BITS OF MY WEEK

I thought it would be fun to document what goes on around our little funny farm from time to time when things are interesting around here. 

I've been getting into baking bread lately (I know.  Me? Baking?!).  Today's recipe is pretzel rolls via Piece of Cake.  The house is warm and full of the smell of yeast.  I think I'm hooked.

The light was nice in our living room this afternoon, so I snapped a pic of our mantle.  Trying to layer a bit more greenery into our house.  That one on the left is a fiddle leaf fig.  He's pretty small still, but I'm hoping one day he will look like this.

I've been busy planting bare root fruit trees this month and getting all the other fruit bearing things ready spring.  The chickens have finished molting and have decided to start laying again (earlier than expected, a welcome surprise!), so that means I can stop buying eggs at the market for a while.

I got this crazy plant called a 'bleeding heart' at the nursery a week back or so.  The flowers are so interesting, looking just like the name.  The strawberries are fruiting already and we are chomping at the bit for them to ripen.

My husband has also been making a bunch of neat things out of recycled wood and old wine barrel staves.  More on that later.  ;)

How was your weekend?

donna wilson makes me smile

I don't know what it is, but I love little plushie animals.  I have a fox from Sleepy King, an Ewok from "back in the day" (which, by the way, was a Wednesday. All right, enough with the Dane Cook references), and a few others that I've kept from my childhood bedroom.  Perhaps if I had a kid, it would seem a little more appropriate to obsess over such things, but I really just can't help myself.

The plushies and housewares by Donna Wilson are no exception (and are not helping in making me want them less).  I freaking love that peanut!  Here, see for yourself.  These little guys are sure to brighten up your day.

today I love...

This living room is speaking to me today.  I love the bright, white space, all the neutrals, the rustic elements (my husband would LOVE that), and the pops of green from the plants.  Methinks this is a perfect inspiration image to keep on file if I ever redo the living room.  Yes, yes I do.

(via Lonny Magazine)

My secret garden

I took a little stroll around our yard yesterday afternoon and these are some of the things I saw:

Pin It Forward

I'm excited to announce that I'll be participating in this year's blogger mashup called Pin It Forward.  Hosted by Victoria of sfgirlbybay, this year's theme is "home". 

From sfgirlbybay:

What does HOME mean to you? Is it a favorite chair, a special recipe, a comfy pair of slippers? Pin up the images, products, and art that say 'home' to you. We can't wait to see what people pin.

Not only am I thrilled I was able to snag a spot, but I will be blogging just after Kathleen of Twig and Thistle, one of my favorite blogs.  It will be a little while before my post on July 1st, but I couldn't hold it in I was so excited.  The "pinning" begins on Monday, May 24th on the sfgirlbybay blog and continues through over 300 blogs until the last blogger shares on Friday, July 2nd.  Stay tuned!

Recent Acquisitions

For some reason or another, I ended up acquiring quite a few neat little treasures over the weekend, some old, some new.  I thought I'd share them with you all here.  Enjoy!

Squee!  That whale kills me every time I see it!  Annnnnndd, it's also a bottle opener!  Talk about a party conversation piece (thanks M.!).

How is your week going so far?  Anything new?

The first egg

J and I got some little baby chicks back in May and raised them inside in a little box until they were finally big enough to be outside in the coop at night.  J built a most magnificent coop for them complete with a ramp, viewing window, and secret back hatch for collecting eggs from the nesting boxes.

Having never raised chickens before, I was simply amazed when the baby chicks would snuggle up next to me as I lay outside in the summer sun in our backyard.  Now, as hens, they still know who mama is and come running when they see me (although, I tend to think it's because we give them all of our vegetable scraps).

They are tame enough to pick up and hold, yet chase after the dogs when they are irritated by too much sniffing.

A little moment of awe and joy came for me the other day when I looked into our chicken coop and saw the first egg.  It came from Zoe, our iridescent black hen.  When I cracked it open last night, the yolk was a deep yellow and stood very high in the center of the white.  Just lovely.

During this time of uncertainty and with extra tightening of the purse strings, it's nice to enjoy these little things...and to try and remember to enjoy them more often.

What are the little things in your life that you enjoy?

Today I love....

...this house.   I love it's subtlety and the soft grey of the walls.  I love the mixture of textiles and art prints.  I love all the little details.  I LOVE the carnations in the gorgeous vases. In short, I am utterly inspired to repaint our house this lovely shade of grey, fill it with fresh flowers, and try (try HARD) to keep it clutter free.

 

 

Original linked post via Etsy.

Photos by Katja of Nestled In

Welcome Home!

My husband and I are less than a week away from owning our first home together! We are so excited and have already bought a few things to update it and make it our own. Paint is one of those things. We will definitely be cashing in some man hours with some friends for that project! But when it is finished, it will be such a joy to come home to a place that is ours; no common walls, no noisy neighbors (we hope!), our own parking spaces.....sigh. The excitement is building. So much so that I am thinking ahead a couple of months about a housewarming party. A Saturday afternoon, friends, beer, maybe even a cut-throat game of bocce ball.

Check out the invite I created just for the occasion! The address is not there since, well, we really don't want any strangers showing up on our front stoop. The neat part is that the bottom left corner will be perforated so that after the party, our friends and family can have a nice, wallet/address book sized "calling card" for us!