Birthday balloons, striped vintage umbrellas, and lovely surprises♥

 ~My birthday was officially on Monday the 18th of April. The celebrations started on Friday the 15th and continued the whole weekend long. It was so delightful! On Friday, I made a delicious strawberry meringue topped with fluffy whipped cream and garnished with strawberries. We played hilarious rounds of Taboo, I opened gifts and received absolutely brilliant Spectrespcs from my sister and an adorable H&M gift card. And from Erika, much to my surprise when I opened the huge package, a window box filled with bulbs of tulips, daffodils, and petunias! The main event of the evening was watching Deathly Hallows: part 1, which came out that day, munching on popcorn, Erika and I talking throughout of our favourite scenes, how amazing it was the first time at midnight, our excitement for part 2, and love for Harry Potter. 

~Sunday was quite delightful. The sun finally decided to peek out and family came over, including Erika's family of course because we're cousins! We munched on Chex Mix, talked and laughed of superfluous things, I received a a gorgeous boldly striped umbrella from my mum that fits two beneath it that I'd had my eye on at the local antique mall for nearly two months, and a special blue bow tie from Erika, just like Daniel Radcliffe wears in the broadway musical How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. Later that night when all the guests had left my mum and I watched the British Jeeves and Wooster with Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry as I painted and journaled. It was lovely having the prospect of the next day being your birthday and the plans we had!

Monday, the 18th. My birthday! I woke up in bed with my breezy white duvet enveloping me in cosiness, not quite feeling 15 years old. My mum and I got all ready and drove off to the local big city for a lunch of sushi in a classy restaurant, sipping ice lemon water, enjoying Clear Soup, and heavenly Maki rolls.

The whole day was simply divine and one of the best birthday's I've ever celebrated. My mum and I stopped in Target and admired the lovely embellished dresses, then popped in Barnes and Noble on our way to the mall admiring the adorable new Beatrix Potter collection, and then we were off to H&M. But on the way we were distracted by Banana Republic--how classy and sophisticated it looked! We had to stop in. I was admiring the beautiful clothing and the beautiful aesthetically pleasing way they set up the store, when my mum and I came across the sale corner. I was looking through, not really expecting to find anything, when I came across something rose-coloured and silk. I pulled it off of the rack and discovered a beautiful dress with fluttering sleeves and beautiful details. I looked at the price tag and found that it was: $30. Yes, $30! I couldn't believe it. I was so excited. We went straight to the dressing rooms and I tried it on, and as I pulled it over my head I knew it was perfect. The way it fluttered around when I twirled made me so happy. I went out and looked in the huge mirrors and knew that I had to get it.

I spent at least an hour and a half in H&M. It was ever so exciting grabbing anything that caught my eye and then trying it all on. H&M is such a brilliant store. Then we were off to Forever 21 which was bursting with Spring colours and prints.
At the end of the lovely shopping day I got two tops+one skirt, a pair of canvas Oxfords, a beautiful pink sparkly embellished headband to go with my dress, and a very classy pair of brown mottled round sunglasses (think Edith Head) all from H&M, plus two tops+one skirt from Forever 21.

 When we arrived home I was ever so slightly giddy with general birthday excitement. I tried on my new clothes to see what all I could pair it with and showed it to my mum. I also tried on my perfect pink dress from Banana Republic, which I'm not going to fully reveal to you lovelies yet because in the next post with photos from Easter Erika and I shall share what our new dresses look like (she got one from H&M).

My mum and I shared a very sophisticated supper enjoying delicious leftovers from the restaurant Erika, mum and I went to on Saturday. We ate on the still decourated table with candles lit, mum sipping wine, and I sipping water from an elegant wine glass.

Later on into the night I watched Ratatouille with my mum and sister, which is such a beautiful film! I adore the animation and how it captures Paris in such a breathtaking way and the soundtrack is exceptionally lovely. My sister had picked up some "Eiffel Tower" brand brie for me and I topped it with leftover strawberry sauce from Friday night and freshly sliced apples-all sitting atop my great grandma's old blue transferware.

It had been a simply delightful birthday and everything I'd hoped it to be.
I am very excited for Erika's 17th birthday to come round on May 14th. Her and I are planning a wonderful outdoor picnic consisting of delicious food and a screening of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince projected outside with us all snuggled in blankets on the grass and the stars shining above us.

Easter post to come next week, my darlings! How has your Spring been?

xoxoxo,
-Rachel-

When I hear that wind and I think of spring...

Hello darlings,  I hope you have all been having wonderful weeks of spring flowers and beautiful sunshine!  The weather has been so inspirational, even though it has been rainy, and I have been doing some spring cleaning and decorating.  What have you lovelies done lately in honour of spring? I have been loving the breezy feel of rooms full with flowers and sheer curtains.  Soon I am going to be painting my room a beautiful light yellow colour and I am so excited because I have been awaiting this day for ages.

Aren't those cats simply precious?  I should be getting a cat for outdoors soon and it makes me so happy.  I have never been a huge cat lover, but after seeing beautiful pictures of them, such as the one above, I have been aching to have one.  Oh, and look at that precious house!  Imagine living in a cute cottage like that, and having a wonderful secret garden in the back with daffodils and june lilies encompassing it!  Ah, I simply adore flowers and I cannot not wait until my daffodils begin popping up!

Spring has also gotten me into the baking mood.  I want to have a huge lovely picnic for my birthday, in May, and bake all sorts of goodies and make lemonade. Brie with pear preserves on fresh baked bread, chocolate cake topped with raspberry whipped cream, and a wonderful fruit salad.  Have any of you baked something lovely lately?  Easter is coming very soon and I hope to dye some eggs like this featured in the April issue of country living.  Aren't they darling?    

                                            


Speaking of Easter, I have purchased a beautiful twenty dollar dress from H&M and Rachel has purchased a gorgeous thirty dollar dress from Banana Republic.  We are both very excited to wear them to church as well as our grandma's house afterwards.  The fashion styles this spring have been breathtaking and I have been loving every minute of them!  The light pinks and creams, the silk and sheer, they are all so lovely!  Are any of you doing something special for the wonderful easter holiday?

If I was a boy at sea I would be swinging from a broken tree...

Here are a couple of pictures from a trip to lake Michigan a couple of weeks ago that I thought I would share with you.  It was terribly windy that day and a bit cold by the lake, but it was still lovely to go to the seaside.

♥♥♥

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend celebrating our wonderful Saviour who died for our sins and then was raised from the dead! 

Cheers,

XOXO

Erika&Rachel

(written by Erika)

p.s. here is the song that inspired this post, enjoy! 

Right now...

Currently enjoying my birthday weekend celebrating with family and friends, ate a delicious strawberry meringue, watched Deathly Hallows: Part 1, and visited a lovely restaurant along a lake with Erika and my mum. 

♥

Birthday tomorrow, shopping and sushi with my mum, and in the evening I plan to eat brie with strawberries, chocolate mousse, and watch Ratatouille or Pride&Prejudice. 

Hope your weekend is as divine as mine has been! More pictures soon my lovelies♥

xoxoxo,

~Rachel~

Full of splendor, birdsong, and beautiful sunshine!

Hello my darlings! I do hope you've been enjoying this blissful Spring weather. This past Sunday we were very spoiled with wonderful 80 degree weather and lovely warm winds. Here! In the midwest! In April! It was completely divine. I wore my new thrifted floral shorts and blue and green shoes I'd worn all the time last Summer. Erika and her brother came over in the early evening and we had an absolutely completely splendid time!

We all sat out on my family's screened porch and sipped ice cold lemonade and enjoyed lovely conversation. It felt so much like Summer it was surreal! Erika and I of course took some photos to capture the glorious day. We sat out on my blanket beneath the vast ceiling of branches of the pine trees and talked for about an hour of all things nice while looking at my beautiful British decourating book that I adore called Comfortable Country. 

The day was complete bliss. And when we came in the house as the sun was setting we ate a casual supper and listened to some fantastic big band music. Oh how I adore Spring! Just overnight our daffodils burst forth in glorious splendour and the floor of my forest is sprinkled with foliage of green and buds of flowers.

Next Monday, the 18th, is my 15th birthday and I am so very excited! I think birthdays are simply divine. This Friday I'm planning to have Erika, her brother, and a couple other friends over. We shall eat a scrumptious berry meringue gateau (which I'm planning to make), open gifts, perhaps dance to some groovy music, eat a delightful supper, and watch Deathly Hallows part 1 which is coming out on DVD that day! It will be so much fun and Erika and I are quite excited for the little celebration. 

And, as everyone will stay the night, the next day, Saturday, my mum will take us girls to a local town right along the lake with a delightful park and a restaurant called the Boathouse that's directly next to the lake. We're also planning to stop by any quaint shop that catches our eye. This past Saturday night it was just my mum and I up late at night cosily watching The Young Victoria in my lovely living room. I sketched out a little still life of how I want the table to look Friday night with white pendants hanging, a Spring tablecloth, my cake, and lit candles all set up on a table out on the front porch. 

On Monday, the day of my birthday it shall be mine and my mum's annual day out. We plan to go shopping, eat sushi for lunch, pop in at a Pampered Chef party at a friends house in the early evening, then come home, eat brie with fruit and some delicious chicken of sorts for supper, and that night watch Ratatouille and eat scrumptious chocolate mousse. I am so excited for the happy prospect of my birthday weekend!

~♥~

Today is absolutely glorious and I am off to go take a walk in my woods, paint, read, and enjoy the beautiful day. The birds are singing so beautifully it is complete bliss. The trees are budding and I cannot wait for the leaves to burst forth! 

Happy Tuesday to you all, my darlings♥ How was your weekend?

xoxoxoxo,

-Erika&Rachel

{written by Rachel}

P.S.-Currently in love with Ruche's Spring lookbook that completely captures the beauty of Spring!

-It all ends in just 99 days-

Well, I can honestly say I didn't think this moment would come this soon...and I kind of hate it. Wow. It is just 99 tiny little days until the end. Until the Final Battle. In 99 days we will be viewing the final installment to the most amazing and wonderful film and book franchise...ever. Feeling very bittersweet about it all. Definitely bittersweet. We completely know the movie will be perfect. Writing this I feel sad and am getting some chills and goosebumps thinking about that moment in the theatre when they show the "Nineteen Years Later" scene and then the screen will go black, we will yell our applause, and then it will be over. The wonderful films will be at an end, but we know in our hearts that we shall enjoy them forever and a day. The films and their perfect emotions, intensity, humor, beauty, always gorgeous and favourite ever soundtracks, and our adoration for those characters and the way the actors play them.

Harry Potter. Oh, Harry Potter....it is purely wonderful, our favourite thing ever, and will cheer us up any day of the year. I was listening to some songs from the soundtracks and felt lovely thinking about the movies and plus the fact that one song in particular (the beautiful first 25 seconds of this song) and had blissful memories from visiting the theme park in October (which, I promise you, I will post about soon...I've just wanted to have the right words to describe its heavenliness).

Our excitement is mounting, the film will come over sweet Summer and it will be perfect, we will adore it, tears will be shed throughout the incredible film, and then it will all end. 

And now, in the words of the newest amazing poster, IT ALL ENDS 7.15. 

Yes. It will be incredibly mind blowing. Harry Potter forever and ever and a day...wonderful♥

xoxoxoxoxo,

-Erika&Rachel

Spring Inspiration

Hello there, my lovelies! Well here I am with another post which I promised would come seasonally when we did our first Winter Inspiration post. 

It is the first of April, which not only means Happy April Fool's, more importantly Fred and George Weasley's birthday, but the first day of a blissful month that I always look forward to each year.

Not only is April my birthday month but it is a month of beautiful Spring sunshine, the blossoming of flowers, the first peek at lush green grass and times to frolic about and enjoy the day. Words almost cannot describe that joy that Spring brings, but the photo above and to the right really captures a Spring lighting and feel to me. I am adoring the bright afternoon shadows the appear in my beautiful living room, the sunsets I can enjoy, and the grass I can perch on as I read.

I mentioned in the last post how I wanted to make some changes to my bedroom. Well, the other day my dear mummy and I went to a lovely consignment/coffee shop (where I may be able to get a job this Summer!) and found a beautiful and elegant duvet cover that's white with lovely embellishments of lace. It looks so pretty and breezy! I can't wait to get pretty pale toile pillows to go with it and a luxurious white canopy which I shall buy with birthday money. 

I received my brand new hot-off-the-press J. Crew catalogue the other day and was, as always, in love with everything inside. 

My two current things on my wish list from J. Crew is the Gingham Sonoma Short, seen at right, along with the Cutler and Gross sunglasses. Pretty much, the glasses have the exact design that I love-the cute pointed edges-and if I was to buy glasses I would need them to also have the marble look. 

I adore the breezy elegance that Spring brings-trees looking almost sprinkled with tiny green leaves and buds, opening your windows to let the birdsong breeze through, and embracing the pink, flowers, and breezy silk. 

Once my mum takes me Spring clothes shopping I hope to have my wardrobe full of shirts like those pictured at left.

The other day I was looking at photos from weddings and decided to take my almost weekly visit to the newly launched line of all things unique and beautiful for your wedding, BHLDN. I was looking at the breathtaking wedding gowns and discovered my dream dress: the Cascading Goddess gown, pictured above. It is breathtaking-the sumptuous silk, flowing layers, and dainty, feminine and elegant cut.

~What I wore: Sunday Best~

Sunday was a completely and utterly a perfect day. I woke up to sunshine shining through my window and new that I had to pick a lovely Spring outfit for church to welcome the beauty of a Spring day. The morning light was perfect and I took several photos outside just before my family left for church capturing the beautiful morning sunshine. The birds were singing beautifully and it was so ideal!

♥

When we got home my mum had some delicious creamy chicken in the crock-pot and the house smelled scrumptious. I turned on some Glenn Miller, my mum steamed asparagus, and we sat around the table and enjoyed a classic "Sunday dinner." It was so lovely! And the day was absolutely glorious outside.

A couple of things on my wish list are: 

Beast's Feast Tureen from Anthropologie. Tureen's are always my favourite! My mum has some old beautiful blue and white dishes that belonged to my great grandmother and my favourite piece of the set is the tureen.

Lately I've been thinking about beautiful Summer weekend trips, and I always see beautiful bags online and such. Right now my favourite one is the Summer Blossom Overnight bag from Cath Kidston. Her designs are so beautiful and Summery! Someday I'm just going to pluck up the courage and buy an epic bag.

~♥~

Erika is at my house now and we're planning to watercolour, make smoothies and popcorn and watch the new Ramona and Beezus. 

Hope your weekend is magical! Happy Spring, darlings! And more importantly, happy first of April! April is purely wonderful. ♥

How are you celebrating Spring, darlings?

xoxoxo,

-Erika&Rachel

{written by Rachel}