Whoops. I accidentally took nearly the entire summer off from writing. I didn’t mean for that to be the case, but with selling our house (yay!), moving in with my family (yay, right? yay!) while we look for a new house, continue to NOT find a new house (boooooooooo!), launch a dog training DVD (yay!), and just try to squeeze summer for all it’s worth, there just hasn’t been much time. Phew. I’m tired just writing that.

But, well, it might be this big glass of wine, but I think I’ve missed being here. And my goodness, there’s so much to share! Let me just start with what’s on my mind: housing. I need a house. Specifically, a four or five bedroom house with a mudroom and a barn (maybe), and a few acres, with a killer kitchen. All for less than one million dollars. In the Portland area (because I think we’ve made some headway on narrowing down our search- bye bye mid-coast!). And wouldn’t you know it! That’s a tall order around these parts.
We’ve seen the good and we’ve seen the very very bad and then we’ve gotten in the car and driven back to my parent’s house. Sigh.

I could go on and on with a dash of pessimism, but let’s do focus on the positive. Here are some actual houses that we’ve looked at in the greater Portland area and not purchased:

Didn’t take any shots of this house but was taken with its workshop outside. Beautiful in its order and cleanliness.

And every ski was in its place. This house was a little too remote for my comfort, but even so, I don’t think I could have upheld this level of neatness.

There were two kitchens in this house and this one- if you can believe it- was the best one. Imagine moving in here with two small children? Yeah, neither could I. This house ended up selling for under 100k, however, so might have been a good investment if we’d had the stomach for it.

Loved the curved walls in this house. Really nice detail here that you don’t see in most contemporary builds.

Love.

Speaking of love, this house had a gorgeous butler’s pantry (that isn’t well-represented here). Love. Need.

A very out-of-date and yet very charming bathroom.

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief foray into Portland, Maine real estate. There is more (oh so much more!) where this came from.

Just a few scenes from our Friday morning.

There’s a lot of color outside right now and it seemed like a good idea to gather it all together in one place. A certain two-year-old thought this was a brilliant idea and headed out into the yard to find each individual color for our collection.

Thanks to Liz for the idea!

Hope there’s lots of color in your weekend!

Mondays find me with just one baby on hand, a day for me and Zella. More often than not, Mondays this summer have been rainy and cool. Not exactly days you want to spend out doors. Not if you’re me anyway.
Today, glorious today, is hot and sunny. Just the day to be outside in the garden, picking blueberries and soaking up the sun.

I love how we can harvest blueberries for at least a month during the summer. Seeing all the large, ripe blues is exciting, but what about all the potential in the greens? I can just about taste it.

Thank you for sitting and playing happily. And for wearing this ridiculous hat.

Crazy pink poppy.

View from the asparagus.

I love this stuff.

You might have guessed that I’m taking a little time off from blogging and you would be entirely correct. Maybe it’s the big move, maybe it’s that it’s finally summer around these parts but I’ve needed to be away from the computer for a while. You understand, right? I mean, aren’t you reading this at the beach?
But don’t fret, I’ll still be checking in every now with little updates such as this:

Neil and I have recently had a Return to Date Night, starring: Dinner and a Movie! This makes us very happy. Here’s us at Miyake (no website but don’t let that stop you from going. it’s good. real good.) just before I dug in to the best sushi I’ve ever had (and an hour or so before we wasted the rest of our night on Bruno).

Close up:

Date Night Sushi Excitement!

Side note(s): Ugh. Look at my hair! Need cut. Need color. Need help! Funny to see that Cassie is going through a similar struggle, though she’s at least pointed in the right direction. Go short, Cass! (and then help me find my cut.)

And um, since when did date night call for a polo shirt covered up by a sweatshirt? Sad. So sad.

Things got pretty busy around here with moving out of our sweet little house into our temporary country house last week. Oh the packing! And now, Oh the unpacking!

I got nothin’ but photos. Have a great great great sunny weekend.

Loves Nectarines

Loves his sister

Loves trucks