happy list

a collection

of the little things that have made my week

(started here)

...

1. obama.

 need i say more?!

2. cheers

to my guy, on his birthday

3. goggles

 back in the pool. ooooh, baby.

4. vermont sunrises

on a weekend spent with great girlfriends
...

welcome, november!
lots to be thankful for, indeed...

the boat life

after two days of canning

my sister and her fam

invited us to join them on their tug boat (!)

for dinner

late summer, early evening light over lake chaplain

ahhh,

the good life!

my sweet niece

this was the evening before my nephew's first day of kindergarten

so i surprised him with a watch of his own

as a special good luck gift-

he was so super psyched!

the fam

dinner grillin'

mama and babe

me and amanda

tired, but still friends! (hahaha)

our captain, oh captain

...

yeah, a pretty sweet end to a work day!

...

thank you, meggin and al, for a most memorable evening

and amanda, for the photos!

adventures in homemaking: canning peaches

after our success canning tomatoes

amanda and i decided to grab a bushel of peaches

to can the next day

...

for lack of a better phrase

it wasn't quite as peachy as our tomato experience

we were tired

and even after blanching, the skins wouldn't come off

which meant peeling all 35lbs before we could even get going

not to mention, this was DEFINITELY a two person job

standing over a full stove full of boiling pots

stressful!

so, yeah...

amanda was being generous here with that smile

...

but, after we finished canning halves

a little peach lavender butter

to end the day

not nearly as taxing

and should be de-lish on homemade breads this winter

...

our loot at the end of day two:

ahhhh....

an evening on lake champlain followed

(to come...)

pics 3+7: orchardcove

unwind

during our adventures in canning

three yellow labradors

waited patiently (mostly) on the back porch

for us to take them on an adventure of their own

nellie tells us what she really thinks of the 7 hour wait:

the skies were a little threatening

so it was a quick walk

to amanda's

happy place

the future homesite

of. her. dreams.

ahhhhhh....

a lovely way to unwind after an intense day

...

followed by dinner at the bearded frog and dessert and wine at the inn

we were revived and ready

to start again

the next morning!

pictures 1/4/5: orchardcovephotography

road trip: shelburne, vt

irene thankfully didn't affect my plans

to head north

for a week

of canning and catching up

with my dear friend, amanda

...

i woke early monday morning

and hit the road

nellie in tow

calm after the storm, indeed!

(taken through the windshield)

the cloud formations in the brilliant blue sky were just phenomenal

...

arriving

felt like a homecoming of sorts

i have such found memories

of amanda's family's farm...

high school long winter weekends

summers swimming in the pool

playing dressing up from an attic full of 60 + 70's finest

and, then, amanda and jeff marrying

all with a lake view...

we brought the dogs for a romp and swim

before heading over

to amanda's cousin's

for dinner

ummm, yeah... i could come home from work to that every day!

i followed amanda and fia around the gardens

(amanda is working on an album of fia's first two years and was snapping some final shots)

before we settled into a spectacular dinner

thanks, ave!

with a spectaular view

and even better company...

worth the loooong drive?

ummmm....

YES.

more and more and more

to come

....

favorite shop: nido, burlington vt

while up in vermont

i had to make time to stop into (admittedly in paint-covered pants) one of my favorite shops in burlington:

nido

a perfectly edited fabric + yarn shop right downtown.

the exposed brick

warm winter sun streaming in the tall windows

antique cabinets and wooden crates

bursting with a rainbow of organic yarns

favorite projects

hung to inspire

anna, denise, nani

oh, my!

and the icing on the cake-

picture-perfect vignettes

featuring japanese goodies and the best in crafting books

it's like a little purl

in the great green mountain state!

the waldo family painters

march wrapped up with a trip up to vermont

to help my sister + co. paint their new house before move-in.

i can't say enough about all the help my parents gave us when we moved last year

so this time, we took our show on the road...

here we are, the waldo family paint crew:

actually, my mom is a CAH-RAZ-Y cleaner, so she was on scrub-down-duty

(with her toxic chemicals- she brought her own because we joked that they didn't sell bleach and pine-sol in the state of VT)

...

the kid's rooms were the first priority

and we decided on neutral palette's

so those quilts we made would pop...

pictures really son't do justice to how much BIGGER the rooms look with lighter colors on the walls.

not to mention fresh trim paint.

ahhhhhh!

but, oh no...

that wasn't all.

it kept going.

and gooooing.

until, we all got a bit wacky...

(must have been the cleaning fumes)

winter thrills

we spent the weekend
up in burlington, vermont
visiting my sister + co.

our men spent saturday on the slopes
so we took the kids sledding

evan was determined to go over the jump
finally- gettin' some air!


anya got a face full of snow on her first run
so spent the rest of the time snuggling with her mamma


is there anything better than hot cocoa while sledding?!?

ummmm... no!


snow bunnies

we had such a great weekend
enjoying winter in all it's glory.

thanks meggs!
xoxo