Red Shoes blog

The Need for speed

 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. :)

 you can find it here

or at Sephora. (located in the mall,  don't tell anyone I actually WENT to the mall,  but there you go. I HAD too.  hee hee)

 now lastly I will show you my new baby in my life.

I pick it up tonight.

I am so excited I could literally explode.

this day cannot go faster for me!  ha ha.

 I know it will help to make my fast paced life a little zippier.  speeding me from here to there......

SO meet my new car.

 

 a Mini clubman S.

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!? ;)

XOXOXOXOXO

 

Boo!!

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!

she is a sweetheart,  you will be glad you did! ;)

Spring cleaning!

  I Have been on a total roll this week cleaning and purging.
I think I have had this mental block about my studio for a LOOOOOng time.  never really having the energy to actually tackle it.   I finally couldn't take it any longer,  plus I was sick of working at my kitchen table and leaving a mess so i did it!  Boy what a great feeling that is!  I am So excited about having a nice and sparkling area to work in,  I actually might be able to produce something for a change!
  I'll show you pictures later, i am using my old computer and I can;t upload images from it.
It's an old dog.
  I will admit that this week has been kind of tough, lots of stops and starts.
We had ANOTHER snow day this week.  this is getting crazy!
We are supposed to have another 2-10 inches dumped on us in the next 2 days!
  I haven't been at the shop all week,  and when I am paying someone to be there I really should be prolific at home,  but I spent the majority of the week placing spring orders and seeking out other fun new things.
  I will tell you I am on cloud nine because I found this artist.
I placed my order on tuesday and received the beautiful goods in this morning!  that's FAST. 
  What a blast of spring color her goods have brought to the store!
  I am swooning!

some of the beads are so delicate, and teensy-tiny I can't believe she could actually see them to thread them on the string.
But I am sure she has MUCH younger eyeballs than mine.

we have a nice little selection of necklaces and pretty little earrings...

she uses a lot of vintage elements in her work, 

like adorable little silver rings with vintage papers and images in them.
  It will be hard for me to part with some of these things,  but I will,  for you.....because i am a good sharer.
  I am hoping to have them uploaded to the website in the next couple of days.
  i also will have my posters added to the website in the next day too.  They are being picked up from the printer tonight.  YAY!
  Tonight will be another busy one,  I for one am Cooking for a change,  then we have kindergarten round up this evening at school.
my tiniest person is getting ready to start school in the fall.  somebody grab a tissue please!
  Then I am going to actually sit down and do NOTHING!
I am really looking forward to that!
actually I should be honest and tell you for the past 2 nights I have WATCHED T.V.!
  I never do that.  seriously,  I don't watch anything.
i don't have time for that garbage on T.v.
but the night before last I made the mistake of walking into the family room while Ian was flipping channels and caught a portion of a show on the Sci-fi channel called "ghost Hunters"
  OHMIGOSH!  I was totally HOOKED!  I watched the entire show, Ian of course left the room in disgust saying how fake the show was,  But I was SO scared I literally RAN upstairs like a kid after I turned out the light!
  the Next day I saw that it was on during the DAY,  and I watched it while I was stuffing a PIllow!  that's bad!
  Last night happened to be the season premiere,  so of course I watched THAT one too,  boy-oh boy was that spooky!  i honestly believe in that stuff,  do you?
  I mean i think we have too much energy rolling around in our bodies for this to be just it.
  All I know is this,  I definitely DO NOT want to have any kind of encounter.  I would drop dead on the spot!
  Have any of YOU out there had one?
please tell me,  I LOVE to listen to scary stories...
i'll just be leaving the lights on for awhile!  ;)
  O.k.,  I am off to make chicken Quesadillas!
YUM!
xoxoxo
c.