remiscent of the ocean

Lately I have been spending a lot of time on Etsy. There is just something about handmade soaps, jewelry and pottery that has been getting me lately. Maybe it is that I have a new place to decorate or that I no longer have to save for a move across the country. Whatever the case may be, I have a hard time not perusing the pages of Etsy in search of the next thing for the home, friends or myself.

In my searches, I have stumbled upon Element Clay Studio. In her use of porcelain, she has created a wonderful world of cups, bowls, vases and tiles inspired by the ocean and flowers. She has a deal going on at her shop for free shipping through March 31st. I was able to purchase a small bowl modeled after scallops. My hope is to purchase a few more and have a complete set at some point. (It is an expensive shop!) A few things I also like from the store are:


Sea Urchin Bowls


Nesting scallop bowls in copper blue


and Jade.

If you have the chance, check the store out.

To help fund my love for handmade stores, I have also subscribed to Heartsy. It's like Groupon, but for items sold on Etsy. I hope some day there is a deal with Element Clay Studio, but we will see!

out shopping

Ryan is not one for shopping. However, we both went to Ikea and a few other stores yesterday. We realized that we did not have enough big plates and bowls to last us before the dishwasher needed to be run...so we got some more! A matching bedside lamp was purchased, too. Perhaps our favorite purchase of the day was our coffee table. We looked through the as-is aisle at Ikea and found it. It had some scratches, but other than that was the first one we found that we both liked and was in our price range.

Back in Nashua, we grocery shopping and looked at a few fitness places. The Vitamin Shoppe has nutritional yeast and better vegan protein shakes, so I think I will be going there more often. Plus, this means I don't have to buy a few things on the internet.

seeing people from the home state in our own state

Ryan was able to borrow some camera equipment from a photographer friend in the area. His has been in the shop for a mirror failure. It is Canon equipment, so it all fit my camera! I played with a few lenses this afternoon and I liked the Fisheye lens the most. Some day I hope to get a Lensbaby fisheye. This photo is of the area above one of the found bookcases that we picked up the other weekend. On the wall, is a re-purposed ribbon to hang cards from, a bottle from Mann Orchards and a bunch of card writing supplies.


Here is a close-up. The necklace is one I purchased at a Ten Thousand villages store when I was home in November. It is made of seeds strung together. Although I wore it to a wedding at the time, it is fine for non dressy occasions as well.


We headed into Boston yesterday to meet up with a few friends from our home state. This was the first time that we went in and the weather was decent. We wandered around Boston Common for a while before meeting up for some dinner (Globe Cafe and Bar) and hanging out.

pronunciations

Since moving here, we have noticed an accent and that some words are pronounced entirely different than we would expect. I have not noticed this much of a difference since living abroad in England for a semester. Here are a few examples currently on my mind:

Billerica: A city south of Lowell. How I would think it is pronounced: Bill-er-ick-uh. How it is pronounced here:Bill-rickuh.

Peabody: Another city here. How I think it would be pronounced: Pee-bod-ee. How it is pronounced here: Pea-bidd-ee (said much faster). (Ryan said this new pronunciation many times on our drive to Arlington yesterday. It is entertaining.)

Tewksberry: Another city here. How I think it would be pronounced: Two-ks-berry. How it is pronounced here: Tucks-berry.

asthma: How I think it would be pronounced: Az-ma. How it is pronounced here: Az-mer. This one is particularly interesting to me, since what I call "adding r's" happened a lot when I lived in England.

Last week I had a thing for collard greens. Three days in a row I put them in foods for lunch. My favorite was fried tofu with collards, garlic, ginger and sweet chili sauce. Sometimes I would have soba noodles with it too. Also, in a wrap with hummous was amazing too.


These were some of the potatoes I bought from Mann Orchards on the left. On the right is Ryan's Hasselblad replacement, the Mamiya.



We have been working out 3 times per week. Ryan picked up this jug of protein powder for himself and carried it home. It is HUGE! Bigger than my head huge! Here he is, holding it and shaking his protein drink.