Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

This is such a terrific tale that all kids enjoy and this year is the 150 anniversary of the Story of Alice's travels down the rabbit hole. When I saw this beautiful edition that is illustrated by Anna Bond I was sure that you all would love it as much as I do! It would make a nice Easter gift if you can get your hands on one that fast! But I think anytime this is such a great gift - maybe just for doing chores you can surprise your kids with this delightful book!

I hope you can find it in your local book store but if you can't it's here.

happy reading!

kids left the nest - do you want to help those in need?

I just got an email from Projects Abroad, they are looking for volunteers for cyclone disaster relief in Fiji. Tropical Cyclone Winston, which struck Fiji on February 20th 2016, left a trail of destruction in its wake. The storm was the most powerful ever to hit the islands and has claimed at least 43 lives and damaged or destroyed thousands of homes. Projects Abroad is looking for volunteers for recovery efforts in areas impacted by the storm.

The primary goal of the project is to help restore a safe learning environment for children by rebuilding and renovating schools in and around Lautoka, Ba, Tavua, and Rakiraki. Although the Fijian government is doing everything they can to return the children to a normal school environment, there is a great deal of work that must be done to ensure that the schools are safe. As work progresses, Projects Abroad will also be expanding the project to include rebuilding homes damaged by the tropical cyclone. You can help for one week or more...

For more information on how you can help and what specific kind of help is needed please go to their website and see if there is anything that calls your name... who knows, your life could change from today forward while helping a community in need.

Reiki

photo by Amber Mahoney

For those of you who have never heard of Reiki this story in the Standard blog is a good introduction - it's from an article by Alex Waxman, and for those of you who have heard about it but may be skeptical this is a good story as well. I had heard of Reiki, always wanted to try it - but I didn't really take it seriously. Sometimes we get stuck in our own healing modalities and forget that it's good to be open to all things, you never know what it is that will work for you or your situation or ailment. I have a few friends who do Reiki, but these people in general are not the kind of people to really force themselves on you - it's think it's really part of the soul and the stillness of Reiki and it's practitioners.

It all started for me when we had some people over for dinner, one of my friends knew that my dog was sick (his kidenys were failing) - towards the end he was good on some days and then some days he would just not eat and was listless. I noticed that she took my dog aside and was sitting with him and I knew what she was doing, it hadn't occurred to me to ask her to do Reiki but she knew just what to do. She spent some time with him and he bounced back in the most amazing way! He did great up until his last days - I would text her when I could see that he needed it and she would immediately bring him comfort. The fact that it works on an innocent animal like my dog, makes be believe wholeheartedly in Reiki.

Today when I saw this story on Reiki, I thought it gave such a good explanation of the practice and it's benefits. I haven't had the chance yet to have Reiki on myself but I am excited for that day when I do make it happen. In the meantime, read this and get familiar with it and I am sure you will find a way to use it in your life too!

read the whole story here for more about Reiki

N E W :: Jess Brown Design

Jess Brown Design - work shirt

I'm so excited to have the Jess Brown Spring 2016 collection in-store. I remember when I saw the collection back in September and I thought... hhhmmm can I just get it ALL for my store! Her things are really my favorite - they are the kind of things I wear, and wear and wear. Jess is the epitome of that Northern California girl (I should be pc and say 'woman' but if you know Jess she is so tiny, the word 'girl' just seems right) - she is wise beyond her years and she took the slow route to making her things so covetable that we all fail to see how we could live without her in our life.

caftan tunic - I have so many of these and I literally live in them!

We are both flea market shoppers but I bet if we went to a flea market together we would come out with different things, I 'think' she would love my and I KNOW I would love hers. But I can see this in each one of the pieces in her collection. The studied way that she makes her garments, they are to keep forever and to live in for life!

work shirt - havana blue

In this Spring collection I chose to focus on a couple of fabrics that I felt were new and unique. They are soft, the perfect weight and have what I am looking for -- clothing for life.

henley dress - havana blue

see our full interview with Jess last year - click here

come and see the collection at nonchalantmom here

N E W S P A C E

We are excited to announce that we have a new store space! It's been awhile since I have had an on-the-ground store and I'm excited again. I know this may seem silly to say but in our particular little town we may have been a bit ahead of our our time when we opened out store in 2006. We had a great time and I always get comments about how much our store was missed, but to be honest it was hard to keep up with one the ground and online. But so much has changed and I was always on the look out for a nice space but nothing ever presented itself - until a friend of mine texted me a photo of the 'for rent' sign at our new location. It's just PERFECT - I couldn't be happier.

We will keep the space simple, but it will be much easier to keep everyone more updated on what is new, we will have a good selection of our 'flea market' items (I know that they are a huge hit as they never last long), and it's a good chance to show off our love for everything from baby - kids - women - men - apothocary - home and more! We will also feature things from the locals here and I am going to keep up my pottery work - so there's that too!

Keep tuning in (or better yet follow us on Instagram) for updates on how the renovation is going and how the space is taking shape... can't WAIT! and don't worry -- we will keep shipping orders all the way through without interruption!

Hope to see you soon in our new Store!

new times... new thoughts...

Spring collections are beginning to trickle in... and we are so excited! This season I tried to focus not necessarily on what you need, but what you really want. This may not sound like a big change, but in my mind it's a really B I G change... here's my thought... I have always focused on essential things that are made well, I try to stick with made in USA when I can, but if I really love it, I just gotta have it in my shop. But I think things are changing, there are places that I can get those essential things, I would like to bring you the things you really WANT, things you can't stop thinking about, and maybe it's not so necessary but it's fun to have. Let's face it, we all have enough stuff.. I don't want to just add to that stuff, I want the things in my shop to be something you treasure!

As I went into the shows for Fall collections recently I have this in the forefront of my mind even more, I found some wonderful things that you will love and treasure, and as usual it's not fashion - because I don't believe in that word, I want my things for long term - I want to follow my own path and love my style and I surely don't want it to be in 'fashion'. I hope you think this way too!