera antics!

Happy Second Day of Fall!

I got to enjoy a hot drink by the river yesterday as part of my First-Day-of-Fall celebration. My girls ended up with their pants rolled above their knees, throwing rocks & wading in the water. Yeah, not exactly Fall weather. Summer's hangin' on...

We also had an impromptu picnic.

The seagulls are usually the pesky ones at the river, but yesterday we had an extremely friendly squirrel. My poor daughter freaked out because I couldn't "shoo" the darn thing away, so I started screaming. It wouldn't leave!! And it kept doing this sideways shimmy walk around the perimeter of our blanket. Totally random picnic company. I know, it's only a squirrel. But I couldn't get the image out of my head of that squirrel flying through the air, spread eagle, like some ninja warrior, landing right on my face with his chittering squirrel teeth. It did enjoy our pumpkin cream cheese muffins though. After we ate our muffins, some crumblets fell onto the blanket. Perfect sized snack for our miniature intruder I guess. I also just got finished watching some "Attack Squirrel" videos on You Tube. And my "ninja squirrel" nightmare is not a completely ridiculous thought.

I recently received a catalogue from Cath Kidston & was swooning over the beautiful fabrics, prints & patterns! What a lovely new discovery. I was in the mood to create some new vintage button rings & decided to let the colors on the pages inspire me. And the outcome was quite sweet! I've never done that before & it was quite fun.

My favorite ring is this large red button with the pink bow button on top. It's a keeper.

A Celebration Fit for a Cheesecake Cupcake

This past week was my little bro's birthday. The fam had another wonderful fun day at the river. I packed the essentials: beachie floatie toys.


With knee brace on, I sat back & enjoyed the sights & sounds of a summer fun day.

I made my brother his favorite dessert--cheesecake!! I made two cheesecakes, but realized I only had one pan to make them in. So, I improvised. I made cheesecake cupcakes!! I had no idea if it would work or not, but I was PLEASANTLY & SCRUMPTIOUSLY surprised when it did!!! I'm unashamed to say that my most favorite cheesecake is from a box--JELLO brand. MMmm. Delish. The graham cracker crust mix in the box only filled up 7 of the cupcake tins. I just pressed the crumbs (mixed with the butter & sugar, of course) around the bottom & up the sides (a little over halfway up the sides). I then filled the cups with the cheesecake filling & then I froze them for about an hour & a half. The leftover cheesecake filling was added to the other cheesecake in the pie pan, to make for a huge-mongous piled-high treat.

Once the cheesecake cupcakes were pretty firm, I cut around the edges--one at a time & then turned the cupcake tin upside down to "catch" the falling cupcake carefully in my hand. The cupcakes were stuck inside my non-stick cupcake tins, so cutting them out one at a time was important. I was surprised at how well they stayed together!I topped them with cherries at the scene of the birthday & they got eaten up lickety-split. The kidlets in the party group enjoyed theirs topped with spinning pinwheels.



Who knew that less than 12 hours later I'd be in the hospital with the wee one? She is doing well now. Pale yet spunky. Thanks to everyone for your prayers & kind words. It meant more to me than you'll ever know that my invisible friends in blogland were so supportive.

Pazely's face lit up when she received a peanut butter & jelly sandwich at the hospital--her first "solid" food & her favorite thing in the whole world--after having a week & a half of a liquid/soft food diet.

And although I'm not getting a whole lot of sleep--I am enjoying watching the late, late, late crafty shows that I never get to watch since I'm usually sleeping when they're on. So, while I'm worried-ly "sleeping" on the couch & watching over the wee one (alert & responsive at every sound she makes), I'm getting a crafty education as well.

Hope you had a nice weekend!

A River Break & Stuff.

The fam & I made it to the river for the first time this year! I got to take some outdoor photos. The girls were zipping by on their bikes, so I was stuck taking other random shots. There was a tree I never noticed before that has the usual hearts & initials carved into it & then this phrase: "I WISH I WAS A SHIP". It's silly & I love it! I have no idea what it means but it keeps popping in my head now. I'm trying to come up with an answer: "If I were a ship I'd.....???" What would you do if you were a ship?

Peace tag.


I guess the theme of our river visit was "trees" because we came to a massive tree project in the works. I'm not sure what each carving signifies, but isn't it cool? The girls & I are excited to see the end result. It stands right next to a park we often play at, so we'll have plenty of time to see the progress.

Too cold for water play, but in the warmer months it'll be flip-flops, sand buckets & shovels. I'm sure the girls will bring their things too.

Needless to say, I was a happy girl this afternoon. (Actually I'm kinda sick & feeling like poo. I've got a cough, an earache, & a sassy hoarse throat. But being out & walking made me feel instantly better! For an instant anyway.)

Can you guess what I spent my Saturday "Nikki Time" doing??? It's the Christmas gift I ordered for my nephew that never got sewn because it arrived Christmas eve.

I forgot to show this fabric with the other vintage pieces I bought last week. It's 1975 (the year I was born!) with illustrations by Dick Bruna of the "Miffy" character. SO cute! It was a bonus find at $2 for almost 2 yards! And please click on that "Dick Bruna" link to see the cutest old man in the world. Oh my gosh, he is adorable!!!

And look who flew into 'WhiMSy love' this weekend! It's Superhero Cupcake Boy---to the rescue!! He's ready to fight sweet crime.