le weekend.

Quel weekend bien chargé! Get ready for photo overload folks. 

Saturday I planned a little get together in the park complete with shish kebabs, watermelon, and smores, of course :)

We challenged our guests to a little pétanque.

And we played until the sun went down.

And then we roasted marshmallows. And chocolate covered Chips Ahoys.

I liked the all-in-one smore going on there.

Une soirée parfaite.

Sunday we road tripped to Parc Omega, a wild animal park close about mi-chemin between Montreal and Ottawa. 

Visitors stay in their car and drive around the park, becoming at times intimately acquainted with the wildlife. These guys were waiting for us at the entrance to the park. 

The amount of slobber on the car windows after our visit was frightening. We bought a bag of carrots so we could feed the various moose, elk, deer, caribou, etc. 

Les sangliers. Boars.

He was READY to do anything for that carrot.

Arctic foxes. Looked more like fluffy puppies though.

Bison!

Lots of.... baby bison? Bison... calves?

The master.

Enfin, la vallée des ours!

The cutest little bear pups you've ever seen. 

People threw the bears apples instead of carrots. 

And they all seemed to know what to do to get the apples!

This little guy was on the sidelines by the bears.

Les visiteurs.

A jam-packed, warm-weathered, smore-eating, wine-drinking, pétanque-playing, summer weekend. After a much needed does of Vitamin D I didn't even mind too much that it poured all.day.long. Rainy weeks are easier when there are sunny weekends. 

What festivities were your weekends filled with?

xo

friday top ten: web style.

top ten intriguing/yummy/crafty/beautiful things from the web this week.

via swiss-miss.

Inspired by my own birthday this week... find out how common your bday is. 

via delighted momma. 

Like to try my hand at polymer clay necklaces.

Wine belt for a bike! Genius!

Cute kitchen scale to add a vintage touch. 

Chocolate coffee hazelnut layer cake. Going to try this for Mr. S's birthday next week.

I see a different you. 

Beautiful dress! Love the bracelets too. And the rest of the blog is pretty fantastic as well. 

via

Just figured out today that the flower muguet in French is Lily of the Valley. I snatched a few this week on an evening walk and they're making the apartment smell lovely. 

What! Tom's Sunglasses?!

via.

Want to buy some succulents for the apartment. Such lovely, understated plants. 

What's in store for your weekend? I'm going to wrangle up a barbeque, watermelon, cold beer, smore fixings, and some pretty awesome people and celebrate birthdays and warm weather. Have a good one!

xo

on leaning in.

Homemade channa masala (with this recipe) spiced chicken drumsticks, and naan (with this recipe). The naan was ridiculously easy and SO good. Will be making that on a regular basis. With more garlic next time. 

Strawberry sponge layer cake with home made whipped cream. Topped with powdered sugar. 

Weddings make a great occasion for a reunion. We spent our weekend down in Western Massachusetts catching up with les nantais. There was hiking, cute, slobbery dogs, wonderful breakfasts, and cocktails for everyone. 

Doesn't this little piece of bark remind you of the infinity sign? 

Things have been up and down over here. Transition periods are always the hardest ones to get through, I know that's not a monumental discovery. But for the sake of my mental health, I've decided to (try to) embrace the hard parts. The pointy edges that I just want to smooth out. There are going to be difficult parts in life and sometimes you just have to lean in to them. Even though it's uncomfortable. I don't know if my strategy is working yet, but I do know I am considerably calmer this week than last. I go for long runs. I did hot yoga this afternoon and sweat everything out of my body. I wrote a story this morning for the first time since who knows how long. And now I'm getting back to work this afternoon, trying to move forward and see what's ahead for me. 

How is your week going? What recipes are you cooking up? 

xo

lately.

lately i've been...

jumping towards the sky.

putting (hopefully) end-of-the-season use to bean boots.

hanging out on cold northeastern beaches.

hanging out on warm, tropical beaches.

swimming with the fishies. and rays. and sharks.

crashing fam vacations.

and not pictured...

making homemade whipped cream to go atop strawberry vanilla cake.

trying my hand at a mongolian beef recipe, with grilled veggies.

fostering a new tomato plant on our balcony.

trying to not wash away in this rainy month of may.

watching this city completely transition, to the season I love most.

exploring more of quebec, hosting tourists, and reuniting with old friends.

going on longer evening runs. in shorts. and t shirts.


Excuse the somewhat unplanned hiatus, but hopefully this recent grad school graduate will now have ample time to write. and post. and photograph. and cook. and live!

What have you been up to lately?