We celebrated our 15th anniversary this month! Not that 15 years is a big milestone anniversary, but it feels a little more momentous that 13 or 14 years, so I felt like we should at least do a little more than absolutely nothing to celebrate, like we usually do. Of course, being able to actually somewhat safely get out and about in the world and my excitement over that fact probably contributed to this, but I decided to book us in for a little wine tour that I’d heard about in the Kingsville wine growing region, just about an hour away from us. It wasn’t a big trip, but it definitely felt like a getaway. Now, I absolutely love the idea of a wine tour and getting to visit all of these beautiful wineries, and the scenery and atmosphere at each was amazing, but I kind of failed to realize that there would be actual wine drinking happening at all of these wineries until the last minute. I kind of panicked because all of those tastings back-to-back is definitely a little more wine than I can handle, but I just had a tiny little bit of each one and the day ended up being just lovely. I definitely wish I could go back and see how beautiful all of these places look in the fall as well. If you’re local or visiting the area, we stayed at The Grove Hotel in Downtown Kingsville and our tour was run by Grapevine Tours.
We went peach picking! I intended to have us go blueberry picking early in July, then raspberry picking, and hopefully catch some peaches too by the end of the summer. Well, the first round of blueberry picking didn’t happen, and we completely missed the short raspberry season at our local berry farm, but I managed to find an afternoon where the kids were bored and we didn’t have any shoots, to get ourselves out in the ridiculously hot and humid weather for an hour to pick a giant basket of peaches and a few blueberries as well while we were there. We’ve never actually been peach picking before and it was a lot of fun. The peach trees are so pretty up close and the peaches were almost the most delicious I’ve ever had. I say almost because there’s another local orchard that sells its peaches through local farmer’s markets and some smaller grocery stores and they really are the absolute best. So we grabbed our giant basket of peaches and then I realized that I’d need to find something to do with all of them. Because I didn’t have much time to do any baking right away, I had the brilliant idea to slice them up and freeze them on baking sheets like we do with blueberries. I may end up using them for baking later, but we also discovered that frozen peach slices make a pretty amazing, healthy snack, so they’ll probably be gone before I get the chance. If you go peach picking this year, definitely try the frozen peach slice trick!
Have I mentioned before how much I love our little photography business? Oh, I have? 🙂 In the last few weeks we’ve had the opportunity to style and shoot beautiful kitchen renovations, newly-built dream homes, play dough kits for a growing messy play for kids empire, raw fish fillets for the world’s largest fresh-water fishery, a local flower farmer’s field in peak season, and the list goes on. I love that we get to work with so many different diverse clients and my favourite part is that we really do learn something and get a little better with every single shoot. Every situation is a new challenge. It really gives me a sense that every day another piece of the puzzle falls into place. Here are a few favorites from some recent shoots!
My new curtains arrived and they are so, so beautiful. I didn’t know what to expect because of their low price point, but honestly, the product that arrived at my house is what I would expect if I had paid $250 per panel. They’re lined, they have weights at the bottom and all the necessary loops for them to be hung either with pins and rings like I’m going to do, or just straight on the curtain rod. I was also really excited about the color. I was worried the white of the “pillow white” that I ordered might be a little too stark, but it’s actually a nice, warm white and it’s exactly what I was hoping for, if I got really lucky. If you’ve been dreaming of white velvet curtains too, definitely look into these ones! I’ll share more photos later once I actually manage to get them all up in the living room and dining room.
I’ve been trying to use my weekends to get at least one little home project checked off my list as often as possible. Last week, we had a shoot on Saturday and then we were just kind of playing catch up on Sunday from a busy week, so I missed out on my chance, but the weekend before that I finished up painting the last little stretch of white wall in the kitchen. It feels so good to choose a manageable task that I can actually start and finish, set aside time for it, then actually get it completely done. I hate that cringe-y feeling I get when I walk into a room with half-painted walls, which I know a lot about. Ha! My goal for this weekend is to sand down the kitchen table and give it a fresh coat of paint because it’s gotten pretty banged up in the last couple of years since I first painted it white. Still so glad I did it though!
News and Finds
- Fellow sushi lovers: Have you tried these seaweed snacks? They’re like thin, salty, sushi flavoured chips, but they’re of course also super good for you and crazy low in calories for how satisfying they are. Those are the frozen peach slices are my absolute favourite snacks right now.
- I shared this new margarita-scented cleaner on Instagram the other day and people went nuts over it. For me, I think they did a little too good of job with the scent and I kind of think it makes my house smell like a bar, but margarita fans were intrigued for sure. You can definitely almost smell the tequila!
- Speaking of salty things, it seems like everyone else is already following Pure Salt Interiors on Instagram, but I just discovered them recently and I’ve definitely been missing out.
- I have a really fancy gold bracelet that Chris bought me for Christmas last year and I wear it all the time. I thought it might be nice to have a few others to go along with it, so I decided to order a few inexpensive pieces from J. Crew Factory, just to see how I would feel about the whole thing for everyday wear. I accidentally got one of the bracelets stuck on my wrist because apparently I can’t work clasps properly, so I’ve been wearing it for weeks now, 24/7, through showers and swimming and sunscreen, and let me tell you: I’m impressed. Not a bit of fading, discolouration, or scratching. It still looks brand new! I expected it to start to turn within a few days and that I’d just need to break it off, but it’s still in perfect shape. I’ve been wearing this bracelet set, this ring set, and this necklace. Highly recommend if you’re tired of costume-type jewelry fading on you too quickly.
- Is it just me or are the Amazon Basics comforters and quilts really great? I love a good, basic comforter that you can just throw into the wash without worry when you notice a pet has been curled up on it all day. I bought a couple for the kids last year (super inexpensively, of course) and they’ve been holding up so well, wash after wash. Our old quilt was looking a little threadbare and it doesn’t look like we’re going to have time to do any big renovation projects in our room any time soon with the way our schedule has been, so a cheap and cheerful refresh seemed in order. I came across this very classic-looking quilt set so I ordered it. I’ll report back when it comes in!
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Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.