Spring

As the possibility of snow recedes farther into the distance, my optimism grows. Spring will arrive, someday. And when it does, I will be prepared with this A.P.C. tank.

Poached

I poached an egg freestyle last night, y'all. Actually, three of them. With the help of this thekitchn post, I managed not to repeat my previous poaching disasters.

The only note I have to add to their article is that when the egg plummets immediately to the bottom of the pot, do not panic. Just leave it be.

Maybe that's more of a personal note.

Optimistic

A bit chilly for sandals, I know, but I've always had a touch of Pollyanna about me. What do you think?


from Repetto

My jury is out on this one.

LBD

I'm on the hunt for a little, black dress to wear to a wedding. Here are two contenders:


From Chloe

From Phillip Lim

I already have a black dress that would be perfectly serviceable, but I'm having a good time looking for a dress to go with my kicky, new haircut.

The Old Switcheroo

After reading this recommendation from Nigella Lawson for Chanel lipstick in Mythic, I visited the nearest Chanel counter to give it a whirl. The salesperson thought it was a hoot that I was accepting make-up advice from a cookbook author, but then proceeded to tell me her husband's recipe for chili.


P.S. - The lipstick is fabulous.

Double Win

Mr. Lime and I enjoyed a double header of new recipes from The Kitchn last night, Chilled Gazpacho Andaluz

and Zucchini Butter on a split baguette.

I highly recommend both. Two successful, new summer recipes that involve minimal, if any, stove time. Double win.

The Grand Unveiling

I finished my sweater last night. Which is to say, I finally attached the buttons. Forgive the terrible picture. The heat has apparently affected my eyesight. Or my camera.

Catbird

I'm a little bit in love with this ring at Catbird.

Also with these stitch markers.

See? I'm not all diamonds and pearls.

Tiny Buttons

I'm on the hunt for sweet buttons for my little sweater. Here are some contenders from Etsy:

Wooden buttons from Overspill's Shop


Butterflies from Wholeport's shop


Birds from stefaniexu's shop


Or these darlings from appleandeggs shop

Too many cute options! I don't know how I'm going to decide.

More Baby Knits

I got to do some more work on the sweater over lunch and I just started the placket. I'm really nerding out because I haven't challenged myself knitting-wise in quite a while.

On a knit baby goods note, I'm oddly taken with these two Blabla Kids rattles:




They're named Ukelele and Octavio! Too cute.

Baby Sweater

I'm knitting my first baby sweater, Purl Soho's Child Placket Sweater, and it's so much easier than I ever thought it would be! The whole process has me scoping out baby clothes sothat I can pick out my next project.

I'm oddly in love with these Bon Point pants. I wish I could wear them myself:

Actually, I wish I could wear the whole ensemble:

Wedding Dress

I'm told that, at some point during the first year after your wedding, all brides encounter "the dress". The perfect dress. The dress that would have been the one, but didn't exist, or at least didn't exist in your awareness, until it was too late.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present mine:

To be fair, I really enjoyed my actual wedding dress. And, in truth, I'm just not a wedding dress kind of girl. So this is not a big deal at all. I just think it's pretty & wanted to share.

Travel

It's hard to believe that so much time has passed! Mr. Lime and I have been on the road a lot during the past two months; visiting places that begin with the letter "P".

Like this:

And this:

And this:

And I'm delighted to report that we're also planning a trip here:

Box of Fun

Got to work on the Cellular Blanket last night and just giving myself those hours of relaxation was enough to bump me out of my grad school funk. I've been working myself ragged and have consequently been losing perspective on the big picture.

BB & I are celebrating his little cousin's first communion this weekend. I'm so excited for her! Because she'll be receiving about 1,000 bibles and crucifixes, we decided to give her something a little less traditional. We've put together a "box of fun" full of erasers that look like hamsters:


Scented pens:

A diary with a lock:

The obligatory savings bond and a host of stickers, garland, etc.

So much fun!

The Booby Prize

So, I've been accepted into the graduate program that I've applied for. Traditionally, the program accepts four a year, but they've decided to accept me as a fifth. Which means that, if I decide to accept, I will not be offered financial aid. I don't see that there's any way that I can attend given these circumstances. And I suppose I should be flattered that they want me at all, but it does feel like a bit of a booby prize.

Drinking the KoolAid

I stumbled into the Saks friends and family event today while picking up a replacement bottle of foundation. And could I leave well enough alone and simply enjoy the savings on my foundation? No. Instead, I also picked up a bottle of their Particuliere nail polish, just like hundreds of ladies before me.


Why am I so on the bandwagon? Because the bandwagon is so darn pretty this spring!

Blankets & Visitors

BB's Mom is coming for a last minute visit and we're so excited. I'm on tidying duty tonight and am mentally assembling menus that I think she'll like. We're lucky because Boston is in bloom and looking particularly pretty. So all we really need in the way of entertainment is to step outside.

I've been hit by the crafting bug again lately and am a mere two rows away from completing the monster, cabled baby blanket that I started well over a year ago. And I already have my next project queued up. Another baby blanket! ( I swear I'm not expecting.) I randomly checked Erika Knight's Natural Nursery Knits out of the library last week and am completely entranced.


It's the Cellular Blanket that caught my eye.

Pax super totum sanguinarium globum

We survived having the tea party and she-who-must-not-be-named in our fair city, but I must confess that the whole thing has left a bad taste in my mouth. Boston doesn't quite feel the same to me after the madness. Is there any place in this world left where a body can get some peace?

Returns

Had to return the Steven Alan shirt. I ordered it in Large, because on the hanger all of his shirts look teeny tiny to me. But when it arrived, the large was just too large. (Hooray!) So I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of the shirt in Medium. Let's hope I didn't make a mistake.

I also indulged & ordered a tube of Chanel's Rouge Coco in Mademoiselle, the shade that's been taking the blogosphere by storm:


I'm not generally one to be swept up by a make-up trend, but the mania over Mademoiselle has reached such a fever pitch that I figure there must be something to it. None of the stores in Boston have it in stock, but there were plenty available on the Chanel website. Plus they offer free shipping, so it's much cheaper than going through saks.com or bloomingdales.com.

BB & I are home this weekend and I'm hoping that we'll be able to spend it getting our lives in order. The house is a wreck, we have no food and our library books are all overdue. In short, our life is in tumult. Time to take it back.

Yellow

I think that all of the daffodils and forsythia have gotten to me. I ordered this yellow plaid shirt from Steven Alan yesterday:


BB has two yellow plaid shirts that I really like, so I'm sort of copying him. We'll just have to make sure we never wear our yellow shirts on the same day.