Mother Earth News Fair

This is a cross post from my personal blog but it was so much fun I have to share it here too.

Rebekah's latest Senior Year Project post will be posted tomorrow. Poor thing has been without internet and sick for the past few days. That's cruel and unusual punishment from the universe!

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Apologies on the lack of crafty posts. I've been up to other things. Ya know, trying to keep my life interesting and enriched. :)

This past weekend I helped out my friend Jessi with her booth at the Mother Earth News Fair in Puyallup, Washington.

It was a totally different type of show of what I'm personally used to but it was a lot of fun.

I felt like I was totally exposed to my friend's "other life". You think you know someone well and then you witness them in "work mode" and its a whole new person.  It was awesome!

Jessi drew a massive crowd for her "What the Cluck" talk. Times like this I go into my "older sister" pride mode for her. She had people who were shoulder to shoulder rolling with laughter while taking notes.

Her book sold out completely. (I've seen this happen at two different shows now!)

And she has really fun garden world friends. I'm totally comparing them to my extremely fun crafty friends. It would be one insanely fun party if those two worlds could collide. Apparently we're all drinkers.

Erica from NW Edible stopped by. Love, love, love her blog and highly recommend it to my local friends.

The super funny Lisa Taylor stopped by the booth before she it the stage. If you ever have the opportunity to listen to one of her talks, you must! She is hilarious.

Jessi's publishing company (Timberpress) reps were so fun! My eyes started leaking a couple times from laughing so hard.

And a special shout out to my new crush Ivette Soler. First she is absolutely beautiful, gorgeous porcelain skin. She is also wise and real - I totally got that from her just from a 20 minute conversation with her. I am totally buying her book The Edible Front Yard.

I could gush about the whole weekend but honestly I'm pooped. I didn't think I would be since I didn't have to do any real work so to speak. It's exhausting to have so much fun!

Here's a slideshow of the pictures I took in case you're interested.

Happy Monday!

-Thea

Book Review: How to Sew a Button

The truth is I'm an old timer when it comes to domestic stuff.
My parents divorced when I was 9 and I chose to live with my dad. Thus I became the lady of the house.
At 9 years old I knew how to do laundry, cook easy things like eggs and yes the joke about me chopping wood is true. I was a little lumberjack. I still prefer chopping wood over jogging. I never turned back, I was always the cook, toilet fixer & more.

I realize that many didn't get to experience that until college. So I thought I'd toss out a few recommended readings for those who are just beginning their journey.
The first one is How to Sew a Button: And Other Nifty Things Your Grandmother Knew By Erin Bried.

This book introduces you to some domestic basics as you can guess from the title. Its truly a helpful book if you are a beginner.

Tips and tricks accumulated from a few grandmothers, this book gives you ideas on just about everything.

How to plan a week's menu, how to make gravy, how to start a windowsill garden, how to clean stuff naturally - that one has been a big surprise to me that it was sorta an unknown that you can use water & white vinegar to clean a ton of stuff.  There's tons more. Like how to make dandelion wine! That one was actually new to me. 

I think this book would be a perfect gift for a newlywed who isn't confident yet of domestic skills or a college student. Its great to take pride in your home and what you can do for yourself, even if everything isn't "perfect". 

Most importantly its good to try stuff out. You never know you might have a knack for gravy making.

:)

Thea