2010, A Retrospective

As 2010 comes to a close, I thought I'd take a moment to reflect on what a crazy year it's been. A crazy, awesome year.



January saw the passing of one of my favorite writers, and we went a month attempting to save money by strictly eating in.

In February, I got a gig writing for the Austinist, met Tom's family for the first time and fell in love with Motel6's bedspreads.


In March, I went to Italy with my family and fell madly in love with Venice, where we stayed in an old venetian palace. Pommes Frites got featured on NBC New York.

In April, I participated in Lone Star Ladies present: Shop Austin - and even won 3rd place for "best booth display". I also got crazy with my book organization.


May marked the first ever Renegade Craft Fair in Austin, and I was so stoked to be participating. It had been a dream of mine for several years. We also planted a (more successful) garden and enjoyed eating tomatoes and zucchini.


June, however, was one of my most exciting months yet. On June 7th, 2010, fresh off the plane from throwing my bestfriend a bridal shower and bachelorette party, I was featured as the Etsy Featured Seller! It was actually one of my resolutions for 2010... and it was so exciting to be able to meet so many friendly faces on the blog, too, who came over from that interview.

In July, I went canoeing and did a 4th of July giveaway.


In August, I took a very short trip to San Francisco (where I visited Renegade Craft Fair SF), read a lot of library books and got a super cute bikini. One of my custom books safes was featured on Once Wed. Oh, and this happened.

In September, I watched my best friend get married and celebrated my 25th birthday.


In October, I blogged every day, decided to "un-quit" my day job, fell in love with Shiner Blonde, and dressed up as Princess Leia - complete with a matching Han Solo and ewok dog.


November had me hunkering down for the holidaze with Craft Riot prep and tons of candle making. I also diy'd this cute Dia de Los Muertos headband.

And December? Well, December didn't see much of me around these parts. I was in full on production mode, shipping up until the 17th to get everything out on time. I did find this fantastic dino planter at a local market, and shut down the shop for a couple days to celebrate the holidays with family.

Eight craft fairs, one wedding, meetings lot of new people, traveling around the country and world, learning Spanish, even dislocating a knee cap while dancing to Ke$ha - yup... 2010 was a fantastic year, full of challenges and adventure. I hope your 2010 was good - please feel free to share in the comments! And I hope you'll check back tomorrow for my annual "Resolution Season" post.

XOXO.

Austin Finds: Dinosaur Planters

Over the weekend I stopped by the artisan market outside Guero's (in the SoCo district of Austin) to hook my girl Natalie up with a couple book safes. Before I could reach her booth, however, I was stopped dead in my tracks by a delightful booth by the name of Plaid Pigeon. Now, I like plaid and I like pigeons, but what I like even more were the objects they were selling.

Their booth was jam packed with colorful planters made from old toys. They had dinosaurs (my favorite), elephants, rhinos and more. Each planter had been carefully complemented by a beautiful succulent.

Image from Plaid Pigeon facebook page.

Cacti and adorable dinosaurs? What more can you ask for? Of course, I didn't have my camera with me but that didn't stop me from snatching one up (I picked a brontosaurus, because I liked the funny way he was sitting) and taking lots of photos when I got him home.



They gave me some super easy tips for care that even I can follow. Hopefully.

Image from Plaid Pigeon facebook page.

In addition to the toy planters, they also had these beautiful hanging terrariums for sale.

Image from Plaid Pigeon facebook page.

By the way, they have some super cool photos on their facebook fan page - including "in process" ones. Gotta love it!

It's safe to say I will definitely be picking up more of these. I love the way they infuse humor with repurposing, bright colors and beautiful plants.

If you're in Austin you should definitely check them out. If not, they also have an etsy page (which is on holiday mode right now).

Awesome Gadget: Wi-Fi Equipped SD Card

Geez, sorry I disappeared there for a while. The holiday rush was a bit more crazy than I expected, which was good for my bank account but not so much for my blog content count.

Friends who take pictures, I've got one more thing to add to your holiday wish list: a wireless memory card. Holy CRAP! This thing is awesome.

Tom gave me an Eye-Fi wireless memory card as an early Christmas gift. I think he was tired of hearing me complain about having to always lug out my card reader - that is, when I could even find it. Every time I'd take pictures, it would take me ten minutes to search out the thing, let alone wait for it to upload the photos. This may have to do more with my organizational skills, but hey, who's counting?


How can something so little be so magical?(aaaand, I just had to restrain myself from making a "that's what she said" joke there)

This is how it works: you set the Eye-Fi up to your wireless network, install the software on your computer, and replace your old memory card with this new fancy one. Then, as you're snapping pics, you keep a laptop open nearby and it instantly adds the pictures to your computer, in a dated monthly calendar.

Swoon! Here's a picture of it in action:


You can see the little uploader in the top right corner. (and don't you like my desktop? haha)

This little gadget has quickly become my new favorite tech tool. What about you? Have you recently received (or had your eye on) any handy gadgets?

Etsy Finds: Vintage Holiday Decorations

I was cruising Etsy for some old-school, light up Santas to put in our front yard (ideally, one with Santa being pulled in a sled by a bunch of reindeer. Is that too much??) when I came across this awesome Santa face!



I think I need it.

I learned my sense of holiday decorating from my mom, who seriously transforms the house into a winter wonderland come December. No banister or free surface is left undecorated. How do you decorate for the holidays? Little touches? Or do you go all out?