Monday, November 30, 2009
I can't say living in Boston, MA hasn't been an adventure so far. My husband and I moved from Brandon Manitoba, a small city in Canada, in August 2008 shortly after getting hitched. Andrew was accepted to the Master’s program at the New England Conservatory of Music so off we went and packed as many essentials as our car would allow. Filled to the brim, we then stuffed ourselves plus our two cats into the car and drove the 30+ hours it takes over a three day period to the east coast of the United States.
We found our apartment on Craigslist so we were a little anxious to see it. Back in Brandon, we had a spacious two bedroom apartment with a washer, dryer, dishwasher and air conditioning. The second bedroom was "my room" and Andrew let me use it for whatever I wanted, how sweet of him! At that point in my life during university I didn't have much time for anything but school and sewing was something I did about twice a year. Basically this room was my own very large closet! Oh, what luxuries we had. The view from the back of the apartment was very quaint overlooking a valley. Far away on a clear night you could see all along the other side of the hill, up and up with the tiny dots of twinkling lights from little houses which echoed the bright twinkling stars in the prairie sky.
We were relieved to find our apartment in Boston actually did exist and was pretty nice, although pretty small as well. It’s a one bedroom apartment in an older building just outside of Boston in Allston. There are four large windows which is great, but our view consists of the apartment building across the street. It only has one sink to wash the dishes and one slab of counter space measuring 16” by 22” but we’ve learned to make do. It can get pretty loud on the streets below, especially on weekends, and we've definitely heard our fair share of impromptu marching bands at 1:00am. Also, like a bull in a china shop, chairs with wheels are a bad idea for an apartment whose hardwood floors slant towards the kitchen. But we've grown to adore our cozy little apartment, and so have the cats, for the time being at least.
We missed Canadian Thanksgiving because we couldn’t find a turkey in October except roaming the streets in Brookline and we aren’t really the hunting type. So we celebrated during the American Thanksgiving. We only made a turkey breast since it was just the two of us and that was plenty. Mashed Potatoes, gravy, roasted carrots and onions and one of Andrew’s favorites: Yorkshire Puddings which turned out pretty nice this year. I made him some last year for Thanksgiving as well but they came out as semi-raw hard balls of dough.
It's a student's home but a home is where you make it and this one is ours.
~Monica
Sunday, November 29, 2009
I belong to an Artist Coop (www.cliftonstudios.ca) in Winnipeg Manitoba and this weekend we had our 2 day Holiday Craft Sale. This sale is always tons of fun because almost all of the artist are there at one time (which never happens under normal circumstances), and we get wonderful feedback about our work. This is my 3rd Holiday Sale since I joined the Coop in 2006 and it was certainly my most successful sale so far!
This year a couple of my pieces really stood out among the rest. The gold medal has to go to my "Sweet Pea Pendants". These little peas were so very well received! I had 10 of them for sale and by the end of day one, only 1 remained. I was so inspired by the demand that during a few slow hours today at the studio I whipped up over a dozen more of them, some of which have already been spoken for. I'm hoping to have custom orders for this item available in the New Year!
The silver medal went to my vintage button brooches. I've been making these for over 3 years now and must say, this years batch were a notch above my previous attempts. I sold over 20 of them in 2 days and many of buyers were repeat customers. They are so colorful and fun to wear, it's no wonder they are a popular item!
1 down 1 to go! Next craft sale December 5th at the Folk Fest Store in Winnipeg.
~Gracie
This year a couple of my pieces really stood out among the rest. The gold medal has to go to my "Sweet Pea Pendants". These little peas were so very well received! I had 10 of them for sale and by the end of day one, only 1 remained. I was so inspired by the demand that during a few slow hours today at the studio I whipped up over a dozen more of them, some of which have already been spoken for. I'm hoping to have custom orders for this item available in the New Year!
The silver medal went to my vintage button brooches. I've been making these for over 3 years now and must say, this years batch were a notch above my previous attempts. I sold over 20 of them in 2 days and many of buyers were repeat customers. They are so colorful and fun to wear, it's no wonder they are a popular item!
1 down 1 to go! Next craft sale December 5th at the Folk Fest Store in Winnipeg.
~Gracie
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