Portabellopixie

Spontaneous

Today I had my hair done. I've finally found someone who gets my hair and I love it! And to make it that much better, she always straightens it! Which is a complete treat. I love having curly hair, but being a little different every now and then is fun. And Dustin digs it too. So every 6-8 weeks I rave to my friends about having my hair straightened, but never have any proof. Well, here I am: Straight haired Sandi. 

And my picture comes to you today from the spontaneously new painted kitchen I'm enjoying.  I love the color-an entire color story in my next collection was brought to life around the greedy intentions of using it in my kitchen.  It's a Martha Stewart color, Weathered Copper I think.  Here it is on a fun little tool I could spend hours on..BTW-if you're ever trying to match a paint color to my fabric, that probably the first place to check.  I use them a lot when pitching the colors for my fabrics.  

I've been thinking a lot about spontaneity lately.  My sweet BFF from high school, Jessica, is coming to town this weekend!  I am driving down to Salt Lake tomorrow to pick her up and we are going to have a girls night on the town and spend the night over.  I can't tell you how excited I am to see her and have a no-sleep, giggly night together.  The amounts of nights we slept over could never be counted.  I remember her telling me one night that her parents had received a Christmas card from someone they went to school with and that meant that we were going to be in touch forever.  So far so good.  Jessica was always much more level headed than me, I always jumped right to the punch (and seem to still do that.)

After I posted my new piano (which BTW-whoa friends.  You guys seriously don't want me to paint that piano!  We'll see, but no promises.  ;) Jessica called me in and excited uproar to tell me that she has almost the exact same one!  The HOURS we spent playing the piano together..we would just know what the other person was going to do next and play and play.. good good times.  Anyhow, she gave me a deep history of the instrument and apparently Howard Manuelo pianos like ours date back somewhere to the 1700's.  They are built with the insides of a grand piano which explains the gorgeous sound that erupts when I play it.  Not because of me, I had a few tear filled days when I sat down with it to begin, but it's coming back.  If you don't use your talents you lose them, so don't let that happen!

 As some of you mentioned, yes, my piano is a player piano but the parts have been removed.  I don't know that I'll be putting them back in as I prefer to play it myself, but we'll see.  I'm currently refreshing up on the many songs I learned in my youth.  Maple Leaf Rag, Solfiagetto, Canon in D and Rogers and Hammerstein Cinderella are at the top of the list right now.  If you click on the Maple Leaf Rag, it will take you to a video on You Tube of a crazy fast piano player who performed in Disneyland.  I can't play the song anywhere near that fast or think I would want to, but it sure is interesting to watch.

Speaking of Disneyland and spontaneity, we've been planning to go back this fall.  I like to book our vacations through Costco travel, they have great deals.  So this morning I hopped on to see if their  October-ish deals were up yet which they weren't, but they had killer deals for travel before April 30th.  So I sat there for second, cocked my head to the side and called Dustin to see if he could get the time off.  He said he could, so I booked the trip.  Just like that.  Spontaneously..  I've always wanted to plan a vacation quick like that, but last minute travel deals are never great.  If you're in the mood for a last minute vacation, check 'em out!

And to top off the spontaneous post (wait for it, I'll make the connection), I am finally going to post the winners to the giveaway I had ages ago.  See it ties in so well with the spontaneous thing because you guys expected it so long ago-eh?  See?  See?  oh well.. here you go.  

If one of these is your comment, send me an email and I'll get your goodies out to you!

Such a tough decision...all are so lovely!
Here's my vote:
Henna Garden red, Dahlia-aqua, and Medallion-Bloom Pink

Posted by: Tami Butler | December 01, 2008 at 04:51 AM

Well, I love all of them too, but my favorites are:
Retro Dot
Vintage Dot
Medallion

Good luck at choosing the winning combinations! It's always hard to edit out such beautiful fabrics! :)

Posted by: Amy | December 01, 2008 at 06:38 AM

These are gorgeous! My choice would be the 
- Henna Garden
- Vintage Dots (because it is so neutral)
- Dahlia

Beautiful things made out of beautiful designs and fabrics.

Posted by: Jeannine McCloskey | December 01, 2008 at 10:04 AM

wowza...congratulations!!!!!!!

My top three picks in order:
Henna Garden - Red
Retro Dot - Red
Vintage Dot - Blush

Posted by: Halu*Halo | December 01, 2008 at 04:36 PM

I literally jumped up and down when they brought it to the door.

Yesterday was a triumphant day for me. There has been a little part of me that has been missing since I moved away from home. Hours have been spent scouring newspapers, sales and the like for the perfect replacement. Nothing held up to my expectations.   

Until yesterday. 

I was driving down the road with both kiddos intact and spied the words "Piano Sale". A screech of the wheels later, I was in the store checking out the sale. There were good deals on new ones, but I haven't wanted a new one. I specifically wanted an old one that I would have not qualms about using as a blank canvas. There it was in the back with a very reasonable price tag on it and a sales man saying that by chance, they could deliver it that day. 

One hour later, there was a piano in my living room. 

It even has ivory keys and only one is missing. (Not very common in case ya didn't know.)

I have grand summer plans for making it my own.  I'm not going the route of stripping it down and restaining it-I think my plans are geared more towards painting it.  Check out this one.

Or this one:

Hmm..whacha think?  Here's a full shot of my new lovely..

Sandi

Grown Up Dishes

For as long as Dustin and I have been married, we had a vast arrangement of dishes collected from various sales and or thrift shops.  Recently, Dustin opened the cabinets and declared it was time to get some matching dishes.  2.1 seconds later I was here, ordering my very first pieces of fiestaware.  I chose the turquoise color because I LOVE the color and it coordinates with the bits and pieces we had that I wanted to keep.

I love it!  (Though I'm not quite loving these pictures?  Oh well.)  Next on the menu is one of the pitchers.  Oh-and then I'll need to get the set in tangerine because they would mix so well.  And creme.  and lime green.  And red.  And..and..  Am I the only fiesta junky out there?

Makes mealtimes so much prettier!  Dinner party anyone?

Vintage Pot and Funeral Plants

So a green thumb I have not. I want to be a green thumb, truly I do, but I'm just not that great at gardening. Last year at the end of my grandmother's funeral, the family divided up the plants. I was presented with a large basket of small plants clumped together. I panicked as I knew I would be the one to kill off Grandma's funeral plants. I even mulled over the idea of blogging the receipt of the plants in hopes that it would help me keep them alive. But I didn't have the guts because I was sure I would have to report plant killing in 6 months. Well, it's been almost a year and they are all still holding strong! I think I only lost one, and it wasn't doing so hot when I got it. All in all, I'm giving myself an A-. 

This one is nice and happy in this cool vintage pot I found at the thrift store for a buck. I think Grandma would approve.

Farm Chicks Cookbook

Before the idea of ever designing fabric popped into my head, I stumbled upon the Farm Chicks website. I was immediately taken with their style and loved the vibe they had going on. Imagine my delight when I received an email from them several months ago stating that they were in the process of writing a cookbook and wondered if they could use some of my fabrics for backdrops! What an honor to know that they like my vibe too. :) We hooked them up and their book is now hitting stores. I can't wait for my copy to arrive! 

View their blog for a free recipe from the book and to see a little behind the scenes of the photoshoot.

 

The Happiest Flower

Welcome to the blog formerly know as Portabellopixie.  Or the, "yes, I'm still alive, posting once a month" blog.  Yes, by the way, I'm still alive.  :)  And doing well.  Thank you for checking in on me.  I don't have any great excuse for my long blogging absences other than I'm getting used to a new routine, turning in a new fabric collection, starting new patterns, photographing the new gift line, and enjoying a lot more time with my kids.  The kiddo part has been top priority lately, everything else just hasn't seemed quite so pressing and I've been enjoying taking it a little slower.  But I've missed the interaction with you guys!  I've got some fun things in the works and can't wait to see it all unveiled.  Inspiration above.

They really are the happiest flower, aren't they?

I make it a point to splurge on live flowers at least once a month.  If daisies are in, I will almost always choose them.  I bought these almost 2 weeks ago and they are still holding strong.  Happy.

I've got a bunch of fun posts set to go off this week so you can see what's been going on around here in my silence!  Stay tuned..

Sandi