the adventures of young ghetto

Ghetto's life is just one long adventure - his days are quite exhausting.

Being rather a undisciplined  bold dog, he always has to be where the action is, and hates to think he may be missing out on something.  I have developed the habit of checking around my feet before closing the car door, because nine times out of ten, he'll have jumped in behind me

Gibson in true Golden Retriever style, is fairly respectful of house rules here.   Ghetto says he's never heard of rules, be they house or any other.

Which is why yesterday morning I was woken by something warm and wet on my neck, you guessed it. Ghetto had come upstairs, pushed open my bedroom door and decided it was time for everyone to be up and about.  My reaction was to groan and roll over which brought me nose to nose with Gibson.  The look in his eyes said "I do know I'm not meant to be here, but it was his idea, and I thought you might be pleased to see us both after all ... maybe?"

SIGH ....

So they got me out of bed early, which was not such a bad thing, they were fed and sent into the garden, but before long Ghetto was barking.

 I went outside to investigate and found him nose to bristle with a hedgehog.  I put him away once, but he went straight back and started kicking up a fuss again.  So the start to my day was yet further delayed, as - still in my jimjams -  I had to don gardening gloves and wellington boots, and crawl beneath a hedge to grab the hedgehog, then open our gate and cross the road to put him safe from wire-haired dogs.  I so hope nobody saw me !

In the afternoon, no doubt worried he might get bored, Ghetto managed to get himself shut inside the guest house, from where he tried to escape via ... the bedroom window!  

Can you see?    he even ventured out on to the roof and dislodged a tile AAARGH!

Hmmm.... life is going to feel pretty quiet around here, the day Ghetto goes back down to Nice!

Oh and by the way ..... August is going to be a month of giveaways on this little blog - one every Wednesday.  I already have three stunning gifts to be won, but there are five wednesdays in August!  If you have a really cool product that you would like to promote via a giveaway here, just send me an email and I'll see if I can fit you in!

The Bagster Bag & A Home Renovation Project for The Cottage Mama

I was so excited to be contacted by the folks at Waste Management (WM)!  You're thinking, Lindsay.......you have lost your mind.  But no, I haven't......not entirely.  My husband and I have been talking about getting a dumpster for a home renovation project for awhile.  Renting a dumpster can be pretty pricey, so that's probably the main reason we've been putting it off in addition to being so busy with our three little kiddos.  So when WM emailed me asking if they could 'give' us one of their new The Bagster Bags to try, I said 'sign us up!

My business is pretty much taking over the house.  Yes, I have my studio where I do most of my creating, but what takes up even more space is my inventory.  There are boxes and boxes of my printed sewing patterns, bolts of fabrics for custom orders, shipping and packaging supplies, read-to-ship clothing, photography props and tools and the list goes on.

 Organized Side

(Don't be fooled, that's maybe half of my inventory)

Non-Organized Side

Right now we have somewhat converted our loft space into a storage area.  One side is pretty well organized, but the other side could be used much more efficiently.  There are still a bunch more boxes that we need to move from our mud room either up into the loft or possibly out into our coach house.  Now the coach house......it sounds a lot more lovely than it really is.

When we bought our 1934 cottage, the previous owners had just let the coach house go (as well as a lot of other things in this house).  It was really sad because it used to be a studio apartment with a brick fireplace, kitchen, bathroom and hardwood floors, but now..........it's nothing close.  Basically it's just sort of falling down.  My dream is to someday convert the coach house into a two story studio / guest house, but that's not happening any time soon.  In the meantime, we need to clear out some of the debris in there (i.e. falling down drywall, construction material, ect.) so that we can at least use the space for additional storage.  Most of the things we need to clear out of there aren't able to be picked up curb side during our regular trash service.

 Door Leading Into Coach House

So WM and The Bagster Bag to the rescue!  Over the next month the hubby and I (and perhaps a few extra helpers) will attempt to clean out the coach house and work on some of our other spaces to make our storage of all my inventory a little more organized and user friendly.

So how does The Bagster Bag work?  It's a pretty neat idea.  You purchase one of the large bags at your local hardware or home improvement store for about $29.95 (click HERE to find a store in your area).  You unfold it, load it up with all your junk and then call to have WM come pick it up.  Now don't be fooled, the whole process is not $29.95, you have to pay for the pickup which varies from area to are from between $79-$249.  But it's still far less than renting your own full dumpster and having to wait for them to deliver it.  This way you can start your project whenever you want, keep the bag out for as long as you want and have it picked up whenever you want.......definitely more freedom and more cost savings!

The Bagster Bag is supposed to hold up to 3,300 pounds and be made of a really durable woven material.  You can throw out most things but there is a list of approved materials that can be thrown away in a Bagster.  Here is the list:

You pretty much can't throw away things that you can't throw away in your normal trash.......paint, batteries, chemicals, ect, that should be disposed of in the proper place anyways.

I'm excited to try out this new product.  I'll let you know what I think. Wish us luck.  I'll be back with a follow-up post and a $100 Amex Giftcard Giveaway.  I'm glad WM gave us the push we needed to take on this project.  Not sure my husband is super-glad.......but I am!!

PS:  I would never share a product on this blog that I didn't think was a neat idea or one that I didn't intend on using wholeheartedly.......just so you know :).  But one of the perks of being a blogger is that I do get to try really cool things out for free and sometimes I get paid for doing so.

Waste Management partnered with bloggers such as me to participate in its The Bagster® Bag Blogger Challenge.  As part of this program, I received compensation to cover the cost of the Bagster bag and pick-up as well as my time.  They did not tell me what to purchase or what to say about the products used for the The Bagster® Bag Blogger Challenge. Waste Management believes that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. Waste Management’s policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations. A winner will be chosen by random and voucher fulfillment will be handled by a third party.

{Coffee Can Vases}

Start diggin' in your recycling bucket, 'cause today's project is waitin' for you.

I've had these vintage coffee cans for 'eva.

They travel around the house for different decorative purposes all the time.

This summer, they're planters.

But don't worry if you don't have the vintage cans.

Regular ole cans are just as cute, and cheaper! plus you get the extra bonus of using what's in them first.

(And by the way, are there actually people out there who drink HALF caffeinated coffee? Silliness)

So, go ahead. Dumpster dive in your own driveway.

Fresh Coat of Paint: Client Before

This week is going to be fast paced thanks to an exciting new project with a very quick deadline (details to come on that in a couple of weeks).  Lots of other exciting things happening this week as well, for instance a long time client is finally getting the white painted house we she always wanted.  Our taste are so similar I sometimes forget I am not living there as well.  This is the before with the test samples.

{ What's in your Bag? Jess - East Coast Creative }

{What's in Your bag?}

So happy Jess is here to share her beach bag with us, not to mention how neatly she packs it. Take a look...

Hey there! I'm Jess from East Coast Creative (formerly The Real Housewives of Bucks County), which I co-write with my best friend Monica. We're thrilled to be here again, and LOVE this series that Denise came up with! She's super-creative, isn't she? ;) Today, I'm going to share what's in my bag, and in a few weeks, Monica will be back to share what's in hers. Ok, let's do this thing!

I just got this XXL Utility tote from Thirty-One Gifts and it is fabulous! It can hold so much stuff, and it easily collapses when I'm ready to put it away. I'm a huge fan of the nautical look, so the navy and white just stole my heart. :) My bag holds a lot of the typical summer items you need when you're a mom of two little ones: towels, swimmies, suntan lotion, toys...

Let's talk about these towels: I got the towels you see in the bag from Target last year, but just added two of these babies from Ikea to our collection. They're huge and thick and perfect. Love that price, too!

I can't get enough of this Coppertone Water Babies lotion for my kiddos- it smells like summer to me! Plus, the spray thing is just ingenious. Thank goodness some person at Coppertone understands kids and their impatience with suntan lotion.

I also always bring snacks along- mostly for myself, but sometimes I share with the kids. :) This bag is also from Thirty-One Gifts, and fits two sippy cups and lots of snacks inside.

Fresh fruit is a must!

And of course, I'm hooked on reading books on my Kindle Fire. Isn't it crazy how quickly you can have a new book in your hands, whenever you want one? It's dangerous, I tell you.

I just finished reading books 1 and 2 from the Divergent Trilogy, and it was AMAZING. I'm still thinking about them weeks after I read them. Really good read,people.

So, that's what's in my beach bag this summer! We hope you'll come on by to our little slice of blogland to check out what projects we've been tackling this summer. 

Thanks so much for having me, Denise! This was so much fun!

Thanks Jess, always fun having a local blogging friend guest post. Love that area rug under your bag too! Thanks for spillin' the goods!

a windy loot shoot

We are alternating sun and clouds, with a fair wind blowing, so I quickly set up the loot shoot then took it all down before everything was blown away.

Up early again this morning - I can hear you groaning "doesn't this woman have a life?!"  Well, yes, actually I do other things besides hunting for brocante, including late dinners, which means that some nights like last night are very short!  :)

So I think I'll just show you these pictures, then find a deck chair somewhere in the garden and settle down with a good book and a cup of tea!

This week I found a very sweet painting of chickens on a hill- so romantic!,  an old tripod that would make a great lamp stand; a large number of 'brand new' old linen hand towels; some white ironstone, an old box of paints;  some charming candle holders for the christmas tree that would actually make great hooks for hand towels in the kitchen and six shoe forms that I think would look great hung on the wall and used as coat hooks!

Hope you're having a lovely weekend, thank you for reading me.

Quiet Time

Such a gorgeous version of one of my favorites.

today's traveller

We have many people stop by here, using our cottage as a base for visiting Normandy and Paris, and I love to see how each new set of guests arrive with their particular plans and expectations.

Of course internet and satellite have totally changed the way we travel today.  Sights can be 'visited' before arrival; roads driven down virtually before even entering the country and the menus of local restaurants approved before anyone has a chance to feel hungry.

But what fascinates me each time are the travellers' priorities.  The garden fans will have a long list that starts with Giverny and gradually works further afield; the history buffs will know how long it should take them to get to the landing beaches; the brocante addicts have a calendar of local markets and dealers and the foodies can only think of making beelines for the farmers markets and the best restaurants in the area.

But I hear there is  a new traveller:  the Shopper.  The visitor who is happy to visit the Champs Elysée providing he can queue outside Abercrombie or Louis Vuitton, or for whom the beautiful Quartier St Germain is earmarked only as home to LaDurée.

The iconic department stores Printemps and Galerie Lafayette in Paris, have turned large areas over only to fashionable luxury brands.  If you walk through the store, you may  be surprised to see really long queues in front of the Prada, Gucci and Loewe desks.  Although those makes are available world wide.

So why does this bother me?! .... I have an old fashioned approach to travel - that it is for broadening the mind, for seeing something new, for understanding what is different in the world.

When I travel I really do not want to find a carbon copy of what I know already.  I want to be surprised, to be delighted and to be taken outside my comfort zone.   I love to buy stuff when I travel, but preferably something unique to the destination.  This lust for the big names is part of the shrinking of the world.  The dumbing down of society that scares me so much.  

If I were visiting Paris I would prefer les Invalides to Le Tanneur, Pigalle to Prada, la Bastille to Balmain and le Marais to Mariage and Frères

So tell me frankly, am I hopelessly out of sync with my time, or do you feel the same way?