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It felt good to be in the garden again. I’ve been taking advantage of the beautiful warm sunny days to clean the garden, sift the compost, pull weeds, and plant seeds. Just days after I planted these little radish seedlings they started to emerge and will soon be ready to harvest.
A bouquet of lavender leaves and rosemary flowers.
These precious hands {Hannah} held a sweet and simple herb bouquet for Mother’s Day. Clay pots that were once filled with dried herbs and lavender have new purposes as containers for fresh herbs. To see and photograph my children holding and preparing these bouquets were as much of a gift as it is to receive them.
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“When you find something you really love, you will always be able to find a spot for it in your home,” Susan Wheeler.
Located in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood is this lovely shop, Susan Wheeler Home. It is brimming with unique vintage items, collectibles, antiques, salvage pieces, and furnishings. Susan Wheeler opened her shop to the public in October 2009 and for the past 5 years it has become a destination for shoppers and interior designers. The idea of having a shop filled with her favorite things wasn’t something Susan had set out to do. Before she began this new chapter in her life, her priority for 20 plus years was to be at home with her kids. Reflecting on this change in her life, Susan said,
“I am lucky to be able to have a shop where I can gather together things that I like and have the good fortune to have nice people come and find things they like too.”
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It has been a while since our family room got a makeover. Over the course of the last year I have been brainstorming, redesigning, gathering and exploring different ideas for the space {approximately 16′ x 11′}. This will be an on-going project for me. For now, I have narrowed down the colors for the room to mostly neutrals with splashes of color as accents {see the above picture}. When I came across this Hampton cottage while browsing the internet, I instantly was drawn to it. The house captured the feel of what I wanted for the family room and the colors used were similar to mine. Finding inspirations for my project are always helpful to direct, guide and visually give me the sense of how something might be or look like… and this house did just that. The interior designer, Jenny Wolf, created simple interior spaces yet elegant, cozy and definitely kid friendly.
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The house with its weathered shingle exterior, lush green foliage, boxwood, and hydrangeas is a welcoming sight.
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A wonderful blend of flavors using basic ingredients to make this delicious and creamy soup for springtime { Potato, Fennel and Leek Soup with Asparagus}. The anise flavor from the fennel adds just the right amount of sweetness. To top it off, I decided to garnish the soup with cooked asparagus for color, texture and because it’s in season.
This recipe is a slight variation of Lynn Morris’ Potato, Fennel and Leek Soup. To see her other recipe for Potato Salad, click here.
