"a little summer"

I am madly working in the garden 

getting it ready for a Summer Cottage Garden Party.

But, I took some time out this past weekend to "summer-ize" the house.

With sun, sea and sand pillows, ocean art and surfboards, 

one might wonder how I could add any more "summer".

I tucked some wooden buoys into a wire basket

and dug a favorite enamel mug out of the cupboard - I love the colors and the beach scene on the mug.

Shells and a new message were added to our vintage typewriter.

 The living room got a huge dose of seaside decor -

shells from our travels and walks along the beach fill my vintage shopping basket,

buckets and buoys,

weights and starfish decorate the mantel,

and a container of sea glass (gathered over the 17 years since we moved to our beach cottage) are all on display.

The anchor pillow sits on the sofa year round, 

but somehow it looks more summery when paired with patriotic pillows.

Steve likes the display of shells on the cedar chest

because each shell, piece of coral and even the sand, is from a surf trip he took to the Maldives in 2001.

I have seen lots of rooms with whales so I placed my whale bookends on top of some "beachy" books instead of holding the books up.

There's "a little summer" everywhere at our house

and with JP's wedding just 5 weeks away

I don't imagine there will be many changes for quite awhile.

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Join me at

My Salvaged Treasures for the Vintage Inspiration Party

It's a Tough Job

As Steve and I sat on a bench overlooking the ocean today

we laughed about our life.

We ride our bikes along the ocean

or take Lulu on long walks at different beaches in our area.

Both of us have other things we could be doing, but we joke that our "job" is to just enjoy life.

Steve's actual job is to paint

and he is fortunate that he can paint what he wants.

The first two paintings are his most recent pieces and the work in progress is of a family that lives on our street as they head out for a surf session.

My latest "job" is to take pictures.

I am always looking for something to photograph 

for the one picture I post on Instagram each day.

And the day I took this photograph, 

I made a decision.

Our county fair is coming up in August

and I am going to enter 3 photographs (the maximum allowed) in the photography exhibit.

One will be a still life - 

I am having fun staging photos

of things around the house.

I am sure one will involve flowers - 

probably in my garden,

but maybe from around town.

Considering where we live, I know one of the photos will involve the ocean either from a kayaking adventure

or just from one of our walks.

As the saying goes, "it's a tough job, but somebody has to do it" and I'm giving this photography "job" my best effort.

filled with joy

 

I love how blogging friends get my mind going.

Last night I was reading a post on Gwen Moss titled, The Sacredness of Ordinary Days, and fell asleep pondering my ordinary (probably boring to most) life.

On Thursday nights, my thoughts always turn to my friend Monica of Prince Snow Farm who does #filledwithjoyfriday on Instagram.

This morning I grabbed the camera and went looking for anything that filled me with joy.

The fact that I have the time to just walk around the house taking pictures fills me me joy.

These Turkish towels fill me with joy, not just because they are lovely, but because they are a recent gift from the wonderful woman who will become my son's mother-in-law in just 50 days.

On a recent trip to Turkey, Vega hunted for towels for me in the bazaar - she says we should go to Istanbul together to shop and bring things home to sell.

My Mother's Day gift from Steve fills me with joy because it keeps me hunting for fun quotes to display - unfortunately this typewriter does not work.

My garden

from inside or out,

weeds and all, fills me with joy - I should have gardened today, but I chose to be lazy instead.

This young lady fills me with joy because she makes my son smile and

pardon the poor quality of the photo - Aylin texted me this photo
of one of the gifts at her "Palm Springs Weekend"

will share my name in less than 2 months.

What fills you with joy?