Lavender-Scented Pillowcases

I may have mentioned that I am obsessed with ironing. I iron my pillowcases and the tops of the flat sheet (no I do not iron the entire sheet set--I do have a job afterall), and I first spray them with lavender water. Mine comes from World Market, but I've seen it many places. If you prefer, there are other scents--rose and verbena, for example--but I can't bring myself to leave lavender.
While I was in Portland, I stopped in L'Occitane and discovered a new Lavender Pillow mist that I of course had to buy. Here is it next to my bed. (Blue Bottle)

This verse is pinned inside my linen closet, on an old envelope from Cambridge Beaches in Bermuda. It used to have a spring of lavender attached by a ribbon, but it fell and was trampled by one of my sons.Our first house had a lavender plant that thrived; I haven't been able to replicate that since we moved further south, although I do have a potted one sitting on our wrought-iron table out on the patio. This bottle holds dried lavender blossoms from the bush at my former home; it's also (obviously) where I store some of my bracelets:

One More Garden Post

In my garden:
And in the house:
And the house smells divine.

**I'm currently listening to Bitter:Sweet's new CD, Drama, and I highly recommend it. Check out Bitter:Sweet's debut album, too; perfect with a perfectly dry martini.

July Garden and General Busyness

When I last left off, I had just planted sweetpea and delphinium seed indoors and was drinking a Bloody Mary. Let me catch you up to the present time, as I sit, once again, at the dining room table and sip yet another Bloody Mary; yet today is a sultry summer day and it's been a busy few months...

First, an update on the seedlings. They grew to look like this:But soon after I planted them in the ground, in May,
they faltered. The Sweetpeas rallied for a bit,
but they never bloomed and I think they were hindered by the squirrels' unrelenting attention. Not to worry, however. Here I am in my garden, this afternoon after returning from a lovely brunch at the neighbor's (Mango Bellinis, and espresso in their new Illy Espresso Machine):










As you can see I am a LiberalPrep: I pair my Lilly with pearls and Birkinstocks.

Here I am, three years ago at the Wauwinet in Nantucket, in the same dress, longer hair and sandals, not Birks:

This past spring, my oldest son graduated from college. We had planned a garden party for 50 people, but cold, rainy weather forced us indoors. Our house is small and it was a bit crowded, but we had plenty of wine and food and no one seemed to mind.
Tomorrow I'm flying to Los Angeles with my husband and youngest son for my son's college freshman orientation. I used to live in Santa Monica, so am looking forward to getting back for a few days. I miss the sun, the palm trees, the beach and the shopping. (Last weekend I was in Portland, Oregon--GREAT city, BTW--and everybody was asking where I got my clothes. When I said, "LA," everyone nodded their head knowingly. Yeah, of course LA. Not Portland, not the Midwest Prairie.) I've already made my list of stores that I plan to hit on Montana Avenue.