Sugar & Meringue

I missed it! I have been so busy with School these past few weeks, somehow in my GoogleReader, I missed this post from Sugar & Meringue! Her annual "National Sugar Cookie Day" publication. Last year's was adorably presented, as was this year's.

Open publication - Free publishing - More cookie

It is full of sweet recipes, how-to images and ideas. She has also posted an adorable tutorial on how to make "granny-square" decorated cookies. And, since making granny-squares for a blanket is on my to-do list this Summer, I am smitten with this idea. Enjoy!

(All images and publications copyright Sugar & Meringue)

Last Day of School

School's out for Summer! And I can't wait! Hold on to your hats and socks and shoes and anything else, because Summer Break HERE WE COME.....

The Color Of..

Via the Swiss Miss blog, I found this fantastic site: The Color Of... type in anything that takes your fancy and it generates a beautifully minimal artistic palette of "the color of" it.

I love how this challenges our preconceptions about color. I typed in some words expecting it to generate particular colors but the results were not always what I expected. Go over and check this site out, it is just FUN!

Here are a few of my Color Palettes:

Tents

We have ONE week left to go of school and I am so ready for it to be over! This last term has felt as if it has gone on forever. It feels too long to still be in school, I am ready to enjoy a little bit of a Summer break.

Summer meant a lot of things and happy memories in my house growing up. One such memory in particular was the summertime rituals my sister and I always did. We played outside, creating bike "roads" out of chalk on our drive way. We went swimming, we went to the library and signed-up for the summertime reading list.

We ate ice-cream and fresh peaches from the farm. We played an endless game of monopoly that we made span the entire length of our Summer break and we built tents. We built huge tents with old blankets and sheets, sometimes encompassing a table and chair and part of a couch in our giant fortress.

We played underneath it, hung out, read, watched movies through our special "spy" hole aimed at the tv, we just had FUN. When I saw this tent tutorial, I just loved it. It brought back all of those little memories. This is a lot fancier than what we built, but I think just as magical.

What a fun summertime project for you and your little ones. I can just see it strung with fairy lights, filled with cozy blankets and pillows and the perfect place to lay down and read a book on a rainy day, falling asleep to the gentle pitter-patter of the rain, with the magical glow of the twinkling lights overhead.

For the how-to click here.

All images are courtesy of Grosgrain Fabulous. Original Post from Cakies.

Sparkles

What is it about glitter that just makes everything look so pretty? You just have to love sparkles, they are always festive! Found In The Art Cupboard....

Sprinkles Bakes

If you don't read Sprinkles Bakes, then you should! It is simply a blog of food happiness! Just going through Heather's site, makes my mouth water and I am always excited to see her name come up in my GoogleReader, because that means there will be a delicious post waiting for me to read!

This video makes me smile and this cake is just pinky-pinky gorgeous. After the day I have had, I could use a giant slice of this heavenly pink confection right now!

I especially love her baking assistants!


Pink Velvet Roulade from Heather Baird on Vimeo.

What I Wore

It was a lovely sunny 4th of July weekend here! I put on my new Cath Kidston skirt and the sweet little moccasins he surprised me with and went out on a date with Mr. Michie.

(P.S. My skirt was ironed, but I started doing things around the house and got it crinkly before we left, so please excuse the crinkles)

Swings

What is it about the magic of a swing? I don't care what age you are, those two ropes and a board, hold something very special to them. They conjure up memories of being a child, your hair streaming behind you like ribbons, the breeze hitting your face, your palms becoming sweaty from holding on so tight.

Races with each other to see who could go the highest, or who could jump off their swing at the perfect moment and land the farthest. Pumping your legs harder and harder so you were swinging so high, you knew that if you let go, you would sail into the tree tops.

There is a park near my house with a nice little playground and some evenings when we go on walks through the woods, we stop there on our way home and just swing for 5 minutes or so. I find that there is something very therapeutic in that! Just letting go.

This is a very interesting and wonderful project, so I thought I would share it with you:

Count the Happies

I just love this cake! I saw it online and it made me smile. I mean who doesn't love a bit of rainbow happiness? It made me think of my birthday which in turn made me think of my parents, who sent me an e-card on my Birthday as one of my little surprises. The card is hysterical and the birthday tune is sung partly in French, which I just love.

One of the lines of the song states, "So count the happies and not the candles". Well, I wasn't that old this year, but I still like this sentiment! That is what we should do everyday, just count the "happies" because I think at times, life can get us all down.

I have so much going on at the moment as so many of us do and I am finding that my long hours at work are beginning to take their toll. I seem to be spending more time there than I am spending in my house. And, by the time we get home, make dinner, do the dishes, it is pratically time to go to bed and start all over again. It is, at the moment, making me feel old before my time as they say.

There doesn't seem to be any time to do the things that I would like to do for me. I say that with a grain of salt because I am not a "me" kind of person. I like to do for others, but I am ready to just be able to look at a magazine with a nice cup of tea in peace, without a million-bajillion thoughts running through my head; about my day and the next day to come.

Tonight, however, I made some time, I carved it out and took time for myself. I made a raspberry buttermilk cake and just took pleasure in doing something simple. That was my "happies" today, and I shall count that, instead of the candles, because that is all that really matters.

(Image found here)

On the Front Porch

All I want to do
When the day is through
Is linger here on the front porch
With you
From the wicker swing
While the night birds sing
We'll watch the fireflies sparkin'
Do some sparkin' too
How the hours fly
As the moon drifts by --
How sweet the air
As we stare
At the sight
Oh! How I love to linger here like this
Hold your hand, and steal a kiss
Or two
On the front porch with you 

-"On The Front Porch" from Summer Magic, one of my very favourite movies!

Its My Birthday!

WOO-HOO!!! Today is my Birthday and I am having a wonderful time! Mr. Michie brought me breakfast this morning, a chocolate muffin and a chocolate smoothie with lots of whipped cream and a chocolate stick and lots of surprises waiting for me on the kitchen table. He said I should be eating nothing but sugar today, so breakfast was a good start!

After we got in from work tonight, we started watching the lunar eclipse, it is amazing to watch. The commentary is so interesting, they said that the Algonquin Indians would call the June full moon a "strawberry moon", I like the sound of that.

We are about to grab some dinner and watch a movie!  Then on to Birthday cake, I can't wait....

Inspiration Daily

Creature Comforts is a blog I look forward to reading daily! Some of my favourite posts are her "Inspiration Daily" images and they really do always seem to inspire me! I hope they inspire you too!

Gingham

What is it about gingham that just says Summertime? In its all its many rainbow colours, it is just pure happiness. It is a cozy pattern, it screams of Christmas, of Spring bouquets tied up with it and the sweetness of a Summer picnic as a gingham tablecloth sits beneath your bounty.

Gingham, its a good thing!

(Found In the Art Cupboard)

Organizing the Bookcase

I just love it! And, I love the fact that they list their books in the credits too!

POPs

I love the "perfect bite"! Do you know what I mean? The perfect bite of sweetness and these pops look like the perfect bite.

Looks like Summertime happiness to me!

(Found on Hip Hip Hooray)

Seven Years

Today, I have been married to Mr. Michie for 7 years and I am still loving every minute of it! We started off our anniversary with a bang yesterday and went into central London, to just roam where ever our feet took us.

We ate lunch, spent some time at the National Gallery, wandered through Covent Garden and picked up our tickets for an evening of Vivaldi by Candlelight at St. Martin in the Fields.

It was a wonderful day! We ate dinner at Cha Cha Moon, a new Chinese restaurant we wanted to try off Carnaby Street. It was very authentic, a lot of Chinese people were in there eating and that, to me, is always a good sign. Their dumplings were too die for!

Then we headed over to St. Martins just before they opened their doors. The Church was wonderfully cool and candles were lit everywhere, it was very romantic. The orchestra came out and and played a series of pieces in the first act, one being Bach's Brandenburg Concerto no. 3. Which is very special to us as we walked down the aisle to this piece after we were married.

My parent's instilled a true love of all kinds of music into my sister and I. We both played with a symphony and even had the opportunity to travel through Europe playing with them as well. My sister is a star violist and I am an oboist. I find that having played an instrument, I am so much more appreciative of what the performers are going through.

The second half of the concert was the entirety of Vivaldi's Four Seasons and as night began to permeate around us the glow of the candlelight became more heightened. We had the great fortune to see the lovely Kerenza Peacock play her first concert since she injured her wrist. It was outstanding. As her bow struck the first note, I was beyond moved.

What a sight to behold. Music that has been played for centuries to Kings and Queens and we had the opportunity to see it played within the hallowed walls of St. Martins in the Fields by an outstanding orchestra. The entire audience was on the edge of their seats, there was a true electricity in the air and I found that more than once I was holding my breath. How lucky we are to have had the opportunity to see and hear this!

We finished off the evening with a few little surprises from Laduree. They have opened a new store in Covent Garden and since I can't go to Paris at the moment, at least one of my favorite things from Paris can come to me!

So, Mr. Michie, here to seven more years on the roller-coaster of marriage and may they be as wonderful as the first seven!

The Princess & The Pea

The Princess & The Pea is one of my favourite fairytales. I really have no idea why. I think mostly it was for the fact that I loved seeing the illustrations of all the beautiful assortment of mattresses piled one on top of the other, so high that you needed a ladder to climb to the top. The mattress were always covered in polka dots and roses and stripes and stars and I was always amused by that, as my mattress looked nothing like that. I also thought the idea that she could feel the pea under all those mattress was funny as well, however, as of late, I am beginning to think that feeling one little pea wouldn't be such a bad thing!

I haven't been sleeping very well for awhile now. We have a very old mattress and it is causing me to fall apart like an old lady. I can feel more than a "pea"! I can feel springs and boards and lumps and bumps when I sleep. I stripped the bed the other week and in looking at it, it reminded me of a 3D geographical map with a lot of mountains and valleys. Not what you want your little oasis of happiness to look like. I love my bed, so I want to be comfortable in it!

Since Mr. Michie isn't sleeping so well either, we realized that is was definitely time to make a change and to stop thinking about making one. So, we decided to go mattress shopping. I did my research and we knew what we wanted, we went to the store and were helped by the nicest man named Henry.

He was from Africa and had the most exotic accent, I loved listening to him speak. We told him of our old aches and pains and that we wanted a medium to firm mattress. Well, he took wonderful care of us, we walked out with a new mattress being delivered this Saturday and two new pillows as well! We even got a hug from him when we left! The company ranks their mattresses on a scale of 1 to 5; 5 being the "softest" and 1 being "orthopaedic". We must really be getting old because the bed that felt the best to us was a number ONE! We just had to laugh!

I will truly feel like a princess on this mattress as I will not notice Mr. Michie roll about, since he is quite a fidget, I can just lay still in perfect blissful sleep! So begone, peas and springs and feathers and lumpy mattresses, I am ready for sweet dreams!

(Image by Tim Walker)

Crayola Totem Poles

I was creating a sign today to describe the artwork that was being put on display for a particular class and in searching for a totem pole image, I came across this:

I think these are just amazing, the time that must have gone in to creating these lilliputian sized artifacts. They were sculpted by an artist named, Diem Chau, and I love their rainbow happiness. What a true little piece of art. The personality that they each appear to have for something so minuscule is quite astounding.

The girl reminds me of the soap carving that Boo Radley made of Jem and Scout in "To Kill A Mockingbird". They have that air of vintageness about them with the styling of the girl's hair and dress. Maybe these would be the modern version of what Boo would carve?

The smell while carving them had to be heaven. I love the smell of a fresh pack of crayola crayons, that waxy scent that is distinctive to them. It is not the aroma of a candle or of any other crayon brand.

There was nothing better in the world when you were little, then when you got a new pack of crayons and a coloring book and your entire afternoon was spent lying on your belly deciding which color you would pick for the ballerina's slippers. Oh, to be little again!

(Images found here)

Sunny Sunday Surprises

This weekend the weather was extremely gloomy on Saturday, but extremely SUNNY on Sunday. Mr. Michie had been away on a school trip for Friday night and most of Saturday, so Sunday became our "weekend".

He woke me up early and told me to get ready he was taking me out. Off we went in the golden sunshine to the train station and waited for a train to take us into central London.

We had so much fun, wandering around. I saw the latest goodies in Anthropologie, but I was very good and left without letting anything jump into my hands. I wasn't so good however when I went to Cath Kidston, they were having a clothing sale and I never never look at her clothes, but I did on Sunday and a beautiful skirt, jumped into my hands.

Then, Mr. Michie took me to Topshop to look at their jewelery stands. One of my favourite places to hunt for unique pieces and this little lady jumped into his hands and was purchased for me:

Isn't she sweet, I wore her this week on a Spring green Boden jacket that I have and she was just a piece of happiness on my blazer all day!

Catherine Campbell

One aspect of  not only being an Art Historian, but also an Artist and appreciator of Art is the opportunity to continually discover new Artists.

I am constantly making suggestions to the Art students to look at this Artist or that Artist and they in turn open my eyes to Artists I am not familiar with.

While flipping through the Illustration Now: Volume 3 book one afternoon in the department, I was inspired to do a little online research on an Artist I had come across. Her name is, Catherine Campbell and her work is hauntingly beautiful, I fell in love with the girl and owl in the teacup. Her work is colourful and imaginative and I like her use of mixed media.

I endeavour to always make new discoveries and continue to explore, that is what life is about, just keeping yourself open to something new.

(All images copyright Catherine Campbell)