Pursue Good Stuff goes to Florida

Here is the PURSUE GOOD STUFF travel album from my recent trip to Florida. My sister recently posted an album from Colorado. Like she said, life is about pursuing what is good, ALL that is good. Remember you are not passive…you can pursue good stuff today. That is my goal for the day.

An evening kayak trip.

  

Explore by kayak.
 

I great place to sit and watch the surf.
 
Fresh Georgia peach. Yum.
 
Good in abundance.
 

This is the life.
 

Find a place to PURSUE GOOD STUFF.
 

Beauty is everywhere.
 

Sift through your choices in life.
 

Boats come is all shapes and sizes.
 

Keep your eyes on the horizon.
 

Little doesn’t mean small.
 

Make friends.
 

There is strength in numbers.
 

Spark ideas.
 
Eat well. Grilled Florida shrimp...fresh catch.

 

Fresh Florida Mussels – OMG – this is some goooooood stuff folks.
 

Steam up the room.
 

Walk barefoot in the sand every chance you get.
 

White sand, sunshine and nothing planned.
 

And, never forget to play.

 I will pursue good stuff…today.

Casey

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Collector

I collect. I am not crazy-freaky and have display cases of Pez characters or anything like that. (I will admit, I love Pez and find them somewhat difficult to resist at checkout lanes, however.) But, I do collect.

I am picky. I don’t just collect items because they fall into a category. I edit and curate. I don’t seek the perfect, re-saleable or considered “collectible” items. I simply collect items for my own pleasure.

I returned yesterday from a summer trip where I was able to go “shelling”, which soothes me. It’s a form of meditation.

My finds will not be getting to me in Kansas City until mid-August and when they arrive I will get to discover their natural beauty – again.

Casey

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Almost Stupid

I almost walked right into a grand tour down memory lane. Almost.

While our 14 year old son is off traipsing around Paris, I decided to travel right into the grand abyss that is his closet. It was packed to the gills with old costumes, rolled posters, too-small shoes, last year’s jeans, and his “keepsafe” boxes. That’s where I was almost stupid. Almost.

When he was young and still learning the finer points of the English language,  he heard me mentioning his keepsake boxes. To be precise, what he heard – but not what I said –  was KEEPSAFE boxes. He will still ask me to put things away in his keepsafe boxes. I have never corrected him, and I doubt I ever will. It’s just too precious to me, and there needs to be some thread to him that ties me to his babyhood.

Back to the closet. Right on top, in the uppermost keepsafe box, was the Little Lord Fauntleroy outfit I bought him in 1997 for my stepsister’s wedding. I went a little crazy in the weeks before the wedding and purchased this amazing ensemble at Saks Fifth Avenue. It’s a pima cotton placketed blouse and a navy blue velvet jumper with button closures. No tacky snaps here!! I finished it all off with white socks and leather Buster Brown ankle shoes. He was 8 months old, and that night his feet never touched the ground. He was held by many and pandered to all  night. He was as happy all evening as he is in this picture.

In the box, right under this fashion statement, is the outfit we took him home from the hospital in. I can’t say what else is in that box – or the boxes it was resting on – because I stopped right there. I felt the big cry coming on, and I waltzed right around it. I went back to sorting and dusting and cleaning and ignored the memories waiting in those boxes.

I guess that, because I only have one child, I will not need to remind myself to not go cleaning out the closets of an almost high schooler while they are away. It is a treacherous and slippery slope if you are not properly prepared.

I should, however, remind myself that drying my eyes with the cotton rag in my hands that is coated in lemon Pledge and dust bunnies is almost stupid. Almost.

Sloane

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Button Pusher

We all know how to push the buttons of the ones we love. We push them to elicit a response, to incite a riot, to ignite a discussion. You pick it. We’ve all done it.

I spent this past weekend in Denver visiting my husband’s family and catching STUFF’s new buttons in action in the Mile High City. I never pushed these little cuties on anyone, but they were a point of conversation with several strangers.

Here’s what Denver looks like when you’re 1-inch tall.

 

Just last week, Casey and I started placing jars of these little hotties all around Kansas City in our favorite locally owned eateries. They have been wildly popular, and as I was leaving one restaurant tonight – after refilling the jar – I was stopped and asked for 6 buttons. The woman wanted me to know exactly who would be wearing them  – her sister, her mother, etc. We talked about them briefly, and she went on with her evening.

 

I guess that makes me a button pusher. We really are wanting to start a riot, elicit responses, and ignite discussions. To pursue good stuff is to look for what’s good in life – emotions, foods, places, things, people, charities, events, you name it – and flourish there.

Sloane

 p.s.  I need to thank my trusty assistants – my husband and my son – for their help with the camera when I wasn’t wearing my readers. For clarification purposes only, I’m a Tanqueray girl and the Smirnoff bottle was found by my nieces in the courtyard of our B&B. All contents of the mini bottle had been previously consumed.

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Happy

I am on vacation. It is day two on the beach. And my incredible little girl presented me with the gift of a lifetime. I was hanging out in the waves and she was running, playing and creating in the sand. I often find her lost in her imagination, talking with herself, and building elaborate stories. So, today I assumed she was scripting a play all her own. An hour later, she came to the water’s edge and said, “Mom, come see what I made.”

This is what she presented to me.

 There is no greater gift than knowing your child is happy.

 

The Bean with her art.

Casey

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Copyright Casey Simmons and S. Sloane Simmons. People who steal other people's words & thoughts are asshats. Don't be an asshat.