Little Tiny Cute Daisy: Home!

Well, a week ago, we drove 2 hours away and scooped up little Daisy, at about 13 weeks old and about 12 pounds big! She is such a love and I think she loves her new home. She is keeping us very busy, but more very soon!

homework

Well, this September marked the first year in a (VERY) long time that I did not have a first day of school. SO STRANGE! I have managed to fill up my time plenty this early fall school semester. Working at a university still keeps me in the spirit of 'going' back to school. And I even finished a manuscript of my dissertation for journal submission. I have found some different kind of homework though...stay tuned!!

September Sky

I have said it 100 times, I love fall. (mums, pumpkins, sweaters, soups...) All of it! Another amazing thing about the beginning of fall? The sky. It is just incredible. And the sparkly ocean. My grandma always mentions the early fall sparkly water, sitting in her chair overlooking the view of the ocean.

In a recent whirlwind trip home, I was on fast forward for the most part. In about 50 hours, I managed to see as many family members as possible (this is no easy feat!!) But all of a sudden, at one point, Kevin and I found ourselves with about 45 minutes of no plans/no running. I always say that when I visit RI, I never have time to see the ocean. So we grabbed the cute kids, got coffee and pumpkin muffin (YES!) and drove to a little beach. And stared at the clouds and sparkly ocean for a little while. It was fantastic.

excited for an adventure

ever the explorer

look at those clouds!!!

high tea

I love tea, all kinds, and I drink it all day. I have always thought that I must have lived in England in a past life. The idea of taking a tea break everyday is brillant. There is a sweet, fair trade tea shop in my town that recently started doing afternoon tea. My cousin got me a high tea gift certificate for my graduation and we have been trying to make a reservation since May but they have been booked all summer!! Finally, we made it. It was awesome. The set the table so fancy, with English style tea silverware - there is such a thing - special spoons, tiny forks, tiny knives. We sat and enjoyed three courses - finger sandwiches, scones with lemon curd and cream, and dessert. The food was delicious and they use as much local finds as possible! Plus a few pots of tea, all at a leisurely pace.  I want to go back soon, anyone?!

Where did the summer go? As usual...

the summer just flew by. I had a little tiny surgery, had some recovery/down time, got some beach days in, but the highlight was a week in the green, green mountains of Vermont. K & H invited us to go on vacation with them. So we did a serious search and found the absolutely perfect cabin in the mountains. It was everything we wanted - in the middle of the quiet mountain, with no neighbors in site, just the view of camel hump mountain from the giant back porch (where we spent most of our time). Yet, in just 15 minutes, we were in a cute little downtown or on the way to site seeing.

o2 peeking out at the deck

front, side year

sitting on the porch, being auntie

our kitchen, the 2nd most used space

our view of camel hump mt

We did a ton of site seeing and had adventure days. We found a few all-ages friendly hikes. One hike was a beautiful walk around the base of camel hump mountain with bridges and sounds of bears (near by!!) Another hike took use along a stream and up to a view of a giant water fall, named Glenn Moss.

the explorers 

near where i swear i heard a growling bear

We also did some walking around towns and we ate a whole lot. We visited the Alchemist (long, tortuous story, inquire for more details), Ben & Jerry's, an apple cider mills, some packed antique shops, and an awesome burlington tea shop (sister to the one i went to in Prague!!). Mike and Kevin made it to the top of Camel's hump one day and we spend an entire day chilling in the giant burlington farmers' market. It was a jammed packed week, yet we had a lot of down time on the back porch, sitting by a lake, enjoying long lunches, sitting by the fire at night. It was such a wonderful trip!

warning: do not buy these lanterns!

little things

It has been quick a rocky few weeks. I am just trying to take it all in, moment to moment. And do a lot of gentle but helpful breathing!

got lemons, i made....pillowcases??

Ok, so it has been a difficult 'cancer' week, hence the lemons. so what do i do? Well, I have been a busy bee with my sewing machine latelty. I made a baby quilt for baby Eve, almost finished another one for baby Jasper (micheal's cousin's first baby), made a table runner for mom, some other little things here and there.

part of Eve's quilt

Baby Eve looking adorable

I have been anxious to make pillow cases for our bed.  Mike and I both have those weird temprapedic pillows, so they are much smaller than regualr bed pillows. Standard pillowcases are swimming over our pillows. I found this interesting pattern so I made smaller versions for our unique-sized pillows and this pattern was SO fun. When I first looked at it (there is a rolling part?!), I completely didn't get it, but it worked and it was SO easy! And I used fabric from my favorite designer, Denyse Schmidt.