kathryn whyte illustrations

(photos: kathryn whyte)

Kathryn Whyte's shop has all these adorable designs and illustrations. I recently ordered one of her magnets for a friend (after finding her here), and her work is just as pretty in person. I guarantee if you order one of her cards it will make you and the recipient very happy.

PS. I have a fun post tomorrow, check back!

scenes from our road trip

Newport, we had a great time visiting your little town. Wish it hadn't rained so much so we could have explored a bit more. But we enjoyed getting bagels + scones each morning from Jonathan's cafe, eating fish tacos + green salsa at Salty Dog, and taking pictures of everything from beautiful mansions to the inside of your J.Crew (when the sales lady wasn't looking).

And P, we're so proud of you. Your ceremony made me tear up and that was just when the drums started playing before you even marched in. So glad we could spend time with you, and thanks again for indulging me with so many photo-ops all weekend. Please visit soon.

summer plates

I was at Crate & Barrel recently and, among other things, liked these colorful appetizer plates. They're just so cute and simple, it was tough to walk out of there without a stack of 'em.

his+hers: jeni's ice cream

One of our last stops on the way home from our road trip was in Columbus, Ohio and specifically, to visit Jeni's Ice Creams. It's as cute as I'd imagined, located on a downtown street amid shops, restaurants with people dining out front on the sidewalk, and locals hanging out on benches.



Jeni's has so many flavors to choose from! Lots of unique combinations, and best of all they use seasonal flavors and milk from local cows. And since we usually stick to our favorites wherever we go, Q chose a strawberry flavor while I stayed in the chocolate/caramel family. So, so good.



I loved the attention to detail in the shop and am so glad we finally got a chance to see it in person. Seriously, if you're ever near Ohio, make the visit!

morning in manhattan

On our way to Newport, Q made a spontaneous detour to Manhattan. We'd been driving all night long (my crazy idea to maximize time - travel through the night + take turns driving/sleeping), and happened to be going through White Plains, New York at 7 in the morning. I started the "what if's..." and before I knew it Q was headed into downtown Manhattan, right through Central Park.

We paid $40 to park for two hours, jumped out of the car with no time to change clothes or put on a pair of contacts. We walked through Central Park, took lots of photos, stood under a big tree while it rained, and ate a really good bagel. Our first ever visit to NYC, and it was pretty awesome.

hand drawn maps

There is something so charming about hand drawn maps, and illustrator Bianca Tschaikner recently shared some of these cute map creations with me. She is super talented and I like her woodsy style, it reminds me of camping or traveling. Very fitting as we're on the road right now for our first trip of the summer (hello, Rhode Island!). See more of her awesome illustrations here.

vintage dining table

We have a new (old) dining table! A happy little surprise found in storage at my parents' house (after searching for one inspired by this post). I'm liking the round shape and mid-century style legs it has. And, it's the table my parents started out with when they first got married.

The chairs are just borrowed, but I'm thinking of these Olle chairs or Erland chairs from Ikea. Or, thrifting some if I'm (suddenly) patient.

dad's day

Happy father's day to our wonderful Dads - the one who travels (Q's) and the one who sails (mine). It was only fitting that we missed Q's Dad yesterday because he is in Kenya. But we did spend a great afternoon with mine, playing tennis, grilling out, and of course, talking about the fun sailing ahead on his Hobie Cat this summer.

PS. hope you had a happy father's day too.

happy weekend + headed East

In just a few days we're packing up the car for a road trip out East! Going to see my brother's Navy graduation in Newport, RI. We're not that familiar with the East coast so we'd love any ideas for must-see places along the way from Michigan (bonus if it involves great, local food).

One place I'm already excited to visit is the Tiverton Four Corners village (thanks to Caroline's tip). I know Q is just thrilled at the thought of tagging along with me to a town filled with endless shops, historic homes, + farms for a day. Thankfully he's easily bribed by ice cream.

buy local (tees)

(photo by amanda jane)

It's hard not to have a soft spot for these Michigan tees designed by Amanda Jane (who happens to be an adorable, sweet blogger too). They come in a version for him and for her. Tempted to get us a pair - we could show support for buying local and be that awesome couple who match.

weekend adventures

A few highlights from our weekend...
Q made it home from training in WI, so Saturday was spent together: afternoon date to see Midnight in Paris and a trip to Randazzo's fruit market to load up on produce. I liked the movie! It was funny, quirky, charming, and had an interesting theme behind it all about nostalgia & creativity.

Sunday we spent most of the day shooting with Andrea in Ohio at the Botanical Gardens (it was so pretty there), and then for Q's birthday surprise I'd gotten tickets to the local Mud Hens baseball game. Nothing huge, just a fun minor league game for us to check out, eat junk food at (pretzel for me, hot dog for him), and say hello to the start of summer.

peonies & weekend

Happy weekend! I'll be meeting up with Andrea in Ohio to do a little shoot for a fun online magazine, and am hoping to surprise Q for his birthday with something I planned while we're in the area. Here are four fun links for the weekend...

Sunset tennis!
Melanie met got to hang with Nate Berkus (and looked darn cute)
Kind of really want to see this movie (more on Monday!)
Federer vs. Nadal book match

(photo above: peonies! from my parents' house. I can't get enough of them.)

milk paint makeover

(photos by Jen Jafarzadeh L’Italien)

Jen from the Haystack Needle gave this daybed for her nursery a seriously charming makeover using milk paint and some vintage knobs - I am so impressed and inspired by this, isn't it amazing? She shared the full tutorial and process right here, and you'd never guess which well-known (and budget friendly) piece she started with.

vintage books

It's fun to find interesting old things around your parents' house. Last weekend while visiting mine I noticed these two books: my Mom had her classic 1960s copy of Joy of Cooking out on the kitchen counter, and my Dad had his organic garden book from the '70s sitting by his favorite lounge chair (he is all about his garden lately). Both are so timelessly designed...vintage books are the best.

his+hers: making dinner

Although I make most of our meals, Q is so helpful in the kitchen and we've had some fun adventures in cooking together. Right after we got married we were excited to make an indulgent meal from my Barefoot Contessa cookbook one night - steaks with fried onion rings - and ended up burning the oil, setting off the smoke detectors in our tiny apartment (so embarrassing), and scorching our pan black. I may have cried...

Last month, we tried frying again for the first time and it was a success. We made fish n' chips (with fresh wild caught cod). Q fried the fish and potato slices, and I made ramen noodle coleslaw to go alongside. It felt like take-out at home - one of our best meals yet! We made it again later that week. Here are links to the recipes if you'd like: beer battered fish; ramen noodle slaw.

(His + Hers is a weekly series that Brooke (from Pure & Noble) and I started as a way of sharing random peeks into our daily lives. Feel free to join in on your own blog if you'd like!)

happy weekend

Now that June is finally here, I am all about everything summer inspired, like flowers, ice cream (always), and the color pink...here are just a few of those things I bookmarked online this week. Hope you have a sweet weekend ahead.

1. how to make a simple market tote with braided handles.
2. a new summer flavor + pretty typography from Jeni's ice creams.
3. Lisa Rupp's pretty new illustrated dishtowels.

diy twine light (finished!)

We finally finished that DIY twine light and wow, it actually worked! Maybe it's because I let it dry for, oh, three months while it sat in our front closet. The neutral colors in the room make it hard to photograph because they blend together when you try to take a photo, but in real life it's definitely more defined, and also a whole lot less perfect looking. But that's okay, I LOVE our slightly lopsided, $5 twine light because we made it from scratch. I also never want to make one again.

Above is the photo I shared before of it in progress. I thought it might need more layers of twine to make it sturdier, but it was a huge mess before so I didn't feel like doing more. So I crossed my fingers and deflated the bouncy ball. And the twine didn't collapse! Then we used a cord kit from Ikea and a plate thingy from Lowe's to hang it (after a previous failed attempt at hanging it with fishing wire and thumbtacks...classy). Here is another view of it in our living room...

Have you tried making one of these before? Mine is definitely far from "perfect" in real life so don't be discouraged if yours doesn't look like the photos you've seen of these everywhere. I actually felt ten times better about mine once I took photos of it and noticed that most of the defects are hardly noticeable, just like the pictures I'd seen! Another example of how real life is never as perfect as it can seem in photos on blogs or in magazines.