another fun preppy bag

I thought I would post another fun, preppy bag as we here in the Northeast prepare for tomorrow's Nor'easter.  It is just a little ray of sunshine.....

Sarah Langley has a fun line of bags, accessories, home items and stationery to fill your preppy needs.  They just came out with some new patterns and here are my favorites:

This is the park tote.  I have one, and it FABULOUS.  There are interior pockets and a snap closure.  This is the pink poppy color.  I also like their pink blooms which you can see here in the top Carrie-all.

  This bag is great for throwing in your wet beach items.  There is an interior wipeable lining.

Soon enough, we will be able to actually use these items around here!!!!

food for thought- homemade salsa

I just thought I would share this recipe because it is so good and so easy to make!


Homemade Salsa

2-3 cloves of garlic

1/8-1/4 tsp fresh cilantro

3-4 plum tomatoes
1/8 tsp sea salt
lime juice from 1/4 lime
onion (optional)

Wash and dry cilantro.  Grind the cilantro and garlic in good processor for 5 seconds.   Add the tomatoes to food processor and grind for 5-8 seconds.  Add the lime juice and sea salt.

You can add the onion with the cilantro and garlic.  If the consistency isn't to your liking after 5-8 seconds, grind for a bit longer.

Voila!  So simple and so good!!!

it's time

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to start writing my book.  I can't believe it has been eight months since my sister passed away.  I feel like time has passed so much faster in the last few years, and it has gone by especially fast these last eight months.  Part of me has this silly misconception that once we meet the one year mark, her memory will be gone.  I know that sounds silly, but it is like crossing a new threshold.  Now every time I do things, I can remember back to last year when Kim was here.  Last year when I hosted book club she was alive,  last February vacation we had plans for the kids, when we signed up for t-ball last March, we did it together, April vacation we went to Claytime to make something from the kids for our mother, shortly after that she was hospitalized, a week later we went to a 40th birthday party, and a week after that she passed away.  It is almost like being on an amusement park ride that is going too fast, and there is no way to slow it down.  

Once Memorial Day comes and goes everything will be new, and nothing will be anything I experience with her.  I have only actually gone to call her once in the last eight months; I got as far as picking up the phone before I realized she wasn't going to answer.  But there have been so many times when I have needed to tell her something, whether it be something silly or sad, I have needed to hear her feedback on the issue.  She was the first person I would contact and say, "OMG listen to this..."  When I was down, she picked me up.  

When I did the spa days with the girls her oldest girl told me it was her first pedicure, and I thought how sad that I am doing it.  Katie has a disability and uses crutches.  Her feet aren't shaped the way the rest of ours are, and her toes have begun to cross one another.  Truth be told, her feet are not her most beautiful feature.  And come to think of it, if she hasn't already begun to think this, I am sure as she gets older and kids get more mean, it will be the one feature she will try to hide.  Her mother should be here to see the pure joy on her face and at how pretty her toes were, and she should have been there to see the smile on Katie's face as she looked at them.  And anyone can say, "She was there in spirit."  But she should have been the one painting them.   

My sister was an amazing person, and why it is she was only here for 40 years, I will never know, but I would love for people to hear her story and get to know her better.  So it is time for me to start.  I bought by pink flashstick MONTHS ago to start putting the ideas down, and although I will never forget the details of her, I do no want to forget the details of that day in the hospital and how I felt watching her as I realized what was really happening.

SO now that I am fully crying, I am committed to starting this weekend.  Because every time I would say to her, "Seriously, WHEN I am ever going to follow through on one of these projects?"  She would answer, "Of COURSE you will- you'll see."  So this is the time.

book club selection

It was my month to host book club, and I chose the much talked about The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  I said a while back I have had trouble concentrating and finding the time to actually finish a book.  This month, I was motivated by the fact I was the hostess and so happy I was, as the book was excellent!  We have read a collection of sad, depressing books, and although this wasn't all happy, the book had what I would call a happy ending.

The book follows the point of view of three different narrators through the lives of white employers and black employees in Jackson Mississippi in the early 60's.  The two black narrators tell the stories of their lives as "the help" working for their white employers.  Their stories tell of both deplorable treatment by their families, but also stories of kindness of the lonely women for whom they are employed.

The white narrator is a recent college grad who is not falling into the expected lifestyle of other young, Southern women.  Instead of marrying and having babies, Skeeter, a plain Jane, wants to become a journalist and is not all that interested in domestic life.  She is inspired by the stories of the various women who work for her family and the families of her friends.  They collaborate to get these stories down on paper.  At the time they are writing, events are unfolding in the US that will change their lives as they know it.

I loved the characters, was appalled by the treatment of some of the help and touched by the kindness of others.

Next up: Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay

emetophobia

Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a severe fear of vomit.  I don't want to be doing it, I don't want to know you are, I certainly don't want to know that your child who has been in the presence of mine has been, and I will NEVER be the one to hold back your hair.

This runs deep into my family's roots, and it has been this way since as long as I can remember.  My mother, my sister, cousins, nieces etc...the list goes on and on.  My husband has often said, "It is time to break the cycle." My daughter, who is now seven, and my nieces and nephew who range in age from 11 down to 6, are now accustomed to me saying, "Are you going to throw up?" ANYTIME they say their stomach hurts, of if they cough funny, whatever.

I have been known in the past (YEARS ago) when I became aware Hannah had been with someone who had the stomach flu, to limit her food intake.  Yes, limit.  It is CRAZY, I KNOW.  But given it takes 2-5 days to catch it, I was always in a state of panic for that time period.  I no longer do this.  And during this same time period, if I knew she had been with someone, once we entered the "red zone", which quite frankly starts the EXACT second I realize someone has it, until 5 days later, I would be on edge six to eight hours after Hannah ate.  So...if she ate dinner at 5, between 11 and 1 AM, I was on edge straining and listening for her to be coughing or crying.  Crazy..yes, I KNOW.  There is therapy for these type of of things.  And if I DID hear any sort of noise from her room, my legs would instantly go rubber, and I myself would have a stomachache.

I will avoid any family that has the bug for the 5-day time period.  I went to a NYE's party, and before I arrived a child got sick (maybe due to a concussion- perhaps this is a lie people are still trying to get me to believe),a group decision was made NOT to tell me the kid had gotten sick.  Had I known this information prior to getting there, I would not have gone at all.  Yes I am that crazy.  However, Hannah was already there and either way she would have been exposed.

We got the phone call I dread from school the other day.  Hannah had gotten sick, and we had to come and get her.  Thank goodness, Jay went.  I would have been driving 110 mph to get her home so she wouldn't get sick in the car.  As it turns out, the poor kid did get sick before they got here.  At any rate, she was very, very sick that night.  BUT lucky me, I was sprinting out the door to work!

Hopefully now we will be in the clear till next year.  And contrary to my husband's belief, people don't have antibodies for a year that prevent them from getting it.

i love letterpress

I absolutely love stationery.  I like buying it, I like receiving it, and I really like the idea of creating it.  I have been long since creating (in my mind of course, I am sure you are all catching on), of having a stationery company.  The one thing I lack is, well artistic talent.  I can't draw, but I have been playing around with Illustrator to try to graphically make things.  Now, as with all my other endeavors, I get part of the way through and don't finish.  I also had the idea to be a stationery vendor where people shop for different vendors through my company.  Then I fell in love with letterpress.

Here is my press:

I bought it off Ebay for $100.  When I told my husband that I had won and had to go to Rhode Island to pick it up, he did not understand that the press I bought did not fit into the back seat.  Much to his sadness, we had to rent a truck, and he and my father had to load this 2000 pound press onto the truck and ultimately into the garage.  That was two and a half years ago.

I had gone to an all day workshop through May Day Studio.  I had worked on a hand press and had decided this was something I was going to do (what a surprise.)  After months of looking and looking I finally found this press and won!

I have taken a lot of teasing about the lack of activity from the press.  My father likes to talk about how much the press is being, "overworked."  And asking me how I keep up with, "the number of orders I have been taking."  etc. etc.

So yes, I bought the press and 99% of what I need to get it going.  People ask why I would want to use that ole machine when I could print something off the computer.  What they don't understand is letterpress is an art.  The finished products doesn't compare to what comes off an inkjet printer.

NOW in the meantime, before I really get my press going, I have fallen in love with this!

This set includes everything I need to produce letterpress in a smaller, neater work area.  Once I figure out how it all works, I will post a finished product.  When I brought it home, Jay said, "Thank goodness you have a back up for the one in the garage!  If that one EVER broke down, you would be lost!."  Ha ha the teasing goes on.

People crete some fabulous things!  In later posts I will highlight some of these talented printers.

Have a great day!

stella and dot

I am invited to a Stella and Dot Jewelry party next week, and I have never heard of them.  In anticipation, I browsed the website and found this ring:

I am intrigued to see the jewelry in person!  I am thinking about becoming a stylist.....and I am also thinking about doing my first giveaway!

Anyone else heard of them?  You like 'em, love 'em, what?