A (Jolie Holland!) Weekend

Yesterday, my mom came for an overnight visit, because one of our favorite musicians, Jolie Holland, was performing with the Portland Cello Project (also fantastic) at a local bar.  We made a weekend of it, and spent a sunny day walking around town, hitting the crazy-bountiful farmers' market, a boutique sewing shop, and later hitting the mall in search of the perfect leather boot.  We had no such luck there, but that didn't damper the perfection of the day.  (By the way, having my mom as one of my best friends is awesome.)

At the farmers' market, I picked up the most fragrant, lush bag of produce, including a giant bunch of basil, which we turned into pesto that afternoon.  It will soon be in frozen cubes in my freezer, waiting to make an amazing meal of some scrambled eggs or a veggie sauté.

Walking home, we wandered into this boutique sewing shop, and walked out with a handmade skirt pattern and the cutest, brightest coral fabric with flowers and little bumblebees on it.  I will definitely be back for more; every single bolt of fabric in the shop was ridiculously cute.  I recently bought a pristine old sewing machine - an instant favorite of my belongings.  I have in mind that I will be that elementary teacher wearing all kinds of fun (and vintage inspired) dresses and skirts, but pieces of clothing that fit the bill are seriously tough to come by.  So, determined and project-oriented as ever, I will make my own!  I never mind a good project or two... or ten.


Later in the evening, we went to a delicious restaurant we hadn't tried before, and shared Pad Thai (it's impossible to pass up a good Pad Thai) and Coconut Green Curry.  It's still blowing my mind how tasty it all was.  Having never had it, I also ordered Blooming Lotus tea out of curiosity, which did not disappoint.

After dinner, it was onward to the concert to see Jolie Holland, live.  And the best part: we got a chance to talk with her after the show!  You know when you meet an artist and it totally makes or breaks your feelings about their music?  Well, I love it all the more.
Her music is a little retro, a little twangy, a little haunting, very moody, definitely unique, and just generally cool.  My kind of music.
And guess what?  She also happens to have been a member of The Be Good Tanyas, the band whose song, "The Littlest Birds," inspired the name of this blog.  That being said, here is that song and another favorite from the wonderful Ms. Holland, and you should listen:

"The Littlest Birds"

"Crush in the Ghetto"

Home + Husband

The last couple of weeks have been a total whirlwind, including packing everything up, a lonnnng roadtrip, unpacking, sorting, repacking, visiting family, another (much shorter) roadtrip that coincided with unexpected, spendy car troubles, unpacking again, the start of school, lots of homework, and throughout it all: a whole lot of missing my husband. A whole lot.

Then finally, a (perfect, amazing, wonderful, awesome, incredible, fabulous, perfect, perfect) long weekend with my favorite person: Matthew.  My goodness how I love him.

We made the roadtrip back home, because there is no place like home in summertime: from June through September it is paradise.  One of my favorite things to do when I'm home is go on walks, and our little town is the perfect walking town.  (So often people don't get the point of just "going on a walk," but I promise you, it's lovely - no destination or purpose necessary. There is something relaxing/refreshing/therapeutic about walking just for the sake of it!)

We must have put on 15 miles with all the walks we went on; we walked to the beach, along the river, through neighborhoods and all over town.  All this roaming meant lots of pitstops at favorite restaurants, the number one coffee shop on this earth, if you ask me (and I am a total coffee shop person, I have been to a lot ton of coffee shops.), and some delicious handcrafted ice cream.
We took the canoe out on the lake one day and floated the river to the footbridge near my family's house.
We even went out one night, which is kind of amazing because we tend to be an old married couple and stay at home 99% of the time.  Let's just say we got home quite late, and when we walked in the door, my husband yelled "I'M HOOOME!" to wake his sleeping mother-in-law.  Ballsy.
The husband built a fort and we slept in it.
We played a few board games and a few rounds of a super fun Swedish lawn game called "Kubb."
We had a summery front porch barbecue that included fresh-picked strawberries from my mom's garden.
I repeat: our town is summertime paradise. 

At the risk of getting overly idyllic here, I have to tell you that we also picked apples... from the front yard... to make an apple pie... entirely from scratch.  Matt, being the competitive soul that he is, took on the crust after hearing that it is the toughest part of pie-making.  All in all, his (weirdly) competitive efforts did not disappoint!

          

I love that my husband does things with me that he wouldn't necessarily do on his own, like walks and pies, because he knows how much I love them and how meaningful it is for me when we do them together.  (Thus explains my participation in Fantasy Football this year, a story in and of itself.  I historically do not do team sports, even on such a removed level.  Yeah, woah.)