We had a quiet birthday celebration for Claire. Birthday cinnamon rolls and then mille feuille after dinner.  A display of sisterly love. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR CLAIRE E.

Here's my woodland poppy looking big and happy. This is the plant mom brought with her on a plane trip from home. I want a bunch of them. A few weeks ago Jennifer and mom came my way on their way to see Jenna. We celebrated mom's birthday with a carrot cake. A new recipe…

…and a couple questionable plaster walls. I completed a painting project today. One of the few spaces left in the house that I have not coated in my choice of color. The front closet – by our front door. The plaster on the outside wall of this closet has been peeling and ugly since we…

I have more photos to share from Japan – the details. There is cute everywhere – even on serious security messages at train stations there are cute characters. Don't get your arm caught in the train door or you will be a sad bunny. Kitten delivery truck. Also, notice how clean and tidy that street…

For the second part of our trip we went west to a city called Kanazawa and gosh I took a lot of photos. Our ride on the high speed train was peaceful with a surprising amount of mountain views. Kanazawa gave us a chance to see traditional Japanese architecture and garden design which I was…

Somewhere along the line travel has became our family's thing. We had not taken the girls to Asia (other than Bea and Brian's trip to a wedding in Singapore). So somehow Japan was decided on for spring break. Now I feel really grateful that I got to know Japan a little bit. What a unique…

Recently I've been soaking in any bit of warm weather and early signs of spring. Two bunches of daffodils from Trader Joe's – only six bucks! I've been doing some sewing – you can tell by looking at my slippers. I tried a new pattern – the Honey Dress from Merchant and Mills. I found…

A couple weeks ago Bea had a long weekend so she and Brian headed off to Costa Rica. Claire and I didn't feel up for the long flights over just a few days. Anyway from what I gather their first day was a bit frustrating because they had a struggle getting to a hiking area…

I'm always making things or thinking of making things. Here's what I've been doing lately. In my never ending quest to use up fabric scraps I've been working on a quilt. Using mostly 2 inch squares that I've been cutting up – along with bands of dark turquoise fabric. At first I thought I was…