Just popping in for a quickie, because seriously my life has become INSANE!! what the heck!?
when did life become so wild? :)
Anyhoo~ We are working into the wee hours of the evening to prepare things for our annual Holiday OPen House tomorrow at the Shop!
It's the time of year when we close down our shop for 2 and a half days to prepare. it's a massive endeavor, rearranging things, setting up and decorating trees, painting, hanging lights, crafting.....you get the picture!
So FOr you Locals, we sure hope you can join us! and for those of you, my sweet computer buddies, I thank you for your virtual visit! I promise to post more pictures soon!
So for now, here is a sneak Peek!
(that tiny little mouse in a matchbox with a mattress. pillow. and blanket KILLS me! SOOOO cute!)
(we are still feverishly working on displays, and I of course am right down to the wire making things!)
But more is coming in the next coming weeks too, so never fear!
This is a dynamic little shop, always moving, always changing, so you know there will always be something fun to look at!
o.k., so on that note,
please join us tomorrow
Friday Nov.20th 2009
Shop doors open at 5p.m. and stay open until 9 p.m.
hope to see you there!!!!
XOXOXO
oh, and P.S.
I forgot to mention, if you are local, we are part of a window display contest going on downtown.
various merchants are participating in a contest to see who has the best window display!
so of course being the wildly competitive person that I am, I HAD to sign up! ha ha ha!
no seriously, I thought it would be fun, you can learn more about it here
I designed a window for Seyfried Jewelers on Main street.
so if you are local come check out the various displays,
and should you feel compelled to vote for us......ahem,
you can vote for us here (under seyfried jewelers)
Lets' face it, who doesn't want everything to be lightning fast these days?
I certainly know I am guilty of it.
I want my high speed internet connection, my digital satellite T.V. with the DVR so I can tape my shows and fly through them commercial free....my high speed cell phone so I can check emails on the fly...of course with the texting package so I can get immediate responses from friends and family.
complete with a cell phone camera, so I can instantly take pictures and upload them remotely to facebook, or other social media sites for instant gratification.
Ridiculous really, but it's the way society has us programmed these days.
and of course I love it.
to a certain degree.
I am sure many of you have seen this video, but how true is this? I can totally relate.
SO even though I want this speed, I AM aware of how silly it really is. I believe there are and should be limits.
Which I am learning by way of my son and his middle school.
Since when did kids become so advanced at such an early age?
can we blame the media? the internet? Who knows.
All I know is that there are things out there that I see on T.V., or the internet that completely disgust me.
So these past few weeks have been a learning curve for me, having a child in a new school, figuring out new schedules...tweaking things here and there.
We have decided to remove his cell phone, AND texting and restricted his computer activities. because even though he is a great kid,
HellO!!! he's a KID.
and kids do NOT have the maturity to limit themselves, or to even handle what's being thrown at them on a daily basis.
this lightning fast everything has completely altered who we ARE as human beings.
turning young kids into little adults far faster than they should be.
I believe the things that kids text to each other are not necessarily the things that they would actually SAY out LOUD to one another if they were on the phone.
Social media is just TOO easy. and too fast!
All I can say is that I really wasn't prepared for this age. So I am learning.
I am AWARE.
I am paying ATTENTION.
and I am involved.
it's the single most thing you can do for your kids in this fast paced world. because in the end, they will probably thank you for it. maybe not now, but hopefully in the future.
SO, that being said,
(phew! now I am climbing down off of my soap box for the day, ha ha ha,)
I will now share some of my fun tips and discoveries that have revolutionized MY fast paced life this week. You know how I just LOVE to share! ;)
So, In this life, with driving and activities galore, cooking and feeding a family can be a complete nightmare.
welcome the crock pot into to your life.
little trusty crock pot, I love you.
This is my quick recipe for the week. I threw this baby together in less than 10 minutes, and had a wonderful HOT delicious meal for my family 11 hours later. whaHOO!!!
Meatball Stone soup!
Ingredients:
1 bag (16 ounces) frozen Italian style meatballs
2 cans (14 ounces each) beef broth
2 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) diced tomatoes with Italian Herbs
undrained!!
1 medium potatoes chopped and diced (about 1 cup)
truthfully, I actually used two potatoes, because lets face it, I adore the potato!
1 medium onion diced about 1/2 to 1 cup, I used a lot of onion. :)
1/4 tsp garlic pepper, again, i used a bit more!!!
1 bag (1 pound) frozen mixed vegetables.
salt and pepper to taste
Literally throw all of this stuff into a 3.5 to 4 quart crock pot cover and cook on low for 9-11 hours.
omigosh! so easy and delicious!
I made some cornbread muffins to go with it, and sprinkled parmesan cheese on top of the soup and EVERYONE ate it! so good~!
Next up in my wild repertoire is this baby....
how funny that it's called Urban Decay, but!
It has completely revolutionized my life. seriously.
I mean this is life altering stuff.(o.k. I'm a bit shallow about some things)
But If you are like me, and have to REAPPLY your eye make up like 10 times a day because it smeared and creased on your eyelids, then this stuff is for YOU!!!
It literally keeps my makeup in place, and I do NOT have to do ANY touch up of any kind ALL day long!
it's fast! dries quickly, and really will add tons of extra minutes to your day by not having to check to make sure your eyeballs are still looking wide and haven't slipped off down by your chin. :)
with a turbo charged engine, and road rally potential..... :)
which is hilarious, because in all actuality, I drive like a GRANDMA, seriously!
I drive really slow, and conservatively. ask my kids, they'll tell ya.
The funny thing is that even though I like obvious girly things like makeup products, I AM part boy, and love, LOVE , LOVE cars!
I love that this car is European. I have always been intrigued by the little foreign cars at the auto shows.
(sorry American car companies, if it's any consolation my husband still drives a chevy truck)
I also love that it has a wonderful vintage tradition behind it!
So since I have decided to do the OPPOSITE thing that most people do with families, and go from a honking SUV
(our lease was up on our chevy Tahoe)
I've decided to BUY a tiny little sport vehicle, and I am REALLY excited about it!
It will save me money on gas, be sporty enough to have fun in, and will force me to slow it down a bit as to how much I can literally pack into my fast paced life.
I bought the stick shift model. I love to drive stick, and really, c'mon, if you are gonna have that kind of car, doesn't it need to be a manual transmission? :))
My husband was telling me "cathy, you are going to get REALLY tired of that quickly! I mean you won't be able to drink a cup of coffee while you are driving, or talk on the cell phone!"
but I'm thinking, it's O.K.!
i'm doing my small part to slow it down a notch.
I really shouldn't be doing those things anyways right!? ;)
Life is a blur as always, whipping here and there.
flying by the seat of my pants on everything I do. I will say that honestly I feel like the luckiest person alive...because if you actually saw how I operate, you would be amazed...because yes, I am a whirling disaster.
but Somehow, miraculously, Things always seem to work out, don't ask me how or why, but they do.
Case in point, this morning.
I was scheduled to set a table at the Women's city club for their annual "tables and tea" event.
As usual, I was running behind, shuffled kids to school, came home cleaned kitchen and prepared dinner in the crockpot a nice pork tenderloin with an apricot glaze and stuffing mind you (don't be impressed it is super easy! ha ha ha! it just sounds fancy ) ;)
then I prepared to head out to get my table ready. it was now 9:45.
the event started at 11 AM.
I decided to call the place to just double check that they furnished table cloths. well evidently they DID NOT.
O.k. don't panic.
I only has consumed 2 non-drowsy sudafed loaded with ephedrin to clear my sick stuffy head, and consumed 2 cups of coffee, so yeah, my heart wasn't racing one bit. noOOO.
I raced to the store twitching and shaking to try and find a 60 inch round white tablecloth, no luck.
thankfully there was an amazing woman there who suggested I go around the corner to the rental facility and rent one!
brilliant!
WIth tablecloth in hand I raced to the shop and started to load up on supplies. mind you, I had only thought about my table in my head, I really had NO idea what I was going to do....so trying not to decompensate I grabbed Ann, my few goods, and raced to the place, 40 minutes till it opened.
We unloaded things at break neck speed...
of course right on top of my table was a white tablecloth,
that they supplied.
O.k., mentally telling myself, don't get irritated. things happen...it's o.k. it ALLL worked out! ;)
So This is what we ended up with, I think it turned out pretty good!
AND we had 20 minutes to spare, not bad huh?
So I guess what I'm trying to say is that it doesn't take too much thought to pull together a fun table.
I literally spray painted twigs that I had ripped off a tree that fell down in a storm on the side of the shop.
Now on another lucky note,
We were completely surprised that a television crew from Philadelphia contacted us to film a commercial at our store Free of charge!!! holy cow.
SO they showed up last week and we survived it.
I even got Ann to go on camera! how hilarious is that!
we made up the rooms just so, adding a few extra touches like the green plants in sap buckets attached to the wall.
again, flying by the seat of our pants.
So on that note, I am going to sit back and take a deep breath, happy that I am finally sitting down for a nano second sipping a delicious hot cup of soup watching Ann unpack the fabulous christmas boxes that just rolled in. :)
but shushhhhhhh we aren't talking about Christmas right now AT ALL!!!! no, no NO!
it's FALL and we are enjoying every last crisp minute of it!
Don't you just love this time of year? the crisp fall weather, the pumpkins, burning spicey scented candles, and of course the fact that you get to embrace your slightly sinister side, and celebrate one of my most favorite holidays ever, HALLOWEEN!
weeeeeee!
I love Halloween!
But when it comes to Halloween,
I do NOT think Orange!, no, no, NO!
I like to decorate things a little bit differently.
I like to use more of the plain black and white themed goods, with only tiny amounts of orange accents.
So this year I decided to decorate the front room in a more elegant fashion, but not too elegant, because that's not what we're all about here.
we are about comfort, and style of course, but we believe in also being able to fling yourself, and your dog on the sofa next to you within those stylish rooms.
SO this year, this is what we've cooked up.....
spare rooms with bold black and white accents, white pumpkins,
black crows, and chalkboards....
of course we need to add a little drama with some greenery, and the topiaries seem to add just the right zip.
Now you of course could do something like this to your rooms,
paint a canvas that you can buy at the craft store, with blackboard paint and hang them on your walls! add white pumpkins to galvanized pails, find accents at your local shop, or come here of course! ;)
The point is, have fun! If you have kids, they will LOVE this! trust me.
Even my sister's grouchy old trial attorney that lived in her
apartment complex used to hang a rubber skeleton from his door!
some more tips might be to use pumpkins as candle holders, drill a large hole on top and plop a candle that is slightly larger than the hole right in.
or scoop out a pumpkin, and use a drill to poke a bunch of holes all over your pumpkin to make a polkadotted one!
if you don't like to get messy, don't carve them at all, PAINT them!
you don't even have to be a great painter to do this, i did these last year in 2 seconds....
now moving on, we have been busy changing up our other rooms to a more fall palette. I painted a vintage bed in a nice green,
adding some rich BRIGHT fall colors to this room!
we have gorgeous new pillows and blankets in, and absolutely stunning baby blankets in new colors, like browns with chartreuse dots. SO FUN!
of course, I am STILL working on wool pillows.....
moving slower than molasses of course, a billion things on my never ending list, but it's ALLL good!
I was just asked to be a weekly contributing writer for Ann Arbor.com our local online newspaper! SUCH an Honor!
and next week, we have a TELEVISION crew coming here to film a small t.v. spot for the "best of the city"
too say that I am nervous and excited about THAT is an understatement! but it is truly super exciting!
SO on that note, I am OFF to finish working on some things.....
and if you'd like you can check out the wonderful Halloween goods we have in the store, I FINALLY loaded up some to my website! whoo-HOOO!
have a great day, and thanks for stopping by!
XOXOXO
oh, and P.s.
if you want a fabulous, and I mean FABULOUS candle that smells FANTASTIC, and made by a REAL person, by hand....then check out my friends shop!
Fall always makes me think warm, cozy thoughts. I start concentrating more on my home and how I can decorate it for the coming season to make it more of a comfy nest....one that I can burrow in for the coming months.
I break out the jeans and the cowboy boots, the wool sweaters, the darker shades of lipstick, you get the picture. ;)
I also start playing with cozy wool in my studio.
So the past couple of days I started creating in my new space.
I have to say that I absolutely LOVE it!
The natural light, and the windows make my heart sing. but I will say, the sewing table parked in front of the window overlooking the busy downtown street can be a bit distracting!
I keep watching the people go by to see what's happening out there in the big ole world, because I hate to miss a THING! ha ha!
SO this is what I have been starting to work on these past few days......in between gawking of course. ;)
inspired by a jar of vintage celluloid buttons...
SO in the next couple of days, I will have some fun pillows to share with you.......ideas cultivating and reproducing like acorns and pumpkins......
of course we have also been getting in some great fall earthy style goods...by some of my most favorite friends and artists....this gorgeous piece just sold today, yes, they go THAT fast, they're so cool!today I am sportin' this beauty.....and channeling my inner Flavor-flav....;) ha ha ha because it's a biggie!but i LOVE it!!! (i love making a statement, don't you?!!)of course there are some smaller pieces, for those of you more demure types...;) some with vintage text and numbers..perfect at this back to school time of year!yummy frames in mossy, earthy, cool colors....cool books.....more pretty, dainty jewelry....by the wonderful and sweet Bethwith inspiring words to live by....because we should ALLL do that right? right?!! can I get an amen sisters! can you tell I am slap-happy! ha ha.all this fresh fall air, plus the fact that it's friday afternoon, weeeeeeee! SO on that note, I'm off to finish playing with wool and felt.and try and do a million other things on my list all at the same time mind you.....(you know the deal right?!!) :)have a wonderful weekend everyone!XOXOXO
I still haven't had a chance to get my act together since the kids started school, have you?
I mean, I am keeping busy mind you and working on a zillion things behind the scenes, but I swear I cannot catch up!
So, my new thing is taking tons of photos of the vintage things I have had stored in my basement, and some recent scores from my fabulous trip up north, because I want to open an Etsy shop for my little vintage things!
when you can savor the fresh picked Garden tomato?
well I know I do!
And for those of you lucky enough to live in my area, you can sign up for a cooking class at Hollanders THIS wednesday to learn how to cook with fresh tomatoes!!!
We always come back at the same time every year, the sun setting just so, and we all collectively feel changed in some respect.
The melancholy sets in as we say goodbye to summer and hello to the new school routine.
We are always sad to leave our vacation behind because it's a place we look forward to ALL year long.
Still, in a way it's so wonderful to end summer on a good note, but it's also a reminder that life goes by WAY too fast.
SO here are a ton of pictures from our trip up north to Elk lake.
As always, many memories were made, and many days and nights spent laughing and having fun.
I hope you will enjoy taking a peek into our vacation!
our little rustic cabin, overlooking the lake.
our neighbor's fine vintage boat that i ADORE.
catching tiny fish, and collecting rocks....
paddle boarding....
this year we brought Tank with us.
he was honestly, THE best dog ever.
SOOO laid back, so mellow, even he was having a relaxing time, you could tell.
he was like a little rock star on the dock. ;)
he loved tubing......
boating.....
swimming...
digging in the sand...
laying out in the sun....
fishing with the kids....
hanging out in the cabin....
or just basically being adored. ;)
we did a lot of lounging, boating and hanging out ourselves....
completely relaxing and having NO agenda. it was so nice!
the kids enjoyed tubing......
fiona tried it for the first time and of course loved it!
me having a tiny heart attack of course. :)
unfortunately we were not incident free....my son had an accident up there.
he crashed on a motorized scooter at night, cutting his eyebrow open, giving himself a black eye.
talk about Heart attack!!
darn kids, they never listen to you when you tell them not to do things.
so poor Jackson couldn't swim, or tube for the rest of the trip because of his cut.
learning his lesson the hard way. :(
but I will say, it could have been much worse.
He still had fun regardless, because it is up north afterall.....
and you are surrounded by beauty....
he got to boat with the teens.......
did i mention how cute my friends kids are?
ADORABLE!
we had many adventures....
we canoed the Platte river, which was GORGEOUS!!!
(even though you start the trip out with a sign like this....)
who signed me up for this trip? ;)
my friends assured me that WE were the only cougars to be worried about! ha ha ha. very funny.
it was however worth the risk....
the river is stunning,
girls in one boat, boys in the other....
did i mention I am a remarkable canoeist? :)
years and years of having to endure my dad steering me into the bushes with spiders along the riverbanks of the huron river, made me become a fantastic navigator!
anyways....canoeing along,
you end up at the mouth of the river that opens onto lake michigan.
absolutely BEAUTIFUL!
tons of dunes......
you can see where the two waters converge....
onto this...
we all had a great time....
relaxing on the beach...
then home to the cabin, we had some amazing dinners out,
can I tell you how much i love Pearls, and their amazing Cherry margaritas and delicious fried green tomatoes? mmmmmmm.
We also had some home cooked meals on the grill potluck style back at the homestead......
watching the sunset...
and the glorious full moon on the lake....
hanging out with friends till the wee hours of the morning...
playing cards by nightlight, laughing by the fire....
all in all it was a wonderful lovely time that i will never forget.
so to wrap it up here are some final images... a little potpourri
It's that time of year when I start to have those melancholy feelings.
Sad that summer is nearing it's end, and sad that my kids are gearing up to go back to school.
it all goes by so fast doesn't it?
I will say that it's probably time,
especially when you have a wild child like mine who comes out
of the house entertaining herself with things like this....
who knew you could have so much fun with a pantyhose footie.
oh man. :) that Fiona's a LIVE one I tell ya!
I will certainly miss walking downtown with them...
and eating ice cream cones everyDAY!!!
my waistline however will be thankful to let go of that one! ;)
But, like most moms out there i am happy to get them back to a schedule, back to a routine, and back to having more time to MYSELF thankyouverymuch.
i love them and all, but it's time to get down to business!!! :)
so even though, yes, I am sad to see summer go, I do love fall, and all of the things that go along with it!
the crisp weather, apple orchards, pumpkins, sweaters, jeans, my favorite cowboy boots, plus working with wools and felt.
I am excited to be working in my new space, and look forward to thinking up my workshops i'll have planned in the future!
this week I got started working on a little project for a collaborative artist book i'm a part of that's in the works....
o.k., I'll admit it looks kind of bad, but it was a project that required weaving with wire, which was kind of tough for me.
it's not finished yet, so don't discount it yet, but we shall see. it's fun to add all of the vintage trinkets to it,
old buttons, and aged pieces, scraps of silk.
I think that in the end, it will look neat when it's hung.
I have also been working hard on the home front....cleaning up closets, and organizing EVERYTHING!!!
can I tell you I have sorted out every little polly pocket shoe, littlest pet shop accessory, along with miniature cakes and teeny tiny doll house stuff to fill up 2 suitcases.
i'm seriously growing hoarders in my house! :)
we will however be ready come fall with everything neat and tidy, so I am happy about that.
I did one thing that made a HUGE difference, which was take off the old pathetic looking 1960's bifold doors from my kids closets.
they were a PAIN in the rear end, and took up space.
I took Fiona's off and hung a curtain rod, and some cute little drapery panels, it makes her room SOOOO much nicer!
because she has this huge honking vintage bed in her room she needs all the space she can get!
so now we don't have those doors protruding into the space.
and was inexpensive to do.
now in Jackson's room, I did it a little differently....
i removed his doors, painted the interior of his closet black, and put his BED in there!
(he'd kill me if he knew I took his picture while he was still sleeping, but my gosh! that kid sleeps till noon! so I really had no choice! ha ha)
again, looking forward to the SCHEDULE! :)
anyways,
it created a ton more space and made his room feel more like a "tween" type room with his skateboards and trophies on display, because after all he'll be a middleschooler this year *sniff*
more room for all if his stuff on the floor now on the otherside!
(did I mention I need a cleaning lady?)
So that's what's been keeping me busy these last couple of days,
tommorow (saturday) we head up North for 9 days to our most favorite spot on earth.
a place where our kids run wild and free.
a wonderful way to wrap up the summer with friends we've known for 20+years. I certainly can't wait.
I am crossing my fingers for good weather, but seriously I don't even care because i will be near crystal clear water, cocktail in hand, and No schedule whatsoever! whoo-hoo!
I race around each day with the will and determination of a hummingbird, but constantly feel like I am moving at a turtle pace!
It's SO frustrating! especially when you have a mind full of ideas, but not enough time in the day to accomplish them!
EVERYTHING takes an excruciating amount of time as I'm sure you all are acutely aware of!
Isn't it crazy? I mean blogging alone takes about 1-2 hours.
even blow drying my hair takes about 15 minutes! ha ha!
oh well. such is life.
So for the past few days I have been going through my studio at home and packing things up. (in between kid activities mind you)
loading up my truck to the brim, and hauling it all to the shop.
It has been quite the task. I mean, I am a PACKRAT with a capital P. so just going through stuff has taken forEVER.
but of course, am I letting any of it go yet? uh, NO.
But fortunately I am only displaying the stuff that I really care about and will use, and look aesthetically appealing of course, because Yes, I am that controlling. ;)
so that means that come fall I will be having a MASSIVE garage sale with tons of fabric GOING, tons of SUPPLIES going.
tons of old vintage stuff that i'm not using, GOING.
You get the picture. :)
SO here are the pictures of the *NEW* studio/art space coming to life......click on them to see them in all their glory if you wish. :)
space for bottles and jars to be filled with goods.....
a tiny sampling of the MASSIVE amount of books i'll have on hand for inspiration
a teensy sampling of the fabric I have.
uh, 5 more garbage bags FULL of it in the basement.
and about 4 bins of old sweaters and wool felt to use too.
shhhhh, I know I have issues! ha ha!
a nice sunny spot to sew where I can look out and see the downtown WORLD!
a variety of half started projects, now in full view so that they *may* be finished...eventually! :)
and plenty of space for my studio partner....:)
and 8 seats for YOU, when I finally get it together! shootin' for FALL! weeeeeeee!!!!
SO hope you like what you see so far! I am certainly super excited,
with a noggin FULL of ideas...
Also, thanks a TON to all of you that left comments, I try to answer them, but that's another area where that syndrome kicks in. :)
Now besides packing and schlepping, I have been enjoying summer with friends and family of course...
out on the town, partying every weekend.....
enjoying cooking with fresh foods!
totally in LOVE with my prolific tomato plant!
polenta with ratouille for BREAKFAST whoo-hoo!!!
hanging with my people at the pool...
(only half of us like getting our picture taken mind you, darn pre-teens!)
yesterday my daughter and I went antiquing and also hit some garage sales! SO fun!
we scored only a FEW things......
this fantastic vintage suitcase....
covered in wonderful stickers....
with a nice patina and wear to it...
my mind wondering what kind of child carried this.
what he or she packed in it.
it obviously meant a lot to this child, when I opened it up I gasped...
they had this cool picture tacked up inside of a native american on horseback...with a candy colored sky.
I made me think of being on the road traveling, cowboys, lone ranger comic books and whatever else that little person must have packed in there!
So cute!!!
It now will have another life filled with fun things....
or just displayed and loved some more!
we also found a cool stash at a random barn sale we stumbled upon.
sweet little aprons, and vintage slips, I love, LOVE the feel of the satin.
I hand washed them.......thinking they would be great under lightweight clothes, and of course on someone with a TEENY-tiny figure! sheesh!
we also found some cool old gas station numbers and a valvoline sign that I think will make a great magnet board!
my daughter was totally getting into the thrill of the hunt, so that was exciting to be able to pass that feeling on to a younger generation, hoping, HOPING that they will love junk, and weathered things as much as I do.
.....appreciating the life these things had before, and the ability to love them again!
So on that note, i am OFF to continue to unpack things, and arrange my new space.
I want you to know up front I am TERRIBLE with email! So If I don't respond to your comments please don't take it personally.
You would literally have to be on fire for me to
pay attention, yes, I am that flaky.
Just know that I appreciate every word you say, and the fact that you took the time to write me, I just may
not have the time to write you back.
