...and now, back to our regular programming :)

Greetings, faithful readers! I apologize for my long absence. Classes took over my life with a fury and I've been scrambling to catch up on everything since the semester ended. My dear husband deserves a lot of credit because he is the one who kept the house going and took care of our son Gabriel while I was caught up in homework madness... as well as when I was in a mini recovery hibernation :)

Nero, our newest addition :)

Summer is finally here, though (hooray!) and we're determined to enjoy every moment of it with lots of playing outside, reading, and other summery things. A couple of weeks ago we adopted a puggle(!) who my husband promptly named Nero, for Nero Wolfe. He is a sweet-tempered and sometimes, okay, often mischievous pup ;) He's full grown weighing in at about 28 lb, but the vet doesn't think he's much more than a year old. He and our kitty Keats didn't care for each other at first, as expected, but now they constantly play together and on occasion even cuddle.


I have a looong summer reading list waiting on me, as I've mentioned before, and so far I've re-read Wicked by Gregory Maguire, read The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, re-read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (obviously! ;) and now I'm working on Northanger Abbey. Next I'm going to read Son of a Witch, Wicked's sequel. After that... hmm, not sure. What are YOU reading right now? I'm very curious, so make sure you post below! :)


I also started embroidering again, playing around with some of my own thread doodles ("designs" just sounds too pretentious haha ;) as well as some vintage ones. It never fails that I have all of these great ideas, especially at night, and then when it actually comes to executing them I'm not sure what to do. I'm also always afraid of ruining materials, so crafty experimenting scares me. Well, do or die, I'm determined to complete SOMEthing this week and post a picture. This is part of my scaredy-cat crafters anonymous therapy ;) What project(s) are you working on or have planned? What do you do when you're feeling intimidated by a project you've taken on?


I have found a few more favorite pieces on Etsy (of course!), so without further ado, here they are! I hope you love them as much as I do :)

Coffee Time by lauraamiss

"Creative Life" print by hellocherie 

Dream Big hand embroidery by merriweathercouncil