7) These cute puppies!

Austin and I have always agreed on the fact that we will have a German Shepherd and a chocolate Lab. I absolutely love both of these dogs, they are adorable when they're puppies, and beautiful when they're full grown. We'll train them well, and they'll be outside dogs for sure. And they'll both beat down anyone who tries to come on our land.






























Isn't this German Shepherd puppy seriously the cutest thing ever?!

6) Our own personal mailbox

One thing we will definitely have is a personal mailbox. I absolutely can't stand the metal boxes with the keys that we refer to as mailboxes these days. I HATE those things. I want to have our own little adorable mailbox right at the end of our driveway. With the little red flag that you put up when you're mailing a letter. And with beautiful flowers growing up at the base of it. Something similar to this darling thing...

Who wouldn't want to get mail in this??

5) Pumpkin Patch

Back to the previously scheduled blogs about the things I want when I grow up!

Anyone who knows anything about me knows that I count down the days every year. Not until Christmas, not until my Birthday, not until school is out. But until HALLOWEEN. It is by far the greatest occasion anyone has come up with so far. So dream #5 is most definitely a pumpkin patch. But not just a pumpkin patch, I want an annual neighborhood Halloween party to go along with it. We would have cookie decorating, pumpkin carving, a costume contest, caramel apples, scary stories, and maybe even a hayride. And maybe a bonfire with s'mores. And we'll put together adorable little party favors for everyone to take home. And everyone will look forward to the Keaton Halloween Bash every year!! Maybe it's a little much. But this is all about my dreams, so I can make them as ridiculous as I want. Here's the preliminary to our future pumpkin patch. We planted these last year in our tiny little garden, and they are just a preview of things to come!

4) Fresh Baked Bread

My mom used to tell us about how her mom would bake homemade bread every Saturday night so they would have it for the week. The entire house would smell delicious as they went to bed. And every once in a while if she snuck downstairs, her mom would give her the heel of a loaf as a treat. I think it would be so wonderful to be able to get into a routine of doing that every week. There's nothing more delicious than toast made with homemade bread and fresh jam. The problem I always have with homemade bread is that it can end up tasting too much like yeast, and seem kind of bland. But last night I cracked open one of the thirty cookbooks we were given for the wedding, and found what turned out to be the most delicious homemade bread recipe I've had. It's a basic recipe for white bread that can be used for anything, and you can substitute whole wheat flour in it as well. They had all these different design ideas and toppings and glazes. I made these adorable spiral rolls, some with sesame seeds on top. They were delicious! I think I'll work on perfecting this recipe in my little kitchen over the next few months.

3) Homemade Baby Food

I know this one sounds like a crazy hippie lady thing. But I am crazy about the idea of not having to buy jars upon jars of baby food, which is getting rather expensive, and having to worry about what might be in it. I could just pick some fresh fruits/veggies from my wonderful garden (documented in the previous post) and make it fresh in exactly the right amount. This baby food maker is my favorite, it's from France and they sell it at Williams-Sonoma, so it must be incredible. It steams, blends, and warms the food all in that same bowl, and it has no BPA. We'll have the healthiest little organic babies!
















I would of course also need this precious little baby cookbook.

2) Gardens

My dream of living on a totally self-sufficient little plot of land would definitely start with incredible gardens. I would want equally huge fruit and vegetable gardens, along with loads of fruit trees. I want to grow everything: corn, tomatoes, peas, lettuce, cucumbers, squash, broccoli, beans, peppers, herbs, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, pears, apples, cherries. And of course we would have one giant pumpkin patch, an entirely separate dream of mine that will be addressed later on.
This book is one of my greatest inspirations for wanting to grow as much of our own food as we can.



















Barbara Kingsolver, who wrote The Poisonwood Bible which is also amazing, wrote this as a sociological/investigative journalism piece. Her and her family move from Arizona to the East coast in order to become completely self-sufficient. They only eat what they can grow themselves, or what they can buy from local farmers. It completely changes their family in every way possible, and brings them back to what's most important. They are healthier, happier, and stronger as a family. Who knew that kind of a miracle could happen just by changing what you eat? And who wouldn't want to grow a delicious garden to make that happen?

1) A Pottery Barn House

One habit I have is going through every Pottery Barn magazine that I get (which is a lot because we registered there) and tearing out the pages of things I love. Rooms, curtains, furniture, lighting, etc. I have a huge file with ideas for my house, which I plan to be shabby chic with a little bit of southern country mixed in. This is one of my absolute favorite ideas.
















I picture this next to our mud room, where our kids have their own little spot to keep permission slips and homework and to post their little achievements in school.

This is another of my favorites. I would love to have a dining room this cozy and inviting. I can just imagine sitting around with our cute family on a Saturday morning in our pajamas eating breakfast at this table.














And this is my dream bedroom. I think this is the most incredible color combination. It's like Fall, my favorite season, but so bright and cheery that I would love it year round. I'm in love with the orange accents.