Weekly Pictures.

I finally got around to updating Oliver's weekly pictures. I am by no means a professional photographer (all of them were taken with my iPhone) but I am happy with how they turned out!


Week 21 is my favorite.

You can see the rest by clicking on the tab above. Or by clicking this link. Enjoy my ever changing child. I can't believe he is 33 weeks already. 

Cheers!

Oliver's Weekly Photos

I loved Young House Love's weekly photo with their first daughter (and now their son) and thought it would be a fun project to do with Oliver. I've been taking a picture each week with Ollie laying on one of the quilts I made before he was born.

Week 1:

Week 21:

How fast they grow... I still need to get them all edited and in the right order but I thought I'd share the project as it is now. If you follow me on Instagram (under englishgrams) I post one every week.

Cheers!

Emily 

Virtual Vacation

For those of you who aren't getting away this summer, feel free to live vicariously through me. Just kidding. Though we did have a great time! How about a tour? We stayed somewhere half way between Montego Bay and Negril in a nice quiet out of the way resort called the Lady Hamilton (fancy pants, I know). It was a fairly new resort so everything was nicely maintained.

We were greeted with this cute little arrangement on our bed. The room was small but nice and had a very well stocked mini bar.

Each of the little villas had a court-yard in the middle. (luckily the fountain turned off around 10pm and stayed off until 9am so we didn't go crazy)

Everything was very colonial and light and airy.

We also found quite a few fruit trees around the property.

The landscaping was spectacular.

 The main pool was pretty nice too, but too crowded for our taste.

There was also a weird mix of art.

We spent probably 90% of our awake time here.

I loved that our hotel had an adults only section which was quiet and less of a party atmosphere. The snorkeling was great for the amateur (which we are). It never got very deep and there was sandy spots to stop and rest fairly often. We saw an amazing amount of fish in that little area. My favorites were the octopi, cuttle fish and puffers but there was also a dizzying array of brightly colored beauties as well.

There were some other nice beaches on the grounds as well.

I also got some action shots of my DIY beach cover up. I actually saw a few of these around which was pretty cool.

We also saw some wildlife. Mostly in the form of feral cats.

Sleek little lizard hunters that they were. This Mama decided our porch was a safe place to nurse. We saw her quite often.

There were also the usual suspects. We found these wasps building a nest.

And one of the few surviving lizards.

We had a couple of afternoon rain storms but nothing that put a damper on our parade. The only thing I'd change was the food wasn't super. Though it did remind me a bit of dorm food which was kind of fun since that is where Daniel and I met. All in all it was a great third honeymoon.

Cheers!

Vacation Photo Dump: Part 3 (and final!)

I've been nursing a migraine the last few days so not much is getting done around here. I blame the shock of going from non-stop sun to pouring rain. Seriously Seattle, Spring starts next week! Yesterday we had snow flurries, hail, pouring rain and blinding sun all in the matter of 30 min. It was crazy. So let's bask in a few more sunny pictures while we wait for the weather to turn.

This last set is a bit of a hodge-podge of pictures from my parent's house and the Huntington Library gardens. First off I should introduce you to the cast of characters that currently inhabits my parent's home.

There is Bubba- our rescue Pit Bull. He is the sweetest and stupidest dog I know.

And Nacho. My older brother's cat who now lives with them.

The Guinea Fowl- Or as I like to call them, the not-chickens.

Are they not the ugliest birds you've ever seen? Not only are they ugly they are insanely loud, but they are good at eating ticks and weeds (and everything else). My Dad enjoys them.

He also has two Peacocks that are currently dating.

 Well... he thinks they are dating, she could care less. Normally they have the run of the ranch too but they are worried she would run off and try to find a better mate. Sorry girl, this is as good as it gets.

If you've never seen a peacock showing off before it is quite the sight. It is also quite noisy. He rustles his feathers at her and they make the strangest sound. I'm looking forward to when he molts. Dad is saving the feathers for me. Now I just need to figure out what I'm going to do with them.

When we were at the Huntington Library we spent most of the time in the desert area with the succulents. I was playing with my fixed focal lens so I got some great detail shots.

We also managed to get to the Chinese Garden before we it closed. I wish we had more time there but it was beautiful.

Wouldn't this make a cool bathroom floor? Give me a bag of rocks and 10 years and I might be done.

There you have it. My vacation I wish I was still on. I've been having trouble getting back in to the swing of things but I'm hoping once my head stops hurting I will be more enthusiastic.

What's inspiring you all right now? Maybe I can siphon some of your enthusiasm for myself.
Cheers!

Vacation Photo Dump: Part 2

After seven blissful nights in Rincon we headed up to Southern CA to see my family. It was a short trip (only two days) but it was great seeing them. I love being home. It is so quiet and peaceful. And the stars, my lord the stars are amazing.

We spent Saturday visiting the Gamble house in Pasadena and then we took a detour to the Huntington Library. I had only ever read about the Gamble house so I was really excited to take the tour and see inside. Unfortunately they don't allow photography inside but really that is ok since they had restored the original lighting to it's 15 watt glory. Not really the best for pictures. The outside was amazing enough.

It was built in 1908 for David and Mary Gamble of Proctor and Gamble. The entire place took 10 months to complete and cost 50,000 dollars (which is 1,197,871.70 now). Daniel hates when no-one gives the inflation adjusted values so there it is. 


The house is seriously huge. My house was built 4 years before and you can tell it was the cheap inexpensive version of this house. There are so many great aspects to the design of the house. I loved the front door

and the fact that every door had a screen door which is amazing if you think about the era.

Here it is lit up from the inside.



The whole house is paneled in teak which is insane.  With those 15 watt bulbs it is amazing no one went blind it was so dark inside, but, they made up for it with a ridiculous amount of windows. The other really neat feature of the house is that all of the furniture was made specifically for the home by the builders. Apparently it cost them $10,000 to furnish the place (or $239,574.34). Can you imagine having furniture that was actually meant to fit in your home instead of having to try and find things that fit? The possibilities are endless. 


Oh my, and the kitchen, it was huge!





It had a butler's pantry, a pastry room and a screened in porch for the servants to eat on (complete with Stickley furniture if you can believe it).

Basically the house was a Craftsman lover's paradise. It made me all excited to get working on our house again. I drooled over all of the built in storage and wood floors. You can check out more photo's of the house here or go on the virtual tour. If you ever make it to CA and are in to this sort of thing you should definitely take the time to see it.

Tomorrow I'll show you pics of the Huntington Library and it's gardens. Between the Gamble house and that I am pumped to get more done on our house! I love inspiration.

Anyone else tour historic homes for fun? We were the youngest people on the tour. Though I grew up in a Craftsman, they have a special place in my heart.

My childhood home

Cheers!