I Heart Tablescapes

If you work in retail, you know that those first few days after Thanksgiving can be crazy. Even in a boutique setting, where Black Friday sales and early hours are not the norm, you have a real possibility of huge crowds and great sales. This past week, we received a container from India and shipment of accessories. I thought that Friday would be really quiet, offering me the opportunity to get boxes unwrapped and tagged, so I opened the store at noon (which allowed me time to hit a few Black Friday sales myself!). Much to my surprise, folks were knocking on the door quite early. 

Somehow, I found time to get two of the tables done and I am so happy with how they turned out. I have two more to finish and will post pictures when they are done. 

God is so good to bless me with the responsibility of running my little shop.

 The traditional red and green table. Shades of red and green compliment each other so nicely when paired with silver, white, and lots of mirrored reflective surfaces. It is a crisp, clean look that is sure to please!

The blue and green table. This color combo is a trend that I don't see leaving us anytime soon. Pair this look with silver accents and unexpected textures like the reclaimed teak table.

It's everywhere I look

It is not hard to miss that everything old is new again. The pieces at work that get the most love and interest are the ones made from reclaimed materials or are heavily distressed. I personally love this look, but I wonder why it's such a great look on a door that's $1000, but not on a door in a poor neighborhood...

Today, the hubs and I went out exploring in NOLA in areas that are sometimes considered "distressed", but I wonder if that's considered a good thing or a bad thing. Some folks in the neighborhood embrace the look and some folks are taken over by the decay. Intentional or not, I think it is beautiful. 

This house was one of the neglected beautiful homes we saw. You can see that someone once loved this shotgun and now it's just waiting for someone to love it again.

New Orleans also has a great history and culture of the arts and artists. The trend here is also to reuse, re-purpose and distress things. Everywhere we went there were folks working on their craft. We met some cool folks with interesting art installations in converted shotguns and others working out of warehouses and parking lots. 

Everywhere you look, New Orleans reveals that she is a well worn and well loved city - and that she is REBELLIOUS! She wouldn't listen to the folks who said she wouldn't recover from a flood and she won't listen to what others say is beautiful or correct :)

Isn't is ironic, don't ya' think?

I really like getting out and learning to love like Jesus did. I love to see what is not noticeable or noteworthy. Jesus loves New Orleans. If He can love it, I can too :)

I love my husband for these excursions! I love that he sees what I don't see and that he encourages me to look at things how God would look at them. He is kind and friendly and makes me want to be a better person. He is the best part about being a wife :)

Have a great week, Everyone!

XO

Those Gators get HUNGRY

Yesterday, the hubs and I took a little day trip to LaPlace, LA and took a Cajun Pride Swamp Tour. It was such a warm and sunny day and the gators did their best to co-operate with the tour guide :) 

Of course, these reptiles are wild, but they see about 5 tours a day and by this point are quite conditioned to see the boats and come right up to them to get their treats. It is still quite a show for us, and I am sure they would gladly feast on people if we put our hands out to touch them!

 

 warning :)

 this is not a zoomed in shot... actually, I had to back up to get his whole head in - that's how close he was

a typical fishing/hunting shack on the bayou

one of the many beautiful birds that we saw

This guy was hungry!

I love these day trips we make around the Gulf region! It makes me so happy that Fall is here and the weather has become for us what Summer is like for the rest of the US (highs in the 80's and upper 70's). I am at peace with New Orleans now, and it is our home. It is most not likely our forever home, but why not enjoy it while we're here, right?  Since we also made this trip courtesy of a purchase of the tickets on Groupon, it was a frugal way to have fun!

xo

He loves me...

You know that moment when you realize you really "get" your other half? When you know their likes and dislikes - they like one ice cube in their hot coffee, they hate when you squeeze the toothpaste tube in the middle? Well, I think my husband "gets" me. :)

I know this because yesterday, he sends me a text message with a picture of a cup he bought for me. He said it looked like the ones from Anthropologie. For only $4! OK - there are about 20 things right with that text!!! Most of all, he learned the Anthro look, and not because he is doing due diligence for a buying job with the company. It's because... He. Loves. Me. This must be one of my love languages, because I gushed about it all evening :) 

I can't wait to take it to work today and use it for my tea, cup o' soup, or heck - even water! I want everyone to see the cute mug that my husband bought me.

xo

Sometimes it's just easier to buy it!

I never thought I would be THAT person. The one that falls for fads, that buys merchandise instead of making it, salvaging it, or "re*du"ing" it... but I did it. 

I went and fell smack dab in love with the easy chic of French farmhouse country (damn you, Restoration Hardware!!). I realize this might be a trend of sorts, but it is one I love. The soft greys and beige and watery blues, YUM!! Mix in a little bit of Anthropologie and it doesn't get much better :)

Ever since I fell in love, I have been on the rampage to fix all of the shabbiness of our little pad. Thankfully, I manage a wholesale furniture store and can pick up these delightful goodies at incredibly sweet prices (not the $10 finds from the auction, but pretty good). My next "get" is going to be a future blog post... speaking of which...

OK - I admit I have been my usual unfaithful blogging self. I hope to get back on the "blogging bandwagon". I have been working on a "re*du" of our front porch and hopefully some more changes on the inside. Thankfully, these should provide for some accountability new posts!

Here's a pic of the new desk. It was taken with my camera phone, so I apologize for the quality. 

The Interest with Pintrest

I have this really great scrapbook of design inspiration that my husband bought for me years ago when we were dating. I cut out all the design ideas I love, along with all the projects I would love to someday make time for. The book is so full of timeless design-love.

It turns out that there is now an online version of this and for some time now, several friends have been recommending I join. It is called Pintrest and it allows you to create themed boards onto which you "pin" your inspiring photos. I stayed away for awhile. A few weeks ago, I decided to give it a whirl... ohmygosh... I am so addicted!! You can spend hours poking around the pictures that other people post and re-pin them to your boards. It seems to go on forever :)

Some of my inspirations: 

via Faded Plains

via Simply Seleta

 

via Sprig

 

I think this is such a great idea, as I am always interested in what inspires others. Plus, isn't imitation the most sincere form of flattery?? 

 

P.S. Check out my friend's blog, Life After Sunday, where I wrote a guest post. The pic is not my favorite, but it has two of my favorites in it, my husband and my friend's little boy... such a sweetie!

 

Have a super weekend!

XO

 

Social Networking... say what?

I watched a car commercial today where the girl mentions that she signed her parents up for Facebook and that they only have 19 friends and that she has over 600. It cuts to scenes of her parents engaging in activities in the outdoors and having a blast. Keeping in mind that she believes she has the better social status because of all her "friends". 

It is a reality in the modern age that we interact more often with our friends and family members via text, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media than face-to-face contact. This also means we have more sterile and misunderstood relationships. I have had more than one interaction online where I was misunderstanding or was misunderstood by someone. In between pics of the kids and our latest vacations, we are finding ourselves posting our opinions in an environment where the distillation of these opinions happens only after we have made a fool of ourselves. If I offend anyone, it is purely coincidence and I apologize. If you have hurt me, you are forgiven!

This new way of interacting also includes how we market ourselves in the business world. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Craigslist are important to the success of my business. People interact with us via these sites and I get many customers each week that mention they are stopping in because of an ad I placed on Craigslist. There is a satisfaction to know you are reaching people, but also a sadness that I have no budget for splashy colorful print advertising. I would love to open a magazine and see a 1/4 page full color spread of my sweet little store!!

Sadly, the time may come when our children and grandchildren will not know of a typewriter, or even better a hand written note as anything more than an exhibit in a museum. I hope and pray that a resurgence occurs where old-fashioned communication becomes the norm. I would hate for us all to become like the folks in the movie "Wall-E" that have no personal contact with their friends. 

I do realize the irony of posting these thoughts on my blog, where I am not sure if my personal feelings are even being absorbed by anyone other than myself. If I could write a note to each person that I knew was reading this, I would. 

Have a delightful rest of your weekend! 

xo

Why things are missing...

Hello folks out there in blogger-land. I am assuming this is maybe three of you, maybe! Where have I been, you might ask? Well, I have been here, and honestly, I have been struggling in this mortal shell as of late. It has been hard mustering up the words to say that communicate everything I have been feeling.

For the few that do read my blog, you may have seen a few posts about my pregnancy, and now they are gone. Well, as it turns out, I had a miscarriage about a month ago and was feeling so not interested in reliving those posts, so I deleted them. I guess now I think I shouldn't have because someday I will want to remember how much joy and confusion I had during this time.

During this time, we were also going through so much with leaving our old church, finding a new one, getting health insurance, trying to find Jim a job (we were living off my income), and trying to live with my constant sick body.

Of the many the things I learned, I found out we are much closer to each other than we thought and we also found out that we really have some great friends here in NOLA. So many people filled in the gap for us of those that drifted away and we are nurturing those relationships, while trying to live this new life.

Jim got a great new job in a field he excels in, I am having a decent run here at the store (even though I have struggles with HR issues), and we are figuring out what we want our future to look like. Do we still want children? Can we have them? Will we adopt? All this is so overwhelming and I told Jim I want to wait until the Fall to make more decisions. I would really prefer to enjoy our summer and travel as much as we can.

And through it all, my passion for furniture has had a resurgence. I sold a piece recently and am working on another one that will hopefully have a buyer. God is truly so good to us and it is about time I was more thankful... especially out loud!

Today is also Jim's birthday and I cannot wait to get home tonight and have a little us time to celebrate. Love this man of mine! OJ, Baby...

xoxo

re*du-ing it....

As much as I truly love my job (and I do!) I have a serious desire to get back into my furniture business. I love the creative process and miss paint on my hands, feet, and jeans!

I have three new pieces that I am transforming and will hopefully reveal them this week. I need to get cracking! I also had the most excellent time last week heading up to Mandeville and scouting furniture in my friend, Jo's, neighborhood. There are not a lot of places here in NOLA to find furniture that needs some love and so it was nice to once again see things that were affordable.

Here is a sneak peak at a "before" of one of the pieces that I am working on. I love the lines and the beautiful color I chose... Happy Monday!

xoxo

Really? Really!

Has it really been so long since I last posted? I am so surprised that so much time has passed. And I have so much to share. And really... is anyone other than Karen (and maybe Barb) reading this? I realized that with 3 small children and a lot of responsibilities at church, Karen has the time to blog. Um - hello. I have no kids. I have time to blog. So... in a quick wrap-up:

I am the Manager at the store now. It is such a great place and even though my furniture dreams took a trip to the back burner, I feel so blessed for this opportunity! Truly - running someone's furniture store is a God-given second place. Plus, I have the freedom to "put my stank" on pieces that aren't selling or were broken in shipment.

We moved into a bigger apartment this past week. It is somewhat loft-ish and so wonderful and I can't wait until I have it all finished to post some pics. My hubs has been such an amazing man to do so much of the hard work during the move and allow me to do the fun stuff. He also let me have the whole huge walk-in closet. I love him so, so much for all the special ways he shows love to me.

While working on a piece for a client today, I got the itch again to work on some pieces. I really love what I do! I also found a really cool old door that I am planning on turning into a table. I am heading out first thing tomorrow to the Green Project to search for some cool old posts to serve as legs.

There is so much more to say, but I will save those things for other days. For now, I will leave you with a pic of the door and a promise to be on here more often.

xo