Look How Much Spring Five Dollars Buys You

Christmas decs came down yesterday and now the house is looking kinda bare. Working on more permanent ways to remedy that, like perhaps some new artwork and some kind of festive-in-a-non-holidays-way treatment for the front window. I don't know if I'm ready to go full-on spring quite yet; I kind of feel like we've been robbed of winter thus far. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not missing the bitter cold, but a bit more snow to help enjoy cozy days inside would be alright, until it's the proper time of year. It's been so warm, my daffs came up, I think it was early December, and that kind of weirds me out.

But regardless, I couldn't resist this bouquet at Whole Foods yesterday, for $5! They must have been cleaning out the cooler post holidays. Way more that $5 worth of loveliness here. And actually, it's not really too spring-y. Just every so cheery.

♡,

Erin

P.S. I am loving the Hipstamatic Foodie SnapPak. I think it's $.99. As you can see, it's great for flower shots too!

Martha Stewart Living January '12

Well just before I sat down to do this post, I checked the mail and there was the February MSL. So do quickly run to your newsstand of choice (real or virtual) and try to grab the January issue (we're only one week into the month after all, not too late to enjoy a January mag at all!), because despite it's skinniness, it's chock full of, hehehe, "good things". 

First off, Martha takes us on a tour of her new homekeeping room in a converted outbuilding at her Bedford, NY farm. Lots of great organizing ideas for supplies of all sorts, and I have to admit, her work/storage pieces for Home Decorators Collection are pretty sweet. Running all over the house trying to gather shipping supplies to send off Little Green Vintage orders makes me especially covet this packing station.

A little spread on staying warm stylishly had three ensembles, country rustic, city chic and this middle-of-the-road option that was my fav.

Loved this cheery little workspace.

Easy-peasy diy gilded bookends definitely look like more than the sum of their parts.

Last weekend Greg and I went to Sage American Bistro for the first time and we had a fabulous frisée salad, so it was kind of fun to come across the above left in the Easy Entertaining menu. Sage's version was tossed with white balsamic vinaigrette and included goat cheese, bacon, pickled red onions, and was topped with a poached egg rather than hard-cooked. Yum. And in a story on the combo of lemon, parsley, and parmesan, this bread with prosciutto and egg stood out, kinda reminiscent of Northstar Café's prosciutto and poached eggs, which is out of this world. 

Loved the white and gray palate of this kitchen. Carrera marble counters ♥. 

Need some of this. Not sure for what yet, but if I'm going to get craft-y this year, it sounds like a nice versatile thing to have on hand.

And finally, on the subject of making, a great article chock full of beautiful knitting projects.

Like these gorgeous stool covers...

and this cozy modern blanket. I think getting some supplies and some form of beginner instruction might finally be in order this month. I've been inclined to try knitting for awhile, and this spread is great motivation to get started.  

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

♡,

Erin

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

My Bag, Baby

I was in need of a new bag a few weeks ago, and though I'm coveting this one, or this one (whichever, I'm really not picky), unfortunately neither is in the immediate cards. I happened to be in Target and spotted this perfect-for-winter, fuzzy, Fair Isle hobo and snatched it up for $19.99. Muted, but with a bit of color it works perfectly well with my winter coat (in saddle).

Outside is plain, save for this little side pockets which would be perfect for keeping sunglasses out of the fray, if I ever remembered to use it for such.

Open and zippered pockets inside... 

roomy enough for a couple mags or even an iPad.

In short, I endorse this bag for your budget winter accessorizing needs.

We did manage to decorate for x-mas over the weekend. Can't wait to share, I'm really happy with how things turned out, sitting here in my merry, slightly sparkly and shiny living room.

♡,

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