WANDERLUST

Spring Break, Summer Vacation, Long Weekends, all excuses to buy some nice vintage luggage! Be inspired to buy some at a thrift store and embellish them yourselves!

A New Store in Town!

Old Postcard Of Downtown Gadsden

Downtown Gadsden Now

An Anthropologie Display

Yahoo!! Finally, a new store, "Let There Be Light", has opened on Broad Street in the downtown area of our town which is only half a mile from my house! When a friend told me about it about a month ago, my heart started to flutter since it was a used furniture and home decor store with a very cute window display. Brown paper covered the door so I couldn't see in until this week when I passed by and saw a "YES WE ARE OPEN" sign! I speedily parked right in front and happily walked in to the great unknown. And a lovely place it was, small but filled with some cute things at very reasonable prices. I bought an old basket made of chicken wire for only $6.00 and promptly put it in front of my dining room fireplace where it is destined to hold sticks or pine cones. (I only pretend that it works, I have THREE non-working ones that look awful pretty but don't give me that cozy warm and wood burning feeling )
The gentleman running the store was very nice and told me that the vision for the store was to have Anthropologie inspired things at reasonable prices! I could hardly contain my excitement as that is one of my favorite stores to browze in, and although I have snatched some sweet cups, mugs and plates on clearance there, it is mostly way out of my price range!
He said that his wife spruces up some of the furniture with paint or fabric, which is the very thing that I also love to do! Paint is a very powerful medium!
Now, we just need oh, about 5 antique shops or vintage consignment shops, and a killer coffee shop ( we have one downtown, but one more with really good strong coffee would be even better) and some good lunch cafes and this town would just explode! The bones are already there, but there are many vacant places just waiting to be filled!
There is a nice shop , "Alabama Gift Company" where everything in the store is made in Alabama or by an Alabama native and they sell some nice Birmingham roasted coffee beans that are really good. There is also an old 5 and 10 called "Gadsden Variety" which is exactly like Woolworths from when I was a kid in New York. And a candle shop where they are made on the premises and have a zillion choices, among many other shops and places including the Cultural Arts Center, Gadsden Museum of Art, and Imagination Place, an interactive children's play area and learning place.
Anyway, I am not complaining, I am just dreaming of what could be expanded in this quaint and cozy town!

Fun and a Bug In Florida!

This past weekend my husband Ray and I went to visit our daughter Christina, son in law Suj and grandson Kavi in sunny Florida. We were having a grand old time for the first two days and then an awful virus hit Ray which resulted in projectile vomiting and projectile... well... other stuff! Let's just say that he had a room at the "Poop and Puke Hotel"! So the last day of our three days there were not fun for Ray although he was sitting with everyone in the living room so he could watch our sweet little Kavi play.
Kavi has officially called us "Pa Pa", and Na Na" which made us very happy! He is 2 years old now and is so sweet and affectionate. It was a great visit except for the bug and having to drive back 10 hours when not feeling well. I only had some digestive issues when almost home but we learned that while we were driving, Christina had checked into the aforementioned Hotel, then this morning we learned that Kavi had also experinced this awful malady although not as severe as he was still able to play! Yikes!!!
The first day after we arrived, I was showing Stina my new glasses with black rims which were similar to hers and Kavi ran to pick up Pa Pa's reading glasses that matched, so I had to snap a picture! All these pictures were taken before checking in to you know where!

spring is in the air, so...

I organized my yarn in my back room today! I wish I was a more organized person, but alas, I am not, although I love it when things are orderly! What is that old saying..."things go from order to disorder." Oh how true, especially when it comes to me! I had put all my yarn in plastic bins with drawers a few months ago which was an improvement over rummaging through countless plastic bags, but another old saying..."out of sight, out of mind" happened. I would buy wool and acrylic on clearance in lovely shades of coral or turquoise, stash it away and get amnesia about the purchase. Then I would see some more skeins in those color schemes and think, Oh should should buy some! When I went through the drawers today I was startled by the amount of unused skeins I had! I ran out to Walmart to get some simple plastic milk crates that I could stack together with most of my yarn visible. (I had hoped that 5 would hold all of it but I still had to use the bins for the partial skeins) Well it took a while, but I like the way it looks and I think it will be more workable. This day re-confirmed that I must not go to the new yarn shop in town until I use up much of what I already have. At least I hope I can stay away from it! Argh!!
I also spent Monday, spray painting random objects around my house a cheery peachy coral, including my new male deer plaque that I got from Gingers Girl to go with the one I already bought!

Curry Sweet Potato Soup

One day last month I went with Jenny and Rachel to Urban Standard Cafe in Birmingham where the lunches are amazing and the coffee is the best I have ever had. Curried Sweet Potato Soup was on the menu that day and let me tell you, it was fantastic! I love Indian food and this soup tasted like one of my favorite dishes, Tikka Masala. I went home and searched the internet for a recipe and tried this one which came out really good! All the ingredients can be tweaked as far as amounts go, I like a lot of garlic and onion and I had to use more curry paste at the end.

SERVES 4 -6 , 7 cups

Change to: cups US Metric

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Ingredients

Soup

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1/2-3/4 cup chopped onion (2-3 onions)
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 tablespoon curry paste (levelled tbsp, I used Pataks Tikka Masala Curry Paste but you could use any curry paste you like)
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger (levelled tbsp)
• 4 cups peeled and cubed sweet potatoes ( I used 4 very large ones) I microwaved mine first for 6 minutes to partially cook them
  
• 1 red bell pepper, deseeded and chopped
• 3 1/2 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock(I used 4 cartons of veg broth)
  
• salt

recommended topping

• 4-6 tablespoons sour cream (any fat content)
• sweet paprika

1. 
   

   In a soup pot, heat oil over medium-low heat. Add curry paste and onions and cook for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat if necessary. Add garlic clove and ginger and cook for another 1-2 minutes.

2. 
   

   Add sweet potatoes and pepper. Mix. Add stock. Cook for 15 minutes or until vegetables are very soft.

3. 
   

   Puree the ingredients in batches in a blender or puree the whole amount directly in the pot with a hand blender (if pot is high enough).

4. 
   

   Check if you like the consistency of the soup. Add more stock or water if desired and adjust the seasonings (check if salt is needed). You can add more curry paste if desired, but most pastes need to be cooked first before adding to a dish.

5. 
   

   Serve in individual bowls and top each with a tablespoon of sour cream and a sprinkle of sweet paprika.

my name is Darlene and....

...I am addicted to constantly changing my blog header! Perhaps you have noticed!? I don't know why but I think it is so fun to keep making new ones. I have probably had like 10 of them and it hasn't even been a year since I started a blog! I really like the one I have now because it is my house, and I enjoy the old timey quality of the picture. I guess that moving into this home in an area that is historic and picturesque has been the catalyst for my creative juices to begin flowing.
I love that my home has character, wood floors, high ceilings, old fashioned molding, six panel doors, glass door knobs three fireplaces (non working) and a fantastic front porch. When I lived in Florida, I pretended to have those things and decorated my square blockish homes accordingly. (that was not so common for homes in FLA!) So...even though I love this header...I don't know how long it will last until I make another one!
You see, I also really love bird images and any sepia toned thing, so who knows when everything will change again! (perhaps I can get a bird image on my sepia house image...hmm...)
Thanks for understanding my compulsions!

Oh Deer...and Starline!

Today my mail carrier, a lovely lady who is ALWAYS taking on her ear bud when she brings my mail, had a wonderful package for me from Ginger's Girl, a lovely Etsy vintage shop. Last year I made a post about how much I love deer, the animal, and deer, the decoration so when I saw that Angela had listed a few plaques in that theme, I had to buy one! Well, after opening he box and immediately finding the perfect spot for it in my living room, I had to order the OTHER one before someone else snatched it up! Living with my Grandpa in rural Pennsylvania when a child, gave me an appreciation for the lovely creatures as they grazed at the end of his driveway each day at dusk. It is one of those endorphin releasing things for me when I see one in real life, which doesn't happen too much, so the next best thing is to have TWO not one decorations hanging in my home!
Later this morning I had to run errands at the post office and bank and thought I would swing by the Goodwill store. I haven't done too much thrift shopping since every corner of my house seems to be at the home decor limit, but I could use some ideas for displaying my goods when at a craft fair or flea market so in I went. At the craft fair I did in December, a few people had their wares displayed in vintage suitcases and trunks, so I have thought about doing that as well. However most vintage luggage is very expensive as they seem to be a hot collectible, but TODAY at Goodwill there was a pristine condition inside and out, Starline suitcase that was only 10.00, so....with a smile on my face and valise in my hand I left Goodwill a happy girl!