in new hampshire

This is the house I grew up in, where my parents live. It's peaceful and green here, a place to think and dream. I chose the flowered wallpaper for my bedroom when I was 7 and I still love it.

Currently:
It's raining
I'm drinking coffee (well, decaf)
Reading: Half of a Yellow Sun
Just Ordered: The Kitchen Diaries
Rediscovered and cooking from tonight: Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

more montreal

Hello! I'm back from a nice couple of weeks of visiting family and friends. I'm so looking forward to catching up with you all! Above are my last few pictures of our trip to Montreal: a visit to the Botanical Gardens and two great restaurants. More tomorrow!

swimming

This is the lake down the road from my parent's house in New Hampshire. It's where I learned to swim and now my children are swimming there too. That makes me happy! I will be back online in the beginning of August. I hope you all enjoy the rest of July and I'm looking forward to catching up when I get back!

p.s. special thanks to Anu and Ester, who both gave me awards this week. I'm going to wait to pass them along when I'm back in August.

montreal

Here are some snapshots of urban inspiration from Montreal. Also, I want to give a big thank you to Abbey of Abbey goes design scouting and Jan of Poppytalk. Abbey gave me a lovely mention here and Jan featured me in Something Special here! I hope you all are enjoying the weekend.

six things

Tanja tagged me to list six things I like about today. Here it goes:
1. The delicious cup of Darjeeling tea I had at breakfast. Should I have another?
2. Catching up with my friend Irene on the phone.
3. Flea market painting.
4. The fact that tomorrow is my 40th birthday and I will be celebrating it in Montreal.
5. Knowing that I will be eating this lettuce from my mom's organic garden tonight at dinner.
6. Children in trees

I'm tagging Anu and Karina.

I'm going to be taking a blogging break for the next couple of weeks, although if I can, I will post sporadically. We're going north until the end of July. First to Montreal, then to New Hampshire. We'll be visiting my family and I can't wait! And I promise lots of pictures when I return.

garden party

It was hot and we needed a project. Lucy and I set up this party for the dollies. Looks like a fun picnic, huh? Noticing other nice real life garden parties here and here.

out to sea

Here's what we saw when we went for a boat ride last weekend. It was kind of a grey day, which made the green of the marsh grass stand out even more.
The lovely Joanna from A Cup of Jo gave my pillows a nice mention yesterday. I feel honored to get a nod from her blog, which I greatly admire for its style and sense of fun. Thank you so much, Joanna! That was very sweet of you!
Wishing you all a pleasant, summery weekend. Unless, you're below the equator, in which case, have a lovely fall weekend!