THE QUEEN OF QUIRK

old boris?

Sometimes the names for my new products don't make a lot of sense...
Old Boris came from a Russian painting I saw and the artist's first name is Boris. So, there ya go. Old Boris. :) I was second guessing myself because I don't think the name conveys the girly/funky vibe of this paper pack, but oh well. It's not that big of a deal right? LOL

I'm also re-releasing a couple of oldies but goodies. :)


If you get a chance, hop on over to Two Peas and take a look at all the new digi goodies. Yum! :) Thanks for stopping by!

march songbird avenue kit

There are just a couple more days to purchase the March kit over on Songbird Avenue! We've teamed up with Hollie Haradon of Holliewood Studios to create this super cute spring kit. Don't miss out on it!

This month's proceeds will be donated to the Make a Wish Foundation. And check out our inspiration gallery for lots of beautiful pages!
Thanks so much for all of your support with our site!
For April and May, to celebrate our 2nd birthday, we have loads of surprises for you! We're sure you'll be super thrilled about what we have in "store" for you! ;) Thanks for stopping by!

happy spring!

The daffodils bulbs that Norah planted at preschool have decided to pop up and the days are getting more and more beautiful! Here's to a lovely spring and a summer that lasts longer than 2 weeks!

london with lara

On the 21st of March, I took Lara down to London to have a girly day. She'd been begging me for weeks and it was about time. I love doing this...spending time, one on one, with the kids. I am much more relaxed and we have a better time because I'm not trying to corral and referee 3 little princesses.

We went to the Natural History Museum and the Tower of London to see the Crown Jewels. While at the Museum, we met up with the super fabulous Shimelle Laine, a fellow Garden Girl, to have lunch and chat. She is so incredibly sweet and Lara just loved her.

It was quite a long day for us, and I have to admit we were both ready to go home by mid afternoon. We decided, on the train ride home, to go out to dinner, just the two of us. We went to a really nice Indian restaurant and we tried new curries and had yummy, beautiful little ice cream creations for dessert. Such a happy day!

chatsworth house

We actually fit in a road trip this month. I have been dying to go to Chatsworth House since it was featured as the beloved Pemberley in Pride and Prejudice. Not only am I am huge Keira Knightley fan, I am also a Jane Austen fanatic...so anything that intersects with that lovely little world is always a juicy bit of intrigue for me. Then the house was featured in The Duchess and I thought it was just so lovely.

Getting there is half the fun, though.

If you follow Google's directions to the T, it will send you here:


This is very, very far from Pemberley.

So we brought out the map, re-oriented ourselves and then headed back out on the highway. We had to hit a bit of traffic, though, just 2 miles from the House...it was Saturday after all. :)

The scenery was distracting enough, so we couldn't complain too much. We were just starving and in a hurry to get there.

After lunch in the cafe, we headed out to the plaza and searched for the ticket office. The girls were delighted to see these ducks in the fountain and it took a lot of coaxing to get them to come with us.

We made our way to the ticket office and the main house...excited to get inside and out of the cold, gray day.

Thought this was funny. :)

Inside the front hall of Chatsworth House.

And exhibit of the making of "The Duchess": comparisons of the movie portrayal and the people who lived here.

Costumes from the movie: the details were incredible.

The statue of the Vestal Virgin from "Pride and Prejudice".

Hello, Mr. Darcy.

Hello again...

Walking through the house...

My favorite room. It seemed so out of place and modern. I know the current Duke and Duchess of Devonshire actually reside here, but I haven't encountered a lot of houses where the past and present are so intertwined. Love that.

The main dining room was sooo pretty.

Loved the pink glass. So girly and precious.

The sculpture gallery from Pride and Prejudice. The statue in the foreground is of Achilles pulling the arrow from his foot. It really is an incredible work of art. Just breathtaking.

My peeps.

I thought this statue was so pretty. It's Latona with the infants Apollo and Artemis.

After the sculpture gallery, we headed outside to snap some shots of the exterior. We went all the way down the hill to get a view of the house with the lake.

And then we ran back up the hill to explore the rest of the grounds.

Love these hedges...I would love something like this in my dream garden.

Lara, waiting outside the entrance to the maze. Love how moldy and crumbly everything looks here.

After the maze, Norah and I hung out by the waterfall while Daddy and the big girls went to the little girls and boys rooms.

Norah had a blast throwing pebbles into the water. She loved the splashes and the little bubbles they left behind.

Pick up pebbles:

Throw them in:

Run back:

Repeat:

We did this for about 45 minutes.

Then I asked her where Daddy was, so she started calling for him.

The waterfall we hung out by:

Chatsworth House also has a farm and a huge playground. We raced across the grounds to make it inside before the last admission and we were so glad we did. The girls had such a good time the last half hour it was open.

They found the little piglets especially delightful.

This one was quite hungry.

Never have I seen such fluffy roosters.

These guys were awesome. I wonder how they can even see!??!

Well, there you have it. A kinda crazy and probably not totally accurate tour of Chatsworth House. I hope you enjoyed it! :)

playing catch up

See, this is why I don't commit to those yearlong projects that require you to do something everyday. I'm really terrible at that kind of stuff! Sorry it's been so long since I've blogged. We've had a very hectic and crazy kind of month.

Colin and the girls baked a birthday cake for me and we had a small family party. They always make it so special.

The girls and Colin got me Abba's greatest hits, so we had a little dance party in the living room before we went to bed.

Then for my grown up party we went with a couple of friends down to London to spend the night and enjoy the city. We ate at a Brazilian grill (Rodizio Rico) on Friday night and then went to a bar afterward to have swanky martinis and yummy cocktails. Our watering hole was Westbourne House, which was surprisingly decent. The staff was appropriately snooty and inconsistent, but the drinks were heavenly and, honestly, that's all we cared about! My favorite was the Tuscan martini, but the Caipirinhas were equally divine. 

We crawled back to the hotel to crash for the night, having no real plan for Saturday. We had wanted to eat at Crazy Homies on Friday night, but couldn't get in, so we decided to try it for lunch on Saturday instead. It didn't disappoint. It's hard to find decent Mexican here in Europe, but this place is pretty darn good. The margaritas were awesome and the salsas...oh the salsas. You have no idea how excited we get about them! They were all yummy and we loved the Frida Kahlo-esque decor. Creepy and macabre...very "Day of the Dead". Love that. Probably should have taken some photos! sigh...

We even went to the Portobello Road market where I picked up some yummy new letterpress stamps. Always a good thing to find. We also saw a 12 volume set of Shakespeare's complete works from the 30's but didn't want to carry them all the way home. Kinda regretting not getting them now. Ah well.We have so many books it's not even funny!

After staying up late and partying, we were really tired mid-afternoon so we decided to head back. Good thing we did, cuz we all fell asleep on the train. We were beat! I had such a wonderful birthday, though, and I'm so happy Colin indulged me and took me out on the town. I think we might have to start making this a tradition!

trying a bit of zen

Wouldn't you know it, I found this post from Zen Habits today of all days.
Yesterday, Colin was insisting that I take a break. I didn't need to clean and he wanted me to relax and do something fun and fulfilling. I wasn't supposed to work or clean. I was supposed to relax.

Well, you know how it goes. I really wanted to continue cleaning (we'd already cleaned out the family office which was a HUGE, hours long undertaking) so that on my birthday I could sit around and relax all day. I was in cleaning mode and I just wouldn't quit. I kept insisting that I would feel better after I was done tidying up.

This was the part of the blog post that struck a chord with me:

"There’s always something to be done, always that “thing” in the back of your head that you forgot about that needs to be taken care of. There’s always something else that needs to be finished, and then you can feel happy. (Or so you think.) But then you remember another task, and the cycle repeats.

Of course, there’s only one problem… Nothing is ever complete. Not for long, at least.

So if that time and place is impossible to reach, we have to stop caring about unimportant things.

The constant desire to want to be done, then be happy, creates the background feeling of anxiety. If you’ve ever found yourself doing the dishes as fast as possible, when you have no reason to be in a hurry (like I have), you know what I mean.

If we’re ever to get at that feeling of peace — being OK with taking things slowly — we need to start enjoying our lives. We need to start being instead of just doing."

Funny, huh? Today of all days.

So, here's to a relaxed, fun-filled, rewarding day. I hope your day is wonderful, too! :)

there's really no excuse

other than work. Work, work, work. It seems that's all that's going on lately!
But I thought I'd come in and post on my last night of being 28,.
Tomorrow I embark on the last year of my twenties and I'm thinking about documenting it with a photo a day. (That's really just my lazy reason for starting in March instead of January!)
So, farewell, 28. You've been a great year!

Also, I've got some new products up in the 2Ps store and there are some new layouts from me in the Garden. :)





To purchase these, click HERE. 

The first of the month Garden is up at 2Ps! You can check out the gorgeous layouts HERE.

Here are my 2 layouts:

Thanks so much for stopping by! I have no idea why this is underlined! Grrr... I've been clicking on the U button, but it's not working!! HA! Just my luck! :)