Clutter My World: April 2010

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Clutter My World...In New York City!

Hi everyone! I just returned from a wonderful weekend in New York City and believe it or not, my first time in Central Park! If you don't already know by now...in the past 7 years (wow, it's been that long!), running has become one of my passions and while I would not say that I'm obsessed, I do enjoy a good race every now and then and have been known to train for them 3-4 days per week. (I used to run 5-6 days/week until I herniated a disc and was told by my PT that I can't do that anymore if I want to keep running...I actually took that advice!)

This past weekend I had the good fortune to run the More Magazine Women's Half-Marathon with 3 of my sorority sisters (ADPi) from our days at the University of Michigan. Linda came from Birmingham, Michigan....Lisa came from Grand Rapids, Michigan....Lucy came from New Jersey (she's a Michigander to her core!), and Kathy came from Pennsylvania...not to run, just to enjoy! Until we celebrated our 50th birthdays together in 2008, I hadn't seen Lucy or Kathy for 28 years! Lucy and Lisa have always been runners and while I used to marvel at their ability to run, I also used to think they were crazy! Lisa has run 7 marathons, Lucy two, me one and this was Linda's first half marathon!

We had a great weekend in New York and while we didn't do everything we had planned, we sure had fun. We saw the play, Chicago, on Thursday night...getting tickets at the last minute at a pretty good discount just by going to the box office 15 minutes before the show started! We took the subway to SOHO and Nolita and did some shopping...I even found a Custo outlet...probably the funkiest clothes on the planet...check out their website at

www.custo-barcelona.com, we waited for 2 hours for "the best pancakes in the City" at the Clinton St. Baking Company (www.clintonstreetbaking.com)...I have to say, they were delicious....I had the Banana Walnut pancakes with the best Maple butter I have ever tasted...and finally, we ran the half marathon on Sunday morning in Central Park...in the POURING rain! The weather had been great all weekend and rain was forecast but we were hoping that it would at least wait until the afternoon...well, it didn't. I'm not sure I would have run the race but Lucy, Linda and Lisa wouldn't let me sleep in! Not only was it pouring...but it was cold and by the end of the race, even with all of the tech layers that we had on plus the big size black garbage bags that we had over us, we were looking like drowned rats! I think even the rats in NYC were drier than we were! We had a blast, in spite of the rain and I think it was one of the more fun races that I have ever done...probably because I didn't race it but ran at a leisurely pace so that I could talk to my friends. After the race, just to get a little warm, we treated ourselves to a nice warm coffee at the Starbucks in Trump Tower...and I must say we did not look like any of the clientele!

Speaking of rain...I think it's supposed to rain in Boulder this weekend. Now, I know that you don't like to come out in the rain...but we have received in some wonderful "clutter" at Clutter this week and I think you should let those raindrops keep falling on your head as you wander down to Clutter...here are a few of the things that you will see:

Me, Lisa, Lucy, and Linda in the latest running fashion!

At Starbucks, savoring coffee and our medals!

All warmed up and ready to run...again! This time to a hot shower!

SOLD!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Clutter My World...with a New Intern!

Hey everyone, my name is Emily. I'm the new intern at Clutter! By working here, Patty is helping me graduate from the Art Institute of Colorado, which requires an internship to complete the program. I'm studying Interior Design and hope to go into residential and hospitality field when I'm done with school. Working at Clutter gives me the opportunity to see all different kinds of furniture and fabrics from all types of styles and time periods, as well as great ideas for my own home.

I love to travel and I get to have one last hurrah(!) before graduating and joining the work force... a trip to Europe over the summer! I can't wait to see all the great architecture and eat some delicious food. I'll be done with my internship by then, but I will be full of new knowledge and work experience to carry on with me in the future. Nice to chat with you all! I look forward to meeting new and old customers...

Emily the Intern

SOLD!

ALL SOLD!

SOLD!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Clutter My World in Costa Rica!!

Hi Everyone!! Wow...it's been a long time! After taking 9 days off for Spring Break I finally have time to breathe. It's amazing that I can leave the store for that long without worrying and know that I can come back to wonderful staff who took care of the store, customers and consignors! The store looks great...maybe I should do this more often!!

Costa Rica...ahhh...sun, heat, humidity, monkeys, dolphins, waves, not so great cuisine, volcano, zip lines, curvy roads, vacation! We decided this year to take a break from the snow and get some sun and Costa Rica came highly recommended. It is a beautiful country and it was great to see another part of this world. We stayed at a little hotel in Playa Samara in the Nicoya Peninsula...the hotel is called The Hideaway Hotel (www.thehideawayplayasamara.com) and it is owned and run by Rosy and Doug from Reno. It's a beautiful little hotel with wonderful staff and great food...plus it has air conditioning and a pool...a must when you are on the beach in Costa Rica! It's about a 2 mile walk down the beach to the little village of Samara and we walked it every day for lunch (we had breakfast at the Hideaway...yogurt parfaits with pineapple...yum!). There are a number of beachside restaurants in Samara where you could get whole grilled red snapper, ham sandwiches, rice and beans, etc. etc. The town isn't much but if you stay on the beach, you never know what you'll see. One evening we were enjoying a beer under some palms and along came about 20 cows...without a cow herder...looking very determined to get where they were going! We had no idea where they were going but apparently they came from up the hill where every once in awhile someone leaves a gate open and the cows escape! I can't imagine having to explain that to my boss in the morning!

We had a couple of great experiences in Samara...one day we kayaked over to a little (very little) island that is inhabited by hermit crabs and iguanas! We were the only people there and the beach was alive with crawly little crabs in all sorts of different shells. It was amazing to watch the beach crawl. Someone had left the remnants of a watermelon and between the iguanas and the hermit crabs, that watermelon was not going to last for long! Another day we hired a small boat to take us out to look for dolphins. We were not disappointed! We ended up in a pod of at least 100 spotted dolphins who were racing the boat, jumping and flipping and showing us a great time...it was incredible. I felt I was in a movie and as the boat was racing along, on either side of us the dolphins we racing with us...it was amazing!

We finished our trip in the Arenal Volcano area where we hoped to see some lava flowing down the volcano...well...the normally active volcano was not very active the 2 nights we were there so that was a bit of a disappointment, but it was neat to see that part of Costa Rica. We had a great time doing a zip line...even me, who is a bit afraid of heights and tried not to think about that when I was 200 feet up in the air zipping down on a relatively thin cable above a canopy of trees!

So, after 9 days away and a bit of catching up to do at the store....all is good. We have lots of great furniture and home decor in the store right now so come on down and take a look...you will not be disappointed! Hope to see you soon....Have a great day!