The Kalli Bag

CUTE BAG! It also makes me feel soooo good inside!
Want to know why?


No, it's not just like the one Carrie Bradshaw carried with her to The Hamptons! And it's no label. But it is a designer bag.

Meet Kalli. Yep, she's the designer. She's my dear friend who makes and sells 'em. Why?

She sells them because everyone wants one. Whoever sees it, needs it. No joke, no lie!

She makes them, because her love and passion for the three R's (reuse, reduce, recycle), helped her create a genius way to turn hobby into meaningful, usable (and durable) art!

Would you believe these cute totes are made out of plastic grocery sacks!? Yes, look a little closer. Truly amazing! Be stylish and make a sexy statement with the bag of bags. :)

Only $20!!! Custom orders also available. Contact Kalli to order: saibara@hotmail.com.

* If you have plastic bags you'd like to donate, please let me know. I'll gladly pick them up!

This Week's Farmer's Market: Check!

The goodies: Tomatoes, peaches, zucchini, bell peppers, raspberries, boysenberries, Blackberry Jam, and two loaves of Whole Wheat Honey bread. YUMMMMM! Really all I could ever want. Still, I just might have to go to SLC's Farmer's Market in the morning!

p.s. I got "read-aloud in the gardens" and "more swimming" accomplished today too! AND bonus wishes: rock climbing, birdwatching, and plein air drawing! SEE Here!

The Kite That Never Flew

I'm usually quite happy this time of year to see the heat subside and the days grow shorter. I do love to feel fall reappear. But this year, I'm feeling sad, as if our summer has not been complete and I'm not ready for it to end. I feel like a 2 year old inside, yelling NOOO! NOOO summer! Don't goooooo!!! I think this is all because of our kite that never flew.

Sydney got a bird kite, just like the one in this picture, in her Easter basket this year. I envisioned long, lazy days at the park kite flying in the spring. Well, windy days came and went and with them lost opportunities. Seize the day, we did not. I really can't say why, but it's inexcusable! Poor Sydney asked day after day to fly her kite. She'd been so, sooo excited ever since she found it in her basket. When your daddy gets home, I'd say. Or, well it's not windy enough today sweet peas.

One windy day this summer, with daddy home, the two of them ran outside to get this bird up in the air at last. But by this time, birdie had lost a few pieces being dragged around the house by kids pretending to fly it. My guilt was really making my body ache.

I really don't like to let days go by without simple wishes, like flying a kite, coming true. Summer is escaping too fast, and we still haven't gone on bike rides, hikes, or star-gazing adventures. So I'm reminding myself that there are still a few more weeks left of this weather and I MUST pack it all in somehow! We are doing something EVERY day until the days start to chill. This is the reality of living in this climate. I love that it forces me to make every warm day count!

My summer checklist:

-more farmer's markets (every week)
-bike rides
-more swimming
-hikes
-star-gazing
-a walk every night after dinner
-read-aloud in the gardens
-kite flying
-picnics
-more fishing for Chad and kids
-bbq, bbq, bbq!
-boating with Jackie and Jason
-one more California trip to the beach
-campfire in the canyon
-more Sundancing

Still, I should be careful not to live in the past or with regret. I'll live the next few weeks to the fullest, and look forward to fall, which is much shorter and EVEN more splendid! And next year, we will fly our kites in the SPRING first chance we get, and not miss any summertime parades!!!

I succumbed...

Warning: You might not want to read this post if you plan to read these books.

Just HAD to know what all the hysteria is about. Swarms of 30-somethings dressed-up, lined up, at midnight in bookstores across America (or on the west coast, at least). Women whispering about Edward and Jacob everywhere I go this summer. YOU are the reason I got suckered!

Read the first and almost the entire second and, sorry friends and family, it ends there. I really can't go on! I'm lonely in my non-obsession. It just failed to enchant me. Did I try not to let it? Maybe, but I don't think so. Glad you're all riding the reading rainbow together! I wish I was with you.

I did have a friend fill me in on everything, so I already know how Breaking Dawn ends. HA HA HA! And I'll totally go see the movie, maybe. I agree with my friend Stacy though. This really should have been a t.v. series. Wouldn't that have been gooood?

I like the ending I imagined much better than Meyer's awkward happy ending. A gory fighting match between Edward and Jacob, both fighting to "protect" her, one killing the other and the survivor, forever lost to her anyway because she can no longer love the man who killed the other man she loves. See, tragedy is good!

I'm still craving a great Vampire story. Since this one didn't strike my fancy, I'm going to try these:






Calling all Anne Rice fans! Which one should I read first?

Off To See Old Faithful

Old Faithful
� © Vertical Media

As you can see from the past 8 posts in 2 days I've done between my two blog pages, I kind of like blogging, a bit. But one thing I love even more is the OUTDOORS! Today, we're off to Yellowstone for the weekend, where we'll make a cabin our home for a few days, with friends. It will be good to be away from the computer for a while, to reconnect with the awesomeness of the actual, physical world! Hee.


Can't wait to see Old Faithful again...
Source: www.cs.washington.edu/.../ Image04.jpg


canoe through the Snake River...
Chad thinks I should stress that this in no way
represents the actual stretch of river we'll be on.
So don't worry mom, we're not white water rafting
with the kids!
copyright 1993 philg@mit.edu

philg@mit.edu

and go fishing with the kids, even though I have mixed feelings
about this. Poor fishes! We'll put them all back, but still...eeee!
Source: www.mikelevin.com/ YellowstoneLakeSunset2b-800.jpg


This is the book we'll be reading on the way there. I bought this last time we were in Yellowstone as a souvenir to remember our attempts at bear sightings. Maybe we'll get luckier this time and see one! I'll have my camera ready! (Oh, and moms, it's a super adorable, fun summertime book for kids!)

Have a super awesome weekend everyone!

Hopelessy In Love With Dolls

My favorite childhood doll, Betsy Wetsy. I still have her.

Confession: I LOVE dolls!!! STILL. I know, it's creepy and sick! When Marie Osmond presented Oprah with her very own, look-a-like doll on the show, I ugly cried. I don't know what it is, but ever since I was little, I've LOVED dolls.


HOW cute is that? I LOVE Marie and her weird doll company.

Anyone remember this book?!


I used to check it out from the library over and over again. It was one of my very favorite books when I was like 7. I loved all the black and white photos. Well, I saw it at Barnes and Noble yesterday!! Flashback!!! I HAVE to buy it for my girls...at a local book store!

And one more thing. LOOK at this FIND I grabbed a few days ago:

A Kewpie Dorothy! I KNOW!!!

Yep, I own it. It's mine. But there is one person who would love it even more than me, EVEN more than my mom...
Jackie... guess what? It's YOURS!!! But I think you'll have to come visit me to get it. :)

This Week's Etiquette: Welcoming the Newcomers

We've got newcomers in the neighborhood! I wrote up the welcome letter as soon as I heard and set aside cupcakes from Allie's party to deliver. I was even going to wrap them all pretty to match my stationary. I was feeling so Bree Van de Camp and loooving it! But Chad, bless his heart, made the frosting and, well, my cupcakes weren't very presentable after that. Then I just went on with life and forgot. Shame on me! I'm trying to make my grandmother proud and this does not help. Referring to the etiquette book only made me feel more guilty:

This is long but sooo worth it. I'm italicizing the most important parts.

CALLS ON NEWCOMERS
"This is one of the most widely made calls today in many country and suburban areas. When newcomers move into the house down the road, after giving them a few days to get settled, it is neighborly and friendly to drop in to say hello. Although it's thoughtful to take some small gift of food-some jelly or pickles you've made, for instance-it is not in any way necessary. As with all calls, the middle of the afternoon or early evening is the best time to make calls on newcomers, and you should stay only a few minutes-half an hour at the most. You shouldn't expect refreshments on such a call, by the way. If the housewife is obviously overburdened with hanging curtains or scrubbing woodwork, don't even sit down. Just tell her at the door who you are, and that you just wanted to say hello and welcome her to the community, and ask her over to your house for tea or a drink if you feel like it. She should, properly speaking, return the call within a week or two, even if you don't issue a specific invitation. You may then continue the relationship or not, as you want. You, by the way, as the established member of the community would properly be the first to issue a dinner or party invitation.
In the city, however, calls on newcomers are seldom made. Even if you live in the same apartment building, it doesn't follow that you'll have any contact more intimate than sharing the elevator with the people moving in on the floor below, so there's no reason to call on them.
A woman usually doesn't call on a bachelor, even in a community where newcomer calls are standard. Instead, if she wants to be neighborly, she should invite him to her house by note or phone."

OH yeah, so you can still invite the hot new bachelor over!
I love that I don't have to really stay their friend.
And, a drink?!? Soooo vogue, but not happening in my neck of the woods, not even tea, really. There's always homemade lemonade? Just as wonderful.

I'm off to make pickles now. See you soon newcomers!

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Sundance in the summertime.

Most of my friends and family know this is my favorite place in Utah. If you've ever come to visit me, I've likely taken you there. It might be my favorite place in the world. Robert Redford doesn't know it, but we are soul mates, or we were, in another lifetime when we were the same age. His dream is my dreamy reality. I love him for creating this heaven, and for his movies: The Great Gatsby, The Way We Were (BEST EVER!), Indecent Proposal, ooooooh dreamiest man (second only to Chad of course)! Once, while driving through the parking lot I spotted his flaming red hair. That's been my only sighting of the Sundance Kid in all my years of sundancing.

All pictures in this post were swiped from various places on the internet. Someday I hope to be able to take such beautiful pictures. Is it okay to swipe 'em as long as it'll let ya? I feel so guilty.


The Tree Room. My favorite restaurant in the world. Chad and I celebrate our anniversary here every year. The perfect place to remember the day of our wedding that happened in the neighboring canyon down the road. It's cozy, casually elegant, surrounded by trees outside each huge window, and the divine food is made with creativity and love, it's clear. An experience that goes beyond taste buds, it's food and dining as art, surrounded by nature, and soooooo good for the soul.


This was the outdoor scene I enjoyed while we ate. There
was a string of golden lights hanging from the trees.


And amazing photos like this cover the walls in rustic,
vintage-style frames.


I love walking through here, every time. The hallway of old photos. There are pictures of Willie Nelson and John Denver that make me sooo happy.


The porch outside the deli. Amy and I sat in these
very chairs to enjoy our super yummy sandwiches
last time she was in town.

Summer in Sundance is a dream,
but I CAN'T WAIT for the fall.


Now that is pure magic.
What more could you ask of life?

A Midsummer Night's Dream is playing at the outdoor theatre RIGHT now! Anyone want to join me?

What's your favorite Robert Redford movie? I really must see Out of Africa.

Time For Some Campaignin'! Refreshing Political Satire for Everyone. Hilarious!

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Greetings from Gallup, NM

I'm driving without a camera because I forgot the battery charger. So I'm taking mental pictures: of the gorgeous stained glass, southwestern-style mirror, so elegant in shades of blue and some red, in the hotel lobby where we stayed in downtown Albuquerque last night, the Nuttin' Fancy Cafe in Clarendon, Texas that promises "Dang Good Food!", the tiny pueblo-style, salmon-pink house with the turquoise front door that charmed me as we drove past and reminded me of the New Mexico welcome sign that read Land of Enchantment, and my kids' faces while standing on the window sill of our hotel room, hands and heads against the window pane, wide-eyed and motionless, quietly taking in the nighttime scene of city lights from oh so high up in the sky!

This morning the city of Albuquerque felt a bit lonely and unloved. It was eerily quiet. All I spotted were a few scattered business-folk and tourists walking here and there, one street vendor, one homeless man, and I swear only one pigeon. I enjoyed the Starbucks employees whose faces livened with the greetings and farewells dished out by Allie Rose, and the few customers there who, even in New Mexico look the same as anywhere.

It was good to be in the heart of a city though, however un-bustling. Soooo good to be on a road-trip, especially with my books, my lap-top and crossword puzzles, Chad to answer all my questions with the familiarity of his sunflower seed-eating habit while driving, and children contentedly watching Robots in the backseat. And it will be very, very good to be in Moab, Utah for dinner at Eddie McStiff's! I've perused the menu online and now anticipate some fantastic food in just a few hours! Texas is grand and I do love it greatly, but I sure can't wait to be in the vegetarian-friendly, tree-hugging spirit of Moab! Just can't wait!