EAB Designs

weekend in a nutshell ~ captured by iPhone

 

     ~ I always order a pot of hot tea ~ 

 

~walked into town & took the long way home~

 

~munched on it all weekend~

Would love to hear what you enjoyed this weekend!

Our Exciting News!

Sweet girl was offered a summer internship for graphic design with Conde Nast Publishing in NYC.  She set her sights on interning in NYC and is thrilled to be headed there at the end of this week.  She'll be working until August, when she'll return to begin her Senior year at college.  We couldn't be more proud.  We're going to miss her like crazy this summer, but look forward to taking a few weekend trips to spend some time with her in the city.  The Conde Nast building is located in Times Square and she'll be living just a short subway ride away.

We've been busy shopping this past week building a work wardrobe. We have a few more essentials to get this week and then we leave to help her move in to her new home away from home for the summer.

I snapped this picture of our two girls this weekend.  While sweet girl is interning in NYC, our youngest daughter "sweet pea" will be working part-time at The Gap - a good thing since she loves clothes and will happily be taking advantage of her employee discount.  Looks like our summer will fly by, but it promises to be full of fun, new opportunities, weekend trips and relaxation!

A Visit to the College of William & Mary

I hope you all enjoyed a lovely Easter weekend.  We just returned from a weekend away to visit our girls at college and deliver a few Easter treats.  First stop was the College of William and Mary.

Founded in 1693, it's the second-oldest university in the United States.  The campus is beautiful and it was a perfect weekend to explore.

This is Crim Dell bridge on campus.  Urban legend has it that if two lovers cross the bridge together and kiss at the crest of it, they will be together forever.  However, if that couple separates at any point thereafter, the lady must throw her ex-lover off of the bridge and into the water to break the curse of being single forever.

Another campus tradition is to swim the Crim Dell pond prior to graduation.  We came across a few snapping turtles enjoying a swim.  (Can you spot this one?) Our daughter has taken a swim in the pond, but has a few more years to attempt the last two legendary tasks. (Jumping the wall of the Governor's Palace in Colonial Williamsburg after hours and streaking through the sunken garden on campus).  These three events make up the W&M Triathlon.

Spring is a great time to visit, as the tulips, dogwoods and wisteria are in full bloom.

The campus has cozy wooded areas and beautiful Georgian and Anglo-Dutch architecture.  This is Barrett Hall, our daughter's dorm.  From the campus, we headed across the street to Colonial Williamsburg.  Next time, I'll share a few pictures of the gardens there which are always inspiring.

I could never love anyone more than I love my sisters - Jo March

 

My girls sharing a moment together on the front porch.

The girls ended up with different spring breaks this year, but were happy to have at least one day of their vacation that overlapped.  I love to see them laugh together and sometimes suddenly stop talking when I walk into the room.  For there are always things you can only share with a sister, and that's just how it should be.

Lovely Blue Flowers - What Kind are They???

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  Ours was especially fun-filled.  On Friday evening, a friend joined us for dinner and she brought us the most beautiful flowers.

I loved the combination of the orange roses, white calla lillies and these amazing petite blue flowers.  Does anyone know what kind they are?  I would love to grow some in our garden!  If you recognize them, please let me know.

We also just returned from visiting sweet girl this weekend.  We celebrated her birthday and took in a college basketball game, which was super exciting.  Keeping our fingers crossed the team will receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.  In the meantime, both of our girls' college teams could meet next Saturday in the quarterfinals of the CAA tournament.  Now that would be exciting!

2/27th update:  Some of you have asked for a closer look of the blue flowers.  I found this image on flickr of the same flower.  They have needle-like leaves, black centers and woody stems.

I Once Dreamed...

I was out last night for dinner, followed by a bit of shopping, when this window display stopped me in my tracks.  I snapped this photo with my iphone right before my husband practically had to drag me away.  If you've been a long time follower of my blog, you know how much I adore fabric and love to sew.  What you probably didn't know is that I would have loved to been a children's formal wear dress designer, with my own label.  When I come across sweet little dresses with so many charming details, I'm reminded of that dream.

Fall Weekend Getaway

Last Friday, we headed to Asheville, NC with some dear friends.  The weekend was absolutely perfect and the fall colors were spectacular.

We enjoyed lunch at a restaurant (Larkin's on the Lake) overlooking Lake Lure.  It was so relaxing to sit on the deck and soak up the sun.  I could have lingered there for hours, but we were headed back to Asheville to tour some model homes and view some of the different areas.

Sorry, no pictures of all the homes we visited, but they were beautiful.  We did get to talk with Mark Barker, who was the builder of the 2006 HGTV dream home.  Anyone remember this room?  -- gorgeous -- as was the rest of the house.

A favorite restaurant I would highly recommend in downtown Asheville is Tupelo Honey Cafe. Known for their fresh, farm to table food, made from scratch, it's no surprise that we dined there twice.  I loved their fried green tomatoes with goat cheese grits and basil.  First time eating fried green tomatoes & grits and I devoured every bite before I could snap a picture of it.  Not to be missed are their homemade biscuits which are served before each meal with honey and homemade blueberry jam.  Seriously, I could have made them my entire meal they were that good.

 

I actually located a recipe online for their biscuits and hope to give it a test run this weekend. Here is the link.  All this talk about food is making me hungry.  How about you?

Bread and Blossoms

Good morning and happy Monday!  It was incredibly wonderful to take time away from the studio for a few days and enjoy our first, but very cold, spring weekend in April.  First up, was some time spent in the kitchen baking bread.  I haven't been making bread as much as I used to and after looking over my favorite bread cookbooks, I couldn't wait to start again.  I love the whole process of bread making - from the smell of the yeast and the rising of the dough, to how incredible it is that a few simple ingredients results in something so absolutely delicious you want to eat the entire loaf.

Fresh out of the oven!  The hardest part is waiting for the loaves to cool a bit before you can slice into one. After a wonderful day spent in our warm kitchen, the next morning we headed outdoors. Don't let the cherry blossoms fool you, it was cold!

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Sunday morning we were up bright and early to take the metro downtown.  We are in the midst of the National Cherry Blossom Festival in DC and our "Sweet Pea", along with four of her friends, were participating in the annual Cherry Blossom run.  (She had to leave the house at 5:45 a.m.)

My husband and I waited at the finish line to cheer her on.  She did such a great job and it was so exciting when we spotted her coming up the hill approaching the finish line.

Here they are after the run and ready to head off to a favorite restaurant.  My husband and I made our way back to the metro as well and we stopped off in Clarendon to eat breakfast at one of our favorite cafes, Le Pain Quotidien (the daily bread).

It was nice to come in from the cold and enjoy a cozy breakfast accompanied with a pot of hot tea. Enjoying their delicious artisan breads inspired me to try baking those as well.  So I came home and ordered some new bread baking supplies which I'll share with you once they arrive.

My Favorite Bread Cookbooks:

The Book of Bread, by Judith & Evan Jones

Baking with Julia, by Julia Childs

live . . love . . laugh

Wishing you a sweet and lovely Valentine's Day.....

Busy First Day Back Home

Just returned from our wonderful vacation to Old Quebec City and I'm looking forward to sharing pictures with you over the next few days.  The flowers were fabulous!  Here's a sneak peek.

 

On our first morning back home we were awakened by a small earthquake!  Our bed shook and I could hear rattling and a low rumble.  I felt like I was back in California.  I wasn't even aware they had earthquakes in Virginia.  Couldn't go back to sleep, so I got a very early start to our busy weekend ahead.  First, I saw sweet girl off to her trip to New York City, then I headed into the studio to finish up some orders. I love the rose red faceted glass stones on these six bridesmaids' necklaces I'm sending off today.  A perfect color for a September wedding.

 

Once I got my orders in the mail, it was time to help my youngest pack for her month long summer history program at The College of William and Mary.  We will be driving to Williamsburg on Sunday to drop her off.  She's only been away from home for a week before, so we are certainly going to miss her!  She made me promise I wouldn't cry when we dropped her off, so I hope I can keep my promise.  While we were in Quebec City touring the Citadelle, she was picked from the crowd to help demonstrate a brief history of Canada.  Here she is holding a scroll and wearing her prop, a Canadian beret.

 

Today is also my husband's birthday.  The movie "Inception" opened today and we headed to an early show.  He loved it.  Hours later, I'm still analyzing it.  A good summer movie with lots of action.  Off now to celebrate with the birthday boy.  Enjoy your weekend.  Can't wait to stop in and visit your blogs to see what you've all been up to.

Happy Anniversary EB!

"If you live to be 100, I hope I live to be 100 minus 1 day,

so I never have to live without you."

 

Happy Anniversary to my best friend!

Thank you for loving me and 

for being the best husband a girl could ever wish for!

I love you!  xoxo 

Artful Blogging Feature

I'm so excited to share my good news with you! Last fall, an editor from Artful Blogging magazine contacted me to ask if I would be interested in having my blog featured in their upcoming Spring 2010 issue.  I never could have imagined, after one year of starting this blog, I would be asked to be part of a publication that has inspired me since its first issue. It took me all of about two seconds to respond, "of course I would love to be included"! 

 

I'm truly honored to have my little blog featured along with the many talented artists and writers who are featured in this issue.  Somerset Studio produces a collection of the most inspiring and creative publications, and it's so fun to be a part of it.  Here's a little sneak preview of my article.

The Spring issue should be available today at all Borders and Barnes and Noble bookstores, as well as selective Michael's and JoAnn Fabrics.