Birthday Bookings

It's been a crazy week (ok, it's pretty much been crazy all year...but it was really crazy this past week) here at the inn.  We've had more bookings than normal for May, which has been a pleasant surprise.  The inn was actually completely booked on my birthday, which was excellent for the bank account but kind of put a slight damper on any sort of birthday celebrations.  We did manage to run over to Red Lily Vineyard on Saturday in the late morning, which is one of my absolute favorite places to relax.  

Because it was Memorial Weekend, they had some food platters available - including a delicious antipasta platter and the most amazing chicken caesar salad I have ever eaten!



I wore my 1940s navy blue suit and my ridiculously-expensive Frank Palma hat.





We sat at a table overlooking the property and munched our way through a delicious lunch, while sipping glasses of their phenomenal tempranillo.



CHEERS!

Monday Breakfast

Our veggie-bacon frittatas have been an enormous hit! They are made fresh, using local ingredients. The eggs come from our flock of chickens and ducks, and the kale, baby garlic, oregano, thyme, and borage flower decoration are also from our property. The bacon & asparagus are naturally grown by our neighbors up the road, and even the breadcrumbs are from our own homemade sourdough rolls!

Four fresh frittatas, made to order! 

Another delicious new dish appearing on the breakfast menu this year: Apple-Oat Crisp with maple syrup and our own apple butter. This dish is sweetened without using additional sugar. Instead, we let the natural flavors of the maple syrup and apple butter sweeten it, and the lemon verbena adds a refreshing citrus finish that helps to cleanse the palate! The dish is garnished with lemon balm and borage from the garden...a bright and cheery breakfast plate! I like to call this "edible art."

 

Saturday's Breakfast

Spring veggie & bacon frittata, & individual watermelon cups with local strawberries & chocolate mint.

A (Mostly) Farm Fresh Dinner

 

 

Tonight, I wanted to do a test run of my new frittata recipe (which I will be using for B&B guest breakfasts this weekend).  So, I turned the evening's meal into a "breakfast for dinner" theme.  There were individual veggie-bacon frittatas (the kale, onions, thyme, parsley, oregano, and eggs all came from our own property; the bacon and asparagus were from our lovely neighbors at Yale Creek Ranch and Cowhorn Vineyard, respectively), cups of chilled zucchini soup with fresh basil (all from our garden!), and bowls of watermelon and strawberries with chocolate mint (ok, ok, so the watermelon wasn't local...we had to purchase some to accommodate the dietary requirements of a guest, and since we had extra, it seemed a shame to waste it!  Anywho, the strawberries are local, and the mint is from our garden).

Insanity & An Early Tourist Season

It's been hectic around here in an over-the-top manner that I did not think we were capable of achieving!  I've felt terribly guiltily for having had to actually turn potential guests away, simply because we had too many projects going on to manage guests on top of that.  Well, the projects are still not complete (sigh), but we've finally got guests staying here again.  This week/end is actually perfect for B&B guests - temperatures in the high 60s, partly cloudy, ripe strawberries, and loads of fragrant flowers!  I've filled numerous vases around the inn with irises, valerian, heirloom roses, and honeysuckle.  The entire house is perfumed...

Lots of tasty breakfasts planned for this weekend too!  I have added two new dishes to my normal repertoire: a frittata, and an apple-oatmeal crisp.  Your taste buds will love you for staying here, and your eyes will be delighted by these culinary masterpieces of color and presentation!  But don't take my word for it (I'll let the prior evidence speak for itself)...

Caspar-Davis Strikes Again!

I know what you're thinking, "Come on!  ANOTHER Caspar-Davis bird hat?!"  Well, what can I say?  They just keep flying into my greedy little hands (this time, thanks to the amazing duo over at Fab Gabs Vintage!)...

It was too warm out to wear the hat with its "made for each other" vintage outfit (a 1940s navy suit and red blouse), so instead I paired it with that lovely red & white linen dress I rescued a while ago.  The red of the dress perfectly matched the red ribbon of the hat.

Happy Mother's Day!

 

 

Whether your kids have two legs or four, you deserve recognition!

Edwardian Eye Candy

Things have been Busy-Busy-BUSY around here lately!  Not only are we dealing with an early-start tourist season, the final huge spring planting push, birthdays, wedding anniversaries, etc., but I've also had the unbelievable luck to purchase the remaining clothing-related inventory of an antique store!  As I said, it's been quite hectic!

Along those lines, I wanted to share some of the amazing COLOR images from a 1915 "National" fashion catalog.  I actually purchased four magazines/catalogs from the early part of the 1900s, and then was given this particular catalog as a gift.  It had originally been headed for the landfill, but the kindly owner saved it, and gave it to me.  The images are incredible (as are the hats!), and I wanted to share them with you...

Suffice it to say, I've been having quite an enjoyable time flipping through all of these...The publications span from a 1905 "Life" magazine to a 1919 "National" fashion catalog.  It's fascinating to flip through nearly two decades of history, from the turn of the century to the end of WWI!  Along those lines, one of the absolutely AMAZING pieces I purchased from this antiques store was a WWI American Army Officer's Dress Coat by "John G. Haas."  It's in very good condition, and the craftsmanship is exquisite!  Haven't decided if we will be selling it or keeping it, so stay tuned...

Escape From the Funny Farm

Some days, it truly does feel like the "Funny Farm" around here.  And I was beginning to feel that if I didn't escape, I would get sort of...well..."funny."

So, Ryan and I decided on an all-day date!  I dressed up in my recently-acquired, adorable (but sadly abused) 1950s French landmarks novelty print dress.  The red wool bolero jacket was something that I actually picked up while on our date.  Since it matched my dress so perfectly, I wore it for the rest of the day!  I also adorned my lovely locks with one of my spectacular "Art Bern Hats by Frank Palma" chapeaus.  The design of this one is simply incredible!

We started our morning with coffee, bagels, and cream cheese at the local spot, "The Good Bean."  From there, we went on to antique shopping, vintage clothing hunting, and ended up in Ashland eating French pastries while wearing French novelty prints (I know, I know!  Sooo cliche!).

It was a grand day out...and I felt very relaxed...until we arrived home, and - as usual - all hell broke loose.  First, we discovered that our two mischievous/wild boy donkeys had been playing a bit too roughly with each other, and one of them had a seeping bite wound on the side of his neck.  Nothing serious, but we still had to chase him around the pasture with a can of antiseptic spray.  Then, a phone call informed us that we had less than 48 hours to prepare for a 14-day visit from relatives.  This, of course, threw everyone in an uproar...

All in all, it was a wonderful and much-needed day off.  Ryan bought me a beautiful antique wooden hat block too!  I'm so excited to use it!

A Little R&R

It's been a rather hellish two weeks, and today I told my husband that we needed to do something stress-free and FUN!  So, we met up in downtown Medford for lunch.  We ordered open-face sandwiches, italian sodas, and sinfully-delicious chocolate pastries from the phenomenal Downtown Market.  Then, we walked over to a little park and had ourselves a picnic lunch!  

I wore my screaming-orange vintage suit with plastic fruit jewelry and a vintage green faux bird hat.  

What sort of drink matches such a wild ensemble?  Why, an orange-cream soda, of course!

Ryan and I both got a kick out of the fact that my outfit matched the kids' slide set nearby...

Hard At Work...

If you've ever wondered about the "behind the scenes" of our Etsy photoshoots, here's a bit of a sneak view: we hang a bedsheet across the screen door of the greenhouse, set up two fluorescent lights (with umbrellas), and my lovely photographer-husband snaps the shots!  As you can see, he works VERY hard...

To The Rescue! (Again)

I still have one more formal dress at the dry cleaners, but here are pictures of the other vintage pieces that I "rescued" from this local estate.

Adorable 1940s two-piece knit suit in a deep, dark green.  Can you believe that the seller had removed all of the beautiful buttons, and was planning to save those and throw this outfit away?!  Breaks my heart to think of that happening, so I am very, very glad that I could save it and give it a good home...love-love-love the open-weave detailing along the shoulders!

1950s two-piece wool knit set in a lovely nubby purple.  The skirt waist is elastic, and the back of the sweater has a short metal zipper.  This one had so many moth holes as to make it almost unsalvageable!  Thankfully, a lot of matching thread and a great deal of patience saved this beautiful set!

This 1940s/1950s two-piece suit set was originally white...and sadly so badly stained that no amount of stain remover could save it.  It had to be dyed a darker color in order to make it wearable again.  The only RIT dye I had left was a bottle of what (on the box) appeared to be a sunshiny yellow-orange that I thought looked quite nice.  The color that actually came out was a bit...more...orange than I expected!  I didn't think it would look good on me, but from the moment I slipped the suit on, I was in love!  The orange color is actually quite perfect against my skin tone, and I LOVE the style of the suit and the super-bright color!  Not to mention, the adorable rhinestone trim work on the bottom of the jacket.  This set is proof that I can pull just about anything off, including a screaming-orange vintage suit with a faux bird hat!

Next, an adorable 1950s vintage wool dress with matching belt!  Love the colors on this...the dress was another piece that was so badly moth eaten it was almost beyond saving.  Yet again, matching thread and a bit of patience paid off...also had to repair the zipper (which was broken).

Now how about this adorable 1950s ranchwear set: embroidered blouse, slacks, and beaded belt (not shown).  Some light staining overall, but still an absolutely fabulous set!  Putting it on makes me immediately want to go out and rope some ornery donkeys!

Gorgeous 1950s silk-like material dress with red floral print and matching red belt.  I cherish this pretty piece!  The shoulders are heavily stained, but the print is so busy that it kind of hides it...

Out of all of the pieces that I "rescued," this 1950s cotton dress with french landmarks novelty print was the most badly abused.  There were several large tears in the shoulders, a missing zipper, and such heavy staining that I could never hope to remove it!  The bright side is that I was able to mend the tears, replace the zipper, and find a red belt that covers the worst of the stains.  I am now in love with this piece...who wants to go out for coffee and pastries?!

As stated previously, there is one final red satin formal gown at the dry cleaners.  I can't wait to get pictures of that, as it is GORGEOUS!  In the meantime, I have to say that I am quite pleased with my $20 lot of vintage clothing pieces.