Out like a lamb?

This was the scene in the backyard yesterday after it snowed all afternoon! Sigh. Thankfully it's melting away today. Come on spring, you can do it!

♡,

Erin

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

I've been meaning to get through the oodles of pictures from my rainy afternoon spent here during our trip to DC for quite awhile now, and hooray! I finally did. 

I started off my tour in the Hall of Mammals. The taxidermy was really amazing, especially the action scenes.

But of course I appreciated the cute fuzzy creatures sitting still as well. 

I went through the Hall of Human Origins next and then came across this: 

I won't even pretend to understand what hyperbolic space means exactly, but the premise of this exhibit is that coral reefs and accompanying sea creatures as represented by bunches and bunches of crocheted odds and ends, illustrate a complex geometric concept. 

There are crocheted reefs in a handful of cities around the world. Made by volunteers, they are also meant to draw attention to ecological issues. The effort is quite impressive and the resulting myriad of colors and textures is really beautiful.

Next was lunch and then a really fascinating exhibit on recent studies of human remains from the 17th century Chesapeake. (Well fascinating to me anywho). 

After ingesting loads of information, my little brain needed a rest which came in the form of the eye candy that was the Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals.

Unfortunately I didn't get a good shot of the Hope Diamond which is on display there, but emeralds and sapphires such as these aren't too bad to look at I suppose.

But, as a girl who when she was little could be entertained for hours by picking through the rocks that made up the driveway looking for pretty ones, I think I almost liked the specimens in their raw forms better.

Amazing all these shapes, textures, colors, etc. can occur naturally. As rocks!

After I finished up at the Natural History Museum, I did dash into the Museum of American History long enough to peak at Julia Child's kitchen. Cozy and filled with gadgets, but mostly of the more low-tech variety.

And so I leave you with this sentiment (as it applies to museum exploration, cooking and everything else)...

♡,

Erin

Weekend Yum

Spring-y-looking tastiness. Wildberry Lavender and Bourbon Butter Pecan at Jeni's in Clintonville. (This pic is actually from a couple of weekends ago, but Greg and I did visit the Grandview location last night.) 

Jeni's is a Columbus phenomenon involving unique, seasonal flavors of frozen tastiness made with the very best locally and/or conscientiously sourced ingredients served up in little shops with an aesthetic (chalkboards, stainless steel, white marble, ceramic tile) that, just like the flavors on offer, embodies modern-take-on-old-fashioned-ice-cream-parlor. Familiar, but updated for the times. They ship throughout the US and you can find pints in select markets and groceries in 30 states. If you can get your hands on some, do! 

Wishing you a little something yummy before Monday morning.

♡,

Erin

Etsy in the Mail

I have been so busy working on being an Etsy seller lately that until last week I had been neglecting to be an Etsy buyer. I ended my drought with two new pieces for our freshly painted living room walls. First, this gorgeous watercolor, "Vertical Landscape" by Kristina of WoodPigeon.

The blue of the sky is so spot on!

I have bought from Kristina in the past and love her work. She even took the time to put this lovely embellishment on the wrapping, which is now clipped and brightening the fridge. ♥ 

I also fell in love with this vintage book page/hanger combination from birdie1 and had to have it for over Piper's (black lab) bed. I have been interested in ways to think outside the frame as far as displaying art of late and this hanger is just so clever. 

This lovely little birdie came tied to the package. Far too pretty to throw away, it now has a home on the mirror by the front door.

Both items came on Saturday, making it a very good mail day indeed! Thanks, Etsy friends!

I am currently in the process of putting together the living room so I'll be sure to show these lovelies in their homes, hopefully in the not-to-distant future.

♡,

Erin

The Cutest Garage Ever

Taking full advantage of the excellent weather, Greg and I took our pup for a stroll this afternoon. We wandered from our neighborhood up into Old Worthington. I love old, pre-overhead-door garages and this one just happened to catch my eye.


♡,


Erin

In Honor of St. Paddy

Two years ago today I booked airfare for Greg and I to Ireland, to date, the best way I have ever celebrated St. Patrick's Day. We went in August of '09 for ten days. 
We spent the first three in Dublin and The Stag's Head was by far our favorite pub there. Far enough from Temple Bar to not be filled with tourists of the obnoxious sort. Exactly what you would hope a Dublin pub to be.

We did a lot of wandering about including around Trinity College and saw the famous Book of Kells there.

Given my interests, we ended up coming here, to the National Museum of Archaeology & History, all three days. Unfortunately, no picture taking was allowed inside, but in one word, amazing! The artifacts were straight out of the books.

Good food not for an arm and a leg is a bit hard to come by in Dublin, but luckily we learned about Avoca. They have multiple locations throughout Ireland (see below). The food in the café was really amazing as were the contents of the store. Knits to wear, cozy things for the home, bright colors = ♥. If you go to their website, you'll get the idea.

Of course, we visited the Guinness Storehouse.

Went on a tour here, Christchurch Cathedral.

Day four we picked up a car and drove north to County Meath and visited Knowth and Newgrange (below). 

Both are 5,000 year old passage tombs. Amazingly, Newgrange is still completely intact inside (Knowth has collapsed) and you are allowed access as part of the tour to the two sites.

On the morning of the winter solstice, sunlight enters the tomb through this box above the entrance, illuminating the passageway and burial chamber.  

There are a number of satellite tombs in the vicinity of the main ones.

And spectacular carvings on a number of the structural stones at both sites. I've been mesmerized by the concentric circles ever since I read about them in undergrad art history.

After our time spent in the Neolithic, later in the afternoon we moved on to the early Christian at Monasterboice, famous for its high crosses.

Next day we drove to Achill Island. 

We stayed here at the Bervie Guesthouse, a restored coastguard station in Keel. 

Amazingly beautiful setting that accentuated the coziness of the accommodations, and the owners were sweet as could be. This was my favorite place of all that we stayed. I wish we could have spent more time on the island.

We did have a nice walk around after arriving before a very yummy dinner back at our lodgings.

It seemed like life might just be a little simpler here.

Shaggy sheep roaming about munching on salty grass = my sort of place. (I have a thing for sheep. I'm sure it will come up again some time.)

In the morning it was on to Doolin in County Clare. 

Doolin is famous for traditional music and the session at McGann's didn't disappoint. Neither did the Guinness or Jameson.

Doolin is very near the Cliffs of Moher, so we went there the next morning. However the weather was horrendous, so we snapped our pics and were on our way.

Next up was the Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry. (This quaint abode was somewhere along on the way from County Clare.) 

To get to the town of Dingle, we took Conor Pass. Breathtaking. Quite literally.

Next day we took a guided (of course archaeological-themed) tour of the Peninsula as Greg needed a bit of a break from driving given the harrowingly narrow road of the day before.

We stopped to take in some natural scenery too. If you have a close look at the rock way out beyond the cove you'll see why it's known as The Dead Man. 

The tour took us to several early Christian sites including the Galarus Oratory, an early (somewhere between 6th and 10th century) church.

That afternoon we travelled on to Kenmare where we were treated to a rainbow, however, no pot of gold.

Our last full day we drove across the country to County Wicklow. We stopped in and had a bite at the original Avoca location, home of their handweaving mill.

Then we visited Glendalough, a sprawling monastic site from the 7th through the 13th centuries.

Tombstones galore = my kind of place. (I am fond of cemeteries as much so as I am fond of sheep, but for different reasons.)

I'm not really at all religious, but this was probably the most beautiful place I've ever been, not totally attributable to the natural scenery alone. I think the centuries of reverence by others sort of wears off on you while you're here.

Our very last night in Ireland, we had dinner at the Roundwood Inn in Roundwood, County Wicklow. I attempted to snap a shot of the quaint interior including the fireplace where a nice real fire was crackling away. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I captured something (or rather someone) special in the otherwise so-so pic. A little while later, Greg went to the restroom. When he came back he was all wide-eyed and he leaned in close and half whispered "I think that's Daniel Day-Lewis two tables down." Shortly after he and his party left and we confirmed with our waiter that it had indeed been him and that he had a house nearby. I then remembered the pic I had taken and sure enough, there he was (middle of the fireplace). I had joked about running into Bono while we were there, but an Academy Award-winning actor turned out to do just fine.


Well I hope everyone had a happy St. Patrick's Day. Shamefully enough for a girl named Erin, I forgot to wear green today. Greg is out of town and as I'm not one to go to the pub by myself, I'll be having my Guinness tomorrow night anyway, so I'll make up for it then.


♡,


Erin