One of the things I wish I had more of is interesting mail.  Far too often I get bills, junk, and the occassional flyer.  Thursday’s mail brought something different… a little brown kraft envelope from Anthropologie.  How exciting!  I always love the attention to detail and time they spend creating well designed promotional materals.  And inside this envelope was a lovely, gauzy cloth envelope, adorned with little knick-knack buttons and thread, and a card for 15% of any item in the store in time for my birthday.  Hooray!  It’s amazing what a little note in the mail can do to lift your spirits.

{for more of my at home photos, check out my Flickr}

There’s quite the storm brewing outside right now: thunder, lighting, and heavy sheets of rain.  A recent post on a creative way to spend a rainy day on SouleMama has made me remember something I used to do in school: linoleum block carving.  The materials needed are reasonably priced and can be found at an art or craft store.  A speedball linoleum cutter, a carving block of some sort (like a soft eraser or print block like soft-kut), and inking pads or printing inks (and a brayer, if using printing inks).  I’ll have to do some sleuthing around to find where I’ve kept my supplies, but these stamped images from the talented Geninne are inspiring me to find them quick!

{images shown belong to Geninne}

I am a big tea drinker and aficionado of all things tea.  I love the bitter flavor of black tea, I love “going for tea” to tea shops and tea rooms, and I especially love tea china.  These vintage ‘redecorated’ ceramics by Ninainvorm (found via Oh Joy!) have such lovely color and compositions, I want several of these pieces for my own collection.  I’d love to mix these in with other vintage pieces for a quirky and fun tea party at home.

{images shown belong to Ninainvorm}

Some beautiful photography from nature from the very talented Cori Kindred (*she also does amazing mixed media art as well).  This is making me wish I was hiking and camping in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, one of my favorite summer vacation spots.

{images shown belong to Cori Kindred}

This weekend we had quite the feast: haddock, trout, shrimp, potatoes, corn-on-the-cob and a delicious mixed greens salad.  I was told about the recipe from one of my dearest friends (thanks Renee!) and she found it in Everyday Food (by Martha Stewart).  The recipe couldn’t be more simple.  We made 2 tin foil packets, one that had haddock and all the fixings, and the other had trout with the same sides.  Everything came out perfect, and it really reminded me of eating seafood at Moby Dick’s in Wellfleet, MA.  I think the only thing I would do different for next time is bake whole potatoes separately on the grill, rather than have them sliced and included in the tin foil packets (only because I love a baked potato).  Definitely try this recipe on a warm, summer evening.  Just make sure you have the freshest seafood possible, it really makes this meal outstanding!

Grilled New England Seafood “Bake” (via Everyday Food)

{for more of my cooking photos, check out my Flickr}

Summer is the perfect time to see and experience a movie at a drive-in.  My husband and I had our first (and so far, only) drive-in movie experience two years ago at the Wellfleet Drive-In in Wellfleet, MA (on Cape Cod) and loved it.  The weather was perfect and many people brought lawn chairs and watched the movie outside their car, while we stuck it out inside ours to beat the bugs.  They had a great concession stand and it was such a neat experience to watch a movie in private… and yet in public.  Unfortunately, many of these places, which were so popular decades ago, have become few and far in between as ridiculously sized and way too loud movie theaters become the norm (I am NOT kidding you: I wear ear plugs to movies now.  Yes, I’m an old lady already).  Thank goodness the few drive-in theaters that are left across the country have become places of historic value and importance, and many families still make use of them for a fun night out.  If you don’t know what to do for the weekend and the weather is perfect, check to see if you have a drive-in near you.

Jeff checking to make sure we were parked “just right” in front of the screen at the Wellfleet Drive-In in Wellfleet, MA.

The view behind our car: lots of happy families ready to “camp-it-out” in front of the big screen (with the concession stand in the distance to the right).

There’s a lovely idea & how-to directions for wedding cake toppers (or gifts, as they were originally made for) on Once Wed.  They were created by Haylie Waring for her friend’s wedding.  All the materials are inexpensive and easy to obtain, either from craft stores of from websites like Tinsel Trading.  As a fan of small and tiny things, I couldn’t help but fall for this very sweet idea.

{image via Once Wed}

It’s new to me and I am falling head over heels for the simplicity of My White Table (found via Truly Smitten).  Love her photography!  I really like creative blogs that play on themes, and even though her palettes are simple, they still have nice little punches of color.

{images shown belong to My White Table}

Oh. My. Goodness.

Were you aware that Bird and Banner has a new site up?  If one can “jump” at clicking their mouse (or rather, my laptop clicky thing – whatever that thing is called) then I sure did when I read their site had been updated.  Not only that, but they have a blog now too!  I am hearting every single one of their amazing invitation projects; all the different styles, textures, and color palettes.  I was a fan from their old site, but now I am seriously swooning.  Congrats to Erin and Nicole, for a fabulous new site and wonderful work!

{images shown belong to Bird and Banner}

The past few days have been so summery, and this morning was especially bright and cheerful.  It’s making me think I should start a seasonal blog section about my favorite things.  I know I’ve mentioned before that summer is my favorite season for many different reasons… here are some reasons why (from this morning):

I love summer reason #1: the perfect spot in the morning is in a wicker rocking chair near the hostas, on the porch.

I love summer reason #2: berries, in-season, all the time.

I love summer reason #3: the morning sun twinkling through the trees.

…What do you love about summer?

{for more of my photos, check out my Flickr}