I haven't been posting as much as usual, though, because I am pretty much consumed with my shop and I don't want you to get bored if that's all I post about! But again, I really should just post it all anyways to record the progress for myself.Creating Yummy Goods, the shop, is really just another creative outlet.  

Here, look at some of the goodies I have found.

Amazing soy candles in reusable glasses:

And they smell as good as they look!

Unique and luscious weekly planner (and cute sticky notes):

There are so many fun things about running my own shop. One  of them is sourcing unexpected and soul-stirring products.

Like these perfect Halloween cards:

I am not looking to just create a gift shop. I want to create an experience.  I want the senses to be stimulated and surprised. I want people to exclaim and shriek and linger. And I am so happy that they do!

People often come in looking for food- the name Yummy Goods is a little confusing, I admit.

I like to tell them it's Food For The Spirit!

Talk to me. I miss you.

xo, m

Breathtaking, head-sized blooms.

She said, "I picked all the ones I could find in your colors!"

I don't know if I did anything to deserve such a  gesture, but I sure do appreciate it!

I promptly went to work dividing them up into different vases and dishes, so I could spread them around the shop. I always do that with bouquets. I'd rather have a small amount of flowers all over the place, than one larger bunch in one spot.

Perfection in pink:

This little pile of gorgeousness is on the front porch at the Village Store:

Lucky for me, that means it's on the front porch of Yummy Goods, too!

Fall. >sigh<

I hardly had a summer. I love summer - I crave the heat. I'm such a coldie.

I do love fall though. And pumpkins.

And Trader Joe's hot chocolate made with soymilk, oh yum. Got some the other night, along with their new vanilla marshmallows. They are square and cute, so of course I had to have them. 

I hate to admit it, but I do watch a fair amount of television and I am  psyched for the new season. Heroes, The Office, Scrubs, and Pushing Daisies- especially!

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How about some more pictures of the shop? Is that ok?

This week's incarnation of The Living Room:

Today was very quiet at the shop (rainy day) so I was especially happy that we have a cozy place to sit! I hope people don't feel weird when they come in and see me hanging out on the couch. I would like it, as a customer. I don't like people staring me down from the register, know what I mean?  

Cute stuff at the counter:

Yep, scrabble tile pendants! Everyone loves them.

Adorable change purses, The Best Candles Ever and handmade yummy lip balm.

We started working on the lighting today. I want it to be warm and cozy, like a living room. I put in a bunch of lamps and white Christmas lights. We are trying out fabric over the (very office-y) ceiling lighting. It definitely warms it up, but now we need to compensate for the loss of light. We'll get there. It's a work in progress. On sunny days, we do get a lot of natural light, which is lovely. 

In other news, Sugar Snap ships to stores in a couple of weeks! yay!

xo, m

Well, this one is more like a "before and during" because it will change shortly. I am going to make a bunch of pillows to display on the couch.

Old bench acting as a coffee table for the Rex Ray stuff.

I love this old cabinet in the corner:

It used to live on our back porch and house some of our gardening stuff. In this picture it holds some gorgeous soy candles, but they were getting lost in there so I redid the display. Now that's where the yoga stuff lives. 

I am still working on the best way to display the candles so they are as highlighted as they deserve to be. I'll show you when I do, of course!

I'm not sure if you know this about me, but I am prone to balancing things on my head. 

I might be a little silly.

This week, I have been working at my day job until about 3:30. Then I head over to Yummy Goods and put on my apron:

I stay open till 7. As long as the Village Store is open, people find their way in, so I try to keep the same hours. Last night, a woman came in, was looking around and said, "Finally, it's like a mini-Anthropologie on Cape Cod!"

That is a comparison that I will happily accept! I have never actually been to an Anthropologie, but I do like to use the catalog to catch my drool.

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Miscellaneous:

~Quilt Market is coming up! Who's going?!

~We are enjoying the new show Fringe.

~If you have the most recent issue of Quilter's Newsletter (November), grab it and turn to page 34!

~This week's shop music: Carla Bruni, Melody Gardot, Eilen Jewell, Michael Buble, Madelyn Peyroux.

xo, m

We opened this weekend!

No fanfare, no advertising, just quietly let people come in and shop. And they did! It wasn't huge or anything and we didn't want it to be. We are still figuring out the register for crying out loud! We don't even have our credit card machine- we had to write up slips to run this week when we get it.

Wow, we created a gift shop in 4 weeks! It really doesn't feel real at all yet.  I wish I could be there all the time, but I still have to work a regular job for another year or so, probably. So these are our  hours, to start:

Oh, rats.  I have to get ready for my job-job now. Here are just a few pictures of the displays shaping up:

Cards on an old door :

Originally, when I asked him to bring the door over, Stuart was like, " I don't get the door. Why do you want that old door in here?" 

I directed and he created the structure for the display. Now he gets it. 

The bath area, again:

Sea "wool" sponges and locally made soap:

More soap and handmade washcloths and wash mitts:

Eventually I will link to the people who make everything, but I am rushing right now!

Who doesn't love rubber duckies?

So, this weekend was our soft opening. The Grand opening will be Columbus Day Weekend.

Much more, soon.

xo, m

Ok, I'm ready to hurry up and finish my story so I can get back to my regular blogging! But just a tiny installment today, ok?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So. I arrived in Cleveland and waited for Anna's flight to come in. Yes, that's Anna Maria Horner. In real life she goes by just goes by Anna. Hugs, luggage claim and a 30 minute taxi ride and then we settled into the hotel room. Oh, the glamour of the Hampton Inn!

Super hungry but unable to stop gabbing, we hung out in the room for a couple of hours before  heading out to the Jamaican restaurant next door to the hotel. We were pleasantly surprised with our super yummy salmon tostada salads, but maybe that was the sangria and rumrunners taking effect. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(maybe I'll go back and grab all of the snippets and make one big post that includes everything about the tv show thing. But I'll have to , you know, actually finish telling the story before I can do so!)

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Ok, now back to present day.

Shop stuff.

Did I tell you that we got a phone number for the shop last week?

362-YUMM! I always wanted a novelty phone number! We don't have a phone hooked up yet, but we will soon.

We have been busy setting up shop- receiving product, working out the layout, setting up displays.

I love the bath stuff display- it's still in progress, but I just love it so far:

Yep, claw foot tub with gorgeous rust. (Tetanus shot not included.)

And here is the bare-bones beginning of the kitchen-y section:

Yep, a vintage Norge! We actually used this as our fridge temporarily when we moved into this house a few years ago!

Soon it will be stocked with cute scrubbers and drool-worthy cookbooks, linen tea towels and fun gadgets. The door will be hung on another wall and used to display, of course, magnets!

We are getting in some gorgeous cards:

Above, on the right, that's an old loaf pan - isn't it beautiful? Why don't they still make them with those pretty patterns?

This is going to be so much fun. I have already had visits from out-of-state blog readers and we aren't even open yet!

I can't wait for you to come over.

xo, m

I have finally placed the last of the orders for the shop (for now) and tonight ( instead of researching, submitting requests for wholesale info, writing orders, or painting) I am hanging out with you. Ok?

I haven't gone in to much detail yet about my trip to Cleveland for the tv show. This is old news by now, and I'm sure I could just leave it untold, but this is a journal, isn't it?  I should write it out ,  just so I can read it later on.

Hopefully you'll enjoy the telling, even though I don't know what that means yet. When I start writing about a specific event, I get nervous that I'll forget something, or won't have anything interesting to say about it. So to assuage those little fears, instead of dipping my toe in and thinking about how cold the water is,  I just jump in and start doing mermaid flips. 

~~Just a brief comment about the photos in this post. I had the pleasure of meeting Jane LaFazio at the tv studio, and she generously allowed me to take these pictures of her journal pages.  Gorgeous ! You may even recognize the pincushion that she sketched while we waited in the green room. (I can't believe that I say things like 'while we waited in the green room.' )~~

Here we go:

Well, you know I was totally freaked by this.

Yeah,  I know, it's just a little segment on a quilting show, it's not  like David Letterman (swoon).  But still. I was freaked out.  It wasn't just the actual process of being taped that was sending me over the edge, it was everything else that it brought up.

I pretty much reverted in the weeks leading up  to it. My lifelong when-the-going-gets-tough habit of eating for comfort was fully in play. That  part of me that is now playfully  self-deprecating went back to its previous incarnation as merciless, self-hating tormentor. I was a hurtin' puppy. I just didn't believe I could do it. I felt like I was going to vaporize. I imagined bursting into tears on the set and them having to send me home  without a segment to air. This would not have surprised me in the least, to tell you the truth.

Even though I often wished that I had said no, I kept just trying to  put one foot in front of the other. Mostly, I just stumbled along. What else could I do?

After much fretting, I had finally decided on a project. If you know me at all, then you won't  be shocked that I prepared the project and samples the day before my departure. Thankfully, my pal Jess  came over and helped me out with mad sewing, great conversation, and (much needed) moral support.  Did I mention that her support was much needed? Because it was.  

The following day (project completed, bag packed, hair bleached) I headed to Providence to stay over at Madelyn's. I always try to bookend my trips with visiting time like that. Going to Madelyn's is such a comfort. Being at her place is the closest thing I have  to that  "going-home, family-feeling" that I crave so much.  I am so thankful for that.

Maddie had read my blog and was inspired to buy ice-cream sandwiches that week! We each had a gin-and-tonic and an ice cream sandwich.

We toasted with the ice cream sandwiches. In case you were wondering, it sounded like this: ffffffff.

The rest of the story will be coming in the next couple of days, ok?

 I missed this.

xo, m

Painting, ordering, researching, budgeting, more painting!

Changing window displays to keep it interesting while we are filling the place.

The studio:

Yummy soaps:

Letting the community know what we're about:

More words soon!

xo, m

I'm home now from Cleveland, where I was, you know, on a flipping tv show. I am so glad it's over!

Even though I was exhausted and stressed, I did manage to have quite a bit of fun with the lovely and talented Anna, my room-mate.

The pictures I liked best were from my cell phone, go figure!

Over the next few weeks I'll fill you in more, but right now I am swamped with painting the shop, meeting with reps and ordering product. Oh yeah, and working full time.( Ok, that's a lie. I am down to 30 hours now at my job-job. But still.)

I will  tell you this: the producer said I was "a natural" and "an excellent guest"!

I was just happy that I didn't pee on the floor.

xo, m

Thank you for being so wonderful, as you always are.

Your comments make me smile and laugh, feel comforted and valued.

Thank you. You are awesome.

One person commented that they feel like they are a part of my life by reading my blog and I really love that. I feel like you are, too. I know it's just a blog and everything, but it feels more like I have a bunch of pen pals that I write to all at once. And it's the interaction with you - the comments, emails back and forth - that makes this so much fun. You are my community and I thank you so much for taking the time to read what I have to say, whether I am being silly and lighthearted or introspective and heavy-hearted.

Oh, also,  thank you for not pissing me off. 

:o)

(On the blog anyways.)

Remember how I was all freaking out about my project fore the tv thing? Well then along came Yummy Goods: The Shop and , uh, I kinda blew it off  put it on the back burner.

Yesterday I set up an impromptu sewing studio in the back of the shop and worked on some stuff all day.

Today, thank god, I have the fabulous Jess (that crafty starlet) from Juicy Bits coming over to help.  The actual project part isn't that much work, it just makes me nervous about the show so I keep putting it off.  Yeah, I kinda just want someone to come over and hold my hand. Know what I mean?

I have been working on a Sugar Snap Scrappy Quilt to decorate the set with. And that I can show you because it's not the project itself, yay!

It got much scrappier after I took this shot. I'll take more today for you, ok?

Oh, look at this:

My pal Karen from Tumbleweeds (my local quilt shop) made me one of her awesome pincushions out of Sugar Snap!

It is just the coolest thing ever to see someone else make something with my fabric! I can't wait for it to be out in stores so I can see what you do with it. You are going to blow my mind!

Oh, hey, are you extra-special-coo-coo like me? I can't throw any of this stuff away:

xo, m