12.13.06
Posted in Main, sidenotes at 12:34 am by carrie
and everything else is a blur :)
Literally… I can’t remember what today is. Good thing we made calendars for 2007 to help with this!
These are my pages… February and April. Not exactly what I wanted to do… (they didn’t turn out as planned… I wanted more paper layers but really only had glittered layers) but they are cute :) The envelope in February opens up and has a little glittered valentine with the Eiffel Tower on it that says “La Vie en Rose”.
Once all the pages are together and I have permission from all who was involved, I’ll post the other pages. It was super fun! I was surrounded by artists who have their finger on the pulse of the paper craft world, so I felt like a fish out of water… but isn’t that the point? To learn from our fellow artists and have a finished calendar that has interesting pictures for each month? I think so :) OH! and we ate Diane Salad from Green Street East in Pasadena… which is just delightful and made us all so happy :)
So, here I am… whining about how tired I am. Day 19 of 31 days without an entire day off… I’ve already kicked a cold! Yay to lots and lots of hot tea and cold-eeze!!! We’ve been so busy… fellow bloggers have stopped by and I didn’t even know it :( I promise to find a day this spring to invite all local bloggers over for tea and a private shop tour or tour of my Mom’s house :) (It’s not THAT exciting… but it would be fun to get together! Perhaps a jaunt to Descanso Gardens or something??)
I took some time to look at a few other blogs tonight and I must say… there is so much creativity and talent out there, you guys are awesome… I’m both overwhelmed and inspired :) Who would have thought we would all be blogging and sharing all this fun stuff :) It’s quite delightful!!! If you find a blog you think I should look at, send it my way, I love to see new stuff!!! :)
My brain is on a mental vacation while I continue to wrap presents and hum Holiday songs :) What I really want to do is finger paint…. or do messy pastel art…
I think we’re gonna need a bigger scanner…
Permalink
11.07.06
Posted in Fun Stuff, Main, sidenotes at 5:05 pm by carrie
The forces of nature were at work the other day. Meg, the wonder dog, got into a bit of trouble… we’ll let her tell you the story in her own words…
4 hours of scrubbing later (until 6am thank you very much!), we’ve learned a few things… You can never have enough hydrogen peroxide in the house, the dog should not go into the yard after midnight and feminine wash gets the skunk out!
1. mix 1 quart of hydrogen peroxide with 1/2 cup baking soda and a few teaspoons of dawn liquid detergent. Stir well and get some gloves! We were told not to do this inside as it would make the house stink like skunk. Too late. Don’t get this stuff close to their eyes! Mix it into the fur, let it sit then rinse. It did well but she was sprayed directly in the face, I wasn’t about to risk blindness with the peroxide. Oh! and it bleached her fur a bit.
2. Skunks are nocturnal… they come out when it’s nice and quiet. Make sure your dog does his or her “thing” before everyone settles in for the night.
3. We read that summer’s eve feminine wash works on skunk, too! It did work! I could use it on her face without worrying so much and I have to say, it really knocked the odor out! There are soooo many jokes in here, but I’m going to leave that alone.
4. Strategically placed paper plates with heated coffee grounds absorbs the odor. Our house smells like a skunk latte, but still, less like skunk.
5. Finally, febreeze and oust… buy stock in that product family!
Meg still runs out in the yard and investigates the spot where she was sprayed and happily looks around hoping to find her new friend. This is a reminder that… well, she’s a dog. ugh.
Permalink
10.20.06
Posted in Fun Stuff, Main, business-a-go-go, sidenotes at 2:40 am by carrie
I knew that a few days of being flustered would pay off ;)
My Mom called me at about 8pm to announce that she got the Cottage Style magazine featuring her house in the mail this evening! yay!!!!! (update… if you want to order a magazine, click here and you can buy one on the website!)
Click on the small picture to take you to a larger picture… and when you get to that picture, you’ll see a magnifying glass pointer… use that to make the image larger so you can actually read it :)
Now… for some commentary :) This is her dining room and adjoining living room. The napkins and the chandelier are from the shop, the napkins are from the 50′s. All that pink glass belongs to my Mom. The stylist brought in the tablecloth and the flowers. I find it amusing that there is a lamp on the table :) It looks great, but there isn’t a plug in sight! hehe. Hard to see, but there is a little cubby in the dining room on the right. That used to house a collection of bunnies, but it is now a collection of birthday angels from the 50′s and 60′s. I think a line of cards is in the works featuring the birthday angels. They are so cute!
Notice in the living room… There is a great old-fashioned looking white phone (pottery barn) on top of a table that I made :) It can hold the weight of a phone and a vase, but not much more (thus my desire to learn how to make “real” furniture). The little rose on the front is a cutout that my Mom painted.
The living room… The birdhouse in the corner was made by a local artist and purchased at a local shop called Country Classics. It was made to look like the outside of the house. We’ve already had one request for information on the slipcovers… The lady who made those is close to retiring and resides in the North Hollywood area. I seem to remember my Mom picking out the fabric, buying yards and yards of it and then we spent an evening at the laundrymat washing and folding it all before it was cut up and put together into the slipcovers. A neat tip… my Mom put different fabric on the backs of the seat cushions so you could turn them over and have a totally different look! The couch used to be pink and white striped and the chairs were solid powder blue. It’s amazing what slipcovers can do!
I love this kitchen! I’m surprised they didn’t show the stove… it’s an old o’keefe and merritt stove with 20 burners (I joke) and pictures of Doris Day, Rock Hudson and others cooking with their families :) The teaset over the sink is from the shop, the sink drainer… a mystery. I know it used to be black and I think it came from Target. **UPDATE** The dish drainer came from Ballard Designs! Here’s a LINK to the actual product! YAY! Also, the pink glass drawer pulls and knobs have been for sale at the shop, but I’m currently out! I’ll order some over the weekend and I should have them by next week. If you would like me to let you know when I list them on the website, send me an email :)
Over the doorway to the breakfast room are some cool plates that we carry up at the shop that have pictures of old-fashioned cakes with recipes on them. The vase, cake plate, chandelier and hanging pictures came from the shop. I’m proud to say the hand-painted sign hanging on the door is an original of mine :) I sold it not a week after the photo shoot so I need to make more! It says “Pocket full of Posies” and it’s in shades of lime green, pink and powder blue. I’ll have them on the website by the middle of next week :) Both of the valances in the kitchen and breakfast room are made of the same fabric as the slipcovers o the couch and chairs in the living room.
In the Garden room, she has another slip-covered love seat and that end table came from a local swap meet. I remember carting it out one Saturday morning :) I love the piece in the front, it’s an old rubbish can with hand-painted flowers on it. The make-up girl is from the shop (on the front little end table), the three tier server on the coffee table is also from the shop. I think that wicker green chair came from OSH and the various hand-painted signs are finds from Ebay :) I should post some pics of her back yard, it’s really pretty! The lighting that day was exquisite! I came in after work at 6pm and they were wrapping everything up. I wish I could have been there all day. I have to say, I was so nervous to be around the people from the magazine… I was so impressed with them and the stylist was amazing! I would love to be a set designer, stylist or decorator someday! :)
The bedroom is a beautiful shade of periwinkle that just glows and emanates calmness. My Mom has collected turn-of-the-century hand painted plates for years and you can see a few sprinkles throughout her bedroom and vanity area. The vintage-looking head on the vanity is an ebay find and she is actually new. My Mom has a few of these heads around the house… they take some getting used to, especially if they are near a chair or at eye level… I’ve actually said “excuse me” to the one at the shop once when I was exhausted :) The acrylic blue lamp on her night stand is from the shop, but we’re out of them :( Her bathroom is amazing, too! Lavender, orchid and black tiles and decorated in all violets and black and white photos of celebrities, mostly Doris Day :) I’ll have to post more pics from the bathroom so you can see the light sconces, chandelier and the bathtub nook… really cute and unusual.
This is my favorite picture… because the boys are in it! I’ve blogged about them before, I really love these guys… they are so spoiled rotten!! You flip thru home and cottage magazines and wonder if the dogs and cats are real… I’m here to say, yes they are. It’s strange, Biscuit formed a bond with the photographer and posed for him, it was too cute. They felt right at home with the crew and I bet you it was actually hard keeping them out of some of the shots, they are little hams ;) You can see a few vintage dogs from my Mom’s collection of many, there’s another hanging violet picture.
Also, we’ve had a few inquiries on the desk in this picture… The desk was part of a set she had custom made by a local retailer here in Los Angeles. The name of the store is “Country Classics”. The owner’s name is Mark and I just talked to him. He said that desk has a “gingerbread” look and it was custom made to fit a certain wall in my Mom’s house. You can call and give him your dimensions and they can put something together for you. The piece is quite heavy (and sturdy) and made really well! I think they made it, painted it and delivered it. Country Classic’s number is: (818) 957-5156. Please tell them Violets are Blue sent you, then they’ll know what desk you are asking about ;)
I think all-in-all her house looks a lot like the shop… similar colors and themes in the different rooms. Oh how I would love to have the dogs here on a daily basis ;)
And last but… yes, it’s least ;)…
taaa-daaaa! our new register! (got it for a great deal on amazon!) She’ll be here in 2 business days… I need to name her, any suggestions?? Something that sounds… like a good strong name in an unbreakable sort of way… Helga comes to mind for some reason. A strong german woman wearing an apron with braids in her hair sort of like princess Leia from Star Wars.
10-28-06
Register update… I JUST got Helga up and running (Sharp XE-A203)… she doesn’t have as many features as the old register (a Royal something-or-rather) but she runs smoothly, is quiet and does the job. If you are in the market for a register, I want to mention, I come from a register that did the following: Had a running register tape (2 part) so I could refer back to every old transaction, one that used an ink ribbon, the X and Z reports were REALLY simple to run and it was self-explanitory when it would spit out a daily report. The old one was also VERY loud, the battery charge (if the power went out) was only 45 minutes (eek!) after that, it would dump all the data and programming you had and this particular machine had a problem when I put the batteries in, it just decided not to work at all. So… in contrast, Helga has a gazillion X and Z reports and I have yet to run a daily batch so I’m not sure how it’s going to work out. There is one roll of paper and I don’t even know where the ink goes. You can have a reciept to give the customer OR a running receipt that it takes up inside, not both. Voids require a key turn, not just hitting “void”. Helga has a SD card which remembers a year of data so if the power does go out, the batteries keep a charge for 2 days (wow!) and if that fails, the info will be on the SD card. I think that I can pull off old receipts from that, but I just won’t be sure until later. I’ll give an update later on :)
When shopping for said cash register, I found ZERO information and consumer reports on the things so at some point I’m going to go over to amazon.com and write a review for all registers involved. I have no idea why it has been so complicated. hmmmm..
Incoming… got to go! Have a super weekend!
Permalink
10.18.06
Posted in Main, business-a-go-go, sidenotes at 3:53 pm by carrie
It’s almost 4 pm… and I’m just sitting down to have lunch and I’m so hot and sweaty from running around that I could just scream!
This is sort of a pity parade in my honor so there is no need to read this, especially if you are in a happy mood! ;)
I shouldn’t have jinxed the register last night with my last post. I got up here today and the register was completely fried. I think there was some sort of power spike, and although it was on a power strip, something got to it. It’s frozen and no amount of unplugging or banging on it will make it work :( I’ve been doing manual receipts all day and trying to keep sane in the process.
The wind blew in all sorts of leaves and debris which has been left for the cleaning fairies… I was unable to even get to that this morning! I’ve been bombarded by calls all day, and asked them all to call me back. I think I sounded a bit rude so if you on the other end of the receiver this morning, it’s not personal, I’m just having a bad day :)
So, between the sneezing and the trying to put back the merchandise from the home show this weekend, I’m trying to imagine myself on a tranquil, quiet beach. Ahhhh….
Luke warm salad… mmmmmm….
What do you do when someone returns a damaged item from a company that has disappeared and doesn’t return your calls? hmmmm….
On the bright side, I get to go cash register shopping tonight and our bookkeeping is done thanks to Tami. Cindy has been a HUGE help with my frequent calls and whining while she looks up registers on costco.com. Thanks everyone :)
Now, back to my warm salad…
Permalink
Posted in Main, sidenotes at 1:03 am by carrie
The Santa Ana Winds are kicking up tonight, my allergies are going crazy and we just spent the last 90 minutes “battening down the hatches” at the shop. The wind really comes through the foothills whirling and wreaking havoc on everything in its path. We put up a guard on the door so it would only open out and not blow in, I watered all the plants down and made sure the little trees were secure and we changed the batteries on the cash register. Why do I do this? Well… during our last wind spell the power went out for a long time. (WOW… as I typed that, the power just went off and on… Nathan has an UPS, or interruptible power supply so the computer didn’t do anything but the lights are flickering… yikes!)
Anywho… where was I… oh yes… cash register… it was a bear setting that bad boy up. It has a very counter-intuitive way about it. Even Nathan, programmer by day, had a hard time with it. And I learned all about it this last spring! It dumped all our information, sales categories and running totals. I used paper receipts until I could figure it out, and everything started from square one at that point… argh! So, those of you out there in the market for a new cash register… see if you can get one with a wonderful backup system, because mine… ain’t so good :)
So, on to comfort food. Because I’m freaked out about getting a wake-up call regarding glass windows and the like, I started craving something warm and fuzzy. My first thought… chocolate pudding! (of course!) So, I just whipped up Ina’s Recipe for Double Chocolate Pudding :) Here is her recipe, from the food network website:
Remember My-T-Fine chocolate pudding? It’s the ultimate comfort food. Well, I like to take something familiar and bump up the flavor with high-quality ingredients. This pudding gets its flavor from good cocoa powder and imported semisweet chocolate. It’s the real thing and, surprise!, it’s not much harder to make than the packaged kind, and it’s sooooo much better.
6 extra-large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
3 tablespoons very good cocoa powder
Pinch salt
2 cups milk
1-ounce very good semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons heavy cream
Beat the egg yolks and sugar until light yellow and thick in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, on medium-high speed. On low speed, add the cornstarch, cocoa powder, and salt. Bring the milk to a boil in a medium saucepan and, with the mixer on low, slowly pour the hot milk into the chocolate mixture. Combine well, then pour the mixture back into the pan.
Cook the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly with a whisk or wooden spoon, until thickened. If the mixture begins to curdle, remove it from the heat and beat it vigorously with a wire whisk. Remove the pan from the heat, add the chocolate, butter, vanilla, and heavy cream, and mix until the chocolate and butter are melted.
Pour into serving bowls. Place plastic wrap directly on the top of the pudding, and chill thoroughly.
I left the plastic wrap off since I kind of like the skin (eugh, I know…) but alas, it didn’t really have any sort of top layer to speak of.
Meanwhile my eyes are itchy and watery, the wind is howling outside and all I can think about are our little trees and windows getting the brunt of the wind :( Stay strong little trees!
Next time… I shall make enough for everyone ;) That means you,
Tyn!!! :) hehe!
Permalink
10.09.06
Posted in Main, sidenotes at 4:47 pm by carrie
So… my computer at home broke :( I am currently in the mood to drop-kick it into little bits… The computer at the shop works (knock on virtual-wood) for now but I don’t have my happy scanner etc etc that I do at home :( bummer!
But it’s Nathan to the rescue on a white… errr… imac. I have never had a mac and I am getting one. And it sure is pretty! I can’t wrap my little brain around the idea that I’m getting a brand-spanking new happy computer from a great company with a great marketing campaign! yay! Something that works out of the box and has a monitor that isn’t 3 feet deep!
So, later this week… pics from the open house, more art and other random-ings… as usual!
Happy Monday!!!! :)
Permalink
10.01.06
Posted in Main, outings, sidenotes at 3:46 am by carrie
In 2001, I dragged three people with me to the first Nightmare Before Christmas event held at Disneyland. It was a special event with limited tickets, lots of limited edition stuff to buy (pins!) and a sneak-peak of the newly-transformed Haunted Mansion. Tim Burton was supposed to go and we got a last minute call that he wasn’t going to make it, but a few of the voices of the Nightmare Before Christmas characters from the film went and a good time was had by all.
Why am I bringing all this up? There’s a 90% chance we’ll be heading to Disneyland tomorrow (today, actually) to see how Disneyland has decorated for Halloween this year. We were going to go tonight but I kind of sort of fell asleep and my little “nap” turned into a 4 or 5 hour sleep fest :) We’ll take pictures of our findings and post them… for old time’s sake. I’m hoping I’ll find some older pictures from any of the events… I may even have video footage… it was a more obsessive time in my life ;)
Meanwhile, at the homefront, I’ve been working on some vintage postcard-inspired art for my halloween boards and cards. I should have them done by the middle of next week… glitterfied!
Permalink
09.28.06
Posted in Main, outings, sidenotes at 11:56 pm by carrie
Tonight, we visited the lovely Target mega-mega store in beautiful downtown Burbank. After purchasing several cleaning devices, paper products, a plethora of halloween lights and a brand new doggie toy for our pup we headed on over to the Olive Garden.
A 30 minute wait later, we were seated near the bar. We were enjoying our iced tea beverages and noticed that there were three people sitting at the bar and apparently, they were having a good time. They were sort of loud, very loud, normally it would have been a tad annoying, but they made us chuckle and say… why don’t we have friends like THAT, they certainly brought the party with them!
So, one of the three pulls up a chair and sits at the end of our table and introduces himself. Normally, a slightly intoxicated man joining our dinner conversation would intimidate me, but he seemed friendly enough. “Hello, my name is Petey…how are you enjoying your dinner this evening?” we introduce ourselves and each shook his hand. We ask him where he is from and conveniently, the address of the home he grew up in (North Carolina) was tattooed on the inside of his right arm, it even had the zip code… and so was his own name. “That’s where I used to live, before I moved here and became famous…” (I’m having mixed feelings at this point… teetering between being ignorant or thinking perhaps he’s having delusions of grandeur).
He asked us about our lives and made a remark about how he would like to have a talk show someday. He talked about love and something about waking up next to someone and putting on make-up… I can’t remember. He sang a bit. He had an angel pin on his shoulder. He made our waitress feel his arm muscles. We talked about his eight pit bulls and our little golden retreiver. His dogs have names like saddam, bin laden, tsunami and katrina… ours is named after a spice, and not even that spicey of a spice (nutmeg).
He mentioned going to Vegas in his car… he said he had tv’s “and stuff” in it.
We came home and googled our new friend…
Petey Pablo… and you can read about him on mtv.com.
I feel quite ignorant… there we were, at the Olive Garden getting advice from an up-and-coming rap star… huh. I gave him a Violets are Blue postcard and told him he should get a cupcake necklace… so, keep an eye out for that! ;)
So, that’s our adventures in Burbank for the evening… AND I got a new mop… how about that! ;)
Permalink
« Previous Page — « Previous entries « Previous Page · Next Page » Next entries » — Next Page »
