Sweet Dreams

Ron travels way more than the average person. This year alone he's gone to India four times, with detours to Japan, Switzerland and Austria. While jet-setting is in his blood, recovering from jet lag is a drag. For his last trip I made him an eye pillow out of Liberty of London's Grey Susanna print. I filled it with lavender for it's relaxing aromatherapy powers and added flax seed for weight. So simple!

After using a plastic bag to tote his eye pillow around, I had the idea to make a carrying case for it. Not only does it protect the surface from dust and dirt but also helps preserve the dreamy lavender scent.

Still Growing Strong

Between packing, painting, moving and unpacking, I haven't had much spare time to work on my creative projects. I hope to have more down time soon, which will most likely coincide with the onset of cooler weather.

In the meantime, I've really been enjoying how much the garden on our balcony has grown since I planted it back in May. The sweet potato vines are reaching down towards the ground, and to my surprise we even have sweet potatoes peeking through the soil. They've gotten so big that the geraniums have backed down in submission.

The nasturtium didn't survive the heat wave in July and the lavender drowned due to lack of drainage, both of which I promptly replaced with low-maintenance succulents. On the other hand, the tomato plant is actively producing a bounty of sweet cherry tomatoes, excellent for pairing with bocconcini. :) For a little while the morning glories looked like they might not make it but have showed a lot of resilience and are coming back strong-- and finally bearing flowers!

With the gardening season so short-lived, it has me thinking that I need to get more creative in the Fall and Winter so we can still see green when we look outside our window.

Grande Fête

About a decade ago my Uncle Pat & Aunt Arlette had the idea of gathering family and few friends to celebrate Bastille Day. And by celebrate I mean eat platefuls of French food and drink lots of wine. This tradition is now 10 years in existence and the guest list has greatly expanded, reaching almost 80 people this past year. What better reason to celebrate than for the love of French food and culture-- it sure makes Bonne-Maman proud!

Born on the 4th of July

What a monumental weekend! On July 4th, at 12:50 pm my nephew Théo Julien was born at 6lb 8oz. After waiting 9 months and an extra week past Rachel's due date, we were reaching maximum anticipation. Actually Théo timed his birthday quite well. Every year he'll be celebrating his special day with fireworks and BBQ's, and better yet, he'll always have the day off from school with Maman and Papa.

Leaves of Change

On July 3rd Kari and Brian got married!

Out of Print

Dave, one of the owners of Fishs Eddy, made a fortuitous find on a recent buying trip to the Midwest: Vintage metal stationer's engraving blocks from the 1940's and 1950's! He came back with hundreds of initials and full addresses, most in their original boxes with handwritten names and dates of when they were last used.

When I saw them they reminded me of my friend Josephine and the types of objects she often paints: aged and weathered surfaces, objects with historical content and traces of text. You can see some of her truly amazing works here. I thought if these engraving blocks didn't serve as her next muse, they would at least look great displayed in her studio.

I wrapped them in pages from old Anthropologie catalogs and adorned them with spare buttons.

Mommy in Waiting

Due to a number of circumstances, my mom and I had to plan Rachel's Surprise Baby Shower within just few weeks from her due date... dangerously close! We were hoping she wouldn't have to bring her own baby to the shower. After waiting so long, we figured Rachel would be on to our ploy to get her to Long Valley this past Saturday afternoon. But alas, she was surprised! Apparently we're both very good liars.

Since the party was fairly small I was able to hand-print the invitations, line the envelopes and spend time on all the minute details (though I don't think I could resist doing the same for an even larger event). I like orange as a cheerful and fun alternative to the usual gender-neutral yellow. When I saw cupcake papers & toppers by Meri Meri, I fell in love with them and adopted the vintage circus theme on the spot.

Rachel lives for surprises... so much so that she and Fabien have opted not to find out the sex of the baby or give away the names they have in mind. We are all waiting in anticipation to meet Baby Janus, it's been long enough!