One Year of Vespertine Carrboro!

Wow, everyone!  One year of business in Carrboro.  Allow me to take a moment to thank some folks who helped make this possible. I can hardly believe what a lovely year it has been.  To celebrate spending a whole year on Main Street, I finally submitted my sign application and my talented friend Marc made this wonderful sign for me:

He also cut the window vinyls and made a little sub floor structure when I first opened, thus saving us from tripping all the time! I'd also like to say a special thank you to my buddy Cynthia for helping install the sign, the vinyls, and much more.  Cynthia has been invaluable in helping me maintain my Facebook Page and for bringing amazing cookies to the 2nd Friday Art Walks.  She's also just been really supportive and I have appreciated her energy so much. 

Speaking of supportive: as my neighbor Paul reminds me often, where would I be without my parents? I can't even begin to enumerate how much they have done for me...but suffice to say, I am so grateful. 

A big thanks to Hannah for moving her soap making enterprise up to the loft here. I always look forward to days when she's here. 

Another person who really brightens things up around here is my aforementioned neighbor at This and That Gift Gallery, Paul.  Paul is always ready with an amazing story, a ladder to help me change a light bulb, brainstorming, and countless other repairs and improvements we try to do around here. 

Last but certainly not least: my "shop boy" Jeremy.  Also referred to as "that sweet young man who was running the store today" by my customers.  Jeremy's generosity and flexibility allowed me to open the second store, and now it allows me to spend quality time in my studio to make NC Necklaces. 

Jeremy and I were just reminiscing about those early days... When it was so slow and all we had here in Carrboro was an iPod touch and not much to do!  We've come a long way.  

Thanks for all your support! 

Blue Barn House Cards in stock now--plus my fave card of all time!

I was so excited to unbox this latest shipment: Blue Barn House Letterpress Cards. Interestingly enough, I first stumbled across BBH in Brooklyn, NY~ even though they were from Asheville NC (now located in Wilmington, NC).  BBH made the letterpress posters that I cut into labels for the Anole Nook Soap, and now I am carrying their lovely cards. 

This is the card I found in Brooklyn, never ceases to elicit a smile when I see it.  Below the Whirling Dervishes it reads "Throw your hands way up the air and wave them all around like you just don't care". 

Memories of the General Store Cafe

Although Vespertine is no longer in Pittsboro, my thoughts are certainly there this morning.  I was so saddened to learn that the General Store Cafe closed its doors on Jan 24th.  It was such a definable part of Pittsboro...almost as much as the Courthouse. I really cannot imagine driving up the Circle and not seeing the lights on around their big windows.

I could really show my age here and say how I remember going with my Mom,  taking a jar to the original General Store (located across the street) to fill it with Tamari. Going with friends to get firecracker mix in the afternoons.  I remember when it moved, expanded, and added the restaurant.  When I would come home from college breaks, I would meet my friends there.  We would order the quiche, salad, and coffee and hunker down in our favorite corner--where we would remain undisturbed for hours as we caught up.

The thought I keep coming back to today is that the General Store Cafe really helped give Vespertine life. When I first started out in March of 2007 (wow!), I was working at three Pittsboro businesses (which also helped form Vespertine) and thinking of starting my own. Being able to barter for rent and to do the night closeouts at the GSC allowed me to get my business going. My original shop was located beside the GSC, and the business they generated spilled over in to mine. Although I grew up here, I had never lived "in town" before then. I can still remember how it felt to lock up the GSC and walk home through the place I then felt was "my" town.  Vance and Joyce (the GSC owners) were so inspiring to me.  I loved watching their business thrive and expand. I was so excited to be working with other business people who had a vision to bring something fun and unique to Pittsboro.

I really hope that we can all collectively pause now and think about what is happening with Pittsboro.  How can we better support our businesses? How can we make this a positive and thriving place to live? We can use the Mainstreet Program as a great place to start envisioning our future and figuring out what we need to make it become a reality.

At the risk of sounding overly poetic, I really feel that with the closing of the GSC, a lovely emerald jewel has fallen out of the crown of Pittsboro. Let's not lose another one.

Sweet Cards

My newest window display~ bit of a Valentine's theme.  I had such a great time hanging some of my sweet new love cards on pink string using these cute little clothespins with red hearts.  I purchased them a few years ago at BHV (sounds like bay-ahsh-vay, en francais), the greatest department store *ever* while visiting a dear friend in Paris!  <>  I can't wait to go back...but, 'til then, it's always nice to find a little reminder in my crafts supplies.

Re-Stocking Excitement: Moonspoons, Blackbird Letterpress, and Re-Created Glass Tumblers

Just a little re-stocking update:  I just finished going through two lovely boxes of Moonspoon items. Tea Strainers, Honey Sticks, Chopsticks, and more are back in stock in a variety of styles.  I also have new Blackbird Letterpress Journals and cards, including some super sweet Love Notes and Bear Hug cards, perfect for Valentine's Day, which will be here before you know it!

As I was writing this post, Leslie Fesperman Re-Created Glass just brought by a bunch of new tumblers, some cast boxes, and some wonderful "splash" plates made from fused pieces of coke bottle glass~ lovely!

Veterans Day Thoughts about the Department of Peace

I work at Rosemary House Bed and Breakfast in Pittsboro NC.  This year, innkeeper Karen Pullen gave away a free night to Veterans and their families.  I just finished checking in some of these couples, and it left me thinking of the military, war, and more importantly~ peace.

I am an ardent pacifist but I do feel strong support and affection for the members of our armed forces--which are not exclusive to each other.  A good friend of my family has spent the better part of the past few years serving in Afghanistan. Watching his family go through the extremes of pride and worry was very sobering.  I also recently attended a service at Arlington (luckily not for my young friend)  which was deeply moving. 

I came up with some links that happen to follow the trail of my thoughts pretty closelyt:

This first one is from a favorite comedian Mike Birbiglia, who says "I love the troops. If they weren't the troops than I would be the troops, and I would be the worst troops".

One of my favorite musicians, PJ Harvey, released a very thought provoking album this year. Let England Shake explores themes of war, nations, patriotism, and the arc of a superpower.  Although at times terribly depressing, I do love this album.  Plus, I really like having the chorus "what if I take my problem to the United Nations" stuck in my head all day.  This video gives a feel of the album:


I'll leave you with one more link, here. This one is about a direction I hope we can move towards some day.  I look forward to a time when our nation decides to make a Department of Peace that is as well funded and supported (if not more so!) as our Department of War.
 

How beauty feels...

Richard Seymour: How beauty feels | Video on TED.com

Two artistically minded ladies I know shared the above video link with me recently--I highly recommend giving it a watch. It deals with a subject I often think about, and one that I remember sparked interesting conversations in my woodworking sculpture classes: how beauty feels and where we feel it.

 Several years ago I had the good fortune to visit the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy with some of my family.  The whole gallery (and the building itself) is amazing, but one room in particular nearly knocked me off my tired feet--a room filled with Botticelli paintings. These intricately painted canvases are large, each one like a wall of a house, and the brush-strokes are nearly imperceptible they are blended so smoothly. As I walked through this room, gazing at panel after panel of strikingly beautiful figures and foliage, I became aware of a feeling of lightness spreading across my chest from the top of one shoulder to the other.  That is the only way I can describe it.  I suddenly felt as if a weight I didn't know was there had been physically lifted off of me. 

That's where I feel beauty.  Where do you feel it? What evokes that feeling for you?