Links to Love: A Hat, a Hen House and Kinfolk

Enamored with this sneak peek into Brittany's life in Copenhagen.  She is crazy talented--look at those giant blooms!--and her blog is really pretty.

I love these sweet images of sisters snapped on my favorite street in Seattle.  Shannon did a great job capturing siblings in a natural way--a mother can't ask for more!  p.s. they are just as adorable in person as they are in these photographs.

At this year's Altitude Design Summit I cooked up a storm with Romina Rasmussen (so much fun); and for the dinner I ordered in grape juice from Navarro Winery in California for those not drinking alcohol that evening.  It was a hit and I can't wait to offer it again in my own home (note to self: need to host more dinner parties).  So guess what...they are offering 1 cent shipping this week on every case of wine and juice.  I'm so close to buying a case of juice...it's so delicious with a nice meal. Hey, if it's good enough for French Laundry, it's more than good enough for me!

If you're thinking about having your own chickens, consider this hen house...it's a garden and hen house in one!

I bought a hat in France similar to this new arrival in Kayce's shop.  I think all women should wear a hat like this at some point--so feminine.

And last, it was so much fun to finally peek at some of the images of Petra's tower condo in a recent edition of Kinfolk.  If you remember, her living space was featured as Real Life Home No. 9...

image 1 - House that Lars Built  /  image 2 - Kayce Hughes  /  image 3 + 4 - Shannon Wight Photography  /  image 4 - Kyle Johnson 

Modern Seattle Backyard

I adore my sister's home and her yard equally as much.  Everytime we visit she and her husband have completed a new project either inside or outside their mid-century "Doris Day" home as they fondly call it sometimes.  Since some of you live in warm climates right now, I wanted to share my sister's backyard with you.  Perhaps this is the beginning of a "Real Life Backyard" series since I'm enjoying (and hopefully you are too!) the "Real Life Home" series so much...

A pretty pot picked up at a thrift store and her fabulous, modern chicken coop.  I'm jealous of her fresh eggs everyday...they must be pretty amazing because she never shares them with me :)

A recent addition--this pretty orb that is also a planter.  So modern and chic.

Call it what you will, but I'm incredibly fond of straight lines when it comes to yards.  In France the trees are often arranged in perfectly linear patterns and it brings instant calmness to me for some reason.  I also love small, pebble gravel areas within a yard/garden.  It adds visual interest and texture.

Early Autumn tomato harvest...is there anything better than a garden tomato?  Thankfully the weather is holding up here in Seattle (knock on wood!) and we've had lots of sun lately...at least in our neighborhood.  We are taking it all in and getting giddy about wearing our sunglasses!

images by Stephanie Brubaker for stephmodo

Gardening 101

Since I love to cook and use fresh ingredients, it seemed natural to start a little garden. The only problem with this seemingly obvious scenario is that I'm not a gardener. In fact, I've only recently turned my black thumb kind of a brownish-green hue. This basically means instead of killing plants within a week, it takes more like a month or two :)

But, all skills that do not come naturally to us can be acquired with much effort. This I know. So, I'm giving my little garden a "go". I planted about 25 plants and only killed 4 the first week and 2 the second. Given my history I'm pretty satisfied with the status quo. I'm just hoping my red lettuce starts growing a little more. It's not dead--or even close--it simply appears to be the same size this week as it was 2 weeks ago. Hmmm....thankfully I can report my herb garden is alive and kicking. Hallelujah!

Any tips?