lately

Clementine at the lake

hello, friends!!! It’s been awhile.

I unplugged most of last week with my family at a cottage in Northern Michigan on Glen Lake near Sleeping Bear Dunes. It was lovely. Not entirely relaxing, exactly, as taking 3 kiddos on vacation is never really…relaxing …but still. That area of Michigan is breathtakingly beautiful. We did bunches of hiking and sight-seeing, and I stole enough moments reading books, handstitching, working on puzzles, and sitting by the fire at night to make it feel like a vacation.

Staying off my phone and computer was probably the biggest factor toward making it feel like a real vacation. On two other trips this summer — a knitting and hiking retreat in Colorado on my own, and then in Montreal with Mr. Rae — I posted on Instagram through the trips. I SO love to share bits and pieces when I travel — the beautiful sights, the new places — and I love seeing other people post when they travel too; it’s so inspiring! But it’s also hard to be completely in the moment and relaxed if there’s a little voice in the back of your brain constantly saying “ooh that would be fun to share!” It feels like a bit of a mental drain, and I find Instagram especially to be particularly draining. I don’t know if it’s my personality or if I just need to find a groove, but sometimes I find even putting up one post to be overwhelming. And sometimes not. So all that to say, stepping away was good for me.

This week the kids are back in school (yay for post-Labor-Day school starts!!), so I’m planning our fall projects here at MBR and getting back into the work routine. Hugo is going to preschool five days a week now, so that’s a shift from our previous 3-day schedule. I’m not sure I’ll work full time yet, though. I have thoughts on that, maybe I’ll write more about that later.

Anyway, here are a few more things I wanted to share with you…

Due to an overwhelming response on Instagram, these pants are going to be the next pattern I start working on. Stay tuned.

We added new PDF copyshop files to some of the children’s patterns in the shop! Parsley Pants, Moon Pants, and all of the Geranium patterns now come with pattern pieces in a copyshop format as well as (the original) print-at-home files. Check out this post on how to use a copyshop file if you need more info.

I watched “Iris” on Netflix the other night and I think Iris Apfel is my new style icon. Seriously, this lady is way cool.

I got a couple scarves from the Scarf Shop as presents for my birthday (I turned 41 on August 26). I love the colors and the wool cloud scarf is going to be perfect when the weather gets cold.

After binge-watching Season 10 of RuPaul’s Drag Race (I also watched season 8 and 9 when we were in Montreal — they’re on Canadian Netflix), I think I am officially obsessed. I love the colors, the design, the over-the-top-ness of it all.

I have two books to recommend:

My sister Kricket gave me Goodbye Vitamin for my birthday and I really enjoyed it. It’s a moving story about a woman who goes home to take care of her aging father who has Alzheimer’s. It’s well-written, funny, heartbreaking, hopeful.

I’m probably the last person to read this book, but Crazy Rich Asians was fun. Full of great nonsense and a super fast and fluffy read (I also just saw the movie…I think I liked the book better).

Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!