Field Trip

If you haven't already, check out Uppercase, the blog and the magazine. I think you'll like it. There are a broad range of topics, great photography and lots of opportunities for reader input and interaction.

Thinking

This hall is so fun. Don't you love the blue? I'm most intrigued by the lanterns. Husband has agreed to give our long, long hall a makeover. I'd love to be able to use this idea but we wouldn't get the same effect. Instead, I'm working out a way to get a drum shade easily attached to the ceiling around our existing can lights in a way that would still allow us to change the bulbs without any hassle and look like they belong there. I know there's a way.
{S.R. Gambrel via Pink Wallpaper}

Did You Know

I love to learn new things. Big things and small things. Sometimes the smallest things seem so big. An example. . . according to my teacher, when choosing thread for a sewing project, it works well to unwind a bit of the thread you are thinking of using and lay it right on top of your fabric. I've always held the entire spool against the fabric. Never just a strand. It makes so much more sense though and ensures a more perfect match. I love my sewing class.
{Purchase this photo from Samantha Lamb found via Lushlee}

Temporarily Beautiful

I'm going to run out this morning and buy two rosemary plants for $5 each. I'm going to put them on either side of my kitchen sink and love them until they die. I know that it won't be too terribly long but plants in the kitchen are my favorite. I can always replace them. They are sure to last longer than cut flowers.

Remember the Cottage Living featured home with the young couple who downsized? They had spiky rosemary in their kitchen and it was dreamy. And, look at this space! It's just a natural fit.
{Unkown, Skona Hem}

Intentionally

This weekend I intend to knit, garden, celebrate the birthday of one of my children, and enjoy the simple things that make up the happiness(es) of my life. And you?
{Rian Rae, Unkown}

All of the Time

I can't stop thinking about this space. Here's what it is. The lamps. They are so tall but I like the way they work and the pink shade helps. I think many colors could work but not a print. I'm going through a lighting phase. Thinking (all of the time) about swing arm lamps for the bedroom, small, something adorable for the entry, drum shades for the hall and this kind for the sofa table.

Additionally, I adore the layered table in the dining room and the color of those wicker chairs is fabulous. I'm a sucker for mismatched rugs and a black hutch works every time.
{City Sage}

I love this window scene. Wouldn't these fabrics from Cutting Corners work well to make my own such space!

A Little Whistle

When we (siblings & I) were kids, one of us got lost while camping. It was frightening to say the least. The search was over just as the National Guard began to arrive. Ever after we had to wear whistles around out necks whenever we went off alone just in case.

The one who was lost just had her 30th birthday. On her birthday she started a trek from California to Alaska by car, where she will live for a year. I couldn't decide what the perfect thing was to get her so I didn't get her anything. Now I know. She's in the wilderness. She's far from home. She needs a whistle.

*Update-She loves it! Apparently everyone in Alaska wears whistles in case they get lost. Who knew?!
{Necklace, Sea Unicorn}

Thinking About

Teen type equestrian style. I'm thinking about using brown and white gingham or a fun plaid with light pink walls, vintage paint by numbers, trophies and ribbons, of course.
{Francine Zaslow via This is Glamorous}

Team Work

Apparently, today is International Coastal Cleanup Day. We went to our local lake and picked up garbage. We only had an hour to spare but figure that every little bit helps. There were an amazing number of people there all working hard and having fun doing it. Maybe you have a few extra minutes today too. Bring a friend. It's fun. I promise.

*You can purchase this great 1939 vintage map of California from Hello Brown Eyes!

Shelf Life

Full of images from Webster's Dictionaries of the 19th Century, this is a must have for me!

*Update- Husband gave me this great little book for my birthday and it is just as fantastic as I expected. If you were thinking about getting it, do.
{Anthropologie}

Pastels

So lovely. I see all of these working well together in an old kitchen with an attached breakfast nook. One with Anchor Hocking mugs and a formica table. Adorable.{Olive Some Day, looks Sew nice}

Orange

I love this room. If it were mine, I'd add orange. Black Cat on the wall. Stripes on the seats. How about you?
{Homes and Gardens, Vintage Printables, TS Fabrics}

Things I Want

Beautiful doors.
{Apartment Therapy}

High Hopes

This week in my Beginning Industry Sewing class we will start our first official project. My plan? To take the pattern shown here (view F) and turn it into the JCrew skirt pictured above it. There's is wool. Mine will be a crosshatched denim. I can't tell you how excited I am. Not only am I refining & improving my sewing skills but my wardrobe is improving at the same time. Friday (school day) seems so far away.

Time

This weekend we had a little taste of fall. While I know it's not here to stay, I'm happily thinking of rainy days cozied up on the couch with the family while soup simmers on the stove.
{Image-Domino}

Fun!

Love, love, love this bedding. It's just so much fun!
{The Fabulous Garlands via Frolic}

Favorites

My hydrangeas are doing their end of summer thing. Drying up and changing colors. Hydrangeas are my favorite. They are so long lasting. Not just good for a week of pretty blooms, but months and months of them. I leave them on long after their petals get skeletony. It's just so amazing to see them go from bloom to fade. Right now I have the biggest and most beautiful bloom I've ever had. Some days I just walk out to look at it for a while. {Will update image source, I promise}

Making Things

Have you found H is for Handmade yet? A new blog devoted to DIY tutorials.

Have you visited The Purl Bee? Lots of great knitting inspiration.

How about the Smitten Kitchen? Food. Yum. I've tried the recipes. They're good.

I'm trying to sit less and do more. It's so easy to stay online all of the time. I love these sites that encourage me to get up and get to it.

Final Decision

It's been decided, we are going to go with grey when we repaint the exterior of our house next month. A grey. Not the one that it is right now which is very light. I want to go just the littlest bit darker and add white trim. We have no window casings, the window surround is silver metal so I'm thinking that white trim will make that feel better. Not to mention the fact that grey and white are superb together. My long term goal is for the addition of shutters. I was thinking black but now I'm really liking the yellowish ones in picture #3. Yellow paint lasts much longer than black. {Country Living, Pigtown Design, Domino}

Love

Oh, how I love this room! Stripes, a painted floor, chairs with edges showing and that butterfly. The butterfly is my favorite. If anyone knows how to find/make one, please let me know! {Domino}

A Good Day

Found a little vanity stool like this one for just $2 today!

Application

Had the brass accents in my house been limited to those of this glorious nature, I most certainly would have kept them. And loved them. Forever.

Title Unknown

Now here's a different approach. Paint the ceiling and leave the walls white. I like it. A lot. {Location Works}

A Society Gal

Sent my first postcard out for the Benevolent Postcard Society postcard exchange today. I've never belonged to a society of any sort before. This seems like a good one to try the whole concept out with. Usually I find out about cool things when it's too late. This time I got in just under the wire. Yeah! {definition; here, image; here}

Clearance Sale

I'm a red tag kind of girl. I try to appear as if I'm not headed straight to the back clearance rack whenever I walk into a shop. So, when on line, and I read the words, "Clearance Sale", I click. Here's what I found this time, Abby Try Again the photo shop. Veggies & friendship, food & flowers, Abby Try Again has a great photo of it and they are on sale. Check it out.

She also has two (yes two!) great blogs to add to your daily reads if they aren't on that list already. abby try again, the blog & this is not my work.

*If you happen to read this long after the date it was posted, go anyhow, these prints are well priced and worth every penny.

Current Most Favorite

Simple and quirky, together it's just fabulous and attainable. Now, where can I find that lampshade?
found @ the style files