dreamy light daze.

Some photos taken during a visit to Sugar Mill gardens last month. I hadn't been to the gardens in almost ten years and had almost forgotten they existed even though they're just a short drive from where I live. Basically, what is now acres of botanical gardens was once an old sugar mill built in the early 1800s. The ruins of the sugar mill are still there as well as huge life-sized sculptures of dinosaurs that were built in the 1940s when the ruins became a tourist attraction and the garden was a theme park called 'Bongoland'. The dinosaurs were one of the main reasons I wanted to go but they're mostly located far back on the paths and it was getting a little creepy in there with the hazy, dying light so we thought better of it. The weather was perfect this day and the light so beautiful, but the garden was closing so we had to leave after just a little while.

° ° °

I planned to go back but haven't gotten a chance yet... of course, now it's getting hotter and more humid so there will probably be too many mosquitoes to actually enjoy it. Oh- there is also a tiny little green 1850s cottage that is now a reference library- 'The gardener's library for reference and pleasure'. It was closed but I really wanted to go in there! I was trying to peek in the windows but it was so dim that I couldn't see a thing. I'm imagining a tiny room filled with dusty antique botanical books with beautiful flower plates... Hopefully we'll have some cooler days before the dreaded Summer weather begins so I can go back soon.

june eighth.



I've been terrible at keeping this updated (I probably have been/will continue to begin many of my posts this way), but I have good reason. As I mentioned previously, I've been cleaning and organising like crazy, trying to rearrange everything how I want it and getting rid of clothes and things I no longer want or wear to make things a little less cluttered and a little more pretty. I've been in the process of doing this little by little over the past few months but when I found out my lovely cousin/best friend was coming to visit very soon I started scrambling to get things done even quicker. She will be arriving tomorrow afternoon, and we have some really cute/fun little dates planned (mixed in with just the right dose of laziness and doing nothing). Exciting!

There were a few things I needed at the market so when I walked in today and saw these pretty flowers I grabbed a few bunches to arrange and spread out around the house. I spent at least an hour snipping away at stems and leaves and arranging little bouquets (and apologising to the flowers as I cut them, I'm strange) and placing them in my favorite glass bottles and jars, and then spent almost as much time snapping photos of them because I think they turned out really lovely.

easter.

Easter was pretty low-key this year, I spent the day at my mom's house with my family, my mom cooked on the grill and my brother and I sat around eating jellybeans and peeps and playing nintendo. I wore this little seafoam ghost of a dress, I've had it for several months and had been waiting for an excuse to wear it, so I decided I might as well throw it on for Easter since it's such a pretty pastel color and light enough for the hot weather we've been having. I ended up changing out of it after not too long, as it's super delicate and I'm not ready to retire it to hanging on my wall just yet. I was so nervous steaming it the night before because I didn't want to damage it and I know steam and olde fabrics are not always friends. The necklace I wore came from the estate of a woman named June Rose Gader who was a writer and major clotheshorse and travelled the world with her husband and owned a second home in France.

I took a bit of hair inspiration from Zooey Deschanel at the NY Times Wine Festival, but the weather sort of ruined/flattened it, which is strange because I have wavy hair and the humidity usually makes it look like this naturally. I already had blown it out that day and added the curls with an iron, so maybe next time I should just leave it wavy to start.

Overall it was a lovely day, I ate so much potato salad and so many deviled eggs and possibly some other mayonnaise-y based foods, and more jellybeans than anyone should ever be allowed to consume, but eating is the best part of holidays, after all. I hope everyone had a lovely holiday!

credit

seafoam 1920s flapper dress - greatest friend on etsy

cream 1920s flapper necklace - etsy

ring - antique store