Lilac Saloon

Love

I can't help but think about things that I love today!  It's not technically a special day on the calendar but I am feeling very appreciative today.  I have the new luxury of only driving 3.5 hours to see my mom and family in West Des Moines.  We used to live 11 hours away from them so it's a pretty big deal.

I'm grateful for my new life.  The new one that Evan and I are creating.
I'm thankful that I've decided to follow my heart and not my head!
It's imperative when you actually want to enjoy the life you're here to live!

I feel lucky to live where I live and do what I do.
It's incredible and I urge for you to find that feeling too!!

It's a long holiday weekend so I'll be taking a blog break until Tuesday!  I'll have some really fun photos from the weekend to share by then - including a really unique trip that we're taking today!

I already can't wait to show you!!  :D

 
 

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Make Over!!

Welcome to the new Running Stitch - now OFFICIALLY Lilac Saloon!

You can now save www.lilacsaloon.com in your blog readers :D

If you do go to Running Stitch it will just forward you here anyway so have no fear.

 

I'm so excited for the new direction - I hope you like it!
Any problems/questions with the new layout - please let me know - it's going to be a work in progress!

Let The Games Begin

Yesterday was my first day working from home.  I had a schedule and some goals and I halfway tuck to it but ended up modifying it a bit to go with what felt right.  I made some different things than I had originally planned to make but I had to go with my instincts as opposed to following the schedule.  I don't think creativity can be scheduled so I suppose I should make really loose schedules if I am to make them at all!

I allowed messes to happen.  Scraps started to pile up.

This is my only co-worker at my new job:

She's more hindrance than help sometimes...

She has to let me torture her as payment.

I wanted to feel, at the end of the day, like it was productive and successful.  I think I worked a bit too slowly but it was 91 degrees out today and we don't have air conditioning.  It was harsh.

As the piles on the floor started to build, I could tell I was actually doing something.  Maybe my measures of success will be based on how large of a mess I make each day?

Petals being cut for a Peony bouquet.

Today is my day 2 of working for ME.  I'm a pretty good boss so far but I won't take any slacking off so I've gotta get to work!!

Happy Tuesday!

 
             

First Day

 Today is the beginning of everything.

I've written out a schedule and have goals for the day.  I'm working - but I'm working for new reasons and it feels so different!  I have a lot in my head and a lot in my heart and I'm ready to start sharing it with you and figure out ways to make those ideas tangible.

I'm still posting here at Running Stitch and not over at Lilac Saloon because I am in the process of figuring out how I want to make the transition.  I just bought my domain name (www.lilacsaloon.com) and am going to be domain mapping the blog!  I'm in contact with Typepad to see if it's best to map Running Stitch or the new Lilac Saloon blog.  My thought is... I want to keep my old Running Stitch content so I should just map this blog and get rid of the Lilac Saloon blog.  Essentially, Running Stitch will become www.lilacsaloon.com.  Is that the right way to go about it?
And then, of course, running stitch will get it's makeover to become it's new self.

Lots of work ahead but it's a good thing!!

So please stick around at this blog and don't worry too much about the Lilac Saloon blog I linked to earlier.  It may end up getting deleted and we'll just stay here :)  I'll let you know SOON!!

 
 
 

Louisville

A couple of months ago, Evan and I met his brother Michael for a weekend trip down in Louisville, Kentucky.  None of us have ever been there and we wanted to wander and explore and visit together.

It was a windy and chilly day but we wanted to wander so we got out and walked through this park.  It was designed by the same, um, park designer as the one who designed Central Park in NYC.

Ok, so more "research" tells me that the designer is Frederick Law Olmsted.  Central Park is a pretty great park.  I don't think this park in Louisville is his best work, to be honest, haha.  It was ok.

Louisville didn't feel too big and busy.  Even in the downtown area in the thick of the skyscrapers, there wasn't an intense rush of traffic and noise.  It was nice.

One of the things that disappointed me, actually, was when we headed down to the waterfront.  I expected beautiful parks or some sort of nice scene next to the river.  We got to the water and came across...overpasses and lots of concrete.

This was cute:

Birds were circling this building and we thought that maybe it was a company about to go out of business - and the birds knew it?

There were creative and unique bike racks scattered around the city - check these out!

We even found a Bubble Tea shop!

Louisville was a cool city.  We had fun and felt it had a good vibe!

If you live within driving distance of Louisville, I recommend a visit!
                          

Fresh & Summery

On a sunny, warm day...

I always crave fresh foods.  Today I decided to chop up a batch of Pico de Gallo.  The Slap Chop would have been so handy for this.  I could get my veggie craving on AND slap my troubles away!

Alas, I do not own the Slap Chop or even the Tap That Chopper (yep seriously that's a real thing) but I did get to enjoy my fresh hand-chopped Pico on a warm almost-summer day!

*tomatoes*onion*jalapeno*cilantro*lime juice*
YUM!
  

Golden Treasures

One of the best parts about living in a small town is the antique and thrift shops.  They seem to be totally untouched by like-minded individuals because there aren't many like-minded people here!  The people shopping in these stores are looking for very different things than I.  Evan and I wandered through Thrifty's and quickly and easily found the coolest thing in the store that was overlooked by everyone!

I didn't take a great before picture except for this one of my cat sitting in it...

We decided that it was born to be RED.  Of course, I also just happened to have glossy dark red spray paint on hand!  We had to take the frame to the car wash first to give it a really good power wash.  I tried to clean it with Clorox wipes, a spray bottle of water and paper towels but it was a lost cause.  Look at all of those nooks and crannies!  Forgettaboutit!  The power washer was a champ!

I think it looks even cooler sitting against our freshly painted soft turquoise walls.

Zoom in on those deeeetails.

Seriously - how cool is this now that it's red????

I am so in love with it!  It was worth the $4 investment, I'd say.

Never forget to keep your eyes open for things that were born with potential!

Introducing: Lilac Saloon

Remember when I mentioned that I finally had an idea for a brand?  

I'm ready to share it with you!

I still have a LOT of work to do to get it ready to go (need to work a lot more on the blog, get a flickr account up and running, and fill the etsy shop with goodies!!) but I am going to have to phase out Running Stitch (sad face!) by July so that I do not have to pay for TWO Typepad accounts.  Or keep two going.

I would like to introduce to you - the new face of meee :)...

Lilac Saloon

The new blog is super empty at the moment as I just created it yesterday evening!  I encourage you to add it to your blog reader (I'll get it onto Bloglovin' asap also) so that the transition from Running Stitch to Lilac Saloon will be nice and smooth and I won't lose any of you in the process :).

I'll still blog from Running Stitch a bit longer as I work on painting the walls and stuffing the shelves over at Lilac Saloon.

Does anyone know about transferring archives from one blog to another??  It would be sad to lose my Running Stitch archives!  I don't know how that part works.  Any help would be awesome :)

Project 365: Month 4

I finally got a chance to put this together!  Moving sure has taken away all of my "photography hobby time".  I am pretty happy that I've been able to keep up with the photos even through the hectic time of moving and stuff.  I think I want to make some sort of list/chart at the end of the year to figure out what I ended up taking pictures of.  For example... how many pictures have I taken of cats vs. trees in the year?  Haha.

 

See the whole month and more on Flickr.

The Neighborhood

We have been in Estherville since Monday and every single day since then it has been cold and raining.  We have kept inside for the most part, just unpacking and painting and making several trips to the neighboring town - to Wal Mart.

It was finally sunny yesterday so I set out on foot to photograph the neighborhood!  I just walked a couple of blocks in each direction and came upon all of this:

This is our house!  We are renting the first floor.  The second floor is vacant.

Walking a block back behind our house brings us to this crazy awesome looking building.  The 6th Street Emporium!  It is "for sale" and not open.  How amazing is that whole building??

Walking a block over takes us to a group of 6 sets of train tracks!  Also - the amazing view of Fort Defiance State Park.  The Iowa DNR website says this about the park:

"Fort Defiance State Park's 191 acres of rugged woodland provide a beautiful contrast to the gently rolling surrounding farmlands.  The park's trails, picnic areas and scenic overlooks provide a great place to relax.  Its lush cover of vegetation includes hawthorn, plum, locust and many species of the state tree - the oak.  In the spring, the slopes are speckled with trillium, bloodroot, hepatica and violets.  A small prairie with native grasses and flowers, including the endangered prairie bush clover, thrives on a secluded knoll."

Even abandoned things are beautiful here.  There are a lot of abandoned things here.

This is exactly the kind of place I'd dreamed it would be.

Our local coffee shop - Cool Beans!

The old Gardston Hotel.  It now holds city offices.  We went in here to put the electricity in our name and get our recycling bin.

We went here last night and were given free Bazooka Joe shots.  Red Bull, Bacardi Limon and Grenadine.  It really did taste like the gum!

This town is artistic, even if it is on accident!

The whole reason we are here... Iowa Lakes College!  Although, this isn't the actual school building - this is just one of their Administrative buildings.

Glorious!

Our landlords own quite a few properties in town.  They own a furniture store, homes that they rent out, and also this building!  It is currently a thrift shop but the shop is moving out due to a leaky ceiling.  Our landlord gave us a tour of the building, including the whole upstairs area.  It was crazy up there!!  Maybe I will be able to take some pictures and share them later.  The building comes with a lot of stories of it's history as well!

For such a small town, they have an amazing looking Library!  I can't wait to go in.  I'll probably go today!

This kind of building reminds me of my hometown.

Evan and I drove up and down the road, looking for the Post Office.  We kept driving right past the building because it is this building.  We didn't expect it to be so amazing looking.  We thought maybe this was the court house.

When you look up Estherville in Google Images, this orange building is one of the only photos that you get!

I'm even impressed by their trash cans.  It's a very clean little town.

This is our landlords furniture store.  Everyone seems to know them when we talk to other people in town!

Going behind buildings uncovers more interesting details.

Junk!  What a contrast to the beautiful forrest.

Evan said "You're wearing that??" to me when we were heading out to the bar in the evening.  Black jersey dress, floral leggings and silver Toms.  What's wrong with that?

Someone there asked me if I was a ballerina.

I feel very happy and welcomed in this town and am excited to call this my home for the next to years!  EVERY single person we have met so far has been incredibly friendly and warm to us.  Literally, every person.  That is just awesome.

                   See the full set of my images here on Flickr!           

From Westerville to Estherville

We made it to Estherville, Iowa!!

I'm sitting in a little local coffee shop called Cool Beans.  They have free Wi-Fi and it's only a couple blocks from our place.  Sweeeet.  Needless to say, I'll be here often until we get the internet in our place.

We made the long drive on Sunday from Westerville to West Des Moines.  My mom had a super amazing home-cooked meal of chili and cornbread waiting for us!  She also hooked me up with two loaves of banana bread for the road - wow she's the best :).  We woke up Monday morning and drove the 3.5 hours north west to Estherville.  I was so anxious!  In an excited way though, not a stressed way.  What was it going to be like?  Awesome?  Awful?  Cute?  Sad?  Creepy?  Inspiring?

A whole vat of emotions ran through me as we pulled up to the house and walked inside.  It's an old house and has been vacant for months after being abused by many prior renters.  Our landlord, Doc, didn't feel it was worth fixing it up for someone who was just going to wreck the crap out of it and I totally agree.  So now that he knows we're awesome and are going to treat that place like a home, he's going to help us fix it up to our liking :).  It's in a great location - everything seems close enough to walk, ride a bike, or take a short drive.  I love that.

We started sorting our boxes into their designated rooms and cleaning.  Just having our things in there is already starting to make it look like home.  After a bit of elbow grease and TLC it is going to look awesome.  To be honest, the place is a bit of a pile right now but it won't be that way once we're done with it.  We're taking it as training for the future when we own a house of our own.  There's a reason for everything!

We went over to see the school, Iowa Lakes.  It's so nice and everyone that helped us was SO stinking friendly.  It made me feel really good.  We're doing the right thing.

I also had a complete epiphany on the long drive here.  I know what direction I want to try to take my business in.  I thought of a name - yeah - a new name.  I'm pretty positive on this.  It may be a little sad to abandon Running Stitch but I can't get this new idea out of my head and I'm exploding with ideas.  We'll see :).

Ok time to eat my chicken salad sandwich - I'll write more soon!!

Sylvia Ji Haunts My Mind

I've recently stumbled upon Sylvia Ji - an artist I won't soon forget.  Her work is so hauntingly beautiful.  It has so much passion, soul and dark mystery.

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I need one of my own!!!  The hardest part of that would be choosing only one.

Gregory Parkinson

Working as a Textile Designer for the past few years has nurtured in me a great love for print and pattern in my every day life.  My comforter, my sheets, my curtains, my clothes, my shoes, my notebooks...etc. are all covered in fun print and pattern.  Any place that patterns can be mixed and hang out next to each other is even better!

I also have a huge respect for designers that use pattern in a strong way.  Some designers seem to completely avoid it and that completely bores me.  Give me something fun to look at!

 

My friend Brielle, fellow Textile Designer, sent me a link to the website of Gregory Parkinson.  His signature is to pattern mix multiple patterns within a garment or total look.  He does it beautifully.  Very inspiring!!

Check out the Spring/Summer 2010 Collection on his site.  It's my fave!!

Last Day, First Day

Had my official "last day" at work.  I turned in my employee ID card, parking pass and corporate credit card.  I completed my "exit interview" which was basically a computer survey of my opinion of the company and my time there.  I ran around and said goodbye to everyone and then drove off into the sunset.

Well, not actually the sunset.  But it was super sunny and beautiful out!  It was the "first day" of newfound freedom!  I hung out at the library, changed our address to the Iowa address at the Post Office and then got my hair cut and colored!  I've had the same amazing person cut my hair for the past three years and it was sad to tell her that I'm leaving!  I wanted "low maintenance" so I had her remove my highlights.  This is a bit darker than my natural color but she said it will fade a bit and turn into more of my natural color.

(I'm such a weirdo)

I felt so happy all day.  I feel ready to tackle the next adventure.

We have the rest of this week to pack up and say final goodbyes and then on Sunday morning we head out on the road!!