Lovely Envelopes

A lovely collection of envelopes as art by photographer Andrew Bush. The envelopes are just as beautiful by themselves as they are together. Very inspiring...

{photos by andrew bush via another something}

Vermont Fancy

This summer we've had the opportunity to take a couple of vacations. Once Patrick got back from Portugal, after being away for almost a month, we took a road trip up north to Vermont. We had never been and I have a feeling after our amazing trip, Vermont will be a destination we frequent often throughout the years. We stayed up in Stowe and it was breathtakingly beautiful. Surrounded by lush green mountains, with waterfalls and swimming holes off of hidden paths, just sitting outside and staring at the pure beauty or taking a simple hike through the mountains was pure bliss. Lyla was a trooper as well. She loves being outside running and playing with sticks. On some of our more tricky hikes, miss little independence wanted to walk and climb all by herself which of course was a challenge reeling her in. It's amazing how fearless she can be.

As we were leaving Vermont and heading to Maine (I'll share our pics in a couple of days) I realized I forgot to buy some maple syrup. And lo and behold as we were driving we stumbled upon a little sugar shack where a retired husband and wife have been making maple syrup in the back of their property for the last 15 years. We pulled up to the driveway and Patrick got out and rang the owner's doorbell. The owner, Mr. Rogers, graciously welcomed us and gave us a little tour of his sugar shack. Throughout the years he's been in business, he's won multiple awards for his varieties of syrup and we ended up going with the Vermont Fancy & Medium Amber. Since we've been home, we've tried the fancy and by golly it's delicious!

Have a lovely Monday and I'll post photos of our trip to Maine in a bit.

{photos by thoughtful day}

The Faile Temple

As many of you know, I went to Lisbon, Portugal this last month to view my husband Patrick's (one of the two Patrick's of Faile) monumental sculpture project. The work is titled "Temple" and it quite possibly is the most amazing piece of art I've ever seen (said with a slight bias, of course).

The Temple project has been two years in the making. It is made up of huge ceramic relief sculptures, cast iron gates, marble sculptures, mosaics, not to mention the 1000's of tiles placed on the interior and exterior walls of this piece. Every single element in this sculpture was custom made and thoughtfully considered. Everything. So much went into this project. The structure itself is made to look like a ruin that has been blasted open to show the hidden beauty that rests inside. And once you're inside, you're blown away by the layers upon layers of detail within the mosaics, the spinning prayer wheels, the marble scuba horse fountain, and well, everything. Every detail was above and beyond breathtaking.

It was a lot of fun to hang out around and in the temple. Tourists would walk up to it with their travel books trying to figure out what was this "thing" they were looking at, old men and their wives would stare in awe at the level of detail in the ceramic and mosaic pieces, while children would run through and speedily spin the prayer wheels. The temple was built and designed for this specific site, Praça dos Restauradores Square, in the heart of Lisbon. What was so impressive is that it felt like it belonged there and had been a part of the city's history for hundreds of years. It was so delicately considered for it's location. It was and is perfect.

As you can tell, I'm incredibly proud of my husband and his partner. Patrick and I started dating 10 years ago this Fall and to witness the progression of his work to this point is nothing short of awe-inspiring.

To view and read more about Faile's Temple, click here.

photos c/o faile

Smooth Brass

The etsy shop, Secret Base | Bee Alice King has a fantastic assortment of decorative trinkets that could become part of any party or celebration. How amazing would these little instrument gems look stitched on a place card? And solid brass to boot? Okay, now your place cards can also be your favors! Especially if your theme is heavy on the instrumental side. Think Jazz - as in these fabulous photos from The Sartorialist (a couple of weeks ago).

That's it for now folks, have a wonderful weekend! {I hope you all have summer Fridays :}

top two photos from secret base
bottom b&w photo from the sartorialist

Sweetly Stitched

Lovely hand embroidery by Joetta Maue.

{via pink olive blog}

Inspired Moments

The photography of Trine Thorsen transports me to little golden moments. Browsing through her photos, I kept thinking, "I want to be there." If you're looking for a bit of inspiration on this lovely Monday, you'll find it here.

Wouldn't the bottom photo of the flower lined wire basket be the perfect way to hold ceremony programs? How lovely to have a little area like this before guests walk down the aisle...

{I'm going to be sharing photos soon of my little trip to Portugal last week!}


{photography by trine thorsen via trendey}

Summer Travel

As I write this I'm spending some time in Portugal to celebrate a sculpture project my husband has been working on for the past 2 years. This weekend is the start of Portugal's first ever Art Biennial. I can't tell you how impressive the work that my husband and his partner created for it, and I look forward to sharing many photos with you when I'm back home. In the meantime, I thought I'd share some photos of our family vacation from last summer in Portugal. Lyla was only 4 months old and it was such a perfect time to travel with her (she's the little bean on the sofa). We were here for almost a month, rented a car and traveled along the coast. Portugal is a lovely country with kind people and incredible scenery with some of the most amazing castles, enchanted forests, and small villages I've ever seen in all of my travels.

I hope you all are enjoying your summer and that you, too, get to have some down time.

Have a wonderful weekend!


{photos by thoughtful day}

Perfect Colors

My heart went a flutter when I saw these magnets. Dear Studio Fludd, these little magnets you have here would make the perfect brooche. xox

{via bloesem}

Pot Love

Aren't these just the most adorable little planters you've ever seen? What a sweet little face to grace your windowsill.

Have a wonderful & happy weekend!

{photos from mod cloth}

Surreal Type

Lovely and inspiring illustrations of typography by Alex Anne Mackenzie. They remind me of Dali's work; very beautiful, and maybe a little bit eerie...

{via small mag}