Rain, Rain, Go Away!

If all this rain keeps up here in Massachusetts, I am going to have to buy a pair of these:


Now, technically speaking, I don't need them as I have a pair of perfectly functional rain boots from the Gap Outlet - but they are kind of ugly and not this pretty purple-pink. I feel I must make the sacrifice and buy them don't you think? (I had thought that my LL Bean rain skimmers would keep my feet dry, but in the monsoon-like weather we've been having, the puddles are deepening and boots are all that will do!)

A Dose of Art and History

Yesterday I went to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston to see The Secrets of Tomb 10A, a special exhibit on Egyptian Governor Djehutynakht's tomb. The tomb was discovered by an MFA-Harvard expedition team in 1915 and dates back to 2000BC. The exhibit was extremely fascinating. The tomb had been ransacked by grave robbers years before so when the expedition team found it, everything was strewn about in complete disarray. The very fact that they were able to piece everything back together is amazing.

Can you believe that these miniature boats, designed for Djehutynakht's voyage to eternity, are thousands of years old?


The coffin is covered in hieroglyphics. All the bottom (rather blurry - sorry!) half of the photo is tiny, tiny carvings in vertical rows.


One part of the exhibit that was both cool and creepy was an actual mummified skull that was on display. They are not sure if the skull is Djehutynakht or his wife despite lots of high-tech scans done on it by scientists at Mass General Hospital, apparently they are currently performing DNA tests on a tooth to try to figure it out - crazy!!

If you live near Boston and haven't seen the exhibit, I highly recommend it. It's definitely one that not just art fans will enjoy.

And finally, this is a photo of one of my favorite galleries at the MFA:

I love the high ceilings and the old-fashioned style of hanging pictures one on top of the other. Every time I go to the museum, I have to "visit" my favorite paintings and spots. This gallery is always a must-see. Unfortunately, one of my other favorites - the Daughters of Edward Darley Boit by John Singer Sargent was loaned to a museum in Spain so it wasn't there yesterday. It's a fairly large painting in real life and one thing I love about seeing it in person is that the two blue and white vases in the painting are displayed in the gallery on either side of the painting.


The MFA is building a huge new wing, scheduled to open in the fall, I can't wait to find some new favorite spots to "visit" on future trips!

Spring Fair

Yesterday, my mom and I had a table at a local spring craft fair. We usually stick to fairs in October through December, as my mom's bestseller is her crocheted hats - obviously not that much of a market for hats in warmer weather like now. So yesterday was a bit of an experiment, my mom made lightweight, thin scarves designed to be worn on a cool spring day with a blazer or over a t-shirt on a summer night. Just a little something to accessorize and bring some color to your look and perhaps keep your neck a little warm. She also made crocheted handbags, clutches, and flower pins. I made different styles of fancy headbands, which I had found in the fall to be more popular for me than jewelry, which I used to solely focus on.


It was definitely an interesting fair! A bunch of shoppers looked at the scarves and asked what they were -- what else could they be? They're long and soft, there was a sign that said "Scarves", and both my mom and I were wearing one around our necks! That has happened to us before - - my mom sometimes crochets coffee cup cozies with leftover yarn. We display them in a basket with a sample on a Starbucks cup next to it. Shoppers will sometimes completely ignore the cup and put the cozies on their wrist and ask if they are wristbands! As I said fairs are always . . . very interesting!


This is a photo of my new headband display. I made it from a plastic pipe from Home Depot and covered it with batting and fabric. I then asked my very handy father to cut a piece of wood for a base and attach it. It didn't come out exactly as I'd like as the brown quilted fabric I used (leftover from an upholstering project) is a little dark as display background. But it's ideal for displaying some of the more delicate styles, like the pink and blue tulle flower headbands, as they get squashed just laying on the table.

Today I went to the MFA in Boston; photos coming tomorrow! I hope you all had a good weekend!

Classic New England

This weekend was classic New England - Friday afternoon I left work in Boston wearing just a cardigan and no coat and it was still fairly mild when I arrived in North Conway, New Hampshire. Saturday I skied in the warm sunshine at Bretton Woods without any gloves and ate lunch outside, then Sunday morning I woke up to this outside the window:

Snow! Crazy! And today, back at home, it's raining!

I had some luck at the North Conway outlets. I found a pretty cardigan, flip flops, and a necklace at J Crew; a cardigan at Talbots; and a summery top at Banana Republic. Talbots had a lot of pretty things, I was really surprised!

The biggest bargain was the necklace at J Crew - it was marked 50% off the outlet price of $35, but rang up at under $6! I love a surprise at the register, don't you!? LL Bean was disappointing. They had one coastal macintosh in my size, but only in navy, which quite frankly was really dull! The jacket is made of a water-resistant cotton that's very matte-looking; no shine at all like a typical raincoat. So the jacket just looked too blah. They had the yellow in one size up, which looked much better and infinitely more spring-like, but it was too big. J Crew had nary a coat in sight! So . . . my search for a spring raincoat continues!

Off to the Mountains

I am headed up to North Conway, New Hampshire for the weekend tomorrow. I'll be doing some outlet shopping and hopefully a bit of skiing.

My favorite outlets in North Conway are LL Bean, J Crew, and one that I stumbled upon last year for the first time, Hatley. I am in absolute need of a new spring raincoat. I've been wearing a green trench coat-style one from the Gap for a number of years now, which I absolutely love, but I think is beginning to show some wear. I have had my eye on LL Bean's Coastal Macintosh for a while and am hoping I might get lucky and find one at the outlet. Or maybe find the outlet version of the J Crew icon trench.


The weather has been kind of on the warm side. But I am hoping to ski at Bretton Woods which is at a higher elevation than some of the other ski areas around North Conway.

I hope you have fun plans for enjoying the weekend too! (Especially if you live in New England - you must enjoy this streak of warm and beautiful weather!)

My Makeup Musts - Benefit Powders

I love, love, love Benefit face powders. For years I have been using Dandelion in winter to keep my skin from getting the winter blues and Dallas in summer for a warm golden glow. If you are not a makeup person these are absolutely the best because they are virtually mistake-proof. Just use a big brush and blend the powder all over your face, you can use it liberally and you still won't look like a clown, trust me! I also love Coralista and One Hot Minute (a loose powder) for those times when I need some extra pop!

Two Holidays for the Price of One

May you have warm words on a cold evening,
a full moon on a dark night,
and the road downhill all the way to your door.,
-An Irish Blessing-

As we pretty much all know, March 17th is St. Patrick's Day - a day to celebrate all things Irish. What many people often forget (and is, in fact, the real reason why schools and state offices are closed on the 17th every year in the greater Boston area, not, as is the rumor - to allow college students to converge on the city's pubs and drink to their hearts' content!) is that it is also Evacuation Day. Evacuation Day honors our country's first major victory in the Revolutionary War. On March 17, 1776, George Washington and the Continental Army fortified Dorchester Heights with cannons, forcing the British to end their occupation of Boston! So: Happy Saint Patrick's Day and Happy Evacuation Day!

THANK YOU

I've recently reached 100+ followers and I just want to say a great big thank you to everyone who is reading! Blogging has been a great creative outlet for me and I enjoy reading each and every one of your comments. I promise to have a thank you giveaway very soon!

(Image from Paper Source - Carnival 4 Bar Thank You Notes)

Target Shopping Update!

It has been pouring rain all day here in Massachusetts, but I did manage to venture out this morning to find some Liberty of London things at Target. I actually went to two different Targets! First, I went to a larger one further away because I figured that because it was a larger store they'd have more inventory. They did have quite a lot of items interspersed in displays throughout the store, but even at 10am much had been picked over - flip flops, umbrellas, a lot of gardening items, were already gone! I spied at least a few women loading up their carriages with tons of stuff. So much so, that I kind of suspect they might have been planning to resell them elsewhere (perhaps on EBay at a higher price?). I found a dress, two tops, a pretty pillow, and a rain hat.


The dress was a bit too big, but I bought it anyway because it was nothing that a tailor couldn't easily fix. Feeling like everything was kind of picked over in the first Target, we decided to stop at another smaller one closer to home. Surprisingly, that one had much more in stock. A lot was gone there as well, but they had plenty of clothing so I was able to find the dress in my size and the second store had a big display of pretty stationery, gift bags, and candles. My mother found a set of mini-journals with different patterned covers (3 sets of 3 journals in coordinating colors) for about $7.99 - definitely a good value.

Of course, I'll have to return the dress that's too big this week but it was definitely worth going out in the rain this morning!

I hope you're having a sunny Sunday!

Early Rise and Shine

Tomorrow morning my mother and I are going to attempt to get to Target somewhat early to check out Liberty of London's collection. I have not had any luck with past Target-clothing designer collaborations. Target clothes can be a bit hit or miss in terms of quality so I like to see them in-person rather than buy online and every time I go they always have just a few odd sizes left. At least I know with Liberty of London that the teacups will be one-size-fits-all!!

The Target website has some fun Liberty print backgrounds for your computer or phone. I downloaded one today to brighten up my desktop!

I will definitely post tomorrow with an update on what I find!

Paper that's just too pretty

Paper Source's decorative papers are just too pretty to simplu wrap a gift in and then discard! My grandmother collected elephant figurines and jewelry and I have continued on the tradition. In particular, I only buy elephants with their trunks turned up as they are said to be good luck. So naturally, I love this new elephant patterned paper that was featured in the Paper Source catalog that arrived in my mailbox yesterday:

I am thinking of buying a sheet to hang in a frame above my bed. Perhaps with a sharp, brightly colored matte to add some punch! It would definitely make very inexpensive wall decor. There are so many possibilities for using them other than plain old giftwrap:

- To line a shelf in a china cabinet. Definitely more pattern choices than plastic shelfliner!
- To line the glass door of a cabinet when you'd prefer people not to see the mess inside!
- As a background in a scrapbook.
- Decoupaged on the bottom of a serving tray.
- A friend has made coasters with Paper Source paper (the same way we made map coasters - click here to see last year's DIY post).

Any other ideas out there?

Gossip Girl circa 1899

With our favorite Upper East Siders returning to the screen tonight, I thought it a good time to introduce you to their distant 19th century relatives:

The Luxe by Anna Godbersen

Set in Manhattan in 1899, The Luxe, the first in a series of four books, follows what I would most accurately describe as the Serena's and Blair's of the turn-of-the-century! I picked this up in Barnes & Noble after seeing it featured at the end of the aisle, not realizing that it's actually a novel for the young adult set (for some reason the fact that is was less expensive than a regular paperback did not strike a warning bell; perhaps because, as usual, I was loaded up with book purchases!) I'd describe it as a cross-over novel (kind of like Twilight) that women and girls of all ages would like. It reminded me a bit of a scandalous Jane Austen; full of society balls, forbidden romances, and gossip - gossip - gossip!

It was a fun, breezy read . . . perfect for the commute to work. I will definitely be reading the second book in the series, Rumors, soon!

Who do you think you are?

Has anyone else caught the new show on NBC, Who Do You Think You Are? I dvr'd the first episode and I am hooked! If you haven't seen the commercials, the show follows celebrities as they explore their family tree and is inspired by a popular British tv show. The first episode featured Sarah Jessica Parker and followed her as she traveled from NYC to Cincinnati to California and finally to Boston, as she learned about her maternal grandmother's side of the family. She had thought that all of her family were German immigrants who did not have roots too far back in US history, but ending up discovering her great-great-great ..... grandparents' involvement in the California Gold Rush and the Salem Witch Trials. I may be a sucker for cheesiness, but I found it all incredibly interesting and in fact, pretty moving. Sure there was cheesy music and overly dramatic moments, but overall I think the search to know more about our family's past is something we can all relate to. And even if the show didn't follow celebrities, but regular folks instead, I think I would still find it all fascinating. I can remember doing family tree projects in elementary school and it's one thing to learn ancestors' names and places of birth, but it's another thing entirely to really be able to delve into your past and learn how they really lived. I'll definitely keep watching . . .

Perfectly Pink Kitchen

When I think of pink rooms, I tend to think mostly of bedrooms and perhaps, sitting rooms. Kitchens, not so much. But I love the unique use of pink-striped wallpaper on the ceiling and the window shade in this kitchen from MarthaStewart.com. Waking up to breakfast in such a bright and cheery space would be sure to start anyone's day off on a bright note don't you think?

Shopping Surprises

While in Costco over the weekend, I spied a set of two Lilly Pulitzer candles for $15 - sensing a bargain, I decided to scoop up a set! The choices were Wink and Squeeze or Wink and Beachy, all of which smelled lovely. Now knowing that they are ordinarily $34 each, I'm wondering if I should go back and stock up on some more to have ready for gifts . . .

I find that Costco is often full of surprises. Sometimes all you pick up is the standard food supplies (I love the croissants, they freeze perfectly and I defrost them one by one for a morning snack to take to work. And the cupcakes are amazing-unfortunately they do not freeze so well so I only get to enjoy those at a summer cookout or something else with a big crowd.) Other times, there are all sorts of "finds." Around Christmas they had really nice Bliss bath sets and Murano glass jewelry, more recently they had beautiful minty green cake plates with scalloped edges (very Martha Stewart!). And their store-brand version of Ugg's are just as good as the real thing in my opinion and at under $40, the price can't be beat; especially if you are on the fence as to whether Ugg's are in fact Ugg-ly.

Have you found any shopping surprises lately?