of amity & allure

{etched by sunday morning sunlight}

I miss getting letters in the mail.  There's just something wonderful about reading someone's words written by their own hand and knowing they love you enough to spend the time to compose and craft a letter just for you.  I miss the smooth feel of the envelope in my hands and reading with anticipation to see who sent it. 

via Victoria

Do you remember knowing that a letter was on its way to you?  How it felt to watch the mail everyday waiting for your letter? Do you think that this new generation, with the advent of the internet, MySpace, Facebook and email, will ever know the simple pleasures of beautiful handwriting, special stamps and the knowing that someone is thinking of you enough to write it on paper?  If you were to mail a letter to someone, who would it be and what would it say?

{clingstone}

A friend of mine just sent me an email featuring this gorgeous house knowing how much I would love it.

 

Clingstone, an unusual, 103 year old mansion in Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay, survives through the love and hard work of family and friends.  Henry Wood, the owner, runs the house like a camp: all skilled workers welcome. The Jamestown Boatyard hauls the family's boats and floating dock and stores them each winter in return for a week's use of the house in the summer.  Mr. Wood, a 79-year-old Boston architect, bought the house with his ex-wife Joan in 1961 for $3,600. It had been empty for two decades.

 

Clingstone had been built by a distant cousin, J.S. Lovering Wharton. Mr. Wharton worked with an artist, William Trost Richards, to create a house of picture windows with 23 rooms on three stories radiating off a vast central hall.

 

The total cost of the construction, which was completed in 1905, was $36,982.99.  Mr. Wood is as proud as any parent of his house, and keeps a fat scrapbook of photographs and newspaper clippings that document its best moments. Many of the historic photos he has were provided by the company that insured the house for its original owners.

 

The Newport Bridge is visible from the windows of the Ping-Pong room, to the left of the fireplace.

The house is maintained by an ingenious method: the Clingstone work weekend. Held every year around Memorial Day, it brings 70 or so friends and Clingstone lovers together to tackle jobs like washing all 65 of the windows. Anne Tait, who is married to Mr. Wood's son Dan, refinished the kitchen floor on one of her first work weekends.

 

There are 10 bedrooms at Clingstone, all with indecently beautiful views.

 

The dining room table seats 14. Refinishing the chairs is a task on the list for a future work weekend.

This is now on my list of places to see or visit.  I would love to be a part of a work weekend myself just to be a part of things - history in the making.  Wouldn't it make a lovely B&B?

{the frame of things}

I recently found this picture in a copy of Country Sampler that was in my mother's bathroom.  I absolutely love this idea - how interesting the different colors and textures are and how well they work together.  What a perfect way to reuse some old frames and give a wall a face lift...

 

I stumbled across some flickr photos this morning and spent a bit of time browsing - the black and white photos were my favorite.  Happy Friday! 

{anthropologie surprise}

I posted a while back about my excitement that Anthropologie was FINALLY opening in Western Canada... well, this morning while running some errands at the Mall, to my delight - it's here and it's so beautiful!!

    

After much time lingering over every detail and lovingly caressing every item, here is my small, current wishlist for my kitchen which we are just now finishing the renovations to {before and after pictures to come}:

 

I wanted to see what this pretty dishtowel would look like hung as a cafe curtain above the kitchen sink...

   

Aren't these little beauties wonderful?  Any other ideas for a kitchen?

{my life as a housewife}

They say that the first year of marriage is the hardest, and as B and I celebrated our first anniversary a couple of months ago, we decided that, if that was true, we had it made.  Then, a couple of days later, one of our biggest disagreements occurred.  Clearly, one argument isn't enough to make us rethink our marriage, but it did point to some issues.

I don't think anyone goes into marriage consciously thinking of expectations they have of their spouse but it is something we all do and have.  The problem lies when we don't understand that we have to communicate and discuss these expectations with each other, and when we don't realize that clairvoyance is not a common gift.

 

via Makool

Since my biggest expectation of him is to pay the mortgage, I figure it's the least I can do.

   

{makool loves you}

Dearest Makool,

I love you, too...

{zooey = love}

 

{three generations}

It's my dad's birthday today.  I haven't always had the best relationship with him but suddenly, with the birth of my own little son last fall, it seems extremely important to spend as much time as possible nurturing my own familial relationships and allowing them to know and love my son.  Dad and I don't see each other often due to distance but today at brunch when Grayson was laughing at his funny voices and seeing the grin on Dad's face made the effort, in time and connecting, totally worth it.

  

   

{kitchen in red}

Well, I thought I'd let you all in on my various and multitude of plans to renovate our new house:

Husband and I moved in last August right before we had our baby and now with spring around the corner, I'm itching to make changes {you've been there, right, girls?}.  One of my favorite blogs that is masterful in this area is The Twice Remembered Cottage: One Woman's Cottage Life.  Here is what she did with her kitchen:

  

I love red, I love what Kim did with her kitchen and it's also a very brave thing to do. But, isn't it beautiful? I have way too many options right now that I'm playing with but this is definitely one of them... now if I can only convince Husband! 

I love how this could be referred to as food porn:   

I also love how there is a detailed description of how to make mouthwatering treats and yummy pictures too... although, my attempts never seem to look quite as good...

 

{a is for anthropologie}

So... I was just recently at the mall and discovered that Anthropologie is FINALLY coming to Canada in November!!  Looking forward to:

...must own this scarf... 

I've noticed a lot of Anthropologie in the blogosphere so clearly I'm not the only one lusting after their treasures...

   

      I really love the navy color scheme of the above looks... CAN'T WAIT!

{gossip girl in blossom}

Everyone's favorite bad girl, Leighton Meester, was photographed in this month's InStyle magazine modeling lush and romantic florals.  I think the pictures speak for themselves...  I especially love the long floral dress!

 

{sex & the city style}

So, ever see a dress that you just know is perfection and no one else in the world would look as good in it as you?  Could it be the Eiffel Tower in the background, or was this fantastic dress meant for moi?

 

I was privileged enough to discover Darrah, a new favorite blog, today and was inspired by some of the pictures there.  Turns out, we have the same propensity to save magazine articles and clippings that we love.  I think that this dress is incredible and mentioned that it kind of reminded me of the Versace gown that Carrie Bradshaw wore in the second last episode of "Sex & The City."  Gorgeous.

   

{summer love}

Doesn't this photo give you hope for warm sunshine and make you yearn just a little bit for a simpler time?I'd love to hear what you are looking forward to most about winter's end...

 

via Makool

{sarah magid}

These delectable delicacies look almost too pretty to eat...

  

              

{dolce press}

I've been working on my business cards for quite some time now but have only recently found some designs that intrigued me. 

I need help deciding...