rope swirl tapestry – giveaway!!

UPDATE: This giveaway is now closed.

i have another gorgeous piece from our summer store displays to give away! this amazing rope swirl tapestry was hand-made by our talented display team using rope, various brightly colored strings and pom poms and tassels inspired by india.  hang it on your wall, use it as a carpet in a hallway, a table runner – whatever your heart desires! one thing’s for sure- no one else will have anything like it :)

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this tapestry is actually two pieces – so you can take it apart and hang them separately or keep it as one long piece!

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lots of you are asking for a diy – you’re in luck, we did one :) find it here.

Rustic Kabobs and Bruschetta

As promised, this week’s recipe is one of the many delicious meals from my recent camping trip in the Adirondack Mountains. The bare essentials and need for practicality reminded me how good simple foods like a plain sandwich can be. Even though I got a bit fancier than that for this dinner, there is still a quality of simplicity to the meal that I really like. The challenge of cooking with limited resources was fun and allowed me to get creative. This recipe can be prepared over an open fire or using a grill – I’ll show you how to do it both ways.

Kabob Ingredients:

½ Red Pepper

1 Small Carton of Whole Baby Portabella Mushrooms

1 Small Sweet Onion

½ Zucchini

½ Lb. Bay Scallops

¼ Cup Olive Oil

½ Lemon

1Tbsp. Fisherman’s Wharf All Natural Seafood Seasoning

Tinfoil

Wooden or Metal Kabob Skewers

Basting Brush

Bruschetta Ingredients:

½ Loaf of Pesto Seasoned Bread

¼ Cup Olive Oil

½ Lemon

1 Tbsp. Fisherman’s Wharf All Natural Seafood Seasoning

Tinfoil

Basting Brush

We bought all of the ingredients from local mom and pops stores. If you do the same, your kabobs and bruschetta could turn out completely different, but you can still follow the same process.

Instructions:

Slice Lemon in half. Mix together squeeze juice from one half and mix with with olive oil & seasoning for the kabobs. Set aside.
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Break off 2 ft. piece of tinfoil. Fold over each edge.

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Fold in each corner.2

Fold up each side making a wall – pinch together at corners.081

Fold over the corners so that they will not leak.083

Slice red pepper, onion, and zucchini into fairly large wedge-shaped pieces.

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Slide ingredients onto skewers in random order until all are used up. As you finish skewers lay them onto the tinfoil.111

Baste skewers using entire lemon/oil/seasoning mixture.112

Slice desired amount of bread for bruschetta.114

Make anther – smaller – tinfoil boat to place the bread slices into. Mix together bruschetta olive oil, seasoning, and juice from remaining lemon. Baste both slides of each bread slice with the mixture.

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To cook over the open fire, cover tinfoil boats with another piece of tinfoil.127

You want to separate logs and create a nice spot over hot coals to place the food.129

Let cook for about 15-20 min, depending on how hot your coals are. Use a fire mitt when checking to see if they’re cooked or removing them from the fire. Once scallops are cooked, they won’t have that cloudy/clear look they have when they’re raw.135

You can also cook everything on the grill. Put the kabobs on first. After about 10minutes add the bruschetta and let grill for another 5-10 minutes.

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Enjoy the tasty meal =)

Weekend Getaway: The Adirondacks

Summer is the perfect time to plan those weekend getaways, and our country is full of great escapes to explore. Last week I headed up north to camp in the Adirondack Mountains – a perfect getaway destination. The mountains, rivers, and lakes are immediately relaxing. We set up camp in Wilmington, NY right near Whiteface Mountain and Lake Placid. It was the perfect spot to explore the village of Lake Placid and to get in good hiking and fishing. The town is full of cute shops, Olympics memorabilia, nice people, and even a pile of snow they keep year round. We shopped local specialties to picnic and grill (look out for this weekend’s recipe!) You can even bring your dog into most places, so bring the trusty friend along if you go. I had Abigail, and she had a blast getting down and dirty in the mountains. One day we hiked Whiteface, the tallest mountain in the region. She made it the whole way =). I highly recommend the challenge if you’re up to it. The view and sense of accomplishment are surreal and invigorating.

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My beer, the Ubu Ale, was named after a local legendary dog =)

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Abigail, always thinking she’s the star of the show…

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Almost to the top!

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“climbing mountains is hard work, give me food!”

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It’s not often you get to enjoy nighttime in the middle of the woods – talk about a getaway…

i have some great ‘exile in austin’ photos to share with you today, from alexandra valenti – who shot our july catalog! i love her style of photography, i can’t wait to show you some of the shots from the book! but for now, enjoy these fun photos from our event :)

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Office Style

The outfits in the office today were perfectly styled. There were a lot of girls wearing Fp. The Maxi length was hot teamed with beautiful heavy jewelry. Headdresses are popular accessories – taking style a bit higher.

 Two friends wore contrasting stripes and polka dots.  Today was a high style kinda day.

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