Here’s my round-up for favorite things, hikes, and places that we experienced on our trip to Acadia:

Favorite Eateries
• Cafe this Way:  Incredible wild blueberry pancakes! (And they were a heck of a lot cheaper than Jordan’s Restaurant).  My husband’s Greek omelette with kalamata olives, artichokes and feta was superb.  Fun atmosphere with bookshelves full of good reads and an open porch.  They’re open for dinner too.
• 2 Cats:  Probably the best french toast I ever had!  My husband’s eggs benedict with salmon was incredible.  The service, food were all amazing.  Sat outside on the wrap around front porch and enjoyed the breeze.
• Mt. Desert Island Ice Cream:  Fresh, inventive flavors and always homemade in small batches.  I stayed with more traditional flavors like blackberry and strawberry, but my husband went out on a limb and tried chocolate wasabi and chocolate red chili.

Favorite Hikes
• Jordan Pond Loop:  About 3.5 miles of varied trail conditions (boardwalk through a boggy area, rocky shore, a path carved out between huge boulders, dirt path alongside forest) around Jordan Pond which is crystal clear and beautiful.  Unfortunately the pond is off limits to swimmers (it’s drinking water), which would’ve been a great way to end a long hike (*Check out Echo Lake or Sand Beach for swimming).  Definitely save the tea & popovers for after your hike!
• Jessup Path:  Part grassy field, part birch forest, part raised boardwalk.  An easy hike for anyone, and especially beautiful amongst the birches.
• Wonderland:  Perfect to do on a cloudy, misty day.  Definitely go at low tide to see the tidepools.
• Thuya Garden:  The garden itself isn’t much of a hike, but it’s so beautiful and peaceful.  Plus, there are multiple hiking trails that lead from the garden; we took the Eliot Mountain hike and while it’s a short summit to climb, it was a very enjoyable one with beautiful moss and lichen in the forest.  Definitely check out the Asticou Azalea Garden which is located right down the street, as well – both are free!

Most Memorable Moments
• Sunrise on Cadillac Mountain:  Although I desperately wanted to stay in my sleeping bag at 3:45 am, the entire experience of driving up the mountain in the dark, to seeing the first colors of dawn, to seeing the entire sun come up were all incredible – everyone needs to do this at least once in their life!  Everyone there was very quiet but there was an excitement that was really fun to be a part of.  Who knew seeing the sun come up (something that happens every single day) would feel so special and momentous?
• Tea & Popovers at Jordan Pond House:  Yes, it was crowded.  Yes, there were tourists waiting 30 minutes to pay for overpriced tea and popovers, but the guidebooks were right – you have to do tea and popovers at the Jordan Pond House.  They’ve been serving them on the lawn overlooking Jordan Pond and the surrounding mountains since the late 1800′s.  They have indoor and outdoor seating, and we waited a little extra to get the outdoor lawn seats and lucked out with a perfect view of the scenery.
• Driving on Park Loop Road:  Miles and miles of absolutely gorgeous scenery; probably the nicest driving we’ve ever done.  Definitely be prepared to stop every so often to check out scenic views, rocky coastline, and natural formations.  There is a section of the road that costs to drive your vehicle through (without a National Park Pass, it’s $20 for a week’s pass) but you can always board the free Island Shuttle Bus that criss-crosses the entire park.  Many of the must-see places in the park run along this road.  We even drove down at night and saw a full moon over the Atlantic Ocean (which was also incredible).

All in all, we had an amazing trip and have already talked about what we’d like to do next time.  We’ll definitely be renting bikes and riding along the Carriage Roads (we hiked a little bit of them and from seeing other people drive by, it looks like a great way to see the park) and will be walking more strenuous hiking trails.  Other than that, we will be getting a bigger tent that we can stand up in!

{for more of my Acadia National Park photos, check out my Flickr}

I’m still soaking in all the memories from my camping trip last week to Acadia National Park, so for today I’m leaving you with a glimpse at our trip.  It was probably the best camping we’ve ever done, and we can’t wait to go back.  More info tomorrow on where we visited, which trails we hiked, and favorite experiences.

{for more of my Acadia National Park photos, check out my Flickr}

We’re finally going away (hooray!) on our camping trip this coming week to Acadia National Park.  I’ve got books to read, sketchbooks to fill, trails to hike, and new experiences to explore.  I won’t be able to update craft lovely for all of next week, but I will be back here on Monday, August 30th with trip photos and info on our favorite places we visited.  I hope all of you have a lovely last full week of August!

{image shown belongs to Bethmax from Flickr}

We spent a few days last week visiting with friends down the Cape, and although it was short we had a marvelous time.  We went for afternoon tea at the Dunbar, ate seafood at Moby Dick’s, went to a wine tasting at Truro Vineyards, grilled a delicious dinner, and just sat around talking on the front porch.  My only wish is that summer would last a bit longer so that we could do it all over again in a few weeks!

{for more of my cape cod getaway photos, check out my Flickr}

We’ll be headin’ “down cape” (going to Cape Cod for non-New Englanders) tonight for a visit with some great friends.  I’m very much looking forward to a few days of rest, relaxation, wonderful company and lots of laughs.  See you all back here on Monday!

{image shown by budderflyman on Flickr}

We’ve been enjoying all the fresh farm produce of the summer season and recently had a simple yet incredibly satisfying meal: roast chicken (*I did cheat and just picked one up at Wholefoods; so easy!), broiled carrots, boiled beets, and a fresh salad with mixed greens, tomatoes, and radishes.  It was my first time trying radishes and I loved them!

What have you been enjoying this summer from the farm?

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

(drinking tea at Wholefoods, taking advantage of the free wifi, and figuring this whole blog post out)

I try to keep this blog as creatively focused as I can, and although sometimes there is a personal post now and then, I try to steer away from that altogether.  When I first began craft lovely, I gave myself the structure of having half of the posts creatively focused and created by me, and then the other half discussing, complimenting, and sharing other creative folk’s work.  I must be honest with myself that lately I have not been keeping this structure.  Although I am a big believer in letting things grow and change if that’s their true course of action, I know that I could be putting in more time developing content for craft lovely.

I remember SouleMama discussing on her blog how so many people would comment about her life and family being portrayed as the ideal family, with seemingly no fights between siblings and no frustrations from her little ones.  She explained that yes, they are much like every other family in the world with their ups and downs, but she uses her blog as a place to focus on the good days, the positive moments, the little things that one might pass by and forget due to the hectic life of a parent of four.  Please note, I was not quoting her verbatim just now (*read her blog post if you’d like the actual quote), but her explanation of her blogging makes complete sense to me.  I think a lot of creative bloggers try to focus specifically on the positive – and really, only the positive… me included.  I try to show a good face to the world, that I’m a designer hard at work on multiple projects (including getting my letterpress freelancing off the ground), but this isn’t the entire story I’m sharing.

I’ve thought a lot over the last few weeks about whether or not to share these thoughts on craft lovely, and I keep coming back to this post – I’m taking this as the sign that I need to write about it.  I’m not good about keeping a journal, but I love the intimate nature of blogging and how a reader can allowed to hear the inner goings-on of a person.  Without getting too personal: Life happens.  Life is confusing, heartbreaking, and stressful – all the while wonderful, bittersweet, and amazing.  This is me coming clean and being honest; telling the full story and not just the parts that I’d like to share.

While I have made huge efforts on getting my website designed, I still haven’t finished it.  Although I have a small table top press, I haven’t been able to work on it as much as I had hoped because I can’t afford the materials at the moment, so it waits.  I have a wonderful camera but haven’t taken a photo in over a month.  My sketchbook and inspiration book sit collecting dust.  As much as I’ve dreamed big with goals of being completely self sufficient creatively and financially, I am probably as far away from that place as I’ve ever been.  Bills, debt, anxiety about the present and the future, all work slowly and corrosively, eating away at all the lofty dreams I’ve had and I’ve come to a point where I feel like I need let it all go and be more practical and realistic.  I know it can be done (working for yourself) and it has been done by so many people, but I’m not so sure at times if it can be done by me.  I have a family member who is not well and still doesn’t have a diagnosis, and they are always heavily on my mind; worrying about their current health and happiness, and always worrying about the future and what will happen, and sad to see what this illness has taken from them.  With my personal and family relationships on my shoulders, I feel a responsibility to provide, and I’m feeling that heat especially right now.  I’ve stopped doing all creative work since late spring, because I felt it was more important to focus on “making a buck.”  In a perfect world I’d have the financial means to start my business and have time and the creative drive to make it happen… but life isn’t that easy.  What I’ve realized this past week though is that cutting off my creativity altogether makes me feel horrible.  I’ve felt colorless, blah, and pretty much vacant, like I’m sleep walking through everyday just to get to the next.  What I thought was a “smart” decision has turned out to be the opposite and it’s made me very unhappy.  Typically I try to look for the meaning in everything, to see what “the universe” is trying to tell me and what my gut instinct is saying, but during the last few months I feel like I can’t hear a thing.  But just when I feel like giving up on everything, I’ve gotten the nicest and most sincere feedback from people on craft lovely and in my life.

This post isn’t meant to be glum (I apologize if it is) or scattered (I’m pretty sure it is), but it’s meant to say that I’ve come around to realize I need to be practical and creative, and I need to find that balance.  Creativity is important to life, and this world wouldn’t be as wonderful without it.  Can you imagine what it would be like without original ideas, concepts, books, movies, architecture and the like?  How horribly boring and monotonous.  I can’t just cut my creativity off, but I should incorporate it into my life, however small it may be, till hopefully I can reach a point where it is the driving force of my life.  I want to thank everyone for their support and compliments, and please know that they mean a lot right now.  For the last few months I have felt anger, frustration and disappointment for what life’s been throwing at me lately.  I tell my husband I feel like I’m on a small rowboat alone and out at sea.  But as high as the waves get, you can not stop trying to paddle; and I need to get back to paddling.  I have a small list of goals, not lofty but reasonable and I want to really commit to them.  When I finish those, I’ll work on a few more.  My hope is that with every little step who knows what will happen.

I wanted to come clean and give a fuller picture of who I am as a designer – as a person – to hopefully help me get back to what I want to accomplish.  And to thank you for your readership, and to promise that I am not giving up on craft lovely any time soon and will work on getting back to that 50/50 content promise I originally made.  Life isn’t easy for anyone, but it’s a wonderful thing to have each other to help guide and support each other along the way.

Thank you craft lovely friends and readers!  Wishing you the best of summer weekends.
-Colleen

I’ve been hoping, wishing, and praying for a vacation this summer and this weekend we made reservations!  Although it was too late to book for early August as I had hoped, we’ll be camping in Acadia National Park in late August.  Hey, it’s better late than never.  My husband and I haven’t had an almost week-long getaway in almost 2-3 years.

I cannot put into words how excited I am.

{image shown belongs to shrike1964 from Flickr}

HOORAY!  I’m finally going to the beach today!  Didn’t make it to the beach at all last summer and with it already being July, I realized it’s now or never.  And with this heatwave it will be the perfect day to head to the coast.  The beach is probably one of my top 5 things about summer.  I plan on sunning, swimming, relaxing, reading, and gabbing with a great friend.  Hoping this will be the first of many visits to the beach this summer…

{image shown belongs to Wei Zhang@Hudson from Flickr}

We’ve had quite the array of visitors at our kitchen window’s bird feeder lately… chickadees, sparrows, golden finches, red finches, cardinals, tufted titmouse, even the larger birds that really can’t fit in the feeder (bluejay, mourning doves, and grackles).  There has been one guest, however, that is comical to see, although not so very welcome (since he eats all the food!).  Our indoor-only cats have been very, very busy keeping an eye on things!

(ADDED: to those interested in the feeder, I bought it from Fosters and Smith!)

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