The Joy of July

It's July and there is so much to be joyful for! First, I entered a blog contest over at Waterrose and won one of her fabulous rings! I already was an admirer of her gorgeous hand embroidered cuffs, like this "Wildflower Romance Felt Cuff".Now I'm a ring fan too :) She even asked me what colors I wanted and then custom made this for me. Eeeee!! Just love it. I love her style of embroidery because it is so delicate, fanciful and organic with lots of swirls and nature imagery. And, for me at any rate, it seems to have a more antique feel while still being utterly modern.
And this is really a joy for our family ... because we did it from scratch and the results have been awesome! Do you remember the lattice I and my boys built?
We now officially have PEAS!!! They are way taller than the lattice now and just bursting out with peapods all over. We pick them every night to add to our dinners and I swear they grow more overnight. This urbanite is really feeling like a farmer now :) These were such a wonderfully easy and satisfying veggie to grow. And very interactive for the kids too. They LOVE to go out and harvest!

I also bought myself a treat :) and books are always a joy to this bibliophile. Have you heard of Snoop?
The premise is that you can fake a portrait of who you are (ex. interview, date, visitors, etc.), but gradual accumulation of clues in your living space seep through and that snooping through your stuff can yield a penetrating portrait of your true identity. By-products of our true behavior, like a wilting plant in the corner, are more telling than explicit signals we provide, like a portrait of Marx. I haven't read it yet since it's still in transit from Amazon, but here's some of the interesting points inside:

* inspirational posters are signs of emotional instability
* Bedrooms of liberals tend to have a larger variety of books, music and art supplies, while conservatives have more flags, alcohol bottles and sports paraphernalia
* Smart, creative people are not shown by the number of books they have, but the diversity and variety of reading material.

Interesting, no? Can't wait to learn to be a "stuff Sherlock". :)


And lastly ... the Sweet Treat Giveaway Winner is ~*~Patty !!

If you haven't had a chance to go look through all the fabulous sweet summer recipes from the giveaway yet, go look at the comments on this post. So many wonderful recipes! Thank you to every one who entered and shared a yummy recipe!