Plum Stitches

find of the week

How sweet is this little onsie from The Gap?  I'm not sure why, but I seem to love all thing Matryoshka.  My grandmother had a set of them that I used to play with all the time as a child.  I think her sister brought them back from a trip abroad.  They now reside at my Aunt's house and every time I go to visit, I find myself playing with them.  I guess in some ways we never grow up.

The rest of the St. Petersburg collection is very sweet as well.  Only downside is that the sizing is up to 24 months.

beginnings

The start of a new baby gift!  Hard to imagine wearing alpaca right now, give how humid it is today, but soon enough I'll be longing for the days of summer.

Had she actually munched on the Nastursium, I doubt she would have been pleased with the taste.

garden delights

Every year I dream of a cutting garden.  I never seem to quite achieve what I'm after, but I suppose that's the beauty of a garden, you never know quite what you'll end up with.

This year, with all of the rain, my flowers  (lilies, Phlox, etc.) have grown to soaring heights, but the heavy rain has done them in a few times.   I've cut them back a few times and they seem to continue to grow.  This hasn't been a problem for the Zinnias.  I'm assuming because they're a tougher, stronger plant they seem to be thriving. I just love the colors too.

As for the garden at the beach - it's a tomato-fest.  We have eggplant in the mix as well.  Jim's grandmother treated us to lots of treats while we were there -  Sfingi and Cannoli both of which we quickly gobbled up.

   

tomato, tomahto

Last week was tomato canning fest with my Aunts in South Jersey, oh and my two uncles and cousins as well.  This year we ordered a few more baskets, but the farmer decided to give us five additional ones.  Apparently because of the cooler weather the tomatoes are taking longer to ripen.  In the end we had two baskets that need to ripen a few more days.  So, 18 baskets later we ended up with about 170 jars. 

My one Aunt has an industrial machine for processing the tomatoes and grew up in a household where this was an annual tradition.

I must admit I'm not sure the 9 hours involved in achieving 170 jars was really worth it, but at the end of the day it's the adventure and bonding that made it such a fun day. 

At the moment I'm having a hard time even thinking about eating tomato sauce, surely that will pass as cooler weather is on its way.

 

find of the week

How exciting are these!  Knock offs of the Morgan & Milo sneakers from Target, for a fraction of the cost.  They come in brown, pink and blue, up to size 12.

I had an appointment in the city today and found myself window shopping on 34th Street.   I dodged a good many tourists - the neighborhood is just crazy in the middle of the day.  I also found myself longing for the pre-children days when I would wander around New York after work shopping or killing time until I met a friend for dinner. Such freedom then that I never really appreciated! 

I'm having another of those moments when I really want to go back to work - I think to gain some element of that freedom.  Yesterday, I dug out the resume, started updating it and poked around on Monster.  We'll see where this leads me.  I have this huge fear recently that if I don't go back to work soon, I'll lose the momentum or what's left of it.  Alright, enough of my sob story (I just hope I'm not alone in feeling like this).

My knitting has been a bit uninspired the past few weeks and I need to get back on track.  'm sure that has to do with the heat of summer.  I've replaced it though, to an extent with reading. 

The moms group I'm part of has a frequent book swap.  The group is all done through Meetup, so as an event we have a book swap every 6 weeks or so.  It's great!  Last month I snagged the Josephine Bonaparte Collection.  Historic fiction about Napolean Bonaparte's wife - if you like historic fiction, these three books are will be right up your alley.  I finished the last one the other day and started on Netherland, which so far I'm enjoying. 

trying to do my part

For the past few years I've been *trying* to cut down on my paper towel consumption in an effort to tread a little lighter on the planet.  Overall, it's worked pretty well.  I started using the thin baby wash clothes as napkins for Chloe and then when she was done eating I could wet them and wipe her down with them.  Which, as you can imagine she loved.  These worked well, until...I discovered the Unpaper Towels on Etsy.  They're quite durable and wash/dry well.  In short, they ROCK!

 Over the weekend we took Chloe, the amusement park that's close to the beach house.  Her older cousins were seasoned visitors, but this was Chloe's first visit.  To say she enjoyed herself is an understatement.  I have a feeling she'll be begging to return this weekend.

I didn't get to witness it, but according to Chloe's  teacher she swam all by herself in the pool today for a bit! This is a first and I can't wait to see this with my own eyes.