Winter Blooms to the Rescue

Extreme Close-Up

Yes, yes, I should know better. When the New England mercury hit 60 degrees on Friday, I was ready to swap my wool for cotton and ditch the puffy Tootsie-Roll Coat.

Not so fast, my friends. Mother Nature is such a tease sometimes. The 60 degrees did us good: it melted snow piles that were shoulder-high to hip- or knee-high, and I finally, truly, stopped worring about my roof caving in. But in someways it was a cruel break before today's face-numbing-in-the-teens-wind-chill lows.

At least the sun has been making scattered appearances, hurrah! Yesterday's rays gave me the chance to experiment with my new camera and the Extreme Focus mode (as evidenced above by the teeny, tiny flower blown up to mega proportions) with the plant HH and I picked up last week:

Actual Size

Nothing like a pretty pink flower in a pretty pink pot to perk up the dog days of winter.

XOXO Terez

Deep. Winter.

Boston's State of Affairs

Deep Freeze

Daily Ritual

We're All on Autopilot

Half and Half House

Storm Frequency

My First Vera (Bradley)

Whoopsie Daisy!

 When I visited Boston for the first time in 2002 I couldn't figure out the quilted bag craze. It was October, and cold, and many very fashionable women on the T were clutching quilted cotton bags to their shoulders. To me they looked like bandanas and very 80s. Gasp!

But time marched on, I move here, and the patterns evolved. My favorite roommate of all time, KV, moved in and brought with her some beautiful lunch bags, purses and wallets. "What are  those?" I asked. "Vera Bradley!" she replied.

Vera Bradley Folkloric Pattern (pardon my whitebalance!)

 Vera B. (not to be confused with the amazing textile designer from the 50s-70s, Vera Neumann, creator of the first "signature scarf," a few of which I own) is an American company that creates handbags, accessories and home pieces. Founded in 1983 by Patricia Miller and Barbara Bradley Baekgaard, they named the company Vera Bradley after Baekgarrd's mother, Vera.

Me and VB

 Now that I sew and am enamoured of fabric, I can't help but admire the Vera Bradley line even more. Mamacat and HH bestowed a Barnes and Noble gift card upon me this Christmas and when I saw this print in the store and was assured I could use the gift card toward it, destiny came calling:

Bag, Hat, Scarf, Gloves

Anyone who really knows me knows that I love: *pink *orange *green *cream *mandalas *hearts *Scandinavian inspired prints *handbags. As you can see from my Crafty-Valentining post, mandalas, especially heart ones, are my current inspirational fire.

Warding Away the Cold

Obviously this bag and I are a match made in design heaven. Even if it is a bit spring/summery and it is 26 degrees out with 3-5' snow drifts!

XO Terez

Walk to Work Thursday

Turbo Charge

Red Iron Walk

Turquoise Eave

Here Comes the Sol

 

 

Yesterday's News Today

Terez Through the Looking Glass

Emergency Mail

Cathedral Concrete

Up, Up and Away!

Happiness on a String

Today I ran some errands before it got too cold out {tomorrow: 19F, Monday, 13F, not counting the windchill, brrrr!} and enjoyed some winter New England sunshine. I loaded up on ingredients to make my first from-scratch chicken chili, thank you Giada! Hopefully by the end of this weekend I will have kicked the dregs of Super Head Cold 2011.

I stopped in Party Favors to ogle the cupcake case and when I came out I saw this tied to the meter:

Uplifting Color

It was enough to put a spring in my step and motivate me to power walk home, where I collapsed on the couch for a few hours. However, the giaganitc doilies I picked up at Party Favors were too irresistable to leave in the sleeve, so out they came. Note the Scotch Tape roll for scale:

Pondering the Heart

Which led me to this Chez Terez State of Affairs:

Chez Terez State of Affairs

Come back tomorrow and see what I end up with.

XOXO Terez

Walk to Work Thursday: Blizzard Mega Edition II

Open For Business

Transportation

Icy Wires

Here Comes the Sun

Frosted

Loveseat

Closing Time

Snow Hill

Brrrr it was slippery and treacherous walking to work today--but gorgeous watching the sun play off of the snow and ice. The last photo is the pile of snow in our parking lot at work--literally 10 feet high.

Stay safe! Stay warm!

XO Terez