Monday, August 6, 2012

A Junkin' We Did Go...and a Bag!

My dear friend, Shelly, had a birthday in June.  As with all of our birthdays, our group of friends seized the opportunity to make a girls' day out of Shel's day!  We started at Bell Street Farm in Los Alamos, http://bellstreetfarm.com/, for a little lunch.
 Deb and Helen checked the lunch specials before entering...wise decision.  I did NOT and it took forever to make a choice!  I finally settled on the Rotisserie Pork Salad...ummmm...heavenly.  Seriously.  Words don't exist to accurately describe this salad.  The pork is juicy, and succulent, and beyond flavorful...


Bell Street Farm feels like home to me.  The owners are charming, funny, and awesome, and the ambiance and way they have decorated feel like a page out of my book!





We stopped in Los Olivos for a little shopping and dessert...

And Shel said that it was the PERFECT day!  Which was really the best part of the day, because she is one of my dearest friends, and that's the best part of friendship...knowing your friend is happy!  So there I was, feeling happy and stuffed full of good food, when I saw this...
...in my friend, Helen's, garage.  I gasped.  Out loud.  Everyone thought I had just had the worst attack of indigestion from all of the food I consumed.  Then they saw what I was staring at and thought I was just having a stroke instead.  They don't get "junk" pure unadulterated beauty like I get it.  I asked Helen why she wasn't using these gorgeous lockers and she said, "You want 'em?!  You can have them!" DO I NEED WANT THEM?!!! Of COURSE!  She then invited me to look around and take anything else I wanted, saying, "Only you would see the beauty in this junk!"  (This is why the four of us are friends...we GET each other! No judgement!  Only love!) I found a few more things, made my "pile" and promised to be back in a month after all of our vacations were over.

Fast forward to yesterday.  Mr. Birdie and I only put in half a tank of gas because to fill it would mean one of our children can't go to college filled the tank of our truck and headed to Helen's house.  Two days before  she asked if I'd be interested in a....BARBER CHAIR...as well!  I urged Mr. Birdie to break every speed law on the drive to her house, lest she changed her mind.  He wouldn't...he is in law enforcement after all.  And so, after an hour five minutes of convincing Mr. Birdie that everything WOULD fit in the back of the truck (even if it meant me sitting back there holding on to everything), we loaded all of this rustic, perfectly distressed, industrial, and heavenly GOODNESS...



And I am FEELING it today!  That barber chair up there?!  Yeah...it's HEAVY!  I have muscles hurting today that I didn't know existed...and I work out on a regular basis!  But oh...it was worth every aching back, sore muscle, stubbed toe, curse word...!

And Mr. Birdie?  He LOVES his new barber chair...
And I love HIM!  For always being willing to go along with my crazy, hare-brained brilliant ideas, even if they don't initially make sense to him!  And for being part of my dream...and for making my dreams come true!

A close up...

Oh.  One last thing...my new line of totes...Masterpiece Classics.  I'm working on a huge order of ring pillows, guestbooks, burlap bridesmaid gift envelopes...and sometimes...I just HAVE to take a break and make something other than a pillow before I lose my mind!  So, while watching Wuthering Heights on Masterpiece Classics...I came up with this...

The Bronte Bag. It's on my Etsy...if you like it.


HUGS!






Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Let's catch up, shall we?

I wanted to play catch up with you today, and fill you in a little on what's been going on in my little part of the world...but Blogger is not wanting to play very nicely with others today!  GRRR!  I do NOT like this new layout...the photo I used as my header at the top is now very small and disproportionate for this page, but I can't seem to figure out how to fix the problem.  Clearly I'm not technologically advanced enough the problem lies with Blogger and not me!  Ugh.  I apologize for the boring layout...I promise to have this site cleaned up and pretty as soon as my teenagers get home!

The photo above is my daughter, best friend, cheerleader (literally...first year of high school JV cheer...YAY, Madison!), and Little Birdie helper extraordinaire.  She and I styled our first wedding two weeks ago and had a BLAST! We literally had two hours notice to gather up props from around our house, load the car, get ready and go!
(I know, I KNOW...this picture is not very good.  Yuck.  I'm GOING to get a good camera....I AM!)

 The venue was gorgeous, the bride was gorgeous, the day was gorgeous!     I've been so busy and orders are coming in every day...I'm extremely grateful that this little dream of mine is taking off a bit.  It is so comforting to know that I can contribute to our family's extra activities fund, in these difficult economic times.  Things are a bit tight for everyone, and this has definitely allowed me to help pay for the kiddos "extras," for which I'm extremely grateful!  Have you seen how much cheer uniforms cost these days?!! HOKEY SMOKES!  But those kiddos are worth every penny...and then some!  ;)  (yep...they're cleaning their rooms and doing the dishes right now so I can be nice...)

I'm also working on a wedding for a darling girl, Rachel.  The wedding is in November, in Vegas, at the Hard Rock.  She wanted to do all of her flowers, centerpieces, etc, in paper, and I was definitely up for the challenge!  We are going for an edgy, vintage music theme....here's what I've got so far:
I'll give you a closer peek at her bridal bouquet...it's kind of scrumptious if I may say so myself.
The hardest part about making everything for her wedding is letting them go.  I feel like these bouquets and centerpieces, cake topper, boutonnieres, have become part of my decor!  What will I do when they're gone?!  Someone plan another wedding STAT!

I just want to create beautiful things.  I want to see something beautiful in what someone has discarded.  I love this crazy, beautiful, junky adventure that I'm on...wanna join me?!

HUGS!