Big News … And A Few Other Things

Today I’m sharing some Big News, a riveting television series and, if you have sugar snap pea in your garden (or farmer’s market), you’ll want this recipe.

Happy Weekend Friends!

It’s time for the weekend post with Kim and Elizabeth.

Our weekly roundup of inspiration and goings on.

This article includes affiliate links; if you click on a shopping link and make a purchase I may receive a commission. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Front porch entry with pink geraniums, basket of lemons and a boxwood topiary.

It’s the last weekend of April.

With so many things to look forward to in May.

Cinco de Mayo, Mother’s Day, Graduations, Memorial Day

And May is a big birthday month in our family.

So much to celebrate.

And speaking of celebrations …

 

The Little House on 4th Street

We bought a house! A tiny house. In my hometown of Lafayette. Just a hop, skip and a jump from Snowberry. I still can’t believe it’s ours.

Tiny blue cottage with arched wood door with red heart.

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen the stories I posted when I toured the open house a few months back. I got a lot of questions about it, but the long saga of how we came to make an offer … and that offer finally being accepted is for another day.

Wooded backyard with small sheds.

Are we leaving Snowberry? Well …. no. Not anytime soon. We love this house and put our heart and souls into its renovation. We’ll continue to enjoy living here … and finishing our project list … while grappling with what can be done with our new little postage stamp lot and tiny cottage.

Wooded backyard with table and chairs on brick patio.

If you’re wondering why in the world we’d do such a thing I may not have mentioned location, location, location. The house sits in the cutest downtown neighborhood. Many of the homes, built in the 1930’s – 40’s were summer cottages for City dwellers. The neighborhood is walking distance to restaurants, shops, all of our favorite places. And we can walk out the front door and onto the regional trail where we walk Pippa and Maggie nearly everyday. The downtown Park Theater holds so many memories from my childhood. There’s a major fundraising effort going on to save and renovate the theater.

Downtown Lafayette, California Park Theater and town plaza.

We’ve been looking at houses in this neighborhood for 15 years. Fifteen years! There have been a lot of disappointments over that time. I’m honestly still a little stunned that we actually own this tiny cottage. And as I start to wrap my head around it I’ll share the bigger story. Of course there’s a bigger story.

Tiny blue cottage from the back.

We’re so grateful to the Dana Green Team, our rock star real estate friends, who made this happen for us. In fact, they’ve been making things happen for us for a very long time. Dana and her team sold our house in Walnut Creek for a record breaking price (at that time), prevailed in the bidding war for Snowberry and persevered through some challenging and head-scratching circumstances to successfully negotiate our 4th Street deal when it seemed deader than dead in the water. I know when the time comes they’ll find the right family to take on stewardship of Snowberry.

Tiny blue cottage from the back with vintage bench on brick patio.

I’m really excited to finally share this news with you. And look forward chronicling our adventures with the little house on 4th Street.

 

Lafayette Lifestyle Tour – 2-Ticket Giveaway

We’re just week away from the 25th Annual Lafayette Juniors Lifestyle Tour on Saturday, May 4th. The tour showcases five stunning – gorgeous – Lafayette homes (inside and out) … it’s one of my favorite events of the year and I can’t wait! Would you like to win two tickets to the tour?!!! I’m hosting a 2-ticket giveaway on Instagram so head over there and enter to win. The winner will be drawn on Wednesday, May 1st. Here’s what to do …

  1. Follow me @Makemineaspritzer
  2. Follow @LafayetteJuniors
  3. Comment on my most recent @Makemineaspritzer post and tag someone you’d love to bring on the tour

A couple of snaps from previous tours …

Jim had to be dragged kicking and screaming from the putting green … and wine room.

You can still buy TICKETS HERE. Jim and I will see you on the tour!

Woman wearing beige dress holding striped tote bag standing under tree.

 

 

Snap Peas From the Garden

We have sugar snap peas thriving in our raised bed garden. They’re climbing the trellis like nobody’s business and I harvest a small batch everyday.

Snap peas on garden trellis.

Woman standing on raised bed harvesting snap peas.

Collander of snap peas sitting on raised bed next to vine.

My favorite way to cook them is super simple, with just a few ingredients. They’re so good, we eat them more like appetizers. In other words we have no restraint and they don’t make it to our dinner plates.

Destemmed snap peas on cutting board.

This is the recipe I’ve been using on repeat.

Plates of salted snap peas.

 

Apples Never Fall

If you’re looking for something to watch this weekend, Apples Never Fall on Peacock is a great binge. A super intense family drama/mystery starring Annette Benning (love her) and Sam Neill will keep you fascinated and guessing. Adapted from Laine Moriarty’s novel by the same name, We devoured this series in two sittings.

 

 

Bedroom Refresh

This week on the blog I shared our primary bedroom refresh and a few easy ideas. This was on my project list for 2024 and I’m happy to call it done. For now. We still lack wall art but I haven’t come across anything that really appeals to me so the walls remain blank. I like to think of them as calm and tranquil. Now that I’ve stopped looking, the right art will probably find me.

Woman sitting on bed with two little dogs.

Simple Bedroom Refresh Ideas

 

Divider graphic.

Odds & Socks ~

In last weekend’s posts I shared five essential dresses for summer, dresses I’ll be packing for Italy and wearing all summer long. This striped, gauzey caftan has been a hot item on the blog and it arrived on my doorstep this week. I ordered a small but it’s swimming on me so I’m exchanging it for an XS. In case you’re mulling it over … size down. Oh, and great news … it’s 30% off (under $100)!

Ruth Reichl’s latest book, The Paris Novel, was released this week. Guess what I’m doing this weekend?!

This week I have a quite a few blog posts to recommend:

 

Current Favorites ~

 

Divider graphic.

And that’s what I have for you today.

Let’s visit Kim and Elizabeth to see what’s inspiring them.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA STYLE

PINECONES AND ACORNS

Divider graphic.

If you live in the Bay Area be sure to swing by my Instagram and enter to win 2-tickets to next Saturday’s Lafayette Lifestyle Tour.

Thanks for stopping by and cheers from Snowberry!

Share this

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest

Love my posts? Join my list today!

You might also enjoy

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Juliet,
    Congratulations! How wonderful to have found a new home/lot in your hometown! I am sure that whatever your build and create there is going to be amazing. I love the idea of walking to the shops, and for coffee. It is one of my favorite things about where I love as well.
    The Lafayette tour sounds and looks beautiful! I love looking at houses, too bad I do not live closer.
    As for the snap peas, they look delicious. What a great way to grow them and save space. I am not sure that I could grow them here, I would be fighting with the deer to get just one. Last year I planted 2 large containers with ghost peppers and over the summer they chewed my 3 foot plants to 11/2 ft and of course at all of the peppers.
    Cindys’ interview with Elizabeth was great, as all of her style interviews are. And Mollys tips definitely need to be bookmarked. Hanging things is not my strong suit.
    Thank you for sharing my new series with Sheri, her Ruby chocolate blondies look amazing and you can never go wrong with Ina’s brownies.
    Have a wonderful weekend!
    xo

  • Morning. I’ve been eyeing the utility dress from BR but haven’t actually seen it in person. What do you think?
    So enjoy your posts
    Mary

    • Mary, I saw it in the BR store and it’s beautifully made. A lovely dress. BR has had a real turn around and while their pricing is higher than other mid-range brands, it’s but not outrageous. The quality is there. Hope that helps and have a great weekend! xo

  • I’m worried that your closet will take up that whole darling doll house 🙂
    Can’t wait to see what you do.

  • Congratulations Juliet and Jim,
    Fabulous news!! It looks so cute !!
    I loved the series…will watch anything with Annette Benning and Sam Neil in it!
    Have a lovely weekend.

  • Hi Juliet — So exciting! And intriguing — can’t wait to hear the back story on your little cottage. And of course I also can’t wait to see what you do with it! It will be fabulous, I have no doubt. Oh my, definitely watching that show TONIGHT! I love Annette Benning too! Your bedroom is looking beautiful, and the snap peas delish!

  • Dear Juliet,
    I’m thrilled for you and Jim. This little cottage is adorable. I totally understand how it provokes feeling from your childhood. With your collective talents you will create a beautiful cottage feel for this home. I think it was such a smart investment. As you advance in age perhaps you will downsize to something that is more manageable. I’ve seen this happen with some friends that are older than we are. Downsizing with less to look after is so freeing. When we sold our retreat (it was fabulous and big) it was so freeing to downsize to one home. At one point we owned three, waiting for one to sell. Getting back to you. The community and being so close to everything and your fur babies being walking right out the door is so great.
    I look forward to see what you will create.

  • Juliet, So exciting for you and Jiim to be in your forever spot. Location is everything and you will make it just as darling as Snowberry I am sure. Walking to all you love cannot be underestimated.
    I wish I could do the house tour!! You know how much I love all that. I missed that you had a bedroom refresh! I have to check it out. I saw this Annette B show and I wish we had Peacock.. Maybe we’ll have to get another just for this. Enjoy your weekend and the book! xo

  • Congratulations on your new purchase, Juliet!!!

    CA real estate shopping can be Crazy, and it sounds like you’ve done at least your share of plowing through the tough stuff!

    Coincidentally, we are shopping for a lot in VA in another very tough real estate market! Lots of emotions bc we built our current home here in the MW only 5 years ago and put in a tremendous amount of effort… thinking ahead about ‘retirement’ and a milder climate where we have a group of friends.

    Downtown Lafayette is super charming, so I can see why it is so attractive, not to mention that it is your hometown, after all!

  • Congrats on your adorable cottage Juliet! It will be fun to see how you style it. My cousin owned a sweet yellow cottage with a white picket fence in Lafayette. So much charm! I’m still drooling over your garden at Snowberry. Enjoy the last weekend of April. Xo

  • Wow, this is big news! Congratulations on the darling cottage purchase! I’m excited to follow along on your new journey look forward to seeing you give it a fresh, new facelift.

    I’m taking my mom on the Lafayette home tour next weekend for Mother’s Day. She’s so excited! Having grown up in Lafayette, she adores just driving around and sharing her memories, so she’s really happy to see some of the homes. We are hoping one of the homes might be one she used to visit as a child. If I see you on the tour, I’ll be saying hello, for sure.

    Those sugar peas are the best for picking and eating right in the garden. Even my kids, who were not veggie eaters as children, would enjoy them straight from the vine. Your garden looks just beautiful. All this spring weather has everything sprouting like crazy.

    Enjoy your reading time this weekend.

  • How exciting about the cottage and in your hometown! I can’t wait to follow along! I’ve been wanting to watch that series and it’s so good to know someone who enjoyed it! I hope you have a fab weekend, Juliet!

    • Thanks, Kim! I can’t believe we’re going to build a new house all over again. Can’t stop, won’t stop. Have you finished Apples Never Fall? I didn’t see that ending coming. xo

  • Congratulations ! I’m so happy for you and Jim and can’t to see the process unfold with your new “Little House!”
    And I’m starting “Apples Never Fall” tonight! I’m burned out on the NBA playoffs!

    • We need a little break from sports now and again. I know we already talked about it, but that series was pretty intense with a lot of twists and unexpected turns. xo

  • You guys are so brave!! How fun it will be to be right downtown. That sugar snap pea recipe looks yummy and that series on Peacock sounds wonderful!! Thanks for all the tips!!

    • Thanks for stopping by, Cindy! I’m moving into my Cindy-in-Salinas downtown era. I can only hope to turn our house into something as wonderful as yours. xo

  • If you like abstract art, my friend has a number of galleries representing her. I have to stop buying – thank God for older houses with lots of walls!
    Darlenewatsonartist.com
    She also will do commissions and size to your space.
    Congratulations on your new to you tiny home!

  • Hi Juliet! I so wish I lived closer to you so I could attend the home tours, sounds lovely! I just started Apples Never Fall and it’s soooo good! Did you ever watch the series Big Little Lies? That’s another good one! Also love your tan dress you’re wearing in that picture. Do you have a link? Hope you have a great week!

    • Hi Nicolle, I wish you lived nearby too. It would be fun to have you along for our Bay Area touring adventures. Yes, I loved Big Little Lies and so excited to hear another season is in the works. Let me know what you think of the Apples Never Fall conclusion. My beige dress is by Hunter Bell, but it’s several years old and sold out not long after I bought it. I wear it all the time. Happy weekend! xo

  • Hi, I’m Juliet … welcome to Make Mine a Spritzer where we talk about all things home décor, classic style and more! I’m so happy you’re here!

    Join My List

    Shop my Amazon

    Shop my Amazon
    Some posts contain affiliate links at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Full disclosure here. Thank you for supporting the blog!

    Archives

    Categories

    Reader Interactions

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    make mine a spritzer

    Join Juliet for the latest fashion, lifestyle and travel!

    join me today