Emily’s totally 80’s 24th birthday

Costume’s encouraged:

 

Emily’s brother put together a scavenger hunt, so we split into teams at set off to accomplish items in an hour and a half:

drive through on foot

steal home base

whole group on monkey bars

fist pumping a manager at wal mart

(we tried for some extra points for getting the Hulk to fistpump too)

behind the register at moes

failing to get a shopping cart picture in walmart (woops)

stealing from a wishing well

finding a “ginger” to take a picture with

playing the “claw” and winning

buying a lotto ticket (extra points if you win) ( we didn’t)

There were quite a few on the list that we didn’t quite make.

in fact we got yelled at for asking some kids to take a picture with us (we needed four kids under the age of 12 to pose…they thought we were creepy looking…I don’t blame them).

Our team sort of kind of lost, but that’s okay. We spent way too long looking for an Egyptian statue and trying to convince the workers in walmart to push us in a buggy.

and somehow the girls winded up taking some 80’s perfume ad-esque type photos in the bathroom & hallway (yerp)

cheese factor: Check

horrible incessant bulbs: check

the niece…

is walking. I haven’t seen her in such a long time- she’s even learned to stick out her tongue at dad….They were in town for a brief moment to say hello.

Uniquely MC

One thing I get super-de-dupery excited about is local artists. This one just happens to be one of my good friends from elementary school and what’s she’s been up to is phenomenal. She’s an interior design graduate working  in a tiny design and furniture store called Cottage Antiques and Interiors. It’s partner store Fabric 101 is right next door in Northeast Columbia. Perhaps it was the side effect of working in a fabric store, but one day Mary Catherine got all inspired and productive and started sewing purses. She designs each one to be completely unique from the other (hence the name uniquely MC). She’s also in love with giving old furniture new life – and with her junction at cottage antiques she can refinish/ paint furniture and set up displays in store to show people how to make it work.

Holding one of her bags in person for the first time, I was so impressed by  the quality and thought that she puts into each of them. They are sturdy, evenly sewn and the fabric paring is impeccable. She even goes on cool button hunts to find the perfect closure. A few of her designs are reversible but they are more or less derived from the same pattern. My new bag is double lined and has a sweet little pocket on the interior- it’s the perfect size.

She includes a write up about herself in her bags and I feel that Mary Catherine’s story is such a good example of finding yourself as an artist. She like most entered the real world after college unsure of what to do next. Instead of wasting her time second guessing herself, she started to create…and the purses came from that labor of love. If you’d like to support her art, stop on by Cottage Antiques and Interiors and Fabric 101 where you can see her bags on display. You can message her directly about her bags at Mcinteriordesign@gmail.com

 

these baby ducks came over to check out her bag while we were shooting  : )

they approved but they were disappointed by the bags inedible quality.