liz's laundry

a slightly odd assortment of outfits.  not all days can be a hit.. some swings and misses

• top and tank: target
• pants: gap

doors of portland

victoria mansion [due to bureaucracy ... no photos inside.  wahh]

boothbay botanical gardens

here's how awesome i am at posting - some friends from ny visited over the 4th of july and we spent one afternoon at the boothbay botanical gardens.  nearly a month later.. pics.  it was a gorgeous but oh so hot and humid day.  maine summers on the coast are supposed to be 75 and breeze with a slight chill in the shade.  not 99 and suffocatingly muggy.  but the pictures mostly speak for themselves.  we had a lovely 3 hour wander and then ice cream.  and showers.  and a nap.  but i digress.  prepare for lots of pics.

maine at it's finest - woodsy, some little hills, and water

liz's laundry

what to wear when its freakishly hot [for maine] outside and 68 degree a/c in the office?  layers.  and dresses.  and bright colors.

• dress: thrifted and un-sleeved
• sweater: thrifted
• belt: h&m
• earrings: a little shop downtown
• spotty mirror:  i'm a slob.

what do you call a baby frog?

just for you.  the tiniest frog ever and my terrible 2 week old manicure.

every rose has its thorn

my roses were overrun by japanese beetles.  fuckers.  but they were gorgeous while they lasted. 

i think some research and pesticides are in order for next year

vso tour

the sun setting over the three stallion inn.  

and you question, why in gods name was i at a rural b&b with horses in the middle of nowhere?  to lounge in a field and listen to the vermont symphony orchestra of course! 

frank interlude

sometimes the curious kitty tries to test his poor balance by prancing about the edge of the tub.  sometimes he falls in, scrabbling about in the curtain and the dripping shower head.  sometimes hes just an ass and knocks down all the magnets holding back the most terrifying shower curtain ever.  and sometimes... he tries to drink out of the watering can ive put under the drip to water my houseplants.

king arthur

i feel this post really needs no explanations.  king arthur has a store/restaurant/school in vermont.  we went.  it was amaaazing

il giardino

ive successfully grown baby broccolis!!!! 

yahd work

my mums in not quite so many words, told me i need to get the damn rhododendrons under control.  so i did.  finally.  i braved the rose thorns, sweated my ass off, and tidied one side of the yard

liz's laundry

• tunic/dress: uniqlo
• earrings: icing
• belt: h&m
• legging shorts: f21

plumbing like a boss

people tell you when you buy a house, "it's always something..." as in, always something friggin going wrong.  this week's issue - the cold water pipe under my bathroom sink decided to spring [past tense: sprung? sprang? springed?] a pinhole leak in the screw-on joint.  verrry silently hissing a mist spray down the inside of the cupboard, down the pipe, along the rafters, and straight onto the basement floor.  now fortunately my basement is unfinished and pipes are accessible and visible. 

but holy crap it must have been leaking for at least 2 days.  cos how did i find out?  i opened the cupboard in search of more hand soap at 9:45pm and water dribbled out on my foot.  cursing commenced.  when does home depot close?  10pm.  how long does it take me to get there?  about 8 minutes.  how long did i spend looking at a plumbing book/the internet/freaking out?  about 30.  needless to say, i went to bed that night knowing the pipe was leaking and there wasnt a damn thing i could do about it. 

after work the next day i drove my unhappy self to the depot and said help help!  armed with the appropriate stuffs - a "sharkbite" valve [self-sealing so no soldering needed...which was very disappointing], a copper tube cutter, and some sand paper, i returned home to tackle the project at hand.

i managed to find the water shutoff valve after only ..several minutes of tracing pipes along the basement, cut the copper pipe [somewhat neatly] and sand down the edges.  covered in slightly sandy miniscule metal filings and water i discovered... even though the guy told me the flexible portion should be long enough to reattach, it was about a half inch shy.  back to the HD i went, tubing in hand, and stomped down the plumbing aisle.  minutes later, reequipped with the appropriate length flexible tube with the correct ends... i went home, finished my project, and celebrated my small but very cheap plumbing victory! 

fleurs

the snowballs have bloomed!  eat those aphids little lady bug.  but if you bite me, i will not hesitate to smash you like i have your erstwhile brethren. 

happenings, aka the haps

i stumbled across a delightful blog awhile ago, harper's happenings back when mandy was doing hott - high on thrifting thursdays.  even though she stopped the thrift linkup, i keep reading.  mandy's writing is pretty delightful and entertaining [she swears much less than i do] and she manages to keep the OMG MY BABIES ARE THE BEST EVER to a minimum.  also, no religious propaganda shoved in your face.  check it yo.

but my haps.

i gots a new boiler and converted my heat and hot water from oil to natural gas.  i dont necessarily believe in and support the ways that natural gas is harvested/collected/obtained... but its the lesser of two evils at the moment.  slightly.  and its cheaper.

deer isle

two weeks ago i went home for father's day.  in between eating delicious foods and lounging about the house [inside and out] i helped my pops launch his sailboat for the season.  this involved some tidying of the boat, towing it allllll the way around the cove, futzing and putzing about while the boat folk raised the mast and the rigging, and then finally rollin the old girl into the agua.