Mantle Makeover and More

We had a gloriously strange Saturday around here because the kids and I were up and out of the house by 9:00am for our Stake Primary Pioneer Day Parade (not something I would have gone to had I not been obligated to by my calling) and Randy was at my parents' house making adjustments to the chicken tractor (moving house/grazing area) he built until late afternoon.


We were done with the parade (basically we walked through 3 streets of a neighborhood for the small smattering of neighbors who came out to see us) by 10:00. We were hot and sweaty, so we went to Harts to get Slurpee's and gas and a car wash.

Upon returning home we were looking at an obligation-free day. Landon declared he was having a stay-home day (rather than a play with friends kind of day) so I felt liberated. I began doing some cleaning/organizing projects (i.e., the desk next to my bed) that led into more cleaning/organizing projects.


I ended up redoing our mantle and am quite pleased with the results. I've always felt limited by our mantle because it's rather narrow and tilts slightly forward, so I felt like things would fall off it. Also, the big clock has always hung on a nail that was already there when we moved in, so it hung rather low and made it difficult to put anything in front of it.

I got wild and crazy (i.e., I finally got a clue) and moved the nail up about 3 inches so the clock is higher and there's more room beneath it. It's a good thing we've lived here 6.5 years and I finally decided to do that! Good Hell, what's wrong with me?

I looked around the house for things to put on the mantle and ended up with this configuration. It still feels a bit precarious to me because of the tilt of the mantle, but so far so good. I love the changes!


This also meant cleaning and reconfiguring the top of the armoire (which I hadn't done since getting it 18 months ago) so that was pleasing (though very dusty) too.


Randy came home while I was in the middle of this project and agreed to hang the sketches Adam gave me for my birthday (Randy has an eye for detail and measuring so it was best to wait for him). I can't believe we've had nothing on that wall all this time! Now that these are there I can't stop looking at them.


I was on a roll and feeling super energized at this point, so I swapped out a few of the pictures on my photo wall. I added this one of Landon's bear-hugged return from scout camp because I love it so much.


I also added this cute one of Randy and the kids from Father's Day.


I never get tired of looking at our photo wall, and usually seat myself directly across from it, when seated at the table for dinner. I love the combination of old and new photos, color and black & white, and all the memories that go along with seeing the faces of family.

**Have you had a Slurpee lately?
Do you enjoy rearranging your home?
Do you swap out photos very often?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I'm starting to feel panicked about summer vacation coming to an end. School starts in one month, and though I love the school year, I don't feel like we've done much this summer.

My Paris-Inspired Outing

My blogging friend Rebekah's comment on my last Paris post said, "So, what has changed about you, the way you see things, what you want out of life as a result of this trip? I find that every time I go someplace new it has an impact on me, it changes me in some way." I thought that was a great question and it's one I'd like to answer (most likely in multiple posts).


As a result of my great trip and Michelle's fabulous "Friday Flanerie" posts I have decided to Flanarize here in Utah. So what if I can't just step out the door and be somewhere stunning or hop on a Metro and be at a world famous, historically significant landmark, there's still good stuff to be seen and experienced here and after spending 11 days in Paris I'm ready to go look for it.

A couple ideas came to mind right away, but those could be done no matter what the weather, so I thought of something I could do outside to take advantage of the gorgeous fall weather.


My first stop was a bakery to get something for lunch. I made this decision on the fly as I was driving and was so proud of myself for thinking outside my fast-food box.


It was NOT the same as a Parisian bakery, but this is American Fork...not Paris so I rolled with it. (I ordered lunch and then got a baguette to use for dinner...sadly it ended up being so hard that even after microwaving it to soften it up I risked serious dental damage trying to eat it.)


I happily snapped pictures of the cute decor and took a Michelle-inspired self-portrait in the mirror while I waited for my order to be ready. The people there probably thought I was crazy, but nobody said anything about it.


Next, I got back in the car and made my road trip music selection for the day since my destination was 45 away. It definitely felt like a Shawn Colvin kind of day.


So this was my destination for the day...ta-da! I had never been there before, so it was all new to me.


It was clear immediately that I had made the right choice for my flanarizing, oh the colors!


I walked around for about 20 minutes before selecting this area to sit at while enjoying my lunch. These aren't styling Parisian chairs, but they were still pleasing.


My lunch consisted of half (I wished I'd ordered a whole) Tarragon Chicken Salad sandwich, Sea Salt Chips (that weren't salty at all) and a tasty shortbread, chocolate-chip cookie. It was a very pleasant lunch, I just wanted more of it.


I love how plants grow and change throughout the seasons, and are often beautiful (I feel like I've overused that word lately) even in their withered state.


The sight of this woman doing some writing on a bench in one of the gardens was rather quaint. She had walked in with her notebook at the same time I did, so it was fun to see where she chose to end up.

I'm calling this one "Potential".

I happily crunched my way down these stairs.

I don't think I've ever seen a leaf's edges roll up like this before.

Ahhhh.

I made my way down to the perfect area for me to sit in solitude and do some writing myself.


I started a new journal (given to me by Cathy last Christmas) for my Paris-inspired outings. I love it that I have a stock pile of journals given to me from blogging friends. I don't always know what I'm going to end up using them for, but they always get used.


This was the gorgeous view from where I sat. There were about 10 ducks frolicking (that's right, frolicking) in the water while I sat there.


Most of the benches there have been donated in someone's name, this was the name on my bench of choice. I decided I'd like to donate a bench somewhere sometime (not necessarily after I die) because if there's anything I appreciate when traveling or being out and about, it's a well-located bench.

As I wrote about this in my journal I started thinking about some of the different benches I've sat on to rest my weary feet and thought how funny it would be if the benches in the malls were donated in memory of someone. They would have little plaques that said things like, "In memory of Robyn, who loved to shop" or "In memory of Lori, who loved a good shoe sale". I cracked myself up thinking about the possibilities.

My journal, my pen, leaves on the ground, it's all good to me.

After spending 30 minutes of peaceful bliss on this bench, I finally decided to move on and continue exploring the gardens.


Just to the left of where I was sitting was a bridge with this stream running out of the pond. I love the sound of the water rushing down the hill! I would love to have a nice backyard with some sort of water feature, that sound is just so soothing.

The view through the bridge on the other side.

More beautiful withering.

Hydrangeas in Utah...what the? I thought we couldn't grow hydrangeas here, so I was very surprised to see these dried out flowers. The sign said they were "Smooth Hydrangeas" so I'll have to investigate them and see if that's something I can cultivate at my house.


The sun shone more brightly at this point in the day and made the colors even more pronounced. I was rather smitten with the combination of the yellow leaves, red berries and blue sky.


I couldn't resist a shadow self-portrait (I had my big bag slung across my chest onto my hip).


This is another bench I spent some quality time enjoying. There were some very noisy Robins hopping around in the fallen leaves surrounding me, and I wondered if they were shopping for fall-nest decor.

I love this close-up of the leaves on the bench.

Black-eyed Susans are pretty even without their petals. I've seen these used as innovative fillers in fall bouquets and think they're very cool looking.

I spy a humpback whale.


I was taken with these again when I passed them on my way out.

Signs of the effort that goes into the gardens.

It's so rare that I find myself in Salt Lake and near Adam and Amy's house that I just had to drop something off to Amy. I stopped by the Red Butte Cafe and got her a piece of Raspberry Chocolate Cake. It looked mighty good to me. Amy wasn't home so I left it by the back door.

I had such a great day out and felt super-charged and happy after spending 2.5 hours at the gardens. I made it home just before the kids got back from school and felt like I'd gotten away with something. I'm definitely going to flanarize more often.

By the way, this post took me a long time to put together, just like my Paris posts!

**What do you think?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I went walking again today (that's 3 times this week) so I could soak up the fall goodness. I resisted taking my camera with me and tried to just be, but I really prefer being with my camera.