Untitled, a photo by Crafty Maven on Flickr. Berry-bowl by the inestimable Alex Watson

This is the time of year the Rainer Cherries appear in our supermarkets. I live on the opposite side of the country now, but back in college I was in the Pacific Northwest, reveling in all its beauty and bounty.

I have such great memories of driving out to our favorite lake for a swim, stopping at roadside farm-stands to buy a bag of these beauties to enjoy as our post-swim snack.

We also spent some time on the shores of Puget Sound, foraging for wild Salmonberries — I highly recommend that if you ever get the chance. Oh and don’t get me started on Marionberries! (and Marionberry pie!)

The days were hot and dry in the summer, so surprising to this New Englander who knew only the Northwest of movies like “Sleepless in Seattle” and books like “Snow Falling on Cedars” — I think I was ready for thunderstorms every day. We probably had 4 in my whole time there.

So here’s to sun and summer and swimming in wild bodies of water (we did try to paddle our inflatable raft in Puget Sound once — that was a bad idea and thankfully we were tied in. Reckless college kids!)!

Natalie’s favorite berry is “black” — blackberries by the handful, saying “black black black!” She can’t say the “berry” part yet, multi-syllable words are tough. But she’s working on it. And “strawberry” sounds a bit like “srawmb” — I’ll take it!

of course it doesn’t hurt if they’re Orla Kiely dishes (from Target!). But still. It doesn’t all have to be pretty flowers, or as I like to say, rainbows and ponies and kittens. Nothing wrong with those, though. I like kittens. A LoT. But all this is just to say that (with loads of help from Marisa & The Fishbowl) I’m realizing that it’s ok to blog about the real life things, too. To give you a glimpse of the dirty and the in-progress as well as the finished and polished and beautiful.

So I’ll work on that. ;>

In the mean time, I’ll tell you that I had a fantastic time at the SoWa South End Open Market this past weekend! It was a little slow, but that gave us vendors lots of time to chat with one another and shop each others’ booths. That can be dangerous at times, but I am so thrilled that I came home with a new yoga mat from Katy’s Lotuspad line of eco-friendly yoga mats that are PVC-free, non-slip, easy to clean, and light weight. Oh and also, they’re gorgeous!

I got the green and brown one~!

I also managed to hold myself back and only get ONE delicious-smelling soy aromatherapy candle from the adorable Tseh-Hwan of Threla, as well as a bar of lilac soap as a gift for my mom and gramma — it really smells like lilac! YUM!

There were many of the same vendors as the last time I went, but lots of new ones as well. One of my favorite new (new to me, she was there last year, too!) SoWa faces is Mary of Mary Lynn Burke Photography. She is one of the most glowy ladies I have ever met. This might have something to do with the fact that she just had a baby — a MONTH ago! We also got to meet little Zofia for a minute or two and ooh and ahh over her tiny fingernails and little sighs. Can’t wait to see how she grows through the summer — it looks like Mary and I are doing most of the same dates through the season!

I must extend a super-amazing THANK YOU to my darling hubby John for coming with me and helping me shlep all the crafty goodness, as well as Vanessa & Heidi for stopping by (how nice is it to see a familar face in the crowd?! Besides John Krasinski from The Office, I mean!), Jaclyn & Terry for being our entertainment and Courtney & Gerrit for lending us their crash-pad — what amazing friends I have!

made it to the Berkshire Crafts Fair this morning and fell in love:
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Dish by Kristin Sherlaw. silkscreened slip onto porcelain. I’m told i ‘have to use it’ but i’m not sure i’ll be able to bring my self to. i might just continue to sit here and look at it. because i love it THAT much. first really nice thing for myself that i’ve really picked out. and it’s really nice (was lower price because it has a tiny flaw, but since i couldn’t find it till i got it home, that doesn’t bother me one bit. not one bit!)

i guess i should admit my dish obsession now and get it over with. who knew?