The Winner!

Thank you to the people who entered my giveaway! Your odds of winning were REALLY good, but after Bryan drew the number out of a hat we can now announce that the winner is: 

AIMEE

Your prize will be on it's way to you soon!

Thank you again for entering! I'll do another giveaway soon!

Marblehead

Don't forget to enter the giveaway! Everyone should enter (even if I already know where you live!) You have until noon tomorrow!

Bryan and I drove up to Marblehead, MA, today to do a little wandering and exploring. On the stellar advice of Katy Elliott, we had a wonderful time and saw many of the main sights that Marblehead has to offer! Thanks Katy!

 Spirit of '76

 Jeremiah Lee Mansion

Lunch at the Driftwood Cafe

 Clam Chowder and Clam Strips, Yummy!

 After lunch we walked up to Fort Sewall. The views were beautiful! 

I'm so glad we finally made it to Marblehead! All the old New England houses were absolutely what I pictured. This town is full of charm and I always love being somewhere that the ocean is only a short walk away!

And then we drove home... Sometimes when I'm driving, I look up and still think, "I live here!" and I'm glad!

Giveaway!

I know everyone's devastated that Oprah said goodbye yesterday so to help lift your spirits I'll be giving away one necklace hand made by me. This is also the big public launch of my Etsy site so please visit and tell your friends! I'll be adding items to the site at least once a week so when you are looking for a unique gift or something cute for your home, I hope you'll think of Etsy and support one of the many artists or craftsmen!

You can visit my Etsy site by clicking HERE.
I'll be adding a permanent button to my blog's side bar soon so you won't have any trouble finding my store!

And also, for future reference, if you ever see me make something on this blog (or have seen me make something on this blog in the past) that you would like to purchase, just let me know and I'll whip something up to add to my store!

Thank you so much for your support and love!

Now for the good stuff:
If you are my very first giveaway winner you will receive this necklace in your mailbox very soon!

To Enter please leave a comment telling me what city you live in and your favorite thing about that city!

Good Luck!

Only one entry per person will be counted. I will determine and post the winner on Sunday afternoon so please no submissions after Sunday at noon (eastern standard time).

Castle Island

Adele and I spent the day at Castle Island in South Boston with friends. It is gorgeous outside! I hope this weather is here to stay!















We picnicked, flew a kite, ran as fast as we could, kicked the ball, and watched the birds, airplanes and boats! Summer is finally here (for real this time I hope!)

The Weekend is Near

The weekend is nearing and I can't wait!

No big plans really.
(unless you call the world ending on Saturday 'big plans'--- we'll see about that on Sunday, though, I guess.)

On the to-do list:
Spend time with my husband!
Blog giveaway
Make and eat some lemon pie
Run miles and miles (because of the pie)
Take a nap (because of the running)
Taste this new marmalade:


Seems like an achievable list!

Happy Friday

I love the smell of peaches!

Early Summer Peach Marmalade









While summer has yet to be seen in our neck of the woods, early summer peaches are in! Boy oh boy are they smelling good!

My Etsy shop is up and running. I plan to add a couple more inaugural items in the next day or two and will share the link on my blog then. There will also be the giveaway that I promised in honor of the occasion!

My Sweet Life

Strawberry Short Cake!

Cooking Up A Storm

It's a stormy 10-day forecast and I've got the perfect remedy! Cooking!

Today I made gumbo, basil green goddess salad dressing, strawberry short cake, hush puppy batter (all for dinner tomorrow with Bryan's reading group) and guacamole (for lunch)!

Bryan, my sweetest husband in the whole wide world, also made french toast (with home-made freshly whipped cream!) and bloody mary's for breakfast!

Brimfield, I'm Yours

It's Brimfield time again!
Here's what I found today:

I'm loving that cake dome and vintage juicer!

We all got some really cool stuff!
Laura got nesting tables, chairs, a sewing machine, a cool oval picture frame and some smaller items I think.
Sarah got some amazing kitchen canisters, a metal Hiawatha poster, a book of architectural drawings, etc.
And Adrienne got some architectural goodies and a window!

 These are WEIRD.

And so is this guy...

It was a long and thrilling day-- we still only saw half of the market (if we even saw that much!)

Happy Saturday!

I made something!

I made a skirt this weekend. And while my other clothing 'creations' have been exciting at the time, they have been beyond unwearable. I have learned a lot, though, and feel like this whole learning-to-sew-things-I-can-wear-out-of-the-house is a process that I'm getting better at with every garment.
All that to say: I would like some opinions on my newest creation. I really like it. It fits me well. It moves nicely. And Bryan approved.
I think it would be cute with a silk top and some nude heels (or colorful heels)... Any opinions?

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to our wonderful mothers! We love you!

We spent the day out of doors as it was a beautiful day here in Boston! We biked up to Sacramento Field to play a little friendly game of wiffle ball. It was 'bookstore' vs. 'philosophy' (I was philosophy by association). Philosophy won! (probably because of my killer pitching--- I looked up a few wiffle pitches online so I was AMAZING) (actually I was terrible at pitching--- but I'm going to pick up a wiffle ball so I can practice)

Hope you had a beautiful Sunday!

Ketchup Water

1. Ketchup
We made Ketchup! Yay! It's delicious!

The recipe from this book that Tiffanie gave me in the fall.

I gathered some herbs and spices together in an empty tea filter. 

And  tied them all up and tossed the bag into a puree of tomatoes and onion along with some brown sugar and champagne vinegar.

Making ketchup is a huge, red splatter-paint party (but it still needed to reduce) so we covered it with our handy dandy splatter guard! Yep. We have that in our kitchen.

I'll probably puree it a little more next time but it is so tasty on sweet potato fries! 

2. Water

After I was washing up after the ketchup-making (do you see the splatter on that pot??) our hot water wouldn't turn off! The knob was in the off position, but water kept pouring out!

this is in the off position.

It's fixed now... Thank goodness our landlord lives in the same house as us! He, his wife, Lulu (the dog), Bryan, and I were all in our kitchen trying to sort out the issue/ morally supporting...

(I will now add bleaching the sink and changing the bristely scrubbie part to my to-do list tomorrow. Yikes.)