On of my Favs - Snug Harbour Bay

Hey everyone...check out Kim at Snug Harbour Bay.  I am featuring her this week because she has become an old friend on the blogosphere.  She is one of those people that feels like an old friend very quickly. Often she has been that encouraging e-mail that arrived in my box at the perfect moment.  Definitely a niche blogger and one of our perfect little village.

Just like most of my other favourite blogs, hers is that slice of life where she takes you on her travels and shares her day to day.  She has some different interests and hobbies than I do that I like to enjoy vicariously.  Have you heard of geocaching?  It's like a high-tech treasure hunt.  One of my great-nephews does this as well.  It sounds like a lot of fun and provides both physical and mental exercise.  Something I could use more of!

Geocaching teaches you valuable skills - problem solving, puzzle solving, reading maps, directions, how to use a compass/GPS, etc.  Read some of Kim's posts on geocaching and you might find a new interest. You can also meet and make new friends like Kim does (see above).

Lately I've been following the posts about Kim's recent trip to Nashville.  A visit there is definitely on my bucket list.  I've enjoyed seeing it through Kim's eyes.

There has been lots of great furniture redos featured on Snug Harbour Bay and Kim's daughter, Chablis often lends her expertise.

I love visiting the lake because most of the time I wish I was fishing...look at this beauty.

For some family friendly good times, head on over to Snug Harbour Bay and tell Kim that Julie sent you.


Julie

One of my Favs : 20 North Ora

A big shout out to Judy at 20 North Ora. She is my choice for favourite blogger this week.

Judy is one of the nicest people you will ever meet (even if it is only virtually).  I met Judy through Brenda's blog Cozy Little House.  If you follow Brenda, then you will definitely know all about Judy because she has been a best friend and regular lifesaver for Brenda through her recent health problems.  Both Judy and her husband have worked tirelessly to assist Brenda while she recovered from her broken ankle and all the subsequent difficulties.  Even though they have been working through their own health problems lately, it never stopped them from being the most loving and giving friends.  The world is a better place because Judy is in it.

She is also an extremely talented crafter with a great Etsy shop - 20 North Ora.  Check it out! Judy makes such cheerful cushions and beautiful bits of decor in addition to some great vintage finds.  In fact, Judy seems to find the most beautiful things on her shopping trips.  I've never see anything half as nice around here.

Don't you LOVE what she did with this shutter?

Judy's blog is cheerful and friendly and bright; an embodiment of her very spirit.

You will get to meet her beautiful grandchildren and read their stories.

And the beautiful Bella...

Right now you can follow Judy's exploits in gardening.......just as a teaser...there is a snake and bunnies involved.

Judy of 20 North Ora is a perfect member of our little village.  She's that sweet neighbour who is always ready to lend a shoulder or a hand.  Make sure you visit her blog if you haven't already.

Julie

One of My Favs: Aiken House and Gardens

One of my very favourite bloggers is Carolyn over at Aiken House and Gardens.  Her blog is full of beautiful romantic water-colour views of a life I can only dream of.  It takes my breath away.  She lives in the prettiest province of Canada, Prince Edward Island.  Yes, exactly, the land of Anne of Green Gables....

I loved my childhood trip to PEI and we brought back a big jar of red sand from the beach, speckled with teeny tiny white shells.  That jar stood in the basement until my parents sold the house upon retirement.  I used to love running my fingers through the red sand.

Welcome to Carolyn's garden...

Just look at the perfection of it.  I've been out in my garden all afternoon and barely made a dent in the weeds.  I know the work and the love that goes into this masterpiece.

I want to wake up here..

I want to drink my morning coffee here...

I want to curl up here with a hot cup of tea and a pretty magazine...

Carolyn makes everything pretty and cosy and welcoming.  She loves beautiful linens and dishes.  Two things we have in common. but her display skills are extraordinary.

I can never get enough of transferware!

A quilt as a tablecloth...I'm in heaven.

Have a seat...dinner's almost ready.

After dinner, let's take a walk down to the water...

If you've had a hard day and you just want to escape to someplace peaceful where you can steady your breath,  click here and be transported.

Bye for now from Carolyn's sweet granddaughter and favourite garden assistant.

Julie

PS Make sure you check out Carolyn's books and her Pinterest site - very fabulous.

One of my Favs: Muddy Boot Dreams

The thing that first drew me to Muddy Boot Dreams was the name of the blog.  What a great visual it gave me.  Living in the country, enjoying all the seasons, gardens, flowers, animals...all those lovely romantic visions that I associate with dreaming of a country life.  That's what the title meant to me and I found all that and more.

Oh the photography...it is simply breathtaking and I am so impressed and so jealous.  This is something I would like to be good at but I know that I'll never measure up to Jen.  It would be totally worth spending time on Jen's blog if all you ever did was look at the pictures but take the time to read her prose.  She is intelligent, insightful, funny and entertaining all at once.

She has the cutest cat Bootsie (although Boo may not like being called cute).

I'm a sucker for a gorgeous cat and Boo has that claim to fame.  I'm sure we can all agree with that.

Jen's garden is beautiful too and I aspire to have one this pretty.  Just look!

Jen is Canadian as well but lives in British Columbia.  This is an area of the country that I'm not familiar with so I love reading about the differences and the similarities.  She makes winter look like a place you want to be and I'm not a big snow bunny,

See what I mean???  Zip on over and pay Jen a visit and you'll be glad to meet another denizen of our blog "village".

Julie

One of my Favs : Mockingbird Hill Cottage

I am going to start a new feature on my blog on Sundays called One of my Favs and I'm going to introduce you to bloggers I follow and why I love them so.

We are starting with the lovely Claudia at Mockingbird Hill Cottage.

She lives in the sweetest little cottage...

with her lovely and talented husband, Don...

and their beautiful girl, Scout

Claudia's blog is a slice of life blog and they are always the ones I enjoy the most.  We've been talking about the naked niche lately and Mockingbird Hill Cottage fits that to a tee.  While there are some topics that recur (like her wonderful posts about renovating and decorating a dollhouse), Claudia gives you a new glimpse into her life every day.  It isn't long before you feel like her BFF.  She has such a warm and welcoming way about her that you feel like she's just ushered you in for a hot chocolate or cold lemonade, depending on the season.  You have a cuddle with Scout and hear about the garden and her latest job and what lovely piece she has picked up for one of her collections.  You look over the book she's reading and the quilt she's working on and if Don isn't away on an acting job, he may wander in with his guitar to sing you a song he wrote.

This is a house and a blog full of love and creativity and it's become an essential part of every morning for me.  If you haven't met Claudia yet, wander on over and feel the love.

xo

Julie

Naked Niche

I've been in a quandry about my blog...do I?  don't I? should I? shouldn't?

Talking to Jen from Muddy Boot Dreams and reading her post about Naked Niches brought me a lot of clarity.  You really need to stop now and go read this post, otherwise you won't really get what I'm talking about.  Jen was so eloquent that I'm not even going to attempt my own explanation.

Naked Niches,  I like that.  I'm a Naked Niche blogger and I want to continue to be; only more so.  (See I told you to read Jen's post.  Now you're worried I'm going to start posting indecent pictures of myself.  Trust me, no on wants that.  Get back up there and click that link!)

Taken with my laptop - I hate having my picture taken!

When trying to decide if I was going to blow this whole blogging gig, I was asking myself all the wrong questions.  Am I wasting my time?  Is anybody out there reading this?  Are my posts at all interesting?

Instead, I needed to go back to basics; strip it down so to speak...and ask Why do I blog? and What's in it for me?

I sorta fell into blogging backwards.  A few years ago, I heard about blogging on TV.  I read a couple of newspaper articles.  I, somehow, found my way to Miss Mustardseed and Cozy Little House and Chris Kauffman.

At the same time, I was teleworking and set up a monthly dinner party with some girls from work.  I thought it would be good for me to stay in touch so I wouldn't begin to feel isolated (and I could catch upon all the gossip!).

I had also made up a little binder for my nieces and nephews with my favourite recipes as they were starting to fly the nest.  All this led to me setting up a blog, Dinner at Julie's in order to share my recipes with family and friends.  I never considered anyone else finding it or bothering to read it.  This blog followed to share home decorating projects and just kind of morphed into a my every day life blog.

I'm definitely not a Firstie, I don't have a big following, no advertising and don't feel compelled to post every day.  I really don't want any of that to change but I do need some changes.

I want to combine my 2 blogs under Julie's Little House. One blog is more manageable.  I want to be more naked.  I am definitely a TMI kind of person and have felt myself constrained by this medium but I'm saying to heck with it.  I am going to share more me, warts and all.  Because really, I blog for me.  Kind of like having a diary but everyone knows where the key is hidden.

When I stop and ask myself what makes me follow my favourite blogs, it is their authenticity.  It is the sharing of their lives, the feeling of becoming friends when you have never met them.  So I'm going to start sharing some of my favourite blogs with you too.  It's how I met them in the first place....getting introduced through other blogs; reading a comment and going to their site because I liked what they had to say.

I like the thought of forming a network of Naked Niche bloggers, supporting each other, introducing one to another...it takes a village.  I've always wanted to live in a small country village where you know everyone and neighbours take care of each other.  Let's be that village...





Julie

Bloglovin'

Are you lovin' it?

I have to say that I'm not.

When the big panic of July 1st happened, I felt like it was December 31, 1999 all over again.   Not really a big bang, just a little fizzle.

I'm following some blogs by e-mail and some blogs by Bloglovin' and some I've signed up both.  Gotta say I'm in a terrible mess and can't seem to keep up with anything and I know I'm missing some of you.  My in-box is flooded every day and  I really don't like Bloglovin's format...it just doesn't make me want to open the blog post a read it. Sometimes my cursor hovers over that Bloglovin' e-mail and I hit delete instead of open.  It seems that I spend more time each day but read less than I used to.  I'm going back to my reading list on Blogger.  If I was already following you on June 30th, you're still there.  If I want to add a new blog, I can paste the URL after I hit the ADD button or I can "follow" you if you left that on your blog.  The only real change I can see is my list isn't in alphabetical order anymore.  Big deal.  The posts still come on my reading list based on their age, I can still scroll through and click and read to my heart's content.  I guess I'll keep the button on my blog as it seems to be the way of the world but I'm kickin' it old school now because I'm not lovin' Bloglovin'!

XO Jules

Procrastination

I don't know why but I always seem to procrastinate.  I watch the minutes tick by on the clock knowing it will be crunch time and I won't be done or ready or whatever.  Yep, I'm a last minute kind of girl.

But this time, I'm proud of myself.  I didn't wait til July 2 when Google reader was dead and gone.  Nope, not this time.  I have claimed my blog on Bloglovin and I have added the button to my sidebar so you can follow my blog with Bloglovin.  Now I just need to make sure I set up delivery of all of your lovely blogs that I follow now.  It's late so it'll have to wait til tomorrow when it's raining...

Yawn

G'Night

Julie

Aiken House and Gardens

If you have never visited Carolyn's Aiken House and Gardens blog, stop reading right now and go directly there.  It is the most beautiful blog I have ever seen.  It is like Victoria magazine (one of my favs) come to life.  A visit to Carolyn's garden on Prince Edward Island is now on my bucket list.

The quiet beauty of her house and garden just fills my heart with peace as I scroll through her blog.  I never miss a post and in fact, sometimes I go back to look at the pictures again and again.  It's like flipping through that magazine you keep around forever to get lost in when you want to escape the chaos of your own life.  A quiet hour with a china cup of tea and Carolyn's exquisite taste.

Well now, Carolyn's own magazine (book) can be that source of inspiration for you.  I was lucky enough to win a copy of my very own!  It arrived this week and it is oh so beautiful.  The photography is stunning, the words stirring and the colours uplifting.

Oh the colours...they send me into rhapsodies....the pinks, the blues, the purples, the aquas and the greens...oh the many shades of green.  Seeing this garden makes me feel greedy.  I want it to be mine. all mine.

I want to sit in this chair and drink tea and eat homemade buttermilk biscuits with berries and cream (Carolyn includes her recipe).

I want to slip into this bed with my magazine and enjoy a lovely afternoon nap.  Just heaven!

And the best news, you can order your own copy and I would highly recommend it!  I would have ordered one if I wasn't such a lucky duck and won one....Enjoy!

Julie