It has been over 80° in Seattle the last four days. For those of you not from here, this is pretty much unheard of around these parts...in April. Summer in Seattle is glorious but we usually have to wait for those warmer temps until after July 4th. Needless to say Seattleites are walking around like it's a party, flocking to the beaches of Lake Washington during the day on a Monday.
My husband has been traveling non-stop so I've been taking more time off from teaching the last few weeks to hang with my boy. We've not done much else lately except plant in the garden, indulge in popsicles and watch Octonauts. I don't have too much else to report although here are a few things occupying my mind this week...
Well said Kurt.
I'm really digging the looks of this sweater. And this tie-front shirt.
Our house is west facing and we're up off the street so we get a lot of sun exposure. We've planted our rockery and parking strip with lots of sun-happy, drought tolerant plants like rosemary and lavender. This "Helmsdale" spanish lavender is my favorite variety. After the first year, it is totally hands-off. I never cut it back and it maintains a soft, full shape. The flowers are a deep purple and the scent is heavenly.
Given the warmer temps, we've been having big salads for dinner every night this week. Our Heath salad bowl is our go to. It is shallow and 13" in diameter and makes for a perfect presentation. I'd like to make this beautiful salad in it next...
I've also been bringing out my old standby Gap denim jacket a lot lately. Mine's a few years old but it is just like this one. It is soft and not too fitted so I can easily wear a hoodie underneath it.
I've been consuming a lot of my favorite local Kombucha these days which makes a good stand-in for cocktail hour...
I've also been making Sarah's Goji Berry Lemonade (though I subbed maple syrup for the sweetener). I prefer it with with lemons but had some extra limes that needed to be put to use...
And finally I've been thinking a lot about this quote from Andy Puddicombe...
“One of my teachers used to say “Always keep death by your side.” At first glance that could be seen as rather gloomy, even comical. But it has real depth. Life races by, we miss so much, caught up in all the busyness of the mind. We go to bed and assume we will wake up. We wake up and assume we will go to bed at the end of the day. In doing so, we take our life for granted, we get so caught up in things that we miss the opportunity to connect with those around us in the way we would like to. But if we remember our mortality, we start to appreciate the preciousness of life, we become more calm, have more perspective, and are more able to affect positive change in the world.”
From here.
