lazier mornings

I've recently started a second job at a dog daycare because 1) PLAYING WITH DOGS = AWESOME and 2) pulling in a little extra money during the holidays and slower catering season is a good idea. I work early shifts (like 6 AM early) so lately I've been relishing the mornings I don't go in, when I can take my time waking up and watch the sun move across my apartment and make actual food for breakfast.

work slash play

Yesterday we did a site visit to Peaks Island to scope out a venue where a 2014 client is getting married. Time scoping out the kitchen? 10 minutes. Time wandering around the island, exploring and waiting for the next ferry? An hour and half. A good way to spend some working hours, I say.

It is also so wonderful to be living in town, where a trip from my apartment to the ferry terminal is a leisurely 30 minute stroll on a super nice (albeit chilly) morning.

oh hey, a giveaway

Look at me, being all bloggery with my giveaway.

So yeah, wanna win something? Just a little 8x10 print of the super scenic Maine coast, any print you'd like, from my shop. Nothin' super special or fancy, but it sounds fun to give something away (almost as fun as winning something), doesn't it? Enter using the Rafflecopter thingy below! You don't even have to tweet about it! Have a great day!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

parking lot foliage

That's all.

on gratitude

The past year and a half has been a rough one, for reasons that I've barely touched in this space. A lot of changes, some out of my control and some in it, left me feeling less than confident, and on shaky ground. In addition (and maybe a little because of it all) I was making poor decisions that negatively affected my health, wellbeing, and general feeling of self-worth.

I am supremely grateful and happy to say that things feel like they are turning around. In the last couple of months I've found a new job that I really love with some wonderful people, that gives me a flexibility and nice work/life balance that I haven't had before. I found a new apartment in a part of town that I adore, and this alone has helped me feel like I have some say-so about what's happening in my life again. I was recently reminded (at the really, really, really fun wedding of two of my dearest friends) that I have a wonderful group of people who love me, some of whom I've known for nearly a decade now, and who have seen me through some truly awful phases of life and have always been there to pick me up or let me wallow, as need be.

I also am constantly surround by beautiful scenery, which doesn't hurt, at all. A few iPhone shots (of supreme blurriness) of the previously mentioned awesome wedding (thanks for the photos, friends!) and from today, from the mill where I work and the river it sits over, and a state park that is just a short detour on my way home.

wander north prints

After a couple of very, very flattering requests, I've gone ahead and set up a small print shop with some of my favorite Maine shots. I'm calling it, appropriately, wander north prints, and you can get there from that side button over there.

Have a gander, and if there is a print from the blog you want to see in the print shop, holler at me!

i live here

This week I have learned that I will never be one of those home bloggers. You know, who can do projects and simultaneously document them and make it all look really easy and pretty and can write coherent how-to's about them.

I moved into my apartment on the first and promptly got to deep cleaning and painting and re-caulking. I am no expert, and my process was "have an idea, remember a blog post on Young House Love about how to do it, go to Home Depot, attack!"

There is a ton of sun in the place and my plants are super happy.

Here we are, today. A peek.