madi cakes.

it was a late afternoon in early june. we had just arrived at grampa rand's and were waiting for the rest of the gang to arrive with campfire marshmallows, bubbles and bug spray. the niece and i snuck out to the front yard to have a conversation about sharks, mosquitoes and how she can't wait to own her first bra. i snapped a few candids because girl does not like to pose.

don't grow up so fast.

my beautiful niece madilyn kate.

and one of my favorites... she has the biggest, most beautiful blues eyes.

just go with it.

recently i watched the movie just go with it. i. was. not. a. fan. the storyline was just bogus and jennifer aniston was pretty stale (per usual). dave matthews did make a surprising cameo as...wait for it... NICOLE KIDMAN'S GAY HUSBAND?!?! i thought of immediately burning all of my dave matthews band cds, instead i just drank my way through the movie. the best part of the movie, the part that justified spending the $3.99 on the rental, was the soundtrack... which actually doesn't exist. awesome. so after spending at least an hour of my life that i'll never get back researching the songs on the internets... here are two of my favorites via youtube because the best songs have no versions available for download...did anything good come from this movie???

first up, we have jake shimabukuro on the ukulele covering the police's 'every breath you take'....this is just gorgeous and i'm thinking i might go on steve martin on y'all and start playing the ukulele...after i learn the harmonica, bagpipes, violin and something other than heart and soul on the piano.

next up we have a mash up and who isn't a fan of a good mash up??? do you remember this album?? best thing ever to come out of 2004 (besides my nephew). so imagine my surprise when i heard this.... yea i know another version of every breath you take but it's mashed up with chasing cars which is one of my all time favorite songs...its pretty great.

so, i've done the watching for you and then i've found the diamond(s) in the rough for you...so do me a favor and take the $3.99 you were going to spend renting it (because i'm not the only person who still rents movies, right??) and go buy yourself a summery cocktail.

click happy.

{photos taken by me of my niece with the hipstamatic iphone app}

one of my favorite blogs posts her own links to love that is always amazing, check out this weeks HERE. be sure to click on the transparent kayak and cliff diving.

the most beautiful cover of one of my favorite songs, the world at large.

is anyone else addicted to hanging with friends ?? my name is "ilovenectarines" find me and lets play!

sunchild spritz? yes please! perfect drink for summer.

remember this super cute engagement video? check out their gorgeous wedding!

i'm a pretty big fan of stripes, this skirt, this dress, this camera strap, this ceiling, and this shower curtain all make me pretty happy.

kelle hampton writes one of my favorite blogs with the most beautiful photos, check out enjoying the small things.

bon iver's self titled album drops june 21st but you can listen to it first right here on npr! ahhhh-mazing!! and while your at it, check out the artist who designed the album's cover gregory euclide.

and last, my dear friend emily from high school has a photography business, emily delamater photography and her blog of photos is just lovely.

click happy. pinterest edition.

i recently discovered an amazing little site called Pinterest and i tell you what...i'm obsessed. for those of you who are all like, "what is Pinterest???" here is how the site's creators describe it,


“Think of Pinterest as a virtual pinboard — a place where you can create collections of things you love and “follow” collections created by people with great taste.
People use Pinterest to collect and share all sorts of things — wedding inspiration, favorite 
T-shirts, DJ equipment. You name it, people are pinning it.”

for more information, head over to their about page, read up and join! i promise you it'll be a lot of fun.

so with this version of "click happy" i thought i'd share some of my favorite pins:) 

cheesecake stuffed strawberries.

overheard on the titanic.

new toms that i will own.

pretty colors.

prettiest chair.

pretty sweet shed studio.

just plain gorgeous.

um..... yum.

holy shit, i fell in love with this the second i saw it.

i am currently learning to simplify my vintage kitchen collection...this is my inspiration.

and that's that. 

if you want to follow me on pinterest, you can do so by clicking below!

abbie morrison on Pinterest.

the most perfect summer salad.

is is memorial day already!? before i know it summer is going to be over... in honor of a 3 day weekend, i'm going to share one of my favorite summer salad recipes. this salad is perfect as a side dish for a cookout or alone as the main course. either way, i think you'll dig it...

what you're gonna need:

2 lemons quartered

12 ounces of cherry tomatoes

1 lb of asparagus, tough ends trimmed off and the remainder cut into 1 1/2- 2 inch lengths

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper

1 lb of corkscrew pasta

1 4-oz wedge of parmesan cheese, thinly sliced

1 cup torn fresh mint leaves

what you're gonna want to do:

preheat oven to 450 degrees.

bring large pot of salted water to a boil.

place lemons, whole tomatoes and asparagus in a large roasting pan. drizzle with 2 tbsp olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. using your hands, toss until well coated. 

cook in oven until the tomatoes are softened and the asparagus is cooked through, usually 15 minutes.

meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions; reserve water.

remove roasting pan from oven and add 2 tbsp of reserved water to the vegetables.

drain pasta and add to the roasting pan along with the parmesan and mint. season with salt and pepper, add remaining tbsp of oil...

....and toss to combine. squeeze any remaining juice from roasted lemons over the pasta and serve hot.

i hope you enjoy this scrumptious salad... for more summer salad recipes, check out these links!

asparagus ribbon salad.

grilled chicken salad with feta, fresh corn and blueberries.

summer barley salad.

mango chicken salad.

lykke li. house of blues. boston.

this past friday a friend and i headed down to the boston to see lykke li in concert at the house of blues.  little did i know there was a pretty big deal of a red sox/cubs game going on as well, so needless to say lansdowne was packed with sox and cubs fans... and then us. the lykke li fans. the line at the door to the house of blues was made up of hipsters and gals with platforms and sequins. i had on jeans and a fleece. friend had on jeans and a plaid shirt. fail. we decided to hide out at a sports bar until it was closer to show time, clearly we didn't fit in with the hob crowd. after downing a couple bud lights (gross. i know) we headed over to the show. our seats weren't the best for viewing, but they were the best for hearing. we were 4th row back in the balcony.... here is what i saw...

before lykke li took the stage, a girl called grimes opened... not typically my style but i did enjoy her. i found this video of one of her perfomances on youtube.

lykke li was amazing. i love her stage presence and the way that she bangs on the drums and symbols. that sounds stupid but it's true. she goes nuts. i loved every second of it. 

i found some of the songs she performed on youtube. i didn't record these, i got lucky and found them... here are a few of my favorites from the evening. also, to read and see more of my obsession with lykke li, check out this post.

on the beach.

it has been raining in maine for the past week. at least... and the forecast for the next 7 days is not looking promising. i was in boston this morning and got to eat brunch and go for a walk in the sun and for that 4 hours i thought i had died and gone to heaven (no rapture pun intended). driving home on 95 north we just hit this wall of fog and rain and dreary weather and just like that my vitamin d heaven was gone. it's may 21st. it should be sunny everyday. it should be above 55 degrees everyday. this week is my last official week of work until summer vacation. it doesn't feel like it. so in honor of summer vacation and the lack of summer weather i've had, i've decided to blog about a series of photographs by one of my favorite photographers.


i went to washington dc during the summer of 2008 and one of the smithsonians had a exhibit called "on the beach" by american photographer richard misrach. the exhibit featured 19 photographs, some as big as 6 x 10 feet "depicting people as small, often isolated figures in an immense scene, the photographs remind us of the fragility and relative unimportance of humanity in the face of seemingly infinite nature." 


the photos appear to have been taken from directly above the subject when in fact all of them were taken from the same high rise balcony in hawaii. taken in the days following the september 11th attacks, misrach eliminated all references to the sky and horizon line to increase the sense of solitude and even digitally removed people from some photos to heighten the sense of isolation. he titled the exhibit "on the beach" after the 1957 Nevil Shute novel about life after a nuclear holocaust.

"I was drawn to the fragility and grace of the human figure in the landscape, My thinking about this work was influenced by the events of 9/11, particularly by the images of individuals and couples falling from the World Trade Towers, as well as by the 1950's Cold War novel and film, On the Beach. Paradise has become an uneasy dwelling place; the sublime sea frames our vulnerability, the precarious nature of life itself." 

- Richard Misrach

take a gander....

for a slideshow of the entire exhibit, click here.

for more of richard misrach's work, click here.