beautiful flowers

At a recent meeting with my web tutor I got a peek at a website he had been working on for my friend Gaye Drummond.  I met Gaye soon after her family moved from England to Savannah when her husband Allan became Chair of Illustration at SCAD.  Our first conversations were filled with a shared love of English delicacies and products (my mom is English too).  I liked her from the very start.  Over the years I have seen her amazing arrangements and installations at weddings, cocktail parties, businesses and local homes.  I am happy to share some images from her website with you but I hope you will visit and see for yourself how talented she is.  

bloomsbury loft

After a recent visit with Judith from Bloomsbury Loft I thought it would be nice to write a little post about her store. I know Judith because her daughter attends SCAD and she comes in several times a year when she is either dropping her daughter off or visiting her. Every time we see each other our conversations about the highs and lows of retail come easy. It is so nice to have such a great network of supportive friends doing the same thing as me all across the country. When you actually get to see them in person (versus email) it is a real treat. She and partners, Karla and Beth (whom I have never met but know I would love as well) call themselves "janes of all trades." What a great description. I think you can see from these images why they caught my eye. One day I am going to get back to Ohio and see everything in person.
photo credits Amy Parish

georgia aquarium

We just returned from a much needed visit with my sister and aunt in Atlanta.   My sister took our son to the zoo on Saturday and we all went to the Georgia Aquarium on Sunday.  We toured all of the exhibits and the traveling Titanic exhibition. By far my favorite event of the day was a behind the scenes tour of the aquarium that my very connected sister arranged.   We saw all sorts of sharks, manta rays, beluga whales etc.  from up above their tanks.  The aquarium staff member graciously answered all of our questions.   The entire operation is very impressive.  I recommend a visit, with or without children.  It is such a treat.  

refueled

My friend Cedric Smith stopped by the shop this morning and shared a recent discovery he made while blogging. An online magazine/blog called Refueled. It is all about country design with a modernized twist. For a long time I have called this style industrial country but I think their tag line captures the essence of the style - alternative country. Alternative because it incorporates many things that would have not been considered "country" by most country afficianados. It is far from mainstream and really interesting. One of my favorite books, Found Style, touched on this subject years ago but still remained fairly mainstream.

Look for the next issue of Refueled to come out in November.

hard hearted hanna

Oh no! I am off to buy hurricane supplies today. Things aren't looking too good for us. I hope it makes a turn toward the north and misses us entirely but I want to be prepared anyway. I found a handy list of recommended items to have on hand at wsav.com. As a Florida girl, I am sort of used to hurricanes but I must admit when I was little my mom always took care of the necessities while I packed important things like my stuffed animals and my favorite blanky. When you are little kid these things seemed so important. Taking that into consideration I have already asked my son what toys he wants to pack up if we have to evacuate. The list is still growing. So, between the toys, kitties, personal papers and necessities we might require a small moving truck just to tote all of it. Maybe we will just stay put.