honest abe

A Special Message from President Abraham Lincoln:

"Christine will be back on the blog soon, kiddos. Thanks for the monument."

get out your short shorts

The impending glory that will be this weekend's sunny weather in the 70s & 80s has gotten me looking forward to hikes in the Adirondacks, grilling in the park, sundresses, running by the river and tending to our little windowsill garden.

I'm signing off for a wonderful NY weekend (including the first 5K of the season tonight) and then a short trip to our nation's capital. Be back Thursday. Enjoy the sunshine, lovelies!

(Photo: Marcy Dam, August 2008)

happy earth day

Want a little Earth Day smile? Check out this video and wait until around the 2 minute mark. That's exactly what I look like when easing myself into a cool swimming pool or body of water.
Or I mean, if you are more into ridiculously cool shots of shark attacks (not on humans) then you can just watch this video instead. The crazy parts come around the 1:25 and 2:10 marks.

And then head over to la shoparella for a reusable lunch bag. Mother Earth would want you to.

(Sorry for the Big Foot-esque picture of the baboons up there, it's the best I could grab from the video.)

vintage inspired downloads, too cute

(Photos from doe-c-doe)

Just too cute. Check out these adorable free PDF downloads from doe-c-doe. Just a little something to brighten your Friday.

new in the shop

Watch the shop this week for a few new demi-aprons, perfect for all your springtime soirees!

easter tradition of sorts

Right after uploading this photo, I checked back on my past two Easter posts (here and here) and realized that I was basically uploading the exact same photo of dyed easter eggs every single year. How predictable. And yet... I can't convince myself not to do it again this year. I also mentioned Cadbury mini-eggs in both posts, and most posts in between. It's kinda like... get a life, Christine.

But, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

I had a nice Easter and apparently the only way I can properly convey that to you readers is by posting a picture of colored Easter eggs. So here it is.

(A Berkshire brunch rundown on flickr + some eye-candy for those of you who like houseboat pictures from the 70s. Which I'm guessing, is all of you because that seems like a pretty common interest.)

cleanliness is next to...

(Click to enlarge)

1. Fabric Mail Sorter by London Purple (via Craft and the Craft-A-Long)
2. Little Boxy Pouch Tutorial by Three Bears (via Sew, Mama, Sew!)
3. DIY Door Organizer from Design Sponge
4. Cereal Box Organizer from Martha Stewart
5. Spring Cleaning for Your Sewing machine from Craft Nectar
6. Googly Eye Thumb Tacks from Zakka Life
7. DIY Drawer Divider from Design Sponge

I've never been a super organized person. I mean, my LIFE is fairly organized but the physical things in it are... a bit scattered? I like the idea of organization and I really like making lists and creating binders and all of that. The fun parts. Just not the work. Anyway, here is a roundup of spring cleaning inspiration for you.

click click

Readers, I would like you to meet my new camera!!!1!!

growing season

We've started our little seedlings for this year's huge, spacious, subsistence vegetable garden. Or, for our meager container garden that will again live out on our window ledge above the hustle & bustle of downtown urban living.

Are you also suffering from a severe lack of proper outdoor growing space? There are a lot of good books out there, but I picked up Fresh Food from Small Spaces: The Square-Inch Gardener's Guide to Year-Round Growing, Fermenting, and Sprouting, and I'm loving it. I wish there were more pretty pictures, but this guy really GETS urban life... some of the other books assume that even in a city you will still have access to a patch of land or large patio space. Fresh Food from Small Spaces tells you how to farm mushrooms in dark, spare closet space. Good things. Also a quick Google search will yield a lot of other good resources, if you are so inclined to grow some food yourself.

Anyway, back to the "garden" (term used loosely). Here's the family album.
Loads more pictures at my "grow" set on flickr. If you're into that kinda thing, feel free to follow along with the progress. For better garden bloggers, I recommend my homie at The Pale Gardener or Finny or anyone else you can find.

springtime swap, received

My Springtime Swap package arrived yesterday! Perfect timing too, we were enjoying a quintessential spring day yesterday complete with sunshine and temps in the mid 60s. I'm the lucky recipient of a lovely stationery set from Cee-- handcrafted cards, tags and a pen to make even the simplest of notes a little more special. I'm especially loving the anytime cards she included & her suggestions for them.. so sweet!

Huzzah. More pictures on flickr. Thanks Cee!

(Update: You can see what I included in my swap package here.)