the week's pieces of summer...

playing outdoors with these two....

drinking delicious Cheerwine and using their bottles for herbs and flowers in our kitchen window sill..

this antique sconce vase from my mom,  filled with green goodness...

 this amazing 3 point weight watchers breakfast including the honey espresso con panna....

and of course, doing almost everything outdoors, makes everything wonderful.

All this summery goodness is incredible!

Happy weekend, friends!

xoxo

luv,

~dee

hello summer!

The summer is just freshly beginning and our garden shed was begging me to paint a little happy French, hello!

Hello Summer and hello summer posts!

You may want to take a peek at more summery bliss here.

xoxo

chemistry or coffee shop?

I haven't had the pleasure of entering the doors of a Blue Bottle Coffee Company.
After the last post I did on a coffee shop, a friend suggested I check out this amazing coffee mecca.
The buzz seems to be humming loudly over their one of a kind state of the art vacuum coffee bar.
If you choose their vacuum coffee, you have the choice of three types of beans being offered daily.  Your beans are then measured, ground, and poured into the top globe of a vacuum coffee maker.  Different from the  traditional vacuum coffee makers that use an alcohol flame, their vacuum coffee bar uses halogen lamps to heat the water to a boil.  Once boiling, the water is pushed up into the ground coffee beans for a few moments prior to being taken away from the heat where the coffee filters back down in the form of freshly brewed coffee.  Your coffee is then brought out to your table and poured directly from the vacuum coffee maker into your waiting cup.
There is definitely a science to this coffee.
So maybe the answer is: both!
With their cult like following I am pretty sure they must have an incredible cup of joe. 

So the next time we travel anywhere near a Blue Bottle Coffee Co.  you can bet we will check them out.
Thanks to this sweet lady.

Happy Thursday, friends!
xoxo
luv,
~dee

bare essentials...

(photos via here June issue)

There is something about stripping life down to the bare essentials that speaks of summers in our cottage by the lake when I was a child.

Waking up in the morning to the sound of my father putting logs in the wood burning oven.  The crackling sound while my mom fried bacon and eggs.  The delicious scent of sugar bread toasting from the lake's local bakery. (My mom toasted our bread in an old fashioned toaster, which made it even better, in my opinion.)

This part of growing up in Canada was a delightful experience.

I think the camping/cottage life is a huge part of Canadian culture.

After flipping through the June issue of Canadian House & Home, these photos brought back the memories of sleeping in our cabin's hall way just outside my parents' room.

It would be wonderful to still have that cottage (which was originally owned by my great grandmother) and put these beautiful ideas to work in it.

Hoping you are all having a warm, sunny Wednesday like we are.

xo

luv,

~dee

delish magazine...

Friend and fellow blogger, Catherine Basso from British Columbia, Canada has begun a part of her new journey as a writer for a section of this beautiful magazine: Delish.

It is geared to modern women with a progressive outlook on life.

You will definitely want to take a peek!

I like how Tamara Komuniecki, (Editor-in-Chief), worded it,

"Delish is hip, not hipster. Witty, not obnoxious. Interesting, not self-conscious, and practical. It won't glorify Hollywood standards of beauty and thinness. It won't revel in gossip. It will celebrate true efforts made by real people to live consciously, responsibly and joyously. It will offer information and stories in all areas of life: Live, Work, Look, Feel, Go, Care and Be. It will encourage its readers to, as its tagline says, Live like you mean it."

So proud of you Cat!

Happy Tuesday and go check it out!

xoxo

luv,

~dee

tell me this wasn't the best shin-dig ever, people.....

Those cute feet in positively perfect shoes belong to miss barb herself!

Me with one of the cutest girls in Greenville, SC

xo

I felt like I was Alice in Wonderland last night!

My love did slip away from work a few minutes early and whisk me away to Knack Studios in Greenville, SC for the best shin-dig ever!

Thank you, honey for being the sweetest guy ever!

I am now completely inspired for the months ahead that dreams do become real.

Barb of Knack Studios is an incredible, inspired and creative woman who began all of this in her garage and now has the most fairytale like spaces to work in as well as an Etsy shop. Barb's work in transforming furniture from sometimes the ugly to the some of the most beautiful pieces I have ever seen, much reminds me of the work of our Creator in my life.

Her eye for design is intricate and full of gorgeous colours.

She takes each piece and gives it soul and purpose again.

After that little cloud nine of an evening I feel like our little 2 year old Bella dancing and spinning about!

Thank you J&B, for the delicious drinks afterward!

You both make me beam.

We love your sweet little family....

You are all so wonderful!

I also fully loved running into the very beautiful and creative; Michelle of Blue Moss and the lovely; Lilly of Lilly Pottery who is so full of fun it is crazy.

Everyone there made the Knack shin-dig incredible!

I feel so lucky to have arrived safely and enjoyed the evening to the fullest.

(even if I did kind of break some laws and sound barriers to make it there)

Now that is an awesome way to start this weekend!

Happy weekend friends!

xoxo

luv,

~dee

lunch with a sweet friend...

I had a sweet time yesterday for lunch with little Bella and my adorable friend, Faith.

It is awesome to find a kindred spirit when your sister and family are thousands of miles away.

Faith is definitely that for me.

I love having girlfriends who even when you haven't been around them in a long time, the moment you get together, you would never know you were ever apart.

It is so great to find someone to giggle and talk with that is so relaxed and full of zest for life.

Thanks for lunch and making Bella act silly, friend!

Happy weekend!

Hoping you get together with good friends and enjoy!

xoxo

luv,

~dee

whisk me away please...

So badly wishing I could be here in an hour....................

To party with this talented friend...............











at her amazing shin dig where she is giving away this gorgeous creation of hers'

It is tonight from 5pm-8pm.

You never know....

maybe a miracle will happen and my love will come home early and whisk me away for the last few minutes of the evening! 

I would most certainly feel like I was in heaven.

If you are in the area, make sure you go!!

xo

dreaming about coffee bars again....

Once again I find myself re-visiting our coffee shop/gallery dream (more details on this in our blog's sidebar under "our faith" and in this post) as I looked over Kerstin's post and link on this wonderful coffee bar in Hanover, Germany, simply called, 'BAR' run by a very talented dutch lady; Isabelle. 

Kerstin says Isabelle meets her taste exactly and if her coffee and sweets are as good as the decor, then my thought is it would meet mine exactly too.

I love finding little spots like this one to inspire and keep our dream alive.

Just add some artwork and evening classes and it would definitely fit in with our idea of a future cafe/gallery.

Thank you for the introduction and lovely post, Kerstin.

xo

Happy Thursday, friends!

xoxo

luv,

~dee

our drippy yard...

 It has been raining here for the past few days.  I am not complaining at all.  

I love what the rain does for our yard.  Everything seems to be growing faster and becoming richer in colour.  I love it!

If I wasn't feeling so ill today, I would be enjoying it even more.

I love the feeling of rain pattering down on my head.  My skin feels younger and my hair even feels softer after a walk in the rain but I better not test this out today because my throat is burning and my nose is all stuffed up.

I am not sure that a walk in the rain would be in my best interest this morning, so for now I will sit and look at the photos I took of our drippy yard on Monday and enjoy.

Hoping you see the beauty I see in this rainy weather too and feel refreshed.

xoxo

luv,

~dee