Peck Life

The Best Toys

From the time I was 6 months old, I was taken care of during the day while my parents were at work by a woman named Donna. I don’t know whether to call her a friend, a caregiver, a second mother…? I love her. I have fond memories of being at her house and all of the fun toys we used to have; lots of wood toys, learning toys, puzzles and painting. Oh yes, and the old ice cream maker we used to churn!

Donna and I still get to visit from time to time and each time I see her, it seems she has unearthed some little treasure from her garage – gems I would think she’d want to pass down to her own grandchildren but somehow she has decided to gift to Sky.

This time? It was some “vintage” puzzle dominoes, an animal puzzle, AND {not pictured}, a fold up tee-pee covered with rainbow fabric. I’m so appreciative to her for thinking of us and I LOVE to see things I remembered as a kid. Even more, I love that Sky {and soon Ben} will get to enjoy them too.

3 years in the making...

Sky was born in December 2009. If you do the math, it’s pretty embarrassing how long it took me to get these photo books together! It was one of those ongoing projects that continually got put on the back burner. But, what really matters now is that they are FINISHED!!!!!!

There are wayyyy too many pictures of Sky’s first year so I ended up with 3 separate “volumes” of 100 pages each. After trying a few digital book companies, I finally settled on MyPublisher because I found their book software the easiest and most intuitive to use. The paper and picture quality is beautiful and I’m so happy to finally have something tangible to look at!

My next endeavor is to complete 2011 and 2012, which I’m hoping will be easier because at that point, I finally started organizing my photos better and have a folder for each month of the year dedicated to my best shots. It's so nice to have something to display on the coffee table or just look through when you don't feel like scanning through a million photos on the computer. Plus, Sky enjoys looking at pictures of himself from when he was just a little tiny baby {my how the last 3 years have flown...}!

Yellow On The Brain {Again...}

The other day I was picking up the house and realized that I had been subconsciously selecting yellow things in my recent errands/shopping travels. I put everything together in one spot and snapped a few pictures. It makes me really happy to see my yellows all in one spot! I'm particularly partial to mustard right now; I just need to figure out what I can wear with those tights! The yellow vase is from my mom – she gave it to me after she saw my first yellow post. She’s so thoughtful!

Collecting: Egg Cups

Aside from my mild obsession with globes (more on that here), I’m also really loving egg cups at the moment. Like globes, I love them in groupings. One egg cup by itself looks a little funny but a bunch together…? Pure cuteness! There are so many fun colors and combinations! It’s kind of a weird obsession given I rarely make hard boiled eggs or have a use for these but whatevs…sometimes you just need to have things like this, don’t ask me why.

{jenns three graces}

{my house is my castle}

{bon appetit}

{etsy}

{storeyshop}

{athropologie}

{luna and chloe weddings}

{bramble and bloom}

{country living}

{west elm}

{etsy}

{blissfully domestic}

{etsy}

{vintage fiestaware}

{paper michelle}

{etsy}

{craft gossip}

Antiquing with Annie

I took an unexpected and very exciting 2-hour tour through two of my favorite antique spots recently. It wasn’t planned and something I rarely get to do now that we have Sky…I mean, who gets free time like this to browse for treasures? It’s SO FUN. I went with my sis-in-law, Annie, who also shares my love of old and interesting and together, we conquered, while Sky spent some quality time with this nana and poppa. I only had my cell phone with me so I’m sorry about the picture quality, but hopefully you get the idea of why you could spend an entire day in here.

The basket of naked barbie dolls was truly one of a kind.

After all of our hunting, I walked away with 3 very awesome items….a letterpress tray, a vintage globe, and an old red/white striped hat box. I’ve been wanting a letterpress tray and a globe for a while now so I was giddy to score these…all at really good prices {$35 for the tray and $10 for the globe}. I hope to use the tray in Sky’s room once it becomes his “big boy” space to display whatever he wants, kind of like this. The globe, well, you already know my obsession with that. Currently, it’s in our living room. AHH, I’m just tickled! Have you found any good stuff lately?

Collecting: Globes

First and foremost, let’s talk about collecting. Do you have collections of things? I wish I was better at being strategic with my collecting, so I had a full grouping of something that’s eye-catching. But, I’m usually not. I have one or two of lots of different things and then it just looks like a hodge podge. I also never seem to have time to go scavenging for goodies. I think it’s a combo of not having fund$ for collecting (kind of not a necessity), or the fact that there is an almost 2 year old running rampant throughout the house who would probably break whatever I collect. But all that aside, I love collections, especially when they are displayed….and I’m envious of people who manage to perfect this art of decorating. I thought it might be fun to regularly feature some collections I’m coveting, both to inspire and to free up some of my brain space to stop obsessing about gathering objects to collect dust put in my house.

My first collecting obsession? GLOBES.

I know globes are all the rage right now, but I can’t help it. I love. Globes look really cool as a stand alone item but I think they look ten times better when they are grouped together….two (or 20) is better than one right? I’m especially loving black globes right now….and globes used in kids rooms. swoooon.

{real simple}

{oh happy day}

{via pinterest}

{smile and wave}

{the pleated poppy – one of my favorite blogs}

{the handmade home}

{both images via life made lovely – another favorite blog!}

{marcy penner via tumblr}

{please sir}

{design sponge}