A Culinary Adventure

As I've written in the past, the culinary realm is where my creativity falls short. I have never been a good cook, and while I can follow a recipe, it's always seemed a bigger hassle than what it's worth. As a part of "being good to me" this year I want to explore flavorful healthy food. Peter and I split equally the task of cooking but it's been quite a challenge to prepare quick (a must for our busy lifestyles) meals that fit the criterion of "healthy" and "flavorful". As I move away from the "utilitarian" view of food I've held for all these years and start to adopt "creative" it is my goal to become more self sustaining. I'm planning a garden this year (more on this later) and while I'm looking forward to growing my own food I'm left trying to figure out how better to funnel our resources toward healthier choices now. Two weeks ago I joined a co-op with a weekly buy in option. You make your produce purchase on Monday or Tuesday of each week and pick up the following Saturday. The mystery of never knowing exactly what will be included in the basket leaves me with feelings akin to Christmas; the mystery, the anticipation, the excitement!!! Here's our basket for this week:

It's crazy the amount of food we obtained for only $15! Adding to the fun is the task of building a weekly menu around whatever happens to be in our basket. Nearly all the recipes we are trying this week are new dishes we've never tried before. And thanks to SuperCook.com I didn't have to relent my desire for "nutritious and flavorful" in the name of "quick and easy".

2011

After 2010's new year's resolution (focusing on the growth and development of Dot&Line), I decided to take a different approach for 2011. This year my only goal is to be better to me. This may sound narcissistic but after the stress incurred by last years goal I've decided to treat myself a little better by reinstating former self-care penchants and developing some new ones.

By far the biggest change I've made is my re-entry into the 8:00-5:00 work force. I have set aside my jeans and donned my leggings and pumps to take on an administrative support role for a local CPA. Surprisingly the transition from running my business more than full time to working and running my business has been less painful that I imagined it would be. There are several reasons I decided to make this switch but something I didn't consider was the lowering of my stress level. Now that I have a steady income, my business feels like play time again and while I still believe in setting goals for sales and production, my financial fate is less tied to these things. I'm finding that I feel less pressure to "make things happen" and more freedom to "let things happen". (As a side note: There are still several new things for Dot&Line on the horizon and I look forward to sharing more with you in the coming months.)

Number one on my new found list of healthy habits is my walk to work every morning. While it is the middle of February and definitely chilly out, 7:25 in the morning is also early enough that the wind hasn't kicked into full gear yet, and as the days get longer the sunrise greets me with a brighter and brighter glow. By the time I walk the 8/10 of a mile to work I am fully awake and have already experienced something beautiful in my day.

Also on the list are the 15 minute complementary massages I receive every Friday during tax season. There are many perks for working for a CPA but this is by far my favorite. As a part of my 2011 resolution I had planned on investing in a massage every now and then. This part of my resolution is fulfilled and FOR FREE (!!!) every Friday through April 15th by Lynda, who works next door (a convenient location for when I start paying for massages after tax season).

There's more "good to me" habits a brewin' too! Stay tuned...

Invitation...

I am very excited for this year and all the growth it will bring. To that end I am asking a favor. On February 6th I will be hosting a coffee sleeve fabrication day to increase inventory in the hopes that this will, in turn, increase capital for future growth.

We will be cutting fabric, batting, stamping, sewing buttons and machine sewing. NO EXPERIENCE REQUIRED!!! You don't need to have sewing experience or even like to sew.

This will be an open house event! If you are in the Southern Idaho area, please stop by to say hello and have a donut even if you are unable to participate.

Feel free to bring a friend and music by your favorite artist to play in the background as we work. Stop by our facebook event page for more info and please let us know if you will be able to attend.

Twirl your stress away...

with Corinne Baily Rae. I realize this song has been out a couple years but I really needed it today... Hope you enjoy it too.



Love,
Annie

A Holistic Approach to Business

I am currently in the middle of Michael E. Gerber's The E Myth Enterprise. If you are a business owner (or considering becoming one) I implore you to beg borrow or steal a copy. As I have mentioned several times recently, I am on a quest to set up successful procedures and solidify a vision that will carry D&L to the next level. I am only a couple of chapters in but Gerber's view has already influenced the ways in which I want D&L to grow. The following statement may be simple but is too profound not to share:

"A business only exists if people want it to."

This may seem like a given but pause for a minute and let it sink in. "A business only exists if people want it to." Provided this statement is true, business should not only be about the owner (person) or only about the customer (person). Instead, business should be about creating the best case scenario for everyone from owners to employees to suppliers to customers. I instinctively gravitate toward a community oriented business but I've never been able to articulate what that would look like. This statement pulls it all together for me.

For a business to operate at this level, it MUST value people. While sad to say, it's been my experience that an often over looked group in business are employees. This problem has been on my mind a lot lately. I want my employees to feel invaluable. I want to create a place where people love to come to work. A place full of community and creative energy. A place with well designed workspaces that people are inspired to spend time in. I realize I won't be financially able to pay employees their dream salaries at first, however as I work toward that goal, I am excited to explore other ways to honor them.

If you have a good idea of how to value people in the workplace please share it with us by leaving a reply in the "comment" section below.

Local Flavor: The Nehemian

Over the last year of living in Idaho I have heard a variety of people mention The Nehemian. Located just outside of Buhl, The Nehemian is a barn full of wonderment and fanciful curiosities that you must go see. Owned and managed by local creative, Nancy Tyrrell, you can find anything from antiques & custom frames to beautifully repurposed, handmade and refurbished items. Nancy graciously agreed to show me around and I can't help but to share some of what I saw.



The lovely barn...





The eclectic feel:



A repurposed door...



Hand painted luggage tags:



The most creative use of chain & pully I have ever seen:



Stained glass windows & old vintage bottles:


Nancy's also graciously gave me a tour of her lovely craftsman style home bursting at the seams with her own unique touches. Perhaps next time I'm out for a visit she will let me snap a few photos of her brilliant use of repurposed materials...stay tuned.

Really???

Thankfully I JUST got an order of buttons in. I've been waiting on pins and needles for their arrival. They are lovely and the vendor willingly shipped them immediately per my request. You could even say my experience was flawless...with the exception of one minor faux pas.

Upon opening my package I found a religious tract. That's right folks, not a thank you note or copy of the invoice but an honest to goodness, meet you at the park, religious tract. Really???

Now I wonder if this person had a brick and mortar store if they would be so bold as to sell their customers something and then attempt to convert them. Hmmm...

My guess is the vendor was hoping the tract would be a gesture that shows she cares. Unfortunately the caring part was lost in translation.

Oh Kids Camp!

Last week was one doozy of a week! Hubs is the Children's Director at a local church and last week was our annual church kids camp. This year was my first year going to camp with the kiddos. I went as the arts and craft director! It was super fun. Here are some photo highlights.


Isn't the lake idyllic?



Hand printed bags with things found in nature:



The Hubs taking a pie in the face:

End of the Disappearing Act!

Oh blog how I have missed thee...

Lots has been going on. After a couple weeks of intense searching, Hubs and I have found a house. The price has been agreed upon and the home inspection is tomorrow. Searching for a house has felt like a second job so now that it's over (hopefully) I will have my time to keep you all posted! Yaaaay!

Stop by tomorrow for this week's artist profile.

Hullabaloo on Heyburn Street

Hullabaloo: agitation: disturbance usually in protest.

A few weeks ago our little Toyota died...it's final death. Fortunately the hubs and I just took this as an opportunity to pull out the bicycles and use them as our main form of transportation. In addition to good exercise, riding my bike the 3 miles to work also saves the environment and mula.

Just in case you don't remember my bike, it's the green vintage Schwinn that I wrote about a couple of weeks ago. Our friend Norbs referred to it yesterday as "like the first bike ever made". I have to admit that the sentiment didn't bother me one bit. It was, after all, my grandma's bike. It has it's original pieces, including the light on the front and the chain guard to keep girls in the early 60's from getting their dresses and flair cut jeans caught in the chains. I have, in fact, taken lots of pride in the chain guard...especially since the hubs has to put rubber bands around his ankles to keep his pants from getting caught. My bike may be old and rickety and "like the first bike ever made" but it'll be a cold day in hell before my jeans get caught in the chains!

Yesterday, though, my bike was in a bad mood. This probably came from the frustrating combination of not being ridden for a few dozen years followed by being ridden a lot in a short period of time. Somehow the chain on my bike managed to swallow my jeans. After the hilarity of attempting to pull my jeans out on my own and push the petals forward to move the chain with only one foot because my other foot was being held captive, I called for help. While I was waiting for my rescue I managed to remember that I had my camera with me!

Here are some fun little picks of the hullabaloo on Heyburn St.:

Vintage Instead

Alas I didn't get any further on my dress, which I was hoping to wear today. Turns out that making clothes is just not my thing...especially when it's involves patterns. For some reason all the instructions zap the fun out of the experience for me. Ah well.

Instead, I found this lovely little vintage number:

Simplicity

Today was one of the rare and cherished days where we had a massive rain and thunderstorm here in Twin Falls. On days like this downtown usually floods a little, leaving the streets and sidewalks looking like this outside the studio:



I was upstairs working away when I heard something stirring below. I went downstairs to see what was going on and our dear Norbs (or Norberto for all you prim and proper folk) had made a paper boat to send down river. I was so enchanted by his little boat that I quickly requested another one:






Of course we had to see if it would work as well as the first one:


There it goes!

Proof that design doesn't have to be over-worked or utilize costly materials to be effective.

It was a happy storm.

Making Progress

Look everyone! My dress is all cut out!

Dress Update

Well, I had hoped to at least have all the pieces for my dress cut out by now. Unfortunately I've only pre-washed the fabric. Currently my dress looks like this:



I had better get a move on or I will be wearing a toga for Easter!

Easter Dress

This year I have decided to make a dress for Easter. I have never used a pattern, let alone made a dress before so this should be interesting. Stay tuned for my step by step progress over the next couple of weeks.

Here's the fabric I chose:


Here's the pattern:

Also, It's been a while since we've had an artist profile here on D2D. Tomorrow's profile will be excellent so tune in for that as well!

Craft Show Take 2: Second Verse Same As The First

A couple of weeks ago my cousin Trish and I decided to share a booth in a craft show here in Twin Falls. I had high hopes that this show would be more profitable than the one in Jerome a few weeks ago. Much to my dismay, this show was even slower! How that would even be possible I cannot say. The vendors were much the same as the last show with a couple additions. There was the woman who sold fleece items and another vendor who sold hand crafted kitty scratch posts.

On Friday I sold a couple of coffee sleeves and Trish sold nothing. Saturday brought a few sales for Trish and only one single, solitary purchase from a friend of mine. In my mind this lack of success is NOT okay. I am currently working part time in my father's advertising agency which he started from nothing and has slowly built up. I see him work in creative ways to make the business a success. Call me snobby but I know how to advertise an event! It doesn't take a lot of money but it does take a little effort. Unfortunately the woman (who shall remain nameless) running this particular craft fair was either too uninformed or to lazy to make this show as success. When approached by another crafter who participated last year and was experiencing the same frustration, I was informed that she had tried to gently tell the woman that she was frustrated with the lack of advertising. Her comments were met with, "Well, but it's this fun?" Fun???? I came here to do business to me that would be "fun". Selling some items I worked hard at making would be "fun".

Suffice to say I now refuse to participate in any show that that I don't know for a fact will be well advertised. Lesson learned...poorly ran shows make me feel like this:

As a side note: Remember how (in the post I did about my last show) I referenced feeling like the only way I'd be successful in local shows is if I started making lamps out of old stinky cowboy boots? Well I actually got some feedback from a woman at the show who told me I should quite literally make lamps out of old stinky cowboy boots! Yeesh!

Thanks for reading my rant.

My First Show or YeeeeHaaawwww!!!

As I started preparations for my first Craft Show (not Artisan show as I had hoped and believe me there is a difference) I had really tried to plan out what to make and take. I knew going into this that my stuff would be different than most, I just didn’t know how different. Here’s a quick run down of how my stuff differs from the typical Idaho handmade fare:

1. It’s contemporary
2. It’s colorful
3. Due to higher production costs, the price of my items are a bit higher
4. While some of my stuff may be considered “shabby chic” it is by no means “country” or “cowboy”

Around the end of the show I hit a low low point during which I had convinced myself that I needed to start making cow print lampshades and lamps made out of old stinky cowboy boots. Not only that but I would have to abandon the hope that I would actually make a buck doing what I love. This is not to say that I didn’t make any sales. My Grandma Pat bought a few things along with my friend Jemme.

After the first night of my show some blessed soul in Colorado purchased an item on my etsy site (dotandline.etsy.com for those of you who may be interested) that a craft fair attendee poo poo’d for being too expensive (this is after I marked it down for the show mind you). This fortunate happenstance left me with a deeper understanding of something that I innately knew to be true all along. There are two forces constantly at work in the reactionary universe of onlookers. One beautiful force which will always see the value of a well made expression of creativity and one dark force which will always find something wrong with the very same expression. Now I know that there’s probably some middle ground to be had here. A way to stay true to my own vision for my business and still accommodate local taste, but like any artist or designer, my ultimate dream would be to get paid making only things that are visually stimulating to me.