Red Shoes blog

Spring Fever!

This time of year always has me hopping...from one project to the next..squeezing out every last minute of the day to try and get it all done. The Ideas flowing like water,  I want to do it all!

 This is when I start to rearrange things,  paint walls, move things around,  hunt for vintage goods,  sand, strip, and re-do things!  Love it!

It's also the time of year when I feel the kookiest,  I think it must be that spring fever thing,  it gets me all worked up

(in a good way of course!)  inspired by nature.....the new things sprouting up all over....ideas spring-boarding from all that is around me.....So here are a few photos of the things going on in my world at the moment......

painting walls orange.....

Hunting for vintage goods.....

  



making things......     

painting furniture.....

practicing my guitar in between, because YES!  I just started taking lessons, (you're never too old to try new things)

never touched a guitar before in my LIFE,  but I am learning!  so fun!  :) ..... I'm really bad,  but hey,  you gotta start some where right?  :)

painting these chairs in a rustic/country/folk/bohemian/quirky style.....

inspired by nature.... 

  

with weathered rustic edges.....because I love imperfection..... 

influenced by how I grew up...in an old house where things weren't perfect.....

things that were a little rusty around the edges...

just the way i LOVE THEM!!!

back when houses had CHARACTER!

sweet little candy coated houses......  

with front porches where people actually sit around and talk.....soaking up the beauty around them 

because I LOVE to be social,  don't you?  :).....

anyways,  this is how I grew up,  in an old house in a charming neighborhood where we learned to appreciate the rustic stuff,  the slightly imperfect-ness of life....

so today I celebrate it!

  so happy that Spring is here,  and all the good things that sprout from it!  hope you are enjoying it too!  :)

 because around here EVERYBODY has spring fever!

and we love it :)

XOXOXOXO  

  

   

        

 

Field trip/Chicago part 3......NOODLE AND LOU's Studio home tour

Well 3's a charm right?  and how perfect to be ending my little field trip with the most charming home around!

We spent Friday with Jenn and Henry walking all over town and ended up heading back to her adorable home for the evening.

 My husband Ian teased me about taking all of these pictures,  but I couldn't help myself,  there was just too much to look at!

I wanted to make sure to capture as much of it as I could so I could go back later and look at every little bit of it and be inspired.....SO inspired!

 SO sit back,  grab a cup of tea...... (or a vodka-tonic) ;)

and come have a virtual visit with me won't you?

Follow me........

click on the images to see them in their entirety...

as soon as you walk into Jenn and Chris' home you are met with some sweet smells...candles burning...warmth all around....

love at first sight I tell you,  such a warm and cozy home....

the kids, my husband, myself,  we all settled right in...

henry running around like a little blur....

the kids playing the Wii......

can I tell you how much I love this living room!?

so cute and cozy!

her Art work all around...

collections.....

cabinets filled with treasures....

 

 

I love that Chris and Jenn collect together,  here is Chris' collection of Vintage radios.....

their Vintage Camera collection.....

in fact the whole family gets into it......

Jake is into History and military stuff....

he is also an AMAZING artist!  and he's only 9 years old!

love it!

these were done when he was younger..but I mean C'mon! 

I A.D.O.R.E. these!

a phenomenal collage piece he did for his mom for her Birthday a few years back....

check Lincolns hat!  such detail ;)

in fact Both Boys are artistic.... They love to draw and have adorable rooms with space to be creative ...

Little Henry's room made me want to move right in....

now I love it when people decorate with Kid art,  it is one of my most favorite things,   children are so expressive,  and not held back by anything....their art is so free, and un-inhibited.

 In fact it's kind of sad when we get older because the majority of people loose that innocence and freedom in our expression...  but thankfully some of us still hang on to our child-like, fun traits... decorating, and living with color and imagination...you can see this in the playful home that Jenn and chris have made for themselves and their boys.....

great Music fills their home too...gotta love that!

She Mixes the traditional with the playful so easily, and it totally works.

Even Their bathroom has a little collection displayed!

now across the hall is where all the magic happens.....

Jenn has taken a Bedroom and carved out a nice creative space upstairs for herself....

 the place is chock full of vintage goods,  art supplies,

fabric, paints.....you name it.

  At first,  when I went into the room it was a little too dark for me to really photograph it well..

the lighting was just too bad......when we realized that all we needed to do was replace a bulb in the ceiling fixture...well.....

we enlisted the help of the men....

crack me up! (couldn't help myself)

now I just love seeing artist's spaces...

see what they surround themselves with to inspire creativity...

So that wraps up my little tour of my buddies house, and my fantastic vacation spent with them.

we had such a good time,  we laughed and laughed..because really, that is what life is all about right?,  having FUN!

;)

hope you had fun here too!

XOXOXO

 

Field Trip/ Chicago part 2

Well,  as usual,  this might take awhile,  but here is my second installment for those of you vaguely interested ;)

  So most of our trip was spent walking around the city doing Kid-friendly things....Skate parks, 

 

pools, Zoo...  thankfully all of our children got along really well,  Jenn's boys are absolutely ADORABLE. My kids loved them!

 Jackson decided that little Henry was now going to be referred to as "mini Matt Damon"

 

RIGHT!!!???

:)  So cute!

Now One of the great things about the city is that there is one of the last remaining FREE Zoos in the country!

 I gave both Kids a camera to take pictures...because in my opinion.....if you want to get some interesting shots,  let your kids use your camera...I love seeing their perspective on things, more than half the time I love what they capture!

(all pictures here taken by the kids)  :)

Now our nights were spent Laughing, eating, having fun at restaurants,  seeing the cool city lit up at night....

 

 

what I love most about cities is the coolness in their grittiness.

the majority of the people we met were Super friendly...this has been the case with most large cities I've visited,  the stereotypes that people in large cities are mean is really not so true.....

  everyone we encountered were great like the ridiculously cute skateboarding guy we met at a shop,  just ask Jenn....she'll back me up on that one ;)  whoooooooo......(if we could have tucked him in our pockets,  well, we would have)  :)

Now the only place that wasn't so nice was a pub that we walked into with our kids.....the waitresses groaned LOUDLY about our kids.

 now mind you,  we have some of THE most well behaved children....

 we sat down, were served, finished it up,  kids completely quiet the WHOLE time...without prompting on our parts I might add.....

So I couldn't help but make a comment to the waitress as we left that

"that wasn't so painful was it?"

to which she replied that we had some REALLY well behaved kids.

HELLO!

so just because you see kids coming into a restaurant,  do not assume that they will be monsters......they're still are some well behaved little people out there  ;)

(sorry just had to say that out loud)  

 I believe that if you give your kids the tools,  and the experiences they will learn the proper way to do things...making them better little individuals in the process right!?

o.k.,  off my  miniature soapbox for today :)

i'm off to the shop to craft, rearrange and putz because I totally scored some cool vintage stuff yesterday that I am itching to get out......

I will hopefully wrap up my Field trip installment piece tomorrow.....

ending on the brightest little note with pictures of Jenn's adorable house,

because yes,  I love to end things on a positive note.

SO cute and happy you'll want to move right in,  I know I do

:)

XOXOXO

Field trip/ Chicago part 1.......

 It always feels good to hit the open road and go on a Field trip with the family.

 But When you are a small business owner, or busy family, like most people it's hard to find the time to take off.....so we did a little short trip,  Thursday through Sunday....packing in tons of fun stuff in a short period of time.

 Ann and I split our Spring breaks respectively.....

  She got back from her family trip in Boca Raton, Florida on Wednesday.....here's her daily view

 

then we took off for our trip on Thursday, here's my view....

 

ha ha ha!

two radically different vacations,  but I loved mine just the same! 

 We decided on Chicago because we all love the big city,  so much to do and see!

 We decided to take the Mini cooper,  to test out if we could really handle a trip with a family of four in a tiny vehicle.....

(where kid's arms actually TOUCH each other for 4 hours)  ;) 

it all fit (minus the dog carrier) whoo-HOO!

 and the kids actually had a ball the whole way, not ONE fight!  a complete miracle that's for sure....

 

enjoying the sites and sounds as we moseyed down the Highway...

me taking pictures along the way...

arriving at our fantastic hotel with a nice view...gotta love hotwire ;)

 

When we arrived in town we met one of my most favorite people EVER who lives just 30 minutes outside of the city. 

We were So lucky to get to hang out with the super cute and sweet Jenn (or noodles, as we like to affectionately call her) and her ADORABLE family for the WHOLE time!  SO much fun!

(we both like big glasses...I just wish mine covered my CHIN! holy cow where did that come from!?) 

probably from eating all of this while we were there...

OYE!  but I mean,  HEy!  it's Chicago!  you have to have one of their world famous hot dogs and slices of Pizza right?! :)

 Thankfully we spent a ton of time

 Walking around the town.....

seeing some great shops, and cool old signs.....

 

so many more pictures to share.......

but I have to get to work for a teensy bit before I have to get the kids....

lots of things i'm working on!  

(that's the beauty of a vacation,  they renew your creativity with all of the relaxation and wonderful sites and sounds)

but stay tuned,

I have more to share...

and wonderful peeks into Jenn's FANTASTIC home

 

you're gonna LOVE it

:)

SO FUN!

XOXOXO

Sweet Spring

 I love this time of year..... a time when possibility and hope springs eternal.  Tiny flowers push through the earth,  the days get a little longer,   windows are open,  people are out and about.  we all crawl out of our winter cocoons and make fresh starts.......Love that!

 So these past couple of weeks have been kinda wild......the shop has been crazy busy,  tons of orders coming in,  work being done,  new merchandise coming in,  rearranging,  and of course spring cleaning both at the shop,  and the home front.  What is it about this time of year that makes you want to clean?  

all I know is,  I am happy for it,  spring is a time for Fresh starts,  and who doesn't love those!  So here are a bunch of photos of what's been going on in my neck of the woods these past couple of weeks......

So that's my brief peek at the past couple of weeks.... I've been getting in some great new stuff,  tiny baby mocs,  little mini coopers,  fun picture frames,  gorgeous new Austrian blankets,  to name a few.

   The birds are now back upstairs at the shop, (they over winter down in the basement where it's really warm)

so you Pierre and Tulip fans can now come back to visit them,  they've flown back home!  :)

.....I've been ordering myself a couple of new dresses from Boden, because I cannot control myself when it comes to that website,
  Tank celebrated his one year birthday on April 1st!  my sweet friend Jenn has a wonderful little vintage website where I scored myself some adorable little vintage chairs,  and she was so kind as to pop in a little birthday treat for him too!

(check out his cool new tag!)  :)  love it!

  I also have been spending more time outside watching the stuff bloom,  hanging out downtown with friends and family,  and buying more flowers,  because this time of year just call for that!

  So today it's been kind of nice just relaxing at home with my family,  being lazy,  and enjoying an impromptu family brunch with my folks,  and the kids (Fiona made me her own version of a faux brunch.... a  little low calorie kind...gotta love that!)........even took a little nap today too! 

 (gotta refresh so I can jump right back into it come Monday ya know!)   ;)

  Hope you all have enjoyed a nice Relaxing Sunday....

Happy Easter to those of you that celebrate it,

and Happy Spring to All,  Such a wonderful time of year isn't it!  :)

XOXOXO

 *oopS!!!   I forgot to mention that the Adorable little Hand made Pet tag that my friend Jenn gave me came from the Sweet Maria at Garden Path Beads.....you can see her cute little website Here.....(she has a Chihuahua too....named Molly)