Now that we're entering prime shopping season, I want to introduce you to some of my favorites! Trista Hudzik Pottery has been at the Handmade Market the past few times I've done the show and her bright colors always grab my attention.
I was hoping to keep my blog updates rotating between art, gardening, and ideas I support, but today I want to interject a bit about what's going on around our home (and what's keeping my brain busy).
(image from Wikipedia, listed as Creative Commons)
We live on a main road in our town, and as "progress" happens, roads get bigger. C and I knew that would happen, we braced for it, accepted it, and were basically ready to lose about a lane's worth of property to the front of our house. Recently, though, the next phase of the design was released and we learned the scope of land loss would be much larger.
The road will be drastically changed. What is now a main road through a small town will become a thoroughfare. In the simplest terms, that upsets me. It will destroy the charm of the town, the walkability, and harm the core of independently owned businesses in Matthews.
NCDOT unveiled the plan and gave the public about 4 weeks to leave feedback on it. So I started asking around to get a feel for what others thought about it. Guess what? Nobody knew, or if they did, they had no idea about the actual design.
So that's what I've been doing: talking to a lot of people; emailing a lot of people; facebooking (that's a verb, right?) a lot of people. If I had a better idea of tags on twitter I'd be doing that, too.
Wish us luck!
{And if you are in the area and want to get involved, shoot me a note and I'll get you some flyers.}
It's hard to imagine my life without gardening. It's an activity I half-heartedly dabbled in through my early 20s, and after college, when I moved back to East John St, I became interested in learning to care for the plants my grandparents planted. I *think* I picked up Gayla Trail's book You Grow Girl t the now defunct Borders Books (RIP) and immediately absorbed it and the companion website. Gayla taught me just how to organically care for the greenery around and convinced me to try my hand at growing veggies!
I've followed her work ever since. To say she's formed and informed me is an understatement; her work has been instrumental in introducing gardening to new generations.
Now Gayla, and her partner Davin, are working on a new project called Grow Curious. Check out their kickstarter and let's help get this new project off the ground! #growcurious
My most recent projects (for a couple different clients!) has been a departure from my usual botanical work. A challenge every once in a while is pretty nice, so it's been a fun break! Once these are finalized and released into the public wild, I'll post with links so you can see how and what they're used for.
If you don't get the Jill Bliss newsletter, let me tell you, you're missing out. My inbox fills countless times a day with health-based newsletters, but nothing is better for the spirit than the beauty that accompanies Jill's newsletter.
We have a handful of Bliss-Goods: notepads, prints and a beautiful original in C's and my bedroom. I'm so tempted to really pinch pennies (bye bye Americano addiction) and buy another original. The Fairie series is heavenly.
On the more affordable end of the spectrum are the equally beautiful Mushroom Medley Calendar and stickers (!!!!) of her gorgeous animal drawings.
Check out her website for the total Bliss experience and her goods on Buy Olympia.
