I said to myself, if I survived this week, I would write it all down, go back and perhaps be amazed right? It’s Friday morning as I type this and all I can say is Mama’s TIRED. Busy weeks can be daunting. But at the same time very satisfying knowing you crammed as much life into five days as you possibly could. I definitely gave it my best shot and thought why not put it to pictures.
I love mail because you never know when a surprise might show up like beautiful old pictures and newspaper articles of your Angel Mother via your Aunt Judy. Thank you Aunt Judy! XOXO.
So when I came across the above photo, in a magazine ad of all places, I couldn’t believe how much it looked like our Sophia. Even funnier, I texted it to my husband and he was like “What a beautiful picture of you and your Mom, did your Aunt send this?” Hah. I wish it were me or Soph.
Ring the school bell and its off to pick up my chickens. Grab some decent drive thru (yeah right) and walk to piano lessons. Exhausted from moving furniture all morning, I manage a solid 20 minute cat nap and wait for the marks to wear off my cheek and arm before heading to Family Science Night because “Its terrific to be scientific”.
Tuesday was booked solid for a “shop with Jen” day I offer. We found all kinds of treasures including these vintage hat stands. I thought these would make great objects d’art in a Thomas O’Brien kind of way.
I can’t stop thinking about this banged up shelf and picture it mixed with fancy glass. I love mixing old and new, rusty with shiny, etc.
Back home for more piano (we take these top tips for learning the piano seriously, practice is key!) then off to baseball where my son’s team lost a heartbreaker and I sat there thinking how is it possible that little arm can throw such heat? One more errand to the grocery store and timber into bed.
Woke up on hump day to the harsh reality that it was a wash and blow out my hair day a.k.a actually brush it. Tisk, tisk. I was headed down to the Atlanta Decorative Arts Building, commonly known as ADAC, to hear the great Charlotte Moss and Suzanne Kasler speak. My lid had to be looking good.
WOW is all I can say about these two stars. There is something about sitting captivated, listening to two very wise, successful and adorable women speak that makes you think I LOVE MY JOB.
Charlotte Moss is fierce and all about breaking the rules. Our kinda gal. Her presentation was full of wonderful quotes from icons including Coco Chanel and Diana Vreeland (yes I totally dig that the famous editor of Vogue and queen of style shares the same last name as Mom, surely somehow we must be related ;-)).
In my notes I wrote down, “find old manual typewriter” from the two minute video Charlotte showed us HERE. Why? For that great clicking sound, the font and impression it makes on paper and the wonderful memories I have of my Grandmother sitting at her electric IBM typing out death certificates for the family business funeral home that I would run downtown to file at the City County Building in Detroit. Thank you Grandma for trusting me to do that and giving me the experience of seeing downtown daily life! Detroit was never a hustle and bustle place after five but during the work day it was like catching a small glimpse of what big city life is like.
I also made a note to read Diana Vreeland’s column “Why Don’t You?” for Vogue and one more quote Mom and I swore by…
Suzanne Kasler was THE sweetest, most soft spoken, totally wanna hug woman. She made you feel so alive about your passion to create. “As a designer you get to create those things…you get to make those decisions…your home is your canvas, your laboratory”.
Suzanne took us on a tour of her home, you can see in its entirety HERE, and told us where and why she did things, put things, bought things. It was mega interesting for us designer folks. Her mantra is a home should feel collected, not decorated and to buy what you love. You will find a place for it, promise!
I so enjoyed her story about the stone pool building in this picture, that houses the pool equipment (lucky you equipment). Everyone said it was a bad idea, don’t do it and I took comfort in knowing that even the GREAT Suzanne Kasler has to deal with people trying to talk her out of her own ideas. But she stuck to her guns and said its everyone’s favorite thing about the back yard. Stick. to. your. guns.
In between we popped into some beautiful showrooms including Jerry Pair. A girl can dream gorgeous! And came across this sweet thing in another. I am so ready for a dog.
Also spotted a great looking pair of rubies! Love that heel.
Then it was back home by two to pick up those chickens again and get ready for my Red Handed Style/Stella Dot/let’s treat ourselves party which is always a blessing. Lots of exciting things going on with my friends right now, particularly a wedding coming up next month. Yeah!
I picked up this I’ll-go-anywhere number for $15 small ones and paired it with a “vintage” stella and dot necklace.
The big seller were these gorgeous earrings you can buy HERE.
Thursday I hit the pavement to sweat out the toxins and then treated myself to a much needed hair cut and mani/pedi (I have to get the name of this OPI color I’m coveting bc I wanna paint a room this color). Couldn’t put off my dirty kitchen any longer and stood there with a big ole question mark on what’s for dinner.
Friday morning work was back on as I packed the truck and make a run through the Queen of Hearts for some items on the hit list. A lot caught my eye, some of it HERE. Spent an hour visiting and styling a client’s house and head back to pick up the kids feeling a little like Fred Flintstone sliding down his dinosaur at quittin time. Cheers to the freakin weekend, I’ll drink to that yeah, yeah.
All in all, it was a full one! I still need to deliver directories to every single home in my hood and volunteered thinking its a good lesson for my children to see Mama doing her part. I have vivid memories of Mom taking me door to door to petition signatures for the local water supply when I was very young and its always stuck with me. I grew to appreciate it more and more.
Here’s to crossing the finish line and happy derby cinco de mayo day! Don’t forget to rock that big hat!
Jen
xx
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Here’s to doing it all! Way to get things done.
I learned from the best <3 <3 <3