hello from the beach.

I’ve got freckles, guys. And LOTS of them.

One more week of glory before I head back to school and I plan on drenching myself in summer goodness until the very very end. Life’s been literally a beach here this last week and I can’t even handle the beauty of it. Nantucket was… oh, I almost have no words. It was a summer dream. A summer vacation dream.

If you know me, then you know I have pictures to share. More than the average healthy person, I’m sure.

But until then, please enjoy just this one.

I watched the sunrise twice in Nantucket. I set my alarm, watched the sunrise, held my breath, got goosebumps, and then went back to bed. The house where I was staying overlooked the water directly to the east, so I couldn’t not do it. It would a be a shame to waste such an experience. And what. an. experience. The actual sunrise only lasts for a minute, maybe not even, but that minute has got to be one of the most special minutes ever.

I hope you’ve been well out there in the world.

See you all soon. ♥

soaking up summer.

HI FRIENDS!

It’s been a week since I’ve been here!

A week of watching the Olympics, and remembering my amazing weekend in New York (more on that to come later), enjoying all things Boston before the summer is over, and devouring books like I haven’t done in years.

Things are pretty good around here, and VERY busy.

I kind of got overwhelmed last night with all the pictures I’ve taken and want to share, and all the things I’ve been wanting to post about but haven’t had the time. It’s safe to say this summer has been crazier than ever, but I also think it’s been my best yet.

Here are a few things I’ve been up to lately…

I visited New York City.

I hadn’t been in a few months, and was down in CT visiting with my parents and the rest of my family, so I decided to take the train into the city one day to do a little walking around and to have dinner with Molly and Colleen. It was so nice to get together with them and when we do get together I always wish we lived in the same city so we could do this all the time. LOVE these girls. They are my favorite.

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We went back for another weekend at the Farmhouse.

Usually I only go once a summer (sometimes not even), but this year was meant for a double dose. We didn’t hike a mountain this time, and it rained quite a bit, but it was relaxing all the same. There was still porch sitting and still plenty of time for reading, and there was delicious food and company the whole weekend through.

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I saw Ingrid Michaelson!

This one was on my bucket list:

25. See Ingrid Michaelson in concert.

DONE and DONE. I went with my sister and we dressed up all concert chic and had an awesome time. I only bought the tickets a few days before, but was able to score two front row seats which causes me to believe that it was all just meant to be (silent cheer!). Anyways, the concert was wonderful, Ingrid rocks, and being that close through the whole thing was an experience I’ll never forget.

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I went with friends to see Shakespeare in the Park (and drank fine wine and ate cupcakes, too).

This goes on in the Common in Boston every summer, but in my 7 (!) years of living here I had not yet been until last week. I met up with some friends from my book club and we sat on the lawn with juice box wine, pizza, and cupcakes. We chatted and had a great time spending the evening outside. And in truth, we didn’t watch the play at all. Well, maybe a tiny bit of it, but mostly we just sat back and hung out together. And I loved it.

(And even though, I didn’t focus on the Shakespeare I couldn’t help but think how amazing it is that this happens for FREE every night for 3 weeks in the summer. To give people the chance to come out and see a performance that they might not have the opportunity to see otherwise? Pretty cool. Now, if only they could get some ballet to happen. That’s something I could reeeeally get behind.)

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I visited the Boston Athenaeum.

Just yesterday! And that one was on my summer bucket list, too.

19. Visit the following list of Boston museums:

Isabella Stewart Gardiner Museum

Orchard House (Little Women!)

Boston Athenaeum

Harvard Museum of Natural History

My friend Rachael (blogger, book-lover, and serious appreciator of Boston), has a membership there, so we decided to get together so she could show me around. We had a great morning strolling through Beacon Hill with our iced coffee, talking about this and that, and eventually making it up to the Athenaeum. It’s absolutely gorgeous inside, and something that I didn’t even know was there until recently. For those of you that don’t know the Athenaeum is a private library and museum (you can walk through the museum part for free) that is truly a hidden gem in Boston. There are beautiful rooms to sit and read, thousands of books at your fingertips, and lovely outdoor terraces where you can relax and catch a glimpse of Boston from above.

Thanks for a great morning, Rachael and Lux! Another win for Boston!

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And so, that’s a little bit of what I’ve been up to these last couple of weeks. I still have pictures to share of my week in CT (and some from NYC) and my weekend home in Syracuse. I’ve just spent my last week enjoying this summer in Boston and from here I am heading to Nantucket for a few days before finally spending my last week of summer in the Cape! SIGH. It’s coming to an end, but boy has it been a ride. I have loved getting to spend time with family this summer, and have also felt incredibly lucky to be able to see so many friends as well. Soaking it up, people. Soaking it all up.

I hope you are soaking it up, too!

Until next time, friends! XO!

 

art to inspiration: lara harwood

Today I am participating in my very first Art to Inspiration and I’m excited to be a part of such a cool project! I discovered this unique collaboration through a few of my favorite creative bloggers and decided this month I would give it a go. Art to Inspiration is organized by Chevrons and Eclairs and is essentially a project to expose (and inspire) bloggers and blog readers to different mediums of art from around the world. Each month a piece is emailed out featuring the artwork of a young artist and once a month bloggers participating in the project can create a post to share how they have been inspired by the artwork.

Below is this month’s featured artwork by artist Lara Harwood (it’s gorgeous!), and then further down you will find a collage I created that was inspired by the piece.

 “…now imagine all the strong bird song thick as a forest.”
watercolor by: Lara Harwood

1.  2.  3.  4.  5.  6.  7.  8.

Back to school already? You must think I am out of my mind.

(I am wondering the same thing myself.)

I’m probably 65% ready to go back to school. This is a whole lot better than the 25% from last week and the near 2% from the end of June. But something about the word August (it is today!) has the wheels in my brain reeling and I am (sl-o-o-o-w-ly) starting to get that new school year excitement back.

Also, this artwork immediately made me think of the Jungle Book and then, Maurice Sendek’s Where the Wild Things Are. My first graders always get a kick out of Max and those Wild Things and I adore the book, too, so naturally I started googling lesson plans which started my teacher-engine running, a very rare thing for me at this point in the summer, but it’s what ultimately got me up to a 65% in back-to-school-readiness. Usually I am completely indifferent about going back to work until I set up my classroom, and that won’t happen for a few more weeks so I’m definitely ahead of the game— and I guess we have Lara to thank for that!

And then of course, I added a possible teaching outfit to the inspiration board soon after I added the books because as much as I adore summer I’d be lying if I said I’m not a tiny bit excited about fall school clothes. Actually, now that I think about it, I should have added some pencils, too. I’m crazy about new school supplies. But what person in education (or life for that matter) isn’t it?

Amright?!

It’s the little things.

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Oh, and those creative bloggers I mentioned above? Check them out and their past Art to Inspiration posts— I love the original ideas they have come up with.

Hogger and Co.

C squared W

Sketch and Wash

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Are you interested in Art to Inspiration? Click here to sign up!

97 summer snapshots.

A snapshots post. I haven’t done one of these in awhile (which is painfully evident from the near 100 photos I have uploaded here today).

This post is mostly for me, more than anything.

Sometimes I think I might want to turn this lil blog into a book someday. A book that I can hold and turn the pages of. To remember these days of having so much to do and so much to tell that often it is hard to imagine life more full than this. I don’t really believe that, because deep down inside I know that it will only get fuller and richer with time, and this makes me thankful and wide-eyed.

So here I am storing my favorite snapshots of the summer.

To keep and remember.

On this little old corner of the internet that is mine.

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I’ve been busy this week, spending time with family and visiting friends. I will eventually share it all but life seems busy lately and summer is fleeting, so for now I think I’ll just do my best to soak it all in and experience it fully. We’re heading up to the farmhouse again this weekend and then I’m seeing Ingrid Michaelson with my sister on Sunday night, something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time now. There’s still so much to do this summer, and still so much that I’m looking forward to, but I can also see the end in sight which is why I’m starting to put the brakes on a little— attempting to slow it down and hold on a little tighter.

Wishing you a happy weekend, friends. One that inches on slowly letting you hold on and savor every last bit.