Nesting

After visiting my friend Beth at her shop, Studio B, I went next door to Nesting.(See this month's post on Studio B). It's always a joy to go to Nesting.



The owners are queens of merchandising. Each vignette is a visual treat.



I would buy it all if I had the money.



Don't you love a mix of old and new?



Interesting items to choose from.



Oh be still my heart, a tea cart!



Cool shelving and a continuation of the nesting theme.



If I had a porch I would buy this stand and display some plants. Wonder if my condo mates would mind it if I put in the front foyer? It would look great there!




I like the color of this planter and I really like this collection of mirrors.

Well I escaped with most of my money still in my wallet. I bought one cute little item and I will post it before Easter. Promise. Once the sun comes out again, I will photograph it in natural light.

Till next time....

Moonlighting

I was hired for my first photography job recently. Last Saturday, I photographed the Women of Courage and Conviction awards dinner for the National Council of Negro Women, Greater Boston Chapter.

The woman on the left is the guest speaker, Leslie Salmon Jones and the woman on the right is the Greater Boston Chapter President.

My job was to create a record of all the goings on that evening. I photographed the guest speaker, the award recipients, and I took some candids of people talking and sitting at their tables.



I met a man who owns a coffee company, Thousand Hills Coffee. He uses coffee beans from Rwanda to make his coffee and part of the profits go back to Rwanda for educational purposes.




I had such a great time meeting all the interesting and accomplished people at the event. This woman was one of the award recipients.



This is my favorite photo from the evening.

I have to admit I was a little nervous. My first paying photography job and I was working with a new camera. I was reading the manual earlier in the day! The camera has so many bells and whistles. I think the photos turned out well, but, I won't be quitting my day job anytime soon!

Introducing Studio B

My friend Beth has opened a new store in Concord, Massachusetts. It just happens to me next to my favorite store in Concord, Nesting.

Beth creates beautiful vintage paper jewelry among other things.



She also does floral arrangements.



She has a knack for merchandising.




She creates something new and fun from vintage finds.




Her shop came together in one week!




If you're in the Concord area, stop by Studio B on Main Street and say Elaine sent you.

A Place for the Bose

Last year, I bought myself a Bose music system (early Christmas present). Since I downsized my stereo, I thought I should downsize the table it sits on.

I've been looking for a table for the Bose. I really wanted one of those tables that look like library steps but I didn't have much luck finding one. I did see one but it was too pricey. It really was just what I was looking for, oh well.



I was at Second Time Around Antiques in Melrose the other day and I found this
piece. Yeah, it's very shabby and maybe a little chic? The shopkeeper said I could paint it but I kind of like it the way it is.

I added an old sewing machine drawer to hold some of my CDs.

So what do you think? Should I paint it?

Chalkboard Obsession

One of my newest obsessions is collecting chalkboards. I didn't even realize it was an obsession/addiction until I started photographing some of the items in my kitchen. I was practicing with the new camera and I noticed I had 3 chalkboards in the kitchen!




This first one is a chalkboard platter from Pottery Barn. It is actually a set of 2 chalkboard platters. The rectangular one is up high above the refrigerator. I didn't photograph it. I got the platters about a month ago.



You remember Mr. Rabbit don't you? He's probably my favorite chalkboard. He has been with me for years. He came from Home Goods.




This is an adhesive chalkboard I got at Home Goods last year. If you look closely you can see my friend Don has drawn a cat on it. I think it would be cool to make this look like a French restaurant menu. What do you think?

Which one is your favorite?





T

Teacup Mosaic

On Saturday, I went to a flea market with my friend Mary and her mother. We found a few things, but, that's for another post.

Afterwards, I ventured by myself to the Salvation Army store in Wilmington. I had two recommendations about this store from friends so I decided to check it out. I had never been to a Salvation Army store but I was told you can find some amazing things for very little money.

A quick walk through and I was ready to leave immediately. It looked like the store was filled with either racks and racks of clothes or country decor. Neither of which interested me. I was almost one foot out the door when I spied some teacups in a showcase. I looked and sure enough, there were teacups!! They were just the kind I like, footed and/or lustreware.

I asked how much and I was told they were $4.99 each. I bought 5 of them. When I got them home I put them with the old tea chest I just purchased from Barn House. Then of course I had to photograph them for you!

Check out the other Mosaic Monday posts at Little Red School House.

Tea Time Magazine

I just picked up a copy of the March/April issue of Tea Time Magazine. And some things looked very familiar to me.

For example, the white rabbit in this photo. (You can click to enlarge any of the photos).



Did he escape from my kitchen and end up in Franklin, Tennessee? Oh phew, he's still there. I guess he just has a twin.



And the tea towel on the left. Curiously looks like one I have in my kitchen. It's just hanging around waiting to be made into curtains.



False alarm again. Mine is right here on the little butcher block cart. Safe and sound. It didn't run away either.



I have come to the conclusion that Tea Time Magazine should hire me. Don't you think?

Quote of the Day

From my desk calendar:

"Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap."
quote by Barbara Jordan

Happy St Patrick's Day

Sorry, I don't have any images of Ireland to share. I travelled to Ireland in 1985 and again in 1996, but, that was before the digital age so all my photos are in albums.

The photo above was taken outside a bakery called Breads 'N Bits of Ireland in Melrose, Massachusetts. I suspect they will be quite busy tomorrow.

I want to share one story from my first trip to the Emerald Isle. My friend Debbi
and I went on a jaunting car ride in Killarney. I wanted to get some great photos so I told Debbi I wanted to sit right behind the horse in the first row. Debbi, who knew a thing or two about horses said, "Are you sure you want to sit RIGHT behind the horse?" I said, "Yes, I want to see everything!" Oh yeah, I saw EVERYTHING and I smelled everything too! Oh the smell of the poop! Disgusting!

I grabbed the nearest blanket on the wagon and covered my face with it shielding my nose from the smell. Later I wrapped the blanket around me since the weather got cool. Now, picture me all wrapped up in this blanket with my face buried in it up to my nose.

The ride ended, the wagon stopped, and the driver turned to me and said in his thick Irish accent, "Now you be sure and give the horse back his blanket, ok?"

I nearly died and Debbi had herself a real good laugh. I hope you did too!

Happy St Patrick's Day! Join the blog crawl at Cuisine Kathleen and visit other participant's posts.

Got water?

The rain has finally stopped! I guess Mother Nature decided three days of rain was enough punishment. More than enough I say.

Throughout New England, we've had flooding, loss of electricity and heat, a little snow, some sleet, downed trees, and backyards that look like ponds. Basically Mother Nature hit us with her best shot.

In my own little world, things aren't that bad. Made it to work this morning without incident. Came home at lunchtime to check on the basement. Yes, there was water but not that much. By dinnertime, there was lots of water, some of the small rugs down there were floating. One of the guys in the building had lent his mother a pump so he got it back so we could pump out our basement. Hopefully, it works.



With such bad weather, there was not much opportunity for trying out the new camera. So I took some indoor shots of the lovely Molly.



She wasn't too thrilled about being my model but she did do a few poses for me. We will put these shots in her portfolio.

Stonewall Kitchen Cooking School, York, Maine

The rain held off long enough for my sister, our friend Mary and I to take a trip up to Maine for a cooking class this afternoon. We were celebrating Mary's birthday and the cooking class was her gift. Mary loves Maine, loves Stonewall Kitchens, and loves cooking so we thought this would be the perfect gift.



Today's class was all about British High Tea and the instructor was Ruth Kramer. Ruth endeared her audience with her wonderful British accent and humorous storytelling.

The cooking school can accomodate many students. The chef wore a microphone and there were two big screen TVs so even those sitting in the back row (like ourselves) could see and hear what was going on at the front of the room.



I asked permission to take photos and Richard from the cooking school happily agreed to it. We later found out he's from my hometown and I graduated with his sister!



The first dish Ruth made was scotch eggs. A medium cooked boiled egg was surrounded by meat and browned in a skillet then it was baked in the oven. At cooking school, you watch the chef prepare the dish and then the class gets to eat whatever was demonstrated. We all enjoyed our scotch eggs. We took home recipes for all the dishes too!




Ruth made some tea sandwiches. One with watercress, one with ham, one was a wrap. She made mini tarts with Stonewall Kitchen jams.




She showed us how to make scones and she made some with raisins but we could really use any dried fruit. British scones are usually small, American scones are large. Yum! The scones were delicious!




Ruth personally gave everyone a dollop of creme fraiche to top their scones. The Brits use clotted cream but it's hard to find in the states and it is expensive. I will stick with the mock devonshire cream my sister and I make for tea parties.



When class was finished there was time to shop at the cooking school shop and everything was discounted 10%. I got some lovely smelling hand soap called Coastal Breeze, Meyers Lemon hand sanitizer, and Key Lime Curd.

I took a few shots of the fabulous kitchen. I love a white kitchen. I was told by a staff member that the cooking school kitchen was modeled after one of Stonewall's owner's kitchens.



What a kitchen. I would love to see the owner's kitchen, was it Jim or Jonathan? I can't remember now.



Don't all the hanging pots look great? I want a little pot rack for my kitchen at home.



These cabinets are cool too. I am really loving that white. So clean, so cheery. Even on a dreary day.



After class, we went to the Main store where they had a larger selection of goods. I had had only one cup of coffee all day so I was in need of a little caffeination. We went to the cafe in the store and I had a mocha latte and my sister and Mary had hot chocolate. Don't the hot chocolates look tempting?

We had a wonderful day and a great time at the cooking school. We are already looking forward to taking another class, maybe in the Summer. When it might actually be warm and sunny.

Off to Maine

We're off to Maine on a girl's day out. Mary's birthday present is a cooking class at Stonewall Kitchen's Cooking School in York, Maine. The subject? Tea, of course.

I'll tell you all about it when I get back.

Cape Ann Daytrip

It was Saturday, 50 degrees and sunny. You know where I was headed, Rockport! I was going to enjoy my first sunny day by the ocean in approximately 5 months.



I bought a new camera two weeks ago but I was actually afraid to open it. It's a digital SLR and more complicated than my little point and shoot. I was intimidated by my own camera! I dreaded the thought of reading a manual to learn how to work the thing. By the way, "the thing" is a Canon EOS Rebel XS. Today, we became friends.



We went to Good Harbor in Gloucester. We watched the lusciousness of the waves. All foamy and white. The wind was whipping the sea around and 50 degrees? I beg to differ. Wonder what the wind chill was, my ears sure were cold!



We enjoyed watching the waves for quite a while.



The Atlantic was a beautiful dark blue. It still had the winter look to it. Not as friendly as in Summer.



The spray looked like a geyser!




After Gloucester, it was off to Rockport. I headed straight to the Bean and Leaf Cafe for some caffeination and a little Tiramisu. Well, a lot of Tiramisu. Don't worry, I planned to walk it off.






It was a day for foam. Foamy waves, foamy latte. Yum!



I loved the reflection of Bearskin Neck in the lantern.





More foam, there's a theme going on here!



The red Motif No. 1 is a famous landmark in Rockport. It was destroyed in the Blizzard of '78 and was rebuilt since then.




Keep Off! How rude!



Helmut's Strudel shop, my most favorite shop in Rockport. And yes! It's open. I can grab some streudel for later.




I bought a box of streudel and made a new friend. He's a Schipperke. Cute, huh?



Closed for the season. I saw a lot of signs like this today. Good thing Helmut's was open!




I didn't walk the rocks today. Sometimes I go out to the end but it was pretty windy and I didn't want to chance falling with the new camera.



Anyone for lobster or lobstah as we say it round these parts?



This gallery has lovely photographs of Cape Ann and Europe. I think it is such a pretty spot, even prettier in Summer.



So here it is, the buttery, flaky, oozing with apple, streudel from Helmut's. Can you blame me for wanting to tear into this right now? Ok then, good night!