Hey Craig – Nice List!

I have a ton of patience for scouring Craigslist for treasures. Most people do not. But, if you take the time, you can find some great stuff and great prices. Most of it will need a little bit of love from you when you get it home, but look at the things I found this week. Excellent!

 Chair - $60

 Sofa - $FREE - note the awesome faux bamboo detail - 

this could be beautiful with new upholstery!

 Old Stereo cabinet - pull out the guts and make it into a bar - $50

 Mid-century chair - $60

 Tiny table - refinish and paint - has cute pull out shelf - $25

 Pair of chairs - reupholster in mohair - beautiful - $180 for the pair - great deal

 Walnut table - $80

Desk - $80 - This would be gorgeous in a solid color like white or grey

Here are a couple tips when searching. Go straight to the Furniture section, and then do a search for “vintage”, “antique” or “mid-century”. You can also reduce your search based on budget parameters too, but I don’t because I like to see it all – cheap and expensive! I’ve noticed in the past few years that more and more dealers and mattress sellers are listing on craigslist – so you have to navigate through them to get to the good stuff but that’s ok too. Craigslist will now let you browse in grid-style with photos, so that can speed up the process. Also, you’ll find a lot of things for sale that have clearly been “fixed-up” already. If you are ok with that, great.  I don’t usually go for those – I want the thing in its original condition – good or bad.

Don’t forget to check the Free section. I have found great stuff there. There are a lot of people who just want to get rid of stuff and they don’t care to try to sell it – they’ll just give it away. Especially if it’s a piano. Lots of piano’s in the free section. You should get one.

If people don’t post a photo, don’t waste your time. Move on. I still don’t understand how anyone could sell anything these days without some photos, but you will still see listing with no photo, don’t get sucked in. It’s not going to be good.

Most sellers on Craigslist are very nice people and willing to make a deal – but ALL of them will want cash, and soon. And most of them aren’t going to deliver you a sofa or carry it down 3 flights of stairs. That’s on you! If you want it bad enough, you’ll figure out how to get it.

Also, just because you’ve seen news stories about bad people using Craigslist to lure people to their house to do bad things, trust me that most of the Craigslisters just want to clean out their basement or garage and have no evil intentions. If you feel unsure about any transaction you should bring someone with you when you pick up your purchase. You can also exchange enough email or texts with them to get a pretty good idea of their character. If someone is emailing you with a legit work email, or is willing to give you their phone number or let you google their address, you’re pretty safe. But, having said that, use your gut instincts, if it feels weird, don’t go.

Now, get on Craigslist and start shopping. By the end of this weekend you could have new end tables or a summer re-upholstery project! As Macklemore would say, “F*-ing Awesome”!

Charm Bracelets are So Charming

A couple days ago a friend was asking for my advice on charm bracelets for girls. He has a daughter who is 8 years old and I think he’s looking for gift ideas.

I have all kinds of opinions about charm bracelets, so I'll share my thoughts about them and you can then make your own decisions about whether you think they are a good gift idea for your little girl or girls. My first thought is that they are really special and such a great record of a life well lived, so I’m in complete support of anyone who decides to start one for a daughter, granddaughter, niece, sister – or any girl.

You should consider this an heirloom piece of jewelry from the outset. Start with a good quality gold bracelet - make sure the links are sturdy enough to hold a lot of charms and that there are enough links for an adult wrist - if you want it to be useful while the girl is still small, you could have links taken out and just save them so they can be added back as she grows up. Also make sure the clasp is sturdy and has a good safety chain as well. My parents didn’t really allow us to wear our bracelets until we were responsible (old) enough not to lose them. I think maybe we were allowed to wear them on special occasions only. You could opt down on bracelet value to start and upgrade it later, but the cost of attaching individual charms is $20-$40 bucks each, so you don’t want to have to attach charms twice. Go for the real deal from the beginning. It's going to be expensive because gold is expensive right now, but remember, this is an heirloom jewelry item, so suck it up.

Right now you’re probably thinking – what the hell – can’t I just get a silver or silver plated one for lots lets? Yes, you can, but…… my big rule – If you’re going to do it right, get GOLD (14 or 18 carat), not silver. Silver bracelets aren’t worth much and don’t seem to retain special value over generations and that is why you end up seeing them all over the place at garage and estate sales. No one considers them special or valuable enough to keep over time. Gold bracelets and gold charms get better from a sentimental standpoint and become more valuable over time, and are something a girl could pass down to her daughter or granddaughter at some point later in life.

My parents started ours with charms from family trips or from special occasions like holidays or graduations or special life events. Most fine jewelry stores stock only a few charms related to whatever City or State they are in – for example in Seattle the charms available will be the Space Needle charm, or a ferry, but not much else. If you want something special you will have to order it in advance, especially if you want to have it engraved with names or dates. In other countries, you'll find fine jewelry stores with better charm selection but that's because they are more sophisticated that we "rubes" in America. I have also found charms on Ebay and at estate jewelry stores too - and sometimes the antique charms are really really nice and worth looking for. You can expect to pay $100-$500 or more for a good charm, the more 3 dimensional the charm the more pricy (and better) it is - obviously because of weight and feel. Some charms have gems in/on them too, so those are clearly for super special occasions.

While your girl is still little you could start her with charms that commemorate her birthday or holidays with dates, etc. Often those are the flat one dimensional charms, but they are good to have too - there are shapes of a girls head, or a heart, or lockets that are pretty affordable to start out with. I bought one for my niece last Christmas that was a candy cane - and it was only $40. She was only 6 at the time, so I felt like that was a reasonable starter charm - and wouldn't be a disaster if she lost it.

I didn’t get really expensive charms until I was in high school or even later - and those I typically bought myself to mark occasions, travel or events. So, consequently, my charm bracelet has gotten better and better over time. I think right now it is probably quite valuable - I have about 40 charms now and while it’s getting pretty crowded, I really like that it’s “mature”!

Overall thoughts - greatest gift EVER for a girl - and you'll always know what to get her for events - graduation, wedding, baby, etc... you can’t go wrong. Also, it's a super fun club to belong to. I’ve met women all over the world through the charm bracelet connection. You absolutely cannot see a charm bracelet on someone without asking to see it and to admire their charms. Everyone’s is completely different and special. Even my sister, who I obviously grew up with and shared a lot of the same life events, has a bracelet that is completely different than mine and equally OUTSTANDING and UNIQUE!

So, while we are smack dab in the middle of graduation season, start one now for your lovely girls!

Do Over?

Our weekend trip to Boston was a blistering success. Trip summary below:

1. It's possible that we've gotten too old to bounce back from flying the red-eye. Even though we got a seat between us which is pretty much unheard of these days, and we were on a nice new modern plane - it still sucked. Arriving in Boston feeling like a tired ball of crap isn't the best way to start a whirlwind weekend. 

2. Drive up to Hanover, NH was great. We were so tired that we had to pull over for a nap about half way there (again, like old people). Turns out it was the busiest rest-stop ever - kind of hard to take a nap in a parking lot full of rev rev revving Harley's and Semi's and all sorts of other stuff going on. 

3. Hanover, New Hampshire - LOVE! Dartmouth - LOVE! I wanted to hit the reset button on college and apply immediately to Dartmouth - and redo the whole college experience on the cutest campus and in the cutest town ever. So charming! We spent the night at the Hanover Inn, which was recently remodeled and completely LOVELY. And those nice nice people had a room ready for us around 11 am, so we could plop our tired asses into a soft bed in an air conditioned room and finally get some sleep.

We got up in time to get ice cream, wander the shops, check out the town, and meet friends for dinner around 6. Great time there in Hanover, and I really hope I get accepted to Dartmouth for my "imaginary" new college career.

 4. Concord, New Hampshire and St. Paul's School - Sorry, but Concord is no Hanover. It's more like...well... a sort of depressed looking old used up kind of town. The hotel we were "meant" to stay in was sold out a long time ago, so we were forced to make other arrangements - in a town where other arrangements can jump down the "awesome" scale pretty fast. Our hotel - I'll just call it the Vays Dinn - was pretty much what you'd expect for a 40-50 year old motel. Chain link fenced pool in the parking lot - that should give you the idea. Anyway, doesn't matter, we were barely at the hotel at all - so only mentioned it to give you the flavor - and that it made me really miss the Hanover Inn.

St. Paul's School on the other hand is unbelievably beautiful and an amazing boarding school on the outskirts of town. Graduation and anniversary events took place on Friday and Saturday and into Sunday. I met some really really nice classmates of my husband, along with other old friends, toured the campus, walked in the parade and watched crew races at the pond. The entire weekend was hot and in the 90's - arghhh.

5. Back to Boston - there is only so much meet and greet a person can take before one is OVER IT. So we blasted back to Boston and spent Saturday and Sunday with good friends there, and flew home Sunday pm. Great trip - love New England - can't wait to go back.

Boston – I heart you!

Guess who's on the red-eye tonight for a long weekend in beautiful New England. We are!!!! We're driving up to Hanover, NH to see friends on Thursday and Friday, then down to Concord for my husband’s high school reunion at St. Paul’s School, and then back to Boston with friends on Saturday and Sunday.

Coast to coast, baby!

The Chapel at St. Paul's School

Get a load of the weather forecast, Northwest  vs. Northeast!  I’m sure some people are hating the idea of temps in the 90’s, but this Seattle mushroom is SUPER EXCITED to warm up! 

Reports on the reunion activities when I return. 

 Photo credits: Google Maps, Wikimedia and Accuweather 

Pie Season!

Memorial Weekend came and went in the soggy Seattle area. We slogged through it anyway, and spent some quality time with friends at their beach house, played golf in some partially drizzly weather and got way less done in the garden than we intended. We hardly saw the sun at all, but sometimes that’s what we get around here. Arghh!

I did make a pie to take to the beach, and thought I would share the recipe and process with you. I know that lots of you have pie fear – because of the scary scary dreaded crust. I’m here to tell you - settle down  – it’s fine - don’t believe all the hype – pie is super easy, you just have to relax about it and go!

I made rhubarb pie – which is so good – from a recipe that we’ve been using in my family for years and years. I have no idea who to give the recipe credit to since it's such an old recipe and  I have never known who's responsible for its goodness, but this one is super easy and always turns out well. Oh, and it tastes great too. I’m kind of a purist, so there won’t be any strawberry business going on here – this is straight rhubarb. Trust me people  - it’s the best.

Creamy Rhubarb Pie

Filling:

Beat 2 eggs until light and fluffy

Stir in mixture of:

¾ cup sugar

2 T flour

½ t salt

Add:

1 T soft butter

1 lb. rhubarb cut into small pieces.

Have on hand 1 slightly beaten egg white for the top of the pie later.

Pie Crust (9” pie pan):

(For this kind of pie I like to make a lattice crust, so make enough dough for a top and a bottom crust. This is a double recipe. Some people like to use all butter, some like all shortening, I like it half and half.)

2 cups flour

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup shortening

1 tsp. salt

6-8 T cold water

Here’s where you don’t need to get all excited. It’s easy.

1. Sift your flour and salt together into a big bowl. Cut in (use a pastry cutter – it will make your life easy) the shortening and butter until it’s combined into pea size or even smaller hunks but fairly well incorporated.

2. Now pour in 6-8 T of COLD water. If this is where you generally get afraid of the crust not turning out, use all 8 tablespoons of water. Take a regular dinner fork and mix your dough around until it sticks together. Now put your hands in there and make it into a ball, just enough to stay together, don’t get it all hot and sweaty, just pat it together and don’t worry if not every bit of dough stays with it. It’s ok.

3. Divide your dough in half, put half in a baggie and shove it in the fridge. Cold dough works better than room temperature dough.

4. The half you still have out will be your bottom crust. Roll it out with a rolling pin until it’s bigger than your pie plate so you have enough dough flopping over the edge all around to work with later. When rolling out your dough, flour on your surface first. I roll mine out on my granite countertop – I flour the counter – works great.  Also flour the rolling pin. Roll, pick up your crust, flip over, roll again, flip, flour if you need to, roll again, flour your rolling pin if you need to, roll until you have a round-ish crust that’s evenly rolled and not too thin or too thick- around 1/8 inch. Pick up your crust (I roll it up over my left forearm), slide the pie plate under, roll the crust back down and there you have it. Now, if it’s torn at all, don’t worry, you can patch here and there if you need to. Nobody will see that.

5. Now fill your pie.

6. Now roll out your top crust. Your ball from the fridge should be nice and cold. Roll this out the same way. Once rolled, cut this crust into long strips about ½ wide, or whatever you like. Now make a lattice crust over the top of the pie. If you don’t want to make a lattice crust, you can just do a regular pie crust for the top – and just put some vents in it, like in a leafy pattern or some little decorative whatever…. I like lattice though for this pie.

7. Trim and tuck lattice under edge of the bottom crust. Using thumb and finger, pinch a fluted pattern around edge. Once done, don’t keep messing with it – that’s what makes crust get kind of tough – your crust doesn’t want your sweaty hands all over it.

8. Now brush with beaten egg-white  over the pie, for a nice effect when it cooks. Sometimes I like to also sprinkle a little sugar on it too – just because I can and I like sugar!

9. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes, then at 325 for 30 -35 minutes. Keep an eye on it, everyone’s ovens are a little different, and you don’t want to burn this baby.

10. Cool, serve with ice cream or alone. Stand back, congratulate self, feel awesome!

Dough after cutting in shortening and butter but before you add water

Dough after adding water and stirring together and patting into a ball

Flour your surface, spread around with your hand

 Roll out your dough, make sure it's bigger than your pie plate

Throw it in your pie plate

Cut your rhubarb

Bite sized pieces

Fluffy eggs with sugar, flour, salt

Mix in rhubarb and butter pieces

Toss the rhubarb into the pie

roll out your lattice crust and cut into strips

Start the lattice in the center and work out to edges

trim and pinch edges

brush with egg whites

 ready for the oven

Pie is finished, cool, eat!

Croatian Crustacean Vacation

Did I mention that we are going to Croatia this summer. Perhaps I didn't mention it because I would then also have to mention that this is my BIG BIRTHDAY trip to celebrate turning .....................wait for it..................50! WTF? Why, whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy???? - 

Whatever, grateful to be alive (blah blah) - all of us turning 50 this year have been referring to this as our "jubilee year", so big plans in store - including this awesome trip with friends to Croatia for some fun and sun. 

Here's how it's going down: September 2nd we arrive in Dubrovnik - we'll spend 4 nights there exploring around, eating mass seafood and drinking pink wine. Side trips, beaches, getting culture.... the usual. Then on Friday the 6th - we'll drive up to Split and spend the night. Saturday the 7th, we'll meet our captain and board our lovely catamaran and for 7 days we'll sail around in the sunshine. Super excited about the whole thing and I'm just starting to plan all the details - like where we are stopping to eat and who's in charge of cocktails on the boat. If you've been to Croatia, let me know if you have recommendations for great stops along the way. I'm collecting restaurant details on the islands, so any additions will be great.

Here are a few photos of beautiful Croatia, all from the Croatian Tourism Website and views of our catamaran from Yacht Charters Croatia. Isn't it fantastic, can't wait, will need new glamorous wardrobe to make trip complete!