Busy as a bee!

I have been so insanely busy getting ready for handborn (which is tomorrow, or I guess technically today). I'm so excited, I got a great spot in Concetta, the same place the fashion parade will be! I could not have gotten this much stuff done without my wonderful family. My mama cut scarves and my dad sprayed trays. I was sewing embellishments on to scarves like crazy while they were working on all their assignments lol. Anywhos, I'm off to get some much needed sleep, today was absolutely crazy trying to navigate around town with all the Day After Thanksgiving (aka their first day out of the house apparently) drivers. Here's the flier for handborn... hope to see lots of familiar faces : )

Feature!

So exciting! Bungalow was featured in this super cool blog... check it out!

http://stilldottie.blogspot.com/2008/11/etsy-wednesday_26.html

Featured in another treasury!

Yay! Bungalow was featured in this beautiful treasury today... so flattering!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=22493

I knew the buttercream necklace kept reminding me of a fancy cake... but it wasn't until I was browsing absolutely beautiful things last night (just love that blog!) that I remembered which cake it reminded me of! The lovely pink cake from Martha Stewart!

Twins seperated at birth? I think so. (I'm just dying to make that cake one day!)

New Items!

So I've been quite crafty getting ready for handborn! Here are a few of the latest additions to Bungalow!

The Adaline Veiled Headband... Perfect for a blushing bride!

Violette Dress Gloves... Made from 1940's gloves and embelished with antique doily pansies

Buttercream Necklace... Makes you feel like you're wearing the icing on the cake!

The "Oh My Deer" Frame and vintage deer figurine print!

Back from the windy city!

I had the absolute best weekend in Chicago (and Carol Stream/Bloomingdale/Wheaton)! Saturday we packed up and headed out on our adventure to Illinois, it was a frosty cold morning so me and my mama warmed up inside while my dad braved the freezing temperatures to go hike to the rental RAV 4. Luckily the snow had stopped so we had a lovely drive through Wisconsin before we got to our final destination.

When we finally got all checked in to our hotel we headed over to my friend Boofys family's house for some real Chicago style pizza. After dinner I got to meet some of her friends and her boyfriend Rob. We spent the evening visiting and playing with her friends Ali and Scott's son Aiden (who is just way too cute and obsessed with watching fans!).

The next day we headed out to the city for a day of fun with Boofy and her sweet mom as our tour guides!

We started the morning off with some amazing applecider doughnuts from boofy's bakery that she picked up for us! Once we made it out of the parking garage (we got a little lost) we headed over to my new favorite shop where I bought some postcards, Christmas presents, a surprise for Chris, and some a few treats for myself! I absolutely love Chicago, there was celebratory Obama merchandise everywhere, so boofy and I bought Obama sweatshirts to keep us cozy warm!

After doing some shopping we wandered around looking at all of the cool art Chicago has! We especially loved the gigantic silver bean!

I also loved the ever changing faces... I could have stood there for hours watching them change!

Our last big stop was to Macys, formerly known as Marshall Field to see the Christmas decorations and the famous Walnut Room!

I fell head over heels for the top floor of macys, this is my dream window... ahh if only I could wake up to that every morning!


Boofy and I snuck in to FAO Schwartz even though we were probably the oldest ones in there with out babies of our own! While lusting after the sweet little dresses in the Ralph Lauren section for my future baby girl we felt sorry for the headless mannequins so we started a "Save the headless mannequins foundation!" (donations can be sent to my paypal hehe)

On our walk back to the garage we made a quick stop off at Garret's popcorn, the best place for popcorn in Chicago (or anywhere for that matter). I also picked up the most amazing peanut butter chocolate toffee there which I have been slowly savoring!

Once we got back to Bloomingdale we dropped boofy and her mama off, said our goodbyes and headed over to Barnes and Noble so I could check my lap top before bed (the hotel's wireless wasn't having a good day). As I was sitting there sipping on my herbal mint tea and chatting with my sweetie I turn around to see Boofy! She had been over at Rob's but he was sleepy so she decided to pop in and hang out awhile more, so we headed back to my hotel and stayed up late visiting and laughing in the lobby!

My last morning in IL boofy took me to "my store" (boy was she right on that one!) called it's our earth in Wheaton. I had a field day in there browsing their antiques and unique crafty things! I ended up buying two packs of vintage hair pins (one with birds and the other with forest friends) and a flattened glass bottle, that I think will be perfect to set on my nightstand and toss my rings in before bed!


(Boofy purchasing the cutest ornaments and me with my glass bottle)

After that we said our goodbyes and I made her promise to come visit me in California and I'd show her all the cool places there! We hit the road again with only a few little stops. One including the sweetest antique store where I found a vintage orange juice pitcher and 6 glasses all with tiny pink flowers on them! I also checked out their selection of antique art deco rings : ) Found my dream ring in amongst them! It seemed like it took forever to get home but we finally made it back to my grandparents house for a dinner of delish homemade pizza!

Life in the forest

Nothing feels more like winter than being at my grandparents house in the woods! It's so beautiful no matter what window you look out of it's filled with trees and soft sunlight. Thank goodness for that sunlight today since we kept loosing power due to the tiny storm we had this morning. Me and my grandma stayed inside making headbands and necklaces while the rest of the family was outside splitting wood for the colder months! I did slip outside to snap a few pictures of them working though as proof that the Californians can get ready for a Minnesota winter! When it got too cold to take anymore pictures my grandma and I came back inside and she took a box down filled with antiques to show me that will one day be mine. I wanted to take home this tiny little plate that's about 100 years old to hang on my wall that I've been working on. I'm just too nervous to bring it on the plane, if it got smashed I would be devastated! After all the wood was split us girls headed out to scour the craft shops for material and silk flowers. We had a very successful mission! I ended up with yards of chiffon and veiling plus more ranunculus stems than I can count! I think I'm set with plenty of crafting supplies for the rest of my 10 days here (plus I have all the goodies in my grandma's craft drawers). On the way out of hancock the woman told us it was supposed to snow tonight. I got all giddy!

Anyways I should be off to sleep, I'm going to my grandma's gourmet group luncheon tomorrow at 11:00 and since I'm still on CA time that feels like 9:00 to me! I need to be up nice and early so I don't have to fib about not having eaten breakfast 30 minutes before I got there!

Let it snow!

We've finally been getting lots of rain but I'm so in the mood for snow! Don't mind the fact that it's only snowed here twice in my life! I'm going ice skating tomorrow so that will be close! I think the let it snow headband I put up for sale a few days ago is the ultimate ice skating accessory! It's just so retro and sweet.

I'm off to write a paper for Folk Literature and the Arts while enjoying the drizzly weather I can see through my window!