So...hello again...again.

So...hello again...again.
 

I  smile every time I get  a notification from Pinterest that something I  pinned has been repinned.  It's kind of a  warm fuzzy thing that tells me I'm not alone out here; that there are others who love the same things I do.  I thought it might be fun to show you my current most  repinned pin. This is from Old Souls Studio.   I first pinned it about a year ago, the amazing folks from Old Souls had posted it in November 2012!  Seriously cool right?

If you love this look please visit the creative souls from Old Souls Studio on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/Old-Soul-Studios-260723766751/timeline  or http://oldsoulstudios.blogspot.com/


Oh, and if you have any old lampshades that you're not going to use...well, you know where to find me!

My goodness!  Has it really been that long since I posted?  Yes, Michele, it really has been that long! Silly, silly woman!   The silliest (oddest, strangest, most coincidental) bit is that I've recently been reading posts from more than several of my favorite bloggers who are now slowing down their blogging and considering stopping  all together yet here I am trying it one more time. Huh and go figure!
 2014 was  full of lots of surprises and challenges that I'm still coming to terms with.  Maybe I need to send my thoughts "out (t)here" in order to get them (and me) in order for 2015.  Again, I say huh! and now we'll see what happens

Words for 2012

Just found this via Pinterest. SO timely! I was visiting with my sweet friend and we were discussing words - words that move us, empower us, and yes, even scare us a little. Each of us had a word in mind for 2012. Merrilee, being much more organized than I, has already started a journal related to her word. I'm still just thinking about mine...the usual story of lots of thinking but not much doing...hence my choice of words for this year: "FOCUS" and "FOLLOW THROUGH". Yes, I know that's two words but they are so entwined, at least in my life, that I need to work on both of them, focusing on the project, problem, dream, idea, task at hand and then following through with the work that needs to be done to complete them. I am so notorious for bouncing from one thing to another, starting lots and finishing none! Then, during our conversation (isn't it wonderful to have friends !) I also realized that I needed to have more FUN with what I am doing and the reason I wasn't having as much fun was that FEAR had taken up residence in my heart - fear of failure, fear of loss, fear of rejection.....you know...all that scary stuff that makes me just want to crawl back into bed and pull the covers up over my head! So without further ado - the official, put it out to the universe, list of 2012 Words To Live By "FOCUS, FOLLOW THROUGH & FUN (with no FEAR!) .

(Have I mentioned that I love alliteration!)

xoxo,

Michele

Hello 2012

Dear 2012,

Welcome! Maybe... I think! Sorry, it's not that I don't like you - it's only that we've just met and I really don't know you that well yet. There have been a few past years that I have greeted with great joy and hope and wonderful expectations and they have kind of let me down. Actually, we may have let each other down, and that is something we can ( need to, will) talk about later, but right now I'm trying to work out how to make us the very bestest of friends. So let's do promise to work on it, work on us, let's really do be newest bestest friends!

xoxo, Michele

The Most Wonderful Time...

And once again I remember why I'm a bad blogger - this will be the 3rd time I've attempted this one simple little post...hopefully the 3rd time will be the charm.

Here are a few photos of the shop, still tweaking and fluffing and I figure I'll have it just the way I want it by December 27th! Some many ideas...so little time...you all know how that goes!

Will try to get back and post a few more but in case I don't (and with me that's a very real possibility!) I wish you and yours the happiest, merriest, healthiest, most joyful of holidays! It is indeed "the most wonderful time of the year".

First Attempt

Here's one of the "shoots" I had been thinking about.
Emmaline is my vintage dress form.  I found her in New Bedford last year and fell in love with her, but not her price.  I stared and stared, drooled and drooled but decided I just couldn't justify it.  I thought about her the whole drive home, all evening, had a dream about her that night, got up the next morning thinking about her, drove back to New Bedford and brought her home!

She's feeling a bit blue today, but not in a bad sad sort of way, in fact, she's feeling quite frisky!


She's donned her saucy little lace trimmed slip in the palest of blues...

then tied on the oh-so-flirty blue and white polka-dot apron.....

layered on her favorite baubles and beads.....

Then pinned on the most fabulous blue rose for a little touch of romance.

HMMMMM - still not quite what I envisioned, but it's better....

Scenes from the Shop

I am going to do it! Really I am! I am going to get out that camera and start taking pictures! Then I'm going to figure out how to take better pictures. I've got loads of ideas for "shoots" swirling thru my head and I must get them out of there before they drive me crazy! In between the taking of the pictures I'm going to master how to get those pictures right where I want them in posts. So be warned! It may not be pretty at first...but I am going to do it!
Here a a few shots of little scenes in the shop (WARNING - Blatant self promotion ahead - all items are available for purchase!)

IT'S ALL COMING BACK TO ME....

I m remembering why I'm such a bad blogger....It's because I'm such a slow learner! And because I have no short term memory!
I wrote a nice little story last week about my lovely day antiquing. I have a couple of great photos too. But I cannot seem to get the photos from my phone to my computer and then into the blog post!
So flusterbating! I hate that my "smart phone" and laptop, are, in fact, smarter than me!
But - coincidentally - part of the post was about the latest issue of Jeanne D'Arc Living magazine that I picked up in my travels and they have just started a FaceBook page http://www.facebook.com/jeannedarcliving so I can at least share that with you!
Totally gorgeous, inspiring, drool worthy publication!

A Lazy Summer Day

It's been a bit warm in the shop so instead of the cleaning and redos I should be doing I've been working on the more sedentary type things on my frighteningly long To-Do List. Started sorting, measuring and pricing my boxes, bags and bins of vintage laces and trims. I used some of my vintage stamps to indicate the length of each piece, either in yards or inches. I really like the look.

DREAMY Etsy Treasury

I so love Etsy! I love selling on it! I love buying on it! I love getting lost in it! I can spend more hours than I care to admit just drifting through it - going from one amazing artist's shop to another; finding the most gorgeous and wonderous vintage items, being inspired always!

I absolutely adore the Treasury feature. Members create a photo collage of listed items that follow a theme - sometimes it's a color or a season. Sometimes the photos tell a story.

It's always an honor to be included in one. Today I have the honor of having one of my shop items included in this delicious and dreamy treasury. Please visit and get lost for a moment.

Seriously? It's January 13th?

Time flies! Not just a gentle little butterfly flutter along - it speeds - it races! I really don't know where the past two weeks have gone...holidays and snowstorms - sick tummies and a 1st birthday - an anniversary and a visit from an old friend. I guess a lot has been happening but almost two weeks worth??? Two weeks into a new year???? Have I lost my grip on 2011 already? That's a scary thought!

I did take some photos (yeah I know, for me that's kinda scary too). I took a whole bunch of photos, but sadly, only a few are semi-decent. Sadly, none of the shop photos of Christmas turned out. I have to brag a bit and say the shop did look magical in December. But, a few of the more wintry ones aren't too bad - so without further ado and apologizing... a few winter vignettes from The Cape House.

OK it seems I do have to apologize because the photos were supposed to be at the end of the post and were supposed to be arranged differently and there are actually a few more that I wanted to show but now that I can't seem to get this silly post formatted the way I want I'm just going to hit publish and then go pout.....Grrrrrr Argggggg!

Just saying HI!

ROMANTIC HOMES

How exciting! So exciting! Can I hear a Woo Hoo and Woot Woot? The latest issue of Romantic Homes magazine was delivered to the shop today. It's their holiday issue and it is filled with serious eye candy (as always) fabulous DIY projects (as always) loads of great articles (again, as always) BUT the thing that makes this issue so special to me is that I am in it! Well, OK, it's not like I'm in any way featured, no photos or articles, but, my shop name and address and contact details are in the "Dealer Listings" pages, page 106 to be exact. Seriously, how cool is that? Seriously, to me, it's very, very cool!

OMG! ANOTHER POST! or I USED TO BE SCHIZOPHRENIC BUT WE"RE OK NOW

Today was a sort of me day - no place I had to be - shop is closed - my night off from the restaurant. Had a whole lot of things I "should" do - house cleaning, shop paperwork, packaging, listing on Etsy, fall garden clean up etc., etc., etc. - but no one thing that I absolutely positively "had" to do. So I ended up visiting some blogs, and then some other blogs and then I actually posted on my blog (about another blog) and then I visited a few more blogs - guess it turned into a blog day. Found a new blog that I fell in love with and compared it to the blog I'd blogged about - that I also love - and I realized that I am still a bit schizophrenic. Ever since I had more then one room to decorate (my first apartment) I have always had two different styles going on. There has always been at least one "girly" thing happening, usually my bedroom, maybe a bathroom - something that has some pink and white and sometimes a touch of green, a bit of pale blue, maybe a small splash of yellow. Then there has always been a rustic, primitive thing with lots of texture, natural wood, chippy paint (some of it white-some not). See, a little schizy. I just can't not have both of them, all of them. Wait....maybe I'm not schizophrenic, maybe I'm just greedy. So I shared Curious Sofa earlier, then Fabulous Fifi today (see what I mean) and just a bit ago I found Lambs & Ivy (the fact that she's playing Jackson Browne didn't hurt). Visit her blog http://www.vintagesusieandwings.blogspot.com/

A POST ABOUT A POST

Since I haven't yet managed to come up with that perfect post I want to write (damn this whole perfectionism thing!!!!!) I thought I would share some (OK - today it's just going to be one) of my favorite people, places and things. That is a large part of what I admire about the blogging community; the willingness, no, the eagerness to share...not just your own stuff - be it thoughts, photos, projects or whatever, but other peoples stuff as well.

So here's some stuff from the truly Fabulous Fifi. If you have ever read an issue of Romantic Country magazine you all ready know Fifi. Visit her blog and get to know her a little better. Pour your beverage of choice, settle down in your favorite reading spot and be prepared for lots of wonderful ... well, actually, that about sums it up ... be prepared for lots of wonderful!

Oh, and speaking of wonderful, Fifi is doing a wonderful giveaway this month and you still have time to get your name in the hat (a wonderful romantic rose covered hat I'm sure).

WHY AM I HERE

So I've been doing all this fretting, worrying, stressing about blogging. I want to do it, but I so want to do it right, and since I'm not sure I can do it right I haven't really done it. I've now decided that there is no right....it just is what it is. Just as I is what I is. I'll try to share a little more of who I is and the things I is doing and those I hope to do.

CURIOUS SOFA HALLOWEEN

Who would have guessed back in 1995 when I closed my first shop and left the Kansas City area to follow my husband's career path to the great Northwest that one day I would be visiting KC often (via the Internet) for doses of inspiration and the very best eye candy ever! Deb Dusenberry - the brilliant, creative, savvy force behind Curious Sofa is who I want to be when I grow up. We have never met, I've not been back to KC since she opened her business so my knowledge of her is only through her words and photos BUT what words and what photos! If you have not yet met her and seen her work (and creating the business she has is a work of art!) run right over to her blog http://www.curioussofa.blogspot.com/

and then her online store

http://www.curioussofa.com/

I'll let her tell you her story.

To Blog or Not to Blog

Why do I so very much want to blog and why do I so struggle with it? (I'm doing that thinking thing again.) I love blogs, I adore them; they make me smile and swoon and giggle and laugh and ohh and ahh and wonder and wish. They inspire me and energize me. I so very much appreciate each and every post I read. I want to give back to all those bloggers who have made me smile, swoon, giggle, laugh... I worry that I won't.
I want to give you all great eye candy - but I so suck at taking pictures! (Really - I do! Have you scrolled down to my last photo attempt? See what I mean?)
I want to give you all what you have given me ... that feeling of being part of a great big circle of creative, curious, generous, gracious, fun, fanciful and just plain wicked awesome women.
So I'm going to try to get past the thinking (aka fretting & worrying) and just go with the doing.

JUST THINKING

I think about this blog every day. Really, I do. I think about what I want from it. I think about what I want for it. I think about why I want to do it. I think about the things I want to say & the people I want to say those things to. I think about questions I want to ask & the people I hope might answer. I think about the things I know I want to share & the things I wonder if I should share. I think I think too much. I do a whole lot of thinking but not a whole lot of doing. I think it is time to change that. What do you think?