Image sources, from top left: London Townhouses / Blue Maxi Dress / Blue Ombre Nails / Blueberry Earrings
Image Sources from top left: Grey and Turquoise Dress / Peacock Bracelet / Mangroves – source unknown / 1950’s Paris
The number of fashion rules that I follow is steadily decreasing as I get older (dark navy is almost black, right?) One rule that I obediently follow is “no white before Memorial day.” This goes back to childhood when I clearly remember my mom telling me I couldn’t wear my new white shoes to church until after Memorial Day (no Easter whites for you). Maybe it is a Southern thing?
My current theory is: If you have just come back from a Spring vacation in a tropical land and you want to wear your summer whites to show of your sun kissed skin, do it!! I will be waiting in the wings until my pale (almost purple) skin has seen the light. Which probably won’t be until long after Memorial Day…
In the meantime, I will continue to pine for these summer white dresses.
Image Sources (top to bottom): White Dress with Brown Belt / White dress with pom poms – source unknown / White Maxi / Chiffon Dress
Warmer weather means brighter colors are acceptable (finally) and long, flowy dresses are a must have. Here are some pairings for the new Clementine earrings on the website.
Image sources, from top left: Orange Maxi Dress / Clementine Earrings / Pink and Orange Dress
Certain days call for ball gowns, cake, and jewelry.
Image Sources from top left: Pinterest – unknown / Live View Studios via Wedding Chicks / Icicle Earrings / Lace Dress
Lime green and ocean blue. Bright, but oh so fun! It’s funny how sometimes the naming process for a piece might have very little to do with the photos the inspired it. The lime green and (almost) teal reminded me of a jungle with lush foliage and cool blue water. Yet, as I pulled together other images it was mostly desert cacti. Two drastically different environments served as inspiration for the Jungle Necklace.
Image Sources from top left: Cacti Planters / Jungle Necklace / Flowers by Leaf and Honey via Magnolia Rouge / Sanguaro National Park, Tucson, AZ. Pinterest (original source unknown)/ Samoa
Tropical destinations are on my mind. With spring slowly making an appearance in Maine (I repeat: slowly) the temperature have made me want to jet off to a warmer climate. While playing around with stones, I realized I still had this beautiful aqua Peruvian Opal and immediately focused my energy into making a “warm weather necklace.” Sometimes, day dreaming has to suffice instead of travel!
Image Sources: Turks and Caicos Necklace /Swing Porch / Lindsay Madden Photography via Style me Pretty
Image Sources from top left: Seafoam Gown / Gold ring / Seafoam Bracelet / Fresh Almonds / Canoe / Moth
The Yellow Umbrella earrings needed to be made. I was looking through my large pile of magazines (note: there is always a large pile of magazines in my room) and found the Longchamp ad with Alexa Chung. Bright yellow! Turquoise! Spring! How can this be made into jewelry? I browsed my boards on Pinterest and came across the Yellow Umbrella photo. It was perfect. The turquoise sea topped off by the circular yellow umbrellas. I used turquoise glass beads as the base in the earrings with yellow bone from South Africa (purchased 7 years ago while studying abroad, just waiting to be used!) as the cluster (or, yellow umbrella) on top. Voila!
Image Sources: Yellow Umbrella Earrings / Pinterest /
Last weekend, we road tripped from Portland, Maine to Connecticut for a sweet bridal shower in honor of my dear friend Kennesaw. Before making the trip down to Connecticut, everyone decided to try on necklaces to match their outfits (it might have had something to do with me…) but I loved how great the necklaces worked with everyones different styles!
Necklaces, from left to right: Flamingo Necklace / Hanoi Necklace / Sea Lavender Necklace
I traveled back home to Virginia for a family wedding a couple weeks ago. While it rained most of the time, I did get to experience all the springtime blooms and even some 70+ degree temperatures! Hard to beat Springtime in Virginia. Maine – I’m waiting…
This was the perfect winter weekend escape. We lucked out and didn’t have to experience Montreals normal Siberia-like winter temperatures. We walked, sampled delicious food and I was too paralyzed to speak one word of French. EXCEPT when we searched for non-alcoholic beer in the convenience store and that…was a disaster. Back to Rosetta Stone I go. As every single person mentioned to us while we were there “you should come back in the summer when it’s warm!” Way to sell your city.
I’ve been flipping through the pages of the Anthro February 2014 catalog for weeks now. It’s probably due to the fact that we have had close to three feet of snow dumped on us throughout that time, and the warm and bright colors of Vietnam brighten my day. As I was searching for more photos from this amazing shoot, I came across the term cultured bohemian. I just love it. Enjoy the video, hopefully it will brighten your winter days as well.
This was probably the best impromptu photo shoot I’ve ever seen. Dianna makes any jewelry even more beautiful, but I think my Fall/Winter designs fit her especially well. Of course, I’m a bit biased.
Boulevard Earrings – Lapis
Mint Mojito Earrings
Baja Necklace
Queen Anne’s Lace Earrings
Stonewall Necklace
Elaine Earrings
Image sources, from top left: Boulevard Earrings – Lapis / Mint Mojito Earrings / Baja Necklace / Queen Annes Lace Earrings / Stonewall Necklace / Elaine Earrings – Tourmaline
A little over three years ago, I spent three wonderful months working on an organic farm in Tuscany. It was a life changing experience, and I’m sure there will be a future blog post about it. Today, I want to focus on the recent adventures of my fellow farm interns and dear friends, Diane and Eric. They are currently working on Four Seasons Farm, in Cape Rosier on the Blue Hill peninsula. I visited them in mid-September for a lovely weekend filled with fresh vegetables, wine, pickled and fermented goodness and general farm loveliness.
My first full weekend in Portland I was invited on a sunset cruise around the Harbor. This photo happened. I’m in love.
One of my favorite activities of fall is picking apples. It always brings back childhood memories of heading up to the orchard searching for the perfect apples and always indulging in their freshly baked apple cider donuts. Since I’ve made the move North, my childhood apple orchard is far away, but Maine is not without many new options to choose from.
We decided to make delicious apple butter from our fresh apples. It really turned out like applesauce, but I still love it. It was the first time we made apple butter so I didn’t get any photos of the process. I did snap some photos of the laborious chopping and peeling process, which we enjoyed by sipping Farnum Hill cider from New Hampshire, dry and perfect for a sunny afternoon! Nothing beats a crisp September day in Maine.
Saying goodbye to our Nations capital and moving north to Portland, Maine!
Image Source: Pink Lemonade Design
This past Sunday, we visited Union Market. If you live near Washington D.C, you need to visit this fantastic place. Modeled off of New York City’s Chelsea Market, Union Market features an interchangeable number of food stands selling anything from flowers to Korean Tacos (TacoKorean, best ever.) It is by far one of my favorite places in this city.
Union Market hosts a small farmers market on Sundays. Thinking that this Sunday would produce many fresh tomatoes (hot and humid August’s redeeming quality) we walked over to the market. Not only did we get beautiful heirloom tomatoes but also fresh blackberries! They looked delicious but tasted was well, less than perfect. So we decided to make jam! It was incredibly easy, quick, and tastes delicious! One suggestion, you might consider straining the berries before cooking them down. The jam is pretty full of seeds, which I didn’t mind, but someone might!
Recipe
1 Pint fresh blackberries
1 cup sugar
3 teaspoons lemon juice
1 mason jar
Rinse blackberries. Put them into a bowl and mash them up with a potato masher (slotted spoon is a great substitute). Pour blackberry mix into pot and cook on high until mixture boils. After letting boil for a little under a minute, take heat down to a medium simmer. Add lemon juice and stir. Let the mixture simmer until it thickens and the liquid has been reduced. This is really up to the cook whether you would like thin or thick jam. Remember, it will solidify more in the fridge. The whole process should take about 30 minutes!
Because this recipe doesn’t call for canning procedures, the jam should be eaten within a week (or two) Enjoy it on toast, yogurt, inside cupcakes, on top of cake, and of course, ice cream!
