A happy home

We had a fun little house-warming/birthday party on Saturday.  These are a few photos from the event.  It was a Potluck, which basically meant I ate too much of an assortment of really good dishes.  To name off a few: stuffed mushrooms and tomatoes, smoked salmon chowder, quinoa salad, cheesy potatoes,   homemade hummus & dill dip with fresh market veggies, bbq'd oysters and sooo much more! Yum, I'm getting hungry just writing about it.

Brittany brought a beautifully wrapped box which housed the cutest little owl pitcher which I promptly displayed on our mantle.  Rachy gave us 4 gorgeous little champagne saucers that had belonged to her grandmother.  So naturally, we sipped champagne like the dainty women we are out of the etched glass saucers the rest of the night!   I also love the radio my mom & I purchased for Peter.  It looks vintage but you can plug your i-pod into it! 

It was a fun night, although I wish I could have stayed up a bit later instead of going to bed before my guests!!  I woke up the next morning and Brittany, Tanner & Luke had cleaned my entire kitchen/dining room!  Sheeesh!  Talk about good friends!

{Photo of Brittany & I taken by Luke Markus}

Happy Birthday love...

  Another birthday is here...this will be our 6th we've celebrated as a couple, and I look forward to many more together.  I love you Peter!

Here is a little song we both love, this wasn't our wedding song, but it was a close second. 

As for celebrating tonight, I'm planing a nice dinner with a glass or two of wine. 

{Photo by Joel Brust}

Hello, nice to meet you

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to meet yourself?  I imagine it would be like listening to your voice on someone else's voicemail....strange and otherworldly.  Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to meet me, know me, laugh with me, yell at me, cry with me, and hug me.  Weird....I know, but I'm curious how other people perceive me.

I think I could be friends with me. 

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I hope you all have a lovely weekend!  We're having an house-warming party this weekend, so I might bore you with photos from our new digs next week.

Let's Grow!

I made my first trip to a local bookstore in our area.  I actually went there to order the next book for the The Slow Readers Book Club, which will be Alice I Have Been, by Melanie Benjamin.  When I walked in I quickly browsed the table upfront to see if anything caught my eye.  The Urban Homestead, by Kelly Coyne & Erik Knutzen did just that!

Having recently bought our first home, I am really excited to get a big garden going.  At our last place my husband was much more attentive to the garden, I'd help out when asked but I never really took ownership in it.  This time around I really look forward to being involved all along the way.  We have both agreed that the east side of our house will be a perfect area to create a lush garden.  Its a large space, gets plenty of sun, and that leaves the backyard for entertaining and as wrestling grounds for our dogs. 

My husband likes to joke about how starting a compost bin for our backyard has been a project I have put off for 3 years, but I'm going to make it a reality this year! The book is full of great ideas for composting, mulching and trying to let nature do as it was intended (no pesticides and letting the birds, bees and bugs help out).

The Urban Homestead is about becoming more self-sufficient by using the land you have (whether you rent or own, live in an apartment or even squat) to grow as much of your own food as possible while leaving a smaller impact on the environment.  I want to be more connected with what we eat and I'd like to cut out large supermarket chains as best we can.  Between growing our own veggies and fruit, and taking advantage of the local Farmer's Market I think we can do that quite easily. 

Third time's a charm

I am a big Wes Anderson fan. I have yet to get tired of Bill Murray’s quirky Steve Zissou in The Life Aquatic, and I wish I could experience life as any of The Royal Tenenbaums, just for a day. I love the weirdness that is Bottle Rocket, yet for some reason I had trouble getting into The Darjeeling Limited. I fell asleep the first two times I tried to watch it, most likely due to the fact that I started watching it late at night.

After a busy weekend, my husband and I decided to watch a movie and I was a little bummed when he picked this film because I was sure I'd fall asleep again. Fortunately I made it through and was pleasantly surprised with what I'd missed before. I wouldn't say it's my favorite Anderson movie, but I loved it none the less. The scenery is beautiful, and the interactions between the 3 brothers though subtle are hilarious.

*Aren't these guys just adorable!?*

Next on my list is his latest film, The Fantastic Mr. Fox! Have I mentioned that I’m a HUGE Roald Dahl fan?

The Grandtours & Pufferfish: A Georgetown House Party

*Pufferfish*

*The Grandtours*

My buddy Myles plays in a band, The Grandtours.  They played their first gig at a house party in Georgetown this past weekend to kick off some upcoming shows and the release of their EP, The Centaur.  It turned out to be a clear cool day even though rain was predicted.  It was a great turn out with about 50 people there at one point.  We all kept warm between two bonfires, decked out in our hooded jackets, rain boots and scarves...and of course flasks of bourbon and a keg from the Georgetown Brewing Co.

They played with Pufferfish, a Seattle band that makes use of among the traditional instruments; the banjo, accordion, washboard and cowbell to create some amazing tunes laced with a bit of country, bluegrass, and rock and roll.   You can check out their tune, Wrecking Ball here.

The Grandtours played a great set.  It didn't feel or sound like it was their first by any means.  And the Christmas lights strung throughout the yard gave a moody and magical feel to the music as the sun set and the evening turned to darkness.  Unfortunately they are so new I don't have a sample to share, but I will post one as soon as I get my hands on their EP!

If you live in the Seattle you can catch their upcoming shows:

*April 7th - The Tractor Tavern

*April 20th - The Tiger Lounge

Check out their website for more information.

P.S.  You rock Myles!!

15 two, 15 four, and a double run of eight is twelve!

My husband grew up without a television, so his family is fiercely competitive when it comes to games. Since settling in our new house and making the conscious decision to leave the t.v. in the basement, we have been playing a lot of card games to entertain ourselves. My favorite is cribbage. Being horrible at quick math I can feel it forcing my brain to work harder as I try to count out my points.

I found these cool cribbage boards on Etsy of course! They are both handmade and a great gift for the cribbage enthusiast.

What are your favorite games?

{1 via Timber Green Woods & 2 via Wood From the Hood}

To Sweden I must go...

It's official.  I've fallen in love again...

*sigh*

...with Sweden!

I've always loved Swedish pancakes, maybe that's where it all started but today I realized with finality that I must visit Sweden.  Last week while checking out one of my favorite blogs Please Sir, I discovered Anna Hurtig, the amazing photograper from Sweden responsible for the haunting images above as well as many more which you can find here.

Then there is the fact that everytime a song comes on my Lastfm that I really really love, I have to check and see who the artist is, 9 times out of 10 they have been from Sweden!  Give these artists a listen and try and tell me their tunes aren't making sweet love to your ears...

*Miike Snow
*jj

*Lykke Li

*Loney Dear

*The Knife
*Jonathan Johansson

*Peter Bjorn and John

Chalkboard Art

I've wanted to find something a bit classier than a dry erase board for grocery lists and reminders.  Pete and I both thought a chalkboard of some sort would be perfect.  I love the magnetic chalkboard up top.  It's also a great way for kids to draw on the wall and not drive their parents crazy! 

I don't think an entire chalkboard wall would work well in our house, but I do love the Rococo Chalkboard Wall Decal from Seltzer Studios.  I can already picture it or something very similar in our kitchen.

{Image 1 found via Frugal Home Design & Image 2 found via Seltzer Studios}

'The mustang-breaking, poker-playing, horse-race-winning schoolmarm of Coconino County'

I'd like to think that if I was born at the dawn of the 20th century, somewhere in the Southwest that I too would possess the same self assured, no nonsense attitude donned by Lily Casey Smith.

This true-life grandmother to author Jeannette Walls led an interesting life not necessarily shared by the majority of women at that time. Raised on a ranch in West Texas where her father bred and trained carriage horses, she learned at a young age how to take care of things on the farm and help out with her younger siblings. Alone at the age of 15 she set out with her horse Patches on a 28 day journey to rural Arizona where she was to begin the first of many teaching jobs.

From that point on she always did what she felt was right for her, whether it meant losing a teaching job because she wouldn't apologize for her style of teaching, moving to Chicago to find work, or even selling "hooch" during the prohibition out her back door (and hiding the cases of booze under the basinet in the baby's room). She was fearless; always ready to take on the challengers that life brought her. She had an unabashed sense of right and wrong and she didn't mind telling anyone just how she saw it.

Being a teacher most of her life, Lily found life lessons in almost everything. If I learned anything from this book, it would be to slow down and take pleasure in the small beauties. Be it a cool glass of water on a hot sunny day, being resourceful with your window drapes, or savoring a sweet novel like this...enjoy yourself...and be yourself.

Happy Birthday Katie!!

I remember the first day I met Katie, she was wearing the coolest vintage button up shirt with a butterfly pattern in burnt orange and brown.  She had moved to our high school from out of town.  We became fast friends.

Over 10 years later we are still very close even though we are so far apart, I'm on the West Coast and she's on the Gulf coast in New Orleans.  

So Katie...if you're reading this....I hope you have a wonderful birthday with lots of adventures filling your new year.

P.S. - The sketches are by Ms. Katie.   You can view some of her amazing paintings here.