Mad Hatter Vintage Flea Market

October 9, 2009 in Creativity, Decorating, Friendship, Quilting

I got to attend my friends Flea Market Sale this last weekend and it was so magical! Gladys and Celia (mother and daughter) are both so cute and have such a magic touch when it comes to turning their flea market finds into true vintage treasures.

Even though it was their first event they had an enormous turnout to the Five Mile Grange which was decked from top to bottom with antique linens, jewelry, furnishings, seasonal decorations, mirrors, vases, pillows, signs and so much more. Everywhere you looked your eyes were delighted by sparkles and glitter and twinkling lights.

All seventeen of their hand picked vendors wore fun hats and were all just so darling – just like all their wares. 

My other good friend Lynn prepared delicious homemade soups, tarts and scones to keep our tummies happy while we shopped. So yummy- The pumpkin soup was delish! I can’t wait until their next event!

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First Day of Fall is here

September 21, 2009 in Crafts, Creativity, Friendship, Home, Well-Being

There’s always a period of mourning as you anticipate the ending of another summer. Don’t they go faster every year that passes? Probably the best distraction from this mourning is enjoying the most beautiful season of all - which is Fall.

A great way to commemorate the Equinox event (Sept 22) is a Hunting and Gathering adventure walk. It is almost time for putting out your Autumn décor which is always enhanced by a potpourri of natural elements. Pick a crisp, sunny day to invite your walking buddy to head out to a nearby park.

With large baskets on your arms, start gathering pretty leaves, pinecones, acorns, twigs or anything else nature leaves on the ground for you. While sipping on some hot, orange spice tea, get inspired to start your Fall decorating with your hand picked elements from Nature. 

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Hens only – No Noisy Roosters Allowed!

September 16, 2009 in Creativity, Friendship, Staff

You probably weren’t aware that this is National Chicken Month, were you? 

Normally, I probably wouldn’t think to acknowledge such a thing. But since we have our own Chicken Lady on staff, we must honor the chicken. All of us here at the studio benefit from regular deliveries of fresh organic eggs from Kathy’s flock.

Raising chickens for 18 years now, she has a brood of 27 and just loves these girls and all their personalities.  Since she welcomes new hens into the flock every year, she has a system of creating fashionable colored leg bands to identify what year they joined the clan. This year two of her chicks did turn out to be roosters! (Yikes!) Each time a rooster makes their way into the batch, she says a little prayer in hopes that it will be the first rooster in history that doesn’t crow. Although she has inquired, the vet told her that you just can’t “de-crow” a rooster.

The hens all have names like “Strawberry” and “Silky” based on their colors and markings. One of her eldest (who is a little more full figured) has earned the name “Queen Mum” and naturally she is the grand dame and self appointed role model to the other chicks. (sounds a bit like a DIVA to me) The four golden hens that pal around in a pack are nicknamed “The Blonde Bombshells.”

Because of the growing interest in eating organic foods, Kathy recently interviewed her chicks about the eggs they produce. The response was positive...

“It’s not a bad job. About once a day I spend 10 minutes in hard labor, and give a big SQUAWK when the blessed event is complete. Then I have the rest of the day off to jabber with the girls and sun myself.”

Not a bad deal since Kathy keeps them well fed along with extra treats of cracked corn, wheat kernels and yummy kitchen scraps. These chickens are well loved and doted on by Kathy and we sure do love the eggs!

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Grandparent’s Day is Today

September 13, 2009 in Family, Friendship, Weblogs

There are countless ways that Grandparents contribute to the raising of our collective kids – by baking cookies together, having overnight slumber parties, taking them on a special trip, lots of babysitting, helping out with expenses, reading stories, tolerating lots of messes, outings to the park, clapping louder than anyone at the recital and sitting through countless animated movies.

Even though they usually don’t require it, any bit of thanks is usually appreciated.

Remember to send your Grandparent a little “Thanks” on this Grandparent’s Day.

 

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The World’s Gone MAD

August 8, 2009 in Family, Friendship, Television

  I know I have anyway. The countdown in underway on my calendar for the Premiere of Mad Men’s Season Three and it’s only one week away!  If you’re a Mad Men Fan (like I obviously am), be sure to set your DVR, TiVo, VCR (or whatever) to AMC, Sunday, August 16 at 10:00pm.

Murphy, Anna and I have already made plans for our Premiere Party. We’ll make a 60’s meal – I’m thinking a Tuna Casserole dish and maybe I’ll try one of the Old Fashions that Don Draper is always drinking. However, we have all agreed that there will be no chain smoking! If you have Comcast, you can catch up right now on all the Season Two episodes on On Demand.

Or, you may need to call in sick on Monday, August 10 to watch the all-day Mad Med Marathon on AMC.

For even more fun go to this link www.madmenyourself.com

I did it and turned it into my screensaver while I count down the days to August 16. Go Mad!

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Aug 2 is National Friendship Day

August 2, 2009 in Crafts, Creativity, Friendship, Scrapbooking

What a way to make her day – spontaneously send a card in the mail just to let her know how much you value her friendship, to reminisce about a recent adventure, how you can always count on her to laugh out loud at your silly jokes, appreciate how she has helped you and listened to you during your last emotional crisis, and that you look forward to fun times in the future.  It’s not her birthday, so you’ll catch her by surprise.  Try your hand at one of these sweet & easy-to-make friendship card ideas.

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Vacation Getaway Recap

July 23, 2009 in Excercise, Family, Food and Drink, Friendship, Holidays, Well-Being

    I grew up in Seattle and making a road trip to vacation at the Ocean was a favorite tradition in my family. We revisited this tradition with a recent trip to a coastal fishing town in Washington called Westport. We spent time doing all the touristy attractions. We climbed 135 steps to the top of the tallest lighthouse in the Northwest and learned about what an enormous job it was to keep a lighthouse operating. (Now replaced by simpler, modern technology) I didn’t realize that every single lighthouse has a different light signal so sailors know where they are.  We dined at the oldest resort in Washington. (we did our best to ignore the ants that were crawling around on the table – but couldn’t help but laugh about it after) We browsed the gift shops, the Oyster Farm, bought cans of best Tuna you’ll ever taste, toured the Museum, and even spent a few hours tasting and lunching at the Westport Winery.  When we weren’t being tourists, we enjoyed walking the beach looking for whole sand dollars while taking in the wonderful sea air. It’s actually a pretty decent work-out to walk against the wind and trudge through the soft sand. (an excuse to eat more!) When you grow up with certain smells and sounds it is so very nostalgic to experience them again. We happened upon a great driftwood structure that we surmised locals had spent many hours constructing. But mostly we ate – and every meal was seafood.  And it was all great seafood – crab, oysters, clams, tuna and prawns and then we’d do it all over again. Don’t worry though – we ate our veggies too – my sister introduced us to the best Bloody Mary ever!

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The Perfect Evening

July 16, 2009 in Food and Drink, Friendship, Recipes

You know how when you’re watching a movie and a group of people are dining outdoors in a lovely setting, eating wonderful food, laughing and drinking wine and it all looks so ideal? Then you dream about doing something just like that (but without having to do all the work that goes with it). That’s exactly what I got to do this weekend. A local Winemaker and Chef pooled their talents together to present the most magnificent meal to 10 very lucky people. We started at the Tasting room at Townshend Winery before we headed up to winemaker’s home to enjoy an incredible meal paired with a chosen wine for each course. With a clinking of a wine glass at the beginning of each course, the chef and winemaker introduced and described the upcoming dish and wine. To top it all off – it was a warm and glorious evening, set on top of Greenbluff, with a panoramic view enhanced by a gorgeous sunset. I couldn’t resist taking some photos of the food. It was all so perfect, that even the mosquitoes and bees even left us alone. Now that I’m describing it, I feel like I was in a movie!

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Kris Retires

July 12, 2009 in Crafts, Creativity, Family, Friendship

No one likes change, unless it’s their idea. But you know what they say about change, it is the one thing you can count on to be constant. After 10 years at Debbie Mumm, Kris decided she was ready to retire and attend to some family priorities. Good for her, bad for me!

The good thing is it gave us an excuse to have a little party and shower her with gifts. Because she is going to be spending some of her time caring for her  Mother, our group at the office made her an RX Caregiver’s Kit.  We filled it with all her favorite beverages, lots of scrapbooking supplies, we all scrapbooked a photo of ourselves and filled it with lots of other goodies too. As an assistant to me for 10 years, Kris did many things to take care of me in and out of the office. So I guess after looking after me, doing the same for her Mom will be a piece of cake.

I’ll always be grateful to her for the millions of “extras” she did to make my life easier. Because she has such a passion for Scrapbooking, I decided to create a Memory book with photos and captions for her to remember the people, trips and fun parties we shared. Best wishes and many thanks to you Kris.

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June 25, 2009 in Friendship, Sports, Staff, Weblogs

Tom Harlow is our Graphics Manager and has been working with me and my team for a decade now. He is our expert when it comes to the computer and if it can be figured out, Tom will figure it out. Tom has that wonderful right brain, left brain balance of creativity and logic. He does lots of great fabric designing or as he describes, "I take art and create "stuff" with it." In addition to that he does all our digital photography for our books and designing of our website.

The LED name abbreviation on the phone in our Photo Studio reads Photostud - so we have nicknamed Tom our "Photo Stud!" He loves the title and it seems appropriate since he is the only guy in the Art Studio. Luckily he copes pretty well with all the estrogen and brings us the guy’s perspective when needed.

Tom and his lovely wife Kim are the proud parents of three rambunctious boys, ages 6 to 11. So you can only imagine how lively that household is. Tom is the Dad of all Dads’. He coaches some of their sports teams and is very involved in every aspect of their lives. Tom's watch alarm goes off everyday at the time when each of them was born. Awwwww.....now isn't that just the sweetest thing! Tom and his boys are all big sports fans and when Tom isn't watching his boys play, he loves to watch college and professional sports. Like any good local - he loves Gonzaga basketball!

Tom is also a music fanatic and relies on iTunes to keep him up to date. His musical taste is very diverse and at anytime he may be listening to anyone from Nickelback to Elton John, Pink to Alison Krauss, or the Beatles to the newest Alternative Pop group. He has recently been to concerts by Sarah Bareilles, Jason Mraz, Rush and Nickelback.

Tom is generally known around these parts as just a really good guy. He would help out anyone with anything if you just ask him. He has rescued me on several occasions with things I needed help with around the house. When he’s not assisting someone else, he always keeps busy with a whole assortment of do-it-yourself projects and home and yard improvements.

You can always count on Tom for a kind word, support and occasionally out of left field he'll zing you with his slightly twisted humor.

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