The Boss

My boss oversees all of my work. He's not really one for hard work but he watches me like a hawk to make sure my work is up to his standards. I don't even know what his standards are because he's never told me. He just stares, silently judging, until he gets distracted or falls asleep. The only time he seems engaged in work is when we stop working and do something he thinks is fun. I have no idea how he ended up in a job of such importance.

The project was to sew a small makeup bag. I showed him the fabric samples: 

Hmm.

I'm underwhelmed.

Your work bores me. I'd rather watch birds.

I asked him if he wanted to see the finished product--which I thought turned out nicely. No response, so I showed it to him anyway.

No response. Frustrated by his lack of interest, I asked if we should take a break and go outside.

That got his attention.

Some fresh air and movement perked him up. Nothing like a little Frisbee to brighten your day. Get ready for some Corgi action shots:

Those ears are like satellite dishes. I love them :)

~Stacy

Now That's A Girl Scout

It's Girl Scout Cookie Season, in case you weren't aware. This is the time of year where young girls wearing sashes adorned with badges and buttons (unless they're like I was, and not a super go-getter in the Girl Scout department) try to sell you the most delicious and exorbitantly priced cookies ever. And you will buy at least one box because A) they are delicious and B) you have a heart.

Seriously, I dare you to walk past the little Girl Scout table that is staffed with three little girls with pigtails and Brownie outfits on who sweetly implore you to buy some cookies and try to refuse them twice. I say twice because, like me, you might be able to scurry past unnoticed on the way into the grocery store, but not out. They will find you and you will pay. You will pay at least $3.50 for a single box of about 12 cookies. You will do it because they taste fabulous and those little girls were too sweet and innocent to ignore and they're Girl Scouts for heaven's sake. And it's okay if, in your mind, you think "dammit, Girl Scouts, now I'm going to have to buy cookies", because I'm right there with you. But no one needs to know you thought that; as long as you leave with some Thin Mints, everybody wins.

Today, I heard a knock on my door around 4PM. A young girl who lives down the street was going door to door with her dad selling cookies. I invited them inside while I filled out the order form, and I noticed her looking around the living room. She looked up and said "Um, I see you have a lot of toys in here. Are these your toys?" She asked it nicely, but with kind of a confused tone. I explained that yes, my baby girl has a lot of toys but that she wasn't here at the moment to play with them because she was spending time with her grandma. What comes next blew my mind.

"Oh", said the girl, "I see you outside a lot with a baby but I thought you were the babysitter. I thought you were a teenager."

I almost flipped the clipboard over and dropped the pen. I gave her what I imagine was a half-crazed look of amazement and bewilderment. And then I promptly added three more boxes to my order.

Kids her age don't typically tell white lies. They tend to be brutally honest. This makes me think she was being totally up front about how old she thought I was. But then again, her mission this afternoon was to sell some cookies. So in summary, either this girl was the nicest little girl I've ever met who just paid me a compliment that I will hold in my back pocket for a very long time OR she's the most brilliant businesswoman-in-the-making. 

Well played, Girl Scout. Well played.

~Stacy

Getting Creative

**Note:  I plan on deactivating my Facebook account very soon. I don't know if it will be a permanent change, but I'm going to try it out. The reason I'm telling you this is that I share this blog on Facebook every time I post and a large percentage of my traffic comes from there. If you like this blog and want to keep reading it, please do!! I post several times per week and intend to keep doing so. You can subscribe to this blog by entering your email in the "subscribe" box on the right, or you can just bookmark this page and remember to visit every week (or day...whatever :)).  If you want to comment on anything you read, you can do so on the blog directly underneath each post. And if you would like to reach me via email, you can contact me at bluebaycottage@gmail.com. Thank you for taking the time to read my little space on the internet!

We're going a little stir crazy over here. We're doing our best to find new and entertaining things to do inside, and sometimes there are interesting results.

Like laundry rides, which started recently. Charlotte has always enjoyed climbing into the laundry basket and sitting in it, the same way all kids love climbing into boxes and things like that. But it evolved last week when she got in and asked "ride?". So now she wants us to give her "laundry rides" several times a day where she either sits on top of folded laundry or tosses some pillows into an empty basket and we pull her all over the house. Never you mind that she has a ride on toy that she can sit on and push herself around, designed for that exact purpose. Laundry rides are way more fun.

Then there's this, which doesn't really have an explanation. Other than yes, she owns a Thor helmet. I sent Chad out one evening for Tylenol and milk. He returned with those, as well as a Thor helmet. I love that boy.

Aside from the some of the strangeness going on, I finally tackled a major (to me) sewing hurdle. Zippers! I made a small makeup bag using some layer cake pieces from Lily Ashbury's Summer House. I love this line and have had the layer cake, untouched, in my stash for over a year now.  

Now if you'll excuse me, someone needs a laundry ride.

~Stacy

Not My Real Closet (But One Can Dream)

*If you are an e-mail subscriber, you probably received a weird post with just a picture of a style board last night. Sorry about that. I'm playing around with a new site and some project boards and meant to insert a picture into a new post and instead posted an entire blog entry and published it.*

And another important note before I get to the point of this post: I plan on deactivating my Facebook account very soon. I don't know if it will be a permanent change, but I'm going to try it out. There are a lot of social networks out there that I am a part of and there are many times where they can seem overwhelming. Facebook in particular is one that I don't really get much enjoyment out of, yet I feel compelled to check it at least twice a day. The reason I'm telling you this is that I share this blog on Facebook every time I post and a large percentage of my traffic comes from there. If you like this blog and want to keep reading it, please do!! I post several times per week and intend to keep doing so. You can subscribe to this blog by entering your email in the "subscribe" box on the right, or you can just bookmark this page and remember to visit every week (or day...whatever :)).  Thank you for taking the time to read my little space on the internet. I love blogging, and I intend to keep doing so and growing this blog into other areas at some point. Whether I have one reader or 100,000 doesn't matter; I just love doing it. 

Okay, on to the purpose of this post: style. Style and fashion is not an area I've ever delved into on this blog, but I have recently discovered the wonder that is Polyvore and thought it might make for a fun topic. Polyvore is sort of like Pinterest for fashion. You can create style boards with entire outfit collections (versus Pinterest, which is basically a giant board where you can "pin" single images). It allows you to create custom fashion collections and sets using any wearable item on the web and includes links to purchase those items. I just think it's fun to play with and come up with outfit ideas that I would actually wear, since pretty much any magazine out there is full of photos of clothes I would never ever wear or could never ever afford. But mostly, it's like window shopping without having to go anywhere :)

Part of the idea behind this was inspired by this Pin:

Click for original pin

I have an entire board dedicated to style, which consists mostly of outfit sets created by users on Polyvore. Like these:

Click here for pin and here for Polyvore set

Click here for pin and here for Polyvore set

Click here for pin and here for Polyvore set

Click here for pin and here for Polyvore set

Click here for pin and here for Old Navy (location of original style board)

Click here for pin and here for Polyvore

Click here for pin and here for Polyvore set

Yes, indeed. Dressing would be easy and fantastically fun every day if all of these items A) existed in my wardrobe and B) were all packaged up and ready to wear, right down to the smallest accessories.

I like color, but not color overload. I like basics that aren't too trendy--kind of similar to how I'd decorate a room. I'd rather buy the bigger, more expensive stuff in neutral colors and patterns and bring color in with things that are less expensive and easier to switch out.

And I realized after uploading all of these images that they're all pretty much geared toward warmer weather. Wishful thinking...

I hope you're having a great weekend!

~Stacy

Hibernation

This week we've been hibernating. The weather here, like most places, is frigid. Yesterday's highest temperature (according to my car) was 9. Today was a tropical 15 degrees. That's some bone chilling cold and with flurries and questionable roads on top of it, it's not the kind of weather I've been wanting to take Charlotte out in.

So we're hibernating and trying to find things to do around the house to keep busy and entertained. My house has often looked like some version of this:

See those envelope looking things all over the dining room floor? Those would be my sewing patterns. Charlotte discovered them in their new home, a clear plastic drawer that is nicely labeled and organized according to pattern type. At least, it was.

But aside from the messes, we've been dealing with being stuck pretty well. Some fun new fabrics showed up on my doorstep a couple days ago (a birthday present from me to me):

I've managed to piece, quilt and bind the Marmalade quilt. I had help:

I've been working on a few spring/summery things for Charlotte and finished a top for her. I ventured into the land of the unknown and conquered buttonholes. I'll hold for your applause.

And I've marked more than a few patterns in this new book to try:

Aside from the sewing and projects, we've been lazy:

Silly:

I've had more than a few cups of coffee:

It takes a decent dose of caffeine to maintain my energy and sanity in times like these :)

Don't worry little one, we'll get back out there soon enough.

Stay warm!

~Stacy

Still Winter

January, February and March are interminably long months. The excitement of cooler weather ("sweater weather") in October and November and the eager anticipation of snow in December quickly fades once the new year begins. At least, this is true for me.

It doesn't help that every store and ad I see is behaving as though winter is over and we're about to "Step into Spring!" or "Slide into Summer!". Um, it's mid-January in the Midwest. There will be no stepping into spring for at least another six or eight weeks, and even then it will likely be more like stepping into mud and rotted leaves that blew into the yard after the last leaf pickup of the year. I opened the Target ad today and was greeted with an entire page featuring all their new bathing suit styles with the caption "kick off swim season with all women's suits on sale!"

I appreciate your enthusiasm Target, but the high on Tuesday is 13 degrees. Also, it's January. There are approximately four states in the entire country who are experiencing anything even close to "swim season."

Nevertheless, seeing signs that winter will eventually end and that spring and summer will eventually be here is encouraging and exciting. This time of year always makes me want to plan getaways to warm and sunny places. It makes me want to window shop online at all of the new spring clothing collections and cute sandals. I want to buy flowers and put them everywhere, plant a garden, and hear the sound of lawn mowers on the weekends. This is probably weird to admit, but sometimes in the middle of the long winter I'll put sunscreen on just because I love the smell and it reminds me of summer. I try to buy simple skincare products but I never buy unscented sunscreen :)

So what is the point of this meandering post? Vacations. Let's take one. Bora Bora perhaps?

Click for image source

Image source

I'd also take Hawaii:

Add caption

Or we could frolic with celebrities in St. Bart's:

Add caption

Add caption

How about Fiji?

Add caption

Or we could keep things a little more local and head to Nantucket:

Add caption

Or Martha's Vineyard:

Add caption

Malibu Beach? No problem.

Add caption

Or Sanibel Island in Florida:

Add caption

Sigh.

I hope you enjoyed your pretend escape to paradise :)

~Stacy