Packing our bags to head to California. 29 Palms and the beach – here we come!
Today is my turn to share What Home Means to Me for Pin It Forward, a project hosted by the lovely Victoria of SfgirlbyBay and Pinterest.
Our topic, “What Home Means to Me” is one that I have been pondering for several months. My husband and I just moved into our home in March following 7 months of waiting on pins and needles after putting our offer in. Our home had been listed as a short sale (which there is nothing short about!), and there were two separate banks involved making the situation more complicated than usual. After many ups and downs and waiting so long for our dream home, it still feels surreal that it’s really ours.
For me, home means a space we design with our vintage furniture, art, and various items we’ve collected along the way (books, trinkets, records, etc). [pins via Wary Meyers, squirrelpearl, and I Adore Style.]
[pins via oh joy!, Three Red Apples, and Lawestie4us.]
A place to bake and cook delicious meals as well as entertain family and friends. [pins via Pink Parsley, squirrelpearl, and the sophisticated gourmet.]
Since I work from home, home also means a place to create and be inspired, as well as a place to rest and relax. [pins via dottie angel and You Are My Fave.]
[pins via apartment therapy and Wary Meyers.]
Living in the land of 10,000 lakes, home also means a place to be surrounded by nature, indoors and out. [pins via jmagnusphoto, MonsterFashion, and weheartit.]
Lastly and most importantly, home also means a place that’s just for us. [pins via Shanna Murray, John Vanderslice, and nancyashbrook.]
If you’d like to follow along, head on over to Smiles from Mel tomorrow where Melanie will be sharing what home means to her.
I recently stumbled across the work of local Minneapolis based designer Annie Larson. Annie designs and makes knitwear pieces in a variety of patterns and color combinations. Bold and graphic, these gems are too good not to share. Her line is called ALL and is newly available online!
To see more of Annie’s work (or photos of her amazing studio) head over to her website, blog, or her newly opened online shop.
Summer has officially begun and we started it off with a little family get-together tonight (if you count 14 people as little). It was a great time full of laughter, good food, and of course, swimming.
The whole party got me thinking about a few things I’m excited for this summer, besides more get-togethers.
Making this delicious watermelon and raspberry salad. A lot. So easy and so delicious.
The forthcoming album from Jenny Lewis and her boyfriend. Head here to download the first single.
The return of my beloved Mad Men on July 25th. I think this season is going to be all about consequences and I can’t wait to see what happens!
Regular blogging will return tomorrow. Promise. We’ve been busy swimming like fish in our newly up and running pool. (The former owner of our home had not run/maintained the pool for the past two years, so it was a lot of work to get things going. So far it has been well worth the wait!)
While on my quick trip down to Des Moines for Market Day, I made a stop over at Domestica before heading home. Domestica is a brand new shop in Des Moines’ East Village neighborhood, and it happens to be owned/run by one of my favorite ladies – Chrissy Jensen.
The crisp white interior is stocked with loads of colorful goods, many of which are handmade, for your home, along with a dash of personal accessories. The shop does carry a few local designers goods, but has many items from artists across the US that you can’t find elsewhere in Des Moines.
I had to snap a few photos while I was there so you could see for yourself just how adorable the shop is, and so you’ll remember to mark it on your “Must See” list next time you find yourself in Des Moines, Iowa.
I have to admit, Domestica steals my heart not only because I’m in love with how the shop turned out, it’s also a venture I had to leave behind. You see, I was Chrissy’s original business partner in crime. The late nights spent fretting over tweaking the business plan, frustrating meetings with our Small Business Development Center advisor, and lots and lots of online window shopping, bookmarking, etc. We were almost set to get things going and then the reality of our struggling economy hit home when my husband was laid off. We chose to relocate and I had to leave my shop dream behind. It was a definite blow to have to give up something we had put countless hours into since January 2008, but I couldn’t be happier to see that our dream has become reality and it looks prettier than I ever imagined.
This past weekend I loaded up my car and drove down to my home state for the first Market Day event of the season. Being that this was my first time participating in the event, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. The crowd was great thanks to our proximity to the Downtown Farmer’s Market and I ended up having a great day. I have a feeling I’ll be heading back down for another MD later this summer, and word on the street from other vendors who participated last year has been that the new venue & changes are comparably awesome.
The only thing myself and I think many others struggled with was the booth size. Things were a little cramped, but we were all careful to stay within our taped off boundaries.
A peek at my booth
My view
I’m quite proud of myself for only picking up a few goodies. I just had to get a pretty hair pin from the incredibly sweet and adorable Christine of Bean and the Sprout. I regretted not buying one earlier this year at Craft Saturday and I found one I could not resist. I even went back and ended up buying another later in the day to give to a pal who has a birthday this month.
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Hair pins from Bean and the Sprout – the photo really does not do justice to how gorgeous they are!
The only other thing I ended up buying was a sassy spandex headband from Leslie Hall. Unfortunately she was not dressed in character but it was still awesome that she was there.
I hope you’re all enjoying your post-holiday shortened week!
Being that I am typically incredibly shy, I’m not really sure how to start this, so I’ll just keep this brief. Welcome to Florence Oliver, my newest online blogging endeavor! I have been an on and off blogger since 2001 and the good ole days of Livejournal and Diaryland.
I have a lot of ideas to share (crafty projects, recipes, and inspiration in general) and I hope you enjoy the journey!
