[ bounty at the farmer's market. ]
Happy Monday, friends! I feel like I’ve been gone from the blogging world for ages, but it’s only been a few short days. lol. Even though we didn’t go anywhere terribly “vacation-like” last week while Sailor Husband was on leave, we had a great time: a couple trips to the beach (including hunting for shark teeth at one!), spontaneous outings around town, and late evening runs for ice cream.
Thursday, for Earth Day, Anthropologie was offering a free container gardening event. Now, I am by far not the most adept gardener–despite being fascinated by the idea of growing flowers and vegetables from an early age (and having many mishaps with trying to grow things!). But, I figured perhaps I could pick up some tips and such. The event didn’t end up quite like I thought it would–it was more of the sort of thing were you got to claim your own seedling and try some yummy vegan food. Which was fun anyway. I brought home a darling little chamomile seedling I picked out, as well as some of the neat seed bombs that Anthropologie is selling right now. I just need to find some big containers and try planting a couple on our porch…
[ organic carrots. ]
[ beets! yum... ]
The plant fascination continued over the weekend with our trip to the local farmer’s market. I’d only been once–before the weather warmed up–and was delighted by the amount of goodies on display (both food and otherwise). We got some organic vegetables (including a bunch of organic carrots–dubbed “Peter Rabbit carrots” by Sailor Husband because of their squat appearance), had some fantastic organic coffee, I drooled over fair trade bracelets that came in a rainbow of colors, and generally took in the atmosphere. I think this might become a regular weekend jaunt for us this summer–although I need to make a mental note to bring my parasol next time–the Florida sunshine just isn’t kind to my skin!
[ Sailor Husband's iced green tea smoothie--very sweet! ]
I was wondering… do any of you garden? I’m really hoping to perhaps cultivate my gardening skills (or lack thereof) a bit more this year and plant a few things in small containers for our porch. We really have quite limited space, but I know that hasn’t stopped a whole movement for container gardening in tiny spaces from springing up! If you have any green thumb resources (books or websites) that you could recommend, I’d love to hear about them!
Have a lovely Monday!
April 26, 2010 ·
35 lovely thoughts
posted in life
· tags: happy things, life
Well, my dears… despite having a bunch of posts planned for Monday and Tuesday, my computer decided to have a meltdown and I am right now without any of my pictures or such to post! Grrrr! Thankfully, Sailor Husband is letting me use his computer, but I am without any of my files, emails that I received over the weekend, unable to post new listings to the shop… Is it just me or is it somewhat humorous how reliant we are on these little machines? hehe! Anyway, my apologies if you’re waiting for a reply from me; hopefully my computer will be up and running again soon!
So… Major frustration going on here, but oh well! I do hope you all are having much better (technology drama free!) weeks! Hopefully it shan’t be too long ’til I’m back to my normal posting schedule!
April 6, 2010 ·
6 lovely thoughts
posted in life
· tags: life
[ a sweet old house in downtown Augusta, Georgia. ]
Sorry for the radio silence last week… I didn’t really get a ton of chances to log online while we were gone! Sailor Husband had a work-related trip up to Augusta, Georgia for a few days, so I tagged along since I had never been to Georgia (at least, not just passin’ through on I-95 on the way to or from Virginia!). Sadly, Augusta was too far from my wish list visits: Atlanta and Savannah (boo-hoo!), so despite daydreaming about a trip to either of those cities, it didn’t happen. I also didn’t get to do as much sight-seeing on my own as I had hoped. But we did make it to “downtown” Augusta Friday afternoon for a short while before we left.
[ a bakery, sadly not open by the time we got there! too bad... ]
We hit up some antique stores and a neat used bookstore. The antique stores ranged from high end, mostly furniture type places (in other words: the kind of places I look in the windows, drool over the gorgeous furniture, and realize that it’s definitely out of my price range!), to weird shops where you literally had to crawl over/dig through stuff. The one that hit the happy medium between these two was the one I hit the jackpot in terms of vintage patterns. Now, I wasn’t looking specifically for any, but when I noticed several large boxes of old patterns, of course I had to dig! There were patterns from the mid 30s through the 70s; all I can think is either Augusta is full of little old ladies who sewed back in the day, or someone had a serious pattern addiction. lol. I ended up only buying nine patterns, since I didn’t want to go overboard and just buy for the sake of buying. Although now I’m kicking myself for not picking up a few of the 50s patterns I liked (but lately I’ve been so on the fence about whether I even like the 1950s, that it seemed silly to buy something I was only so-so about!). But oh well: there will be other chances in the future, I’m sure!
[ more close-up photos of the vintage patterns I found here ]
Of course, while cooped up in a hotel room most of the week, I had lots of free time on my hands. I ended up spending three days of pretty solid sewing. Yes, I am one of those people who will lug my sewing machine along on a trip. lol. I cut out and made a dress from start to finish, and whipped up a skirt Thursday afternoon. I brought a total of four projects, but I think that was a little ambitious–even for me. lol. I’m pretty happy with the two I did finish–including a total copycat skirt (inspired by the fabulous Gertie’s recent creation)! Pictures and details of those coming real soon…
It’s good to be back home: now I just need to finish unpacking and get back into the swing of things!
March 30, 2010 ·
17 lovely thoughts
posted in life,thrifting + vintage
· tags: life, vintage inspiration
[ jean harlow. ]
…the lack of the next installment of the Guide to Sewing series (two weeks in a row… I’m such a bum blogger!). I spent this weekend at an airshow and then packing and cleaning for our little adventure (the sightseeing I mentioned last week!), and didn’t get a chance to finish the next piece. It’ll be up tomorrow though!
I hope you all are having a lovely Monday, dear friends!
March 22, 2010 ·
8 lovely thoughts
posted in life
· tags: life
[ overview of the loot. ]
My mom left Saturday afternoon, to fly back north to Virginia. It’s been noticeably more quiet here and I miss her already! But this visit was filled with loads of great memories which will keep me company!
The week ended up quite adventuresome: not so much from the standpoint of things we did, but rather that the car decided to break down in various ways all week! First it was a tire with bad rubber (we were told after we had someone look at it that the tire could have exploded at any moment!), then when Mom and I were thrifting the front bumper fell off (we’re still not sure how that one happened…). So, we had to scramble on Saturday to get her to the airport since the car was in the shop. Which of course meant Sailor Husband and I were grounded for the rest of the weekend as all our other plans (things like grocery shopping!) involved needing to drive some place. lol. Now I really see why a new bicycle for my birthday would be a good thing… haha!
[ a small piece of a Japanese-themed silk print fabric. ]
Aside from the vehicle drama, we did get to squeeze a few things in between the tire and bumper incident. We went out to Kennedy Space Center last Sunday, visited a bunch of thrift stores (including some I had never ventured to–found a couple good ones in the city!), went to afternoon tea at a new-to-me tea room nearby, and even spent a day sewing! Now that is what I call a great vacation. lol! Thrifting was a little uneven, but considering that it’s been such in Virginia for Mom too, I can’t say either of us were too unhappy and were excited with what we did come away with!
[ a 1943 sewing book, notions and more fabric. ]
I think my most exciting finds was the vintage silk print (I’m thinking I might use it on a blouse) and the 1943 sewing book (I already own a copy, but it has always been in bad condition, so finding one in such a good state and with it’s dust jacket was so neat!). I also got a boatload of patterns for the shop, fabric and notions for me, a few pieces of clothing (nothing terribly vintage, but still needed to add some options to my closet), and some random bits and pieces. The Beatles records (Magical Mystery Tour and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band) were a big score for my collection; and at only $1 each were a great find!
[ records! ]
Now that the excitement has settled down, I need to do some serious neatening-up around here and get some listings ready for the EM shop this week. Although, now that Mom isn’t here, I’m going to miss having someone to talk to all day!
I want to say thank you to everyone who stopped by last week and commented! A big hello to new readers too–thank you for all your lovely comments and emails! Hope you all are having a splendid Monday!
March 15, 2010 ·
15 lovely thoughts
posted in life,thrifting + vintage
· tags: life, thrifting + vintage
