.photo essay : grand haven.

one of my favorite places to eat in grand haven is elegance of the seasons. their menu changes each day and is entirely seasonal. and delicious. plus, their cafe is super cute with their mismatched tables and chairs.

always a pleasure, we walked along the grand haven pier. it was incredibly cold and blustery, but we made it all the way to the end and back. i was happy to see that they're using cfls to light the catwalk. the lake was very calm, especially for this time of year.

the pine forest next to my parents' house. the light is so beautiful on the fallen pine needles. i love these pines.

we were lucky enough to visit my parents' friends, mark and kathy. they're both ceramic and glass artists (mark does most of the ceramic, while they collaborate with the glass) and have built their outdoor studio from scratch.

this is the third or fourth year they've fired their handmade kiln, and the time it takes them to get up to temperature keeps getting shorter, which is really great. they use a combination of gas and wood to fire that kiln, which has to be under constant watch and feeding throughout the near-24-hour firing.

they use a combination of soda and wood ash to glaze their pieces, resulting in some really beautiful coloring of both the clay and the glazes. the pieces in the last photo are a couple that i picked out for myself to buy. i haven't taken them home yet, as they like to keep everything for their show/sale, which is the first week of december. i can't wait to get that beautiful coffee pot (a generous graduation present from them) and new mugs/tumbler home! now i'll just need a bunch of people over for breakfast to use the full capacity of the pitcher. the coffee will, of course, be made using the ceramic melitta brewer that i got from them last year.

who wants coffee?

.daily film : heritage.

my parents' house is beautiful all the time, but the light hits everything a certain way in the fall. shining through the pine trees, it turns golden, warm. my dad has been working hard to build up the wood supply for the winter. they heat the house entirely with the wood stove. i love the way the grass is growing into this lower deck.

and the chickens. i love these chickens. i'll have chickens, too, some day.

.daily film : grove farm.

yes, i know, more hawai'i pictures. hopefully you like them at least half as much as i do? i figured that since it's vintage photo friday (which will be up this afternoon), i should just run with a vintage/antique theme. so, here goes.

this amazingly beautiful place is called grove farm and is a preserved sugar plantation. it's pretty much greenfield village, but in hawai'i. i'm sure you can imagine my excitement when eric's parents told me we were going to this place. and oh man, was it so cool. i don't think i even posted any pictures of grove farm when we got back from hawai'i, which is definitely a shame.

anyway, these particular pictures are from the main home of the plantation. this house has a huge amazing wrap around porch. these are all from the same porch, but each side of the house had a slightly different feel to it. yes, the floors really are that shiny! it was really cool seeing them in person. we had to take our shoes off to go in the house, and the shiny floors captured the heat of the sun a little bit too efficiently. i was walking in the shadows, ha!

can't you just imagine yourself sitting in one of those lovely rocking chairs, reading a gripping hawai'ian novel, sipping an iced tea and watching the wild hawai'ian chickens running around your expansive lawn? sigh...

.daily film : the village.

no, not the movie 'the village', though i do like it. greenfield village, of course! as you saw yesterday, this week has been very cold in southeast michigan. the perfect weather for lounging in bed and getting out the down comforter. so cozy.

these are a couple of my favorite bedrooms in greenfield village. both are color slide film, which i absolutely love to use! too bad it's so darn expensive to have processed...

isn't the quilt on the first bed just gorgeous? greenfield village has some really great textiles in their collection. love!

p.s. this is where eric and i are getting married! in exactly a year from tomorrow. our ceremony will be in the martha mary chapel and the reception will be in the eagle tavern, which is a michigan tavern from the 1850s. it's so beautiful inside. and there will be two fires lit! it'll be so wonderfully cozy. looking back, i can't believe that i never posted the photos from my "you're getting married here" tour of the chapel and tavern. note so self!

.daily film : frost.

we've pretty much gotten a hard frost every night this week. it's been so cold! i've been hearing that it's been beautiful in the new england area, and have been pretty jealous. it looks beautiful here, but feels very chilly.

it's good weaving weather. i'll have pictures soon (maybe for tomorrow's daily film post) of the scarf i just started. it's for my beloved sister, erika.

on a side note, the guy who reads my natural gas meter just came by and i could hear him whistling through the window. a nice surprise!

.daily film : crabapple.

we have two of these in front of our house and i love them this time of year. a perfect dose of color just outside the windows.

.daily film : melitta.

i love brewing coffee with this beautiful object. my parents are friends with a couple who have built their own ceramic and glass studio. they're super cool. mark, who is the primary ceramic artist, made a batch of ceramic melittas last year. i love mine so much. the naked clay is beautiful. the light coming through the filter is lovely.

i think i need to make this a part of my morning routine more often. i go to my starbucks (since i work there) a lot in the mornings, but on my mornings off, i need to spend more quality time with my melitta.

what's your favorite part of your morning routine?