We bought our first home last April, and unlike my previous decor projects, I have taken things very slowly. We expect to be in this home for a long time, so I wanted to be very deliberate about how each room should look and feel. It is also quite expensive to go from a 1 bedroom apartment to a large house, so budget has dictated that we only buy a few things at a time. The dining room is far from finished, but I thought it would be fun to see the progress. So far we have switched out the light fixtures and purchased a new table. New chairs and wallpaper are next!

Listing photo

New light fixtures and table

Wallpaper contemplations

Lately I have been missing Paris. Since I won’t be going any time soon, I re-created a dish that we had for breakfast at Hotel Providence. I loosely followed this recipe, and served it with thin slices of sourdough bread.

Although I am reading much more slowly these days, I am intent to carve out time to do so whenever I can.

I just made this salted butter chocolate cake, and it was a perfect antidote to these cold and dark days.

After COVID and all the life changes over the past few years, I came to the sad realization that I will never again wear stilettos. I sent off several pairs to The Real Real, and realized that I needed more comfortable flats that aren’t sneakers or sandals. I found this pair of loafers from The Row on super sale, and the leather is soft and luxurious. Plus, the bright color will punch up my outfits.

So much has changed in this past year. Part of what kept me sane was having an organizational system in place, so I didn’t have to spend excess time and energy figuring out where things went. Organizational systems need maintenance, though, and I had neglected this until recently. I am currently going through the whole house to see what I can improve, and the kitchen is first. While this spice/baking cabinet was okay before, I knew it could be improved.

I used mostly blue Ball jars that I already had, but ordered these spice jars from Amazon. A few hours spent consolidating, labeling with a white paint pen or stickers, rearranging, and tossing out unusable items resulted in a new cabinet system that makes me happy every time I open it.

{Before}

{After}

I try to do at least one thing purely for myself each day, and baking has been a great comfort during these cold January days. I revisited this recipe for blueberry muffins, and they ended up being a perfect morning pick me up.

Hope you have been well! This has been the longest break I have had from this space. Lots of changes around here since my last post, including a new puppy, a new home, and a new baby. I hope to resume posting semi-regularly if the aforementioned small creatures will allow it.

Winter in Connecticut hasn’t been too bad yet, but that hasn’t stopped me from ordering a few new cashmere pieces to tide me over. I have bought one exceptional sweater each year for the past five or so years, and I now have a great collection of high quality pieces. One of my favorite places to buy from is Eric Bompard, which I first learned about on a trip to Paris many years ago. This sweater, and matching hat and scarf did not disappoint.