lanyards are for everyone

Here is something very fun about my job:

Sometimes, I make a new product with one use in mind, only to come up with seventeen other uses once I really start thinking about it. 



Like these lanyards, for instance.  I made one, thinking about teachers who have to wear a badge every day and college students who carry an ID.   

 Lanyards = for teachers and students.  

But then I thought about how handy they would be for people who have to carry a few keys with them at all times.  I know there are lots of jobs that require keys and I also know that most women don't cram keys in their pocket, if they can help it. 

Lanyards = for women with jobs

But good grief, what about moms?   Couldn't they always use an extra hand (or three)?  Wouldn't it be great if they could clip on a pacifier?  Or the car keys, so that they can be easily unearthed from the bottom of the diaper bag? 

Lanyards = for moms

Then I started thinking about when I take a walk during the day.  I unhook my house key from all my other keys and stick it in my pocket and hope it doesn't fall out somewhere around the neighborhood.  Why don't I just put an extra house key on a lanyard by the door for an easy grab and go? 

Lanyards = for walkers. 

I think you can see where this is going....

Lanyards = for everyone. 

Be sure to stop by the shop today to check them out!  











treat yo self

I am totally getting spoiled by these past few weekends.  Both the weather and the company have been top notch. 

We got to hang around with our oldest and dearest friends for the entire weekend.  None of this one day here, a few hours there, business that we end up doing so often out of necessity.  This was a full 48+ hours and every one was precious. 

We found a fall festival, complete with bales of hay, and brought at least half of it home in our shoes and cuffs. 

We practiced lots of action shots with our new camera.  And I do mean action. 

These girls are a barrel of fun. 

Which is not at all surprising because so are their parents. 

  Steve took most of the pictures this weekend, but I was able to snap a few. 

Don't you love how everything seems better with good friends?  The days are a little sunnier, the food a little tastier and you'd swear that even the TV shows are funnier.  We just giggled and ate and sunned our way through the weekend and I couldn't have enjoyed anything more.  What a treat. 

Today I've vacuumed and mopped and wiped fingerprints off of every surface in the house.  But as much as I love my clean floors, I'd cover them right back up with Cheerios if it meant they'd come back for another day. 

Natalie has been my best friend for 23 years.  She always acts like my advice is super valuable to her, eats everything I cook like it's the best meal she's ever had, and picks out beautiful actresses and says they look like me. 

How did I get so lucky? 

The theme of the weekend was "treat yo self" and I think we all did a splendid job.  Especially Adam, but he's had lots of practice. 

This week, I plan to treat myself to some time to work on a bunch of shop projects that I am very excited about.  And possibly some reading time in the hammock, just because. 

focus

One of my favorite things (so far) about our new camera is how I can focus on one small part of a picture, while leaving the rest of the image out of focus. 

I love the ability to really zero in on what's beautiful- a large bloom, flower buds about to burst open, the sway of the Russian sage- and blur out the not so beautiful (like, say, the air conditioning unit in the background). 

After all, isn't that what we should all be trying to do anyway?  Every day, I try to zero in on what makes life beautiful and let the rest fade into a background blur.  Some days are easier than others. 

I'm not suggesting a life of denial, but rather a conscious decision to give the most attention to the good. 

Steve and I were talking recently about some of the hard things we've dealt with over the past six years.  As we started listing them, we were really surprised that there were so many. 

We were surprised, I think, because we don't focus on those things.  We move through them and then let them just blur into the background with the neighbor's trashcan and the patches of dead grass. 

When I picture the past six years, some images stand out sharply against the blur:

buying our first Christmas tree

going for walks, arm in arm

planting bulbs in the yard

pool days

packing the car for a weekend trip

Thankful today that my mind, like my camera, is able to pick and choose what to focus on.  

"Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse."
                                                                   Philipians 4:8 (The Message)

we have so much fun together

Boy did we ever live it up this past weekend!  The weather was golden and perfect and we spent every possible second outside.  We had not one but TWO picnics. 

Come to think of it, this may have been my very first double picnic weekend. 

On Sunday, before we left the house, Steve asked "where's the professor?" 

I love that our blanket has a title. 



One of the places we picnic-ed was Belmont Abbey College.  Can you believe it's taken me this long to get back there to explore?  

As luck would have it, we managed to show up for homecoming weekend.  How do we always end up going to alumni events at schools we didn't attend?   Would you believe that we have never been to an alumni event at the college we both graduated from?  I'm not sure what this says about us, but I know it says something. 

As we strolled around campus, we were stopped by a gentleman from the class of '64. 

Him: Are you two students here?

Us: No, just visiting.

Him: Oh!  You're thinking about going to school here! 

Us: No... just visiting... we live nearby...

We found plenty of amusement in the fact that we went from looking like college students to high school students in the span of ten seconds.  I'm sure these kinds of conversations will only get funnier the farther into our 30s we get.

Our other picnic spot was at the Anne Springs Close Greenway.  Fewer alumni, more animals, equally great atmosphere. 

We feasted on chicken salad sandwiches, apple coleslaw, pimento cheese, and chocolate chip cookies.  You can see why we wanted to do this more than once. 

Along with lots of great pictures of the scenery, we also took plenty of pictures for the shop.  Be sure to check it out this week! 

We're both still learning how to use the new camera and having a great time doing it.  Steve reads the manual and tells me how to do stuff and then I run around and try to do what he said.  Teamwork. 

We dragged ourselves back into the real world this morning, but I think we still have a weekend glow about us.  Hopefully we can keep it going for another couple of days, right on into the next one! 

Friday I'm in Love

We got a new camera this week.  For someone that averages several hundred pictures each week, this is pretty exciting.  It's like I just picked up a new coworker. 

Over the past two days, we've taken pictures of every single item in our house and yard. 

This weekend, we are packing a lunch and our new blanket and heading out to photograph the rest of the city.  And probably the surrounding countryside as well. 

In between bursts of photography, I have been sewing.  For example, I finished this valance for Natalie yesterday, and then immediately hung it up so that I could photograph it. 

Today I'm making gumbo and chicken salad and other goodies for the long weekend ahead (three cheers for Christopher Columbus!).  I plan to photograph them all, using the camera's "food" setting. 

Can you believe there's a food setting?!?!

But that's not all. 

We can take pictures at night.

Without a flash. 

I think I'm in love. 

Wishing you a weekend full of beautiful photo opportunities!  I'll meet you back here on Tuesday, possibly with a thousand pictures.  

the professor

For some time now, I've been dreaming about the perfect picnic blanket. 

Whenever we want a blanket to sit on outside, it seems that nothing we have is quite right.  An old sheet?  Too thin.  A quilt?  Don't want to get it dirty.  Fleece blankets?  Everything clings to them. 

What we needed, of course, was a picnic blanket. 

I looked online.  The closest thing I could find to what I had in my head was Vera Bradley's Stadium Blanket.  But aside from having a fleece back, it was also a bit too girly.  And you know I love girly, but come on- I'm planning to throw this thing down in the woods. 

So, as is often the case, I decided to make it myself.  I chose some red and blue striped flannel for the front, thinking that it would be soft and washable and cheerful, all at the same time.  And, after much deliberation, I chose a khaki corduroy for the backing.  I wanted something sturdy, but soft, thick enough, but not too bulky.

The blanket is finished now and the overall effect is exactly what I hoped for.  If this blanket were a person, it would be an older college professor who wears plaid shirts and corduroy blazers with elbow patches.  And probably he smokes a pipe. 

We've already added "picnic" to the agenda for the weekend.  I'm super excited and I hope that it's cool enough to take a hot drink in our thermos.

Today I am working on a few projects for friends and family and listening to Steve whistle as he works from home in the dining room.  Definitely my favorite workday soundtrack. 

don't eat those- they look bad

The impromptu yard sale?  I would consider it a huge success.  The weather was great, we made some money, and we got rid of most of the stuff we set out.  And the rest went to Goodwill later in the day, so now our house is a bit lighter. 

The free coffee and baked goods?  Not as popular as we thought they might be, but still worth having.  We weren't selling any toys, so the brownies were the biggest hit with the ten and under crowd.  Except for one little girl, who I overheard telling her sister, "Don't eat those- they look bad."

It took me several minutes to stop giggling. 

We closed up shop around 11:00 and headed out, like responsible yard sale throwers, to take down our signs.  Three of the six had disappeared.  I am so curious as to where they went, but think that we'll probably never know.  Oh, the unsolved mysteries of life. 

Over the sunny weekend, I was finally able to get some pictures of this wreath I made last week.  I saw the idea here and modified it so that I didn't have to purchase any supplies.  I just used some leftover felt and fleece, an old grapevine wreath that used to be decorated but had since been striped of its decoration, and some fabric scraps.  Oh, and the trusty glue gun. 

The whole project probably took two hours and the little flowers are so much fun to make!  If I had more felt, I would cover the entire wreath with flowers.  Maybe next year I'll add some more! 

 The past three days of beautiful weather have caused me to declare that I may just love October as much as I love September.  We have lots of things to be excited about this month and one of those things is SOUP!  I made my first batch this weekend (which was kind of a disaster because I cut some poblano peppers and they burned my hands so badly that I had to sleep clutching an ice pack, but that just goes to show you the lengths I will go to for soup) and it was delicious and I'm having leftovers for lunch today and dreaming of a new kind of soup every. single. week. 

This seems like the perfect day to start laying out the squares for our new quilt, so I'm off to crawl around on the floor for a bit.