kitchens, farms, babies and barns

there is a huge part of me that wants to live in a little farmhouse in the country... something we can polish and paint and fill with things we love. and have some babies and some kittens, maybe a dog or two... a barn that we can use as a studio... a potters wheel... a front porch with a view. the tv's and computers to be used only when absolutely necessary. yes yes yes.

i've been feeding this part of me by obsessing over some of the following this week:

* a woman living a farm/child/kitten/love-filled life on MommyCoddle
* thinking about how i want to raise my family with Slow family living
* the inspiring Penelope Dullaghan (illustrator, artist, yogi, mama - could you sum up my life goals more succinctly??), whose work i just happen to luuuurve
* the ever-increasingly satisfying Young House Love - which i've been following for a while, but am perhaps now at the point in my life where their adventures are more fascinating than ever :)

so yes, i am feeling domestic - but restless... longing for the chance to make my domesticity the way that i really want it? maybe. if that makes any sense.

anyway, these yummy, sunny kitchens would be perfect places to feed bowls of cereal to little people, make long lazy phone calls to my sister, my mother, my cousins... experiments in pastry... i really really want to go to there.




via scandinavian retreat

maybe i'm just tired of this dark apartment with the constant gas leaks and flood-prone basement. maybe i'm just over the city a little bit. or maybe i just need to get away for a while...

How to light up a dark apartment

I can feel December slipping through my fingers already, so I've decided to decorate the apartment today. I really really wanted to get a real tree, but living in the city, in a neighborhood that doesn't really do cute little Christmas tree sales on corners, without a car, it's not so easy. So I'm seriously considering sucking it up and buying a cheap little fake tree from one of the cheesy discount stores that are, for some reason, so plentiful in my 'hood.



I love our apartment, but it has one major downside. It's dark. It just doesn't get a lot of natural light, and the wintertime, especially, leaves me feeling like I'm living in a cave. To top it off, this has been a super gloomy week, and I'm finding it hard to get motivated to clean and prettify our little nest. I'm hoping that once I get started, and once we get some little white lights twinkling, it will start feeling a little less gothic and a little more cozy.



Cross your fingers that I can get it done!! Hopefully I'll have an update for you tomorrow :)

how does your garden grow?

Yay! First day of quasi-vacation is off to a great start. I'm feeling pretty productive today, even if I am avoiding certain (house cleaning) tasks...

I know I promised more pictures from my parent's wedding, but if you don't mind terribly, I'm going to wait until tomorrow to post those. Because today, my wonderful, handsome, TALENTED husband-to-be (who just happens to be a professional photographer - lucky me!) went out and took some beautiful shots of our garden! Let me share....



The bird feeder and random old weatherbeaten wood table that the previous tenant left.... we're either going to chuck it, or I'm going to put loads of potted plants on it....



The Echinacea flowers...



and our yellow rosebush!



More of the Echinacea - and Daisies!



Come on, these pictures are so amazing it's almost obscene. I mean, the garden is lovely, but Matt made it look like magic! It's so great having an outdoor space - this morning I actually did some yoga out there, and I swear it's put me in a good mood for the entire day. It's easy to feel disconnected in NYC - but nothing cures it like some greenery!