I Want My Raybans Back

These vintage ads make me long for my lost Ray Bans. A big wave took them away last summer while we were in swimming at Cape May. Also lost, a very pink hair clip with a giant jewel. My little one still complains about losing it.

Hmm, maybe I'll track down another one for her as a start of summer treat. Even better, maybe I'll treat myself to another pair of Ray Bans.

Looking Forward to...the Gruffalo

I'm really happy to have something to look forward to at the end of the week. Beside laundry and a messy house that is. Seems our weekends have been very chore driven lately and haven't felt like much of a break.

This weekend we have tickets to see The Gruffalo at a local college. It may not seem very glamorous, but I have to say, I prefer it to dragging myself and the little one into the city for an expensive Broadway play. A British company called Tall Stories is performing it and I am completely looking forward to a modest little theater production. We love the Gruffalo book and movie. Now we will get to see how the story translates live. Best of all, the tickets were just 12 dollars which makes our theater journey into the deep dark wood an affordable one.

Grey Mondays Need a Happy place

Mondays are hard and even harder when it is grey and threatening rain.so off to the Italian coast and a dose of sun. I chose this happy spot in honor of almost finishing Beautiful Ruins. I'm on the last chapter and have devised to save it for the ride home this evening or bedtime.

Weekend Plans

For several weeks, I've wished for a weekend with nothing to do. This weekend could come close, except that our sunflowers need to be planted. They are already knocking the roof off their little greenhouse planter, so I'll be putting on the gardening gloves tomorrow. I need to do some much needed clean up before the flower bed can be planted.

I'll also need to put the fencing, that I took down for the hurricane, back in place. This promises to be a real chore. Oh well, in a month or two, I'll be happy I didn't slack off. I would be thrilled if we managed to grow a really gigantic sunflower like the one above this year. How do people do it? 

My Happy Place for the Weekend: Tree Forts

The weekend is hours away and if I could I'd like to spend it up in a tree. Well if I had a really cool tree house that is. My little one said she wanted one the other day. Sadly we don't have any appropriate trees, not to mention, I would worry about her falling out. So if we mange to get a little fort hide away set up this year, it's more likely to an earthbound playhouse. But that wouldn't be so terrible...my favorite playhouse below.

Last Week

Last week was one I'd like to forget. The world outside was just starting to look really Spring like and beautiful and then the events that filled the week were in such horrible contrast. I tried to write a post and was just at a loss for words. Somethings are so horrible, all one can do is watch and remain speechless.

I spent the week feeling pretty down. I was glad when I followed a link someone shared to a post on The Onion. It's not a source I would have thought to look to for comfort, but the article "Jesus, This Week" hit the right note. It so aptly summed up what I'm sure may were thinking, that we were living through one of the worst weeks. And yes, go to hell last week, you were heinous.

Seen on the Train: Large Bag of Trefoils

I spotted an older gentleman toting a huge bag of Girl Scout cookies on the train this morning which made me smile. A dad or granddad helping their little scout spread the cookie joy. Very sweet indeed.

We nabbed a few boxes of Thin Mints at the grocery store the other day. Yum, I forgot all about them till this morning. Now I have a cold glass of milk and a bowl of cookies on my mind.. Hope nobody found the box I hid in the cabinet. Which is your favorite Girl Scout cookie?

Vintage Girl Scout photo.

End of Week Tired

Not sure if Wednesday or Thursday is the hardest day of the week for me. Wednesday at dead center usually feels like the week has barely begun. Thursday's find me tired and my resolve to keep it all together starts to fracture. Maybe it's the day I look at my to do list and realize I was too ambitious. And of course the laundry is starting to hit critical mass.

But if I power through, the weekend will be less cluttered with chores. Here goes Thursday.

Photo of laundry via Life on Sundays.

Flower Power

Our Daffodils meet Andy Warhol's Flowers. Suddenly life is bright and warm.

Warhol print Flowers #67 available here.

Rebirth

It occurs to me that we should really celebrate the new year in April when everything is new again. Love have there are signs of new life everywhere.


Crib by XO in My room.

Nesting Instincts

There's something so wild and wacky about a grown man building oversized nests for a living. Not bad work if you can get. Not a bad addition to your yard if you can afford it. I have to say I think I would enjoy hanging out in one of artists Jayson Fann's nests. They are really beautiful and look like they would be a wonderful place to escape from a crazy day.

This Week's Happy Place is...

two chairs and a table in a yard with fruit trees. This looks like summer bliss to me. Okay, work week here I come but I'm really hanging out her.

Photo by Amelia and Andrea Lonngren Widell.

Pick-up Sticks

Ever start something with your little one only to wish you hadn't. A lot of sticks and branches came down during Hurricane Sandy and the rest that were stuck up in the trees are still coming down. I had gathered most in our front yard and stacked them earlier in the year, but the side of the house, that is next to a strip of tall trees, is still full of sticks.

I started picking up a few with the little one and couldn't get her to stop. Who knew picking up sticks had so much appeal for a little one? Well, if a love of racking leaves endlessly is any indication, I should have known. I have a five year old who loves lawn work. Every time we are out doors she ends up doing yard maintenance till the point of exhaustion. And by exhaustion, I mean mommy. It ends with me begging to stop. I can only imagine what the neighbors think. Poor little thing look how her mother works her.

Image Andy Goldsworthy, Woven Branch Circular Arch, Langholm, Dumfriesshire April 1986

Potted Pansies and an Almost Lazy Weekend

This weekend we took the first steps getting our garden started. We planted a few pansies in pots by the front door and started two trays of sunflowers. I also stuck a sweet potato, that was starting to spout, out in the pot that housed the morning glory last summer. Laughable, when I think of all that needs to be done.

There were dried morning glory vines on the trellis, so I was able to give a small nature lesson to the little one. She really enjoyed popping open the seed pods and watching the black seeds pop out. The pods were really pretty and I wanted to take a picture of them, but I couldn't stop her once she got started cracking them open. 

I don't know what we will do with all these morning glory seeds. I'm sure it has already reseeded itself in the pot so that's one more thing taken care of in the garden. Reading this, I feel like I could write the Lazy Gardener's Guide.

It would have been a perfect lazy weekend if it weren't for running a bunch of errands, grocery shopping and laundry. 

Photo from Clemmensen & Brok blog. Check out their recipe for pistachio cakes with pansie toppers here. 

Daffodils on the Verge

Our daffodils are just on the verge of blooming. I think back to previous years and the daffodils and the forsythia were already out and present in our Easter photos. The Easter Bunny hopped away over a week ago and we are still waiting on these cheering yellows to break through the gray.

Someday I want to have a field of daffodils like the one pictured in this from Jasper Conran's book Country.

Slouchy Sweaters and a Cold Spring

I'm still bundled up in my winter Parker and wearing my warm sweaters to fight the chill in the air. Bright Spring clothing is on display in all the store windows, while I'm keeping my scarf on all day. Forget bright pastels, this kind of weather makes me just want to don a big slouchy oversized sweater with comfy jeans and find a sunny spot to curl up in.

Maybe when the weather gives in, I'll take the Spring fashion trends a little more seriously.

Photos via A Well Traveled Woman and Moods of the Moon.

And This Weeks Happy Place Is...

... a stoop. Sometimes the nicest thing to do is just sit on some steps and watch what goes by. Steps are great place to hang out when you don't want to be inside, but you also don't want to really venture out. Add a cup of tea, a nice pot of plants and a friend and you're set. I especially wouldn't mind stoop sitting on these stairs.

Photo via country+cabins+cottage.