Manic Monday

it’s a manic Monday with rain coming down in the lower Hudson Valley of New York all week long.

There are days your tryng to get anchored in a routine to bring you clarity. Wishing I was on this dock from my weekend excursion further upstate near Albany, NY.

Small Business Love

So today we should show some love to the small businesses. I’ve grabbed a few that I simply love and want to support. During this crazy time these small business are struggling, admittedly I have mostly bought from the big box stores, but realize how much I love that small neighborhood shop or finely curated online one and not to forget etsy craftsmans. Take the time to peruse these shops and show your support.

House of Brinson let’s just say they have style and taste. Will is photographer and an incredible bartender, just watch his weekly Cocktail Hour. Susan is an amazing designer and has such good taste. They have a shop with everything from matches, to barware to iron skillets.

Urbanic this is a local favorite from my SoCal days in Venice, CA. I miss shopping at that store. Audrey curates beautiful stationary, cards and anything you can think of. This was always my go to place for cards.

Hand + Fire I dream about Sage’s beautifically crafted pottery. Sage is based in Helena, Oregon. She is so generous in sharing her process and how to make a simple mug by hand. Recently she and Josh made some amazing wood cutting boards. I’ve watched her work part-time at a restaurant and craft on the side to becoming a full time potter. Please visit her shop online and follow her on Instagram for her notices of when new work is being released.

The Pioneer Town General Store in Pioneertown, CA. Sarah is amazing, she is incredibly smart with her MBA and obviously hipper than the coolest person you can think of. Her store is a vintage gold mine, I personally have been eyeing the beautiful switch blade knives.

Foundry42 is located in Port Jervis, NY. I found this place online and last winter while driving out in the snow doing volunteer work I wanted a warm cup of coffee. This place was only 15 minutes away from where we were. Not only was the coffee amazing, but a shop full of beautiful books, decor, lotions, candles, anything you think you don’t need but fall in love with while browsing. Also they make a chocolate chip potato chip cookie, trust me, it’s delicious. Sweet and savory.

ArtisanTreeHouse is based in Los Angeles. Karena sells artistic, boho chic wares. I’m personally in love with her Chunky Chenile blankets. Long time friend who oozes talent. I’m always excited about what she’s doing next. Check back on her Etsy shop she’s choked full of talent. Visit her site for black Friday sales.

LaurieAnn Art paints to my heart. While I’m a Cali girl, living in NY, I’m New Mexico at heart. She paints beautiful desert landscapes and when she was able to travel you see her inspirations come alive in her European paintings. This weekend she’s offering 15% from her shop.

Emily Jefford I met about 7 years ago during the Alt Summit. She was passing out bookmarks with her beautiful paintings. Fast forward that many years and I have watched her evolve into this amazing artist who has collectors that buy out her art as soon as it’s gone live. She lives this truly artistic life with her husband and 3 kids. Based in South Caroline. I’m itching to buy a print of her recent work, I just can’t make my mind up on which one.

Field Trip is found in Newburgh, NY. While this is a brick and mortar store, which so far has not shuttered it’s doors. They have beautiful curated goods. A must visit in person or shop online.

No Longer Wander is found in Albuquerque, NM. I stumbled upon this store when it was right next to Little Bear Coffee. While we waited for our coffees to brew I wondered into this light filled plant room. So beautiful and hip beyond words. I can’t wait to visit my Mom again and buy up all the beautiful plants and drive them back with me to New York.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of small businesses I love. Its a few I’ve been following over the years and sprinkled in with new ones. Please support these folks who work so hard to curate beautiful things and sharing their talent with us. A little piece of which we can bring home with you.

September Season Eats

It’s already September 2020. Where did 2020 go? Down in history we all hope. It’s been the longest and shortest year all at the same time. I live in a new area since I last posted in February 2019. Since that time we have moved from the West Coast to the East Coast. It might as well be another continent. I’m still figuring out the seasons, literally, and what is available that’s locally grown. There are a couple of great stores here that sell locally grown fruit and vegatables. My shopping expeditions are limited, due to this pandemic situation, for those reading this in 2030 (I so hope your not reading this in 2030), it’s the COVID Pandemic of 2020, let’s hope it doesn’t last too much past this nutty year.

I’ve not explored past my regular supermarket, here it’s called Hannefords, and an occasional hour drive to Trader Joes. Of the images above i think i’m most likely to explore the figs the most. But I’m kind of craving something simple with melon and proscuitto. That’s always a good sweet and savory combo. I love pomegranites and hope to secure some, last year i was gifted quite a few, I know they aren’t cheap to buy, so let’s see if these even grow well on the east coast.

Do you find when you move that your a little stunted in the cooking area? I’ve moved twice in the past 5 years and both times I just forgot what I use to make. Moving here to New York, completely stumped us. It took my friend visiting in October (that would be about 5 months after moving here) to figure out what to make. She really helped me get out of the cooking rut. That’s not to say we don’t OFTEN go to our regular taco mode, super easy and simple to make. But i did start dusting off my cookbooks and we shared a few recipes to get us in the mode.

Then the Pandemic. Oy vey, I need to write a post on all the baking I did. To my defense it was still winter here in New York, my favorite time to bake. Although the heat never stopped me either. I’ll write all about the hard recipes I tried, i feel like I really pushed myself out of my cooking funk. In the meantime, let’s celebrate what we CAN do and that’s eat locally grown foods. Try and find out what’s fresh and in season in your area and act like your on “Chopped” open that basket and use your creativity to make something delicious. Enjoy Fall or Autumn, depending on where you live. This is my second favorite time of year after Spring. It’s the changing of the seasons I love. And Fall in New York is amazing.