little moments

A few little weekend things:  

It seems right now, when time to myself is rarer than ever, I try to find enjoyment in the little moments, the little things...the time I had before and took for granted now is precious and appreciated more than ever...like having a moment to clip some flowers from the garden.  I picked these tiny Violets that had seeded themselves from last summer...the only "vase" little enough I could find to put them in was a tiny glass salt shaker...and a favorite flower that is now blooming, the beautiful blue Delphinium. 

We also took a little (unsuccessful) blueberry-searching, hot hike high above the lake on Saturday which little Bub seemed to love.  And on Sunday we had some guests over for brunch.  I served egg bake...my new favorite thing.  Pre-baby I used to make quiche a lot.  Now its egg bakes.  But I love egg bakes and could eat them every single day...with a just few drops of Sriracha on top.  Perfect!

party scenes...

As I previously mentioned, we had little Bub's first birthday party last Saturday.  While the party was pretty wonderful (except for the weather being not so great), we made it through (survived!) the 1st year...that's what really matters!  And we were so happy to celebrate that fact!  :)

mishmash lunch...

Last week I had lunch at my house for mum and a friend who were up for a little visit. It was a little bit impromptu (which is actually how I operate best anyways) and I thought it would be rather uncomplicated. We had chicken salad on croissants with some mixed greens and an asparagus jarlsberg tart (inspired by this gorgeous one...but with jarlsberg instead of ricotta) and lemon bars from the bakery for dessert. I thought I was giving myself a break by buying the dessert...but I'm slowly learning that what I once could do without a whole lot of effort now takes a TON of effort for me with a little nine-month old baby hanging on my leg (who is also going through a little bit of the stranger/separation anxiety stage too). It was fun to be with them and enjoy some adult conversation. And I loved using some of my vintage flowery dishes and girly things like teacups and doilies that haven't made it out of the cupboard in awhile lately...but I think my brain is finally starting to connect that things I used to do pre-baby are just not going to be same right now...which is all good and fine...I just need to learn that...and I think I finally am!

a Valentine-y lunch...

I wasn’t necessarily going to do much of anything for Valentine’s Day this year. I usually at least make some cards or a little something...but I just wasn’t really in the mood.

I haven’t really been in the mood to do a whole lot of anything lately, except the basics…taking care of my family. I’d have these big crafting ideas, but then come evening, once little baby was finally tucked into bed, I’d find myself quickly crawling into my own bed soon after with a good book and the heating blanket turned on high. I guess its best to listen to your body. Sometimes I think that whenever little bub is napping or sleeping at night, I need to be doing something very productive with my time. And I’m slowly learning (now that he is becoming a better napper) that there will always be another nap, another moment to myself. So I can relax a little bit and give myself a break once in awhile, which I’ve been trying to do... But then Mum and Dad decided to come up for a visit this past Saturday. And since it was close to Valentine's Day I decided it'd be fun to turn an ordinary meal together into a little V-Day lunch/celebration. Of course we’d eat something together, so why not make it into something a little extra special, since we don’t often see each other anyways? I love having my parents in my home and treating them like special guests, because they are! And it was a good excuse to use some dishes and things that I don't often use. So it all spiraled from there…a few days beforehand I had taken little baby outside for some fresh air, to watch the Chickadees at the feeder. And I plucked off some tiny pinecones from a nearby tree. Suddenly some “Pining for you, Valentine” place cards popped into my head. Perfect for our special Valentine lunch. (Doesn’t all inspiration happen randomly like that? At least it does for me!) Then sometime soon after a butterfly mobile hanging from the light fixture popped into my head as well and I just had to make it...even if it meant staying up late the night before.

I was planning on making Chicken a la King for lunch, something warm and comforting on a very cold, blustery winter afternoon...

...and suddenly I had to make the biscuits from scratch and in the shape of hearts no less! Then, somewhere in the midst of sleep the night before, I had the idea for us to write down one thing we love about our spouse on a heart doily, so I had to go dig those out from my craft stuff......but as I announced this little plan during our lunch, someone else came up with an even more brilliant idea to write our little love note inside the "Pining for You, Valentine" place cards. This made far more sense as we had much more room to write and we all easily came up with more than just one thing we love about our spouse. We read them aloud after our meal and it all ended on a very love-y, Valentine-y note...which made me so pleased indeed...and I do think did all of our hearts just a bit of good!
Happy Valentine's Day! :)

thrifty entertaining...

Well no...this post isn't about entertaining on the cheap, but moreso about utilizing a few of my recent "thrifted" finds for a dinner last Saturday night:

{photo 1} Nothing vintage, just the oregano I had on my table for a little garden greenery...

{photo 2} Adorable owl napkin rings...I love love love these for a woodland/nature themed dinner.

{photo 3} A really great old cheese board with thick glass cloche...we served a "blue cheese, toasted walnuts, and honey" appetizer...you can't go wrong with that combo. Also seen, the corner of my favorite new (old) thrifted plates that I got in the summertime adorned with strawberries, butterflies, and ladybugs upon them...they are so sweet that I use them almost constantly, regardless of the occasion...

because everyday should be a little bit special, right?

scenes from a summer visit...

I had some sweet visitors here last week and their visit just so happened to coincide with all the Tall Ships arriving in Duluth (a very big, overly-hyped deal here). They didn't come up to visit in order to see the Tall Ships...but it just so happened that as we were driving up along the North Shore for lunch (here), some of the ships were coming in. So we pulled over and snapped a few photos.

And although I'm always a bit of a skeptic or avoider of big, publicized, crowded events....the ships did actually look pretty neat to me from our vantage point as they were still out aways on Lake Superior, making their way towards the harbor. Something about all those big sails and tall masts on a sea of blue that does sort of take your breath away, just a bit...

That was about all we needed to see though, and then, instead of standing among throngs of people, paying to see old ships (or replicas of old ships) close-up, we spent our time together on a quiet beach looking for agates or seaglass...taking a couple walks/hike in the woods...and eating some great food together!

So now, a few food photos! Above is the blueberry tart I made for our dessert one night. I drizzled some of blueberry jam on top...the jam, by the way, turned out very good! (And this should be the end of my blueberry mentions until next summer...I promise!)

Breakfast, the next morning...homemade strawberry muffins, vanilla yogurt with fresh berries and granola (oops...there are more blueberries!).

And a first-time visit to a sweet country restaurant in a red barn called "Swamp Sisters" where most everything is made from scratch and bison meat is their specialty...it's in almost every dish on the menu. They have a vegetable garden next to the farm (where the lettuce for the salad I ordered came from) and chickens roaming free on the other side. And it really is sisters who run the place...too cute!

Of course I passed on the bison, but they did have some phenomenal caramel pecan rolls!

And I even wore my red clogs for the occasion too. Oh how love these shoes! And my sweet visitors! :)
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Eek! ~ Can you believe its August already?

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P.S. Speaking of ships, isn't this necklace I just happened to stumble upon quite sweet?

xo ~ L

Summer-like September...

The beginning of September has felt more like summer here than all of well...summer. We've had warm temps, gloriously bright sunshine, and we ran the AC all weekend long due to the uncomfortably muggy air...which is far more than we did all of summer combined. My mum & dad came for a visit on Saturday and I made my good old perennial favorite recipe of Chicken Oriental Salad...per mum's request. It's so easy and fresh! I make my own sesame dressing using 3/4 cup vegetable oil, 1/4 + 2 Tbsp rice vinegar, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 + 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce, and a few pinches of salt, pepper, and ginger along with a good healthy dose of sesame seeds! For the first time ever I decided to buy a head of both green and red cabbage rather than grabbing a bag of the pre-cut shredded cabbage mix. It was cheaper, tastier, and so much more satisfying to chop up thin, ribbony fresh strands of cabbage. Why haven't I done this before? And it looked so pretty too. I added some freshly grated carrots and I'm pretty sure it was 100 percent better than the bagged stuff. {Sidenote...Those white salad tong things (above) are the best thing ever if you can find them. My sister-in-law recently gave them to us and they work oh so well for tossing a salad and ensuring it is fully coated with dressing or vinaigrette. As one who makes a lot of salads, they are the best thing I've ever used! They're called Extra Hands and I'm pretty sure she said she found them at Good Things (for you Twin Cities folk).}

After lunch, we took the folks on a little hike to the nearby creek. There was beautiful lavendar-colored Bee Balm everywhere, contrasting against a plethora of lovely yellow Common Tansy.

And on the way back, a couple friendly chickens came to greet us...hoping we'd give them some food no doubt.

On Sunday, we crossed over the bridge and into Wisconsin to go golfing at a new (to us) course. The bridge was shrouded in a hazy fog coming up from Lake Superior below...I think they call this "sea smoke." It made for an interesting sight, though, as we drove from on top of the sunny hill where we live, seeing the dense fog from above, and then descending into it. This isn't really an uncommon occurrence here but the view always delights me!

While golfing, I came upon some really neat Fall mushrooms...like this trio of big, buttercreamy-colored ones.

This one was practically the size of my hand!

And here's Hub, patiently waiting for me. I really should've been focused on my golf game...as I need all the help I can get! But this was the first time I brought my camera with in my golf bag so I had to take just a few photos. But after this 2nd hole, I stowed my camera away for the rest of the game. What self-control, oui?! ;) After our hot and sticky game, we came home and made our summer standby of delicious taco salads...but this time featuring Hub's homemade tomato salsa. Mum & Dad were kind enough to bring us a bunch of their tomatoes and we just picked a couple of our own too! Don't you just love this time of year when fresh, local produce abounds?