story of my life...

does this happen to anyone else?...

via

i want to live in these paintings...

the barn, the light, the sky, the land...heaven...i love her paintings...

 

 

 

currently reading...

my co-worker always suggests the best books to me, she and i have similar taste in reading. so when she recommended wild by cheryl strayed i didn't hesitate picking it up... it also happens to be on the ny times best sellers list at number 4 for non-fiction...

we're on the cover...

check out the new issue of design new england, we're on the cover, no big deal! this is the house in marblehead we renovated with siemasko + verbirdge architects- very, very cool house. the article starts on page 88...

fall cookin'...

i am by no means a good chef, but i tried my hand at this recipe my stepdad made while we were in nova scotia for grilled chicken with tarragon & mustard and it was amazing, like no joke, sooo good. i skipped the whole blending of ingredients step in a blender and actually liked it better. i also used a seriously chunky whole grain mustard. best tip of the recipe, cut slits in your chicken before you marinade it, it really made a difference.

i paired it with this recipe for roasted green beans, but i added a dash of garlic salt instead of regular salt. umm, i am going to roast all my vegetables from now on, they were delicious...

got my hair did...

i took the plunge, i lopped off 6 inches of my hair this week. i needed a change, thought this was a good place to start... now i look even MORE like my mother...

oh captain, my captain...

we went for a little boat ride this morning around the bay. i now want my parents to buy a little inflatable rigid bottom boat for me and my siblings so we can cruise around westport like river rats...

our skipper at the helm...

the main cottage and the main house from the water...

and a few others from our excursion...

 

 

 

 

on a side note, i'm thinking about getting a life jacket for hank. he likes to swim after ducks & swans...and sometimes he swims REALLY far out, i'm afraid he's going to drown...

nuts for knots...

nerd alert: mom and i spent our morning sitting on the couch trying to make monkey fist knots. we used this book she has on the shelf to make our very own and finally mastered them. it only took us a couple of hours!...

 

 

 

the dogs watches us, and were completed bored (except maybe for hank)...

 

 

 

happy 1st day of september...

 

cooler weather. changing color of leaves. hot tea. dark nail polish. jeans, sweaters & boots. football. oh how i love the fall!

we got a little redneck last night...

 

yup, this actually happened last night. don't get my wrong, this is not our first (or our tenth) stock car race, but it's our first in nova scotia. when we were younger we used to have a lake house not far from the fonda speedway in upstate new york, we were regulars there on a summer weekend. last night we decided to check out scotia speedworld, and it didn't disappoint. besides the ever-so-popular people watching (notice the dale ernhardt jacket photo- amazing), we managed to see a few crashes too. total friday night excitement here in canada, whooo-weee!...

 

 

 

 

i thought this picture of my mom and stepdad was amusing, taking the sport so seriously, bahaha. mom is actually an avid stock car fan, bet you couldn't have guessed that...

and yes, someone had this bumper-sticker on their car, 'thank you baby jesus'... 'if you ain't first, you're last"...

it was an artsy-fartsy kind of day...

before it starts to rain here this evening we decided to do a small outing this afternoon. first stop, the hooked rug museum/shop in hubbards. we've driven by this place a hundred times and have never gone in but decided to stop and see what they had to offer. rug hooking is a local artform to nova scotia (similar to the nova scotian folk art), but not inexpensive to purchase...

 

  

 

  

 

  

then we made a quick stop for lunch at chickenburger, a nova scotia institution. i'd never been so i'm glad i got to try it out...

 

our last (and most expensive stop of the day) was to swoon, a favorite of ours in hammonds plains. they have great local art, i'm sort of crushing on one artist they have there now, helen opie. i HAVE TO HAVE one of her paintings for my very own someday...

 

 

of course, no trip to swoon would be complete without searching through their room of salt & pepper shakers...yes, and entire room, i am in heaven...and this is only a small fraction of what he has there! every year i go there are all new things out on display that i've never seen before. i may or may not have brought a few home for my collection (although i won't tell you which ones)...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

mom went home with this gorgeous piece of canadian chalet glass (signed), which will look great with another glass piece she already owns in westport...