Living Room Photo Shoot

My very patient husband agreed to take some pictures of my gorgeous new lip color for Monday's post, and it turned into a mini photo shoot.

Please enjoy my adorable cat and new flats from Target.

(Flats that I purchased for $4.48. Four dollars and forty-eight cents!)

Things I Love Right Now

1. The fact that James Franco is back on General Hospital. (I have no idea why he is on the show, but my theory is that his grandma is a big fan).

2. This necklace from the In Honor of Design Etsy shop.

3. Having time to read a whole book.

I Am Now Planning a Trip to London in My Head

I know that France is sort of having a moment right now, with everyone loving Paris and stripey dresses and macarons.

But me? I'm a fan of England.

So, I was extra excited when our British houseguests brought us British presents!

Because Sophie knows and loves me, she brought plenty of Dairy Milk.

However, the best present of all was this amazing Cath Kidston bag.

I am now a little bit obsessed with all things Cath Kidston.

I had seen a few things on the adorable Torie Jayne's site, but I did not realize that this brand was all the rage in the U.K.

The Cath Kidston site is full of ridiculously cute floral, polka-dot creations, and it is probably a good thing that shipping to the U.S. is approximately a million pounds.

That will keep me from buying everything.

Playing Tourist: A Boston Afternoon

On Sophie and Steve's last day with us, we spent a few hours in Boston.

We started at Quincy Market, which is a fun stop for food and shopping. After spending quite a while at Newbury Comics, we walked part of the Freedom Trail.

(The Freedom Trail is a red line on the ground that you can follow through Boston to see historical sites from the American Revolution).

We walked through Boston Common, and ended up at the best destination of the day: lunch!

We ate at Fire & Ice, where you get to pick your ingredients and the chefs cook them up right in front of you. Everything was delicious-- and fun to put together!

Playing Tourist: The Berkshires

I'll be honest and tell you that one of the best things about our day in the Berkshire Mountains was that I had an excuse to wear my new dress from Old Navy.

However, we also did some fun things, too.

We started at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, which houses a whole lot of Norman Rockwell paintings. It was fun to look at all the Saturday Evening Post covers, and some of his works were really moving and beautiful.

Next, we stopped at Furnace Brook Winery in Richmond for a wine tasting. It was a gorgeous setting, and a relaxed environment to try out new wines. (We left with a bottle of French Cidre-- it's like cider, but spelled funny).

Next, we hit the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, which probably would have been more fun if we were in elementary school. We spent some quality time with the dinosaur statue out front.

For dinner, we went to my favorite Chinese food restaurant, The East in Great Barrington.

Then, we went down the road for dessert at the Barrington Brewery.

We ended our day at the Berkshire Theatre Festival to see The Last Five Years. It was an amazing show in a small, pretty theater.

Make-Up Monday: Hard Candy Welcome Matte

Although I have professed my love for MAC Blot Powder in the past, I couldn't resist trying a new, slightly cheaper mattifying powder.

Enter Hard Candy's cleverly named "Welcome Matte" pressed powder.

This little compact holds less than my beloved MAC powder, but it is also less expensive at only 8 dollars.

(I busted out a calculator to figure out how much cheaper the Hard Candy powder is. While MAC Blot Powder is about 52 dollars an ounce, Welcome Matte is about 30 dollars an ounce).

Although it does save some money, Welcome Matte can't handle my oily, summertime skin.

This one-shade-fits-all powder goes on beautifully, but my skin is shiny about a half hour later. Although MAC Blot Powder isn't a miracle worker, it gives me at least a few hours of shine-free skin.

I would highly recommend Welcome Matte for those lucky ladies who do not fall into the "ridiculously oily" skincare category.

Playing Tourist: The Steaming Tender Restaurant

When we were picking places to take Sophie and Steve, our houseguests from across the pond, the Steaming Tender was on the top of our list.

It is right down the Turnpike from us in Palmer, and it is housed in a beautiful, old train station from the 1800s.

There are lots of fun details-- from the steam locomotive in the parking lot to the vintage luggage in the waiting area.

Also, it has amazing french fries.

The boys posed in front of the antique car in the parking lot, but I'm afraid they obscured the car... with their giant muscles.

Sophie and me, on the shoeshine chairs