Adornments

I'm finally trying to get back some blogging momentum after a hard 3 months of not feeling well.  I had a very weird severe allergy/auto-immune thing going on and now after eliminating tons of things from my diet (like wheat and sugar) I am feeling a bit better.  I've also changed out almost every chemical product in my house and I'm not sure I'll ever really  know the exact cause of my spiral into a highly allergic state but as a life long allergy sufferer I know that keeping away from as many harsh chemicals and foods that trigger me is my only real hope to keep my symptoms at bay.  I can't handle anti-histamines on a daily basis.  Even the non-drowsy ones knock me out.  So hope you forgive my lack of posts.  For now I'll just be doing some quicky ones as I try to get back into the rhythm of it all again.

Despite my not feeling well this Spring, team moxie carried on heroically as they always do and the shop is super full of really cute stuff.  We added so many new lines after our visits to the winter gift markets and now that I'm back on track I've been shopping my bootie off every weekend at the estate sales.  Lots of new and very unique vintage finds have been arriving several times a week.

I'm really looking forward to a fun memorial day weekend and hope you all have a great one too.  

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what's new at the shop???

I've been doing a lot of what I love these past few weeks now that the weather has warmed up somewhat here in the midwest.  That is vintage shopping of course!  Here are a few things we dropped off at the shop this afternoon.  A full photo album of the rest of our weekend's finds can be found over on our Facebook page.  www.facebook.com/moxie.dekalb

Hope you had a great weekend too!  

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hello tiny glimpse of spring

It's been a long winter here in the Midwest.  I've been thinking Spring was going to be missed altogether this year.  Despite having some snow flurries yesterday, the sun did peek out today and the buds on the branches are coming to life.  I took advantage of the sun, while still wearing my winter coat and scarf, to take some photos of the budding branches.  

 I hope the sun was shining where you were today.  

The sun also made it more fun to take some photos.  My photos of late have been as gray as the skies and I love them to have more warmth and happy colors.  

 Have a happy week ....

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Camp girl

 Dad was a teacher and every summer for most of my childhood the family would get loaded into the wagon (at this time there were 6 of us kids) and we'd head out to Wyoming making stops in the Dakotas and various other states along the way. Then we'd camp for a good 6 weeks straight. No hotels and not even fancy campgrounds. If I had a nickel for every time we had to do our "business" in a hole in the ground I'd have a dollar fifty! The fanciest we got was a weekly trip to the local laundromat to wash everyones duffel bag of clothes. I can truthfully say that as a kid I kind of hated these summers. I couldn't stand, dirt, pooping in the woods, excessive heat or cold, bugs, leeches, ticks (experienced all of these often) and I had so many allergies that I spent a great deal of time with itchy eyes and a scratchy body. I was the kid that dreamt of summers at home with my friends at the park district pool. I was kind of an anomaly within my family. The rest of my siblings loved roughing it. As an adult I've grown to have a much greater appreciation for the outdoors. But I do it my way now. No camping and no real roughing it. More like walks on the beach, nature hikes for photography, country drives, small town antiquing and stays in Lakeside houses with comfy beds and a nice hot shower.

The above photo is one that my dad gave me recently in the form of a slide. My husband surprised me by sending off a bunch of the slides to a place he found online (scanflurry.com) that makes them into photos on a disc.  You then  print as many photos as you like. They did a great job and it was not very expensive. 

I love that in this photo my siblings and I have a slight "help we're stuck in a commune" look about us. Especially Courtney in the yellow and Lara in the white. My brother Sean has a funny choke-hold on Courtney. And the way he has his arms around us you can see he is taking his role of brother/dude very seriously. Also hysterical is the full size playpen set up behind us, with the youngest at the time Adam inside of it. And my mom is behind us not facing the camera. She was probably thinking "I don't have time for photos.... I've got to make dinner for 8 people over a camp fire"

 That is 9 year old me tip toeing around the car to take a peek at a real bear sitting on the side of the road in Yellowstone National Park vicinity. Photo taken by my dad and given to me recently. I remembered the event but had no idea it had been documented on film. This was circa 1976.

Here is another one of the photos (slides) my dad gave me. This one dates to the early 70s as I think I look to be about 4 or 5 and was born in 67. Do you dig my striped pants. I did! I vividly remember this pop up van we had for a year or two as the WHOLE family crammed in there for sleeping and I'll never forget the night we were all awakened by a bear digging around our campsite looking for food. I think I remember it even coming right up to the van although maybe that is my little kid imagination at play. But it really was digging around our site. I had a hard time sleeping after that night. I did feel fear about a giant grizzly claw ripping thru the van and getting me.  If the fear of ticks and leeches didn't cement my feelings of despair about camping the fear of being bear dinner sealed the deal.  

It's been fun seeing the slides turned into photos and we've now framed the three shown here and since we liked how they turned out we are sending in another stack of slides to be converted.  Looking at these images makes me realize that I may not have loved camping and all that it entailed but spending all of that time with my family is part of what made me me and I really wouldn't trade that for anything. 

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Sarett Nature Center

The sun is finally shining here in the Midwest so the mister and I decided to celebrate with a visit to the Sarett Nature Center in Benton Harbor Michigan.  

It costs 3 dollars to get in which is well worth it as the grounds are large (8 miles of trails in 1000 acres)

and well marked with lots of trail signs to keep you on track with your chosen destination.  We picked up a map at the front desk and followed along with it quite easily. 

About 2 hours into our trail hike we came upon this old abandoned boxcar and I was so happy to have my camera with me to capture it.  You just have to wonder how did this old Michigan Fruit Canners rail car get in the middle of the forest in a Nature Center.  I love the color and the old lettering.  

All of the trails and special viewing platforms were marked with little hand made wood signs like this one.

As you can see here, a woodpecker really went to town on this tree!

Fun benches and resting spots could be found throughout the center

While it was challenging to get any good pictures of the birds which were moving about so quickly,  this fine turtle was much more my speed. He seemed to be enjoying the sunshine as much as we were.

Not all of the center was covered in these wooden walkways but quite a bit of it was.  There was even a treetop walkway .  The wood and steel raised walkway is 250 feet long and 55 feet off the ground making for a great treetop bird spotting location. 

We ended up spending 3 hours at the center and hiking many miles.  It felt good to get out in the sun after our long winter.  We spotted many birds, a beaver, a raccoon and turtles.  I'm sure deer and other forest friends could be spotted on different days.  It was great day and well worth the 3 dollars entrance fee.  Hope the sun is shining in your neck of the woods!

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