sound of the weekend

My recorder didn’t work for this. But your imagination will be able to infill the sounds of a throaty inboard motor, clinking ice, and splashes off the dock as we jumped into Lake Tahoe.

Blue doesn’t begin to describe it.

east coast bound

I'm leaving on a jet plane again for a slice of East Coast summer, a vacation, and then work. The part where I get to spend time in the clouds never fails to utterly amaze me.

summer vacation

See, I got all excited about the book and forgot to tell you about my vacation. In a word, it was perfect. There is nothing better in my book than sun-warmed skin.

On the one rainy day we had, we made friendship bracelets in the living room and then went down to the wet beach to run off our cabin fever. Other than that, we swam and rode bikes and ate lobster rolls and played lawn games with the little ones, and swam some more.

After a week at the beach, Mike and I headed north to Vermont and spent a perfect lazy day doing nothing more than floating on my sister’s pond with margaritas in hand. Followed by cornhole at dusk and a very, very funny game of charades.

I'll miss you, summer vacation.

summer, norcal style

This time of year when we are socked in with damp, heavy fog, I get wistful for classic summer, East Coast style. Fireflies and summer rain, crickets and swimming.

I’m about to head East – but in the meantime, the relentless fog provides good incentive to hustle over the bridge and find summer, Northern California style. Which can be a lovely thing when I force myself to stop comparing the coasts.

Especially when the day’s outing ends with watermelon sorbet in a waffle cone.

summer giveaway: flip-flop heart

You have heard about my mother before. Well, now you can really hear my mom. She’s been a big supporter of this Lazy Summer project, and here she is leaving me a message after a big summer storm in Virginia.

She’s right that the power going out was always one of my favorite things. When we grew up, my family would actually have nights where we turned off all the power and pretended we were living back in pioneer days. And one of the craziest parts of that little tradition is that I didn’t think it was strange until I blurted it out at college once. The looks I got definitely told me that not many other families had self-imposed power outages on a regular basis.

I don’t mean to romanticize hardship. But I am tempted to say that the power has become a little too reliable for my liking. I remember that shiver of excitement when the lights would stutter and then go out. We’d be the littlest bit scared, but candles were nearby and we were used to the dark anyway since we grew up in the country. Your eyes would slowly adjust and really, either option was a good one: stay inside and play a board game, or head out the screen door and sit in the immense quiet.

But wait, this little trip down memory lane actually has a purpose. Because in addition to making up songs on the spot and relishing sitting on the deck at night, my mother also creates these Flip-Flop Heart necklaces. A pair of flip-flops joined at the heel so they make a little heart so you can wear a bit of summertime all year long. She’s giving one away to a lucky reader – just leave a comment before Monday night with a way to reach you and I’ll pick a winner at random.



the return from vacation

After swimming, sewing, and sitting on porches for summer rainstorms, I'm back at home. And feeling a little blue. I feel like an ungrateful jerk, complaining after almost two weeks away. But it’s hard to come back to the computer and deadlines and no humidity or water to jump into. Or sisters to sit on a porch with.

It was such a good trip. When I got off the plane in Burlington, I almost wept with happiness. For the warm air and seeing my Vermont sister and a long stretch of empty days ahead. We headed for an outdoor restaurant at the edge of the lake and pulled an about-face on our drink order because there was steel drum music playing and people puttering up to the dock in dinghies and all of a sudden, a gin and tonic wasn’t going to cut it. So we swapped our order for two pina coladas and hatched a plan to houseboat around the lake next summer.

And that’s kind of how everything went. Not much planning – just bobbing along the current of each moment, each hour, each afternoon. Should we make homemade ice cream or eat a Klondike bar out of the freezer? Read a magazine or a novel? Swim now or later?

Every decision was easy and the right one. And, really, how often can you say that?

I’m not ready for summer to end. But this end-of-summer melancholy is an old acquaintance. I think it means it’s been good. So let's make the end count.

If these photos look familiar, it's because I lazed out so utterly that I didn't take many photos. So I'm borrowing these from this post last summer. How's that for lazy?

summercraft: getaway skirt

This has happened to me before. Something comes over me when vacation brain takes over. The sewing urge hits hard, as I imagine flouncing around warmer climes in a new skirt. Amy Karol has a prefect five-minute skirt how-to posted right here. But I have to confess that my deadline sewing takes on an almost reckless, devil-may-care quality. There are other times and other projects that require me to be careful and precise. But the night before leaving, as I sit at the sewing machine and simultaneously pack in my mind, is not one of those times.

This glittery knit fabric caught my eye – maybe because it looks like sand. But it's on the thin side, so I folded it twice so I had four layers. Then on top of the folded fabric, I lay down a skirt that I like the fit of. I pinned and cut, adding about ½” all around for seams.

Pin the sides, sew with a zig-zag stitch, and you don’t even need a waistband if you’re using fabric that stretches. Just fold it over. However, I had this lovely, vibrant green fold-over elastic and thought it would look nice with turquoise thread. But get this, everyone: I didn’t even fold the elastic over. Sacre bleu! I simply pinned it along the inner top of the skirt waist and zig-zagged. It looked like this as I sewed:

And I have to say, I really like the result. Not that I plan on wearing any midriff tops to show off this detail, but the unexpected green and contrasting thread is like a little secret. Notice this weird contorted angle so I could show you the waistband in closer detail:

As for the bottom hem: no thank you. I have bags to pack.

summer list: your turn

Happy Friday, lazy’ers. Since these great summer ideas keep flowing in from all of y’all, I’m going to keep sharing:

Maeri is going to drag her Adirondack chairs out to her England backyard that faces a canal and drink a gin and tonic while watching the boats go by (can we all come, Maeri? I'll start mixing the G&T’s!).

Lisbeth wants to hang globe lights from her front porch and sit outside at night.

Charlotte wants to make a teepee for her boy.

A teepee my sister made last year for our niece's birthdaySarah R is going to drink a glass of lemonade and enjoy an outdoor concert.

And Bethany wants to swim in a cold mountain lake, eat sun-warm berries straight off the plant and listen to live music sitting on a blanket in the grass.

As for me, I want to make summer pudding, wear a sundress and sew a simple skirt this weekend. What's on your lazy weekend list?

summercraft: simple decoration for paper lanterns

Surely last holiday season, you saw those mini gingerbread houses that perch on the edge of your mug of hot chocolate? The ones that made your heart break a little with the utter genius and cuteness of the idea? Well, meet Megan of Not Martha. I have long admired her talent and creativity. Last fall, I got to spend a weekend in her company and meet the warm, talented spirit behind the clever ideas and beautiful photography. So for all these reasons, I am thrilled to have her and her stunner of a DIY project here as part of Lazy Summer. Here’s Megan:

We have a bunch of paper lanterns left over from our wedding reception and I had been planning on hanging them around our deck this summer. But I had forgotten that up here in Seattle the summer days are long and the sun sets fairly late, so we would rarely be turning the lanterns on. I decided to decorate them so that they would look a bit more festive while hanging in the sun and a bit less like, well, lanterns left over from our wedding reception.

Here is a picture of one by night and by day next to a lantern that I used as the base. I am happy that the tissue adds a lot to the size while hiding the battery housing. However, it does dim the amount of light that shows through:

Do you remember that craft we did as kids where you twist a small square of tissue paper over the eraser end of a pencil, dip it in glue, and stick it down to paper plate to decorate a valentine or a holiday wreath? I'm doing the exact same thing here, only larger and on top of a glowing orb. The result is a bit like a flower pomander. For the pictures for this tutorial one I chose shades of yellow and orange, mostly because the day I went shopping for tissue paper it had been cloudy and gray for what seemed like weeks and I really wanted something sunny. I suspect this would look even more like flowers if you used three tones of the same color.


What you'll need:

- Glue sticks or a glue gun (if you have one, lucky person).

- Sheets of colored tissue paper cut into approximately 6-inch squares, no need to be exact here. I went with three colors and used about four sheets of each color, for a total of twelve sheets of tissue paper for each lantern. You can feel free to use as many colors as you'd like or stick to a single color.

- Three objects with round, flat ends that range from 2 to 1 inch in diameter. You'll be using these to form and glue down the tissue so objects you can wash with soap and water are best since the glue can seep through the tissue. I ended up using the top of a bottle of mouthwash, the end of a large plastic knitting needle, and a tube of mascara. (The mascara runs, so this is the most useful it's ever been.) I also considered votive holders, Crayola makers, empty vitamin bottles and the handles of wooden spoons from my kitchen.

- A few paper lanterns. The ones shown here are 8 inches in diameter. (If you don't have any lanterns to repurpose you might want to keep in mind buying in a color that would work well as a background color. I found that the colorful tissue filters light so this isn't something you should necessarily embark on a quest for.)

- A free afternoon and a few friends. I suspect three people could finish six lanterns in the amount of time it takes for the sangria to soak, which obviously you'll need to sip frequently to be certain.

Notes:

You don't have to layer the colors as I have, but I did find that it was a nice way to evenly space the colors without having to pay attention to where I was putting them. It also means the color is uniform when the lantern is lit. However, if you want to create a polka dot or stripe effect go for it.

I used three different sized objects to glue down the layers of tissue to create a bit more texture, the final color applied sticks out furthest and is a bit more prominent in daylight. If you find all this overly fussy by all means go ahead and put one layer using whatever sized thing you want.

The Steps:

1. Let's just take a moment to learn from my mistakes. Before you start make sure each of your lanterns actually work. Overall this isn't a difficult project but you might find yourself a wee bit upset if you discover, after multiple changes of batteries and light bulbs that came from working lanterns, that your frilly new lantern is simply a dud. I am, ahem, speaking from recent experience.

2. Decide which order you want to apply your colors. I found that the color put on last is the most prominent, so I went with orange first and yellow last.

3. Wrap a square of color #1 over your widest object, apply glue to the end, then stick to your lantern. Do this all over your lantern, spacing them about 1 inch apart. The next two layers will add a lot of bulk so don't worry if you think things look sparse. (The images I show here only create a single section. I've done it that way for the purpose of brevity, it will go faster if you do all of one color at a time.)


4. Apply color #2 using your medium diameter object and glue those into the center of color #1. Then do the same with color #3 using your narrowest object.

5. You're done, congrats. The sun is setting and it is time for that sangria.

Thanks, Megan! May your summer be long and lazy, and lit with gorgeous paper lanterns.

vermont so far

Here are some highlights so far:

fresh rhubarb juice + raising a timber frame with the 
family + lake swimming + mussels over a campfire
(who knew?) + stalking hermit crabs with my niece
+ fireflies + thunderstorms on a porch + a drive-in
on my birthday + learning the ukelele

We are feeling truly summer-fied. This has been a 
near-perfect mix of family and friends and quiet
time and loud time. And when I get a handle on my
thousands of photos, I think I might put together a
few slide shows because some of the things we've 
done already (like raising a timber frame, the secret
lake camping and a beach weekend with old friends)
feel like a whole short story unto themselves.

PS, I'm not exactly sure why my font formatting has
suddenly changed. I'll see what I can do about this.