Welcome to a great week! How was your weekend? We watched C play her first outdoor soccer game and shivered as the hail came down on us, but then Sunday gave us warm, sunny skies (nearly 70 degrees), and we had some time for softball, some making, and even a run! Fitness, I will find you yet.

It's Monday, and Itty Bitty Lovelies is all about photography today - specifically, great photos from your phone. First off, are we buds over on Instagram yet? I'm @parscaeli, and I am on the hunt for some beautiful captures of the ordinary. Post your photos of the beautiful and mundane around you with the hashtag #celebratethenormal. The first round of shared photos will be posted on Wednesday (with a fun new prompt, too).

I'm always hoping to craft better photos and find something really interesting to share. Here are some reads to help you follow me on my quest to become iPhone photo amazing.

1. Quick tips to use your tech the right way

Kimberly at A Night Owl Blog has some reminders and great new info on photos from the phone. Things I discovered: how the HDR setting can make evening shots sing. I always wondered what that meant.

2. Filter something fantastic

I admit it, I find the myriad of filter choices for phone photography ridiculously fun. Veronica has seven photo editing apps to show off. What I love is the ways she shows the same photograph going through all the editing selections. I've seen more and more of VSCO CAM and PictTapGo. Which one did you fancy?

3. Bring Instagram to your screen

I loved this idea of bringing Instagram right to your desktop.. and you don't even have to be actively using the technology. Would you want to see your friend's photos refresh as you go throughout the day? Check out this find from Cool Mom Tech.

We have a busy week ahead with family heading our way for my oldest's First Communion. Crossing fingers for pleasant weather!! What's on your plate this week?

Let's make it a good one!

xoxo, MJ

First off, my dears, thank you so much for all the insightful comments throughout the regular (sort of, right?) Tuesday/Wednesday series, Chat It Up. My intent behind the creation of Chat It Up was to have a space to listen and converse like old friends, and you all have been so gracious to engage in all sorts of different topics and posts! Now we're ready to move into something new, and I'm excited!!

Can I share something I've been trying to work around for a while?

I lead a normal life.

Alright, there. I said it.

I'm married and a mother of three children. I have a full-time job in communications. I drive (wait for it) a dark blue minivan (ahk, the horror! :)). I don't have a lot of opportunity to travel. I don't eat at amazing restaurants often or bring together meals that would amaze you. I haven't (yet) created photoready interior spaces to gawk at or crafted something that would stop you in your tracks.

But.

I have a knack for appreciating the mundane and celebrating the ordinary. Perhaps it's my Catholic faith and my love for Ordinary Time over the high points of Easter and Christmas. Or perhaps it's my desire to always support the underdog, the underappreciated around us. Or maybe it's because this is my life, the one I've been graced with, the one I've worked quite hard to create, and I love this normal.

When I began taking art lessons in high school, my first instruction was to begin really seeing and looking at everything. Noticing shadows and changes in tone. Examining the saturation of light and the details of texture once overlooked. I remember driving home that afternoon and finding the lines created by telephone wires and the pattern that emerged from the curbside rocks all freshly intriguing.

So here's where you come in.

Tell me, are you normal, too? Hipsters and desperate housewives need not apply.

Every Wednesday on Pars Caeli, I'll be celebrating the normal and ordinary through words and photographs and images. I'd love for you to join me because it's a hashtag party.

Snap away on Instagram and use this hashtag - #celebratethenormal - to capture the beauty of the ordinary around you. Images of people, places, and things are all welcome. In fact, you might be one of those 'Grammers who is more about the caption than the photo so bring that on, too!! I'll be featuring these beauties on Wednesdays (along with links to your account and/or blog if you're cool with that. If you'd prefer to submit anonymously, too, please do).

You've got the whole week, and I'll check in every Monday at midnight to pick some selections for that week's Celebrate the Normal.

What's your extraordinary normal look like? Show me. I bet we can elevate it to something pretty amazing.

xoxo, MJ

Last week we sat down as a family to make our big summer list, and it was such fun to see the kids each get excited as their creative ideas were added. I, too, love roasting marshmallows and naming the animals I see in the clouds. Summer brings out the child in me...

And yet, I had this feeling that I should have my own list. I am a mom, and it's my most beloved and amazing vocation. I am also a wife, a friend, a professional, an artist, and a little bit of a grown-up. So as we march through the weeks of summer (which are marching by so fast, aren't they?), I'll be covering my own list of must haves for the season. It's my way of holding myself accountable, to make sure that these days of warmth include some time for me to feed and nurture what I want to give back to those I love so much.

#1 Fresh Markets

Living in an area surrounding by farms, I am blessed to have the ease to hop over to a fruit stand here and a larger farmer's market over there. I smile as I drive through back streets and see the handmade carts with fresh veggies, fruits, and flowers and the inevitable can left out to collect the suggested price from drive-by customers. These markets pop up all over the place, and to me they scream summertime, small town, and all that is good in humanity.

We took a roadtrip to a charming town on the shores of Lake Michigan this weekend, and we stopped at my favorite market aptly titled, "The Summertime Market." I always look forward to pulling into the small gravel lot to see what fresh, local goodness awaits.

The entire market is housed in an indoor/outdoor space no larger than a single-car garage, but everything is displayed so well in authentic wire baskets, with used wooden crates, chalkboard signs - every detail carefully attended. It's a little aged, and a little broken, in all the best places.

We purchased an amazing red raspberry pie that left me feeling like I should capitalize its name. Definitely memorable.

Here's the market through my eyes and the filters of Instagram.

 

How would you finish this equation? Summer equals ____________. I'd love to hear!! Maybe I can add it to my grown-up goodness this summer.

Thanks for the visit! So happy to have you here.

XOXO, MJ

P.S. If you want to experience this loveliness for yourself, visit the oh, so wonderful website.

P.P.S. Check out Stephanie's great trip to her farmer's market (and that pizza!!).

C, age "almost-five", has her first wiggly tooth. My babies all teethed early, like at three months, and now these markers of childhood are wobbling their way out to make room for big, better, stronger, grown-up chompers. 

I was ready for this to happen two years from now. 

But I guess that's not really how life happens - when you're ready for it.

M sat in the backseat with her little sis this week, and softly asked, "Are you a little scared and a little excited about your tooth?" As I watched in the rear view mirror, I saw C hesitantly nod a smiling affirmation to her sister (now a boasting owner of 8 adult teeth). 

New adventures bring out these same emotions in me. I'm a little scared and a little excited for all that is to come, and I am a whole lot grateful for your presence in the journey.

Many deep and shallow thoughts (did you see the big banner and Instagram additions?!) going on around the blog this week, and I've loved hearing from so many of you in comments and tweets.

Thanks for your inspires.

Fun is in store next week with a little DIY and a giveaway (sneaky peaky below:)

 Thanks for coming over! Let's chat again soon. 

XOXO, MJ