Be sure to watch my former boss, VeryVera, square off against Grillmaster Bobby Flay tonight at 9:00 p.m. EST on the Food Network! Battle Carrot Cake is going to be so much fun!
I’m off to a little party where we’ll watch the show with Vera and friends… I can’t wait to see if she takes Bobby down! Tune in!
This little project is a cute and quick solution for placecards and a favor all in one. I’ll post tomorrow about the party where they were used but for now, here’s a quick tutorial.
For this project you’ll need:
Lay your placecard on the cutting board and level your straight edge where you’d like to frame the name. The ribbons will be tucked behind the placecard framing it on the front of the jar. Carefully cut a 1.5 inch slit in the placecard. Repeat on the other side of the name.
Next, place the skinny ribbon centered on top of the wide ribbon. Tape the edges together and wrap the tape around the raw edge.
Tuck the taped ribbon into one of the slits and secure it to the back of the card with another piece of tape.
Center the card on the front of the jar.
And secure on the back of the jar with a piece of tape. 
Tape the other flap down as well. 
Keeping the ribbons taut, wrap them around, covering the taped card and cut, leaving just a half inch of overhang past the other slit.
Tape the raw edges just like before.
Tuck the taped ribbon into the other slit on the front of the card (you’ll have to work it in gently)
Tie a piece of the coordinating ribbon around the top of the jar and viola! A simple placecard/party favor.
Just wanted to leave you with a quick post about the sweet doggies I’ve been spending time with lately. I’ll have a fun project and a pretty tablescape to show you soon but in the meantime…
I recently dogsat for my friend Joanna. These are her babies, Dora (chocolate lab) and Bella (custom creation).
Tater has been thoroughly enjoying her new bed Mama ordered her. It’s super cozy! I kind of want one for myself!
** EXCITING NEWS** VeryVera will be featured on Throwdown with Bobby Flay next Wednesday, July 21 at 9:00 p.m. on Food Network! Be sure to tune in for Battle Carrot Cake!
As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of joining the incomparable Eddie Ross and Jaithan Kochar on one of their Market tours this weekend. It was beyond fun.
Mama, Sarah and I started the weekend by driving to Atlanta on Saturday for a spin through Ikea and Lenox. I’ve been to Ikea once before but never on a Saturday. It was packed to the gills! You couldn’t stir all the people with a stick! We ate lunch in the little cafeteria there then cruised through the showroom floor before getting down to business in the marketplace. Mama and Sarah each scored some great finds for next to nothing but I walked away empty handed. I just didn’t see anything I couldn’t live without; it seemed silly to buy housewares when all my stuff is in storage temporarily.
Next we stopped by Lenox Square Mall but by the time we got out of the car, our weary feet said, “enough!” A quick look around Anthropologie and a stop in Macy’s was all we could handle. A good night’s sleep was in order before the big day at Scott’s!
When we arrived at the market Sunday, we didn’t see a throng of people that we expected to see waiting for Eddie & Jaithan so we asked at the registration desk if they knew exactly where we should meet them. The employees paged Eddie over the PA system!!! I was mortified! A few minutes later, Jaithan walked up to us and introduced himself. We all laughed about the paging. Eddie joined us shortly thereafter and we all chatted while we waited on the rest of the group to arrive.
Our cozy group of 16 walked from the back of the building to the front while Eddie filled our heads with his infinite knowledge and wisdom. The small, diverse group was perfect. We had so much fun hearing Eddie’s stories and tips and I must say that he and Jaithan are both so cute, nice and accomodating!
I had way more fun than I’d even anticipated and scored some excellent deals in the process. If you EVER get the opportunity, you MUST join them on one of their outings. They have tons of exciting things coming up in the near future and you’ll be seeing a lot of them in magazines and on TV. I highly enourage you to take advantage of a trip now!
One of my favorite things about Eddie is that he doesn’t suggest you walk into a furniture showroom or art gallery and buy the most expensive things there. He is an advocate for finding great deals and hidden treasures and making them your own. He told us, “You don’t need to spend a lot of money to have a beautiful life. You should just love the pieces in your home and use a little creativity.” Love that philosophy.
This fun pair of chandeliers would look so pretty in a room with turquoise and coral accents. Maybe over a breakfast table? Jaithan is seen in the background taking pictures for their blog.
Eddie suggested using these tobacco leaf drying baskets as a lighting fixture or line one with a small tablecloth and fill it with chips and great pottery bowls of guacamole, salsa, etc. I really could have used one of these in my event coordinating days! It would have been so pretty on so many of the food stations!
These Chinese plates were SO PRETTY!! I ended up buying a good bit from this booth but I didn’t buy any of these. I sure wish I had now.
Beautifully restored copper jelly molds. This couple was selling at Scott’s for the first time. I think they’ll be in high demand.
I’ve always wanted a sewing room with framed vintage patterns. These were printed onto heavy backing. Tons of pretty prints and pages from vintage books at this booth.
Bakelite cutlery. Such a fun way to add color to the table.
Uncut linen. Would be great to have monogrammed and made into pillows or tea towels.
Mama went back and bought this great ironstone bowl Eddie spotted.
I walked away with six milk glass goblets, 4 Wedgewood dinner plates, 4 Japanese salad plates, 4 Japanese saucers, 2 silverplate dinner forks and 2 silverplate salad forks. My total ? A mere $65! By Sunday, vendors slash their prices to lighten the load home. I scored some super deals from a great china dealer and couldn’t pass up the milk glass goblets at $2.50 each.
The treasures I left behind:
This would be bananas on my white rummage sale chair with a contrasting piping (hot pink?) or even that blue velvet on the back of the chair.
I’d love to recover my hand-me-down sofa in one of these pretty neutrals. Especially that one with the coral-shaped pattern.
Although the leg detail feels a little Egyptian, I really like these chairs. There was another GORGEOUS chair in a deep aqua velvet I would have LOVED to get my hands on (not sure why I didn’t take a picture) but it was a cool $1,400. Yikes!
I love the look and shape of this chair but the vendor did it a great disservice by covering it in burlap. Have you ever been near burlap? It smells and it’s terribly itchy. Not great for putting in your living room. A coarse linen would have been much better suited.
Love this pair of lamps but I could not justify spending money on something I’d have to immediately put in storage. I think I need 4-5 houses to hold all of the things I love!
Now for a few not-so-spectacular finds:
Nice toupee!
Want a pet without the upkeep?
Wouldn’t this look lovely above a mantle? Ha!
All in all, this weekend was the perfect blend of bargain hunting, people watching and laughing hysterically (mostly at Mama’s antics) I HIGHLY recommend taking a spin through Scott’s (it’s well worth the $5 entry fee) and I recommend even MORE HIGHLY joining Eddie and Jaithan on an outing.
Sources:
I have really been neglecting the blog lately! I just can’t seem to get my act together to write anything of worth. Poor thing is probably starving to death!
If you’re just absolutely craving more of me (and who isn’t? haha) please follow me on Twitter. I’m much more attentive there. If I knew how to put a Twitter button the side of my blog, I’d do it but I am not that tech savvy so here’s a link: http://twitter.com/sashyjane
In the meantime, I’ll leave you with one of my latest VeryVera articles.
Ever since I can remember, all I wanted to be when I grew up was a wife and mother. I assumed I’d be married right out of college and cranking out a baby every other year or so after that. Imagine my horror when I graduated from college without so much as a prospective husband and realized I’d have to provide for myself! I couldn’t see any advantages to being single. It seemed like a punishment rather than an opportunity. However, 4+ years out of college, my perspective is a little clearer. I’m no closer to marriage than I was at graduation but I’m actually happy with my life! My 21 year-old self would be horrified.
It’s taken me a while to get comfortable with the word single. I always assumed it had a negative stigma and connotation, as if there was something wrong with me. I didn’t want to be alone – I needed a roommate, I needed a best friend, I needed my sister to accompany me to events. I’d never think of attending a wedding or eating at a restaurant alone! But not too long ago, I had a bit of an epiphany: being single can be fun!
When you’re single, you can travel on a whim, decorate your house however you’d like and choose when you’d like to socialize and when you’d like to have some time alone. In the past year, I’ve made spur-of-the-moment trips to Trinidad, St. Louis, New York, Nashville, Tampa and I have a few more planned (maybe Chicago or Boston?) in the coming months.
While I’ve learned to be happy in my singledom, that isn’t to say that I don’t long for the company of other people. I’ll invite girlfriends for a dinner party and set the table with the good china, candle sticks, open a bottle of wine and really pull out all the stops. Once a week I’ll eat supper with my widowed grandmother and we’ll watch Dancing with the Stars. I have a great pool of friends, family and loved ones who are just a drive or call away who remind me that singleness doesn’t equal loneliness.
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