I woke up like this

100th post, Saratoga and a giveaway!!! Phew!

Welcome to the farmer's market in Saratoga Springs, NY! As you first walk in you can notice the beautiful flowers all around, I had a hard time choosing what flowers to get for my friend Heidi and my little guy Colby just had to have his own sunflower.

This is one of the best farmer's market I have ever been to and when we go to Saratoga we always hit it so we can get some amazing organic produce and other items such as fresh goat cheese and honey!! Yummy!

These are red and white currents and I have never seen white ones before so this was a treat and at this particular farm there were all kinds of berries which we bought.

Would you just look at these sunflowers!! Amazing, my neighbor grows these so wonderfully that its just takes my breath away. Mine are the size of a small child, I cannot grow them 15 feet high like she can!

More yummy goodness.

Here is where we brought our goodies back to my friends Heidi and Tim's kitchen. This is a real working kitchen as you can plainly see. No fussy stuff just the real goods to make amazing food.

With these amazing fingerling potatoes Tim spiced them up and they were tasty along with some amazing ribs he roasted the entire day, yes the entire day so they came out unbelievable and he put a mango, mustard sauce on top. Can anyone say yummy!!

Here is where we spent most of our days with the kids in their neighbor's pool. Trish their neighbor has this amazing pool and outdoor kitchen we can only dream about so I took a photo to show you.

Is this amazing or what!! A beautiful kitchen with a built in grill, refrigerators, ice maker sink, and did you see the pizza oven on the right and the LCD widescreen on top!! I love this place! We spend allot of time partying here as you can imagine.

The last day we went to the track and saw some races with the kids, here is what you see when you walk across the street from my friends house. Boy they are lucky to live soo close.

Inside the the race track.

The jockey's and their horses just before the race, how beautiful these horses are.

Okay onto the giveaway, since this is my 100th post I have decided to give away 4 prints of mine just leave a comment and I will pick 4 winners the cutoff will be Monday so you have plenty of time to leave a comment. Let me know which print you prefer as well.

Here are two more to choose from. So have a great weekend everyone, I will be hosting my little guys 5th birthday party on Sunday, about 25 kids a waterslide and a moonwalk!! Lord help me.

Okay off to work or something of that nature, rock on!!!

Ellen

The Vineyard and all its glory

I am back from the Vineyard with some photos and small stories. We had arrived last Friday into Oak Bluffs which is a great town full of gingerbread houses and quaint shops and nice restaurants. This is one of my favorite houses there, which is owned by a famous writer whom I forget the name of. This house was fully restored a few years ago and its just breathtaking as you can see. It over looks Ocean Park and the ocean of course. I would love to live here in the summer!!

we then headed to our friends Heather's house in Edgartown which sadly I did not take photos of, sorry. Its a beautiful town full of beautiful colonials that have amazing gardens. This town reminds me of Nantucket allot in its style.

Saturday we went to the beach and then Heather and I went out for some drinks with a friend of hers and then headed home. We both were very tired from our day so there was not much going on that night.

Sunday we took the kids to the Flying Horses Carousel which was fun except for the heat!!! Boy was it hot, hot , hot!! We took Heather's gals back to the house for a nap while we got ready to head to Menemsha for the sunset and some good eats.

Menemsha is a tiny fishing village on the north west coast of the Vineyard and it has the most beautiful sunsets and homes overlooking the ocean. This one I love at the end of the beach.

more lovely homes

This is a view from the little bridge before you get to the beach and actually my oldest son Hayden saw this and said "mom take a picture, this is great!" and he was right.

This is the famous "bite" food shack before you hit the beach that is always full of people. We ordered fried scallops and coconut shrimp and had some of their famous chowda! Even president Bill Clinton has eaten here, as well as many other celebrities.

This is a sculpture you see right on the dunes before the beach I love how it looks like it was made out of sand.

Okay the running joke for my husband and I is that everytime we head over to this part of the island for the sunset, there is none!!! We have been cursed not have one on the Vineyard I tell you and I do not know why. One year we went to the beautiful restaurant Beach Plum Inn for a romantic dinner and again no sunset and that was the night J.F.K. Junior's plane crash in the ocean before the island. The next day we were on the beach and you could see the helicopters circling around. That was very sad to say the least.

Okay so now onto Monday which we spent alone and went to the beach again in Edgartown and then onto dinner and some good walking through the Tabernacle area in Oak Bluffs with all the quaint gingerbread cottages.

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They are soo colorful and charming and we stayed in one when my oldest was 2 and just loved it. It is soo quiet and peaceful around this area and I love looking at all the different designs.

more houses.

and even more fun houses.

and more...

Ahh and the famous "Pink House" where I took this great photo of the boys and then one minute later they proceeded to kill each other!! Yes folks and then its was all down hill from there with them. They I think had been ready to go home at this point and were just lashing out at each other and giving us a hard time.

So came Tuesday and we headed back home to get refreshed and sleep in our own toasty beds and play with our own toys, needless to say the boys are happy to be back at camp and playing with their toys.

I am super busy at work and I have to pack again tomorrow for our weekend in Saratoga Springs, Ny. We are sooo looking forward to seeing our close friends there and hanging out having good food and wine.

I went to collage with Heidi and Tim so its always a pleasure to see them. We have a blast hanging out and since they have an all boy household the boys are looking forward too!!

Okay so tune in for that report and the next time I post it will be my 100th!!! So I am planning a giveaway, yes folks another giveaway so stay tuned!!!

Happy Weekend all!!!

Ellen

Sailing away for the weekend and such

Yes we are taking off for a nice weekend away to the good ol' Vineyard
to hang with my friend Heather and her 2 little gals. It is supposed to get real hot here so we have perfect timing to be out on the island.

We love going to Martha's Vineyard and if you never have been there you should check it out. The island is named after the daughter of the man who discovered it a 17th century British explorer Bartholomew Gosnold, and since it was full of wild grapes well there you go.

I love the gingerbread houses in Oak Bluffs and the beautiful sunsets at Gay Head as well as the quaint shops and beautiful beaches. So I will be getting out my Lilly and hanging out at South Beach and having some tasty scoops at Mad Martha's.

Also on a another note, my fabo blogging friend Jannie
gave me this wonderful award!!!

The rules for accepting the award are as follows:

1. Add the logo of the award to your site.

2. Add a link to the person who awarded it to you.

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

4. Leave a message for your nominees on their blog.

I am naming some fabo fellow bloggers who keep me plugging away at this!
Carol,Jennifer,Kathy,Monica,
Helen,Gina,Vanessa

Okay all I hope you have a wonderful weekend and stay cool!!!!

Hey did somebody say cocktails..hmm I could have swore it, well I am off to go make one!

Ellen

Where I go to escape

Welcome to my escape place at home. This is where we go to relax on hot summer days and chill with a nice glass of wine. This is my deck a.k.a Sanctuary! I designed the deck myself and plant everything on it. This is no easy task and during the hot summer months the beautiful flowers start to do their leggy thing and get all in a tizzy. So as I soon to embark on some fun summer weekends here is a look at the deck before the flowers start to get all tired.

These are some pots that are planted around the daybed and chairs. The hibiscus tree in the back is going threw a little shock since it spends its winter in my office, but its coming around again.

Here is that comfy Pottery Barn daybed we love soo much and sleep on sometimes. The kids like to hang out on it as well. It is the most comfortable place to sit outside.

Lastly here is a flower box I planted that is along side the daybed and in front of the dinning room windows. I change it up every year and this year I did potato vines and various flowers, such as daisies and petunias.
The potato vines are taking it all over so I think next year I will only plant one. You can't see it but its soo big that its on the bottom of the deck and still growing.

So there you have it folks a little place I call paradise. This weekend we are off to Martha's Vineyard to see one of my good friends who lives in a beautiful town called Edgartown. If you have never gone to the "Vineyard" as we call it you should definitely go! So much fun and great places to see. This weekend is the music festival and the Edgartown Regatta so there will be lots to do. Would you believe that the place where they filmed "Jaws" so long ago actually had a great white shark in the waters last week!! People had abandoned beaches because of it. I hope that guy is gone when we are there.

I am looking forward to hanging out with my friend Heather and relaxing on the beach. The kids cannot wait to go to the "flying horses carosel" and have lots of tasty ice cream.

When we get back we have just two days before we head to our friends in Saratoga Springs, NY to help kick off the beginning of the race track season and have some good old fashion fun with my old college friends.

Okay I have to try and get some work done but I will be sure to take many photos of both trips for all to see!!

I hope you find a paradise for you to relax in today.

Happy Summer!

Ellen

When it's 95˚ I am designing for 25˚!

In the height of July and its 95˚ outside, yes people I am thinking of 25˚ and what we would like to see on a card, giftwrap, fabric and ceramics! These are some new designs I have been working on.

Mr. Fancy Penquin and his feather friend feel right at home together, lets just say "birds of a different feather sometimes flock together!"

Okay I know, I just cannot get away without another owl design. I cannot help it, I am in love with these crazy birds these days. There is soo many possibilities with them that I have designed all kinds of things with them.

(oh by the way a little unknown fact about me is that I am the worst speller and I am constantly using my tiny webster's dictionary to make sure I get it right!)

Okay back on track, yup all this week I am diving into the snow, putting on my knit cap and shaking the snow out of my boots to create some new and exciting things for all my clients. I cannot say it is easy when all you want to do is just go outside and lay in the sun, no my folks its not!! Yes, in case you are wondering I am designing for Spring in the Winter! Such is the life of a artist who licenses her work on product, since many manufactures have to make the product overseas well in advance I have to always be way ahead of the game.

Well there you have it folks another insight into my crazy life. Okay today I am glad its not 95˚ outside like yesterday and the humidity is gone so I can enjoy a night out with the gals.

I think I need some coffee now so I shall talk to you later.....

Ellen

When life gives you melons....

Okay all I do not know about you, but I will say this 4th of July weekend will go down as the worst one I have ever had and here is why. Lets start at the beginning which was Thursday July 3rd. We went down to the beach to have dinner and watch the locals shoot off fireworks on the beach, well everything was going fine except for my boys and my nephew constantly hitting each other with glow sticks and such. People were gathered out on their decks along the shore and on the beach gearing up for the show and when it began it was all fine and good, but something inside me knew that the group near us lighting the fireworks were not all there, and well of course I was right, sure enough after about a half and hour one of them went wrong and began shooting on the beach in all directions. Everyone went crazy trying to get off the beach and the boys, naturally were very scared including yours truly. My husband had the fun task of trying to gather up our things while I took the kids back to the car. They were worried that he might be getting hurt since they still were shooting of fireworks, but he was fine and all was well once we were all in the car. I had to hear it from my mom though" I told you something was going to happen!". Thanks mom, I can always count on your encouraging words!! Not! My mom is with out a doubt the most negative person you will meet and I say this because its true, and my dad is the complete opposite!! Go figure. Anyway I have always gone to this beach and had no problems and so one mishap is not going to cramp my style!

Then there is the actual 4th of July which was cloudy and ugly outside so we took the kids to see Wall-i-e and all was well and we were a third of the way through the movie when the fire alarms went off. The whole theater had to exit and sit outside for about a half hour before we could go back in. Apparently someone pulled the fire alarm!!! Thanks buddy! So now we decided to catch the next movie since we did not want to miss the whole movie. Eventhough we got free passes I hated that we had to sit in a theater all day!!

Saturday again was cloudy and so we ended up going to the inside pool at our Y which here is quite nice with a water slide and zero pool. That was okay but again I would rather be outside. We had planned on going to a firework show in another town since ours was canceled due to lack of funds, but it was not nice outside so we bagged it!

Lastly Sunday we headed to our beach and got there only to find out that it was soo foggy and that the bacteria levels were to high for us to swim in!! So again we went to the Y but this time to the outside pools which are nice, but I wanted the beach!!

So there you have it folks the melons of it all! I am glad its over and I am looking forward to our upcoming weekends away to the Vineyard and Saratoga!! Lets hope the weather doesn't suck again!!!

So when life gives you melons, just eat them!!!!

xoxo

Ellen

Happy 4th Everyone!!

I am wishing everyone a Happy 4th of July today since I will be enjoying the weekend like the rest of you! I am bummed that its not going to be as hot as I hoped, only in the high 70's!! I live for the beach and to have a cold 4th stinks. Well I guess we will have to make the best of it! Tonight we are headed down to the beach for some local fireworks, this year our town had to call it off due to lack of funds. Actually many towns here in Massachusetts had to do that. Its just another reflection of how bad our economy is.

In this business of Art Licensing it is no different and in fact I just found out through a friend that many people who ran Surtex and other shows have been let go. George Little Management has fired about 30 people and put those who were high up into a lower position. This year is the first year there was not a Boston Gift Show and I see many more shows will be closing as well. Its going to be a tough year ahead but I will always try and re-invent myself and get into some other creative fields. I really hope to go full tilt in a few years on children's books and animation and see where that leads me. But for now I will settle for some family fun on the beach with a picnic supper and some fun goodies for the kids!! I love to see the sky lit up and still after many different places I have been for fireworks I will always say NYC is the best! You cannot compete with that level of fireworks although my hometown of Boston is a close second with the Hatch Shell and the Pops!!

So everyone get your Red, White and Blue groove on and let's toast to another great anniversary of our country's independence!! Yaaa Hoo and all those brave soldiers everywhere who keep the freedom alive!!

Okay its time to go now!

Ellen