Bringing Fun Back

You might have noticed that I stopped doing Instagram wrap-up posts. I haven't really been uploading anything over there that I haven't posted here first. The truth is that I've been very uninspired to take photos with my phone. I'm still taking photos with my "real" cameras, but my phone pretty much stays in my bag whenever we're out now, and I think I know what's behind my lack of motivation.

Instagram has changed, or rather, the way people use Instagram has changed a lot since I signed up a few years ago. It used to be about real-time sharing. People would upload photos of whatever they were doing, eating, watching, etc., and it was super cas. Everyone was like, "I'm using ALL THE FILTERS and doodling on every photo!" and it was so much fun.

Now, the majority of photos in my feed are "serious" photos. Most of them appear to have been taken with a DSLR, edited with Photoshop or similar software, and then uploaded to Instagram. There's nothing wrong with that--I do that too sometimes--but it's not as fun as it used to be. I miss the spontaneity of snapping a pic and uploading it without worrying too much about the quality. And I miss the personality that came through in people's feeds before. Now so many feeds look just alike that I legitimately can't always tell who's feed I'm looking at. It's all very pretty, though, and I appreciate that people want to put their best work out there.

I still browse Instagram daily and upload my own pics (not-so-daily) and will probably keep using it forever. But I've been looking for another app that's not so heavily curated, that still has a sense of random fun and realness, and the best one I've found so far is Snapchat. I only signed up a couple of weeks ago, but I can already tell that people have a lot of fun with it. I know Snapchat has been around for years, but when it first came out, I thought it was primarily to send photos or videos to friends...something I would've absolutely loved in high school and college, but I don't have much use for now. But recently, I realized you can create "stories" to share with everyone, and I love seeing how people are using it.

The fact that stories disappear in 24 hours (unless someone saves a screenshot) also takes some of the pressure off feeling like a photo needs to be perfectly composed, well-lit, and all the other "requirements" of Instagram these days. I think I might use it to share projects I'm working on that aren't ready for my shop or blog, or maybe do a 30-day drawing challenge and post snaps everyday? Who knows? I might just share pics of my house since I'll probably never get around to doing a proper "house tour" on the blog.

My username on Snapchat is @my_hideaway (same as Instagram and Twitter), if anyone wants to follow along. Also, tell me your username so I can add you! I'm looking for more people to follow. And if you have suggestions of any other accounts you like, please share in the comments! xo, Mary

Bits of August

I say this every month, but really, how (how?!?) is it September already? I don't know. I feel like I'm perpetually running to catch up to a bus I just missed, and I'm waving my arms like a lunatic and the bus driver is just ignoring me. Anyone else? No? (By the way, if you've never had that experience in real life, you're missing out because it really makes you feel amazing and luxurious and not like you have failed at life AT ALL.) Anyway, here are a few snaps from August, which was very hot and sweaty (but really lovely too).

Evening walks in nice gardens have become something of a tradition for us, and one that I don't think I could live without. It's something I think about all the time when daydreaming about where we'll live next. (We have no immediate plans to move, by the way, but I'm always looking and daydreaming about a future house with a little more space between us and the neighbors.)

The lighthouse photo is actually from a vacation last summer (a trip that was sadly erased from my external hard drive), but I did have this one photo left on my phone, and I'm so grateful for that! Packing up some Etsy orders...hopefully I'll have a huge shop update before the month is out, and I'm also planning lots of holiday things :)) And the last 2 photos are just shots around Alexandria, which you could probably guess from the fact that it says "Alexandria" on the boat.

Hope you guys are having a great week! My day is about to get a whole lot better as I just remembered we have ice-cream-cookie-sandwich things in the freezer. :) xo, Mary

Bits of July

We spent much of July indoors avoiding the heat and humidity, but when we did venture out, it looked liked this!

I took many more photos with my other cameras, actually, and I'm sending off a roll of film today. My last roll turned out really well, so I'm super excited to see these prints!

Other than that, we've been catching up on shows like Hannibal and Prison Break. Hannibal, in particular, is really good! I can't believe they've canceled it. They always seem to cancel the best shows too soon.

I've also been doing lots of reading for fun, which feels like such a luxury, so expect a good "summer reads" post soon.

And believe it or not, I'm still going strong in the kitchen cooking healthy-ish meals too....not every night, of course (I'm pretty sure I set a record last night for the amount of mac-'n-cheese I can shove in my mouth in 2 minutes, followed by some really good chocolate, but you know, baby steps).

And now on to August! There are a few things that need to happen this month that I'm super dreading and dragging my feet on, but hopefully there will be good things happening too. Such is life. For sure, there will be lots of studio time and making things. :)

What about you guys? Tell me something you're looking forward to (or not) in August.
xo, Mary

Bits of June

To show you how totally together I am as a person, I had this post titled "Bits of May" for a good long while before I realized that it's actually July, which would make last month June, not May. In fairness to my addled brain, I am including some photos that were taken in May in this bunch because I didn't post them to IG until June. Not that it really matters...summer memories all blend together in a haze anyway, eventually, don't they?

This set and the one below are from a brief stay in Savannah and Tybee Island on our road trip down south in May. I have lots more photos from my "real camera" that I'll share soon. How sweet is that cow's face? She's part of a mural on the wall at Mellow Mushroom. 

Lovely tree-lined squares and streets and The Paris Market, where I wanted to buy everything.

Puffy clouds and boats here in Alexandria; a house undergoing renovation in Old Town (I love to see old houses being renovated here...occasionally, part or all of a wall will be down and you can see inside, just like a dollhouse); pretty windows and balustrade; and a funny building that was, at one point, an old house and was expanded and repurposed into doctors' offices, I think.

We had brunch one day at Fontaine Caffe & Crêperie (really good if you're ever in Old Town and craving crêpes); a pretty blue house with a mansard roof; this former mansion (now split into four condos) has so many porches and balconies...I love, love, love this house. Occasionally one of the condos will come up for rent, and you can sneak a peek inside. Here's an old listing from last year, I think, if you want to see what one of the condos looks like. Gah, it's so pretty. And last, but not least, a super cute little free library in our neighborhood.

Another mansard roof on this lovely yellow building; honeysuckle growing like crazy all along our fence in the backyard; I love the ivy growing on this house on the corner; and irises growing up and along gold-painted finials....basically I guess I like plants growing on buildings and fences. :)

So far, summer has been hot and stormy and very humid. We've had so much rain, Peter joked that we're growing fungi, not plants. And we really are. So many weird types of fungi have popped up in our flower beds. Our yard looks like an alien planet.

I plan on spending most of July in my studio because I have lots of work to do, but I'd love a few nice days to get outside with my camera. It's been a while since I really spent some time in nature, so I'm putting that on my goal list for July too...mosquitoes be damned!

Hope your summer is aces. xo, Mary

Bits of May

I loved the architecture in Staunton, particularly all the little details on the facades of buildings downtown. I find it endlessly inspiring to wander around cute old towns like Staunton, peeking into nooks and crannies, and finding evidence of years gone by.

We tried Sugar Shack Donuts, not too far away from us in Alexandria, and they were easily the best donuts we've had in the DC area. The second photo of the buildings in silhouette was actually taken earlier this year...not sure exactly when. I found it as I was cleaning off my phone and had to share it. (That period of last light is my very favorite time of day.) I passed by these pink flowers in the garden of the Carlyle House; and here's one more pretty facade from Staunton.

I could definitely see myself living in a house like the one in the top left someday, when I have a few million extra dollars (or maybe when I'm living in a less crazy-expensive town). Other things I passed by and liked: a stately facade in Old Town, fancy buildings around Logan Circle, and a cute lemon wreath.

It looks like all I did in May was take pictures of buildings haha. I did take other photos that I haven't uploaded to Instagram yet, so I guess those will be in my June post.

We traveled a lot in May: three separate trips up and down the east coast to see family and friends. Normally, we would never travel that much in one month because it's expensive, exhausting, insane, etc. But there were various events that all happened to be in the same month, and we didn't really have a choice.

I do hope we do more traveling this summer, but for purely fun reasons, just the two of us, with no schedule to keep or itinerary to follow.

In the mean time, I have a lot of catching up to do around here! I hope June proves to be more productive work-wise and I'm able to share more creative projects with you guys. I'm pretty sure I said the same thing last month, lol, but you know travel, excuses, yada-yada. ;)

As always, if you'd like to follow me on Instagram, my username is @my_hideaway.

Bits of April

I struggled with feeling uninspired to take photos most of February and March, and I didn't spend much time on Instagram at all. I think that probably happens to everyone from time to time when there's a lot of stress and other things going on in life. But April was a little brighter. Here's a peek at the last month through my phone.

Reading lots of art books; my handmade Easter gift from Peter which deserves it's own post (coming soon); it's been so nice having vases around the house filled with flowers cut from our own yard; and colorful houses spotted on an afternoon walk.

Exploring trails and spotting creatures; and the view from one of the rooms at The Kreeger.

I've been crushing on pink tulips in particular everywhere this spring...these were at a local garden; Frank Stella at The Kreeger; pink-blossomed canopies make a perfect spot for day dreaming; and cupcakes from Sprinkles.

I'm hoping May will be super productive, and I'll have lots of finished projects to share on Instagram too. It's so hard to stay indoors making things when there's sunshine and ice cream and walks along the water beckoning, which is exactly how we spent last weekend, but you know, I'm still making up for lost time and have lots of goals to reach! So with that in mind, I'm off to make this week count! :)

As always, if you'd like to follow along, my IG name is @my_hideaway.

Bits of March

Apparently, I only took 3 photos with my phone in March. I took less photos in general last month, and I don't think I made a single thing. I did read a lot and think a lot, but it's somehow unsatisfying to have nothing tangible come out of all that reading and thinking.

I still haven't recovered my files; professional data recovery is too expensive for my meager budget, so I'm just letting it go for now. Starting from scratch on a lot of things is hard and painful and tedious, but maybe it's for the best. Maybe my work will be better for it.

March wasn't all somber though. Good things happened, like...

1. Warmer days and walks in lovely places.
2. An afternoon at the National Gallery (I actually did take photos on this day and will probably post soon).
3. A trip to the nursery and new plant babies, which I already started repotting...hopefully I'll finish this weekend.
4. Ordering a new chair (It's supposed to arrive today and I'm excited. It's pink!)
5. Fixing the microwave door ourselves so we don't have to pay someone else or buy a new one.
6. Going to IKEA for plant pots and getting inspired to revamp my studio space at some point.
7. Donating a bag full of grooming products and toys to an animal rescue.
8. Cleaning out lots more stuff to give to Goodwill.
9. Finding the beginning signs of tulips coming up randomly in our yard. We get them every year in different spots...don't know exactly where the seeds are coming from as we've never planted them, but it's a nice surprise.
10. I started exercising again in earnest after a long hiatus. I'm looking forward to feeling strong and healthy.

I think the best thing that happened in March was that I sort of felt a sense of possibility opening up before me again after a couple months of setbacks, which is a really good feeling. :)

Bits of February

I don't have a lot of pics to share from Instagram in February. Don't let that photo on the bottom left fool you; we've had lots of snow and ice and yucky winter weather that's made it difficult to get out and take pictures or do anything fun really. And honestly, even when we did go out, I was too cold to bother with much of anything other than walking as quickly as I could to our destination.

Actually, February was not awesome for a lot of reasons, not least of which is that my computer died, hence the crickets heard here on the blog. I tried to fix it for a couple of days but was unsuccessful. I ended up wiping my hard drive and restoring it back to factory settings to get it up and running (albeit slowly) as a bare bones machine until we could get a new computer, which we did last week,

I was super excited to finally have a new computer, but in the process of getting it all set up, I discovered that the external hard drive I'd been backing up to for the past couple of years failed to recover anything after about July 2013. I tried two different data recovery programs and contacted the manufacturer for help as well. I'm afraid my only option at this point is a professional data recovery service, and they are pretty expensive. I looked at one near us, and they charge $149 just for the initial analysis, and I'm not sure how much they charge for the actual data recovery, but I know it's not cheap.

Ultimately, if the drive failed to back up in the first place, if it stopped working at some point even though it kept showing "backup successful" each time, then data recovery won't help. They can't recover what was never saved to begin with, right?

I know I'm not the first person this has happened to, but it is pretty devastating to lose a year and a half of work as well as personal documents and photos. I lost so many photos from last summer in particular--ones that I'd never shared here--that were really important to me. So yeah, it sucks. I'm trying to just make peace with it and move forward.

By the way, they aren't kidding when they say that you should back up everything in at least 2 places outside your computer. I used to do that and then just got out of the habit at some point. It's ironic that the data that was successfully retrieved from my external hard drive is the same data I already had backed up elsewhere, and the data it failed to retrieve from the last year and a half was only saved on the external hard drive and my computer, which both failed at the same time.

I know I only have myself to blame for that, but if you can learn from my mistakes, please do! I wouldn't want this to happen to anyone else.

Anyway, here's hoping March looks a little brighter. xo, Mary

Bits of January

A super cold, but beautiful, afternoon at Jones Point; magical pink sunsets over the water are pretty much my favorite (even in a city as cynical as DC, most of the people we passed on the bridge that night couldn't help but stop and marvel at it for a moment); a cute little dog we passed while out shopping (this dog was actually in the vestibule of a shop, if you're wondering...we weren't like sticking our noses up to the door of someone's house...though I am kind of a puppy stalker so you know, I might); and pastel houses on a grey day are some kind of medicine, I think.

This house is the cutest, they managed to update it while still keeping in line with the original architecture, which is paramount in these parts...also, that itty bitty tree in the garden and the potted plant on the sidewall...adorable, right? I hope they fill the wall with lots more potted plants and add some flowers out front come spring. Christmas trees lining the sidewalk are always a little sad to me, and actually this year the city took forever to get them all picked up...lots of angry residents around town. We passed some cute mid-century Danish things in this shop window; I would happily buy them all if I could afford it. And a walk on a cold, wet evening is always made infinitely better by the glow of street lamps (and the promise of coffee in a few blocks).

We went to a Winter Walk of Lights at the beginning of the month, and it was like an epic-scale Lite-Brite...color explosions and fairy dust and hot chocolate too...if I hadn't been completely frozen, I would've happily stayed for hours. Another pretty sunset with pink and purple marshmallow skies; vibrant colors at the Botanical Gardens from a recent trip (I have more photos to share soon); and another rainy walk in Georgetown.

All and all, January was a pretty cold and grey month, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't spend most of it indoors, under blankets, feeling pretty grumpy and wishing I lived in California. But we still made an effort to get out of the house on weekends, seeking light and color and beauty in the world around us and for that, I'm happy.

Here's hoping Punxsutawney Phil, that little bastard, was dead wrong this year. :D

P.S. Thanks to everyone who responded after last month's IG post to let me know whether or not to keep doing these posts. Most people seemed to like them, and I'm guessing if you don't, you're probably already skipping them in your feed, so you know, it's all good. :)

Bits of December

I love the color coordinating going on with these two houses I passed the other day; presents wrapped with pompoms; a pretty sunset on the water; and a day of marathon wrapping...I lost count of how many hours I spent cutting and taping and pompom-making. Usually I try to start shopping and wrapping earlier in the year so that I'm not doing it all at once, but this year we were super busy right up till the deadline of shipping!

Wrapping up things for the shop too; I bought this book for my niece (really loving the Rifle Paper Co. editions of classics); packing up pastel orders with pastel washi tape; and I snapped a quick photo of the tree in Old Town when I was doing some last minute shopping.

Christmas decorations, which still haven't been put completely away this year; I made lots of pretty ribbon ornaments; a polar bear ornament that sold at the craft show I did mid-month; and snail ornaments...all completely hand-stitched.

A special order hedgehog ornament; sending off this mushroom notebook (I might need to make more mushroom things because I really loved this one!); embroidery floss sent to me by my sweet pal Dawn; and Christmas things on the mantel.

This is my last Instagram wrap-up post of 2014, of course, and I'm wondering if I should keep doing these posts? When I started doing them, I had a lot of readers who weren't on Instagram, and since I often post things over there that I don't post here, I thought it would be nice to do monthly IG collages. But now it seems like more people than ever are using Instagram, possibly more than even read blogs? So what do you guys think? I don't want to be one of those bloggers who posts the same content on 12 different social media accounts because that gets old quick.

Hope everyone is staying warm out there. It is super cold! We got a lot more snow than expected this morning, and the roads are a total mess. So I'm staying inside today and editing some photos from recent (and not so recent) adventures to share with you guys soon. :)

P.S. If anyone wants to follow me on Instagram, my username is @my_hideaway.

Bits of November

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving break! We spent a couple days doing nothing much but eating and lounging...as it should be. Now I'm working 'round the clock to get ready for my craft show on December 14th. I can't believe it's just two weeks away! I'll show you guys a few sneak peeks of what I'll be selling soon. Anyway, here's a look back at November, which went by much too fast!

Colorful rowhouses in Old Town; spotted some cute kitties in a shop window; gorgeous stained glass windows at the American Art Museum; and pretty flowers from a warm day (I took this pic last summer but didn't get around to posting it until a couple of weeks ago).

Been stitching lots of merry and bright ornaments (see more here); I was head over heels for this red Christmas tree (which of course, was a display and not for sale)...I just want to cover it with colorful felt ornaments and bask in it's glow. I actually looked them up online later, and they are crazy expensive...much, much, much more than getting a real tree, so I guess I'll just have to add that to my fantasy-someday-when-I-have-bunches-of-money wishlist. The little deer and raccoon brooches went off to live in France...my handmade things travel more than I do! And last, but not least, I pretty much drooled all over everything in the Jonathan Adler store, so much cute stuff (also adding to fantasy wishlist).

Our neighbors invited us over for lunch one Sunday afternoon, so we decided to be neighborly and bring treats from Olivia Macaron; won't ever get sick of fall colors like these...wish they lasted longer; got my felt candies from the Cornershop (blogged here); and some cute ghost lights left up after Halloween...I wouldn't want to take them down either. :)

The Kogod Courtyard at the National Portrait Gallery/American Art Museum is still one of my favorite (newer) architectural spaces in DC, can't get enough of that light; walking to metro at that pretty sunset/pink buildings time of day; two notebooks that I sent off to customers (thank you!); and the usual pink diner date.

As always, if you'd like to follow my instagram, my username is @my_hideaway.
xo, Mary

Bits of October

The photo of the fence with the hydrangeas peeking through was actually taken over the summer. I found it on my phone and thought it was too pretty not to share. The little ceramic jack-o-lantern was a surprise gift from my mom. We don't really have a lot of seasonal decorations...we tend to be sort of minimal when it comes to that stuff and even if we wanted to deck out the whole house...we don't have a lot of storage space (so finding a place to store it the other 11 months of the year can be a challenge). But this little jack-o-lantern was so cute smiling at me everyday that I might need to do a little more seasonal decorating here and there in the future. And maybe reorganize some closets to make room. :)

Bits of September

We were happy to find a new garden to visit last month, Meadowlark in Vienna, Va; I passed by this building and decided to snap a pic just because symmetrical facades make me happy; inside the tiny glasshouse at the garden up the street from our house; and packing up a cactus brooch.

I was packing up these two notebooks to go to different customers, and I thought they looked good together actually...wondered if I should start selling sets; the incredible Dinosaur Land; the teepee trellis at our local garden has filled out and looks amazing (you can see what it looked like in the early stages if you look at last month's IG wrap up); and a detour through Dark Star Park.

The sunsets last month (and this month so far) have been gorgeous. I guess it's an even trade-off for the nights getting longer. I seriously have to restrain myself from posting sunset pics to IG every night! I only posted one last month, so that's pretty good. The light coming in the house has been so warm and nice too; a bull sculpture from the Alexandria Art Fair a couple weeks ago; and a late night diner date. Whenever I happen to be at a diner late at night, it always reminds me of being in high school and hanging out with friends. Anyone else have late-night-diner-nostalgia from their teen years?

A heart garland on it's way to a new home; a new-to-us candy shop that had lots and lots of good stuff; I love any and all big puffball-type flowers like dahlias, hydrangeas, zinnias, ranunculuses...I think I mentioned after Meadowlark, I'm trying to learn the names of flowers and plants I like, and some of the stuff I learned in Botany is actually coming back to me, though mostly just stuff about plant cells that isn't helpful at all haha; and I love when shops have lettering on windows like this place (also, if you're local and want Korean food for lunch, this place has bibimbap everyday and sometimes bulgogi on rice; I have never tried either because I'm not a big meat eater, but I've heard it's good from others so just thought I'd pass that along).

Wandering around Annapolis one afternoon; I'm always happy to see ghost signs peeking out on brick walls...I like when buildings wear their history on the outside; packing up a fall brooch...the leaves are just starting to get red here at the tops of trees; and I noticed I was color-coordinated with the latest notebook I'd made and felt like I needed to document it.

Overall, September was a really great month. We took some mini road trips, ate too many treats, and spent lots of time outside. I had more felt items sell this month and decided to keep making felt things through the holidays. In 2015, I will transition to mostly illustration though, so if there's anything you've been eyeing felt-wise (ornaments, brooches, garlands, etc), or something you'd like to see more of, let me know before I stop making them! :)

October is going to be really, really busy, but we'll definitely still make time for adventures around town, which I'll share here, of course. I'm trying to soak up every last second of these mild temperatures before winter hits and I hibernate. And hopefully, I'll get around to sharing more house posts and "scenes from (work) life" posts too. I still have some photos from trips in August to post!

Tomorrow we are headed to a flea market, officially to look for display items for the craft fair, but unofficially because we both really like rooting around in old stuff haha. After that I'm not sure what we're doing. I've never done the usual fall farm-type activities, like apple picking or pumpkin picking or hayrides, mostly because they always happen far out of the city. It seems like something you'd do as a kid, but I never did. I never thought I was missing out on anything because who wants to ride on a truck filled with hay or pick food? But Peter assures me that it's fun, and we do keep seeing things about harvest festivals and huge mazes that look pretty amazing. I'm still not sold on the idea of hayrides and will probably skip that, but I'm definitely up for eating some apple pie and spending a few hours outside.

What are you guys up to this weekend? xo, Mary

P.S. If you want to follow me on Instagram, my username is @my_hideaway.

Bits of August

I probably say this every month, but I really really can't believe the last month zoomed by so quickly. How is it September already? Here are a few peeks at August from my Instagram.

Love love love the color of that door; a hand-painted notebook I made of cute Copenhagen buildings that sold before I got a chance to blog about it; reading my book outside on the patio; and making smoothies (I switched from using a standard blender to a handheld immersion blender that came with it's own mixing cup because there's less clean up. I can't say I really love using the immersion blender either; still looking for the perfect smoothie-making appliance I guess. Anyone have any inexpensive recommendations?)

A new deer notebook (you can see slightly better pics here); an aqua door and cute window box (I took this pic for Poppytalk's color week); packing up notebooks in tissue paper and washi tape; and my bird mobile, which I've had for, I think, 3 years now and still really love (from Snug Studio).

Tried a new (to us) doughnut place; went to this exhibit at the Hirshhorn (it will be there till Jan. 2015 and is definitely worth checking out if you're in DC); tried peanut butter Oreo ice cream for the first time, and it was sooooo goooood; and a cute punch buggy hanging out by the water.

Spotted this teepee trellis at the garden up the street...so cool, right? I can't wait to see what it looks like when it fills out. I passed by this building for rent while out walking one day; how sweet would it be to open up a little shop on the ground floor and have a studio upstairs? We found a new garden to visit; it's completely gorgeous (I'll share more pics soon). And last, but not least, I found myself parked across the street from this beautiful house one day and couldn't help but snap a pic.

We stopped in Annapolis for a few hours last Friday (I'll blog pics soon); eating breakfast for dinner at our favorite diner (those sausages are actually veggie...our diner has veggie everything as your meat option on combo plates and I'm wondering how common that is...do diners near you do the same thing? I actually don't like sausages, veggie or otherwise, but Peter does, so I get them and pass them over.) I'm always on the lookout for colorful doors; and here's another new notebook inspired by all the mushrooms that have been sprouting up in our neighborhood lately. I'm always tempted to collect some of them, but then I think, what would I do with them?

August was a pretty great month. We did some exploring, and I have a lot more photos to share of our adventures. Summer has actually come late here; it's super duper hot and humid right now. Peter told me that the heat index today is 100-something degrees. So, I guess I am ready for fall to hurry up and get here after all. People keep talking about a certain pumpkin drink being available early, but I can't imagine drinking it on a day like today. Bring on the ice cream and smoothies! :)

Bits of July

Here's a glimpse of July through my phone.

Packing up an order...my brooches have been to many more exciting places than I have; a cute building with pink and white scalloped trim; a strawberry-orange-pineapple-banana smoothie (I'm still making them fairly often, though not every day like I was); and pink daisies on my table.

The most adorable little llama notebook I ordered from my pal Mirta; plants in the bay window going strong (mostly); a birthday card for my nephew; and working outside on the patio on a beautiful day...nice weather puts me in the best mood.

I've been pretty obsessed with all things fruity this summer, so it was perfect that I came across a watermelon house; wearing my pineapple dress; eating lots of rainbow sherbet; and admiring a colorful cactus garden.

Eating at Le Diplomate, which I blogged about earlier this month; some pretty daisies I passed by on a walk; we spent most of the day on July 4th at the park and it was by far the prettiest 4th I can remember in my entire life (no exaggeration); and Indian lotuses.

We went for an evening walk with iced coffee a couple days ago; a dreamy sunset; a walk on the night of the super moon...my phone camera was really crap at capturing how huge the moon was so I just decided to have fun with bokeh instead; and rainbows are the best thing about summer storms.

All in all, we've had a really mild summer, as evidenced by the fact that I'm wearing long sleeves(!) in two of these photos. I've lived in DC for 15 years, and it's never been like this before. We have had hot, humid days too, but normally the hot weather sets in in early June and doesn't let up until September or October, so this has been a welcome change, and we're trying to make the most of it. I can't believe it's August already!

If you'd like, follow me on Instagram to see more of my pics. :)

Bits of June

You guys, this post was a struggle! For some reason, my phone didn't want to let me upload to Flickr, so I just saved the pics to my gallery on my phone and then emailed them to myself. But then nothing would open in Photoshop or any of my other photo-editing software. I eventually got them to open in Paint, of all things, and then saved them with a different name and finally was able to open them in Photoshop. I guess that doesn't really sound like much of a struggle, haha, but it took forever. Anyone else out there do IG collages/wrap-up posts? What apps or programs do you use?

Anyhoo, here's a look at what we got up to in June:

Passed by this flower box overflowing with pretty blooms; the courtyard at the American Art Museum (I could take pics of this place every month and probably will); took a walk through the garden during a brief break in the rain; and my dining chair looking cute.

Dawn sent me probably the best card ever made of a caticorn (with pink hair!); super delicious oreo cookies and cream milkshake; a new notebook in the shop; and the car of my dreams in Fredericksburg.

I thought this building (house?) looked nice; some cheery sunflowers on our table; my current hair situation which is double oc, at least three different colors right now and way too long (also, I don't think I've said "double oc" in about 20 years, but it's appropriate, trust me); and a Sunday afternoon watching geese and ducks in the water.

We discovered a new park near our house; Peter brought some lavender in from our yard (something is actually growing! yay!); and taking lots of walks.

It would seem as if I did nothing in June but wander around fields of flowers-haha. It's fun to look back on my IG and remember what we did, but it's also funny how much stuff does not get captured. People are quick to criticize bloggers and IGers for documenting everything, and some people do take it to the extreme, but if I didn't take these little snaps and share them here, I would forget so much. The bad stuff is what tends to stick out in our minds, so having a record of all good things here keeps things in perspective, no?

Hope your week is going well! xo, Mary