coming to terms with my freckles

 I remember when I was about 13. I had just started wearing makeup.

With a tube of coverup, I meticulously went and covered every one of my freckles on my face.

Then applied foundation over. All over.

When I got to school, one of my friends pulled me into the bathroom.

"You're wearing too much foundation," she told me. Handing me the rough, brown paper towel that is a ubitiquous standard at every public school, she instructed me to tissue some off.

I was trying to cover my freckles.

I remember looking at magazines (does anyone remember YM and Seventeen?) and wishing that I had brown, even skin.

Skin that tanned, not freckled.

I don't know when I finally came to term with the dots on my face. But even now I still find myself wishing for a more even complexion.

It wasn't until I stumbled across a blog post on Oh! Mishka where she wrote:

"Oh, how I love 

when girls with freckles don't cover them up with makeup!"

And I realized again that maybe my freckles aren't that bad.

Maybe they're even beautiful.

Is there anything about you that you've come to love? 

I'd love to hear about it. 

p.s. today is the last day to enter the Live Handmade giveaway
p.p.s. Like the photos? My dear friend Chantal took them. Go check out her work at chantalandrea.com. You'll be there for hours. I promise. 

:) Erika

crazy pup

Apparently I talk a lot about how my dog is "insane."

Something that even the lovely Krysten of After I Do noticed it:

"...about her dog that she claims is insane..."

So I decided that I need to outline exactly how I came to believe my little precious furmonster is a little crazy.

We got Nesby Glasgow (named after a University of Washington football player from the '70s--- yes the husband named him, yes he's a big college football fanatic) in March of 2010.

I'd been wanting a dog for a long time, specifically a corgi. Apparently I wanted one so bad that I talked about it in my sleep. True story, ask the husband.

We finally got the little bugger and brought him home from the farm he was raised on and right away we could tell he was, uh, different.
he slept in unusual places

and occasionally he would get this wild look in his eye...

and then he started eating or rather attempting to eat weird things (the photos below are not staged)

yes, he stole my sewing scissors

this is a clove of garlic he stole from the cupboard

nothing is off limits

I shredded this box for you Mom.

even paint is delicious

Things that I have had to grab out of Nesby's mouth:

a screw

sewing pins

sewing needles

socks

dryer sheets (one of his favorites)

the bathroom drain plug

a loofah

fabric

felt

and then there was that time he ate a cotton glove...whole.

He just straight up swallowed it like some prisoner of war swallowing the secret code.

And then went about his business as normal-- played, ate, etc-- only to puke it up--completely whole--five days later. The vet said she'd never heard of anything like it.

more things Nesby loves/attempts to eat:

toilet paper

napkins

cardboard

flowers

thumbtacks

hair clippings (this happened while I was cutting the husband's hair. gross.)

Living with Nesby is like living with a gregarious toddler that wants to and will put everything in their mouth. 

But on the other hand, Nesby, while curious, is extremely lovable and friendly. Everyone is a friend.

Have you ever seen Up? The dog Dug in the movie is Nesby to a t... just add in some odd food consumption and other antics:

"Hi I'm Nesby. I want to be your friend."

If this hasn't convinced you, I have more stories... but I'll save them for later.

p.s. Nesby just stole the a paper towel off the table and is now eating it.

small biz stories: kate price photography

Kate was my one of my housemates in college and I remember when I met her my first thought was

"this girl is COOL."

And she was. Kate always had the best music taste, had the best ideas for random adventures and could frost a cake like no one's business. (she once frosted a sheet cake with a full jungle scene.)

After graduation she follower her dream to be photographer and currently runs Kate Price Photography in Seattle, shooting weddings, engagements, family portraits and so much more.

She is beyond talented, but don't take my word for it. Check out her site katepricephotography.com for some serious eye candy.

 Here are her answers to my slightly random questions:

Describe your small business:
I was always the girl with the camera growing up. In 8th grade I took an trip to Washington D.C. and took eight rolls of film in five days. That's when I knew I wanted to be a photographer. Since then it's been a journey to get here but I've had tons of help! This is my dream job. 

 

Difficult question... but What inspires you?

Is Anthropologie an answer? haha. 

I love people i get to meet. And I ove the relationships I get to capture and document... I dont know if that answered your question. :)

 

 

 

What's your favorite part about running a small business?

The best part is that i'm doing what I love! I also love the flexibility I have in creating my schedule. I don't have a dress code and most days I'm in my pjs until 5 p.m. when my roommates get home.

What's the hardest part about running a small business? 

I'm alone most days editing so it's lonely. It can also be hard to managing time and prioritize projects. It's also hard not to want to take breaks when the sun comes out - I guess I'm lucky I live in Seattle and that is rare. :)

 

 

 

---------- 

please note: all of the photos are property of kate price photography.

how many times could you be turned down?

[source]

I've read The Help, actually more like gobbled it down in one sitting, hunched over my kitchen table late at night, devouring each word.

I loved that book. And I know I'm not alone. The Help has been on The New York Times' bestsellers list for weeks and this summer it'll be a movie. I've already seen the trailer.

In short we can call the book successful. Wildly so.

My mom recently emailed me an essay by the author of The Help Kathryn Stockett and what she had to say about failure. Yes-- failure not success.

It took Kathryn a year and a half to write her book and she didn't keep her project a secret but told all her friends. When she finished, she proudly mailed it off to a literary agent.

Six weeks later she got this reply: “Story did not sustain my interest.”

She wasn't discouraged but saw it as an opportunity to make the story better. She worked some more and sent it off again to more agents.

And received more rejections.

A friend told her "Maybe the next book will be the one." But Kathryn didn't want it to be the next book. She believed in this one.

A year and a half later, she received her 40th rejection letter with this note: “There is no market for this kind of tiring writing.”

And she cried. Yet she still worked on her story.

After three and a half years and 60 rejections an agent accepted the book. Three weeks later the story was on its way to being published.

Kathryn writes in the article: "The point is, I can’t tell you how to succeed. But I can tell you how not to: Give in to the shame of being rejected and put your manuscript—or painting, song, voice, dance moves, [insert passion here]—in the coffin that is your bedside drawer and close it for good."

 -------------------------

 Some days it's easy to be discouraged. Some days I wonder what I'm doing, where I'm going and if anything I'm aiming for is worth it. A lot of time I'm tired and I'm my own worst enemy and my biggest critic.

But it is worth it friends. It is. If you believe in what you do, if you believe in the goal you have in front of you then that is enough. It may take two failures, 20 mistakes or a whopping 60 letters telling you why your dream is not good enough.

In the end, though, I believe it's worth it.

Go read this entire essay and share it with others who need a little pick me up.

And this is cheesy but if you ever want to share your dream and your success or perhaps a tale of a failure, let me know. I'd love to hear it. rougeandwhimsy [at] gmail [dot] com

p.s. and if you haven't read The Help you should. :)

my mother inspires me

I know it's a little past Mother's Day.

But it's also Small Business Month and I decided to combine the two and do a little feature on my mom, who is not only an incredible source of encouragement and love in my life, but also a savvy and successful small business owner. 

my mom and I in Paris two years ago

I won't say her age, but my mom has finally found her calling and it's inspiring to watch.

------
Interview with Debbie of Urban Grace Design

What's your small business?
We [my mom and her friend Lora] purchase homes that are neglected and need updating. It's like a makeover, we make it over, and then sell it to a family and turn it into a home.

How did you get started?
We started doing it as a volunteer organization remodeling for families in need and we enjoyed thinking creatively because there was no capitol-- no money-- so we had to think creatively. If you had all the money in the word there would be no creativity, no challenges.  

Every great design comes out of a challenge. We had to think outside of the box. We try to do everything in the most cost-effective way. We constantly think "what's the best use for our money." We're not skimping, we just become creative.

I've always lived in brand-new housing, it's so cool to work with properties with character. It's so cool to bring in unusual qualities like antique lighting or other items.

 What inspires you?
 That is hardest question ever, don't you think? Lora and I love to rescue furniture, lighting or a home and giving it new life, making it useful again. We love to use items lot of it made by hand, here in America. Everything now is made in China.

I also get excited when you see something that's being used out of context. A weather vane that was a windmill and now it's a piece of art! Anything re-purposed.

What's your favorite part about running a small business?
Getting to make the decisions.  Not having a client tell you what they want. [She used to be an interior designer.] You can only decorate your house so many times but we get to do it over and over.

What's the hardest part about running a small business?
The hardest part is keeping track of paperwork which we're getting better at it. I have a spreadsheet now and we're entering every purchase. And in every job there's the unexpected where the basement has water in it and you have spend $4,000 to take care of the water. That's not fun-- I don't want to spend $4,000 on concrete and a sump pump and a liner.

-------------

The photos are above are from a house they recently redid and sold. The home was a foreclosure and when the previous owner left, he bashed the walls with a hammer, scratched the windows and took out cabinets out of frustration. It was a big job.

Over 80 percent of the furniture pictured is either from Goodwill or Craigslist.


Some design secrets from my mom:
- You can find really good things at thrift stores and Craigslist
- Anything can be spray painted
- Splurge on oil-based nice spray paint (it dries longer but is worth it)
- Hang photos at eye level-- people hang them too high
- Fabric from old curtains or shower curtains can be made into great pillows for cheap

it's never too late for cake

My husband and I were married in July of 2009.

It was hot. Even my California relatives thought it was hot.

But we had so much fun... so much fun I can hardly remember much of the wedding except for one thing: I know we did not get to eat enough of our cake.

 

 

That was it. The extent of our cake eating.

True to tradition, my mom grabbed the top tier to save in the freezer for us to eat on our one-year wedding anniversary.

July 2010 came and went.

The cake stayed in the freezer.

Until my dad found it recently.

"Your wedding cake is in our freezer," he informed me.

"Ohh!" I said. "Do you think it's still good?"

"Probably freezer burned," my mom jumped in.

"Really?" I asked disappointed. "Well, we'll try it anyway."

And we did.

Turns out our cake was really good. Really really delicious vanilla almond goodness. (I know, not the greatest description.)

And it turns out that frosting still tastes good even when it crumbles like chalk.

And the cake? Not as fresh, a little chewy but still delicious.

I ate mine with fresh strawberries.

Perhaps a wedding cake, like wine, only gets better with age.