Hoping to do very little laboring this weekend...

This week has had me running in circles at work and I'm so ready to hit the road and escape to the lake.

 Although Mother nature doesn't look to be our side until Sunday, that's ok.

 I'm looking forward to slowing down and getting cozy in the a-frame.

Be safe.

 Enjoy this last bit of summer. 

 Happy Labor day weekend!

Glitter makes everything better...

Over the weekend, my husband found an estate sale within a few minutes from our cottage. We didn't walk away with much, I did snatch up this faded Christmas planter for .50 cents.  

Although my craft room table is currently covered with lots of orange and black crafting supplies, out came a few bottle brush trees and loads of glitter.  

Don't you agree that everything is better with glitter?
  

Hints of fall are popping up EVERYWHERE!

We took a different route on the way to the a-frame on Friday and came across this. 

Of course I made Chris stop the car so that I could snap a photo.   I hope your weekend was a restful one.  It's off to the races with the official start of the new fall semester at my University!
 

As we walk...

We've barely had time to explore the area around our a-frame. Once we arrive, we usually stick close to the cottage or get right into the lake water. Last Sunday, Chris and I took an early morning walk and found this beautiful spot.

 This weekend, I'm going to embrace it all.  Every S.I.N.G.LE step!  Come on 5pm!
XOXO
 

Playing...

Downstairs in the corner of our finished basement is a former guest bedroom which is now my craft room.

This is a space I fill with special holiday collections, estate sale finds, crafting supplies and favorite childhood toys.

When the stress of new semester start-up begins to takeover, I know it's time to let lose myself in my special space.

Last night, I spent four hours by myself in my craft room. 

The girls and Chris were gone overnight to the a-frame cottage and my only visitors were my two cats.  It was heavenly.  

I'm definitely feeling inspired for autumn fun!!

Feeling a little witchy...

Anyone else have Halloween crafting on the brain?

   

Fields of gold...

I'm missing my summer schedule of Mondays off, but my batteries are definitely recharged. 

Lots of fun was had.

Did you have a good weekend, my friends?

XOXO
        

Taking time to play...

It's been a CrAzY busy work week. 

I'm looking forward to playing this weekend. 

Happy soon-to-be weekend!
   

Orange and black estate sale finds...

Although the girls and Chris don't return to school until after Labor day, it's new faculty orientation at my University today. The new semester is definitely on my "work" brain, but I also am thinking of future Halloween crafting and fall decorating too. Here are a few Halloween estate sale finds picked up over the summer. 

A pair of handmade yarn pumpkins.

 A bag of floral picks which will eventually end up as decorations on our Halloween tree.  Tree pic taken in 2013.

And a hand-painted ceramic witch.

Happy Wednesday!  Happy thrifting!!

Lake adventures...

With as much as I talked about my mother's birthday on Friday's post, you'd think I'd have a birthday picture of my mother to share, but I don't.

 I do have evidence of one of the gifts I gave her. The handmade tag is of her as a little girl eating popcorn. She still loves popcorn (and so do the girls)!  Although I don't have any photo evidence, my sister and I did celebrate her birthday with some antiquing and visiting a quilt store near the cottage.   We had lots of fun.

Our nephews then spent the night at the a-frame and the girls had so much fun with their cousins.

The weather was perfect and lots of time was spent swimming in the lake.

 Smores and late night fishing were also on the agenda.

It was a perfect weekend to be outdoors.

Now, it's time to get back to reality. A busy work week awaits. New faculty orientation and lots of meetings are filling my University schedule.  I hope you had a wonderful weekend.  I'm counting down the days until next weekend!
   

Scrambling and celebrating...

Although we plan on keeping our a-frame cottage open as long as possible (we've even decided to put money into a new furnace in the hopes of enjoying some autumn fun and possible winter weekends of ice fishing and ice skating), I suddenly find myself scrambling to fit everything into these next few weekends.

We'll be busy celebrating my mom's birthday Saturday and I've promised my mom and sister that we could explore some antique and thrift stores near our cottage.

Good times await at the lake!  

Have a wonderful weekend.   Cheers!
  

A few more sneak peeks of the a-frame...lower level happenings!

Chris and I would have never agreed to purchasing the a-frame if it didn't include a lower level. 

 Without this additional space, the cottage would have been "too" cozy.

Over the last two weeks, Chris has been replacing the stinky shag carpeting, installing laminate flooring, painting the cement walls, and getting things spruced up.

   Yes.  He taught himself how to install flooring.  He is pretty amazing, isn't he?

Although we aren't completely done, shall we take a tour of the lower level?  Stair railings will be happening in the near future.  He's thinking of using boat oars to construct them.  

The entire basement is furnished with estate sale furniture, Goodwill furniture or items from our house basement.

For example, this over-sized plaid chair and ottoman were $20 from Goodwill.  After a good cleaning and lots of sunshine, it's perfectly fine for lake living.

The pole lamps and the light-up picture frame are totally tacky, but they add some fun ambiance to the lower level.

The model ship and stained glass were also rescued from an estate sale.

The corner couches and the table were also estate sale items.  We've been determined to stick to a budget and I think we've succeeded in keeping the costs to a minimum.

We've also found some really unique pieces from estate sales and my beloved Grandfather's personal collection.

As you can imagine, we're not done yet.

Chris would like to cover some of the cement walling with more wood and we're hoping to create another dining space and sleeping area.  Hard to believe we've only had this a-frame for a little over a month. 

It's definitely a labor of love.