New Country Sampler has arrived!

Well, the December/January 2010 issue arrived yesterday, and it's clear that my BF Laura's 15 minutes of fame have begun! Her home is featured in this issue, and starts on page 26. Truly, I have to tell you... you can't begin to know how gorgeous her home is! From the minute you walk in, you feel right at home. She has the most gorgeous antiques and collections... every corner is filled with wonderful treasures. I wish there were about 20 more pictures in the magazine... you are missing out on so many wonderful nooks and crannies.

If you'd like to see more of Laura's wonderful home, go to the left side of this blog and find the "Home Tours" button... it will direct you to my webshots site.

I am so fortunate to have met my decorating soul mate.. and that we live on the same street in the same small town... wow - how great is that???

Halloween Spooktacular

Our first ever Halloween Spooktacular was devilishly fun! we are looking forward to next year's event. Here are some pictures of our costumes.... me in full Survivor regalia including knee socks, stained tshirt and an actual Survivor "Buff" (I am a huge fan) and Bobbie looking very scary in her Morticia get-up.

Vacation... finally!

This year was the first time EVER I have gone 9 months without any time off... so needless to say my hubby and I were both very ready for a vacation. Of course, San Diego was our destination of choice (as always). We enjoyed 5 blissful days of warm sunshine, wore flip flops and shorts, and ate at all our favorite resturants. We were able to spend a lot of quality time with our niece Lauren and nephew Anthony... we also visited Lee's grandparents and also managed to see a few dear friends. We love living here in Oregon but it sure is nice to spend time back home as well.

Now that we're home, I am trying to get into a Christmas-y mood. The open house is only a couple weeks away and the Christmas merchandise is arriving every day. I have spent hours examining my Christmas decorating idea books and I think I am starting to "come around." Although it's been hard to think of winter today, with the gorgeous fall sunshine outside. I suppose it will all come together... it always does!

All Moved In!!

Well it just about broke me, but the big move is complete and we are open for business at the new location!! I am LOVING the light and bright quality of this space and am so happy with the wall colors. The new space is much larger than the old, and I was able to add quite a few furniture pieces and other goodies. If you want to check it out, go to my webshots site for more pictures:

www.webshots.com/user/buttermilkjunction

The shop is decorated for Fall... all the lovely oranges, yellows and browns... yummy! We are featuring several offerings by local crafters... homespun pumpkins, witches boots, grubby pumpkins, crows... oh my.

Still waiting for several shipments... more linens by Family Heirloom Weavers, woven dish towels by Weaver's Corner, etc. Check back often!!!

Ready for school!!

Well since I am in "downsizing mode" with the shop's upcoming move, I am going to blog about my sweetie pie niece Olivia, rather than about decorating. Look at that face!! Olivia is the youngest of my sister's children... she just turned 5 last month, and is overly anxious to start Kindergarten in just a few weeks! Olivia is our little sweetheart... such a good girl... so eager to help and always has a smile on her face. We are so fortunate that we get to see "Miss O" very frequently. She loves to stay the night at our house in "her room" and play decorating with Auntie.

What a blessing all our nieces and nephews are!!

I Passed!!

Eee Gads - is that me??? I guess that is what I look like after spending 3 days in the HOT, HOT sun on a HOT, HOT asphalt parking lot taking the motorcyle endorsement class! What you can't see is that my face is beet red... even SPF 55 wasn't enough this weekend. The picture was snapped at the end of the final FIVE HOUR session on the motorcycle, and the car thermostat said 102 when I got in at day's end. They require you to wear jeans, long sleeves and boots. I don't own a pair of boots so I had to borrow my hubby's - and three pairs of tube socks. Talk about adding insult to injury....aack!!

I have wanted to take this course for several years now... and finally did it. The class is sponsored by Team Oregon (http://www.teamoregon.orst.edu/) and is awesome! They provide the motorcycles and helmets.. you provide the endurance. I am proud to say I passed both the written and skills parts of the class with flying colors. I still have a lot to learn, but now I can ride my 1966 Lambretta with the confidence I didn't have before. I even enjoyed learning how to ride a "real" motorcycle!!

Country Sampler website

I just logged on to the Country Sampler website and it has been updated... here is a link to the "extra" photos of our home:

http://sampler.com/issues/issue.aspx

Click on the number "3" above the picture (the photo shown is customer Linda Harris' living room). So fun! Enjoy!!

Fall 2009 Country Sampler arrived today!!

Well I thought it was coming out soon... but I was still surprised when my UPS man dropped off a 10 pound box of Country Sampler magazines today!! Woo hoo!! The pictures of our home and the article came out great... I am so pleased and honored to be part of my favorite magazine! Of course now that I see everything there are some things I would have changed or done differently.. but all in all I am very happy (it's just the perfectionist in me....) Remember when you are looking at the pictures, they were taken the weekend after Easter and it was unseasonably hot (about 85 degrees) that afternoon. We are sweating to death on that scooter ride!!

Also in this issue is customer Linda and Joe Harris' reproduction saltbox home in Albany, OR. Wow... their home is so fantastic. Linda is a "purist" when it comes to Colonial style decor and she does it exceptionally well. In my home I like the more modern blend of old and new.. but to me, it's "all country" so it's all good. I love country decorating and I just cannot get enough!

I dont think the magazine has hit newsstands yet... even the CS website has not been updated with the new issue yet. This baby is literally hot off the press.

Our 15 minutes of fame is now official!! Thanks for being excited with me :>)

Sidewalk Sale Success!!

I was so anxious to have the annual sidewalk sale behind me; now I just can't believe it's over! Wow... what a whirlwind weekend. Friday I hauled everything I'd priced from the backroom to the front of the shop, then Saturday morning we gathered at 6:30am to start setting up. With 4 people, we still only finished at 7:55... only 5 mins before the sale started!! I don't know if you can tell from the pictures, but the tables stretched from the alley on our south all the way past the police station on our north.

It was a busy day... lots of people came and we sold over 600 individual items... WOW!! It took no time to break it all down... but I vowed I was taking Sunday off and just enjoyed being home.

Today (Tuesday) I created a larger clearance area in the back of the shop.... and put out the clearance Fall goodies. I LOVE FALL!!! I'll put the Christmas clearance goodies out in a few weeks (it's still wayyy too early to look at Christmas!) There are still good things left!! Here are some pictures....

Painting the New Location

Boy, you sure forget how much painting hurts! I think if we remembered how sore we get, we would never repaint anything. We spent a couple weekends readying the walls at the new shop location.... we have one more loooong wall to do over 4th of July weekend. I am loving the new colors! The main color is called "Rich Georgia Clay" but I have fondly nicknamed it "Yam." I also painted an accent wall "Brick Fleck." I've never painted a red wall before .. I love the way it turned out. That's the hubs with paint roller in hand.

Don't you love the way they name paint colors? It must be fun to be on some of those committees. One of the reds I loved was called "Red Longjohns." I wonder if there has ever been a color named "Dust Bunny" or "Soap Scum." Now that would be funny!

Can it be the end of May already?

Wow.... where does the time go. I've heard people say that it gets worse as you get older... well there's something to look forward to, huh?

This Sunday, May 24th, was my niece's 20th birthday. Here is a picture of her with her 120 pound dog "Charger." Seems like just yesterday she was a tiny baby.... and now she's all grown up. Since my husband and I don't have children, our nieces and nephews are even more special to us. Lauren has brought immeasureable joy to our family! Happy birthday sweetie!!

Country Sampler Fall Issue!

Sneak peek of the cover!!

As you might already know, my home was recently photographed for Country Sampler Magazine and was supposed to be featured in the Fall 2010 issue. However, I learned last week that we've been officially moved up to this year! The magazine will be published in mid-July, and I've ordered a couple dozen copies for the shop. If you don't already subscribe, won't you consider purchasing your issue at Buttermilk Junction? It will be priced at $4.95 - that's less than you would pay at the "big boxes."

Also featured in this issue will be customer Linda Harris' lovely Saltbox home. Her home is spectacular... and I have a hunch her Fall decor is sure to be a real treat!

New "NetBook!"

Have any of you seen one of these cutie pie computers? Oh my gosh.. this is the neatest thing! It's made by Acer, and is top rated by both Consumer Reports and PCMagazine. I ordered it at costco.com... don't you love CostCo? (oh that's a post for another time!) Anyway, I took a picture of this little NetBook next to a basket of lemons so you could see how small it is. It weighs less than 3 pounds. I've been having a lot of fun using it while watching tv ....or if I just need to look something up or check my email I don't have to kick the hubs off our main computer. We do have a laptop as well, but it weighs a TON and it has a humongous screen and a noisy fan... nothing you'd want sitting on your lap while watching tv. See.... sometimes electronics CAN be fun!

Monday, Monday

I LOVE MONDAYS!! It's truly my "day off" from the shop and usually, most of my housework has already been done the day before. Most of the time it's my run-around day... today is not too different. My neighbor (who also happens to have built our home!) is taking me to a local remodel he is working on where apparently there's some "good junk" available for the taking.... can't wait to see what that's all about. Then I have to meet the UPS man at my shop around 10am as he is delivering my new Acer Netbook this morning! Can't wait to try that baby out!! After that, I do have some errands to run and I am sure the day will fly by as usual.

I did manage to snap a few pictures this weekend of the house... some updates and changes I've done since the Country Sampler photo shoot. They asked me not to post pictures of the Fall decor (even though I did take a bunch...) but I wanted to post some of the changes I've made. The next two projects at home are to repaint our master bath (sooo not looking forward to that) and to repaint and redo all the wall decor in our office. I never take pictures in there because it gets so messy... hoping to change that sometime this summer. ANYHOO.... I posted a new album on my WEBSHOTS site... please locate the link on the left side of the blog and you'll go right to it.

Hope your Mother's Day was wonderful! We spent the morning with Lee's mom and the evening with my folks. Very simple and relaxing and just the way we like it :>)

~C

The Country Sampler Experience

I just can't believe it's all over!! Phew... what a whirlwind! The photographers (Donna and Philip... shown in the picture at the end of a very long day... and calling D&P for the rest of this post....) arrived at my BF Laura's house Friday night. We made introductions and then Laura gave them the grand tour. They left all their SCADS of equipment in her living room so they would have less to set up the next day. We went out to dinner and had a wonderful time getting to know them. They have shot for Architectural Digest and many other prestigious magazines. They've led very exciting lives.

They came back to Laura's house at 8:30 Saturday morning and were there all day. Laura said D&P moved many, many things and re-arranged things so they were pleasing to the camera. About 6pm D&P brought their equipment down to my place (a mere 7 houses away) and boy did that make things seem a whole lot smaller in the house!!!! These folks do not travel lightly - tripods, computers, cameras, cables, 5 bags of fresh fruit and 2 big buckets of fresh flowers, great big Rubbermaid tubs of props, etc. They toured my house and then went on their way.

D&P arrived for the shoot at 830 Sunday morning and let me tell you... it was exhausting!!! Their minivan did not leave my driveway until 8pm. The only room in my house they didn't shoot (besides the master bathroom) was my office, which I had already piled all my everyday junk in (big box of shoes from by the front door, my coffee maker, toaster, knife block, all my husband's paperwork and junk from "his" baskets, etc.) So by the time all their things were piled in there it was very distressing!! I can see that if you were a person who couldn't handle clutter or your house being turned upside down, it would be very challenging. D&P did say they had a photo shoot where the homeowner had to leave.. she couldn't handle the stress!

The Editor in Chief told D&P that there is a 75% chance that the pictures/story (which hasn't been done yet) will run in this year's Aug/Sept issue... she is pushing to have it ready. How cool would that be???? D&P have already emailed the Editor the rough/unretouched pictures for her to look at. Supposedly there will be a decision in the next 2 weeks... I promise to keep you posted!!!

It's truly surreal to see your home through their fancy lenses!!! It was the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me and I still can't believe it came to fruition. D&P told us several times that literally thousands of people submit their houses for consideration and a very, very few are ever chosen to be published. What an honor.

However, I am SICK TO DEATH of pumpkins!! I finally got it all put away last night. I don't even want to hear the words Fall, Autumn, Harvest!!

Country Sampler is coming!!

On Sunday April 19th, Country Sampler magazine photographers Donna Pizzi and Philip Clayton Thomas will be coming to Junction City to photograph my home and my best girlfriend's home! We've been talking about this for months and just set the date several weeks ago.... it is so exciting! I truly feel so honored.

The really interesting part is that our home will be featured in the August/September 2010 issue, so Fall is in the air over here!! The house is adorned with pumpkins, Indian corn, spooky cats, Fall signs and the like... and it's starting to look normal! (now I know I am in trouble...) When I put the Fall goodies out on the porch I know the neighbors will really be talking.

The photographers will arrive on Friday to introduce themselves and have a look at our homes. Saturday April 18th they will spend the day at Laura's spectacular home, which is only 7 houses away from us on the same street. She will be in the December/January 2010 issue, so her house has more of a winter theme right now. Then they will come on Sunday to shoot ours. Sometime later this Spring, Donna and Philip will return to take pictures of our friend Dee's glorious home! She will be the first to be featured, in the April/May 2010 issue.

I'll do another post right after the excitement is over. Happy Halloween everyone! :>)