Ah Summer..

"Ah summer, what power you have to make us suffer, and like it!"- Russel Baker

Here is what a summer dinner should look like...

Colorful! It should be simple, fresh, tasty and preferably cooked on the BBQ! My lovely lady friend Janna came over for a toss together of  a few summer favorites...Lemon and dill salmon, crunchy asparagus and a summer salad with blueberries, apples and goats cheese! Easy pea-sey, ready in twenty minutes! Everything should be this simple!
-m

My beauty of a girl Janna shows me how badly I need to work on my tan...sigh

Yeah, We All Shine On...

"Yeah, we all shine on, like the moon, and the stars, and the sun." -John Lennon

Sunshine. I can't get enough. I feel lighter and happier and as though I have many less cares in the world. I never realise how much I miss warm, sunny weather until it is here full blown. It is a wonder we even make it through the fall, winter and often spring (yes it can snow and be gloomy even in spring when you live on the east coast).I strongly suggest everyone get their butts outside, right now, and soak up some of that wonderful vitamin D.
-m

The view from my lounger...

It`s Better To Help People...

"It's better to help people than garden gnomes..."-Unknown Author

So the handsome man in my life planned a date one evening last month. He didn't give me any hints or clues, just told me to get dressed and get in the car..how exciting! We drove all around the city, him making sure I was good and confused (all the while I blurted out everything I thought it could be!). We ended up at Clay Cafe (www.claycafe.ca) on Quinnpool road. A place where you sit down with a coffee, a ceramic of choice and glaze the shit out of it with a rainbow selection of glazes and a handful of paint brushes. In the end you end up with a unique hand painted little piece of art that they fire in the kiln and you can pick up a few days later. If you know me, which he does, you would know this is just about a perfect date. I love getting creative and love being able to do something with my hands and have a great conversation at the same time..not to mention the people watching from those big windows is top notch! There were so many neat pieces of ceramic to choose from. In the end it came down to a coffee mug and a spoon rest for the stove, that is until I found the tiniest of garden gnomes. When I saw him, I just had to have him! Only the size of my hand, we christened him "Rory" and I vowed to make him unique and not a typical garden gnome...I have always wanted one!!

Here is a quick history lesson: Wikipedia tells me that garden/ lawn gnomes originated in Germany in the late 18th- early 19th century. They were generally human like with small pointy hats, and were placed in gardens to protect them from evil and sorcery...There were many myths and stories of their protection and they became very popular in ceramic, wooden and terracotta forms. They continue to be popular outdoor decorations world wide and have prompted thefts called "gnoming" in which these gnomes are returned "to the wild". They may also be kidnapped and sent on trips around the world and in one instance a man was arrested for stealing over 170 lawn gnomes.Sheesh!

Anyway, Clay Cafe was a very fun success, I highly recommend it for children and adults alike. Now I shall introduce you to Rory...but only if you promise not to steal him or send him around the world. He tells me he is quite happy living under the iris and tiger lily in my garden.
-m

Oh hi there!

Flowers Always Make People Better...

"Flowers always make people better, happier and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul."- Luther Burbank

My little gardens are teeming with flowers. I have tiger lilies over running one side of my houseand a hardy wild rose bush on the opposite side (that has managed to bloom even though I cut it to pieces when I first moved in). I have bachelor buttons, bleeding hearts, pansies and irises. Pinks, begonias and hostas galore. Still I feel as though it is not near enough and I want as many as I can get my hands on! I find them inspiring. I am loving the bright colors and recently have applied that inspiration to my nails. Yes nails, you read that correct. I am a nail polish junkie. A believer that OPI and trendy colors can brighten a day (at least my day) and even though I am not allowed to wear it to work, I revel in painting my nails. It is now part of my turn around day routine. A long lover of OPI colors, I have recently switched to Essie and am really enjoying the change. For the summer I am feeling bright pinks, nudes, oranges, greens and glitter. Garden colors, which is a welcome change from the ballet pinks and dark greys and taupes I rocked all winter long. Ah such a cheap thrill nail polish is!
-m

Cute as a button, Action, Turquoise and caicos, Mamba and Set in stones, all my go to summer shades!

Odd man out on my ring finger, inspired by the always fabulous Janna Goodwin.

If A June Night Could Talk..

"If a June night could talk, it would probably boast about inventing romance."- Bern Williams

Ah summer. It is officially here by dates, but in Halifax, we have been boasting beautiful weather interspersed with torrential down pours for well over a month. I even have tan lines! Shocking right? With warm weather has come gardening, lawn maintenance, reading on the deck and many barbecues. All of those are things I have not been able to enjoy since leaving my parents home for the independence and lack of outdoor living my string of apartments afforded me. Sitting with the window open, in a low rise, in the heart of the city doesn't quite cut it. Neither does sunning in the varies public parks with creepy strangers on-looking. And even though I spent many a summer tenting as an adolescent, I refused to sit in a lawn chair in the concrete car park that was our "back yard" at my last apartment. I have to have a little bit of class right? So this summer I am taking advantage of every little bit of summer that comes my way and I would suggest you all do the same! Happy outdoor living!
-m

An Easy Twist on Strawberry Shortcake...

Take a pint of raspberries and a pint of strawberries...mash em up with a pastry cutter, potato masher or in your mixer. Throw in a good sprinkle of sugar and a dash of vanilla and mash a little more. Make your favorite biscuit recipe and sprinkle with sugar before you bake. Slice in half, layer whip cream and berry mix for a fresh take on a summer classic!

If Someone Throws A Rock At You...

"If someone throws a rock at you, throw a flower back...just remember to throw the flower pot with it!
-unknown.

Being the thrifty person that I am I am always looking for fun and cheap ways to up cycle old things into beautiful new things. I truly believe most pieces of furniture have at least a few lives in them, you just have to get a little creative. Not to mention the fact that I seem to have champagne taste on a beer budget, and I am talking the home brewed, maybe even in the bathtub quality of beer budget my friends. With a budget like that, you have to get a little bit creative. I was at the dollar store last week (which can truly be a wonderful place if you look past the cans of cocktail wieners and mouse traps) and I noticed an abundance of terracotta pots. Lets face it, planters are pricey. It always surprises me that big box stores expect people to pay upwards of thirty bucks for a clay pot that has been glazes within an inch of it's life. As a child my mom was always very creative and worked best on as she says "a shoe string budget". We painted clay pots and we used them for plants, as pencil/pen holders, as little vessels to hold bobby pins and as candle holders. We used acrylic paint. We brushed it on, sponged it on and stenciled it on there, ending up with beautiful and unique mini pieces of art. It was a wonderful project for kids to take part in. So I did an online hunt and here are some ideas I found that I rather loved to turn a one dollar clay pot into something great!
-m

Fabric!

When Red-Haired People....

"When red-haired people are above a certain social grade, their hair is auburn."- Mark Twain.

I have been growing my hair for months...like seventeen months to be specific. I had a sweet pixie when I moved to Halifax and maintained short locks for a couple of years. I decided to grow it out for my best friends wedding and for the first time in my life, I am having trouble parting with it. It never phased me to grow and chop, grow and chop, that was pretty much my hair cycle. That and just chop-chop-chop. Scissors do not scare me, but this time around I am just not ready to part with my seventeen month endeavor. That is commitment. That is more time and commitment than many of my relationships and it's really not hurting anyone is it? My sister would argue that it is hurting me and my degree of "edgy-ness". Ha. She tells me I used to be edgy and that I am getting dull in my old age. So this time I left it long, dyed it red and got him to cut me weird little short bangs. I am also rocking a nose hoop for the first time in years! Edgy enough? Who knows but I always do like a change and I am told red heads have more fun. I will keep you posted on that, lets consider it a social experiment! For now I will leave you with some red-headed love/ inspiration. You can't deny it, these people/ characters are nothing short of a ball of fun!
-m