little house outside

necessary evilthe marshsquishing in the marsh mud
crocs are everywherefavorite beach, about 20 minutes away

Now that you've fallen for the little house, I have a confession to make. It is the most buggy place I've ever been. Man-eating mosquitoes live here, as do green head flies and deer ticks. So, when you visit, please bring bug spray. If you forget, we have plenty on hand! If anyone knows of an organic bug spray that really works, please do let me know. However, it is so pretty here, I can almost forgive the bugs. Happy weekend, all!

p.s. way, way back in the beginning of my blog I posted some other interior pics of the little house. you can see them here.

the life of objects

Granny's dresser
bunk beds with polka dots
old horse
on the porch
evening

I got a nice comment yesterday from Bohemian Girl (go check out her blog here, I promise you will like it!) about the life of objects and how they live on after their original owners, to be passed on to new owners and take on a new life. I really like to think about where objects have been, and who they have lived with. The dresser in the top photo belonged to my mother-in-law's family. It's hard to open and close the drawers, but it has so much character we can't part with it. And the horse doorstop has been living in the little house forever...not sure who owned it originally, but it's one of my favorite things.

There are the most beautiful photos here. You probably read Hannna's blog anyway, but just in case, you don't want to miss these!

And give Ester a visit too. She's in Italy. I think you will like her blog. I do.

Happy Thursday, and thanks as always for your lovely comments. I sure do appreciate them!

cool, calm, and collected

Cool: because it's always cool at night.
Calm: because that's how I feel when I'm here.
Collected: because other than a few things from Ikea, almost everything here has been collected from the flea market up the road or family cast-off's.
Enjoy! I'll have more photos tomorrow and hopefully some links...school is out soon here and I'm racing to get some things done before my free mornings no longer exist.

the little house

My husband's parent's live an hour north of us, on the back of a salt marsh, near the ocean. They have a little cottage on their property which was built by my husband's great grandfather, but for many years it sat unused and in sorry shape, and the place became a haven for insects and field mice and squirrels.
A few years ago my husband and I asked if we could clean the place out, and paint it in return for being able to stay there when we come to visit. My in-laws said yes, and a great project was born. So, this week I will be sharing pictures of this little house. It took a lot of work, a lot of white paint and a few trips to Ikea, but now it is just a simple, relaxing place for us.

Into the Garden

Inspired by all the city gardening in Amsterdam, I planted up the pots on my front steps. It rained last night and is warm and sunny today, so I'm off to tackle the weeds that are growing in my yard. We have a long weekend here, with Monday off. I think we may go visit my husband's parents, in which case I should have fun suprises to show you next week. Have a really nice weekend!

Reconnected

Yesterday my sewing machine and I reconnected and it was really nice! We made this bag together out of Ikea fabric, and it is my new spring bag. Yay! I do have lots more of this fabric if anyone else decides they want one too...just let me know. Today I'm making a little zip bag to go with it to hold all those essential things like my cell phone, business cards, Burt's Bees lip balm, Kiehl's lipgloss and spearmint gum.

Here are some pictures from my studio (which also doubles as our guest bedroom).
The calendar is from Satsuma Press, in case you were wondering.

And I wanted to mention this one-woman company, Moop, who I discovered via Poppytalk. She makes the most amazing bags...I really, really want one. There is a great interview with her here on how she runs her business.

Small World

My daughter's class at school is studying all things miniature right now, which means they are learning to measure and compare very small things and are exploring small worlds, both real and imaginary. An elf has been secretly visiting their classroom and has been leaving the children tiny little notes. In return the children are leaving the elf little bits of food and drink and very small handmade gifts. They are also making troll houses and a lovely classroom mural where each child makes a small self portrait of themselves riding a woodland animal of their choice. Lucy chose a bunny.

Thanks, everyone for your well wishes yesterday. The sick child is feeling so much better today and is off to school again.

Chaos Theory

Okay, back to reality. My house is looking pretty messy these days. Kids rooms especially.
Lately, I've been inspired by the recipes of Georgina and Karina over here.
And the Dailies over at Design for Mankind, featuring Stephanie here and Pia here.
I'll be back with more inspirational finds tomorrow, but today my reality includes one child home sick from school and a trip to the grocery store.

Good Night, Amsterdam

House boat on the canal
House boat clothes line
Early evening, having a glass of wine at a cafe, looking up
Our walk after dinner

Lights on a bridgeCanals by night

Maybe it's funny to post something so evening-y on a sunny Monday morning, but these are the final Amsterdam photos I need to post to complete the story. I really haven't figured out the best way to take night time pictures with my camera, but I think I like the blurry effect these photos have, since it captures for me the fleeting nature of night, where boundaries are blurred, and nothing looks exactly as it does in the daytime.

Farewell, Amsterdam! I hope to be back another time!

Into the Countryside

On our last day we rented bikes and rode north to Edam through the beautiful Dutch countryside. The tiny country roads through the fields were charming and quiet. Lots of farms, flowers and animals. Lunch was fried mussels and herring. Delicious! And of course, here's the cheese in Edam. Oh, dear, I find myself not quite ready to say good-bye to Amsterdam. I may have to post a few final photos next week too. Thanks for traveling with me this week and for all your lovely comments! One last thing, this trip would not have been possible without my mom, who was willing to take care of my two kids while we went away. Thank you, Mom! You're the best! Happy weekend all. And "Friday I'm in love" by the Cure has just come on the radio now. Perfect!