Changing Colors

I'd been waiting for a nice day to get out and photograph the changing leaves, but the weather and our schedules just didn't align this season. I knew if I kept waiting for the perfect photo op, we'd likely miss the changing colors altogether. So last weekend, I packed up my camera bag, and we headed out the door, despite the fact that it was cloudy and almost 5 pm before we got started. I don't think these are the best photos I've ever taken, but I'm glad to have a few photos to mark another beautiful October in our area.

This tendency I have to want to wait till "the timing is right" reminds me of a quote I read not so long ago by E. B. White: "A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper." How true! I need to take this advice to heart with regard to my art and illustration...and a lot of other things too.

I thought I'd share that quote here in case any of you also need reminding. I'm going to get started on a couple of things tonight that have been eating away at the back of my brain. Here's to a productive and fun weekend! :)
xo, Mary

Scenes from Life

I keep seeing lots of talk about fall activities around the blogosphere, but it is still very much summer around these parts...sunny and warm. When you don't have kids to return to school (and are no longer a student yourself) there is no real definite end to the summer season, is there? We're still trying to squeeze in a few summer adventures before the month is out.

The bees and butterflies go crazy for the lavender in our backyard. I've planted other pollinator-friendly flowers, but the lavender is definitely their favorite. If you like bees, try planting some in your yard or on your balcony; it's super low-maintenance and seems to be hardy in all climates. (I know lavender is supposed to prefer a hot and dry climate, but we had the wettest spring/summer ever, and it did just fine. And we've also had extremely cold temperatures and lots of snow, and nothing seems to faze it.)

I've tried a few times to get good photos of the butterflies, but this is the only one that was remotely in focus; just when I've got my settings right, they flit away to another plant. I love the way butterflies move through the air; it's sort of graceful and haphazard all at the same time.

We've had this summery welcome mat for a while, and I don't think I ever shared a photo. We got it at Target for $3.98 or something crazy like that (it was already on clearance). I have to say the natural coir doormats from Target last longer than any other we've tried. Remember this popsicle mat we got May of 2014? Probably not, but take my word for it that it still looked great until just a few months ago. That's an eternity in the world of doormats. We will keep this one forever too, but we'll probably move it to the back door once it gets closer to the holidays so our neighbors don't think we've completely abandoned the house. A summer doormat in December is sort of the equivalent of leaving your Christmas lights up till July, right?

I love the colors, and it makes me want to go to a pool! We haven't been swimming once all summer...must do something about that soon.

More zinnias growing in the window. I got a packet of zinnia seeds earlier in the summer, and I've gone kind of nuts planting them in any spare container I can find, all over the house and on the back patio too. I'll share some more photos when they bloom! :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend! xo, Mary

National Museum of the American Indian

A couple of weeks ago, Peter and I decided to venture out to the National Museum of the American Indian, and I'm so glad we did. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that we'd never been before, despite the fact that it's been open for something like 10 years. It was always on my list of things to see and do, but there's so much to do here, it's easy to get distracted. Anyway, I snapped a few pics on my phone to share.

The building is beautiful. It's worth going to check out the architecture alone.

The inside walls curve around a large atrium and stage. We hung around after we'd finished looking at everything to watch a traditional Native American dance. I think they have different groups performing on the weekends on a regular basis.

I probably don't need to tell you how much I loved looking at all the handmade things. I thought this was a little girl's dress at first glance, but it's actually a Seminole boy's shirt.

The teeny tiny boots in the bottom right corner killed me. To give you an idea of how small they were, the shoes next to them were probably normal sized baby shoes, so I can't even imagine how tiny the baby was that those boots were made for. My very favorite things we saw were all the handmade animals made from various materials, but for some reason, I didn't get any pictures of those. I think I was too much in awe.

We stopped in the gift shop on the way out, and I bought this little handmade Oaxacan animal. I think it's maybe a centipede snake...something that would no doubt terrify me in real life, but is just as cute and colorful as it can be in wooden form. :)

Right now he looks perfectly at home with the plants, but I don't know if I'll leave him there forever. The bay window gets tons of direct sunlight, which is great for the plants, but I'm afraid it might make his colors fade over time. I might move him to the studio to live with my favorite little cowboy.

All in all, it was a great visit, but Peter and I both wished they'd had more to see. I would've loved to have seen more handmade textiles, and Peter wanted to see more history. Part of the fourth floor was closed because they're getting ready for an exhibit opening in September, so maybe that was part of it. (On a side note, I think a lot of museums here tend to close parts of floors or entire floors during the summer when they're getting ready for fall exhibitions, which has always seemed strange to me since there are so many tourists here in the summer, but that's just the way it goes, I guess. So if you're planning a trip to DC, you might want to check out your favorite museums ahead of time to decide when's the best time to come.) I know I was a little bummed when we went to Florence years ago that parts of the Uffizi were closed. They still had the more famous works on view, but those weren't the ones I was particularly excited to see. We couldn't have changed the dates of our trip anyway, but I guess it's always good to know what to expect.

So have you guys been to any interesting exhibits lately? Anything I should add to my growing list of places to visit someday?

Shop Update!

I know I just said last week that I was going to focus more on illustration and less on felt pieces, and I am, but I've been obsessed with all things fun and fruity lately, and I couldn't let the summer get away without making some cute fruit brooches.

You can see them all here. I also made a fun stop motion video on Instagram. I tried to save it as a gif to share here but something weird happened to the colors and lots of areas became overexposed. But hopefully you can still see it by clicking the link above. :)

10 Photos from Saturday

Last weekend was gorgeous. I mean really, really. When the weatherman says the phrase "low humidity," which is so rare in the swampland that is DC, people usually do a double take, then drop everything and head outside. We had planned to do work on the house all weekend, but those plans were deferred for lazing about outside, enjoying the breeze (there was a breeze!) and just in general loving life.

We went to eat at Le Diplomate, a French café near Logan Circle.

The whole entryway is beautifully tiled, but I tried to minimize the obnoxious instagramming and just snapped a quick pic.

If anyone's curious, I had a gruyère omelette with a green salad, and it was maybe the best omelette I've ever had in my life. I did actually take a pic with my phone, but it just didn't do it justice.

When we were walking to the restaurant, we saw a stack of books on the street with a "FREE" sign on them, one of which was this beautiful hardbound art book from the National Gallery. I have been really good about not buying books for a while because we really don't have space for them, but it was free and I have my limits, people. It was published in the 60s or 70s and has pretty cool old photos in the intro also. Maybe I'll post some pics of the inside pages later this week.

Next stop was millennium, which is a cute shop that stocks mostly mid-century furniture and accessories. We were looking for a nightstand for Peter, and they had a couple of contenders. We didn't have the car, though, and we didn't really see anything we loved enough to drive back into town the same day. I've heard their merchandise turns over quickly, so I doubt either of them are still there at this point.

This shop is tiny but packed with goodness. Maybe they won't notice if I just move into a corner somewhere.

I snapped a few pics when we were walking around, but I'll save those for another post. I can't really remember what else we did that day, but I'm sure it involved coffee and sunshine. :)

So, what about you guys? Did you have an awesome weekend too? Anyone else wanna paint their house like a watermelon?

Scenes from Life

Remember when I used to do "Scenes from Life" posts all the time? I sort of stopped doing them when I started using Instagram, but I realized recently that I miss having more everyday-life-type photos taken with my real camera as opposed to my phone. So I'm going to try to do them every now and then in addition to the monthly IG wrap-up posts. Anyway, here are a few pics snapped over the past week.

We bought some pretty hydrangeas for our little square planters on the front porch. I love that you can get purples and blues and pinks all in the same plant.

We also got a new door mat with popsicles! Having a fresh pop of color greet me as I come home has seriously been making me happy. And it may not look it from the photo, but it goes so well with the hydrangeas; there's some serious color harmony going on. :)

I mean, look how cute it is! (I got it at Target for $12.99, I think, if anyone's curious.)

We have been seeing lots of bunnies. Peter counted five in one afternoon the other day. And a couple of babies too! I think they probably like our yard because we have lots of weeds and wildflowers, haha, and we are always the last ones on the block to mow our grass.

We passed by this colorful building last weekend. I love that they decided one color on the trim just wouldn't do and needed like five. I'm pretty sure it's a co-op so I guess that means the people who live here are awesome.

Peter made me a little boat out of his metro receipt when we were sitting on the train. When I came home, I saw that I still had my homemade confetti out on the table from taking product shots of new notebooks for the shop, and it seemed meant to be that I should take a photo of my little boat too. :)

Hope everyone has an excellent Friday. I'm looking forward to catching up on some sleep this weekend and maybe taking a peek at some new art exhibits. xo, Mary

Bits of April

I loved the pink sleeves on coffee cups at Starbucks last month--the perfect, perfect shade of pink--but sadly the pastries they announced were yucky. (No one likes them so supposedly they are revamping the recipes and also bringing back some of the old pastries.) I also love this pretty pink building in DC; wouldn't it be great to have a shop or a studio in there? I made this tulip notebook a couple of weeks ago, but it sold before I had a chance to blog about it. And early morning light one day, shining on our pendant and making it glow.

We went to the American Art Museum to see a pop art exhibit, but I couldn't leave without a glance at some gorgeous John Singer Sargent ladies; a pretty stained glass window; a walk on Earth Day...it rained most of the day and when it stopped, the most atmospheric fog appeared...I half expected the Headless Horseman to come riding out of the park; and The Evening Star building sure is pretty with it's marble facade and Beaux-Arts curviness.

It's no secret I love colorful houses and doors, and it's nice when nature plays along and blooms in coordinating colors; ivy growing everywhere on brick buildings; a bunny came to visit us on Easter(!); and a diagonally striped sunset was very cool, almost like looking inside a really big rainbow.
 

A visit to the Old Post Office Pavilion and a funny story: Peter and I were the last ones there and got locked inside. We had to hunt down a security guard who was still there to let us out. You have to watch me when I'm wandering around taking photos; I lose track of time pretty much always. Oddly enough, it didn't stress me out at all to be locked in; I was totally content to spend a few more hours in there and have the place all to myself.

One of my favorite pink buildings in Old Town and lots of cherry trees. April was very pink apparently! That's a very good thing. Here's to more getting out and about in May. :)

Cherry Blossoms

We went to see the cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin in DC last Sunday. Those pink trees were super beautiful and dreamy, as always. Thanks, Japan! :)

I realized pretty quickly, though, that getting perfect photos just wasn't going to happen; there were so many people. I didn't have time to adjust my camera settings the way I normally do because as soon as I'd frame a shot, someone would walk in front of the camera. So I just tried to get my settings mostly right, go with the flow, snap a few pics here and there, and not worry about it. Inevitably, there were lots of shots that were underexposed, overexposed, or absolutely perfect except for someone's head in the frame. Haha. I did decide to play around with framing on center in a few shots and mix up my compositions a bit, which was fun. Anyway, here are a few photos that turned out pretty well despite the challenges.

When we'd made our way around the Tidal Basin, had our fill of pink trees (and cute dogs and toddlers too, of course), we went back up to the Mall and walked the length of it to the Capitol. The weather was so nice that I had to take my jacket off mid-way and debated whether I should've put on sunscreen. It was gorgeous!

On the way home, we stopped at our favorite diner and had caramel challah french toast and coffee, and then I went home and passed out. My body has been hating me all week for spending so long outdoors during allergy season when I was already sick, but it was worth it. I'd do it all over again tomorrow. :)

Happy Friday, everyone! xo, Mary