My Weblog

French Laundry

Mull-er. I am one. On big decisions--or big to me--I mull. and mull. and mull some more.

Drives me crazy. Really crazy.

Finally. I made the decision. I know the direction I think am heading with respect to redecorating. More neutrals, a softer palette of colors...

There's been this bedding. I've drooled over it. Even lusted over it. Each time I ask what he thinks, the Mister says "do it"....but still, I mull some more. and more. and more. Then I receive an email. For two days, and two days only it will be on sale for 25% off and free shipping.

That's it. That's the incentive I needed to hit "buy"...

 

So on Saturday morning I meticulously study my notes carefully adding each item to my cart. Then with the biggest grin, I type in the secret code to receive the 25% off and free shipping deal.

Error code. The code you have selected is either typed incorrectly or has expired.

Silly me. I incorrectly typed it. Recheck my email. Type it again.

Error code again. OH NO! Has it expired? Recheck my email. Yes. It expired....like 8 hours ago. Eight hours. How did I let this happen?

I'm sick about it. Sick. Sick. Sick. But I'm still determined. I want it. And I want it for 25% off and free shipping. Period.

 
sigh. bigger sigh. even more sighing. Besides, I even have the bestest vintage phone I found that will look so cool sitting next to this bedding on the night chest. It even came with the monogrammed "S" in the center dial...that's the right initial not only for my first name, but our last name. And it came from France too...not to mention this bedding is from a line called French Laundry.

Come on. These are no coincidences! This was meant to be...

Hey wait. What if I call this company and beg? Politely of course.

Uh, huh. Great idea...so that's just what I did. And guess what? My order has been placed and I am receiving the 25% off and free shipping. Oh happy day!

Several of the pieces I wanted are on back order for two months. But hey...I've mulled for months and months and months over this purchase...what's a few more?

Morals of the story/Lessons Learned:

*Where there's a will there is a way?

**When the first person who takes your call says "no" emphatically, ask to speak to a supevisor.

***When they put you on hold forever and then come back and say that all the supevisors are still busy, say you'll be happy to hold for as long as it takes.

****Remind them that you've been a good customer through the years. The economy is rotten and you will be buying new bedding, it's just a question of will it be from them {at the expired promotional rate}? Or from a competitor?  

I sure hope I like this as much in person as I do in the photos. Whenever I splurge on something nicer, I force myself to keep it for a long, long, long time. Our last bedding, also purchased from this same company is now at least 12 years old and looks brand new.

 
Guess who else will look wonderful in this new bedroom decorating theme?

Are you feeling the love? I am...

Autumn in the Mountains

 
 

It just wouldn't seem like autumn without a family trip to the mountains. I should say family, plus friends, as we typically allow the kids to bring a few extra buddies along as well. While we had to send the kids home on Sunday to attend Monday classes, the Mister and I stayed on for a few extra days. Wait, let me clarify that...college kids were sent back to college and high school kids to a home with surrogate parents in place!

While this largely tourist area of Western North Carolina is decked out to the nines in fall decor {manmade and nature made}, this was by far my favorite manmade display. How creative is this?!

 
 
We could not have ordered nicer weather. Beautiful sunshine and warm afternoons. But the mornings and evenings were chilly...even "frost on the pumpkins"--and flowers in the morning....

 
The Mister and I agreed that the fall colors weren't quite as vibrant as last years' offering, but still beautiful. The locals said we missed peak by about a week. Nevertheless, the natural beauty of this area never fails to delight. While I took a ga-jillion photos, I'll share a few today and maybe some more later... 
 
 
 

 
 
I spotted this nest about 25 feet off the ground on one of our walks. It was still an active nest. Returning with a zoom lens to keep my distance I still had a few inhabitants of this abode dive bomb me. But I brought my doggie along...as if that would offer any extra protection! Doesn't this look like an ugly halloween mask? [start in the lower right hand quarter of the hive and zero in on the dark spot for the eye and then the nose prodruding from the same area...] The kind I would never let my kids wear when they were trick-or-treaters much to their bitter dismay at that place in time...mean mother that I was!

 

...a view from our deck...so peaceful...

 

 Ahhhh...but the reality of two trips back to back has left a wake of disaster when it comes to my real life and normal responsibilities...not to mention the need to catch up in bloggieland as well. But I wouldn't trade these times and the memories we've been blessed to gather together for anything.

But as I think about that last statement, I realize that many of my fondest memories of times together with my family have even been as simple as taking a bag of bread to the park and feeding the ducks. The important part is doing something together...

My First Tag Swap: Dorothy

ooops...this post was left sitting in my typepad folder just before i ran away to the mountains with my family...just needed to add a few url links before I pushed publish...

 

Yessiree,...my first tag swap! Karla was the hostess and I can only imagine the amount of time that went into coordinating this event! The glittery shoe you see in the above photo was an embellishment trinket, along with a cover tag Karla made and attached to the six tags I received. If you haven't guessed already, the theme was Dorothy/Wizard of Oz!

Here are some collage-type peeks of the fronts and some of the backs that were in my package...

 
click your heels together on any photo to enlarge!

 1. Cover tag by Karla Nathan   2. A button on the back of tag made by Nicole Kohmescher  3. A back view of the tag made by Karla   4. Tag made by Sandy O'Donavon   5. Tag made by Elizabeth Streeter   6. Tag by Nicole Kohmescher {not sure if all are bloggers but I included blog links of those that referenced a blog} 
1. Tag by Amy Pytlik   2. Scottie dog on Karla's tag   3. Tag by Kathy Semrick   4. Tag by Karla Nathan   5. Back of Amy's tag   6. Back of Kathy's tag

Because I won a contest on Karla's blog of guessing how many corsages she scored while galavanting across Texas, my prize for winning came in the package containing my tags for the swap. A red poppy corsage, how appropriate was that?!

 
It was attached to a book page from an old, old rendition of The Wizard of Oz with all my tags tucked inside. Adorable! 
A view of the book page on the reverse side...isn't that a great old font?

Of course, the red poppies, unbeknownst to Karla are near and dear to my heart as they remind me of the red {and blue} poppies I used to sell as a little girl to help raise monies for Veterans...

 
So thank you Karla, not only for the great old millinery corsage but also for reminding me of a sweet memory from my childhood! My father was a Disabled American Veteran from WWII so patriotism and gratitude for the cost of our freedom was something I learned at a very early age.

Below are a couple of shots of the tags I made. Incidentally, they are tacked to an old piece of tin ceiling with a magnet. I have a couple of the larger pieces of tin that I use for inspiration boards in my big old messy crafty room.

 
The scarecrow is showing the back of my tags... 
I sandwiched a vintage key between the front and back of my tag to use as a nontraditional "hole" for threading through some string/ribbon/etc. Sewed to the skirt is an old optometrist lens with a quote glued to the underside. And to borrow an old trick from the Wizard himself, "PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MESSY RED STITCHING!"

Like I mentioned, this was my first tag swap and hopefully not my last. It was so fun to get artwork from other talented people! Here's a link to the post on Karla's blog to see more of the tags that were made for this swap. It's also a great reference/post on how to host a swap!

Sea Island, Georgia

 
Just returned home from an enchanting trip to Sea Island, Georgia. A magical place. So full of beauty...breathtaking vistages...a place steeped in history...

 
It was truly another Cinderella experience for me. Being whisked from my real life of scooping up doggie doo-doo, cleaning bathrooms, and mostly wearing clothing suited to being slathered in doggie drool and collecting white fur...

 
...to finding myself in the middle of extreme extravagance...staying in a beautiful resort called The Cloisters...a place that was host to the G8 Summit back in 2004, the honeymoon location for George and Barbara Bush, a place where Winston Churchill's daughter was married...

...that kind of place...

 
We were actually there more on business to attend the PGA golf tournament but it sure didn't feel like work...elaborate buffets for every meal...daily gifts left in our room...people tending to your every want or need...

...meeting up with dear old friends who flew in from the Midwest...

 

 
...even though through the years because of hubby's line of work I've got to experience many wonderful adventures such as this, and meet many incredible people, I still pinch myself as I am very mindful of my humble roots...

 
...and for some reason those sentiments were even more pronounced on this particular trip...perhaps because more than once as I wandered the grounds of this Island tears slipped down my cheeks...long before this property became an opulent resort, it was a plantation...scattered throughout are the remains of what were once buildings, and even a graveyard for the slaves who worked on this plantation...

...very sombering...

 
I took way too many photos...and totally unlike me, my suitcase is still unpacked and we are about to leave again.........this time to the mountains....will I ever catch up in my real world? But hey....I'm taking my cues from Cinderella--when the opportunities to head to the dance present themselves, GO FOR IT!

Looking forward to catching up with all my sweet bloggie friends as well...

xo, Sue

The joys of bleach...

 
A few posts back I had mentioned that Linda had wrapped some cards in some yummy vintage crepe paper. Well, lo and behold, she zipped me a note to say this wasn't vintage crepe paper at all....rather, she had bleached it to make it appear old! How cool is that...{linda, send me the link to your tut on this process and I'll update this post! little ole challenged me couldn't find it}

EDITED UPDATE: Click here to see Linda's tutorial. Thank you, Linda!

So I guess you could say that one good bleach has led to another...

 

Ruffled sham is the original color...and larger piece is the duvet after taking a swim in the washing machine with a generous amount of bleach added!

Not long ago during a quick once and over look at a fav thrift store I found this bag of bedding. Mint condition. King duvet. Two shams. Dust ruffle. And three add'l yards of this yummy floral fabric. The weight and texture of the fabric is similar to a painter's drop cloth. It even reminds me a lot of the vintage barkcloth fabric used in drapes.

 
Do you see the nubbies in the fabric? It has a percentage of flax in the fabric content and the bleaching process only accentuated this wonderful texture. Despite the fact that the laundry instructions read DRY CLEAN ONLY!!! this laundered well with no shrinking, but I didn't put it in the dryer...you can only get lucky so long....

 
 Despite the fact that I could make this work into the scheme of my new decorating plans, I'm leaning towards more neutral tones...maybe some accent pillows? Or I could sell it to help fund these expensive booties I would love to buy and have snuggled on my feet as the colder weather sets in...

 
Wouldn't these be great with jeans?...and you wear them baretootsied, like an Ugg boot. The manufacturer is Quoddy. They are all handmade... J Crew has them in their most recent catalog. Every year they feature a pair of Quoddy's and every year I drool over them...and every year I never buy them! Full circle.

And as long as I'm mentioning great things, you have to go and see these pumpkins Theresa made here. She was inspired by another blogger and gives a link to that tutorial. Love the inspiration available in blogland, don't you?

Sharing some free images...

 
There's been a lot of chatter going on in blogland about hoarding. No doubt it has become a topic of conversation due to the new TV show featured on the history channel. But seriously...it is causing me to take a hard look at my own "collections"....yipes. This sentiment was only fueled by my middle child's recent teasing comment of "Mom, I think you have potential to become a hoarder one day!"

Whew. "ONE DAY." He didn't say that TODAY I am a hoarder. Rather, I have potential...but still. And he's right! As much as I hate to admit it, I have too much stuff. I have been a collector for several decades, but I need to scale back...big time. To share more....

So with that sentiment in mind, one goal of mine is to share more of my vintage stuff here in blogland with those who like this same stuff. So please feel free to save any of my images today for your own personal use. I'm perfectly fine with you using these images in things you will create for resale...just please don't sell the actual images in a collage sheet, CD, etc.

 
 
 
 
 

...and the same label in a couple of other colors...

 

 

 If anyone has some great advice, words of wisdom, ideas they've used for de-stashing I'd love to hear them! Meanwhile, I did manage to do a once through the old closet and have two knee high piles of stuff that's going to Goodwill...

...one box at a time....wish me luck....or better yet, perseverance, discipline, focus, determination.......!

I dare you...

 
{{Laura at 52Flea interviewed a European artist here and when I read the words quoted above, they called to me...I loved those words...it's so easy in life to stay in our safe little comfort zones, but we all know that real growth comes when we step outside those carefully guarded perimeters of "safe"...}}

The little single pink rose was a summer gift that appeared on one of my rose bushes this summer. But learning how to glam up this photo was a direct result of learning a few of the basic manuevers in Photoshop Elements. Of course, I have to mention that there are also several layers of Kim's new magic pack textures applied to this photo as well...

 
...her newest textures that I am totally in love with....

 
"Technical" things like computers, sophisticated remote controls (!), blackberry's, elaborate software programs, etc. all give me major fits. I am not gifted at all in the world of technical. Photoshop Elements fell into this same category..........it was like reading Greek. And I don't read Greek. So if my latest posts are making me sound like a Kim Klassen groupie.....I only have this to say.....I admit it. I have become an avid fan........she taught me the gift of using photoshop.

If I can learn PSE, anyone can...so when I read that Kim is offering a FREE Beginner's class to Photoshop, I had to share this information. And if you didn't already know it, Adobe also offers a FREE 30 day trial download to PSE. Check it out here.

One thing that I am pretty decent at though, is math. And free + free = FREE! So what do you have to lose?

I dare you......

xo, Sue