Autumn is here!!

Have you seen our new window display yet?? 

We have such a lot of fun dreaming up the plan for the windows - when we opened, we created our lovely Lilies and Violets (it was absolutely obvious to us what they should look like and they didn't disappoint!). Simple but spectacular!!! 

Out with the old!

Now that we have taken the flowers out of the windows, they are dotted around the shop adding a splash of colour everywhere....When we start marketing ourselves at vintage fairs, we are hoping to utilise them on our fabulous stall (and fabulous it will be!!!). 

In fact we will be attending our very first vintage fair -  the Blackfriars Vintage Fair in Gloucester -  with one of our caravans!! - watch this space for more details!!

Lots of people have asked if we are selling our props but to be honest they take such a lot of time and effort that we are going to keep them and re use them all!!

We have decided to change our window displays seasonally which means that our Autumn windows have just been done and we will be creating the winter scene to go in at the beginning of December.  We have started putting the plan for them together now. 

We have a pretty gorgeous double fronted shop and that enables us to stick with the idea of simple but spectacular (a bit like the two of us!!)....... Although, we would rather be simply spectacular,( but spectacularly simple could be a better description!)  So our Autumn windows are full of falling leaves and toadstools - and they look AMAZING. Well, we think they do - in fact they are worth a visit just to see them.

Lisa has done a brilliant job of pulling together the toadstools. It wasn't all plain sailing though and 'fungi' is our new favourite swear word.  (Actually, one of us is struggling with this concept, so we are practicing with Fungi and Shitake just to get a bit of variety into the swearing)... 

After a whole day of work, we walked into the stock room the following morning to find unravelled toadstools everywhere!!  (Top tip - fungi masking tape is not the thing for toadstool making!).  And that's without the pain of cutting and painting all the Shitake leaves.....And then stringing them up in the windows, invisible cotton is evil stuff!!

In with the new!

The new Autumn windows were unveiled last week and we have had lots of lovely comments about them.  We are obviously trying to catch the eye of the passer-by, and we think we have been really successful in this! We will continue to change the mannequins on a regular basis - and we get so many people asking about the things in the window that they don't stay in the windows for too long!

As we said, we have a few ideas for our winter windows but any and all contributions to put in the idea stew will be gratefully received......so come on, give us your favourite ideas…. 

Mary & Lisa x

Lonesome Town

Yay!! The school holidays are over at last and Lily and Violet have both returned to school this week!!  And the reason I am so pleased about this?? No, it is not that I want my daughter out from under my feet (although I have wished for that many times over the past 9 weeks) but rather that I can't bear to be in the shop on my own for days at a time!!

Labourer Lily

Lily has kept me company on a couple of occasions and has helped to open up the shop....although I obviously don't advocate child labour, I can see nothing wrong with instilling a good work ethic at a young age!! Actually, it may look as if she is being really helpful and couldn't possibly get in the way, but believe me, this shot remarkably managed to snap a rare moment in time....

At the start of the holidays me and Lisa decided that we would take it in turns to look after both the girls and be in the boutique on alternate weeks.  At first it was all great but as the holidays went on, I found that I most definitely do not love my own company!!!.... Well, not unless there is sun, cocktails and a good book involved..... And there has not been a lot of sunshine in the past few weeks - and cocktails during the working day are not allowed!!

The biggest drawback of our 'arrangement' is not having a partner in crime to banter with and share ideas and gossip (not that we have any time for that sort of thing!!! ).

Something funny or amusing happens and I find myself looking around for someone to share the moment but there is no one there - sad isn't it??  Don't feel too sorry for me - I am still in the most Totally Gorgeous, Totally Unique shop EVER - but it is so much more fun when there are two of us!!

To keep myself amused during any quiet times, I have taken to singing along very loudly to our fab music - the world is just a great big onion don't you know??

This is especially entertaining when customers come into the shop and they too join in the sing along!! This seems to be a couply thing to do!! - he starts singing along quite quietly and then she
joins in - or if she doesn't join in she throws one of those 'stop it now' looks - and invariably he stops!!

I have now progressed onto choreographing little dance routines to accompany my singing - much to the amusement of the bike shop opposite and slow passing traffic!! My very favourite so far is 110th Street (it is just my key I think!)

My next challenge,( had the holidays not come to an end,) would be to encourage a bit of SSD!!  According to the Urban Dictionary:

spontaneous synchronized dance

An unplanned but obviously pre-choreographed outburst of dancing within a normal, non-party setting by a group of three or more people, usually including singing, as in most films classified as "musicals." Often abbreviated as SSD.

Lisa has now saved me from myself!!  She has a rather special Birthday coming up (don't tell her I told you!) and has decided that the theme will be "I Hate Musicals". 

Now, I personally love a musical and can sing along to just about anything! And I love nothing more than trying out the dance routines in my living room!!

Oh how I wish!.....

Admit it!! - Who hasn't tried being Sandy (or Danny) doing "You're The One That I Want - you are the one I want - oooo oooo oooo Honey!"?!?!?

So anyway, we thought that Lily and Violet would look pretty cool dressed up as the Blues Brothers doing "Shake Your a Tail Feather".  We might not be able to pull this one off though - Lily is practicing songs from Annie all day every day (wearing a red clown wig) and Violet is insistent on being the donkey from Shrek...... Mmmmm not quite what we had in mind!!.. 

If you come up with any good ideas the girls (or us), then please let us know..

Mary & Lisa x