2012

The last day of our holiday was yesterday as Greg headed back to work today after two and then some weeks off. So today feels more like the first day of things than Sunday did.

I have a long list of resolutions, just like every year. I do really like the idea of matching up fresh starts and new beginnings with dates on the calendar (like the first day of the year or my birthday), momentous, or actually more often not-so momentous, events (like finishing up a project or a trip), or even just days of the week (like Monday). 

Included in the 2012 list are some run-of-the-mill-ish ones like sticking to regular exercise, only eating dessert on the weekend (I haven't decided which days nor how many will qualify as the weekend yet), and being more productive, which I plan to accomplish chiefly by getting up before 7:00 during the week (no morning person here, so yes, this WILL take some resolve). 

On the more fun side of self-betterment, I am going to do my best to do one craft-y project every week, of which I will share the process and results here. Also, I'm going to try to read two books a month, and I'll be sure to let you know what I've got my nose buried in. Oh, and to keep up better with my magazine reading too. Like actually get through all the issues for the month before the month is up, and I'll try to share here what I liked best from my various addictions, errr, subscriptions as I promised to do at one point in the distant past. And finally, I do want to expand and better my blogging, photography, and Little Green Vintage (coming back online soon), in ways that aren't exactly clearly defined as of yet, but I'll keep you posted. Hehehehe, pun intended.

I won't bore you with the rest right now, or probably ever, unless they should become relevant here.

I hope everyone had a great holiday season, and I'm wishing you luck with any goals you've set for yourself. I've definitely got some work cut out for me, but back soon!

♡,

Erin

PS The above is another postcard to my great grandmother, I can't tell from what year, but the sender, I think a friend, named Ethel, thanked her for the gift of a beautiful doily.

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

X-Mas Décor

As promised. Starting off with our Charlie Brown-est of trees, actually a windfall branch from the maple out back, 

stuck in the urn I bought once-upon-a-time for some verdant curly willow that kicked off shortly after transplant. We decided not to commit to hauling home and finding a place for a big tree, and most all the little ones we saw on last weekend were a little too rotund for this corner. Unfortunately after it was all said and done I did come across a few ickle ones that would have worked. Definitely next year we'll look harder to start with me thinks.

We did drag in some greens (cedar, ivy, boxwood, and blue spruce, thank you previous owners of our house for your excellent evergreen planting choices) from the yard and made little bundles for the front and kitchen windows. 

With double faced satin ribbon and white lights (in the front) things came together nicely, inspired by this image from Anthology mag via Apartment Therapy.

(Kitchen window.)

I set out my grandmother's sled each year. Used by she, my dad and aunt, and then myself, it's got three generations of snowy child entertaining and probably 100 years under it's belt. 

Paperwhites are blooming. Excellent timing.

Greeting card display as horizontal space is at a bit of a premium in the living room.

Greeting from a different time. Postcard sent to my great grandmother in 1918.

Decided to leave the antlers I found on Old Worthington Market Day au natural for now and finally just hung them up over the telly. They seemed game for a bit of adornment.

And finally last but not least, this Santa with his sack of presents, sled, and reindeer have been around in my family forever.

I've had so much fun scoping out holiday decorating ideas on Pinterest and around blogland this year. Sort of makes me hope I catch the holiday spirit earlier next year so that perhaps I can tackle some of the fun projects I've saved.

For a couple more lovely holiday décor blog posts check out junkaholique and lobster and swan. They're two of my faves any day of the year, and both ladies have given me serious sweet little tree envy. :)

♡,

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

Growing Gifts

I hope everyone in the States had an excellent Thanksgiving yesterday. We are in Illinois for the long weekend. We had a traditional turkey dinner yesterday with Greg's family and today we're on to a beef roast with mine. Monday I think I will be on to some sort of in-between-holiday detox and workout regimen. As today is Black Friday, tomorrow is Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday will be here before we know it, I wanted to share the paperwhite forcing gift sets I put into Little Green Vintage earlier in the week. 

I have two single bulb sets in these lovely silver goblets. Just the perfect size to snug the bulb in with just a bit of room below for water. They are engraved "Gene & Shirley 10-1-83", probably wedding favors once upon a time, and come tied off with vintage red and blue taffeta bows. 

I also have one three bulb set in this frosted Diamond Point pattern Indiana Glass compote, finished with a big bow of vintage silver ribbon and polished creamy colored river rocks for nestling the bulbs in.

All sets come gift wrapped. (And I'll soon have a gift wrapping option with the same basic materials available for everything else in the shop too, should you want to gift any of the other vintage goodies I've got on offer.) Inside a lidded gift box, vintage dictionary and silver tissue shred keep things padded and safe (compote will be bubbled and wrapped in tissue for extra protection). Bulbs are wrapped in tissue and tied up with twine and forcing instructions.  

Gift then comes wrapped in silver tissue and embellished with jute twine, green and white sparkle-infused baker's twine, a silver chenille stem star, white gift tag, and sprig of fresh cedar. 

All right, it's official, I've got the spirit. Bring on the rest of the holly-days!

♡,

Erin

Enjoy Co

Greg works in Granville, OH which is about 30 miles east of Columbus. It's a lovely New England-esque town (it was founded in 1804 by a group from Massachusetts and Connecticut)in a beautiful setting on the western edge of Appalachians. Granville is home to Denison University, a small liberal arts college, a picturesque downtown full of shops, restaurants and old churches, and loads and loads of gorgeous historic homes. (I will take you on a tour sometime after warm weather comes back around.) And Enjoy Co., a very nicely curated home and garden shop which I finally visited for the first time last week.    

Lovely leaves at the side of the shop.

Enjoy Co. sums up their aesthetic as "vintage, industrial, natural, and contemporary". The bright space the shop occupies showcases a neutral palate of silver, steel, bronze, wood, glass, jute, wool and leather with green accents in the form of lush potted plants. 

Wish I was a knitter so I could have justified a skein or two of this yarn. Have to try it out sooner than later.

Love, love, love the mini tinsel garland! (Getting closer to having that holiday spirit.)

I wish I had taken more store-wide shots, but I just kept zooming in on all of their great little vignettes. 

Reusable wooden gift boxes. ♥ 

I also wanted to bring home this porcelain votive house...

and this plushy, faux mossy wreath. Perhaps next time.

I did come away with some sparkle-infused bakers' twine for wrapping up holiday things...

and a few paperwhites for forcing. I just got this one nestled in today to my "Best Scholar Freshman Fencing 1934" cup, the lone specimen in my vintage trophy collection, but my peepers are always open. 

I am going to have on offer in Little Green Vintage a few paperwhite forcing gift sets of a similar vintage persuasion in the very new future. I've been wanting to have the "green" in Little Green Vintage refer to growing things for awhile now, and I'm super excited with how they're turning out as I put them together. I hope you'll like them too!

If you ever find yourself in central Ohio, do visit Granville and if you visit Granville, do stop into Enjoy Co, located just east of downtown and open Thur. - Sat. It's a beautiful, inspiring place. In the meantime, check out their website, as it is likewise!

♡,

Erin