THE BIG HUGE POST CHRISTMAS SALE STARTS TODAY!
25% TO 50% OFF A WHOLE BUNCH OF GREAT OOP! STUFF
Jill Caceri gave us this magical star collage. It makes dinning at the kitchen table wonderful every night. What do exhausted retailers have for Christmas dinner.....Burritos, chips and guac, Yummy!
The boys had a fabulous Christmas. Here is a moment of pure bliss for the both of them.
We had so much fun with our Elf, Nick. Order your book early next year. We ran out super fast. I cought Malen in a quiet moment with Nick. He was telling him a few last minute things he really, really wanted from Santa.
The boys Amma made them a stack of colorful pillows and blankets to make forts.
A snow storm to forget. Westminster st looks beautiful in snow. It look even prettier when the snow comes after dec 24th.
d
The Shelf Elf is coming! The Shelf Elf is coming!!
Our Elf is named Nick! Annan and Malen love him. Every morning of December the first thing they do is rush around the house to find him. You see the Elf waits for the boys to fall asleep and then he shoots off to the North Pole to report back to Santa on How the two of them have been for the day. Nick also tells Santa anything else the boys may ask him. We all know the Elf has gone to visit with Santa because when he returns he picks a new place to sit for the day.
He sits and watches. He sits and listens all day long until it's time for him to go back and visit with Santa.
The Shelf Elf is being exclusively sold through oopstuff.com
Order yours today and you can pick him up on November 30th at the OOP! store of your choice. Please specify in the special instructions at checkout which store your family would like to pick up your Shelf Elf. You and your children will be treated to Hot Chocolate, Candy Canes, Cookies and fun at the store on the 30th.
The OOP! Advent Calendar
We were first introduced to the traditional german advent calendar during Annan's First Christmas. Clala, his Nanny showed up on Dec 1st with a surprise. Inside the box was an Advent Calendar, simply made of rope and numbered paper bags. One has hung on our mantle every year since.
Several years ago the OOP! advent arrived!
Jennifer and I have made over a hundred advents for friends, family and others in need of a bit of unexpected spirit. Last year we made a bag for every visitor room at the Ronald McDonald House.
This year the bags are available at oopstuff.com. Buy one today $74.95.
The bags are filled with a treat for every day starting Dec 1st, until Santa arrives. Your family will enjoy the festivities nightly and Santa will arrive that much quicker.
Each night after dinner we turn on Dean Martin's Making Spirits Bright cd and Malen or Annan opens a bag. Jennifer, Laverne, and I sit by the fire with a glass of wine and take it all in.
The boys are both back in school. The Waldorf school experience is just amazing. The creative minds that are unfolding in front of us has both Jennifer and I wishing we were Waldorf schooled.
Does the out of focus quality make this first day of school photo sweeter?
The boys built this Gnome house in our driveway. That night after bedtime, the gnomes came out and lit a fire in the fireplace. The boys were thrilled to discover the remnants of burnt paper in the am.
Last saturday the boys helped me at OOP!. We visited the costume shop, RI Costume on Westminster st. There is no better place for Haloween decorations and costumes. The costume shop will close after the big scary holiday and Craft Land will be back for November and December.
Buy them or rent them. Start planning your night now! Fun, fun, fun!
A new find.......
El Rancho Grande on Plainfield St in the Silver Lake has the most amazing Mexican food. We celebrated Mexican Independance day last week. Great food, beer and Mariachi's Not only is the food wonderful..............
9 people and our bill was $98.00 after the tip! Love it!!!
Malen cooked us dinner last night. Actually, Jennifer went to his pre school and taught him and his classmates how to cook. They all went home with a baked pasta dish, fabulous salad, bread, Apple Crumble and a great craft to boot. Read on!
Pasta by Malen, ceramics by Rebecca Wood, Plastic flower kid dishes from IKEA, Texas ware bowl from Ebay, Fun family photos on the fridge...Plastic photo holders from CVS.
One well fed happy family. Glass Pendant lamp from Kinda Bugs Ya, Bug themed kitchen table set by Sticks
Oh, I'm so satisfied. Yes we ate the whole thing. D.E. Vine foods Famous Honey Balsamic Salad dressing available at IGA,Venda Ravioli and other fab ulous grocers. Daily menu painted wall hanging By Simone of New Orleans.
Napkin by Malen. Drawing of Daddy and Big Papi. Dad text is Ironed on. Fabric paint pens from A.C. Moore. Sauce stains by me!!
All craft related products available at OOP! of course. Some in stock. Some by special order. Email me at davidriordan@oopstuff.com
Annan turned 6.5 yrs this week. His school (The Meadowbrook Waldorf School) made this a wonderful little celebration. Since Annans birthday is in July, Miss Su threw a 1/2 year celebration.
Annan collects his booty.
All King Annan's classmates made him Beeswax sculptures for his birthday.
ANOTHER STICKS RAMBLING
I get asked all the time......... is Sticks furniture Durable?
my answer is always the same......I have two young boys who eat at play at and do everything imaginable at our kitchen table daily.
Standing on the leather chairs. Annan enjoys some waffles! When jennifer and I unpacked our set 8 years ago, Jennifer said "were unpacking a family heirloom. Our 5 foot round table has a bug theme. Bugs, bugs, bugs. Perfect for our woodland surrondings in Foster RI.
Too cold to ski this weekend so we hit the hill around the corner before the Patriots game
Christmas is over but this train set still lives on the main floor at our house. One of these days it will get moved to the play room but for now it's a heck of a lot of fun to see Malen and Annan always at it. They can't get enough of it.
The best gift I have ever received.....Season tickets for the family to Wachusset Mountain
Every chance we get we go for the day or stay overnight at the Wachusset Village Inn.
Malen (3yrs old) is learning to Pizza slice. Annan (6yrs) is a speed demon. You know the one, no poles and can ski between your legs going 50mph.
The Inn is perfect. It's not a 5 star but it has all you want including a 85 plus degree pool, hot tub, sauna, steam room and health club. The bar has a huge country fireplace with a real roaring fire. Rates range from $100.00 to $200.00 per night.
Jennifer and I were itching to get out of town. We wanted to do it on a budget so........Here's something fun to do. Go to the Southwest Airlines website enter your dates of travel and pick every destination they fly to that you would want to visit. Pick the cheapest flight. We flew non-stop (thats right, it does exist from TF Green) Providence to Arizona in 4.5 hours for $120.00 ROUND TRIP! per person. Camping is always cheap so we took our well deserved and needed holiday in the desert. It was a blast camping and playing with the boys while prospecting for new artisits. New work coming soon to OOP!. Enjoy the family fun photos below
Just north of Sedona is Oak Creek Canyon. We camped here for 4 nights. It is an amazing place. Easy Red Rock hikes for a 3 year old and his 70 year old Amma and anyone in between. Above Jennifer and Malen take a ride down the slide rock. Checkout this gorgeous National Park at http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino/recreation/red_rock/slide-rock-pic.shtml
Carefree Arizona is heaven on earth. have you ever said that was a wonderful 100 degree day. Dry enough to make your contact lenses pop out! The heat feels great! Here Malen and Annan play for hours and hours in the pool. Off season traveling is dynamite. Carefree Resort and Villas was under $100.00 a night. http://www.carefree-resort.com We had the place to ourselves
Do you have an interest in learning more. Let me know! I'm always happy to share our ideas.
Craft at Jazz Fest
Another glorious day filled with sunshine and music. Today we met up with some old friends, Chris Roberts Antieau and Cathy Rose and made some new friends, Huey Dupont and Bill Hemmerling.
Jennifer and Chris in front of her "fabric collage, bits of genius and random ramblings of enlightened fun". Coming soon to OOP! "Count your blessings" and "Awkward social encounters"
Another one of our favorite artists and Jazzfest friends.....
Cathy Roses work is incredible.
OOP! carried her work several years ago and we are hoping to carry it again soon.
Jennifer and I treated ourselves to a couple of her pieces.
C
athy strikes a pose with our latest purchase……. The Wisdom Wall Flower. The sculpture incorporates the warmth of old barn wood..makes me smile. We also purchased a little porcelain bird to hang in our Shi Shi Shack in South County over pictures of our boys.Then we met a wonderful man...Huey Dupont
He makes old cypress and willow furniture with a sense of delight and old southern wisdom
We hope to butter up to Huey enough to get a truckload of furniture!!!
One of the better known southern folk artists is William Hemmerling. He paints mostly on wood using the grain of the wood as part of his canvas.
William pictured here working on a painting of rejoicing women.
Norah Jones played today at the end of the day....the sun was starting to fire up again and the crowds were heavy but the music was cool perfection....especially when Trombone Shorty took the stage with Norah
We also got to see..The Groove Academy, Rocking Dupsie and Zydeco Twisters, Tab Benoit, Davell Crawford Movement and the Rebirth Brass Band. Support the NOLA economy by purchasing your music locally at the Music Factory.
Walking back to our car after a fabulous day of Jazzfest...we stumbled upon a group of children playing string instruments on the side of the road. The New Orleans String Project
is a local non-profit that provides instruments and tuition-free music classes for deserving New Orleans children, ages 6-14
They were one of the best acts of the day.................
New Orleans
This is our first visit back since Katrina.
We left the boys with their Amma and we have snuck away for 4 days and nights of great jazz, top notch craft, incredible food and a little bit of voodoo too
A great way to support the rebuilding efforts that continue today is to come and visit.
Stay in a hotel, go see a show or two, that’s right put some money into the economy.
Cant visit go to the music factory and get a hot cd from Bonerama, The Iquana’s, The Rebirth Brass Band, Little Band of Gold, John Boutte or anyone else they are recommending.
Here are some hi-lights…………….
After a long wait to get our Jazz Fest tickets Jennifer jumps right into the Funeral March for Ed Bradley.
We saw T Bone Burnett for the first time and he blew us away.
“When you’re young you spend your whole life searching for the truth. Then when you’re about to die you realize it was all true”
Lucinda Williams redeemed herself. The last time we saw her, the show was a disappointment but this time she was simply amazing.
Check out her new cd and if you don’t have Car Wheels on a
Make Levees Not War
When we approached Casamentos (3300 block on Magazine)to get an Oyster Po Boy we thought it was closed.
Actually it was so overstuffed w/ waiting hungry oyster loving fans that we couldn’t open the door. The wait for lunch was well worth it.
Oysters on the ½ shell were amazing $4.00 a ½ dozen. The gumbo was better than Jennifer’s (she is determined to find the other secret ingredient besides the Red Rue.
And Finally, Is there anything better than Soft Shell Crab?
Well that was day one. We will check out the craft today. Tomorrow we will have some images of great new stuff and the peeps that make it.
Recent Comments