LA Ink

You'll never believe it! One of my aprons was on TV the other night. It was on the brand new show LA Ink. Which buy the way makes me want tattoos in a big way.

Its all thanks to Natalie from Bake and Destroy, the cool chick that makes cupcakes and cool t shirts. She and I made a trade a while back, cupcake aprons for t-shirts.

So, on the show Natalie's friend got the best tattoo I have ever seen. A pin-up girl wearing only an apron and holding up a tray of cupcake. Okay, that is cool. For the show they took after shoots of the tattoo. That is wear the aprons come in. They showed Natalie's friend showing off her tattoo wearing aprons. One was mine! How cool is that?

Check out the show for free on your computer here.
I could not make it work but maybe you can!

getting to the root of the problem!

Root canals SUCK! End of story!

Craft swap

Look what I just bought! You all need one!
The Richmond Craft Mafia and The Richmond Etsy Street Team are gather together to host a great event. We are still just planning so all you RVA peeps out there, stay tuned!

Crafters Anonymous Gear available at Cafe Press.

The Crafter's Anonymous Craft Swap

That is me in the middle!

The Modern Pantry

As you may know I am on a quest to become a foodie! I am also trying to fine tune my life and create some helpful routines. I also could stand to lose about 30 extra pounds. Not an easy list to concur but I am chipping away at it.

On Saturday I started to create a pantry list, weekly menu and shopping list. I had a feeling it could take all day. My tooth had me a bit doped up and I was WAY fuzzy. I was also really cranky so doing something away from my family was helpful. I hate when I take it all out on them. I am a mess.

I was looking at my copy of Rachael Ray 365 and I realized what I need was a pantry list. A list of items that I always have on hand. She doesn't have one so I grab The Healthy Kitchen. There is one there but not in the right format I need a bulleted list that I can copy that I carry to the Groc (what I call the grocery store). A list that I have on my fridge so when I run out of something I just circle it and buy on the next shopping trip.

I need a cheat sheet! First I found this list at Cookinglight.com that I think I will love. It has three panty list one for the beginner, the intermediate and the advance cook. I like that the say that the list is long and that you are not expected to go out and spend a fortune right away. Good point.

I then found this Mexican Panrty items list. Yum! Summer eating = Mexican Food!!! I wonder if I could find a Mediterranean food pantry list? Yep, it took some time but I found a nice little list for the Mediterranean Pantry

I totally forgot about Leanne Ely. I know her from my active Fly Lady days. I am sure that her list is great but it is not in the list format that I need so badly. Here is the fly lady shopping list. back in those beautiful and peaceful flylady days.

I have made copies of each of these for my kitchen clip board. I have also started a master list that I hope to finish over the weekend. Baby steps, right? What I have done is found my old shopping list and I am using it. Yeah balance will come!

Hi all, sorry for not posting this morning, I was whisked into parenthood early! To early! And the tooth had me up too late! I am the lucky winner of one root canal on Wednesday morning. I know you all wish you were me! LOL

Check out this post that I wrote for the Richmond Craft Mafia blog Off the Record. If you are selling your crafty goods and using Pay Pal you might want to check it out. The title of the post is Shipping from home using Pay Pal. After you read it let me know what you think. Was is clear? Was it helpful? I am not a prolific writer my any means and I like feedback. If you are a fellow crafter do you ship from home? What are method are you using? Is is working for you?

But if you're interested in taking better photos for you your site or for craft shows you must see Tasha's post on taking great photos. I can not tell you how great this information is for me! So go check it out Tips for Craft Show Applications Images. But don't forget to check out her site, Pottery by Tasha.

root canal and the Renegade Craft show

Tooth trumps all routine. Last night at 1:30 my very naughty tooth decided to rear its ugly self. So today I am finally calling the dentist and the ye ol' happy oral surgeon. (at least the laters super cute and listens to old-style blues while working)

So in leu of me babbling about my silly tooth I will show you all some cool photos from The Renegade Craft Show that I was able to go to with my buddies the Richmond Craft Mafia.

Have a great weekend!

IndiaRomeo

My Paper Crane at work! I was ga ga to meet her!

My Paper Crane guys.

Etui

The Candy Thief

pixiegenne

The Monkey and Me and Modern June

Painted silk! Oh yeah it is all that and a bag of chips!
CrystalJ a RCM buddie!

My new routine up-date

Check this out! I have added to Mondays post. There I have updated my up hill battle with finding balance!

Entrepreneur ~ who me?

Hey peeps! Guess what I am in this weeks Style Weekly. Well actually in the Home Style. Last week I received an email from an intern over at Style that said she wanted to do a last minute interview about Modern June. Of course I said yes and she was over at my house in less than three hours.

The article is so very nice. I had no idea that it would be more that a blurb. The name of the article is Housewife Chic. Too cute! The bi-line reads "Kelly McCants takes a staple of the '50's - the kitchen apron- and gives a modern twist." Wow that sounds like the beginning of a business plan!

If you are reading Sarah Mogin and Style Weekly thank you so very much for such a lovely write up. I am so very excited!

Flickr Badge, Cool blogs and Tie one one

Flickr has not learned that NO ONE can find how to make a damn flickr badge. You can search forever and never find this gem of a tool. This includes me every-time I want to update it I can't find the bleeding thing!

So, here is the link for making a flickr badge so the next time I need to update it I can find it with out wasting 3o minutes or more. I can find here on my own little bitty blog! Yeah!

Ok I am back, I just had to share these cool things I just found!!How could I have not known about this cool blog? Apronista! I knew of Deanna from Domestic Chickyfrom the many apron flickr groups. Yeah more apron fun to be had! I can 't wait to read more!

You know how it works you find one great blog and then you learn about other cool ones. This next site, OMG, it is so me! happyhousewifeclub.com There is also a daily podcast. I am checking that out today if I ever stop and get off this chair and a way from this computer!

Then some how I found this site check out these gingham aprons. They are so like the aprons my grr made and wore! They make me want cookies and to play Yatzee.

How does she do it?

I am obsessed with doing it all. Getting it all done and getting it all do well! In my latest quest I have devised a new daily to do list. A list of which I concocted while on the treadmill.

I am mom, teacher, wife, housewife, (yes there is a big difference between wife and housewife) business owner, and most of all Kelly. Flylady.net taught me years ago that one really needs routine. I need a basic weekly routine i.e. where to be and what to do on each day of the week. And a I need a daily routine for each of those 7 crazy, fun-filled days.

So here is what I did this morning. I wrote down all the things that I need to do before 9 a.m.

• Walk 30 minutes
• update to list 15 minutes
• email 30 minutes
• Blog 30 minutes
• Shower and dress 15 minutes
  
• unload dishwasher-load washer-and make breakfast 15 minutes (with child labor)
• Eat and clean up 15 minutes.
  

So I added all that up it equaled 2 1/2 hours which means I need to get up at 6:30. That is not too bad. Like I said yesterday I really need to be up and have my time ALONE!

Ok, so I homeschool the two children that live in my house. Oh yeah my children! I really need to add in time to actually teach them some stuff I know it is still summer but I know how hard it is to change a rhythm, a routine so I have decided that "school time" is the time of day that I get Modern June running better. The time that I set aside to get a business plan, set up taking credit cards, setting up ModernJune.com. I am reading a great book called Six-Week Start-Up: A Step-by-Step Program for Starting Your Business, Making Money, and Achieving Your Goals! Modern June is just over a year old but she never had a proper start in regards to the business side of things. I sure have sold some stuff but I am determined to do this right!

In 5-6 weeks when "our" school starts I will then switch from business school to homeschool. For now the plan looks like this...

• Mail Packages 15 minutes
  
• Six-week start-up 30 minutes
• Weekly expenses workbook 15 minutes
• Finding Professionals (lawyers, accountants, insurance) 30 minutes
  
• Listings for esty 30minutes
• ModernJune.com ( for now it is reading my stack Seth Gordin books) 30 minutes
  
• Recess 30 minutes
  

This last one , recess, sucks! Not that I have to have to do it that I have to schedule it. A week ago my son Aidan (6) was chatting with his sister Maddie (9). He reminder her about how Mommy used to sit down and play with them before Modern June. She told him that lots of good things happen because of MJ. I am glad that she sees the good in it but man that was hard to hear! So I will be doing legos this morning for 30 minute come hell or high water.

Well what about the rest of the daily routine? Well my time is up so that will be for tomorrows treadmill and blog time! Take care I am off to get my life in order!!! Wish me luck I will need it!

So how is it going?

well.... baby steps right? I did not get this crazy in a week and I won't get sane in less than one either!

So let me recap the week.

Monday---I wrote this original post on Monday and I did not follow my new morning routine in any way shape or form. Here is when the weekly schedule trumps your daily schedule. Monday morning is park day. So I did not get one single thing on my "business school list " done. No big right. I mean I only made this up that day. So no guilt that day. At least not about the morning routine.

At dinner time, ok well past dinner time when I was getting dinner on the table finally the kids and I had a serious melt down. They had watched way to much TV and got surly for more. I can't blame them it has become their caregiver. How wants to sit down and eat a meal with someone that spends her entire life in the studio. How is going to give that woman any respect when she is running around life doing for others. I had a fit and once I calmed down I was able to set a TV limit. (More on the beauty of that later!)

Modern June is growing by leaps and bounds! That is a good thing, it really is. But I have to create a healthy balance or it just isn't worth it, is it? So after my fit I gave my self a nice long time out! Meaning I took to my bed. LOL! Don got home and I went up to watch grown up TV. I turned it off 3 times to get some sleep but my brain kept thinking about what a bad a Mom I am. I refused to think. I finally did get to sleep and when I did I was greeted by Aidan giving me kisses and tucking me in with one of his favorite stuffed animals. How bad of a Momma can I be if that is the love I get?

Tuesday---I slept late, which I hardly ever do. Come to think of it, no, I did wake up at 5:00 and laid there problem solving for a good amount of time. After last nights mini war I new I need to make some changes. I have decided that until I can have employees I will not seek any new wholesale clients.

Modern June is full to busting with just me but how can I afford to hire anyone? And there lies the Business Plan. I have to devote myself to completeing this book. So I bet you think I got up and went right to work on "Business school" WRONG! I took the kids on an adventure instead.

We went to the free movies and saw Charlotte's Web. Then had a lunch with Don at the office. One the way home we stopped off a Crate and Barrel and Build a Bear. I got the kids an inflatable love set that has been so fun. It is currently being used as a Doctors waiting room for all the sick animals. Yesterday it was part of a animal spa! Yep Maddie is growing up to fast!

The day was great. We all needed it! Everyone was to tired and excited to rediscover those bears that they did not need me or the TV one bit!

Wednesday--- Well here again you never know what is going to happen. What thing is going to distract me. I spent the morning tiding up my Etsy store because of the article. Not a bit of "business school"! But I did do all the first half of my morning routine. So there I think I have hit the nail upon the head! I will concentrate on that before 9 routine first and then move over to the rest once I have that down.

Thursday--- Morning routine update! I am trying and that is all I'll say. : ) I am off to the farmers market and to visit my stuff at House of Lukaya. Have a great day.

My crazy and wonderful life!

Good morning! The house is so silent everyone is still in bed. My wrist is killing me. Tentinitus I am guessing. I should be walking on ye ol' happy treadmill. But no way. I have my wrist brace on, an ice cold seltzer at my side and I want nothing but to blog away!

I love this time of the morning. I try to get up super early I need at least 1 hour alone to really be sane. Two hours is optimal but that is hardly ever realistic.


Well the last 9 days has been crazy. Crazy good and just plain old crazy!

The ice cream party that was last Friday was a success. Oh what stress that was. The night before I got 2 hours sleep. I need a root canal. Yep, at 3:00am there I was in shocking pain! I was mortified. What was I going to do? How could I make it through the day? But I made it with the help of a LOT of advil!

With Advil, decorations and loads of ice cream toppings I make my way to the hotel. First I was shown this room, YIKES. Those are some super ugly tablecloths. I was in such shock I couldn't even ask to have them changed. I was then informed that the ceiling is damaged in the other room where the talent show was to happen. NO way! It turns out that the room AC was not working. But no one told me this. The woman did not seem to think I needed to know that bit of information. But I took the high road and thought what can I do. I mean I can't fix air conditioning. I can't make this room comfortable for 200 in less than 7 hours.

So I went off to the "ice cream" room and worked some magic. I was able to get white tablecloths. That made the biggest difference. I also dimmed the lights so I didn't have to see the stains on the carpet.

So around 2:00, 5 hours to party time I walked into the big room with no air. I had been avoiding this room like the plague. Well I hear a drip, drip and then came a gush of black water coming out of the ceiling. Crap. I am trying to stay calm, I want to call the conference chair my buddy Parrish or call Lois who has been the person who had made the arragements with the hotel. But really what are they going to do? Freak out and have twice the stress. They are at the conference space setting up.









But never fear the wonderful workman came through! I even start thinking "next year I will do....". How quickly I can forget and forgive.






By 7 the place is wonderful! We have air. I have my great friends ready to help. Lynn, Kirstin, Heidi and Tracy were in the ice cream room scooping away! What do you think of the cute aprons that I made! I really thought they were fun. They got to take them home with them, the least I could do to thank them!























And then there is sweet and wonderful Kimmy! My friend that got me through it all. I was able to grip and complain and pass off work to. I could not have done it with out her. What did I do last year, I am crazy!



But don't think the "fun" stopped there. Nope with a now throbbing tooth I go and meet everyone at the Barnes and Noble. Yup Harry Potter. I have to admit I am a HP geek! I am really glad I went even with my tooth aching and my extreme lack of sleep. Don and the kids stayed until 11:30. He said that they were unable to finish the treasure hunt because of the people that were lined up through out the store. The line snaked around every isle. Kimmy works in the Cafe there part time, she said that they were open until 1:30 am that is when the last person in line bought their HP book. That is some kind of crazy! Kimmy said that the Manager spent the night in the store after cleaning up all the decorations. They opened back up at 5:00 am. They sold out of all the HP 7 by lunch that Saturday. Here are some picture of the fun!

the new stuff is so cute

What do you think? Cute right? I love them!!!
Get one or the other or both for bit of a discount!

salsa!

For days Maddie and I have wanted to make salsa! That we can do. All thought I am really trying to expand out our menu. While trying to become a better cook at the same time.

This has never been a strength of mine. My moms kitchen was so tiny and she had such a stressful life with two jobs and a rotten marriage, it was no wonder that when she had to be in the kitchen she wanted to alone.

Well my kitchen is fab and I want my little girl to be a foodie, even if she only eats 5 different foods and did I mention that they are all white in color. She has been experimenting with food lately but her creations are wacked! Today she wanted to make cucumber stew. (Maddie wants you all to know that she was joking about cucumber stew. )

OK , we need direction! We need recipes! And we need it NOW!


Last Tuesday I had the honor of working at the new Byrd House Market. What a wonderful little market located in the heart of Organ Hill. I had a blast, sold some stuff, met loads of cool people and bought lots of great produce. One of my favorite farmers were there. The ones that sell tomatillos.

So off to our favorite cookbook, The Healthy Kitchen. But there were no recipes for tomillias were there. So one quick search later and I found this recipe over at Elise.com. It looked great please read the blurp before the recipe it has a nice little story to go along with it.
Salsa Verde

1 1/2 lb tomatillos
1/2 cup chopped white onion
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon sugar
2 Jalapeño peppers, stemmed, seeded and chopped
Salt to taste

1 Remove papery husks from tomatillos and rinse well. Cut in half and place cut side down on a foil-lined baking sheet. Place under a broiler for about 5-7 minutes to lightly blacken the skin.

2 Place tomatillos, lime juice, onions, cilantro, Jalapeño peppers, sugar in a food processor (or blender) and pulse until all ingredients are finely chopped and mixed. Season to taste with salt. Cool in refrigerator.

Serve with chips or as a salsa accompaniment to Mexican dishes.

Makes 3 cups.

So I went to our little farm stand in our neighborhood and I bought some peppers. I had the sense to ask him what kind of peppers I was getting but I promptly forgot. Don and I had our guesses and guess what we were both wrong!

According to About.com and Pepperfool.com these is a Jalapeño Peppers. What a happy accident I got the right kind of peppers for the recipe. Man I love the internet!

We are also making our own fresh salsa. Maddie calls it Rainbow Salsa. It is called rainbow salsa because of the yellow and red tomatoes were happy to receive. They are some of the prettiest tomatoes from one of Don's fabulous work buddies, Cherye has grown a wide variety of tomatoes this year and thank god she has had a bumper crop. She gave me tons!

Here is the recipe that we used as a base for our Rainbow salsa! It is from The Healthy Kitchen by Andrew Weil, M.D. and Rosie Daley.

Salsa

	1 bunch cilantro (1/2 cup cilantro leaves)
	1 cup chopped tomatoes
	1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
	1/4 cup diced red onion
	1 small jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
	2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

Hold the cilantro under running water to wash off the dirt. Pinch the leaves off the stems, coarsely chop the leaves, and put them in a small bowl with the remaining salsa ingredients. Toss thoroughly until everything is blended together. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

So.... how was it? Well no one eat my dinner that I made because everyone pigged out on salsa and chips along with all the topping that I had to go with the Quesidilla's! Oh well dinner is ready for tomorrow. Its all good!

aprons in the wind!

I am here and alive just very, very busy! I promise to chat soon!

200 for ice cream sundaes!

Wish me good tiding I am off to set up the hall for our Ice cream Social and Talent show.

what inspires me?

Here is what is on my clippings wall!
I would love to see yours too.
So post your clippings
So leave me a comment
and I will check it out!

Inspire me!

I will do this idea some day!

This gave me the idea to make table cloths! It's so damn pretty!

I am so jealous

She is so cute! I would love to show my aprons like this on my new website that I have in the works!

These to make soap with there own herbs that they grow. Love that! There we many other great photos of them and their kids. What a life!

Some day I would like to carry kitschy books like the cake books in my booth and on my site.

I love this necklace. Last winter I was going to make jewlery Ha ha that never happened. I also love the colors in this bedding. I have a store that I would love to make aprons for and I think this color palette would be lovely in her shop.

I love this...buttons on a skirts waistband! Someday I want to do that on an apron! Pin boards HA! I laugh at the idea! I like tape on paint! I am not afraid! I made a set of these dance costumes when I was pregnant with Maddie. Cool to see them again! I understand that these are not mine but remakes of them. Spandex only lasts so long! esp on dancers!

This is my new wall above my new desk. I am putting peoples promos up there.
The clip boards are to do lists, show info sheets and an ongoing shopping list. I need one more for my order sheet. I have started printing out any and all esty sales reciepts to help keep up!