another great first friday

We had a wonderful First Friday Flea Market last week.  Our vendors were all so wonderful and our turnout was fantastic!  So glad so many of you could make it!  I had to duck out early and was sad to leave all the fun.  Thank you, thank you to everyone who made it so great.

See you at our next First Friday Flea Market!

apple cake

We had a lovely time today with all of you that made it out for our Flea Market!  Thanks to all the fabulous vendors!  You were all wonderful!  

We have had a few requests for this apple cake recipe we had in the store a while back, so I thought I would share it with you for the weekend.  Make it for your family and eat it for breakfast with your coffee!  It's delicious!

preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour a bunt pan.

ingredients:

- 1 3/4 cups sugar

- 1 cup vegetable oil

- 3 eggs

- 1 tblsp. vanilla

blend in bowl of electric mixer.

- 2 cups flour

- 2 tsp. cinnamon

- 1 tsp. baking soda

- 1 tsp. salt

mix dry ingredients in separate bowl and then slowly blend into electric mixer.

remove from mixer and fold in:

- 3-4 apples, peeled and chopped

- 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional) (i have even made it with those praline pecans from trader joe's which is delicious and extra decadent...)

bake 60 minutes (i feel like mine is usually done closer to 45 or 50, so keep an eye on it the first time you make it). let cool. remove from bundt pan and (1) sprinkle with powdered sugar, (2) sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, (3) drizzle with a powdered sugar glaze OR (4) simply eat as is.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

first friday flea market!

Our first friday flea market is back!

Join us tomorrow from 10-2 in the Willows' parking lot to check out all our amazing vendors.

Anne E's Garden Fresh will be here with her breathtaking, homegrown roses.  As well as basil and olives for you to cure yourself!  Don't her flowers just make you smile?

We will have a handful of other talented artists here from Melissa with Honeybee clothing and jewelry (some of you may remember her from our jewelry flea market - she was very popular!) to local artist Terry Parvan to Nicole Borchardt with her adorable crocheted baby bloomers and hats.  It is sure to be a good time!  Come out and support these amazing local women!

And, a very special treat, Dos Fannies will be here with some amazing new pieces from her stunning jewelry line!  You know how much we love Dos Fannies...  

And finally, as an added bonus, we are offering 20% off all apparel tomorrow only!

So, stop in and see us!

Oh, and did we mention we just set the store for the holidays?

Could we give you any more reasons to head to the Willows' tomorrow?

the duce

Last week we headed to the Duce in downtown Phoenix to shop, eat and generally wander about.  If you aren't familiar with the duce it is a "restaurant & lounge, entertainment destination, vintage one-stop shop, a coffee joint, old-fashioned soda fountain, fresh produce and dairy market, news-comics-candy stand, old school gym & vintage bike shop…and that ain’t all!"  The whole place is simply eye candy.  Whoever is behind this place certainly had an amazing vision.  They have these old gymnasium bleachers set up in front of a big screen where they play cartoons, right next to a soda fountain that boasts the best milkshakes in town... needless to say, even the kids thought this place was fantastic.  And the boxing ring was a big hit with the little ones, as well.  Yes, they have an actual old school boxing ring.  Its definitely worth a visit.  And, if you don't live in Phoenix, here's a little peek just for you...

I love that the back of the bus says "cuz that's how we roll."

summer revisited

As I was cleaning out my computer I came across all sorts of old summer pictures that I never shared.  Being out of town for most of the summer and having all sorts of fabulous guest bloggers, I never got around to posting some of these.  And then with a new computer, I kind of forgot they were even there.  I guess I could just toss them, but I love the feeling they give me of the laid back days of summer.  Perhaps, as I am in the midst of holiday madness (yes, the holidays began for me in October and won't slow down until Christmas has passed...), I can at least sit and imagine myself back to the calmness of the beach.  In my relaxed beach mode, I even put together a couple cute summer tutorials that I never shared, but I think if you put the right twist on them you could change them up for the holidays.  If nothing but for myself, I have decided to put together a handful of "summer revisited" posts to share over the next few weeks.  Hope no one minds that this blog will be talking about summer and Christmas simultaneously...

This summer I decided I was going to fix up the little bit of garden area I have on the front patio in Balboa.  So, with a truck full of plants and a good friend to help, we decided we could be landscape designers with the best of them...  or at least have ourselves a good time trying.

With the limited space we have on our front porch, the plants get so lost behind the furniture, so we decided to give the new plants some height...

If I disappear suddenly next week, its because I looked at these pictures too long and had to escape back to the beach.  So, if I am missing, you know where to find me...

Thanks for stopping by and now I am back to the store to finish setting for Christmas.