Happy father’s day.

The past few days have been super busy with lots of events going on. Which is a good thing because I got the news on Friday that we were wait listed for the Chicago Renegade Craft Fair. Total bummer but I have been too busy to dwell on it. There is still a chance we will make it in, so fingers crossed for that. In other news, I finally got to meet my friend Rachel’s new baby boy, Gabriel Levi. He is adorable and I can tell how happy she and her husband are about their new addition to the family.

Later that evening, I met up with my friend Stephanie for dinner at The Fountain on Locust followed by a show at The Firebird with the band Gold Motel. (Enough links there for you?) It was a super fun night. The hi-lights were as follows: dill pickle soup at dinner, ice cream in a pretzel cone for dessert (and no, I am not expecting baby #2.), cans of pbr at the show (see, told you so.), Stephanie borrowing my shades so she could look as awesome as the guys in the band, and meeting the singer/keyboardist Greta for the 3rd time and having her sign a cd for Stella. Gold Motel is her favorite band at the moment and she requests the cd pretty much every time we get in the car. Adorable. We ended the night having a beer on the porch with Kelly and Stephanie showed me the fab container gardening she has going on in her backyard. She gave me some tomato and tomatillo plants to add to our garden so a big thank you to her. Love you friend.

Friday was the Etsy Meetup at MADE Studios and it was our best event to date. We did 6 make and take craft stations and had lots of freebies, drinks, and snacks. Everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves and are all looking forward to our next make and take event which will be GagaCraft. It is going to be uh-mazing so be sure to put in on your calendar July 11th.

Saturday was Soulard Market Park Art and Craft Fair in which I shared a booth with Ms. Katie of Scarlett Garnet. We had a lovely space in the shade and it didn’t get super duper hot til around 1pm. We hung in there til the end of the market at 3pm by staying well hydrated with PBR. I did drink some water too. We made a few sales, talked a little business, and chatted the day away. A big thank you to Katie from PASTE for organizing the event.

So that brings us to today, which happens to be Father’s Day. My husband says it is a made up holiday and no reason to celebrate. I believe he says this just so he doesn’t have to make a big deal out of mother’s day either which works fine for me. But that being said, I do feel the need on this day to remind him what an amazing father he is. Seeing him with Stella brings me more joy and pride than I ever thought possible and I am so glad to have him in our lives. And to my father and matt’s father: thank you for being in our lives. You each raised us to be fairly responsible, well adjusted adults and you should be proud. And a happy father’s day to the other dads in my family. Ian, Tim and Julian. Keep up the good work! Hope everyone enjoys the day with the family! Speaking of which, I may wanna clean the house up a bit before dinner with my fam so I will wrap it up. I will try to post more frequently in the future so as to to have such a super long post. Oops.

How does your garden grow?

Stella and I have been spending lots of time outside lately. For some reason she has not developed an appreciation for  nice, quiet, air-conditioned, indoor activities. She and Matt like to tend to the garden and I like to let her pick green tomatoes and various flowers from around the yard. When it gets too hot and sticky (ie every day during St. Louis summers) we turn on the water and she is content to splash around all day long. As long as I can find a nice shady spot from which to observe the fun, we are golden. Looking forward to ripe tomatoes and cucumber infused water to keep cool the rest of the summer.

Ps. Don’t let Stella’s scowls and funny faces fool you. She is having fun. Really.

Cheap, Cheap, Fun, Fun

 

So a few weeks ago while I was doing a window treatment install with my dear friend Kathlean May, I stepped into the powder room of the client’s home and was confronted by the most fabulous ruffled shower curtain I have ever seen in all my life. So girly. So pretty. It spoke to me. Don’t ask me exactly what it said but it had to have been something along the lines of, “You need me. Now.”

I came home to research and as I suspected, this lovely curtain came from Anthropologie: one of my  favorite places to ogle the pretty clothing and home goods that are all sadly, way out of my budget. So without hesitation, I began googling. I found out that Anthro’s rebellious kid sister shop, Urban Outfitters had a version for slightly less money but at $68 it was still out of the question. And then, lo and behold I came across a website for home decor called The Fair. And there, jumping off the page was their version of the curtain: Carmen. And with a price tag of an incredible low $19 you know I was all over it. Well, I was all over it but knew I had to restrain myself until I found out whether I would have any spending money when Renegade Brooklyn was all said and done. And what do you know? I did. So I have just ordered this amazing shower curtain and cannot wait for the UPS man to deliver it to my doorstep. Happy Monday!! And yes, I am aware that the pricier versions are slightly more fabulous than my bargain priced alternative but the money I am saving will make up for it in the end.

MADE Re-Fashion Event

So last night was the amazingly awesome Re-Fashion Event down at MADE Studios. It was an opportunity for folks to come by and donate their gently used clothing in exchange for others cast offs which are then taken into the studio and re-created into something new and exciting. It was great to see some St. Louis Craft Mafia members that I haven’t seen in ages as well as new faces of crafters coming to check out the space. We had a really fun night and much PBR was consumed by yours truly. What can I say? Kelly and I like to keep it classy.

I spent the day today at MADE cleaning up the aftermath of the party and organizing supplies. For some reason, I could not seem to focus and had total craft ADD. This resulted in the creation of some sweater cuff bracelets, sewing of  paper banners and garlands, fixing a ripped seam in a jacket leftover from Re-Fashion, and cutting up sweaters to cover glass jars. I love how the jars turned out. Thinking I may have to make some for The Foundrie this season. It will be here before I know it.

Hope everyone had a fun and productive weekend. And hopefully your plans for next weekend include joining us for the big Etsy Craft Party Meetup next Friday at MADE. There will be lots of goodies and fun stuff including several make and take projects. Get more details here. See you there!!

Brooklyn Renegade 2010

The Renegade Craft Fair Brooklyn 2010 was by far my most successful craft show to date. The weather was far from perfect and we lost the tent to the wind gusts towards the end of day 2. But the customers were hard core and continued to shop from our wind blown tent and tables. Once the rain arrived we had to concede since we no longer had a tent to keep our merchandise dry. My sister is the best booth mate a girl could ask for and we had a great time. Thank you Brooklyn and Renegade for another amazing show!

Once we put in a full 2 days of work it was time to spend some quality time with the littles. We ventured out to the Statue of Liberty on Monday which was a super treat for Stella. She experienced her first subway ride and she loved the ferry ride over to visit Ms. Liberty. Roxi packed a picnic lunch for us and we enjoyed the grounds and watching Stella and Cotton run around and burn off some energy. We had tickets to trek to the pedestal of the statue and we were weary of the toddlers making it up so many steps. But they did surprisingly well and the view was incredible. So worth it.

On Tuesday we made the drive out to Coney Island with Papa Sliger in tow. This was his first vacation since his fall last July and he was getting around as well as could be expected. It was nice to see him out of the house with his feet in the sand. We enjoyed Nathan’s hot dogs, The Wonder Wheel, and indulged the little ones in their first ever bag of cotton candy. Pure delight all around. Stella loved the ocean and the waves. She thought she could take off into the water and go for a swim. I had to drag her back to shore by her shirt. We collected sea shells and did our best to avoid the shards of glass in the sand. It is not a pristine beach but it is beautiful in it’s own way.

We arrvied home yesterday and Stella and I have been catching up on our zzz’s. It was an exhausting trip but so much fun. Wish we could visit with family more often but it it great to spend time whenever we can. Now Roxi and I are waiting to hear if we have been accepted to Renegade Chicago this September. We have our fingers and toes crossed!!