Oh! The Birdies

How could I have ever left this darling mug sitting on the Etsy shelf?

Catherine Reece's Etsy shop is a recent find. 

Whimsical pottery and a watercolor or two. 

You might need to go visit. 

I'm certainly glad I did!

BTW: Later in March, the ladies over at What Am I Cooking are focusing on coffee. We're planning on a fun time. Plan to join in?

Rethinking my shoes.

Yesterday Bloomingdale's decided to make contact again.

After all these years, they seem to have forgiven me for curtailing my trips to New York and, therefore, our rich relationship. On one of my first trips to NYC, a work pal and I ran out on a lunch break to visit. The little jaunt was exciting and overwhelming and a start of a beautiful relationship.

In their halls and sections and floors, I learned about the many more brands that exist. The ones that never made it to the little rounders in Los Angeles. They had whole sections dedicated to Tahari designs rather than the small rack at my local Bullock's or I. Magnin. It was a visual education, a retailing education, certainly a fashion education and of course, fun. Even if all I bought was a mascara. It was my mascara from Bloomingdales.

And then, I came home and they sent me a catalog where I could buy shoes. Not the shoes at the aforementioned stores, or Nordstrom, but Bloomingdale's collections of shoes. It was all good fun and I managed to grab some unique and simple and beautiful shoes on sale, from Bloomies.

So yesterday was clearly an attempt on their part to rekindle the old romance. And they were successful. I clicked on the email which featured a shoe that took me right here. And right to the shoes. As I clicked through, my youngest took the chair next to me and commented: "You should get some of these. You used to wear cute shoes, but now Mom, they're kinda grandma."

After the initial sting wore off, I gave her a kiss and clicked in earnest. She's right and I knew it. I kinda knew it when we were shoe gawking at the Music Center. I took a little inventory the other day when I cleaned out my closet and saw this mix of older fun heals and, well, Clarks. There's nothing wrong with Clarks. There are plenty of cute styles (kinda). Like these on the right. But the brand is about comfort and I seem to have collected only flat black or brown, which are, in the eyes of my preteen, not cool. So I perused. And clicked. And put many pair into my online Brown Bag. I was encouraged to buy these:

 

I settled on a slightly lower pair of black patent leather espadrille platforms and some DKNY sandals. Both passed muster and were on a double sale. So, all is well.

I'm revisiting my appreciation of shoes for fun and fashion, giving the heave ho! to shoes in the grandma category and taking Bloomingdales up on their advances.  Rekindling the courtship, so to speak.

And so with great expectancy I ask, what's on your feet?

Another's Creative Brilliance.

I love etsy.com and the population it features. I love the ideas and the creative productivity. And I love it when my needs and someone's brilliance meet. So, when COUNTRY LIVING hit my mailbox, and ecovintagevegan's lovely paper boxes were on the cover, my heart might have skipped a beat. I needed a new way to package the Christmas treats we share. I loved the cover full of fabulous boxes and read the short article and hurried to etsy to order. I was thrilled when the boxes arrived and even more thrilled when they perfectly housed the neighborhood cookies. This year we baked lots of different kinds, 1-2-3, Peanut Butter, Orange Meltaways, Chewy Chocolate Chip, et al and all of the same size. They fit p-e-r-f-e-c-t-l-y into the boxes. On their side. In stacks. Both. I had flexibility and lovely all at the same time. 
All in a box.
All because of someone else's brilliance and creativity. 


You'll find ecoveganvegetarian@ etsy.com and the exact listing for the boxes is:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=36306302&ref=sr_list_9&&ga_search_query=country+living+boxes&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=&includes[]=tags&includes[]=title