chubby snowmen & women

I finally finished my Christmas windows and had planned to post some of my own pictures when I got an email from the talented photographer Juliet from Charleston.  She visited my shop last week and shared some pictures she had taken while here.  I was so pleased because I have the hardest time capturing good photos of the windows.  I guess that is why she is the pro. Visit her site www.julietelizabeth.com to see her work.  If you want to see the rest of the pictures she took of my shop visit www.julietelizabeth.blogspot.com 

I do

Halligan and Adam are gettin hitched.  Many of you remember Halli as one of my long time shop girls.  She broke my heart when she moved to Philly a little over a year ago to pursue a career and live near her long time bo, Adam.  I love all my girls so much it is hard to let them go and be grown ups. The news of Halli's engagement is so wonderful I wanted to share it with the world.  I am so honored that she has asked me to help her mother with some of the planning.  I got her inspiration board yesterday and it is going to be magical.  I think you can see from the picture this duo is quite creative.  

photos by Josh Goleman

Holiday Sampler

I know I promised lots pictures when I got my new mac-daddy camera but I had no idea how much I would have to learn before I actually got pictures loaded on the laptop.  So, here is the first batch of the store for the holidays.  More to come later in the week, including pictures of my super cute chubby snowmen I made for the store window display.  

40 something

Today is my 40th birthday. Where did the time go. I don't feel 40. But what exactly is 40 supposed to feel like? I have never really been rattled by birthdays. It is just a number after all. I feel older when my child has a birthday not me.

This one... comes with a little sentimentality. I am sad to be leaving my 30s. So many good things happened in the last ten years that I worry about the next 10 not being as exciting. In my 30s I graduated from college, bought & restored an old house, opened a store, got married, expanded the store, had a child, started a magazine career, expanded the store again, made some incredible friends and loved every bit of it.

When I was in high school I would watch the tv show Thirty Something and they all seemed so old to me. They had grown up problems: relationships, kids, businesses etc. It seemed so far off and definitely not "real." It couldn't be. I thought for sure that would never be me. Well it was (is) me. I totally relate to all they were going through. I on the other hand I look back in wonder at all that was accomplished in spite of the struggle. You are no longer young enough to be excused for silly mistakes and not old enough to appreciate that, in time, you could work through it.

So to all of you 20 and 30 somethings, enjoy...and to you 40 somethings here I come.

The Farm Chicks

I had the great pleasure of meeting 1/2 of The Farm Chicks franchise. Teri Edwards and her husband were visiting Savannah and popped in the store yesterday.  It was a real treat for me.  I have been a fan of the Farm Chicks for a while now and I certainly share their mantra:

Country Home loves Liz Koomler

I just got news that my friend and shop girl Liz Koomler was included in the Country Home website "Things we Love" section.  We were expecting to see it on the pages of the magazine this month but alas the editorial staff had other plans.  Either way it is a nice endorsement of Liz's talent.  

web feature

We were splashed all over Apartment Therapy D.C. today.  YIPPEE!

Check it out > Apartment Therapy D.C. 

Thank you Colleen.

back in business

Many of you may have noticed that my posts lately have not included any photos that I have taken. I managed to break my second little (but adequate) point and shoot camera a month ago. After a bunch of research and advice from fancy photographers I found the next generation camera for me. I wanted something more advanced than the old ones but not so advanced that I couldn't figure it out. The result...my new Canon G10.  So I will be experimenting around the store today and hopefully get some pictures up soon.  We rearranged the entire store 3 weeks ago and we have lots of new merchandise which means I have a lot to share.  

cupcakes for a cause

I saw a poster in the window of my friend's bakery, Back in the Day, advertising Cupcakes for a Cause.  The national event is scheduled for October 20-26.  Part of the proceeds from the event will be donated to the CancerCare for Kids program which provides free support services to children affected by cancer and their families.  

One of my dearest customers is battling thyroid cancer.  She has been shopping with her mother in my store since she was 5.  Her first purchase was a little wooden barn for her kitten. Her mother was trying to teach her the value of money so she paid me for it but told her daughter it was on layaway.  Every week she would come in with a payment.  I have never forgotten how sweet the entire experience was. It has been a joy watching that amazing little girl grow into a beautiful, creative and inspiring young lady.  I will be heading down to Back in the Day next week to support the cause.  

Visit www.cupcakesforacause.org site to find a participating bakery in your area.  

birthday adventures

I am going to attempt to make these little cupcake pops I saw on Martha a couple of months ago. It looks relatively simple and I think they will be cute favors for my son's 4th birthday party on Saturday. Stay tuned.

Apartment Therapy in Savannah

I just got news that Apartment Therapy is heading to Savannah.  I was so flattered to see my shop listed on the recommended must sees. Fingers crossed...I would love the publicity.  

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.

oatland island adventure

Our weekend family adventure took us to Oatland Island Wildlife Center only ten minutes from downtown Savannah. The island plays host to animals both big and small; panthers, bobcats, bears, alligators, turtles, bison, deer, wolves, owls, hawks, eagles, etc. The nature trail is a long and winding path into the woods and over the wetlands with stops along the way that feature different animals in their habitats. It was the last official day of tropical storm Fay so it was a surprisingly breezy day. Translation: the mosquitos were not too bad (four bites instead of 50). If you go on a not so breezy day plan to bath yourself in repellent. We ended the day on the Wetlands Observation Pier with dipping dots, a strange ice cream like item developed by a scientist/ice cream aficionado. I was not a fan but my son devoured them in seconds.

music

I hate to admit some of my most recent musical discoveries have come in the form of TV commericals. In the last couple of months I discovered Joe Purdy(from the Kia commercial) and Noah and the Whale(from the Saturn commercial). I had been listening to Feist and Cold Play long before ipod used them in their ads. I am beginning to wonder if these ad people have really good taste in music or if they are sent the stuff by record companies.

Roll over them to get to their links. Happy listening.

miniature splendor

A long time customer and fellow creative shared these pictures of her modern doll house with me and I couln't resist passing them along.  I could move right in, couldn't you?

liz k

Exciting news.  Liz Koomler, stitch master and @home shop girl has added new goodies to her etsy.  It is just in the nick of time because she is going to be featured in Country Home magazine in the fall. I submitted images of her creations for an article and instead of being in that feature they photographed her work for another feature on new American craft.  I am so proud and excited to see her pieces in a magazine.  I am especially happy to know that Country Home saw what I saw in her work.  

face lift

Not the kind you are thinking...

I hope that you have noticed that I have given the blog a makeover.  It reflects the new direction we are taking with the @home website.  The design and re-design of the website, as many of you know, has been a long and tedious process with many ups and downs.   I am happy to report that the new site will launch shortly and the e-commerce portion (cross your fingers) will launch in the fall.  

I have two talented people to thank for their creative contributions to my shop's branding efforts. Lindsay Hadley, my consultant/graphic designer and Devin O'Bryan, my web tutor.  Both have had the complicated task of translating my schizophrenic ideas to print media and the web.  I truely believe I finally have an image and website that reflects the eclectic and colorful nature of the store.  

I can't wait to see what you think of it.

now on news stands

I wanted to share these images of my most recent feature in Holiday Crafts Magazine. It is August and there is already a holiday magazine on news stands! There are Halloween projects in it so I guess they have to get an early jump on the competition. I hope you enjoy.

For those of you that have gone to our website and are now reading this the kits listed in resources are for the cardboard body of the house not the entire thing (available here). You will have to use your imagination and your own goodies to decorate them. The listing sounded a little confusing so I wanted to clarify for you eager crafters out there.

ginny h

I met the loveliest family yesterday. Two sisters with all their children in tow, I am guessing from ages 6-16. They were a large group of really enthusiatic shoppers so I started asking them usual questions I like to ask people visiting the area...where they were from, how they liked Savannah, where they were headed, etc. Low and behold they were Hilfigers! Ginny and Maria to be exact. Sisters of the famous Tommy. Come to find out Ginny has her own fashion collection and after she left I headed to google to check it out. I felt a little star struck. In the eight years I have had my business I can honestly say I have met a lot of famous people, movie stars, musicians, writers, editors & fashion designers most of which have been quite pleasant and interesting to get to know. Ginny ranks really high on the friendly scale for me. She told me all sorts of stories about the Real Housewives of NYC (she designs for Bethenny) and talked about her interests and style. I think she makes really lovely clothing and is well on her way to becoming a great name in fashion.

all mine

After seeing many of my favorite wreaths by Katie Runnels go to someone else, when she posted about this one on her blog and high tailed it to her etsy and scooped it up. I've been calling it "little hoot" which is the title of a children's book we sell in the store. It seemed to fit. Anyway, it is now hanging between two windows behind my sofa.

timing & opportunity

I seem to be talking a lot lately about opportunity but little about timing.  I think things happen when they do for a reason.  Maybe you aren't ready or maybe there are bigger and better things coming your way.  So that got me thinking about my friend Cheryl from Back in the Day Bakery. She will be appearing on Paula Deen's Best Dishes on Sunday at 12:30.  Talk about an opportunity! It is a well deserved and patiently waited for opporunity at that.  She and her husband Griff own one of the sweetest spots in Savannah (pun intended).  They have worked very hard and their success is very exciting for their friends and customers.  The timing could not be any better. If my memory serves me right, Cheryl lost her dear sister around this time a couple of years ago. I know Cheryl is so joyful about her appearance on this show, but I also know deep down she wishes she could share it with Natalie.  So Cheryl if you are reading.  Chin up.  I am so proud of you and I know she would be too.  

happy discovery

Late last night I was roaming the internet & reading some of my favorite blogs and came across the most exciting little treasure I had seen in a while.  Much to my delight when the post led me to an etsy and then to the blog of little treasure's creator I found a world worth noting.  I wanted to share this person, her craft and her lovely photography with my readers.  I hope you enjoy her goodies and patronize her etsy site.  We exchanged emails and maybe someday she will make it to Savannah where I can meet her but until then I will be stopping by her blog thompson family life and etsy tiny bazaar regularly.  

great day wednesday, tuesday...not so good

Tuesday...
Having returned from an exhausting weekend at market and a family gathering in Florida I was greeted Tuesday with the news that I missed a terrific professional opportunity. I was so bummed but a rebound was in my future so boot straps up I made some calls sent some emails and decided to take control. I have figured there are a lot of people that have no talent but are great at marketing and a lot of people that have amazing talent and are terrible at marketing. I am going to be more aggressive about marketing myself and my shop from now on.

Wednesday...
I started the day with a new attitude. I spent much of the morning printing out images for my portfolio. I met a lovely customer and chatted with her at length about many topics. And then to my surprise and delight Amy Zurker, the guru of Shop SCAD, and Katie Runnels, artist extraordinaire, came for visit. I haven't seen Katie in ages but I keep up with her through her blog. These gals have more talent than most people have in their pinkie toe. I really never get to see Amy except for an occasional visit at the store or at a social event but everytime we chat I think to myself, we should be friends. Katie was dropping off new pieces at shop SCAD so get over there and check them out.

That evening...
As if Wednesday couldn't get any better Amy and Josh Lind joined my family for dinner at our house. Amy, a former @home shop girl and successful painter is now living in San Francisco with her husband Josh a talented film producer/maker (Dandy Dwarves fame). William was the ring bearer in their wedding and he still calls her Amy Hahn. In fact, all week he kept saying "when are Amy Hahn and the boy coming to our house." Very cute. Thankfully, after a lot of tickles, playing with cars and tossing balls he was calling him Josh. So happy I got to share an evening with them catching up.

by the window

Amy Lind, one of our @home alums is returning south for her show at the Robert Lange Studios in Charleston, SC. She and her husband Josh are planning a visit to Savannah while here. I can't wait to see them. It is hard to believe in September it will have been a year since they moved to San Francisco. Time flies.

off to market

No posts for a few days as I am traveling to the gift show to search for new goodies for the shop. It feels like I just did this but these shows come around to quick I can't keep up. While there I am also having dinner with one of my favorite sales reps and an exec from their company. Hopefully I can charm the socks of him and he hires me to design for them (a girl can dream).

today's forcast...fun

happy 4th
if you are in the area we will be open today for all you die hard shoppers

furniture sale

We are having a furniture sale for the month of July. Stop by and scoop up that piece you have had your eye on. 10-20% off select furniture.