button bracelet party!

We're going to have a button bracelet party at The Cottage next Wednesday at 6:30 pm. Email me for registration information. I'd love to see you there!

santa baby...

Each year I compose a wish list for my sweetie, friends and family to use so that shopping for me is easier. I thought maybe I'd put it up for all the world to see.

This sweater reminds me of Doris Day. :) Happily it is on sale for a fraction of the original price. (psst, Rich? Hurry...it might not be there for long!)



I adore this charm bracelet with cameos all around. Love love!

I need a new stylish wallet. You know me, PINK!


I am so in love with these new pajamas from Susan Branch! I love them all but if I had to pick, of course, I'd pick pink. But at this price, get me all three Santa Baby!


Don't these bath fizzies look yummy? You know how much I love a hot soak. These are from my good friend Kim's new online boutique.


Tell me these don't look exactly like me! I know I have lots of notecards already but they make me so daggon happy.


That's it for now. I have more to list but I don't want to get nauseating.

T-Day History!

Thanksgiving was FABULOUS! Many said that the turkey was the best they ever had (not exactly music to my mother-in-law's ears, but boy did it make my day!) I made a chestnut sausage stuffing which everyone gobbled up. The tables were set oh-so-beautifully in mix and match style. Everything went very well. I didn't take pictures...I intended to but there was no time. Thank you everyone for your well-wishes and advice!

Today I'm off to enjoy Black Friday at The Cottage. Come visit me if you're in the area!

Turkey Day Countdown...

Monday finds me with a messy house, a 27-pound fresh turkey in my refrigerator, and a laundry list of things to do. I think I should play "I will survive" about a hundred times as I prepare for Thanksgiving Day.

On Thanksgiving Day 4 years ago, my sweet little nephew Seth was born. He came a whole month early (he was supposed to be a Christmas baby!) We celebrated his birthday this weekend with a party at the movie theatre. We saw Chicken Little. It would have been lame if I weren't sitting right next to squirmy Seth who seemed to love every bit of it (until the last 35 minutes when he kept telling his Dad that he was ready to go home!) My father who is a deaf as a doornail complained that the movie was so loud. Regardless, he fell asleep almost immediately. My mother said that it was the stupidest movie she'd ever seen. My sister Jessica laughed at all the funny things...it made me laugh just to hear the things she laughed at. :)

I gave Seth this game...Elefun. He and Maggie had the best time catching butterflies...or as Maggie likes to call them "Hairbows".

I also gave Seth a snowglobe. I was contemplating buying it at the store...shaking up each of the assortment and playing their music when a little boy came up and asked in the sweetest little voice "Can you please show me that?" His mother yelled at him before I could show him but it did make me see how much little people would enjoy something like a musical snowglobe. A few times this weekend, Seth and I enjoyed a quiet moment gazing into the snowy world in the globe. My heart just melted with little Seth said "I wish I could be inside there!"

pictures from The Cottage

big news!

Please forgive me for not blogging lately. I have been super busy preparing for the trunk show and then doing the trunk show.

Said trunk show was a wonderful success. I met some of my customers (which is such a joy to me!) and made many new friends. Oh and we had a tremendous time! Linda and Ann are so much fun to be around.

I need to show you pictures of the shop because my words cannot do justice. Since I don't have pictures (darn it!) I'll tell you. The Cottage feels like home. It has such a beautiful energy about it that is somehow exciting and calming at once. In every nook of the charming 18th century cottage there's a delight to behold.

They've taken an old green store dress form and have made her a bikini out of poinsettias. You've got to see it! I'll take pictures (I promise!) next time I'm there.

They have the most gorgeous bed linens that are all handmade with the sweetest fabrics ever. They have three iron beds all fluffed and puffed with these dreamy bed linens. If they let me I would have climbed up on one and drifted into sweet sleep just like little goldielocks.

Oh, and the lamps! They are beyond beyond! The lamp bases are all antique but are fitted with new handmade lampshades with the most gorgeous fabrics and festooned with pom-pom fringes and such. I look around at my ordinary lamps and think that I must have one of these new fancies.

I could go on and on...and I probably will soon...but I have got a stack of orders to get out today (Thank you!) so I'd better get busy with it.

p.s. Can you tell I'm excited?

post p.s. I forgot to tell you THE BIG NEWS! They've asked me to permanently sell some of my things at The Cottage. Am I a lucky girl or what???!

trunk show!

I have some exciting news for local customers...I'm going to be doing a trunk show at the cutest little shop you'll ever see...The Cottage in Leesburg, Virginia.

Details...details! My new and wonderful friends Ann and Linda who both have spaces at Luckett's have created the MOST charming little shop called The Cottage. I wish I had pictures to show you...it's just perfect. They've asked me to bring some of my wares (including brand new button bracelets!) for a trunk show this weekend for their GRAND OPENING.

I would love so much to meet you. If you happen to be in the area (or would like to make the trip), please stop by. I'll be there from 10 to 5 on Friday, Saturday and possibly Sunday.

The Cottage
219 West Market Street
Leesburg, Virginia
703.443.0058
Just two blocks up from the famous Tally Ho theatre.

I will post pictures of some of the special things that I'm making for the Trunk Show.

ready set cook!

Yesterday's lesson on cooking Thanksgiving dinner has really inspired me. Chef Linda, our guide through the Thanksgiving dinner tour, gave us lots of wonderful suggestions.

We learned about brining a turkey. You wouldn't believe how tasty it makes a bird! I'm going to do a test turkey next week just to be sure. You can even brine a frozen turkey and let it defrost in the solution.

After cooking the turkey, put it on the serving platter and place it in a very clean cooler or thermal carry-all (no ice, of course). The turkey will keep very warm safely for up to 2 hours. During that time you can reheat all of the dishes that you made the day before.

Do the prep work for the casseroles and side dishes ahead of time. Premeasure the ingredients and put them in ziplock bags. You can even put all of the ingredients in the dish you will cook it in and store in the fridge. That way, when you are ready to make the sweet potato casserole, everything you need is waiting for you.

Use disposable aluminum pans whenever feasible. That'll make clean up that much easier.

The reason that we don't eat the stuffing from a stuffed bird isn't because we are being much more careful than our grandparents. It used to be that all of the butchery was done by hand. But because of the repetitive motion, butchers often developed carpal tunnel syndrom. Now robots do all of the butchery...and without the finesse of a human butcher. Where the human butcher would carefully miss the intestines, the robot very often cuts right through. When the bird is cooked, the stuffing is still way below 165 degrees...which means it is just swimming with bacteria. When Chef Linda explained it all this way, it made me realize just how important it is to pass on the stuffing from inside the bird.

thanksgiving 101

I can't complain because I brought it all on myself. We are hosting Thanksgiving this year for 27 people! I think I must have lost my marbles to suggest that Thanksgiving be at our house for Rich's family but we do have a nice sized kitchen with two ovens and 5 burners and lots of counter space.

I signed up for a Thanksgiving cooking class tomorrow morning at Williams-Sonoma. I am going to take notes and pay attention (I really was one of those who sat at the front row in class!)

This will be only my second turkey. A few years ago on a quiet weekend in early Autumn I told my mother that I thought I might make a turkey just for fun. My mother started telling me how hard it would be to find a fresh turkey and that I wouldn't have enough time to thaw a frozen turkey. Well, I thought, she just doesn't know what resources I have living in a semi-urban area. I searched and searched and finally did find a nice fresh turkey. It was wonderful. In the middle of our Sunday dinner of nice turkey, my mother called and asked sarcastically (which really isn't her nature) "How's your tuuuuurkey?" To which I replied, of course, "very good".

So now whenever I come up with some impossible scheme which Rich knows that I will find a way to do but anyone else would give up on, he always asks me "How's your tuuuuurkey?" And it is almost always very good. :)