What in the world do toast & yarn have in common? Nothing! But the Jelly & Yarn do! Both come from the lovely hands of Heidi who birthday gifted me with them on a recent trip. This morning, I finally had a little time to play with them in the sun (before devouring the wonderful PB&J sandwich made with the Blood Orange marmalade Heidi made herself – YUM is not big enough to say how great this tastes – THANK YOU is not big enough to express my delight!)
I can hardly wait to start some socks from the Briar Rose yarn in the background – all my favorite colors live in this yarn – a custom handpaint from Chris herself. Pampered Piggies await.
Yesterday those little piggies went to market in a big way along Chicago’s Damen Avenue. I met my neighbor Theresa for a Bucktown Boutique Romp – I’ve been on a *local* vacation this week and we decided to be tourists in our own town! Truly nothing better –
We went up to Bucktown and worked our way south.
******
******
I saw this wonderful arrangement in the window of a shop –
and just had to go in and make some new friends.
This space was FULL of ruffley tulips and just mouth watering roses in bi-colors and more. VOILA! Mega Spring Fever!
I ended up with a retro pot (the green fluted one on the left) as a new home for the Christmas Cactus my neighbor gave me – hey TOM! It’s still ALIVE! I didn’t think I could do it but hey, it’s the 22nd of March and it’s still kickin…
Bucktown is one of the most lovely neighborhoods in Chicago – many of its buildings hail circa 1880 and most of the little shops along Damen are in the original charming storefronts that graced the avenue back in the day. A little north of Larkspur, we found C’est Moi.
This is a delightful houseware store and I spotted something through the window that made me rush inside.
My Aunt Florence, who lives in Hampton, Georgia, sent me some birthday $wag and now I have something to light up my life and think of her in the evening.
The magical thing about this 10″ lamp is that the shade is not a shade at all but a CANDLE! It burns from the inside down and light shines through the rest of the wax. Ah, vacation – enough time to take a picture of it and play in Photoshop to make this card for Auntie Flo – thanks for visiting, y’all…