Cherry, Cherry

I wish people called me Cherry. I've always had a fondness for nicknames. People call me Mich, Meesh, Mish-Mosh, and Mitch but those are just the short and sweet versions of my Michelle. Cherry is an endearing name that could really catch on. When I lived in North Carolina, almost everyone I knew went by their middle name. It was an epidemic. I didn't understand, but I knew I liked knowing someone by a name that wasn't really their first name. It seemed exotic. I thought about having people call me Carol, so I could fit in with the middle name scheme, but Cherry seems cooler. "Nice to meet ya. My name's Michelle... but you can just call me Cherry." Nah. It wouldn't look good on a job application.

Carnival of the Gnomes

Mariel scanned this Gnome Postcard for me. Isn't it great? I found it awhile back in the "Modern Room" at Objects Found. Somehow it reminds me of the Arbutus Carnival that comes once a year and charges the town outrageously for admission. People pay it though, I guess because they like supporting the whole volunteer firefighter thing. Last year I turned green at the sight of everyone licking cotton candy and winning Lady Gaga posters -- not to mention the rickety rides that made my stomach churn. Bad memories. I really need to work on this rage anger thing of mine. Anyway... today was a productive day. I'm preparing the Lemon for it's "Meringue Valentine Party" which will be on Saturday, February 12th Open House from 1-8PM. Hope you can all make it! I painted a cute sign and cleaned up the yard and everything! More details to come soon...

Everybody's workin' for the weekend

I meant to post this picture with my New Years Resolutions, because this is me on the last day of 2010.

My hair is freshly dyed from the beauty parlor and I pumped it up with dangly earrings, just to feel extra Baltimore next to my Pink Christmas Tree.

Anyway... that was then and this is now. I'm getting ready to scrape the little bit of snow that landed on my car windshield last night and head to work. Fridays are always my long shift days, but this weekend is going to be an overall long shift haul. I work today 10-8, Saturday from 12-8 (and potentially have to babysit afterwards) and then my usual Sunday at Journey from Junk 11-5. Just putting it out there. Hope everyone else has a dandy work-free weekend!

Glitter Girl

"Stick with me and I'll make you a star," says the Glitter Girl. Last week and a few posts back, I went bowling with Erica and Chelsea and promised to make them big stars. I told them I'd have a short screenplay done within a month, and now I'm finally getting it together.

I've been watching a lot of hillbilly movies in my bedroom lately and then practicing my southern drawl, so naturally this short film is going to have a pair of country bumpkins as the central characters. Erica's name is going to be Shelby, and she'll be an Arbutus-type, out in front of the Hollywood Movie Theater, suckin' on a lollipop and quick to moan about the unfairness of the world.

As for me, I'm going to tease my bleachy hair and wear these Glitter Girl press-on nails. I want my character, who mysteriously goes by "Mama" to be a beaten, trashy type and I can't wait to work on my holler. "SheeeeeelBEEEE!"

Watermelon Cake

This green lamp is my inspiration. It may be ugly to you, but to me it's beautiful and has added a touch of Cactus Flower to my living room.

I've been feeling a little on the lousy side these past few days, but something stirred inside of me when Ryan met me after work for dinner and a quick peek in Target. I could blame it on the Sangria I drank with my Honey Mustard Crisp Salad, but we actually went to Target before dinner, and it was before my fruity cocktail that I decided I would spend my evening at home baking a cake.

These are my new ceramic measuring cups that I got via a la Objects Found. Maybe their sunflowery cheerfulness and individual pouring spouts are the real ones at fault for me trying to believe in baking.

I've always enjoyed cooking dinners, but I've never been great with desserts. Niki says that's because "Cooking is an Art and Baking is a Science." I gathered all of the materials necessary (except for food coloring, which is never necessary, but always fun) to satisfy this "experiment" and tried my darnedest to follow the instructions.

My watermelon-knit oven-mitts, new green lamp, and leftover black frosting from Halloween played role as muses for this Watermelon Cake. I enjoyed watching the green icing goop sizzle in the oven as I mixed pink dye into a mug of frosting.

Still, despite all of these retro-happy encouragements, my cake came out poorly.

This is why I hate science.
I feel like some traumatic incident has left me with repressed memories of just how lousy I am at making cakes. I swear, when I rolled up my sleeves and pulled out the mixer from the high shelf, I thought I was going to make magic tonight. I don't know what made me think that, but I'm still proud of my sweet baking endeavor. She's a bit flimsy and sad looking, but I'd say she resembles a watermelon more than any other plainclothes cake you'd come across in the grocery store. Wouldn't you?

Thrift Sightseeing

So this morning I woke up with a killer headache and a vengeance. I almost canceled plans to go thrifting, but then my sister called and Mariel showed up and all was right again.

<------------ This lovely sign, listed for $4 at the Goodwill off Ritchie Hwy caught my eye and describes me perfectly. Thank goodness for good friends and my new Christmas Camera or this day would have been hell!

I love going to thrift stores and seeing the people with wild hair and funky clothing, versus the old, and genuinely poor people. The trendsetters stand out so feverishly and I want to meet them all... hence why I've started my "Thrift Look of the Month". The guy featured next to me had a cool Two-Face thing going on with his hair: one minute it would be brown and bleach streaked and then he would swoosh his head and reveal a radical pinkish red. It wasn't hard to notice him bobbing around in the clothing racks and I couldn't help but wonder what his deal was. Turns out he's at the thrift store volunteering his time because "it really looks good on a resume." Never would have guessed!
Mariel almost bought this scarf, but decided against it because it was from the Gap instead of handmade and heartfelt.

I still totally love it.

Here's me admiring the boots that I tried on and never took off. (I paid for them up front by shoving my foot on the counter and proving the $6 mark to the sales clerk.) They are super pointy and exotic. The tag reads that they are Made in Spain by "Spiegal" and when I typed that in Ebay my exact pair showed up with a better picture than the one you see here. Listed as Spiegal Western Cowboy Flames Overlay Leather Boots they are going for almost $37 bucks! Boy Oh Boy! I snagged them for less than the shipping cost!

I love it when Goodwill's try to pawn off Disney fads that have long been forgotten by 7 year old girls who once held "High School Musical" so dear to their hearts. The ceramic blonde above is way cooler in my opinion than this Ashley Tisdale relic... but do you think the back of my hair looks as cool as hers used to on "The Suite Life of Zach and Cody?"

I always wanted to be a Disney Channel Star. There's always tomorrow!

Blog on a Mission

It's fine and dandy to write about your life and all... but I'm really diggin' these blogs on a mission. With the "30-day challenge" up in the air and my 13 yr old "Style Rookie" obsessions, I've been feeling inspired to make my blog a fun place to visit!

Mariel and I are thrifting today, and I promise to bring my camera along. I always scout out pictures of vintage-ware and yard sale treasures on google, so I might as well add to the mix.

If there's anything funky you want photographed, like an extra-large polka dot shirt or cobalt mason jar -- let me know and I'll search for one at the store! Cool pictures coming soon!

Lemon Drop Necklace

I feel so cool because I have a boyfriend who knows how to shop on Etsy. This Lemon Drop Necklace came a little late for Christmas, but that made it all the more exciting when I finally got it today!

I like how the lady who made my lemon drop calls her jewelry "nature inspired" because that makes the yellow chalcedony from my necklace a "lemon" fruit and the aquamarine stone from another one of her pieces a "raindrop".

Last night I went bowling with Erica and Chelsea and they said "We've been waiting... you haven't updated your blog in like forever." So this one goes out to them. I had a great time with the girls and Jonathon and I can't wait to get working on our future masterpiece. Maybe the character in our new movie will wear this great necklace... it deserves to be captured on film.

2011 Resolutions

So far I've been pretty good with my resolutions, because this year I was smart enough to make them actually do-able.

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1. Write (at least) for a solid 30 minutes a day, EVERYDAY. (This includes some blog time, handwritten entries in one of my many notebooks, and typed contributions to my collection of essays that I hope to complete by the end of the year, but hopefully by summertime.)

2. Floss more frequently. (Nobody likes gum disease!)

3. Check tire gage often and independently take better care of my car. (As in, try not to lock the keys in the vehicle and/or hit anyone else's vehicle. *Tip* IF YOU CAN'T SEE, DON'T DRIVE!)

4. Do laundry more often and put clothes away in a tidy and timely manner. (Cassie says that doing laundry is one of her favorite things to do. I can't say that I fall into that mind frame, but I can at least keep my shirts clean!)

5. Make Lemon Meringue a higher priority.

So far I've been keeping my word on the writing bit, and feeling every bit like a little Carrie Bradshaw, faithfully typing away at my computer night after night. The floss could use a bit more work and so could the laundry, but at least I changed my sheets this morning! I bought the same tire inflator that Mariel's dad had when I was in a bind just before "Black Swan" and the Lemon hasn't suffered too much. Sometimes it's discouraging when I get the store looking its darnedest, and still no one comes in to shop, but that's just the biz. I'm going to try extra hard to promote more and keep things in better order, but if I have the chance to go to say, New York City to see a Broadway play on a Tuesday or a Thursday (my "free" days when I am operating the lemon) I'll just have to shut the shop down for the day and live a little! I hope that doesn't mean I'm flaking on my resolutions already... nah.