Lovely Times With Lovely Friends

Landon and I had the pleasure of having two of my college girl friends over for the weekend. It is so nice to be in a larger apartment where we can actually let people stay over comfortably. We spent the weekend exploring Indianapolis....Farmer's Market where I got some fresh Basil, City Market, which isn't open for the season yet we realized, Broadripple, where we need to find the secret to parking, and so much more!

We bought some barstools from World Market and are very pleased with how well they match our wooden table and chairs. At the Fashion Mall at Keystone, we found some beautiful china knobs for our refurbished desk at Anthropologie...LOVE that store! Even though many things are way out of my price range, I love going in and just looking and getting some great design ideas. So inspiring.
We topped off the day by meeting two other friends at the Cheesecake Factory for some delicious treats.

I edited some highlights of our weekend for you to enjoy. Some of the photos were taken by Landon and my friend Ballard.

Cheers,

Leah

"I count myself in nothing else so happy
As in a soul rememb'ring my good friends."
- William Shakespeare

Projects

I am making some progress with various art projects I've been working on. It is my goal for this year to build up my collection of projects and finally launch the Etsy store I've been wanting to for quite some time. I'll start off with some photographs, posters, embroidery, and fabric work, then just see where it goes from there.

Etsy is such a wonderful website to find amazing pieces, plus it encourages and supports local artists and handmade items. It reminds me of when I studied the Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th century in college. I love the fact that there is a trend towards handmade items in our culture today...so refreshing!

So here's a sampling of some things (mostly photographs) I've been working on for my collection. I've been working on projects that I'd love to see in my own home, and I've been inspired by natural, antique, clean, and slightly vintage elements. These are some rough sketches for now which I'll keep working on and finishing up. I think I'm going frame hunting next week.

Cheers,

Leah

Good Health, Good Luck, and Happiness

We've never been big on celebrating St. Patrick's day, but I felt like having a fun night, and the holiday made a good reason to do something special.

I surprised Landon with a nice and romantic dinner complete with Frank Sinatra and candles. We had spaghetti with homemade cherry and sun-dried tomato meat sauce, fresh strawberries and bananas, and some sparkling juice. For dessert, I made Irish Cream Brownies and some delicious Irish Cream coffee. The coffee was so good and easy to make, so I'll pass along the recipe here. I used Bailey's, but if that's not your cup of tea then Irish Cream syrup makes a great substitute.

We're headed up to my sister's over the weekend, and she's saving us some real St. Patrick's day feasting of corned beef and cabbage, so we'll do it all again!! But what's not to love about good food, good friends, and good music??

















For each petal on the shamrock
This brings a wish your way -
Good health, good luck, and happiness
For today and every day.
~Author Unknown

Cheers,

Leah

Spring Love

One of my favorite places to look for beautiful things is the Ruche website. They have amazing clothes and accessories with such a fresh and simple look. Here are some of my favorites from their new spring collection. So inspiring.












I'm taking it easy today. The sun is out, the birds are singing, and it's so lovely. Landon has the car today, so I might go for a walk and enjoy some free time. I just accepted a job and I'll start working full time in April, so I'm trying to enjoy these last days without working.

Listening to Rogue Wave and making some tea then doing my crosswords. Tonight I think I'm going to surprise Landon with a special dinner...we're celebrating St. Pat's day on Saturday with my sister and brother-in-law, so I thought I'd just do a nice dinner tonight.

Love the spring time!!!

Cheers,

Leah

So Lately...

Landon and I have enjoyed some quiet times at home lately. We love lazy weekends with not a lot pressing on us. This past weekend we did venture out though and enjoyed watching the new Alice in Wonderland which was very good I thought. Tim Burton is so artistic and original and we love his movies. Since we live in a bigger city now, there are movie times of plenty, so we went to the 10:30am showing on Saturday. I know, I know, but it was actually the best time to see a movie on the weekend. No kids running around or talking, empty parking lot for our spot of choice, and maybe ten or so other viewers in the theater who were all over the age of 50. I say yes to that!

After some window shopping and buying a box of thin mints (best cookies ever) from the little girl scouts, Landon took me to Maggiano's, a nice Italian place down the street from our apartment. We weren't very hungry, so we got what we never get when we eat out...appetizers and dessert! It was so wonderful to sit back in an oversized booth with my lover and enjoy some *light* fine dining. We had some wonderful Stuffed Mushrooms and Bruschetta to start, then a Cappuccino, Tiramisu and Chocolate Zuccotto cake. So good!! We definitely splurged and may have wiped out our entertainment fund for next week as well, but I told Landon it was totally worth it! Ah, but sometimes it's nice to get a little fancy.

Now for a week of accomplishments I hope. I'm waiting to hear back about a job, today is grocery day, and I have some photo and graphics projects that I need to finish up and get printed. Also I must finish my embroidered pillows I've been slowly finishing. This year, I have decided to only have a few projects going at once and try to finish one before I start on another. It's really hard because I get inspired so easily and want to make all sorts of things. But it's good to finish what I start and only have a small plate-full of projects.

I leave you with some shots of one of our weekend nights at home.

Cheers,

Leah

primitive

More and more I am drawn to primitive and antique decor. I love country styles with rough wood and neutral textures, and I'm always keeping my eye out for lovely items of old. Today I came across this wonderful blog of the Barn House Marketplace.
They have such beautiful and unique items for sale. Love all of these!!

Cheers,

Leah

Eastern Love

The road trip I took this week was amazing! We saw so many wonderful places and friends and had some fabulous food as well.

Some things we saw:

Pennsylvania
Hershey (which really does smell like chocolate)
Philly
Liberty bell
Independence Hall
Elfreth's Alley
Betsy Ross's house
Christ's Church
Ben Franklin's grave
Art Musem steps


New Jersey
The apartment where my parents lived when Hannah and I were little babes
Princeton University - where my momma worked
Princeton Seminary - where my daddy studied
Thomas Sweet - where my parents would go for yummy treats
Albert Einstein's home

New York
BreAnn, Kratzer, Kaylyn, baby Kai, and my brother-in-law
Downtown Corning wich is so cute
Mark Twain's grave
Downtown Elmira
Beautiful Upstate New York

Some things we ate:

Best and most authentic Philly cheesesteak
Dunkin Donuts twice and Krispy Kreme once
Brick oven thin crust pizza
French Kiss ice cream from Thomas Sweet, so delicious even though I don't like ice cream that much.

Wonderful trip with some beautiful girls. These are the things I'll cherish when I've grown old.
I'm so glad to be home with my husband now, I missed him every day. He bached out while I was gone and worked so hard. Looking forward to a relaxing weekend at home...homemade food, hot tea, good books, goods shows, quiet...the best. :)

Leaving you with some of my favorite images from the trip.

Cheers

Leah