around the house

1. reading. latest finds from the library.
2. washing. prepping the fresh ramps for a pesto.
3. arranging. a peek at josh's work space. 

metropolitan museum of art

you know a trip to new york city would not be complete without a museum visit. the metropolitan museum of art is what our family of twelve decided upon. my brother-in-law researched tours we could take and found a company called art smart tours. joanna was our private guide for two hours around the museum and i would highly recommend it. she had a PhD in art history and made the tour interesting for all ages. we could ask any questions and she made it so relevant and current to our lives. i swear if i would have taken a tour like this when i was a senior in high school she would have inspired me to major in art history. thanks, joanna!

easter in new york city

our family of four met josh's parents and his brother's family of six in new york city for easter weekend. it was the first trip to new york city for k+r. i was waiting with bated breath to see how they would react to the stimulation, crowds, beauty, architecture, design, entertainment, good eats, and culture. would it be crash and burn or would it light their little five-year-old flames? 

well, k cried when we left and said "can't we stay another day?" bless her heart. (clearly not knowing how much a hotel night costs in the big apple:)and r exclaimed the first day we were there, "new york city is my most favorite state." (i love this age because the difference between a city and state is a little confusing.) so i guess you can say new york city delivered like she always does. 

two little girls found the magic in the city by visiting the central park zoo, walking by the plaza hotel where eloise lives, slurping up big bowls of homemade fettuccine alfredo in little italy with gelato cones for dessert, playing hide-and-go seek with daddy in bryant park and riding the carousel (that looked like it was plucked from paris), eating new york pizza, watching matilda the musical on broadway while sharing a bag of twizzlers, walking through chelsea market, the highline, falling asleep on their cousin's lap at dinner, visiting the metropolitan museum of art, and last but not least slathering syrup all over their pancakes with little individual jars from the hotel's continental breakfast (they couldn't believe they got their own personal jar of syrup). 

it was a different trip to the city then josh and i ever experienced. no paula rubenstein. no john derian. lots of sweets and syrup. but i got to see my girls' eyes light up with wonderment and awe with the new experiences they made. i would take that any day. their happiness is really what fills me up and makes me smile these days.

coastal maine botancial garden

"When the ground was partially bare of snow, and a few warm days had dried its surface somewhat, it was pleasant to compare the first tender signs of the infant year just peeping forth with the stately beauty of the withered vegetation which had withstood the winter — life-everlasting, goldenrods, pinweeds, and graceful wild grasses, more obvious and interesting frequently than in summer even, as if their beauty was not ripe till then; even cotton-grass, cat-tails, mulleins, johnswort, hard-hack, meadow-sweet, and other strong-stemmed plants, those unexhausted granaries which entertain the earliest birds — decent weeds, at least, which widowed Nature wears...It brings back the summer to our winter memories, and is among the forms which art loves to copy, and which, in the vegetable kingdom, have the same relation to types already in the mind of man that astronomy has. It is an antique style, older than Greek or Egyptian. Many of the phenomena of Winter are suggestive of an inexpressible tenderness and fragile delicacy. We are accustomed to hear this king described as a rude and boisterous tyrant; but with the gentleness of a lover he adorns the tresses of Summer." 
-Henry David Thoureau

-all photos by joshua tompkins except #12 by molly ruth:)

around the house

what the pictures don't say: it has been one of those survival weeks. where the girls and i are sick and you just try to get by by putting forth the minimal amount of effort because you feel like your head is going to explode. 
-kleenex with aloe has been our friend. 
-watching lupita's accceptance speech was a lovely and beautiful thing. 
-farnsworth museum art camp for the girls during winter vacation in february brought out their creating, crafting and cleverness skills that i wish i could bring out of them everyday as a mama.
-i got my auction on. i have to stay away. oh, the prices and the rush of raising your number in the air to place a bid. and hearing the history of the piece and who it came from and how they used it. a much more romantic scenario than the ikea shelving units we have.
-a ladies weekend last weekend while the guys went ice fishing needs to be more of a quarterly event than biannual. so much fun.
- the stars in the winter sky were breathtaking on the st. george penninsula last weekend. the loudness and stress of the week is drowned out by the stillness and grace of our universe.
-i am going to go cuddle on the couch now with my girls and read books about spring and summer because it's hard for me to remember how is feels.
hope you all have a fabulous winter weekend!

jack frost at our window

artwork courtesy of mother nature + an old house that has poor insulation.

a valentine's day party

a valentine's day party has been the talk of the house with the girls the last month. it has been so much fun bouncing ideas off of them as they get so excited about inviting their new friends they have made in maine. we have met so many nice families in the area and thought it would be a great opportunity to bring everyone together for some food, drink, heart sugar cookie decorating and valentine making.

these photos were taken before our guests arrived. with 38 people coming i wanted to have hands free for hugs, drink dispensing, heart making and icing and sprinkle decorating.  

more shelving from ikea

moving from a small apartment in newport, rhode island to this house in maine we were really lacking in the shelving department. if we found a natural artifact or piece of art from our travels in rhode island it usually got tucked away in the attic where it was forgotten about for three years. it was like christmas morning during the move when we started to unpack and unearth the small objects that have a story and hold a special place in our hearts.

 

i searched the internet, pinterest, garage sales, and antique stores for a large shelving unit to display these smalls. enter ikea. black metal storage that has glass shelves for under $100 and is reminiscent of french industrial. ummm, yes. i'll take it. no one had to talk me into these vittsjo shelves.

books contained

from piles of chaos when we moved in...

to this:                   

 

i priced an elfa storage system for this wall and it was ten times the price as the ikea algot shelving system. so guess what my bargain hunting, cost cutting, always up for a deal self did? i went with the ikea shelving and it was just what we wanted for the space.