Here's a a few things (below) that I picked up yesterday at the Beacon Hill Sidewalk Fest and after, the bookstore. The fest was more of a flood because it started to pour about 10 minutes after we arrived. Of course, a die hard shopper never lets rain, snow, sleet, or natural disaster step in the way of a good sale, so I was able to navigate my way through Beacon Hill to browse in some of my favorite shops like Moxie, Holiday, Good, Koo de Kir, Black Ink... The two photos shown above were snapped on Charles Street and over in the Boston Public Gardens - the calm before the storm. At one point, it rained so heavily that we had to take shelter in a corner bistro on Beacon Hill to wait out the storm, over homemade Tiramisu and hot cocoa, of course. :)

Nonetheless, I had a great time in Boston yesterday and found a mini bolt of Lotta Jansdotter fabric for only $15 at Koo de Kir, walked in the rain through the Boston Commons, admiring the fountains and flowers, the ducklings waddling after their mother into the pond, tiny bodies rocking from side to side. Walking hand in hand, sharing one tiny umbrella, the rain started pelting down on us and since we had no where to hide being in the center of a park, we just enjoyed the moment, soaked and laughing, simply enjoying eachothers company. That is the best part of marriage. The simple carefree times when you're not being responsible adults. When you're tipping the umbrella and he's trying to tip it your way so you end up being the one getting most of the water on your head. Just being silly. Cell phones off, no plans, no worries. It was so pleasing, and just before the rain fell, about the same time that the thick gray clouds rolled in, the air cooled, the atmosphere dimmed, and suddenly 2 o'clock looked like 10 p.m. Those special moments huddled beneath thick gray clouds were quiet, melancholy, relaxed... And silly.

Once the rain started pouring, we headed back to Charles Street, finding refuge in the little stores, people watching as shop owners scurried about retrieving their wares from the street, folding up tables, darting in and out of storefronts rescuing items from the rain. I popped into Moxie to see if I could find an Orla Kiely bag for the summer, but with $500 price tags on the leather Orla's, I decided to keep on searching around until I found the canvas one that I'm really looking for.

As a lover of trance and britpop, I had to grab my copy of the new Keane CD the moment it released, Under the Iron Sea... All I can say is just purchase it and trust me on this - it's great. Even if you've never heard of them and do not consider yourself a britpop fan, I think you'll be hooked since it's very catchy, well-written, and certainly has a great moody vibe to it. I have to check out my cousin's magazine, Magnet, to see if they've reviewed it yet (he and his team of writers in Philly have the best reviews, so candid).

Speaking of music, my husband Thorsten (pronounced Tor-sten, the "h" is silent, it's Scandinavian), is a music producer by night and I'm so proud of him - he just released his first CD, Infiltrator, available at Amazon. It's a fusion of trance, world music, and soundtracks, a 'music novel', where a single story unfolds through each track. He's also listed on My Space if you want to read about him there. He balances his technical career by exploring his creativity through music, trance being one that he is especially fond of which he uses as a base. Being German, his knowledge of trance (derived from a combination largely of techno and house) comes with the culture, Frankfurt is said to be the birthplace of trance music right after the UK acid house movement (you may recall 3 a.m. Eternal and What is Love? from the KLF) . Some of my favorite tracks from Infiltrator are Backstep Rewind, Chinatown Pursuit and Meditation, where Chinese vocals are utilized. You can listen to the CD here.

So that was my day yesterday. Good times, good books, great music. Today, with all the rain, I plan to work on some mini projects around the house, turn my Keane CD way up, and maybe even take out my sew machine and work on a quilt I'm trying to finish. I'll post it in a day or two so you can see how I'm progressing...

More fresh finds coming your way today, I have a few things to show you that can't wait until Monday...

(images copyright decor8 2006)