Saturday, September 29, 2007

Adventures in Landscaping




Here's what it looked like before... in the spring. Hopefully the tulips will bloom again this year (but that's not why I'm blogging).




We replanted the little evergreen tree (that used to be by the small fence next to the front door) by the mailbox to bring some interest to that space. Hopefully those little bushes will bloom sometime soon! There are little buds forming on them, so I'm hoping we'll get to see some flowers before winter sets in.

















Here's "before" photo #2...

















We just planted a Skeeter's Broom Japanese Maple where our spiral tree used to be. It's a little misshapen, but it should grow to be about 6-7 feet tall. I'm thinking that I should really prune a lot off the top so that it looks more tree-like. Does anyone have any suggestions about that? I'm kinda scared because it's a slow growing plant. Anyway, we've wanted to plant a Japanese Maple for a long time, and I'm so glad we did it!

Us... in New Hampshire.. Again















So here I am being awesome in my "Bono" sunglasses... as Dave calls them... 









I think this one's pretty cute of Dave and me. I have a little bit of "sun bling" goin on :)

Saturday, September 22, 2007

A New Hampshire Sunset


Dave and I got lost this evening on the way to our latest gig, but we still took time to admire the beautiful landscape. Here's a sample of Dave's handiwork.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Inspiration via Amy Butler


We found a cute little quilt shop in downtown Concord, New Hampshire, and Dave suffered while I shopped for 10 minutes. I found this fabulous Amy Butler fabric that I'm planning to use on future onesies. I'm VERY excited!

Pretty New Hampshire




Dave and I just finished playing a gig in New Hampshire, and man, is it beautiful! Here are some of the photos Dave took. The first one is a building in downtown Concord (the capitol of New Hampshire), and the other photos are of the Presbyterian church in Antrim where we played a concert tonight. 
The pastor told us that there's actually victorian stenciling on all the walls underneath the awful acoustic paneling that was added in the sixties. They hope to remove it eventually when they get the funds. I saw a small sample of the paint tucked away behind the organ, and it's gorgeous!

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Store Brainstorm





Here are a few of my ideas for my etsy store:
1. photograph all my onesies like this...
2. call the store: "lovely little things," so that I can add items that don't have to do with babies, and the name still works.  
3. I will upgrade to Carter's brand onesies instead of Gerber
Here are my concerns:
1. I will have a very limited selection (i.e. one style in one size)
2. I will have to carry around all my inventory when we travel so that I can fill orders from the road.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

My Cute Parents


We found this super adorable old photo of my parents a few months ago. I love my mom's dress and the wind blowing in her hair. Oh, nostalgia...

Monday, September 17, 2007

I Haven't Been Blogging...


... because I sprained my ankle on Sunday! I was just stepping out the front door, and my left foot landed half-way on the welcome mat, and half-way on the ground. I heard the all-too-familiar "pop," (I've sprained the right ankle twice, but the left is now in the lead with 3 sprains) and then I was on the ground... not crying, but laughing. I'm not quite sure why. Perhaps I was thinking, "how in the world could this have happened? I wasn't even doing anything athletic!" Anyhow, here's a photo Dave took of me this morning. Can you tell how genuinely happy I am by my genuine smile?

Friday, September 14, 2007

So What If I'm Obsessed?

I think I found myself a new hobby.... I bought a pack of long-sleeved onsies, and some new fabric yesterday. The tags say that the size is 18 months, but they look VERY small for 18 months. Anyway, my challenge was to make more boy styles (flowers are a no-brainer for girls), and I think I've succeeded. I decided to sew a little bit of detailing on the sleeve, which turned out to be very cute. These might be my favorite yet, and I'm even starting to consider opening my own store on etsy.com just for fun. Here are the pics:

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Fun Shoes


Okay, so here's ANOTHER Target find. I'm not normally one for animal print, but I thought these were soo cute :).... and for $10, I couldn't resist!

Connie's Bids Us Farewell



Since Dave and I moved to Nashville a year ago, I've enjoyed driving past Connie's Thrift Store (which my friend, Sarah, lovingly calls "Connie's Crack House," and my husband calls "Connie's Crap"). Every time we roll by I crane my neck to see all of the treasures that were hauled outside of the store earlier that morning... I say "treasures," Dave says "crap." He laughs at me when I do this because he says that I always smile when I'm surveying the goods. 


Now comes the sad news: Connie's is no more! She is closing her doors forever to treasure hunters such as myself. I couldn't help wading through the... mostly garbage... to see if I could find one or two last things. Here are my finds.. frame + dish= $3 : 

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Guest Bedroom



We've been able to use our guest bedroom quite a bit in the last year. I think we've had 10 guests stay there so far (not all at the same time of course :). 


It was originally tan, then I decided to paint it red to make it feel cozy... turns out it was a little tocozy and dark. 












I realized that no matter what I did to try to accessorize the red room, nothing felt quite right. So, I decided to paint it white (even though Dave refused to help... since we had just painted the room red a few months earlier). I LOVE the way it turned out. The difference is more dramatic than the photos reflect. The fresh white walls are a better fit for our cottage-style home. Yay.

More Where That Came From


Since there was such a great response to the onsies, I thought I'd make some 18-month-size versions. Here they are!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

baby gift ideas


There are so many websites out there right now that have THE CUTEST baby stuff... and yet, they are soooo expensive! I've been doing a bit of research, and I've discovered that I can make most of the products that I like. So, today, I made these sweet little onesies to give as baby shower gifts.

Saturday, September 8, 2007




I bought this green desk a few months ago to use for song writing. I really love it, but here are my two issues:
#1. I don't like how the green desk looks against green walls... throw in the brown curtains, and it's all a bit too much.
#2. I'm not exactly thrilled with the fact that the paint is almost certainly lead-based, and it's peeling off everywhere.





Solution: paint the desk white.


It was a big step, but I'm glad I did it. I like how fresh it looks in my little writing room. I hope that many lovely songs are created at my wonderfully white desk.

Target Comes Through



I wanted to find a cute, lightweight dress I could use as a cover-up when we go to Hawaii next month. I went to Target yesterday and bought this fun little number.

It was a banana muffin morning

Here's a photo of my handiwork

Friday, September 7, 2007

A Melding of Sorts

I decided to use elements of option #1 and #2 to come up with this. Behold... option #3


No green plants, but it still looks cheerful to me :)

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Manly Quilt?


I made this quilt as a thank you gift for our friend Mitch. He did a fabulous job producing our last record, so I want to make him something that would be meaningful.

The challenge was to try to make a quilt look masculine so that it could be used in the studio. The decor in the decidedly "manly space" includes ethnic wood carvings and fabrics, aliens and spaceships, and, last but not least, skeletons. So how to find fabrics that include these elements and still look good...


I was really pleased with the way it turned out, and Mitch loves it too!

My goal is to be a better photographer as a result of this blog. Here's a little corner of my home that I like... apparently I didn't get the lighting quite right, but at least I'm trying!

Monday, September 3, 2007

We just put these curtains in our cozy little bedroom to make it darker in the morning so that Dave can sleep in. They used to be in the dining room.

Which Mantel Arrangement Do You Like Better?

Option #1 (above)

Option #2 (above)

our little dining room trying hard to look summery :)

These two photos show what it looks like now...

Mini Home Tour


This is was our first arrangement idea for the living room..

Sunday, September 2, 2007

birthday snake



My friend's son, Noah, just had his first birthday, so I wanted to make him something fun. I tried to think of a stuffed animal that wouldn't be too girly and thus, the idea of a snake was born. It's definitely not perfect, but I think it turned out pretty cute. 

birthday snake



I wanted to make a homemade gift for my friend's son, Noah's first birthday. I was trying to figure out what would be a cute, yet not too girly stuffed toy to make for a little boy, and I came up with a snake. It's definitely not perfect, but I'm happy with the way it turned out.

So I'm finally doing it. After spending hours enjoying the blogs of others, I've decided to start my own. Here's to new beginnings!