Category: Life (page 1 of 81)

July 1, 2024 / 0 Comments

HELLO, July

Hello, July! We’re ready for you to usher in the last month of the school year and bring us one step closer to being able to beat to our own rhythm for a little while with no set schedules.

We’re ready for our annual Fourth of July celebrations with hamburgers and my Nana’s macaroni salad and homemade hot fudge sundaes for dessert while we watch “JAWS” in the dark.

We’re ready for our Christmas in July celebrations and the festivities that surround that. A Christmas menu with a summer twist, Christmas movies, Christmas music and we are still deciding on the Christmas dessert menu for this year!

We’re already eating our weight in your summer fruit bounty, but we haven’t yet had the perfect tomato sandwich, so that is still to come. We’re ready to bake pies out of all the fruit we can’t manage to eat in time with heaps of vanilla ice cream on top.

We’re ready for our days to stretch out ahead of us where we simply read books and stack the record player and listen to music. We’re ready to continue dancing in the kitchen long after the sun has set and relish in our late night movie dates, while the curtains dance in the breeze from the open windows behind us.

Welcome, July! We’re ready for all that you bring!

{Keep Your Cool, Slim Aarons, 1978 | “Carmen Alvarez enjoying a game of backgammon with Frank ‘Brandy’ Brandstetter in a swimming pool at Acapulco.” | Pinned HERE}

June 1, 2024 / 0 Comments

HELLO, June

Hello, June. We’re ready for warmer days and sunny strolls through the park. We’re ready for the adventures we have planned this month and the chance to squeeze in a few more.

We’re ready for our first BLT of the season as the heirloom tomatoes start to arrive at the greengrocers. Sandwiches piled high and a side of salty potato chips to go with it. We’re ready to blast Carly Simon while we work together in the kitchen with the windows open and the ocean breeze blowing in.

We’re ready for late weekend nights watching old movies on our vintage projection screen. We’re ready for lazy weekends that involve long walks and milkshakes. We’re ready for slices of homemade poundcake piled high with fresh picked strawberries and scoop of vanilla ice cream.

We’re ready for you to bring us into the final stretch of the school year. We’re ready for quiet nights with star filled skies, letting evening settle over the house and taking the time to drink everything in.

We’re ready for all that you bring us this month. Welcome, June!

{1960s Summer Fashion | Pinned HERE}

May 29, 2024 / 0 Comments

Twenty

I adore old movies. I loved nothing more than staying home from school, sick on the couch and watching old movies on TV. One of my all time favourites is a Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda classic called, “Yours, Mine & Ours”. It’s a coming together of two families and how they learn to become one. Near the end of the film, in trying to get a heavily pregnant and in labor Lucille Ball to the car, her daughter wants some relationship advice and Henry Fonda steps in and makes one of the grandest speeches:

It’s giving life that counts. Until you’re ready for it, all the rest is just a big fraud. All the crazy haircuts in the world won’t keep it turning. Life isn’t a love-in – it’s the dishes, and the orthodontist, and the shoe repairman, and… ground round instead of roast beef. And I’ll tell you something else: It isn’t going to a bed with a man that proves you’re in love with him; it’s getting up in the morning and facing the drab, miserable, wonderful everyday world with him that counts!

And that is L-O-V-E. It’s the day in and the day out, the mundane and the every day. But in all the days in and the days out, the choice to continue getting up with that other person, being with that other person is the element that makes all the difference. That’s the key ingredient, the choice you make to face each day with this person by your side, come what may.

We’ve weathered many storms and we’ve seen many rainbows in our 20 years of marriage. And I have no doubt that there will be more rainbows to share and storms to weather. That we have chosen to experience them together is what has made all the difference.

Here’s to the next 20 years. To the storms, to the rainbows and to adventures that we haven’t even dreamed of yet.

{Photograph: A newly-married couple waves as they drive off with streamers and a ‘Just Married’ sign on the back of their pink convertible | 1964 | by Lambert/Getty Images | Pinned HERE}

May 1, 2024 / 0 Comments

HELLO, May

Hello, May! We’re ready for the long weekend that you start us off with and we are very much looking forward to it and the adventures we have planned. We’re ready for more meandering strolls through the fields alongside the sheep and the baby lambs. Looking out for bunnies and foxes and the swans who like to nestle in the fields.

We’re ready for our days to continue to lengthen and light to linger over the dinner table a little longer each night, one night slowly over taking the next in breadth.

We’re ready for the anniversary you bring us at the end of this month and how we do not take it for granted that we are lucky enough to continue to grow together. We’re ready for clearer nights where we stargaze and listen to the waves roll in.

We’re ready to watch the skies turn from midnight black to a deep purple velvet and slowly melt into a buttery pink as we drink our morning coffee with the rising of the sun. We’re ready for the bluebells to continue to bloom along hidden paths and we’re ready for the new season’s harvest that will slowly start arriving at the greengrocer’s.

We’re ready for all that you hold for us and more. Welcome, May!

{Bunnies at the Boat Pond, Paige Spearin | Pinned HERE}

April 1, 2024 / 0 Comments

HELLO, April!

Hello, April. You’ve arrived in a blustery whirl, on the heel’s of the Easter Bunny and we’re excited that you’re here.

We’re ready to kick off our Easter School Break with you and the many adventures we have planned. We’re ready to stay up late, watching old movies on our vintage projection screen and munching on goodies out of our Easter basket.

We’re ready for the light that will continue to grow and fill our days since we “sprung” forward over the weekend. We’re ready for a few more blue skies overhead and crisp, clear days over this spring break. We’re ready for lazy Saturday afternoons spent reading books and working on the crossword puzzle.

We’re ready for spring to continue “springing” and the chance for breakfast on the beach, where we sit, watch the waves roll in and out in their rhythm, drink hot coffee from our thermos and look up just in time to see a seal or two slowly swim by.

We’re ready for all that you bring April, may you be a month filled with JOY.

{Paulette Goddard | Photoplay Magazine | November 1942 | Pinned HERE}

March 1, 2024 / 0 Comments

HELLO, March!

Hello, March! We’re ready for you to continue awakening the earth as spring draws closer. Our world has already been dotted with saffron and purple hued crocuses, snowdrops and sunshine yellow daffodils. We’re ready for you to usher forth more bulbs. We’re ready to see an undulating wave of pink, purple, yellow, peach and blush tones swaying in the almost ever present coastal winds.

We’re ready to wear the green and hunt for shamrocks, rainbows with pots of gold at the end and leprechauns on St. Patrick’s Day. We’re ready to feast on my Nana’s Irish soda bread alongside our annual St. Patty’s Day dinner. We’re ready to continue in this season of Lent, as a time of reflection and using this time to do more for others. The Lenten season shall come to a close at the end of your month with Easter Sunday.

We’re ready for the Easter Bunny to hope along and pay us a visit, hopefully filling our baskets with a few chocolate surprises. We’re ready for more cool, clear days and less rain. We’re ready for lazy Saturday afternoons sat listening to a new record, only moving when we have to flip it over.

We’re ready to continue being, reading, writing, cooking, baking, dancing and finding the joy in the little things.

Welcome, March. We’re ready for all that you bring.

{Spring bloom jackets made entirely of artificial flowers worn over light silk dresses designed by Arnold Scaasi | Photograph by Leonard Steckler | 1961 | Pinned HERE}

February 1, 2024 / 0 Comments

HELLO, February

Hello, February. I don’t know how you got here so quickly?

January had moments that felt like a whirlwind, as storms battered our island home. Yet at the same time, there were moments of stillness, punctuated by the glow of beautiful crisp morning sunrises. And we’re going to continue to welcome the changing light while savouring evenings still-made cozy by candlelight and cups of tea with honey and lemon.

We’re ready for birthdays, the Lunar New Year, Valentine’s Day and the extra day you will gift us with this month on the 29th. We’re ready for the confetti shower of red, white and pink that you will sprinkle over us in this season of L-O-V-E!

We’re ready to spend those cold sunny mornings sitting on the beach, drinking coffee and watching the waves roll in. We’re ready to don our walking boots over the winter school break and head out on our adventures.

We’re still holding out for the promise of snow and a day wrapped up under blankets, sipping hot chocolate while we watch the flakes gently fall. We’re still manifesting all the hygge. Candlelight, good music and french toast casserole drizzled with maple syrup for dinner are all still on the cards, even if spring is starting to knock on the door.

Welcome, February, we’re ready for you.

{Rhonda Fleming, US actress, wearing a red sleeveless top while looking into a red hand-held mirror as she applies make-up in a studio portrait, against a light blue background, circa 1955. A red heart-shaped mark on her chin. | Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images | Pinned HERE}

January 9, 2024 / 0 Comments

We Need A Little Twinkle & Glow

Although, I find setting goals both personally and professionally, important. I feel that this is the time of year where it is equally important to simply be. To let things wash over you, to move with the season. Winter in the natural world is a time of rest, a season that supports rebirth in the spring.

Our current working culture does not allow for this to easily happen. It’s head first, jump in and just keep swimming. It’s not a straightforward road to walk, to find the balance between “being” and “doing”.

This is a season where we need to consciously make time to rest, to move a little slower, to breathe. And so, we shall continue to have the glow of our twinkle lights for awhile longer and linger at the table after dinner while a record spins and take opportunities as they present themselves to simply be still. Because we are now within the darkest part of the year, the part where we need the most light, the most twinkle and glow; where we need to be cozy, where we need to relish in the season that we are in and look forward to the season that is yet to come.

Last Tuesday, I had to walk past my first dumped Christmas tree of winter. I thought my heart was going to break, I know there will be more to come as I’ve already witnessed it. After all the warmth and twinkling lights, it’s so sad to see nothing but darkened windows. So for a little while longer, I’m going to share a few more moments of sparkle and glow before all of that disappears with the yule log ashes.

{A quick snap of an adorable snowman on top of one of the Christmas trees at Lamb House. | This year the theme was a 1970s Christmas based on the time period that Rumer Godden lived within those walls. It was a delicious step back in time!}

December 1, 2023 / 0 Comments

HELLO, December

Hello, December! You’ve arrived with a nip to the air and Jack Frost on your heels. There are rumours of snow for next week and I’m relishing the thought.

We’re ready for hot chocolate walks while we look at Christmas lights glowing. We’re ready to stay up late watching old movies and eating buttery popcorn. We’re ready to keep our Christmas albums spinning while we eat dinner by the glow of the Christmas tree.

We’re ready for the adventures we have planned this month and the school break that allows us to soak up everything in this most resplendent of seasons. And the opportunity that the school holiday brings, to be able to breathe and drink in the world around us at our own pace.

We’re ready for our holiday baking to begin and the house to be filled with the smell of sugar cookies, gingerbread, cinnamon and peppermint. We’re ready to linger over the breakfast table working on the crossword together with hot cups of coffee in hand.

We’re ready for the reflective moments and the collective calm this season brings amongst the sparkle and glitter and glow.

We’re ready for this most holy of seasons and pray that peace, light and love continue to shine through the darkness.

Welcome, December, fill our hearts with good cheer.

{Vintage East European Matchbox | Pinned HERE | Found HERE}

November 1, 2023 / 0 Comments

HELLO, November

Hello, November. We’re ready for the days to fully turn cooler as we move into late autumn. We’re ready for long walks with mugs filled with hot apple cider. We’re ready to continue playing our board games late into a Saturday night, or a quiet afternoon spent working on a puzzle.

We’re ready for Bonfire Night that you will bring this weekend and making our first apple crumble of the season with a generous scoop of homemade ice cream on top.

We’re ready to settle into this season of coziness and candlelight and the build up to Thanksgiving. We’re ready to feast on leftover turkey sandwiches and decorate for Christmas near the end of this month.

We’re ready for the smell of woodsmoke in the air on a crisp night, mixed with the scent of a stew simmering on the stove, while fresh bread bakes in the oven.

We’re ready to soak up this season and to find peace in the quiet moments, for the world right now is far too loud. We welcome you, November with open arms.

{Vintage Turkey Illustration found HERE via The Biodiversity Heritage Library | Pinned HERE}