...

I am drinking a glass of orange juice with a bit of lemon-lime seltzer thrown in for good measure. I wish I had chocolate somewhere in the cupboard. Gosh, I wish I had chocolate.

I need to be honest with you, dear readers. I'm thinking about closing this cupboard for a while. I don't know how long. I don't know if I'll reopen it and it will look and be different. Or if I'll close the doors for good and just work on it privately. Or if I'll jump ship altogether and start weaving baskets out of dental floss. Maybe a little break is all I need. I don't yet know. I really don't. I'm not sure this space is what I want it to be. I'm not sure it's what I envisioned {and I'm not sure it should be, necessarily}, and I think I've lost sight of something that felt urgent back in January, when I began. I've been reflecting on this for some time now, and reclaiming some privacy just feels like something I need and want to do. But I am incredibly sad, thinking of losing my connection to all of you, my kindred sparks around the world.

I am so sorry to disappoint. You have all been wonderful to me, really warm and really encouraging and really wonderful. Funny to think of loving people I've never actually met, but I do: I love you all. Please, bear with me while I figure this out.

I will be in touch, in some form or another.


I hope you can feel my giant hug.

A Place To Hang Your Hat

And your keys! I'm completely charmed by this vintage brass key holder from Dandelion Girl.


P.S. She also has this, which -- you might remember -- incorporates one of my new favorite fruity design motifs.

Leaves

I know it's officially summer and we're thrilled with it, but I have a confession: I'm more of an autumn gal than anything else and, while I'm delighted by my freckled shoulders, bare feet in grass, and the smell of sunscreen on Mr. Original, I adore the moment when the leaves go amber and pumpkin, and I can resume my quest for the best hot chocolate in town. Here's a little autumn indulgence for those of you who are like me.

Look here, here, here, here, and here.


{Poplar Print by MWilson}

Return to Sender

The good folks over at The Pudding Store have a slew of these old enamel French street signs. Wouldn't one be great to announce your house number? Go here to see if they have yours.

Glowing Embrace

Lucky me, I just received some birthday gifts from a dear friend, and one of them was Jane Brocket's The Gentle Art of Domesticity, a book I'd been wanting for some time. Before bed last night, I read the chapter on pineapples as decorative motifs {J.B. makes a pineapple-shaped tea cozy in that chapter!} and I thought about the day when I own a cupboard {a touch bigger than my current cupboard}. When that day comes, I'll find myself a pineapple lamp to put near the front door and welcome me home every night.

{Vintage Pineapple Table Lamp found in High Street Market}