Welcome . Spring

Dress: Vintage
Espadrilles: Celine

Having lived in Michigan for most of my life, I'm well aware that the weather is not going to be all sunshine and roses for the rest of the spring, but it's gotten to the point where it finally feels like spring. I hope that I can safely put away the heavy sweaters and thick scarves, and replace them with trenches, dresses, and frilly blouses.

For instance, Sunday was 70 degrees out! I got to pull this pretty frock from closet - I almost put this in the shop when I first got it, but then was swayed by the cute little blue bouquet print. I also can't resist a good swingy skirt - no crinoline needed!

The river near Old Town has also gotten so high that it covers different parts of the boardwalk. I was tempted to take my shoes off and go tromping through the water, but unfortunately the water is probably still quite chilly!

Walkin . After . Midnight

When we were house hunting a couple of years ago, we looked for what felt like forever. When we first started, I thought one of the most important things would be to get a house that looked completely adorable on the outside (I'm maybe still not convinced that was the wrong thing). But ultimately choosing the right house came down to two questions: does the house have all or at least most of the features we hoped for, and more important, do we like the neighborhood we live in?

Because, lets face it, you make all the changes to a house that you want, but you're stuck with the location.

We got lucky and found a house in the same neighborhood that we'd been renting in, and we still love it here. We can walk to all manner of restaurants, shops, and cafes, + when the weather is nice, there are always people out. Early in the morning, late in the evening, people are out gardening, walking their dogs, biking... it's just a really friendly space.

Tonight was the first night that it's really been warm enough for us to want to walk about, and it was a positively lovely evening stroll indeed.

P.S. - Unfortunately the green house is not ours, but it was oh so pretty, and just begged to have its picture taken :)

Potter . Park . Zoo

B. starts back to teaching this week, and I start next week, so we've been getting in as much end of the summer stuff as we can manage. Today we rode our bikes over to Potter Park Zoo, and then spent the afternoon wandering about.

I always have mixed feelings about zoos, as some of the animals are so clearly miserable, but our local zoo has a lot of re-integration programs, raises money to save natural habitats, and does a lot of education about animals. It's also kind of nice to give money to businesses in the community.

Neither of us had been to a zoo since we went in Toronto a few years ago, and it was a lovely way to spend the afternoon. They have peacocks that just wander around the park, and I wanted to take one or two home with me - wouldn't having a peacock in your yard be sort of magical?