Quenchant of the Curious

I've been thinking about branches lately...

2011-12-23T22:03:00.001-05:00

collecting lots of ideas for future use!

<3

(all photos from pinterest)

a good word. . .

2011-12-15T00:07:00.000-05:00

just a few of my favorite quotes right now.

been: embroidering, listening, taking oatmeal baths, singing old songs, enjoying Christmas lights, kissing my husband, and lots of thinking.

winter is blue - a christmas mixtape

2011-12-07T13:05:00.001-05:00

Found this wonderful Christmas mixtape created by Andew & Carissa. As they wrote, it's to enjoy while doing "festive things- like playing games at the fireside, wrapping gifts and drinking hot cocoa, or taking long drives through the wintery landscape." You can download it here

songs by the following artists:
Vashti Bunyan - Sufjan Stevens - Múm - Mew - Andy Zipf - Feist - Sleeping at Last
Beach House - Cliff Lewis - Belle & Sebastian - Carpenters - Radiohead

that wintery feeling.

2011-12-06T15:40:00.001-05:00

this beautiful tumblr make me think and feel winter.

christmas inspirations

2011-11-30T23:42:00.001-05:00

I am pleasantly mulling over the prospect of the Christmas season. Even when I was very young it was upmost importance and enjoyment to have special christmasy decorations brought out and put in select places around my room. And now, I have my very own place to bring Christmas into.

How I've started: (1)drinking "mulled cider" (aka hubby putting apple cider into the tea pot and festooning with a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg. (2) putting up 5$ white Christmas lights all along an overhang in the middle of our apartment. (3) gather inspiration from pinterest!

mini christmas trees//tin can candle holder// snowflake window// branch "chandelier"// Joy to the World// bell wreath// colorful paper garland// ornament window

for my husband.

2011-11-29T11:42:00.001-05:00

I love you much (most beautiful darling)

More than anyone on the earth and I

Like you better than everything in the sky
— E. E. Cummings

Love doesn’t just sit there like a stone

it has to be made, like bread

remade all the time, made new.
— Ursula K. Le Guin

I will dream of you even when I

can feel you lying next to me.
— Tyler Knott Gregson

Tis the season of Thanksmas

2011-11-23T13:52:00.000-05:00

1. fortune cookie coin purse // 2.'172 Things To Do' in order to increase your level of accomplishment (this little booklet has long intrigued me!) // 3.squirrel paper clips(can paperclips get any better than this?) // 4. my dream camera right now // 5. Thunder shoulder bag // 6. Nancy Drew magnets (a sweet example of upcycling) // 7. Morse Code necklaces (spell out short messages & words) // 8. library perfume (claims to be bottled up scent of a well aged book!)

A few things I find quite lovely.
Thanksmas* here we come!

*definition: when you only see an entire side of the family one time a year at thanksgiving, and you all decide to celebrate Christmas then too, and you all call it Thanksmas. 

home coming.

2011-11-16T17:19:00.003-05:00

1.folding never ending laundry
2.framed a holga photo of us lying in the grass from the early dating days

3.listening to Regina Spektor and Radical Face 

4.watched an episode of the office with my lunch of lemon water, mac & cheese and dark-chocolate brownies 

5.baby pink and baby blue sky 

6.going to have my special chicken/dumpling soup simmering and smelling up the apartment all lovely when my hubby comes in the door after two weeks of traveling
7.but first. a shower

Winterfylleth

2011-11-13T17:52:00.000-05:00

wandering the campus// setting leafs assail// noodles & company// lots of hugs// red red red leaves// leading a small group// a text from hubby finally back in the USA// Anglo-Saxon months

farewelling

2011-11-07T21:27:00.001-05:00

I fell in love 

with the world in you. 

— Noah and the Whale

hubby is over in the kitchen right now using his magic blending skills to make us his smoothies. we're going to curl up on the couch + movie + my "polar bear" blanket + cuddle. Tomorrow we'll hug and kiss "farewell" until he comes back from business tripping (over a week). trying not to stress, trying to drink up these last minutes. but it's hard when the above quote is him to me...and our worlds are so freshly intertwined it's gonna be a stretch (absence makes the heart grow fonder?).  

above are carefree outtakes from rose & crown // the song of my life

mauve like dreams

2011-11-01T14:18:00.000-04:00

Far away there in the sunshine are

my highest aspirations. I may not

reach them, but I can look up

and see their beauty, believe in them,

and try to follow where they lead.

~Louisa May Alcott

photo-I-love Tuesday, 6th edition

vintage printable labels

2011-10-29T22:11:00.000-04:00

I've been looking for ways to organize my kitchen (or just living space in general)..and I came across these beauties.....

the possibilities seem endless!

download the complete color set

fantasy train getaway

2011-10-28T00:32:00.000-04:00

Bright colored dress,// Marais flat heel shoes,// Alviero Martini 1a Classe mini bag,// Oscar de la Renta cuff jewelry,// Fine jewelry,// Miss Selfridge printed scarve,// Cloche hat,

Loewe genuine leather handbag,// Studded handbag,//H&M clear shades,//Aiaiai Tracks Headphone In Sand,//Diptyque 'L'Eau de Neroli' Roll-On Cologne No Color 0.67 oz,//Burts Bees Beeswax Lip Balm Tin Display Refill//Special Edition Diana Mini Camera in Fern Green,//Finish This Book.

autumn tide.

2011-10-26T13:56:00.000-04:00

this tumblr makes me think of fall.

Les Forêts is the nip of wind, the smell of damp grass, the stars piercing through the black night sky, knit mittens, quiet conversations between comrades and a hot drink.

golden delicious afternoon

2011-10-25T16:53:00.001-04:00

yellow apples. october skies. 

"the purpose of coming to apple orchards isn't to pick apples, it's to be"

kisses. sunshine. family.

1. Comets by Cocoon // 2. Perpetuum Mobile by Penguin Cafe Orchestra

// 3. Emerald Isle by Whitehorse // 4. Sweet Ones Cover // 5. La vie en Rose by Edith Piaf

sometimes I write "To Do" lists.....

2011-10-20T15:37:00.001-04:00

9/29/11 

1.  eat homemade guacamole when my hubby get's home tonight

2. feed fish (muse about getting a turtle)

3. fold the laundry load of towels

4. edit a video

5. watch Dr. Who

10/20/11

1. watch all the different colored umbrellas go by below

2. eat the lunch/dinner packed by the hands of my loving husband

3. draw with crayons

4. muse about buying a house

5. waste time on tumblr looking at pictures of teenage rooms (caution: it's oddly addicting) 

in a gondola

2011-10-18T16:49:00.001-04:00

He sings
I send my heart up to thee, all my heart
        In this my singing.
For the stars help me, and the sea bears part;
        The very night is clinging
Closer to Venice' streets to leave one space
        Above me, whence thy face
May light my joyous heart to thee its dwelling-place.
~Robert Browning

photo-I-Love Tuesday, 5th edition

autumn through my cellphone lens...

2011-10-13T23:52:00.002-04:00

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower."

Albert Camus

"Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn."

Elizabeth Lawrence

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."

George Eliot

....the song playing in my head as I drink my tea, as the night falls, as I lay with my head in my husband's lap as he reads to me, as I get ready for bed and another day...

photo - I - love Tuesdays (cheating version)

2011-10-11T11:42:00.001-04:00

I feel so decadent right now...lying on the couch in the morning sunshine, eating chocolate from england and dulving into these:

I simply could not choose, so I am doing this entire tumblr as my "favorite" today.

+ wind & whale +

I hope you have a glorious day!  

entertaining vs hospitality

2011-10-10T10:31:00.001-04:00

“We think in terms of entertaining as a woman's chance to demonstrate her skill and the quality of her home, when actually entertaining has little to do with real hospitality. Entertaining says, "I want to impress you with my beautiful home, my clever decorating, my gourmet cooking." Hospitality, however, seeks to minister. It says, "This home is not mine. It is truly a gift from my Master. I am His servant, and I use it as He desires." Hospitality does not try to impress, but to serve.

 Entertaining always puts things before people. "As soon as I get the house finished, the living room decorated, my place settings complete, my housework done - then I will start having people in." Hospitality, however, puts people before things. "We have no furniture; we'll eat on the floor." "The decorating may never get done. Please come just the same." 

 Because we are afraid to allow people to see us as we really are, we welcome the false ideal of entertaining. To perpetuate the illusion we must pretend we love housework, we never put our hair in rollers, our children are so well disciplined that they always pick up their toys. We must hint broadly that we manage our busy lives without difficulty. Working hard to keep people from recognizing our weak points, we also prevent them from loving us in our weakness. 

 Entertaining subtly declares, "This is mine -- these rooms, these adornments. These are an expression of my personality. It is an extension of who and what I am. Look, please and admire." Hospitality whispers, "What is mine is yours."

~ Karen Main "Open Heart, Open Home"

p.s. (and on that note.........) 

she wore pearls.

2011-10-08T23:25:00.001-04:00

One joy this afternoon was opening a box in our (disaster-put-everything-still-not-unpacked-in-it) back room and seeing at the bottom ...this sea-foam box.

A box of my treasures....things bought in a southern tea shop, things found discarded along a road,  things that belonged to my mother, things that belonged to my great grandmother....

Quick notes:

- Heroes & Dr. Who

- a card + chocolate from England

- lit my last peppermint candle

-tortellini

-too much laundry

-red tipped trees out the window

three don'ts

2011-10-08T01:10:00.001-04:00

 1.  don't overlook the tidbits of nature thrown into your day.

Sometimes I see his elegant white form out the window.

He takes life slow, never frazzled...the day is his.

2. don't shove off the little joy-things til "someday"

In the middle of a hectic day I plopped myself in the middle of the living room and created some handmade postcards to send loved ones...because when am I ever just going to "have time"?

3. don't stop dating

This is for you married folk. 
C & I used to go to the movies all the time and he would make us little candy bags with our names Sharpied on. A month into marriage and we've still kept one night a week sacred as "date night" but last night he spur of the moment surprised me with:

photo - I - love Tuesdays,

2011-10-04T23:30:00.000-04:00

* it seems so rare to see "behind the scenes" photograph from old Hollywood

* the bravery of one woman taking on the stares of SEVEN men!

* her hair

Apple Puff Pancake

2011-10-03T13:06:00.000-04:00

Long ago I saved this recipe in a folder & this morning I actually made it (a very triumphant feeling). The best part: it was delicious! and so very easy!

apple puff pancake

1 apple (whatever kind you like, i used gala)
1/2 c butter
3 eggs
1/2 c milk
1/2 c flour
1/2 t sea salt
1/4 c brown sugar
1 t vanilla
2 t ground cinnamon
2-3 T lemon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a 10-inch oven proof skillet (I used a dutch oven) melt 1/4 cup butter spread over med heat. Add apples, cut in wedges, and saute until golden brown, about 5 min.

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, flour, vanilla, and salt. Pour over apple mixture in skillet. Place skillet in preheated oven and bake for 10-12 minutes or until puffed and browned. Remove from oven.

Combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Melt the remaining 1/4 c butter, pour over pancake, and sprinkle with brown sugar mixture. Bake 5 more minutes. Remove from oven and drizzle with lemon juice. (watch it sizzle and decompress!)

Serve with maple syrup (though I prefer it just on its own). Other toppings: lemon curd, mascarpone cheese, or creme fraiche.

She sits alone on the bench...

2011-10-01T18:06:00.000-04:00

..pulling the scarf closer around her neck against the autumn evening chill...

..the bracelet slides gently down her wrist as she reaches out to top of her glass with more...

...Elderflower and the light scent of lemon and flowers invade the air...

...freshly made gingersnaps lay beside her on a tray...

...it's the perfect temperature to snuggle under her favorite blanket...

...and jot down loving contemplations about...

...the humble herb garden planted in tin cans behind her on the windowsill...

...when the evening-light finally fades, forcing her inside, she reheats yesterday's dinner....

...tonight she leaves the dishes for later -now is the times for putting on favorite shoes and a necklace the color of her eyes...

...and her mother's bracelet...

...one fleeting glance at herself in the mirror...

...and she's off with the hope of meeting someone special.

(all items from +Terrain+)

With the last rays of summer sun...

2011-10-01T17:19:00.000-04:00

...I would love to do this:

It's called sunprinting.

Full DIY directions +here+

"McGyver cooking"

2011-09-29T00:13:00.000-04:00

....that's how I have begun to operate in the kitchen. McGyvering like every fourth ingredient or utensil that I use. I never truly appreciated my parents' fully stocked pantry and gadget repertoire til now. It's led me to:

- Use duct tape in a blender (attempting to plug off the spigot hole) to turn it into food processor
so that I could blend granulated sugar + a pinch of flour to turn it into powdered sugar.

- Or use boiling water, a strainer and a glass lid to defrost hamburger (didn't end well)

- goggle "substitute for . . ." countless times a day. (it's actually turned into a sort of game: "can I make this recipe with 10 ingredients when I only have 6!")

- And also against me is that fact that I am used to a 6 person family (buy something yummy it'll be gone in a week, or possibly that day). But here, stuff goes bad for lack of mouths. Case in point: a loaf of delicious tomato basil bread sitting in our fridge. But with a little McGyver cooking this half-way stale bread turns into . . .

Homemade croutons for soup or salad (or even just snacks!) and it's easy-peesy.

recipe +here+

And this morning...

nope, no pillsbury just-bust-it-out-of-the-freezer. NO YEAST either! But I still whipped up some 10 min cinnamon rolls for brekky.

recipe +here+

Seriously, I should write a book.
The McGyvering Cook Book: for Newlyweds.
;)

This is my Autumn...

2011-09-28T00:16:00.000-04:00

1. wearing my hair in a bun a lot.

2. dried flowers

3. enjoying layering!

4. drinking more tea than in the summer.

5. adoring this nail color.

6. wishing our apartment complex allowed kittens.

7. being right on the cusp of the leaves truly changing.

8. it's cuddling weather!

9. a discussion among friends about painting has left me restless to get my hands on a brush!

photo - I - love Tuesdays

2011-09-27T16:58:00.000-04:00

* the colors

* her dress

* the way looking at this photo makes me feel calm & relaxed

* she's holding a magnifying glass

how to: mail someone a garden

2011-09-22T16:22:00.001-04:00

Okay, well, this isn't a diy project,

but still a clever idea!

+ postgarden +

+
A music mix

+listen+

album art

2011-09-21T17:12:00.000-04:00

Some of my favs....what are yours?

photo - I - love Tuesdays

2011-09-20T12:56:00.000-04:00

things that have kept me happy today...

2011-09-16T23:52:00.000-04:00

1. listening to a favorite song being sung a cappella in a Parisian hallway

(oh, Bon Iver...you make life so much better)

2. gazing upon photos at the blue hour

3. this quote

4. thinking about autumn sweaters.

Learn & Eat

2011-09-08T15:54:00.000-04:00

I don't know which of these I love more!
from Rick Mereki.

red & kitchen

2011-09-07T00:11:00.000-04:00

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful
or believe to be beautiful." ~ William Morris

"Setting up house" has gone a bit slower than I imagined, but is very satisfying. & in the midst of life, living, family, work, and C, I noticed a pattern..... ....red "splashes" in my kitchen.

Another testament to the joy of following the quote from above!

ravishing ruche.

2011-09-06T23:55:00.000-04:00

This online shop (ruche) is like anthropologie's slightly less-expensive cousin.

I was already impressed & then I found their free desktop wallpapers page.
........

....sigh....

farmers market delights.

2011-09-04T18:37:00.000-04:00

1) Grown in Detroit t-shirts hanging proudly in the 90+ degree breeze
2) Never knew there were so many types of garlic. Got some to make this scrumptiousness
3) Farmers markets have the most breathtaking flowers, I swear.
4) And proud of it!
5) Haven't had these since I was a child...
6) ...the honey-strawberry was delish. delish.
7) Hubby trying one out.
8) The name, the sign: presh.
9) We are now stocked with: peaches, apples, raspberries, sweet-corn, red-skinned potatoes, spinach and so on. I love opening the fridge door and seeing the trove.

23

2011-09-02T21:00:00.000-04:00

Deciding to do a collage = a good idea!

a dear friend,

evening setting outside the windows,
surrounded by an island of Toast & anthropologie
pictures ripped and scattered at our feet, at our knees
every one selected for a reason.

This is my life in this moment.

a quote i once heard...

2011-08-31T18:08:00.000-04:00

*****

names like....

2011-08-30T12:04:00.000-04:00

elope dress .... lemon drop .... monday morning

navy enchantment .... sparkle and fade

everthine .... delightful .... summer skin

robins egg .... tea for two .... fancy that

I love dresses which to look means my senses getting
lost in pleats and
cascading folds,
rivulets of lines.

Sarah Seven's collection is that.

married life so far...

2011-08-29T22:43:00.000-04:00

making biscuits...with nothing to cut them.

I found a solution.

keeping up with note sending.

+ loving rubber stamps from Cavallini & Co.

filling our fridge with collected magnets

spelling notes

my hubby making an evening snack for me...

no toaster? no problem!

this is how I feel.

2011-08-24T21:20:00.000-04:00

Just a week into "real married life" after the honeymoon.

And this is how I feel.

found at that sentimental feeling

mmmm....Beirut!

2011-08-24T19:50:00.000-04:00

I have an on-going love affair with Beirut.

Zach Condon's musical sweep is so fascinating, complex. It's like listening to life, like listening to places.

I blame being so busy with getting married for why I was unawares of this album release.

Listen to it the album here.

(I am right this second! Thoughts so far: same flavor, but more refined)

This is the very, very first song I ever heard by Beirut:

favourite colour?

2011-07-28T12:20:00.000-04:00

My maid of honor asked me via text yesterday if I had a favourite colour ("I'm sorry, I think maybe I should know this, but...") I had to stop and think. Do I have a favourite colour?

The answer was:
Not really. But kinda.

I am eternally drawn to seafoam green.

I think it all started with an unwanted jewelry box (belonging to my great grandmother) that I adored upon first sight.

books, bracelets, jars, sheets. It's not pervasive in my life, just little happy hints.

Do you have a favourite colour?

try this on your piano.

2011-07-26T22:03:00.000-04:00

found this amusing.

Happy Tuesday!

do this: what to do with a bunch of flowers.

2011-07-26T21:58:00.000-04:00

My dear one presented me with a bunch of flowers....simply "because" .......

Now normally, for whatever reason, when i recieve a bunch of flowers I always clip them and arrange them with care in a big huge bundle. It has never occurred to me til know the immense pleasure in creating little separate floral "landscapes"....

A solo sunflower, two mason jars full of sunshine, and the "left-over" white blossoms i clipped short and stuck one or two in tiny glass bottles in a row on the kitchen windowsill.

And so his kindness is now spread all over the house. <3
18 days till we are wed.

Guess what came in the mail this morning?

2011-07-22T13:20:00.000-04:00

our engagement photos!

kisses.

2011-07-21T16:38:00.000-04:00

kisses, kisses for my love.

kisses for my boy.

my name.

2011-07-19T16:59:00.000-04:00

am...

will be...

do this: thankfulness

2011-07-19T16:56:00.000-04:00

I've had vast opportunity (wedding showers, congratulatory cards, and my birthday) to be writing lots of thankyous. But instead of it being "another thing on my must do list", it's like I've ingested the concept and it's a pleasure!

I have an old leather camera case (my grandpa's) that fits all my letter-writing tidbits perfectly: envelopes, cards, these lovely postcards, postage and a few rubber stamps to dress things up!

What I've realized:

1) It is simple............it is simple to drop someone a quick thank-you or note. It's a myth that we are too busy to do so. The other day I sent a postcard to a friend simply with a quote from a book I liked!
2) It has created in me an attitude of thankfulness......a good stance to be in anytime, but especially in these hectic weeks before The Wedding.

our stamp.

2011-07-18T18:54:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I see something,

and I buy it on a whim.

After all, my gut instinct is almost always right, and added bonus is the (exhilarating) "dangerousness" of whim-buying.

So, while I have been, in general, very good about planning, Excel-ling, and budgeting everything for The Wedding, this little guy I just couldn't pass up: customized wedding rubber stamp! from one of my favourite sites: Antiquaria . And as a side-note: packaged up in the box was a sweet little folded envelope -photographed it just for fun ;)

[1]

2011-07-18T11:54:00.000-04:00

could I bottle myself up,
and send me out to sea? see?
then when someone read me,
I'd be saved.