Twisting By The Pool

Hello, lovelies!

With the big holiday weekend coming up (at least for those of us in the states!), and so many of us heading pool- and ocean-side, I thought it was a fine time to look at some of the gorgeous swimwear making waves on Etsy.



1.PLHI  2.Alexandra Grecco   3.This Vintage Thing

1.Kai Ulu Swimwear  2. Molly B Bikinis  3.Ani Bikinis

Aren't they all so lovely?

Now go forth, grab your sunscreen, and make a splash this weekend!

xo









Brush Strokes

Hello, my dears! How are you all doing this midweek?

I have been a busy busy Bee. I have been holed up on my make-shift basement studio (It's cooler down there! And there are windows!), buzzing away on a ton of lovely new things. (Sneak peeks are up on the Facebook page!).

I've torn myself away long enough to share with you a few lovely, painterly things that have caught my fancy of late. First up are these gorgeous painted votives spotted on Once Wed:

Don't they look fabulous? They have me wishing I had a big old fireplace that I could fill with dozens of these little lovelies!

Next up, I am finding myself absolutely smitten with the work of tattoo artist ,Amanda Wachob, which I discovered through Design*Sponge  last week:

Aren't they amazing? They make me (almost) want a tattoo. But only if it was guaranteed to be this gorgeous.

I hope your week has been, and continues to be, filled with strokes of beauty,

Dear Readers!

xo

Weekend Discoveries

Hello and Happy Monday, my sweets! Did you have a good weekend?

Mine was full of discoveries. Discoveries so fabulous, that I'm sharing them with you today (lucky ducks!).

The first discovery is a musical one.

I kept hearing this really great song on the radio. Everytime I heard it, I turned it up a little louder.

The song is called "You Were Never There", and it's from the fabulous Diego Garcia's equally fabulous album, Laura. I procured it for my listening pleasure, which I have been doing all weekend. I highly reccomened it. It will make your ears happy.

The second discovery was that I can make hummus. It seems simple enough. I mean, I have friends who make it, and my mom makes it, so why can't I? Well the answer to that one is simple: I'm a measurer. Everyone I talked to about it said you just "use some of this and add a bit of that." Yes yes, but how much, exactly?

A conversation with a friend finally convinced me to just dump stuff in a food processor and hope for the best. "You just take some perfectly good stuff and mix it together until something wonderful comes together. After all, isn't that what you do?"

Yep. That's what I do.

The third, and possibly best discovery, are these mojitos.

There is always a bottle of Italian blood orange soda in the house (for just such a cocktail occassion). There's usually rum and limes, too. And in the summer, there's mint in the garden.

Bottoms up, Dear Readers!

Wishing you a week full of fabulous discoveries.

xo

Happy Weekend!



{Esther Williams}



It's the weekend, Dear Readers! The end of another busy week. A week spent slowly catching up and branching out. A week filled with sweet moments spent with my two favorite little guys.

A week that ushered in a new season, and a week of pool-filled afternoons spent escaping the new season's heat.

A week whose end gives way to a possibility-filled weekend with nothing much planned. What does your weekend hold in store, Dear Readers?

Whatever you do with it, I hope you enjoy it!

xo

Rock On

You all know of my love of music. And you all know of my love of Etsy. When the two combine, magic happens. See for yourselves:

1.Notable Haircuts In Popular Music by Pop Chart Lab

2.Rolling Stones Bowl Set by Trixie Delicious

3.Kate Bush Tote by Fieldguided

4.Stevie Nicks Cassette Clutch by Sugar Shox Crafts

And all of this fabulousness so nicely fits into my everyday. I mean, I could hang the hair chart over my vanity for inspiration. I could put my iPod in the Stevie Nicks (!) clutch and toss it into the Kate Bush (!!) tote. And, seriously, who doesn't want to eat soup with Mick and Keith?

I need it all.

Rock on, Sweet Readers.

xo

Summertime, And The Living Is Easy

Hello, Dear Readers! Summer came today! And it has clearly made its point that it wants to be enjoyed- it took me three attempts to type this without the computer freezing up on me. Point taken!

I will be the first to admit, summer is not my favorite season. Something about the heat and the humidity and the bugs (ahh, East Coast living!). But that's not to say that it doesn't hold plenty of treasures to look forward to.

So, before this longest day of the year draws to a close, I thought I'd share with you a few of my favorite of those summertime treats.

First off, there are activities that require you to wear a bathing suit, like pool parties, sunbathing, slip and slides, and trips to the ocean. (Note- it's not the wearing of a bathing suit that I enjoy, but the activities for which they are required. Just to be clear!)

 Summertime also tends to make cocktails seem even more enjoyable than they already are.

Summer is also a fine time to steak out a spot between a couple of shady trees, climb in a hammock, and spend a day or so with the stack of books you've been meaning to get around to reading.

And finally, summer is definitely the most desirable season for al fresco dining. I mean, who doesn't love having food served to them while sitting outside on a city street, watching all of the world's comings and goings pass them by?

Of course, there are other small pleasures, like sleeping and driving with the windows open,

being able to wear shoes that show off your pedicure,

or better yet, foregoing shoes all together.

It's these little things that I enjoy most about the summer.

What about you, Dear Readers? What is your favorite part of the summer?

Baby, We Were Born To Run

My Dears, it would seem I did promise you I'd be back to regular posting today...

but somehow today seems to have slipped away, between gluing together bits and bobs that will soon become new lovelies,

to photographing a big old pile of things that have been patiently waiting to be photographed,

to eating sandwiches and going to pilates.

So, before the day comes to it's last call, I wanted to pop in here and squeeze out a little post.

A music post; a really lovely song for a lovely Monday evening.

A lovely song for a Big Man who has gone off to play his Great Gig In The Sky.

A Big Man that I got to see twice, once in a Very Big Stadium and once again quite recently, in a tiny by today's standards arena.

(That was a good night. That night, "Born To Run" was performed, perfectly, in its entirety.)

So farewell to you, Big Man.

And to you, my Dear Readers, a good night.

xo

Happy Weekend

Dear Readers...you're still here, right?

Good! Glad to see you again :)

This last week has been a very very long one,

beginning with the crippling mid-week heat wave that left me a big, lazy,

air-conditionless puddle;

to a looming deadline on a very big and very special custom order;

to a sad goodbye to a very dear uncle.

But the (much needed) weekend will give way to a new week, and a fresh start.

I'll be back Monday with regular posts, full of witty anecdotes and lovely things to ogle.

Until then, have a happy weekend.

(and a Happy Father's Day!)

xo

Knock On Wood

Lately, I have been really loving wooden jewelry.



Local Library

It's quite versatile, really. You can make it any shape you want.



Snug Studio



You can make it any color, or any style you want.



Madz Has Runaway

You can add to and enhance its natural woodiness.



So Little Time Co.



You can even build things, wonderful, movable things, with it.

Wooden jewelry is nothing short of fabulous.
How about you? What trends are you currently loving?



My Goodness, My Guinness!

Guys, it's hot. Seriously hot. 100 degrees hot. And it's going to stay that hot until the weekend, when we should be back into the upper 80's. Which will be nice.

And since it's so hot, I figured, what better time to talk about ice cream? Specifically, the Guinness ice cream I made over the weekend for my dad's birthday.

And since we're talking about the Guinness ice cream, might as well talk about the Guinness cupcakes, too.

But it's hot. Too hot to talk. So it's like this:

Last Saturday night, I put on The Kinks really loud, opened a can of Guinness, used some to make ice cream, some to make cupcakes, and drank the rest.

All in all, a good night.

I improvised a toffee frosting by chopping up a few Heath bars.
This was a very good idea.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go see if I can round up a bit of that ice cream and drag it to my spot under the ceiling fan.

xo

Heat Wave

Last week, we got walloped with a heatwave. It was awful. About all I could manage to do was lay on the floor, arms and legs as far from my body as I could muster the energy to move them. Every now and then, I would drag myself into the kitchen and chug water straight from the pitcher in the refrigerator. I was unprepared for this heatwave, and I had to do something horrible- I had to put on shorts. My legs were not made for shorts- all skinny and big-kneed and pale. They are much more suited to sundresses. Light, airy, flowy sundresses. I have these, packed away in abundance in the attic, which is like an oven on the best of days. No way was I going up there.

But today, as we bid adieu once again to seasonable temperatures and head unwillingly back into the uppermost nineties (noooooo!!!!), I will be digging those sundresses out. And perhaps hunting for a few more. Like these:

All dresses from Anthropologie

Now. If only I could find a place like this to hide away from the heat, I'd be all set:

{image}

Stay cool, Dear Readers.

xo

Mix Tape Monday Volume 3



World Metro Map Pillow by Atelier Pompadour

Welcome to June, Dear Readers!

 I hope you have your passports in order, because this month's Mix Tape Monday is taking us around the globe. It's going to be a whirlwind, zigzagging across oceans and several continents.

 So fasten your seatbelts and prepare for take off.

Happy travels.

xo

Happy Weekend

Can you believe it...the weekend is here again, Dear Readers! While the days certainly don't seem to be going any quicker, the weekends seem to creep up (and by!) faster and faster every week.

And speaking of days, it has been quite a few of those since I have been able to comment on your blogs, or even see what's going on on my own.

Blogger seems to have gotten itself all buggered up, and I'm none to happy about it.

I have seen and read some wonderful things over the last week and a half, and have wanted to tell those who have shared such wonderful things just how wonderful they are. So, if you have shared something wonderful, know that I loved seeing and reading about it, and sent you lovely thoughts!

And to those new folks who have decided to jump on board and follow Bee: Hello there! And welcome! I know you're there, but I can't quite see who you are just yet.

Hopefully this will all get sorted out, and quickly!

Now on to the good stuff...the happy part of the weekend!

I will be celebrating my dad's birthday (there seems to be a birthday every weekend in my family!).

This year, he's foregoing the pumpkin pie, and has put in a request for Guinness cupcakes for the second year in a row.

There is also the possibility of a bike race, and perhaps a bit of Nodding Head-ing.

How about you, Dear Readers? What are you doing to make your weekend happy?

However you spend it,

I hope your weekend is lovely!

xo

{image from here, a favorite movie of my dad's!}

Measuring Up

I do not now, nor have I ever had, any sort of head for math. So when it comes to measuring out ingredients for baking, I'm often at a loss. Quarts? Pints? Cups? Spoonfuls?

Perhaps a pretty kitchen conversion chart from one of these lovely Etsy shops should take up residence in the kitchen.

1.Knife In The Water  2.Eythink  3.Sweet Fine Day

Wishing you a day full of good measures, dears!

xo

May Queen

As I mentioned I would be doing, and as a means of explaining my sporadic posting of late (and my neglect in responding to your comments- I'll be catching up on that later today!), last Saturday I packed up a carload of lovelies and brought them out to the May Fair. This was my first time participating in the fair, but, as a long time spectator, here are a few things I know to be true:

1.The May Fair packs a major crowd. This year's estimation was around 50,000 people.

2. Without fail, the fair is always held on an unseasonably hot day. This year saw humid temperatures hugging the ninety degree mark.

3. The unseasonable hotness almost always sparks a storm.

Knowing that final fact did not keep me from saying, often and loudly, "There's no rain in the forecast. I'm not bothering to make walls for the tent. I'm not even gonna bother getting plastic tarps. I mean, what are the chances of a storm popping up out of nowhere, with absolutely no warning?" The answer to that one, my friends, is 100%.



Hooks, trays, mosaic pendants,
 and sewing box treats all finished and ready to be packed for the show!



The storm was at least kind enough to hold off until 20 minutes before the end, and lasted only about half that long. And once I was as sure as I could be that everything was as protected as it was going to be, I've gotta say, those chilly sheets of rain that added a new layer of wet to my already sweat-soaked body were most welcome.

Tables all set up lovely and waiting to be shopped!

Also most welcome were the fraction of the 50,000 or so people I encountered throughout the day. There were of course friends and family, distant friends checking in through sweet texts, and lots and lots of fabulous new faces.



Thank you, dad, for all of your help.
And for saving my beloved banner from taking a direct rain hit!


Now, the returning lovelies have been unpacked, the table covers have been laundered, and minor mends have been made to rain-torn displays. Everything is lying in wait for the next big show, while I turn my attentions to a complete shop revamp and a very special custom order that I will be sharing with you all very soon.

Happy June to you, Dear Readers!
Rabbit rabbit ;)