Drumroll Please

May 4, 2009 | This Life

All your lovely names printed out!

 

Boy Wonder did the honors. And the lucky winner is. . . 

 

Comment #28. Kate! (but wait. . . there’s more!)

 

I wish I had spa pillows to give to every one of you! The turnout for my celebration was so much than I expected—and I’m deeply touched by all the well wishes! So, I had Boy Wonder draw 6 more names to win runner-up prizes! Those lucky people will be getting a package of Mireio Roses Postcards like these:

Those winners are:

Comment #3 NikkyLee Designs, #7 Alex, #10 Kerri, #13 Suzy Lorenzen, #17 Lara, and #31 Margaret!

Please leave me a comment and I’ll touch bases with you via email about your mailing address. My email link isn’t working for some reason!! But I want to get your lovely prizes to you! 

 

Thank you again for celebrating these last 7 years! I’m looking forward to this up coming year and all it promises! After all these years of blogging, I do have a few things to say on the exercise! Tomorrow’s post is about just that:  why I blog and how I stay with it.  I hope you’ll stay with me for the journey. 

The Beginning of a New Year

May 1, 2009 | Changes, This Life

Happy May Day!

 

Once again, it’s May Day. Once again, my beloved lilac trees have refused to cooperate with my timing. Still in bud form, we’re probably two weeks from bloom. It’s sad, really—I had plans. Beautiful bouquets to deliver and traditions to uphold.  But then, I always have plans. I’m consoling myself with this lilac infested header IZ put up for me last night. I’m liking the new look!

Some of those plans included blogging this week—and blogging about blogging! I have a lot to say, really. I’m just finding it hard to find the words. This week marks the beginning of my 8th year blogging. I’ll pause to let you take that in. Yep! I’ve been at this since 2002 (and a year before that on a funky MSN community page!)  I had every intention of celebrating this moment with you. But it didn’t happen, did it? 

I will confess, I’ve been a bit preoccupied. I cannot keep my store stocked. That’s a good thing; but in addition to Mireio, I’ve been in my yard digging trenches. People, let me tell you, that’s a work-out. We are busy digging so that an electrician can come and replace the old lines. Lines, for the record, that were only buried 6″ deep and totally exposed. I shuddered when I discovered it. 

  

Before and After

New lines should come in next week—and that means new lighting to the front yard! I’m pretty excited about that as it also means I’ll now be powered to go all Grizwald at the holidays. New lighting has put us to the task of pulling out even more old growth specimens. It’s been a stunning discovery to find these massive bushes have root structures leading 20 feet out. It’s no wonder my retaining wall is starting to show stress and the concrete walkway is crumbling. 

Out they went. There is something so therapeutic about demolition. It’s cathartic, if exhausting!  Of course, I uncovered the lamppost and decided it needed replacing. That’s how it works, right. One project leads to another.  Lather, rinse, repeat. 

I hope you’ll forgive me for not blogging this week. The yard work has been all consuming, leaving me little energy to actually write! But,  I do have some things to say about the whole endeavor of writing for the universe and what I’ve learned from the exercise. (As well as exploring where I want to go in the next year) But that will have to wait, dear friends.  However,  I would be remiss to completely neglect this moment in my blogging life. And if you’ve read this whole thing, you deserve to be rewarded!  

In honor of 7 fabulous years of blogging and all the amazing connections I’ve made—and to mark the beginning of a New Year, I’m having a little give away.

In just the past month I’ve sold at least 10 Spa and Travel pillows. They’re a hot item at Mireio—and I thought you might like a chance to win one from my newest line. Filled with fragrant lavender and uber cushy buckwheat hulls, these pillows are divine. And people are raving, go see my feedback! This fabric is vintage 1940’s California Handprint cotton and it’s STUNNING! Anyhow, I’m giving away a spa pillow made in this limited edition fabric (the one pictured is actually listed for sale, but the fabric pattern is identical!). All you have to do is comment! (and if you don’t want it for you—Ahem, Mother’s Day is right around the corner!)

I’ll draw a winner and announce it on Monday, 4 May.  Until then, I’m going to do laundry. My neglectful ways always seem to include blogging and laundry.  I’d promise to be better about both in the future—but I think we all know what happens to my plans. 

The Best of Etsy — The Rockstar Mother’s Day List

Apr 29, 2009 | Best of Etsy, This Life

Gorgeous and Handspun by Three Ravens

 

There are those of you who do your shopping early and those of you who wait until the last minute. . . this list is for all you first born over-acheivers. Yeah, you know who you are! Always ready to go a month in advance! You’ve turned the slogan “be prepared” into an art form.  It’s a gift. And in honor of your brilliance I’ve pulled together a gloat-worthy list for Mother’s Day full of gifts your mom will love.  She’ll be elated and you’ll be a rockstar! (and your siblings will take note!)

 

The Best of Etsy — 29 April 2009 — The Rockstar Mother’s Day List

 

Need a small treasure that will tell her she’s loved? These sweet earrings are perfection—Just like mom!

Your mom is a knitting maven—give her something worthy of her talent! Silk, merino, bamboo, oooh! 

She’s a whiz with soil, fertilizer, and a garden shovel. A gift any gardener would adore!! 

If you and your siblings are her WORLD, then this necklace is the perfect gift. A new spin on a classic piece! 

Oh, go head, indulge her favorite passion. . .  shopping! I won’t tell. Just be sure that if you buy this gorgeous bag you actually give it to mom. No fair keeping it for yourself! Seriously. I mean it! 

Why not pamper mom with something just as lovely as she is?  Or let her choose her own fragrance.  

Finally, a bit of whimsy. Make a personalized banner with these adorable alphabet cards. Spell out her name or tell mom you love her.

 

Go get your mom something as wonderful as she is—handmade and lovely. And don’t worry, all you last minute people, I have you covered too. . . LATER!

 

Photos used with permission. All rights reserved. 

Grey No More

Apr 20, 2009 | This Life

The weather here has been absolutely lovely for the past few days—a much needed break from what has felt like a permanent winter. 

Our little family decided to take a walk along the river tonight. Actually, Sophie thought it would be a good idea and she finally convinced us after hours of “suggesting”. Sophie is not subtle. The sun comes out and she thinks we should all go! Go now!  So, anytime anyone  comes down the stairs and past the front door she’s standing there with her tail wagging suggesting. Woof woof. 

The dog was right! It was so beautiful. We saw a Bald Eagle and the ships going up and down the river never cease to amaze me by their immense size. They seem to dwarf our wee town.

IZ treated us to a lovely dinner at our favorite pub—which just happens to have a dog friendly deck. This was our view tonight as we ate some of the best burgers in town (definitely NOT on the diet!). And I thought you’d like to see what keeps us hanging on through the perma grey.

Drooling

Apr 17, 2009 | This Life

Drool worthy: The Ekornes Stressless Collection

 

It’s been nearly a year since Snickers annihilated my beloved red couches. I’m still not over the trauma! And it’s been a year of sitting in beautiful yet uncomfortable replacement couches. Never, never buy a couch without sitting in it first. If the store will let you move in for a weekend, all the better. Never, unless your cat annihilates your  beloved couches and you need an immediate replacement and you only have credit on such short notice. Otherwise, sit. Sit long and hard and critically! Beauty be damned, people, it’s about FUNCTION. My backside cannot stress this enough. Ahem.

The upside is that I spend less time sitting on these miserable lumps. That has to be good thing considering the lecture I got from the scale yesterday. Oh. My. (Total aside, good thing I worked out before I weighed myself. We were this close to a major meltdown; because you know if I’m melting down, I’m bringing you people along)

The downside is that when I do want to sit down, I’ve already spent the day standing at an ironing board, sitting in a folding chair at my computer, and sitting in what has to be the most uncomfortable chair to sew. Teach me to keep old furniture and reuse it in ways never intended.  By the end of the day I’m ready to sit down on something comfy, warm, inviting—something not my couches. Put up my feet, sip a cup of tea, and watch a few Tivo episodes of Frasier. 

Don’t get me wrong, they beat the floor. I can at least get off the couch without the use of a crane. But they are remarkably unsquishy. That is a word, for the record. Squishy applies to my logic, too–which is how I got to these drool worthy pieces by Ekornes. 

See, while sitting in my unsquishy couches, watching reruns of Frasier, I’ve been drooling over the Eames chair and ottoman on the set. You know, that fantastic chair that has been relegated to the background in order to make room for Martin’s hideous lazy-boy. That chair. At least five times an episode I look over at IZ, sitting on the matching unsquishy couch, and say, “I love that chair.”  

So, you can imagine the squealing involved when IZ sent me a link to these couches. Needless to say, I’m now drooling on my computer keyboard. You can pick your color of leather and wood bases not to mention a half dozen different styles!—and even the seats of the couches recline. They are “stressless”. I’m going to ignore the fact that they’ve emblazoned that tagline on the actual chairs because it’s kinda hard not to love a chair that promises to be squishy and stressless.

I could use less stress, couldn’t you?Â