And hello September! I can't believe you're here already!
I'll be back next week to talk about the new features and focus of the blog, and get back in action! In the meantime, hope you have a good labor day weekend and I'll meet you back here Tuesday!
Fall is coming! Are you ready?
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Birthday flowers and birthday breakfast! Now we're headed up to Mt Hood to bask in the sun and take a dip in some chilly mountain water. It's gonna be a good day!
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Happy August! I'll be participating in Susannah's August break this month which means l'll pop in every few days (or perhaps more) with a photo to share, but no wordy birdy-ness for the whole month (well, after today :) I need to get some space and time to work on some behind the scenes changes that are taking place, including a re-design and re-branding for little Modish to become the official Miss Modish blog instead! Plus, it's notoriously the most beautiful month here in Portland and I want to get outside more to enjoy it!
And then starting Monday, September 5th, I'll welcome you back here to the new Miss Modish blog! I'll be posting on businessy topics (ala Modish Biztips) more regularly as well as chat about personal stuff, but there will be no more editorial product talk and I'll no longer be accepting product/shop submissions. I'm really narrowing down, focusing and choosing my path- I'll hope you'll come along with me!
One thing I'd really like to do starting in the fall is host an "Ask Miss Modish" column here weekly or bi-weekly. So, anything you're wondering about marketing, branding, blogging, publicity, dealing with stress, distraction, self-employment... if you have a question about anything business related at all please email hello{at}missmodish.com with the subject "ask Miss Modish" and you may see it here answered on the blog!
So pop in this month to see some pretty pics of August happenings, and I hope you'll join me come Sept to get your marketing mojo on!
<3 jena
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We were awakened by thunder and lightning at 6am this morn and now it's super grey and dismal out, so strange! But this weekend? This weekend was a ball of sunshine and I got so many projects done!
On Saturday morning we walked to breakfast and then went to the nursery to pick out some new pretties. And then I had a lovely crafternoon with my friend Ronit- we went to Goodwill to pick out some basic tees and stuff and then tried our hands at bleach tie-dyeing ala Honestly, WTF! Verdict? SO MUCH FUN. Although I kinda overbleached one of mine, I think- practice makes perfect tho, right? I wanna do it again!
Then on Sunday, the mister and I got our first coat of blue paint up in the office- bye bye yellow! We're keeping one wall behind a big bookcase yellow, but the agean blue is a breath of calm and cool fresh air. The mood feels so different in there, I love it so far! (I'll show final pics once we're all done, of course :) And later, in the afternoon shade, I planted some zinnias, straw flowers and a flowering maple to cover the eyehole where our big lupine & foxglove used to be (they're done for the season now.) And I planted some lillies and yarrow in another spot to hopefully come back next year. And my last bit of energy was spent giving myself a neon orange pedicure (thanks, R!) Phew! Was a fun one.
Work on any projects this weekend? Hope you're having a good Monday so far and happy week!
PS: My friend Jen from the DIY Lounge is looking for people to lead workshops for the Hello Etsy PDX conference coming to town in Sept- interested? Details over on Jen's blog!
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{photo by the Mr!}
{photo by the Mr!}
This weekend we ditched the Antique Expo because we couldn't find parking and hit up some estate sales instead. I've been hunting for juuust the right granny square blanket for our living room and I found it this weekend! It's clean, soft, in totally random perfect-for-us colors and was only 10 bucks! Love it! I also picked up some table runners just because I loved the fabric- those might become curtains for our french doors to the office.
This weekend also had: BBQ tofu & a yummy mason jar cocktail at Bye & Bye. Naptime with kitty. Starting to watch Twin Peaks again from the beginning (it's on Netflix instant!) Potting some plants to pretty-up our porch (my mom sent me the snail and terracotta turtle- thanks mom!) Cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping and all that fun Sunday stuff. And some lazy backyard summer sky enjoyin. It was just too nice to stay in and paint- we're saving that for a rainy day which looks like... today! Boo.
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Chasing an early morning sunbreak, and getting some nippy 7am air on my face. Ahh..feels good!
Hope you have a happy Thursday! And uh, woah, it's Thursday already?!? Those long holiday weekends screw me up!
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What in tarnation is that hangy thing up there in our tree? Hmm...
Bees! Bees! It's a swarm of bees! So a swarm, I've learned in the last couple days, is when a bee colony reproduces basically. A new queen forms and takes 10,000+ worker bees with her and they leave their crowded hive (like our neighbor's unmanaged one right on the other side of our backyard fence) to form a whole new colony. Yes, that clump has tens of thousands of bees in it. Craziness, right?
So what do you if a new colony wants to form on the tree in your backyard? Our neighbors found a beekeeper off Craigslist to come out and collect them!
Meet Peter, probably the sweetest and most gentle honey-making man you'll ever meet. He has been looking for bees to get started with his own hive at home, so he was more than happy to come collect this homeless tribe! He promises to love them and feed them well with lots of sugar water.
That is one happy Portland beekeeper.
This all happened Tuesday night. So when I went outside on yesterday's bright sunshiney afternoon, I was expecting to have at least a more bee-free yard than we had the night before. But instead, as I sat on the lawn chair under our big cherry tree, talking to my mom on the phone I noticed "Hmm... there's a whole heckuva lot of bees all the sudden."
I could see them coming up from our neighbors yard in a huge huge mass- I heard them coming first and then watched as they slowly starting migrating closer and closer. It was a new swarm forming, right before my eyes! And when you see them flying individually, suddenly it's apparent that yes, that really is tens of thousands of bees.
I grabbed Otie and scooted my ass quickly back inside and watched from the window as they took over the very spot I had been sitting in. They formed a new swarm, right on the cherry tree!
We called Peter Beekeeper (that's what he is on speed dial in our phones now ;) to come get them again, but the entire swarm up and moved to a different tree in the neighborhood! And then they moved again! And Peter didn't get his bees and now we don't know where they are.
So Portlanders, if you see a lonely little swarm of bees in your tree- email me. I know just who to call :)
Have you ever seen a swarm before?
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This weekend was: our friend's deck on a clear but chilly spring night, sleeping-in, scones for breakfast, a spontaneous estate sale stop on the way to the grocery store, Raybans and old Outkast, seriously plaid-tastic thrift scores, homemade veggie tacos, kitty cuddling, SUN SUN SUN, answering emails beneath a blossoming cherry tree, a tired happy doggy, first shorts-wearing day of the year, lawn-mowing mister, bike-riding mister, blackberry bush tackling me, well deserved beers & dinner out at our fave neighborhood spot and a cannoli on top.
Pretty swell, I must say. My only complaint is that it couldn't last longer. What were the favorite parts of your weekend? Hope it's the start to a good week for you!
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On Friday when I let Otis out for his afternoon romp in the yard, it was sunny for the first time in what's felt like way too long. All the birdies were out singing their songs and there was a strong breeze carrying the clouds away and blowing through the windchimes around the neighborhood.
It sounded so peaceful and relaxing I wanted to try to record it for you guys so you could have a little piece of that feeling too, whenever you need it.
So, if you'd like to take a little break with me, find a quiet spot, press play and come hang out in the backyard with me for a bit. (and yes that's Otis panting in the background, not me :)
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