Hi friends.  Welcome.

So glad your here!

So glad I’m here!

Anything lovely planned for this weekend? I hope some resting, relaxing and enjoying things you love is high on the menu.

I hope this’ll help too – – –

A Good Word

A Good Look

“My favourite floral arrangements cost $0. Fields and streets are full of treasure” Anna M Stark

Find more of this gorgeousness here

A Good Listen

When your weary – – –  listen here

A Good Idea

4 Simple Springtime (or anytime) Cleaning Hacks

from  Myquillyn Smith

I might never win an award for having the cleanest house, but I do like a simple, tidy home that reflects each season. If you’re looking for simple advice from someone with a clean-enough home, here are four of my favorite spring cleaning tips:

1. A D.E.S.Y in Every Room

The D.E.S.Y (Designated Empty Surface, Yippie!) is my secret super power.

When you have one surface in each room that you declare to be decor-free, you’ll always have a welcoming surface available to hold your next project, pile of laundry to fold, lunch or sleeping cat. The D.E.S.Y isn’t always empty, the goal is that it’s always available to serve you.

Not only is a D.E.S.Y. crazy functional, when not in use, it’s visually so quiet and peaceful to have an empty surface.

Deciding to allow some naked, empty surfaces in our home magically makes the house feel cleaner year round and for me it’s become almost a luxury. My kitchen D.E.S.Y. is the island. I’ll allow things to live on the sink deck, but not on the island itself.

2. Bring in Spring (or Autumn)

For me, part of having a fresh, tidy home involves simply walking around our yard and cutting anything that’s blooming or green and then putting it in a vase, a bowl, or a pitcher of water. It adds instant  freshness, it’s free, and it’s more fun than scrubbing toilets.

3. Incorporate Spring Scented Cleaning Supplies

Yes, I change up our hand soap and counter spray each season, it’s such a simple way for your home feel like spring even if the temperatures are freezing and the flowers have yet to bloom.

We’re all washing our hands a million times a day and wiping down the counters anyway, why not bring in a delightful scent? I’m currently using the new Orange Flower & Wild Honey scent from Grove Collaborative and it smells exactly like you hope it does.

4. Set a Timer for 15 Minutes and Clean Like Heck

Yes, everyone shares this tip.

Do you know why everyone shares this tip? Because it works!

It’s powerful and over half the time I set a timer one of two things happen: I either finish what I’ve been dreading in less than five minutes OR, I see such big results that I choose to keep cleaning beyond the timer. I love being able to trick myself into getting things done.

A Good Read

An interesting and lovely read

The Wastefulness of Beauty

Life is a strange garment, a constant surprise full of wastefully beautiful moments. A bumblebee wrapped in pollen. A child’s cheek smashed against mine. A novel that makes me pause to look out the window. A poem that rattles in my bones. It’s not my business to assign value to myself or my creations as a writer or a painter. My job is to write. My job is to paint. My job is to tie my bow-tie just right, and help my toddler smell a flower, and sing a Regina Coeli where no one can hear it. My task is to live – – – Keep reading

The Garden We Won’t Leave Behind

I’m looking forward to the peonies. Romantic and fragrant, they’ll be a nod toward pure beauty and pleasure for a gardener who has always focused on the hardy and practical: potatoes, sturdy greens, mint and chamomile for tea. Peonies are different. More than a survival crop, they symbolize loftier goals: loyalty, wealth, a happy life, a happy marriage. Though the petals are edible, I’ve always thought of them as decorative—a category of plant I haven’t been able to afford yet, but might some day.

All of my gardens have been short-term and scraped together. I grew radishes and peas in pots on the porch of my first home, in the university trailer park where my husband and I met at age 20. After college, I lived in borrowed rooms while I trained as an apprentice on organic farms – – – Keep reading

That’s it for this week friends. Hope you’ve enjoyed. Have a beautiful weekend, rest up, do something you love xx