My Hurricane Sandy Relief Effort

Helping out in the best way I know!

Photo from http://greenpeaceblogs.org/

I've teamed up with a group of Etsy artisans and we are 

donating 10% of all our sales

from our Etsy shops during the month of November!

-if you haven't heard of Etsy, it's an online shopping mall for artisans who hand make their items,

we each have our individual shops listed in one big website called Etsy-

Please take a look around my shop, hopefully you'll see something you love

and together we can help get more money to those in need!

Click the link below to go directly to my Etsy shop:

http://debsoromenhojewelry.etsy.com

I'll be donating my portion directly through the RedCross site.

http://www.redcross.org/

You can also find others who are participating by taking a look at these

treasuries of favorite items by artisans who are part of the Relief Team.

Shop for a Cause - Hurricane Sandy Relief

Shop Owners Donate from Sales - Hurricane relief

Sandy Relief Items for Sale on Etsy, Shop for a Cause

If you were affected or know someone who was, my thoughts go out to you!

I was lucky enough to not be affected too much here in Bethesda, MD.

Thank you for helping me do my part to help those affected by Hurricane Sandy!

You Rock! :)

Please help spread the word by sharing this post. Just click on the social links below!

-xoxo deb.

Octopus, Cherries, and a Beer! - Arrival in Portugal

I'm so excited to finally be here!

Portugal is awesome in the summer! Great beaches! and the boardwalk (called the Pardão) by my in-laws house in Cascais (just outside of Lisbon) is like nothing I've seen in the US: miles of wide cobblestone boardwalk lined with cafés and restaurants (where a beer is cheaper than a coke and the fresh grilled fish is to die for!) bordering mini-castles, cute little beaches, rocky cliffs, ocean water swimming pools, and multi-colored fishing boats. It IS one of the most amazing places I've visited (photos of all these things are definitely coming!)  :)

I LOVE exiting the plane on the tarmac, I feel like I've actually "arrived" somewhere! :)

One of the first things we did was hit the boardwalk and head to one of my favorite cafe's.
(it sits just in front of an ocean pool; a walled off area that allows in sea water at
high tide for people to swim in, wave-free)

YES! A cold beer on a warm, beach-y day! LOVE it.
(the "galão" or large coffee with milk and the Pasteis de Nata (custard pastry)
are my husbands, he goes for the sweet stuff :)

Our first dinner, prepared by my Mother in Law & enjoyed by my son: Octopus and delicious Portuguese potatoes! -
The "normal" fare is quite different in Portugal, our second meal was rabbit and we've had duck,
black sausage, and an assortment of shell fish since! Yumm...

Oh, and loads of the most delicious cherries I've ever tasted (and we used to pick them straight from
Washington groves :) --it's cherry season here and I'm in heaven :)

xoxo deb

Travel Day 1 - New York City

We took the bus into NY to fly out to Portugal from JFK(airline points issues and trying to match up tickets dictated the necessity of leaving from NY) We did have a whole afternoon to hangout before we had to be at the airport though, so we spent the hours at Central Park. It was a perfect day for it, sunny but not too hot and not terribly crowded! ...and I got soma amazing photos :)

I'm always amazed how big Central Park is. We strolled, with only small stops to look at ducks, take photos, etc., for 4 hours and only covered a little corner of the Park!

Central Park and a slice of Manhattan. The red line is what we walked.

I love the contrasts!
The very old 5th Avenue Presbyterian Church against a modern high rise.

Entering Central Park - Lush organic greens against the hard, steel buildings.

An Instagram shot. An adorable gazebo on top of a hill of rocks.
It was much cuter in person than in this photo!

I love that you can take a hike on dirt trails with a cityscape backdrop.

My son being silly! An urban explorer, lol.

Another Instagram shot. The Boat House!
Tons of boaters out in the "very green" water (you don't wanna fall in that, lol!)

The boat house area is gorgeous! All arches, stairwells, and fountains.

A concert al fresco!

An Instagram shot.
I LOVE this shot, it's just gorgeous with the light coming through the arches!

Some gorgeous shapes and textures on the architecture!

Boaters drifting along.

Bridges, Boats, & Buildings :)

Huge planters at the ends of the bridge!

Me and my son! (I love the camera flip function on my iPhone!)

xoxo deb.

Inspirational Hiatus

Hi everyone! I have an exciting announcement! 

I'm going on an Inspirational Hiatus (aka vacation/family visit!) 

I'm heading out with my husband and son to Portugal for a month (to see family and travel around a bit) with a short visit to Italy in the middle!! :) 

I am SO excited, Portugal and Italy are two of my favorite places in the world (that I've visited so far anyway! ;) --I should come back with tons of new design ideas to share!

My shop will be closed during this time (orders can be placed, but not fulfilled until I return) but I'll post updates on FB and share regular blog posts of all the inspirational places I visit.

**Studio closed from June 8 through July 22


xoxo deb.

My Martha Stewart Show Experience!

Wow! An amazing day!

Being invited to attend an all Etsy seller show was absolutely amazing and an incredible opportunity. Several of us on my local Etsy seller team managed to score an invitation and none of us really knew what we were in for. They didn't give us much details but they DID ask for our bios and our shop information and requested, no required, that we bring at least one product that we make to the show with us. That was what got us all worked up! Why did they want all of our info? Would some of the audience be called down for an interview? Who knew! But we did know that it could be amazing!!!

The day was hectic! Well, days I should say, since I went up Sunday afternoon and the show was shooting Monday afternoon. Here's some pics of the day!

I was going to go have coffee with the other girls on my team but when I walked by the studio (over an hour early) people were already lining up and I HATE to be last in line and LOVE to be first. So I skipped the coffee date and jumped in line! :) Thanks Kimberly Richard for being anal about being early too and coming to stand in line with me!

Here's the line not too long after I hopped in it. Turns out they had free coffee and food for Martha Stewart people, so I ended up getting my coffee anyway! Yay!!

Jenn Michaels (giving the peace sign) Linda Blackbourn (in red and black) and Starr Ashcraft (in magenta and white) - 3 of my teamies that were invited to Martha Stewart also waiting for the show to start!

Here's the jewelry that I took with me to the show. It's a little jumbled, they were giving demos of a new HP "3D" scanner and I was trying it out... not great for flat jewelry though :(

In the waiting room, being briefed and waiting for the show to start. The guy who does the briefing, Joey Kola, is also the show's MC is VERY high energy, lol. He was a blast, I just don't know how he keeps up that energy all day, every day!

The closest I got to Martha! lol.

Walking into the studio. There's the cooking area in the background.

More of the studio. The kitchen, the craft area, & the atrium. 

All the empty seats.... to fill up quickly

This lady takes one look at you and "sorts" you into your spot in the audience. I'm assuming by the colors we're wearing.

The sorting... They very quickly sort us into our seats.

My ticket... 5th in line, 5th to be sorted. :D

Prime seat! Just awesome!! 2nd row up aisle seat in the center aisle. Right where the MC stands during filming.

Incredible amounts of equipment and lighting! That huge (boom I think they call it) is the main camera that swings around the whole studion filming.

Martha giving a final recap. We weren't allowed to to take any pictures during the filming but had a few minutes afterward before Martha left.

Just before Martha left, she surprised all of us and her whole staff (it was obviously not in the plan) by saying she's putting all of our pictures with our shop names onto the Martha Stewart website! WOW!!! Incredible, my website listed on The Martha Stewart website, I can't wait to see the traffic that results from that. :D

The experience was beyond what I expected. Thank you Martha!!! :)

xoxo
Deb.

Pumpkins on Porches

The epitome of fall... enjoy!

image via Pottery Barn

image via Better Homes & Gardens

inage via Southern Living

image via eabdesigns.typepad.com

image via lateforaveryimportantpregnancy.blogspot.com

image via worthingcourt.blogspot.com

image via worthingcourt.blogspot.com

image via worthingcourt.blogspot.com

Happy Autumn :)
~xo

Support Indie this Holiday Season!

Lettuce and Carrots and strawberries, oh my!

Just a short pit-stop into daily life here.

This is our first harvest from our little garden.

The garden, by the way, was totally and completely inspired by my son (and his constant nagging to actually plant one, lol)

It's actually awesome to have a salad right outside the door! I'm not terribly thrilled about having to wash off all the bugs and dirt (there is something to be said for a bag of triple washed lettuce, ready to use! ;) but it's worth it when you realize you're saving at least a couple of bucks every time you pick a batch... that's one more tall latte for me! :D

There's lettuce and carrots (those are the biggest plants in the garden) and our strawberries are finally starting to show some growth, can't wait to pick some of those! and that's oregano in the pot, yum-o and I really want to plant some cilantro, it's my absolute favorite.

We also just cleared some space down below the steps for some watermelon and squash. I just hope it's not too late to plant, it's pretty darn hot out there already! I'll keep you posted.

Our teeny garden just outside our kitchen door!

Lettuce ready for a bath.

Sparkling clean and ready to store in paper towels in the fridge!

Toss in a little extra virgin olive oil, a splash of balsamic vinegar, and a sprinkling of sea salt and you have the perfect salad... well, cherry tomatoes would actually make it the perfect salad. :)

Did you know that rubbing kitty bellies is very therapeutic?

ahhhh... I feel much better now! :)

...and you KNOW she's a happy camper!