Making Merry

Happy Christmas Eve, everyone! Thought I would share a few festive snaps from being out and about last weekend celebrating the season and some vacation time to spend together. Above and below, the bar at Lindey's in German Village.

Above, bar at the Worthington Inn and below, the starry ceiling above the bar.

Also Worthington Inn.

My kind of Christmas tree at House Wine in Worthington.

Cozy little bar at Harvest Pizzeria in German Village.

We are spending Christmas in Champaign, but will be back in Columbus to ring in 2012. 

I've put Little Green Vintage in Vacation Mode until after the New Year and I'm not sure if I will be back here until then either. But in the meantime, I'm going to be daydreaming up exciting plans for both shop and blog for next year. And maybe even actually starting to act on them! In the meantime, have a really great rest of the holiday season!

♡,

Erin

Festive First Friday

Beginning in the summer, downtown Worthington restaurants and businesses started staying open later and offering special goings-on the first Friday evening of every month. Greg and I, wanting to stay local and work on getting further into the holiday spirit, decided to head down and wander around a bit. And here are some snap shots, taken experimenting with camera and camera apps on my new iPhone 4s.

Above is the sleigh which makes an appearance every year on the porch of the Worthington Inn.

Lights in the courtyard/patio of the Worthington Inn.

Train display in the window of the hardware store. (At this point I was thinking "Really, can our town get any more freaking quaint?")

All the trees lining High Street are wrapped in lights and the light posts are decorated too, not to mention what individual businesses have done. And Friday there were luminaries lining the sidewalk to boot. Very pretty and bright!

We stopped into Fritzy Jacobs, a sweet little shop with a cheery, fun mix of home décor and gifts and got a couple little presents for our nieces, browsed through Pure Cottage, a shop right next to the village green specializing in English and French antiques plus new things for the home and other gift-y items, and we checked out the huge just-completed addition to Worthington Jewelers, then ended up in House Wine for some refreshment, with a final stop at Igloo Letterpress to oggle all their pretty paper wares.

So now I'm already to make our space nice and festive, but of course am short on time this week, and under the weather to boot. But I think besides attending to Greg's work Christmas party (#1, another one the following Friday), decorating will be the focus of this coming weekend. I'll be sure to share the results, inspired by way too much time spent on Pinterest lately.


♡,


Erin

Old Worthington Market Day and Quarter Beer Festival

Finally, more pics from nearly two Saturdays ago. (Yeeps! Time flies!)

We were surprised at just how big the festival was upon arrival. At first it was cloudy and cool, but it quickly became gloriously sunny and warm.

A band and balloons in front of the Mason's Lodge. 

The antique and vintage quad of the green.

Things that I passed on that I wouldn't have minded taking home included this loverly old Christmas tree stand. So much better than the clunky modern plastic ones. No skirt required. Couldn't justify it as we haven't had a real tree (or any other kind of tree) the last couple of years and don't know when we'll be having one again as we are never home for Christmas.

And this old aluminum milk delivery crate complete with bottles. Wouldn't it be fantastic for flowers at a rustic-y wedding or (insert special event)? So many possibilities in that context. An ombré arrangement, something like here, would be gorgeous.

Looking pretty fall-ish.

Appreciating Worthinton's cupolas atop St. John's Episcopal Church (above) and the Worthington Hardware Co.(below).

We dropped into the beer festival for a bit right when we got there, then while Greg got his haircut I did my looking about, then we rendezvoused back for some more yummy midwest craft beer.

All proceeds benefited the Worthington Food Pantry, so we were drinking for a good cause. (Or a better one than usual I should say. Hehehe.)

This chap was in the spirit. It was also Columbus Oktoberfest at the state fairgrounds that weekend.

Cheers! *Clink!* (Or rather the plastic cup equivalent.)

Last weekend we went back to Champaign for University of Illinois homecoming (we are both alums). Festivities included skipping around downtown Champaign Friday night, followed by tailgating and an (exciting!) football game bright and early Saturday morning. Alas, we had to drive back shortly after the game as Greg had to fly away to the other side of the world Sunday afternoon (literally, to Tokyo). And he won't be home till next week. Boo. But I'm not too gloomy as I am getting away to Florida tomorrow to meet our new niece and celebrate the other's third birthday. Hooray for hot sunshine, a pool, palm trees, and birthday cake!

Antlers and an Afghan

Saturday was Old Worthington Market Day downtown. The normal farmers market was replaced with oodles of craft and food vendors with a splash of antiques and vintage thrown in, stretching down High St. and spilling on to three out of the four quads of the village green. Simultaneously, House Wine and the other Old Worthington Quarter (as the l-shaped building on High St. downtown is apparently known) merchants hosted the Old Worthington Quarter Beer Festival in their lot. Pictures of the festivities to come.

The Worthington Historical Society had a flea/antique market set up alongside a couple of other antique/vintage vendors on one of the quads as a fundraiser. That's where I spotted this pair. At first I wasn't too sure. And I walked on. And then I couldn't stop thinking about them. So I went back and asked what the best price was. Hmmmm. Back to the beer festival. Still couldn't stop thinking about them. Had to have them, but Greg had to get home for the football game. Dropped him off and back I went. Still there. Whew. Made an offer. Did the deal. Mine. Hooray! 

I know bits from dead animals aren't everybody's cuppa. I love animals alive and I am certainly do not support their killing just for the sake of trophies. But I'd rather see more of an animal utilized than less, even if in part for a decorative purpose. Anywho, I don't mean to offend by my description of having obsessively coveted these and I understand if anyone out there just wants to move on to the afghan. 

I love that they are proudly autographed by Ron. I'm really not sure how old these actually are. When I Googled Ron's Taxidermy, it popped up on Google Maps, so he very well might still be in business, and if so, Ron, if you're out there, well done.

Now that I have them I am currently thinking that I will be keeping both. I am totally in love with these painted antlers by Cassandra Smith on Etsy. They are naturally shed, so no animals are harmed in the creation of her art. Isn't this one especially gorgeous? (They go very fast from her shop, so move quickly if you happen to be interested, and keep an eye out for new designs and colors.) I may very well come up with a scheme and paint one of my pair for hanging in the (more feminine) living room and keep the other au naturel for the basement room when it's all put back together (in a masculine manner).

And my other recent find. There just happens to be a thrift store next to my fav grocery, Weilands, so the other day before going to get the necessaries, I popped in and had a quick look around and found this crocheted afghan in the brightest orange with cream trim, perfect for a cheery fall pop of color.

It's in really perfect shape, but as I was photoing it this afternoon, I noticed it is quite a bit longer at one parallel end than the other. Perhaps that's why it was cast off. But I don't mind one bit, I love it just the way it is. I think it's a keeper too.

♡,

Erin

Golden Highlights

This weekend we were back at the basement, this time with help from Greg's Mom and Dad. But there was an escape from the dungeon (as I'm sort of starting to think of it) by Greg's Mom and I long enough to take in the Farmer's Market (as per the usual for me, as you already know).

I've wanted to try one of Sassafras Bakery's (super cute website) lovely goodies for awhile. As by the time we were ready to pack it in and return home, it was nearly 11:00 and I was still sans breakfast, I finally just couldn't resist any longer, and upon being told it was the last chance, brought home this gorgeous peach basil scone. (Last chance because Ohio peaches are nearly gone till next year. Boo.) And oh boy, it was as good as it looks! 

Also on offer at the market was the new fall edition of Edible Columbus, published quarterly and devoted to covering the wonderful producers and purveyors in the region.

So before getting back to work, I brewed up a cup and took a load off. (I swear the sweet fall palette of this assemblage is a happy coincidence!) 

So happy to see Honeyrun Farm featured! (See previous Farmer's Market tribute.)

(At risk of it seeming like this blog is completely devoted to farmers markets and dahlias) later in the afternoon I plucked these lovelies from my own front garden!...

and jammed them into a few little arrangements for around the house. I've been hooked on fresh flowers on the dining table for quite awhile now, and after sticking some in the office and spare bedroom for the benefit of our Labor Day weekend guests, I've now gotten used to peeking into these rooms and having cheery bouquets sitting there staring back at me. So for now, while they're abundantly free for the cutting, I think I'm going to keep indulging.

Anywho, progress was made in the basement; optimistic projection is that we'll be watching college bowl games down there. Pessimistic, the Super Bowl.

Back soon.

♡,

Erin

Happy Place

Hello there. It's been a bit of a mixed bag of a weekend here with digging further into basement business, but one of the high points was the usual Saturday morning trip to the Worthington Farmer's Market. These posters by Igloo Letterpress have been up all around town for awhile now and I've been coveting one. Going to have to pick one up. And maybe going to have to look into dropping into one of their Saturday morning classes. They're on Etsy too, if you're not presently hailing from these parts.

It is definitely the height of fresh produce season. The last couple weeks I've really had to restrain myself from buying one of everything in sight.

Again, if you're not in the Columbus area, check out Honeyrun Farm on Etsy. They have delicious honey, lovely soap, and sweet moulded beeswax candles. Be sure to check out their profile for a nice back story. And here is their website as well.

Earlier in the season we had sort of made it a habit to stop by House Wine for an a.m. adult beverage (ok, Greg always just got a beer, but I definitely was always after something with champagne in it) on their sweet little patio after our market shopping and before heading on to brunch. For various reasons, we've been skipping over this part of the routine for quite awhile now, however it's a habit I definitely want to resurrect while good weather remains. Earlier in the season their fizzes were with Tessora Limone, a very good locally made limoncello, now it looks like they're on to fresh Ohio fruit. 

Blue Jacket Dairy makes absolutely phenomenal cheese. Their aged cow's milk Ludlow is sooooo tasty, we've been buying it regularly for awhile now. And I just sampled their plain and herbed chevre Saturday and as soon as I finish off the goat cheese I've got in the fridge now, I'm bringing both kinds home. 

We've been buying most of our meat this summer from Oink Moo Cluck Farms. Very tasty naturally, humanely raised stuff. Their chipotle honey chicken sausages are my favorite thing to be had off the grill of late.

The sweetest, tenderest, juiciest corn. Just add a bit of salt. Yum, yum. Update: I couldn't remember this vendor's name at the time I published this post, so better late than never, they are Wishwell Farms.

Between our csa share from HW Organic Farms and the other odds and ends we picked up, I admit, we're sitting on nearly an embarrassment of riches here. Though we have put a bit of a dent in the pile since just post-market. 

Last Saturday I passed on the gorgeous bouquets the same seller I got this beauty from had because I had brought some zinnias home earlier in the week. Then I spent the whole of last week dreaming of her dessert-plate sized dahlias, so I just couldn't pass again.

And as promised, here is her info.

Going to the farmer's market has really become one of the things I look forward to most each week. And our csa has really been forcing me into the kitchen a lot more of late, and lo and behold I've been quite enjoying myself there. I'll try to start sharing some of the recipes I've followed/concocted. I know I promised one for cherry lemonade and now cherry season is well over. So if I want to be timely, I suppose I'd better get on it.


I hope you had a fresh and tasty weekend.


♡,


Erin