Category: Home & Hearth
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Inside January
I’m not a resolution person, but going into 2016 I said I wanted a better work/life balance. Last year was great for professional growth — I wrote some serious grants and got some serious money for great causes, created some scripts (for corporations, not for creativity’s sake), got some super-cool marketing pieces in place and…
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Salvaged Wood and Steel Pipe Table
Two years ago, after a particularly uncomfortable dinner we hosted with eight people smashed around our small table built for four, we decided we wanted a great big salvaged wood table. We looked at styles we liked, developed plans for the perfect table, got chairs as gifts from our parents to go around said table,…
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Gloomy & Grey January
I feel like January should be recorded, not by days or weeks or projects accomplished, but simply by cups of tea consumed by me. That’s what I’ve been up to. I’ve been fighting the gloom wrapped in a blanket, drinking tea and writing grants. I’ve taken some breaks to make some pasta. Okay. Actually, I’ve…
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Fresh for 2013
I have a knack for going overboard on house projects before hosting parties. I come by it honestly though; it turns out I have my dad’s bone structure and my mom’s vision for perfection. Over the weekend I hosted a baby shower, and in the week leading up to it all I saw was the…
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A Hammock and a Yoga Mat
A few weeks ago I celebrated my 31st birthday. It was no milestone and normally would be worth no mention at all, except my gifts — a hammock and a yoga mat — caused me to think about how much my life has changed in the last year. Nine months ago I was working at…
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Free Day
Occasionally I get lucky enough to be so ahead on grant proposals that I have no other choice but to put down my computer and take a day for me. I’m still learning how to shut off that part of my brain that needs to keep busy with work-related tasks during the week. Slowly I’m…
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DIY Shampoo
Yes. That’s a bottle of homemade shampoo shining like a beacon in my windowsill. It’s only special because it took me so long to find the right recipe. Little by little I’m trying to replace all of my health, beauty and cleaning products with things I make using only natural ingredients. After I successfully made…
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Work, Life and Fashion
The last four months have been interesting. I didn’t really know what to expect when going from the world of a struggling not-for-profit into the world of fashion and small business, but what I’m learning is better than anticipated. Beyond fashion and creativity, I’m learning things about living. The daily lessons in slowing down, taking…
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DIY Deodorant
If 14-year-old Claire knew I was now making my own deodorant she’d be appalled. There was a day when I couldn’t get enough of the aluminum-based stuff. I’d reapply at least six times a day, worried that there wasn’t enough I could possibly do to cover up the smell of being human. I was definitely…
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Carroll County Bike Poster
My dad has always cycled. My memories of him in summer are of him suiting up, hopping on his Fuji and biking through the country side for miles. In winter the steady hum of his bike on the rollers of his stationary set up was as comforting as hot chocolate to me. I find it…