Category: Mirror Mirror Mondays

Kuplink. Kuplank. Kuplunk.

Guess what we did this weekend (Friday, actually).
That’s right.
Blueberry picking.
At a local farm.

I remember picking berries with my mom & sisters as a kid.
It’s an ideal activity for little, tiny people.
And there’s nothing like the taste of berries fresh off the bush – warmed by the sun.

Can you see her leaping off the ground, in anticipation?

Have you ever let one of your babies eat endless blueberries all morning?
Let’s just say what goes around comes around. But she loved it.

Taking five.

Yum.

Ellie ate all the berries she could reach from her stroller.
I also found several half-eaten leaves when she got up.

Almost done.

Wish we could share some with you today!  Happy Monday.

Sowing Seeds of Thankfulness

Three weeks since we moved in, and for the first time, this afternoon both girls are napping – actually full fledged asleep – at the same glorious time! Can you sense my smile beaming through your screen?  I’ve told several people that I feel like time stopped, and I lost weeks of life when my sister passed away earlier this spring, and now with the temperature threatening to climb into the nineties tomorrow, I feel like time has been racing forward without any reprieve.  We’ve been swept up in the chaos of purchasing our first home, packing, moving, unpacking, and the endless projects this almost centennial house affords.  So today, in the quiet, I feel like I’ve been hurled out of tornado, and have landed in a lovely little home, with a sweet summer breeze wafting through the attic, where I sit perched for a few minutes of solitude, and the extra gift of time to write!

I am learning, in this transition, probably for the 457th time in my life, the value of the discipline of thankfulness.  The other night, as I scrubbed and Murphy Oil Soaped our dining room floor for the first time (I know, I know, almost three weeks after moving in… what can I say?), I was grinning from ear to ear, that this was our floor, that we had a house, with jobs to do to take care of it.  And it occurred to me that I would probably not feel such elation at the prospect of cleaning this house forever.  There’s so much novelty to playing house.  I see it in Laura, who tells strangers she meets that her new house has an attic, but really, we’re all enjoying the newness (except maybe Ellie, who has been largely contained by a combination of Pack & Play/exer-saucer/Johnny-Jumper/Crib rotation for the past few weeks). It’s easy to be thankful when something is new and exciting.

I know there will be a day when scrubbing floors and yard work feel more like prison bars than a gift. So I am working on the practicing thankfulness now, so the habit is well developed, and rooted in me when that day comes. I’m practicing by remembering to give thanks, to actually express it- to God, to my husband, around my kids.  I’m practicing by letting gratitude simmer and mull in me, by thinking on the good, the lovely.  And I’m practicing by giving thanks for the things that have been and continue to be hard about this move, because I want to give thanks in all things – the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Bookplates for Poky Puppies

I am a middle child.  Have I mentioned that?  I kind of revel in it, and my childhood was chock full of instances when I went above and beyond to emphasize my tragic middleness. There was the Latino Christmas Disco Band my middle cousin, Doug and I planned to start in his garage – a desperate plea for attention.  Or the time I faked my own death: changing clothes and stuffing my old ones with pillows before tossing my duplicate (complete with Cabbage Patch head, mind you) out the upstairs window, directly above the room where my family was gathered.  “Doh.  There goes Annie,” I heard them respond amidst laughter.  Still not sure if it was the thumping of my footsteps racing across the ceiling, trying to catch their reaction, or the fact that the cabbage patch doll had become dislodged during flight that gave it away. So, yeah.  A little flair for the dramatic.  But this morning I got cold, hard evidence of the seeds of my perhaps over-exaggerated middle child syndrome.

My sister Bethany emailed me this picture, a hysterical treasure inside one of our long forgotten childhood books. (Who knew remembered the Poky Little Puppy had a sequel?)  I mean, come on, even Fritzie the family dog got a piece of it after I was crossed out!

If you’re looking for a way to stake your claim on some best loved books in your library, here are a few cute ideas.  Watch out, Bethany, Sarah and Fritzie.  I may sticker over your hostile crayon cross out, yet!

{a} Just one of many lovely bookplates designed by Nicole Balch, of Making It Lovely, found at her store, Pink Loves Brown. This one is $8.00  for a set of 8.

{b} Ladybug Labels sells these, and many other adorable self-adhesive labels on her etsy shop. Best part: choose from 48 colors!  $9.00 for 28 labels.

{c} I found these fun DIY labels via decor8.  Check out Martha Stewart’s printable bookplates.  Cost: $Nada!

{d} Helen Dardik, of Orange You Lucky designed these sweet printables as a thank you to her blog readers. Super cute. Be sure to check out her neat-o-keat-o illustrations.

Summer, We Miss You.

Laura and I threw an all out, dress-up, fine-china, tea party to help us survive the winter blues and blizzard this weekend.  I let her pick everything: the tablecloth (a Kenyan print from Ted’s grandparents), the napkins (white lace), and the tea sets (one tin, one china, one stoneware) and the menu (apple slices, cheese, pretzels and tea). It was quite the event.  I forgot to snap any photos, but these little umbrellas are still hanging around.  They had been table decor, but after an impromptu game of hide and seek, they landed here.  Can you guess which one was Laura’s & which was mine? (Hint, they’re our favorite colors, respectively!)

Poetry & Pictures

As a little girl, poetry rolled off my mother’s tongue and spilled into our lives, making mundane moments ethereal. I’m thinking I like my peas with honey, among other things. I’m so pleased to bring a new feature to the blog today, one that stems from this love of poetry and will be returning each month for your reading pleasure! I recently learned that a very talented friend resolved in 2010 to write a poem each month.  (I so often think that loathing the task is a prerequisite of a New Year’s resolution, but this is pure delight!)  I’m so thrilled that she’s letting me publish them here!  Hope you have a moment today to make a cup of tea, find some sunlight, and soak in Molly’s lovely poems – one for January, and one for February, accompanied here by a photograph courtesy of another gifted friend, Janeen Messner of J. Singer Messner Photography, and a little chickadee I sketched just for you! Happy Monday.

Flour Sifter, Repurposed

My mom is famous for garage sale-ing.  When I registered for my wedding, she made it her mission to find the well-loved, antique version of everything we registered for.  Among the treasures she found was this flour sifter, which resurfaced last week for my bread making, and found another nifty use this weekend as a serving dish.  I used it to showcase pretzels while serving chocolate fondue, along with a plate of strawberries, bananas, blueberries and chocolate chip cookie bars.  (Shown here with a slightly less decadent snack!)

Tea Time

Full disclosure:  I love tea. A lot. Not fancy-schmancy tea. Just rich, black tea (preferably decaf Typhoo, imported with love whenever my dear cousin Marti visits from England.)

I come from a long line of tea drinkers.  My grandmother’s common yellow tea cup will inevitably be the prize inheritance she leaves behind, simply because its impossible to separate her from it in my mind’s eye. I suspect her sister, my great Aunt Alice, left her kettle simmering on low for years on end.

As a little girl, my sisters and I each had our own miniature china tea pot, and I received several as wedding gifts: a beautiful Whittard of Chelsea pot from our cousins in England, a sweet floral one from my mother in law, and my Grandmother’s sweet Noritake Mabel teapot.  But my favorite is this one.

I can’t remember if it was Christmas or our anniversary, but out of all the gifts Ted’s given over the years, this is possibly my favorite.

I’ve already finished two cups in the time between taking these photographs & posting this.  So, go ahead.  Go turn the kettle on! Happy tea time!

aprons

This morning my two year old & I whipped up some delicious muffins, recipe compliments of a Stonyfield yogurt lid.  She looked so charming in the little half-apron that once belonged to her grandmother, that I was inspired to find something half as cute for myself…

{a} Pier 1 has some amazing finds for aprons this season.  Saw it at the store love it!
{b} At only $12.95, you can’t beat this classic.  Again, from Pier 1 Imports.
{c} Of all the Etsy aprons, I think my favorite are here, at Sassy Apron.
{d} A bit of splurge, but isn’t this Williams-Sonoma one beautiful? They even have one for mini-me!