It never quite feels like summer to me unless I’m attending barbecues on regular occasions. M and I were at one last weekend, but the heat drove us indoors in the middle of the afternoon. I’m longing for a nighttime outdoor party, one where you can still see the smoke from the grill rising up into the air at ten o’clock, where people sit surrounded by lanterns (some of which promise to shoo those pesky mosquitoes away), where the plates of food never quite get empty.

Have you been to any good outdoor parties this summer?

{photo from apartment therapy, found via Melissa‘s pinterest board}

When I moved to San Diego last September, I picked up some jars to store my baking supplies. I then had the cutest idea: I’d also buy some chalkboard paint and paint a little region on each jar so I could write what was inside of each. On the to-do list the task went. And stayed. School started, I got busy, and I eventually forgot about my little project. Until today.

Chalkboard stickers.

Brilliant, no? And so my project is off the to-do list. Finally.

{images from Terrain; etsy seller Bradens Grace also has a great assortment of chalkboard stickers}

As if I didn’t already need to take a trip to Vancouver, the Old Faithful Shop only adds to my reasons to visit that northern city.

First, let’s talk towels. And not just any towels. The most perfectly blue towels.

Then, the pup.

And the pup again.

Because you know a shop is cool when its owner keeps his dog around. That just makes the place feel more like home, doesn’t it?

{all photos from Old Faithful Blog}