Strawberries!

Look who is finally turning red!

Summer in London

I have been moaning about how cold the summer in London has been, but this place definitely does one thing right: gardens. 

All of London is in bloom. Even my own front garden looks magical! 

People take care of their modest gardens in a very impressive way. Nearly all the houses on my block grow roses in their front gardens, including my neighbors who's flowers drape over the fence into our front garden. Fine by me! 

Walking past them a few days ago, I had to stop and take a long drink of their delightful fragrance. There are so many and they are so beautiful, I decided to take pictures of all the roses and other lovely flowers on my way to work:

Welcome to my studio!

There's one corner in my house that is devoted to my creative pursuits. It's right next to the window with my flower box and I have this mini cyclamen to keep me company too. Space is at a premium, so I've butted my desk right up against the wall. Instead of being supported by two legs, it's actually resting on books which lie on the first shelf. This shelf also hosts a print I made of the Hudson River and a beautiful drawing of my sailboat made my bestie/sailing partner in the states. 

The second shelf is never very organized... it's all the art supplies. But I try to group things together into piles at least. The window just in front of my desk gives me a great view of our front garden, so the bird chart in the middle of this shelf helps me identify any avian visitors. 

The third shelf houses a couple of books and all my MakeOrBreakShop supplies. There's not too many on the shelf at the moment as I am figuring out product lines and how much of what I need to keep in stock. 

The first product line will be the t-shirt dye kits. I think the second will probably be an at-home screenprinting kit with a few patterns to try. I can't wait to put that one together! 

Ohmygod. I love you.

Don't give up.

Welcome home, baby!

Sometimes you are just in the right place at the right time.

My flatmate sent me a bike advertisement that her friend put up on Facebook. It wasn't quite what I was looking for, but since I was on the site already, I did a quick search. This lil beauty had just been posted and the seller offered to bring it to East London. This solved both the problems I'd been having finding a bike: getting the right size and finding one in a place where I could easily pick it up.

He brought it right to my office! After a quick test ride, I noticed the rear brakes were a bit spongy and the gears were a bit sticky, but the wheels were true and the frame was solid. I talked him down.

I took it on the train a fair way, to get through central London and then rode from West Brompton. The streets were pretty quiet. It actually wasn't hard staying on the left at all.

I definitely need some more practice to get the balance of this new bike and I need to do some maintenance on it. But I am so happy! The weather was so pleasant riding home. It was quick. It felt good to get a little work out. This is def going to change my perspective on living here.

Yay! The whole family is coming!