Showing posts with label Peace by Piece. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Peace by Piece. Show all posts

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Clydesdales, Bald Eagles & Camels, Oh My!

It was an early start today. Well, early as could be for it being the Saturday morning after my finishing VBS and my family driving almost 8 hours the day before. Mom had it decided before we were even out of bed this morning that we were doing something, likely in St. Louis. After some review, we settled on Grant's Farm.

joe. sydni. cori | dills
Heidi & Paul had some plans to do some hiking over on the Cahokia Mounds, so Jonathan loaded up with us and we started on our exhibition to St. Louis. We didn't take off before stopping by to see our good friend Bulent in Belleville [gelato stop, duhhhh] and of course taking Mom by Peace by Piece. Oh, and remember a week or so back when I stopped in and nabbed my TOMS ballet flats.. and I'd ordered something else? At the time, I was holding out because I didn't wanna ruin the surprise.. Well....

I ordered a necklace. Sounds a little goofy, but here in Belleville, there are a plethora of locally-based artisans who I would love to see be successful. Heather, the crafty hand behind this piece, took my order herself and did the work of putting the Dills on a chain in something of a non-traditional way. I'm not big on the typical mother jewelry, but I was attracted to the simplicity of this one, along with the fact that it's the entire family. Like I said, I could've easily done this myself, but I'm happy & I love it.

Grant's Farm was the place to be today!

grant's farm!
It took us no time at all to cover the horse stables and see the beauty of the famous Budweiser clydesdales. It also afforded us some great opportunities to update some long-overdue family photos...

family :) 
daddy & syd
joe. jonathan. dad | joe. syd. mom&dad | me & jonathan!
mama & syd
There was of course the tram ride that traverses over the grounds of the farm: Naturally I wound up with three times as many pictures as necessary, but Sydni kept demanding that I capture every single animal, be it sleeping or flying. We tried. Haha. 

animals everywhere!
My favorite collaboration from the day: 

she. is. adorable. call be biased ;)
Oh yeah, and of course Nana & Pappy insisted on buying a "little something" for Sydni, so we stopped off at the gift shop and spent a good while churning through a bin of colorful rocks. Sydni picked out as many as she could fit into the little leather bag provided, and shared with us her brazen pride with her selections all the way to the car. So... stinkin' ... cute. 
pickin' out rocks with mama
Whew. We are... spent! It's time to get to grillin' - Heidi and Paul are back from their day trip and we're about to do some business with the grill :).

I LOVE.. MY FAMILY!

xo | cmd

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Hangin' Out With the Mini! (:

It's obviously not unusual for Sydni and I to have plenty of mama-mini time whenever Joe is out of town. Our solo weekends vary from the tame nothin'-at-all days to the more adventurous days. Today fell into the category of spur-of-the-moment outing, which might seem, at face value, ridiculous considering it's still 110+ degrees out. Wellllll.. when the AC in your house is just blowing air, not cold air, it almost seems like a better avenue to get outta there for a bit. Check.

We started off with some errands, some long-overdue [grocery shopping], some just plain overlooked. We knocked out all of the more monotonous pitstops on the list and geared ourselves into downtown Belleville. My original thought was to stop and see our new friend Bulent and get some gelato, but I'd forgotten he was closed Saturdays.. this one at least. *Sigh. We spotted another digs right down the block and decided to check it out - I'm so glad we did! YAY, for local businesses!!

Welcome to Peachy! It's a frozen yogurt bar, surely no stranger to the locals, but a new discovery for us, and a perfect reprieve from the heat.

peachy | goofin' around.. biodegradable spoons, duh  ;)
i. let's see what this is all about | ii. tryyyyy it....
iii. love it, mama | iv. approval!
= a+ from the foodie critic!
Good stuff. Of course, since we were down in the heart of the Belleville local adorably unique shop district [that's obviously not official, but that's how I feel whenever I'm there!], I took Sydni in with me to check out the latest happenings at Peace by Piece. She was the smash hit of the staff, especially the owner's dog, with whom she immediately bonded and even kissed on the head before we left. I ended up ceding to a mega TOMS sale [shocking, I know], and left with some ballet flats. < First time with these; I'll have to see how they fare compared to the classics. Of course, TOMS are TOMS, and I support the core mission there, too, so I have less reservation about spending less than msrp on them today. Bwah bwah bwah.....

Oh! Almost forgot. I met Heather today, who both works at Peace by Piece and is a local artisan. Her jewelry [kindred spirit!] sells at PxP, and in an effort to continue supporting local folk, I ordered a little something that she'll be crafting. I won't say or show what just yet; I'll share that whenever she's finished :).

park baby
Anyway, from the time we got up this morning, Syd had been asking: "pretty please, can i, caaaaaan iiiiii???" to go to the park. I ultimately obliged, but not without trying to redirect her desire in another - any - other direction. It was her afternoon, but I certainly was thinking, sure kid. The park. It's as cool out as the sun's surface, but let's go to the park. ;) 

Like I said, I caved, so for a full 45 minutes, we were the only people outside I'm sure, within a 10 mile radius. Haha.

I realized I must've been asleep or somehow otherwise not paying enough attention to her all the other times we'd been to the park recently, because it seemed so sudden when she turned on some avid climbing skills. Yeah, I'm sure it's probably a standard developmental landmark, but I was prepared to aide her somehow. Not the case.


She's a regular little monkey! I'm so proud :).
mini monkey mode - she's fearless!
To my surprise, I was met with absolutely zero protest when I finally decided it was time to head home. Every surface of the play equipment at the park was "too hot, mommy, it's too hot," so after about 12 times up and down the spiral climby thing, we brought our day out and about to an end. She was asleep by the time I had the car started. Hah.

oh hey, sweat..
Now, I'd heard on the radio a day or so back that it's been clinically proven that prolonged extreme heat affects mental functioning. I think I knew that before I heard it, but it certainly made sense and I'm certainly blaming my random afternoon decision on it, too. I for some odd reason thought it would be smart to go running. Any other day, absolutely, but I'm declaring it official that the heat warped my logic so much that I actually forgot.. about.. the heat. Sad, sick irony.

Anyhow, 3 miles later, I was back home, more thankful than ever that I'm headed to Heaven when my time here is through. This weather made me think of a preview of the other neighborhood, and my sentiment on it is that that rat Satan can take and keep this weather ;).

110+ degrees. Running. Outside. I need to suck it up, I know... I just wasn't quite prepared for it today. Haha. Ohhhh well. Three miles is three miles no matter which way you spin it, even if it meant sweating my weight before I was halfway done. Mehhhh...

We are done runnin' around for the day. We're about to head down to camp out in the basement and watch The Little Mermaid for the umpteenth time. Speaking of which, as a sidenote: I was emptying out our dishwasher earlier and Sydni exclaimed, quite articulately:

"Mommy! Look at aaaaall those dinglehoppers!"
[[ credit: Mo.... haha ]]

Whoa. Moments in the life of a toddler girl's mama. Unscripted!

Haha. It's gonna be an early day tomorrow. The VBS kickoff is less than 24 hours out at this point; say a prayer for us!!

'Nite, beloved blogbots.

xo | cmd

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Week 3. Here We Go.

Yeahhhh, Monday.

And yeah, it’s freakin’ HOT outside. I’m not usually one to be discontented with warm weather, but this is a little out of hand for the Midwest. So yeah, *sweating*….

Today was one of those days during which I was so entirely consumed in my work that I skipped lunch altogether and was consequently faced with leaving an hour early. Welcome to the perks of hourly wages. J  Ha. So, that gave me plenty of time to do some light exploring of Belleville, which meant stopping by Peace by Piece, a local shop that carries only American-made products and caters to the sale of local artisans. My kind of shop… 

peace by piece | belleville, il

I had planned on stopping there for one reason only, and found exactly what I needed within the first minute I entered. It’s certainly not Park & Vine, but it’s mildly comparable. I’d definitely go back. Now if only I can hunt down a local dig that carries all natural products and all the hippy stuff I love: Moby’s, cloth diapers, beeswax soap, household items made from recycled bike parts… ya know, that sort of place. Any suggestions?

Towerview’s softball game was scheduled for , but I craftily used both Sydni and the well-overdue grocery trip to escape sitting in the blazing sun for 3-4 hours straight. Joe headed to the game; Sydni and I headed to Dierberg’s. We managed to shop, return home, and shelve everything within the hour, which left us plenty of time to catch the second game. By the time Syd and I made it to the field, the heat had partially retreated, so the evening was tolerable. We didn’t pick up any wins tonight, but the guys played well and we had fun watching. Plus, Jarod rode his motorcyle and had forgotten shorts, so he opted to simply chop off the lower half of his jeans. Yeah for softball fashion statements. :)

before: jeans | after: jean shorts

It’s still hot, even inside, and I’m pretty sure I’ll end up falling asleep as close to ground level as I can….again, tonight. We’ll see.


xo | cmd