Jen Bowles Design

Strawberry Goodness

What do you get when you take three overzealous first time strawberry pickers to Patterson Farm?
12 quarts of strawberries!
And what do you do with (a few of) them?
Make a sure-to-be delicious baked treat for your coworkers at preschool, of course.

Strawberry  Almond Bread

1 1/2 c. flour
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda
2t. cinnamon
Whisk together dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Chop apprx. 2 c. fresh strawberries into small pieces and then puree in a blender.
To the dry  mixture, add:
pureed strawberries
2 eggs (or 1/2c. egg substitute)
2/3 c. canola oil
Mix until just combined. 
Chop up an additional 1/2c. of strawberries and gently fold them into the batter.
Pour batter into a greased loaf pan.
In a small bowl, combine:
1/4c. sliced almonds
2t. sugar
1/2t. cinnamon
Sprinkle on top of batter. 
Bake 50-55 minutes at 350 degrees.
Cool & Enjoy!

Charleston bracelet

Charleston bracelet
Originally uploaded by fertree33.

We spend quite a while browsing through the covered markets on Market St. While Marianne was picking out silver charms for her girls, this bracelet caught my eye. I wasn't going to get it but then Shelley and Marianne convinced me--the best $10 I spent all weekend! I've been wearing it everyday and every time I look at it I smile.

Treats from Charleston

My weekend trip to Charleston was full of eye candy--and I think I'm finally ready to share!  My traveling companions knew they were in for trouble when I whipped out my list of "must stop" shoppes from an index card.  But Shelley and Marianne are very good humored, flexible and tolerant of my little quirks and they willingly went along for the ride.  And of course that's why I love them :  )
My favorite stops over the weekend were Out of Hand and gdc Home , both in Mt. Pleasant.  Lisa, the owner at OOH, was so welcoming and friendly!  She was doing flowers for a large wedding the next day but she invited me into her workroom and gave me the ok to take a bunch of pictures.  The ribbon and tabletop display are from OOH.
GDC Home was a furniture/accessory/rug/fabric store the likes of which I'd never seen.  It was big, but not huge.  It was just one of those stores where I loved just about everything in it.  Even Marianne agreed she'd be able to furnish her entire home shopping there.  They only have 3 stores though, all in the Charleston area--I guess that means a return trip in the near future!
And finally, a bit of window  goodness from Charleston.  We didn't even make it to Rainbow Row, but the colors and architecture of Charleston are wonderfully inspiring.
Speaking of inspiration, there was plenty of it over the weekend.  The next step is to create something with all this inspiration! 
Until then, enjoy even more Charleston photos in the photo album here

Last Week's Flickr Faves

Sure, I have tons of eye candy and inspirational photos from my Charleston trip...but it's so much easier just to post this.  For now.

To view all of these pictures full size, click here

Weekend Wishes

I'm officially in countdown mode--Girls Gone Wild Weekend is almost here!  And it's not what you're thinking.  Two of my wildest friends, Shelley and Marianne, are flying in and tomorrow we are headed to Charleston to spend the weekend at Wild Dunes !
I'm just a wee bit excited!!!
I'm packing, cleaning, blogging and readying the camera to take lots and lots of pictures.
Have a great weekend!

{The image is a Target gift card--Ebby and I collect empty gift cards with cool designs.  Love my girlie!}

Paper Pleasures

The latest Paper Source catalog arrived yesterday.
Yummy, it just oozes Spring Inspiration!
I always love their colors and the catalogs are works of art in themselves.  I can't wait to  visit the Boylston St. store when we are in Boston in June (just 2 months away--wow!). 
I was drooling over all the letterpress invitations and then I turned to the page featuring all those images available as rubber stamps. 
Two words:  Sensory overload.
And then two more words (& a symbol):   Save up  $

Weekend Work

I spent some time this weekend (in between trip to the cul-de-sac criterium featuring Will & Cuyler on their 2-wheelers) sprucing up 2 of our former dining room chairs for the guest room. 
The room is really starting to come together, just in time for our next guest (Thursday night!) and I'm having lots of fun.  The chair designs were inspired by a chair I saw on another blog (Red Shoes, love her blog!) and by the table and chairs my mom painted for Will and Cuyler.  When it came time to decide what to paint on the chair backs I decided to go with my motif of the moment, crown wearing birds.   Speaking of birds, I found out that the term for the mess my sewing machine is making of the bobbin thread is called "birdnesting".  How cute.   If only I could figure out how to stop it!
Until then I have plenty more ironing to do for the new bedding.
Yesiree, the rates are going up at the Bowles House Inn : )

Mary Jo's madness

Today I visited the emporium that is Mary Jo's Cloth Shop.
If you are person who loves fabric, trims, and an onslaught of color and pattern--this place is total sensory overload!  In a good way. 
The store is located around the backside of an old, dirty mall in Gastonia, NC.  It is strictly no-frills, all sales final, excellent (almost dirt cheap) prices and a "gi-normous" (as Cuyler would say) selection of fabric.  And more rick rack than you can shake a stick at.  You have to get yourself a fabric ticket when you walk in the door.  Then your adventure begins as you make your way through the maze of bolts, rolls and flat folds of an endless amount of...cloth. 
My mission today was to find fabric to recover the seats of the chairs in the guest room as well as fabric for pillows for the family room.  I am happy to report that my mission was accomplished.  I found the family room fabric first then the chair fabric.  At least I can happily admit that I am addicted to blue and green. 
I now have some serious sewing (and cleaning) to do.  Here's hoping that my sewing machine is in a cooperative mood this weekend!

{sorry, I guess you have to turn your head to view these last 2 pictures--oops}

A Peek at some Marvelous-ness

Today's eye candy in the form of  Marvelous Mirrors from  (My) Mom!  She makes all the tiles by hand out of polymer clay, they are stamped, embossed, painted and otherwise beautified.  Each mosaic is a delightful, marvelous puzzle.  And I hear she making more.   Check it out  on  her blog . 

Myself, I'm hoping to create something post-worthy tomorrow--when the sun is promising to shine and the temperatures are supposed to rebound into the 70s.   Here's hoping!

Anthropologie

A serendipitous find from last December (minus the N of course).

And in other shopping news, today I procured a new comforter cover, shams and sheets for the guest suite.  I also picked out colors for the 2 soon to be funky painted chairs.  It'll be interesting to see how much I get done before our next guest arrives--next week!