Take a peek...

There's a new magazine on stands near you 

and you have probably already heard some of the buzz about it...

In this magazine, among the many stunningly beautiful homes from around the U.S. and Canada,

and features about artisans, craftspeople, and farmers,

and tantalizing recipes,

and original project tutorials, and tips and info on collectibles, and so much more...

there's a log farmhouse in those pages that you might recognize if you read this blog.

 Yes, that's my house! Please, pinch me!  

Kimberly McCole wrote a most lovely article to complement Fifi O'Neill's styling and Mark Lohman's photography from last September, which appears in the premiere issue of Romantic Prairie Style magazine!  Wow, I still can't fully comprehend that this has really happened! My thanks to all three of you!

I'd also like to thank two friends: 

Karan Sjoberg of Fetch Antiques and Interiors, who whipped my house into shape for the photo shoot.  She has a wonderful eye for arrangements and vignettes and brought together the rooms so beautifully.  She also has an amazing shop in Hillsborough, NC, filled with gorgeous architectural salvage pieces, and lots of one-of-a-kind vintage furniture. 

Cindy Austin--also featured in Romantic Prairie Style magazine (she's the adorable lady wearing the straw hat in the photos above!)--who so kindly and generously lent several of her original oil paintings for the photo shoot to help fill my bare walls.  Fifi loved her work and so will you!

And as if all of this isn't totally overwhelming, check out the "Made in America" section of Romantic Prairie Style for a mention and photo of Harmony Farm Candles! 

So, please check out the premiere issue of Fifi's sumptuous quarterly magazine, Romantic Prairie Style.   The pages are simply overflowing with eye candy aplenty, terrific articles, and inspiration galore!

On cloud nine,

Erin

P.S.--I found the copy of Romantic Prairie Style previewed here at Target on Friday. The local Barnes & Noble said they will have copies on the shelf starting Tuesday, May 1st. Interested in subscribing?  Annual U.S. subscriptions are available for $24.97 for 4 quarterly issues via Harris Publications, 1115 Broadway, New York, NY  10160-0397.

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The Romantic Prairie Cookbook Arrives!

Last week, when I opened my mail box, a fat manila envelope lay inside.  The return address revealed the package to be from publisher Ryland Peters & Small in New York City.  And inside the envelope was a copy of Fifi O’Neill’s new book: The Romantic Prairie Cookbook!

After winning a copy of her first book, Romantic Prairie Style, serendipitous circumstances led to a photo shoot with Fifi and photographer extraordinaire Mark Lohman at my home.   

The September photo shoot was actually two-fold: the first part of the day was spent shooting the house for a magazine while the latter part was spent styling and shooting food.  (But at the time, I couldn’t share that  tidbit of information since it wasn’t publicly known that the follow-up to Romantic Prairie Style would be a cookbook.)

In the ensuing six months since the shoot, to say I’ve been eagerly anticipating the cookbook would be a massive understatement.

The Romantic Prairie Cookbook is a feast for the stomach and eyes

And when I cracked open The Romantic Prairie Cookbook, it was quickly apparent that Fifi and Mark delivered once again. 

The styling and photography in The Romantic Prairie Cookbook are simply breath-taking. Mark and Fifi visited many gracious properties and people in their journey to create the book, and so not only are there plenty of mouth-watering food photos, but interspersed with the recipes are charming portraits of farm animals, children, pets, and country vistas.  

The recipes featured in the book are wholesome, family-tested, and honest.   There is no pretension here, just good food, often from ingredients straight from the garden or pasture.  

My husband and I prepared five dishes and we were honored that they all made it into the book.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Spaghetti Squash with Fresh-Grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Venison Stroganoff

Jacob enjoying a Lemon Cupcake

Apple Crisps with Fresh Whipped Cream

all photography by Mark Lohman

I’ve savored leafing and re-leafing through the book, and can’t wait to try out the many recipes I’ve already marked.  Even though this is technically a cookbook, it could easily double as a coffee table book, too!

Though I'm obviously biased, I can't recommend The Romantic Prairie Cookbook enough.  It will hold a special place on my kitchen shelf along with other treasured cookbooks. Many thanks to Fifi and Mark for the opportunity to be a part of this!

-Erin 

Fifi and Mark's Visit

A week ago today, the fabulous Fifi O'Neill and Mark Lohman were at my house, styling and photographing it for Fifi's next book, and possibly a magazine or two.

And it's taken me this long to come down from the adrenaline and creative high of it all!

Meeting them, spending a day together and getting to be a small part of a fantastically beautiful experience was a complete dream-come-true.

It was a day I won't ever, ever forget.

The month leading up to their visit was an unrelenting marathon of sewing, painting and home improvement projects.  So I was naturally very excited for Friday morning to finally arrive because that meant the work was over and the real fun could be had.

And what fun it was!

Because I was busy helping with the shoot, I took only one photo of these two at work and it turned out to be absolutely horrid, so I don't have any Fifi-and-Mark-at-work pics to share with you guys.  But here's one from Fifi's blog, showing her and Mark at another house from a recent shoot.  Pretend there are log walls behind them... :)

Fifi and Mark were both so warm, generous, familiar and easy to talk to.  We chatted and laughed throughout the 9-hour shoot while they worked seamlessly together and I played gofer and otherwise scurried around the house in an attempt to be of some help.  I also tried to absorb as much as I could from this talented duo in regards to lighting, composition, arranging flowers, and more.  As corny as it sounds, those nine hours were a pure delight.  

Mark and Fifi said it was their honor to come into my home, but I still say it was my honor to have them here.   Thank you both!  xoxo

Not my house either! But such a nice photo of them...taken from Fifi's blog

Erin

P.S.--Since Fifi and Mark's visit required me to finally finish several long-undone projects around the house and have most rooms photo-ready, I'm going to finally put together a home tour in the next couple of weeks. If you're nosy curious like me to see what other people's houses look like, here's your chance to see my cottage-y cabin. :)

What I Did Over My Summer Vacation

Happy Fall, everyone!

Well, I'm finally getting back into blogging after an...ahem...extended summer hiatus.  And now that summer's officially over, I can't keep saying to myself that I'm on a summer blogging break, now can I? 

So, what have I been up to?

In early August, my friend Sheila and I took a trip to Los Angeles to visit another friend and enjoy the gorgeous SoCal weather!

The view from our beachfront condo in Marina del Rey...thanks, Diana!

Being huge horse racing fans, Sheila and I ventured south to Del Mar for an afternoon of racing. (And rued the Saturday morning traffic on the I-5!) This was my first time at that track and it was surprisingly packed. Apparently, there are a lot of horse racing fans in the San Diego area! We had a blast, made a little money betting and, most importantly, enjoyed the beauty of the horses.

While in California, I also had the great pleasure of meeting Ali of My Third True Love.  She bought some candles from the blog yard sale back in July and since I was traveling so close to where she lived, I offered to make a special in-person delivery.  (Read: total excuse to meet her because I love her blog and wanted to meet the talented lady behind it!)

Ali on the left, me on the right

What a sweetheart she is! We met up at Starbucks and she brought her two adorable and impeccably well-behaved kids, as well as her twin sister, Lisa. After exchanging emails the last few months, it was so fun to meet her and chat in person. She's funny, easy-going, stylish and incredibly friendly. I just wish we could have had more time to hang out, but perhaps another time when I go to California?  Right, Ali? :)

After returning from the California trip (and also serving jury duty for the first time ever), I went on a girls' weekend with my two college roommates in the Blue Ridge Mountains of north Georgia.

My gals, Linnet and Nora

The laid-back getaway was just what I needed after the go-go trip out west and the three of us spent most of the time time just talking and hanging out. We've known each other for exactly 20 years now, and no matter how far apart we live, or how long it is between visits, we always pick right up where we left off.

Since then, both of my parents celebrated birthdays, my son started preschool (this is the last year before he goes to kindergarten!) and we've been plain busy around here.

We finished our building, so now I have a proper workspace for painting projects. My husband wired the entire thing himself and it's such a blessing to have extra storage space, as well as a place to park our cars.

Here it is almost finished last month...I just realized I hadn't taken any pictures of it completely finished. But it now has windows and doors. And I promptly filled it with projects and materials! 

I've also been painting (my kitchen, loft, furniture, wood knick knacks, etc.) and sewing (mostly curtains and pillow covers) my booty off in the last month because...

Two very special visitors will be here in less than seven days!

Anyone recognize this lady?

Yes, that is the fabulous Fifi O'Neill, author of the best-selling Romantic Prairie Style and former editor-in-chief of Romantic Country magazine.  This is a story for another post, but Fifi and the uber-talented photographer Mark Lohman are coming to photograph my house this Friday for her next book, as well as a magazine!

Holy stress balls, Batman!

The house is almost ready...just a few more things left to do, but, man, will I be happy when Friday arrives. I cannot wait to meet Fifi and Mark, who by all accounts are wonderful human beings, and see them work their magic.

(If you want to see their collaboration in Romantic Prairie Style, check out this peek into the book here.)  

So, that's my life in a nutshell since my last post.

I will resume regular posting after Fifi and Mark's visit, and seeing as this season is my favorite time of year, I can't wait to dive into a few fall crafts and pull out my fall decorations.  Oh, and since I've done so many projects this summer, I have plenty of material for B&A posts, and maybe even a tutorial or two.  Stay tuned!

So, friends, what have you been up to these past few months?  :)

Erin

A Stroke of Luck

Last month, Jennifer at The Old Painted Cottage hosted a giveaway for a signed copy of Fifi O'Neill's Romantic Prairie Style.

Jennifer's home, a.k.a. Cottage8, is among the featured homes in this book about "...simple pleasures, comfort and the long-cherished ideals of natural beauty, simplicity and harmony with the earth..." and "...a style that says 'home' wherever you may be because, more than anything else, it's a mindset: gentle but strong, welcoming and lasting, durable yet sophisticated and, above all, real."

Sneak peeks of the book appeared on several different blogs during the spring and I was smitten by what I saw.

(Amazon)

And I wasn't the only one.

The response to Romantic Prairie Style has been so overwhelming, the first edition is sold out and the second edition is on back order.  Of the 20 reviews currently on Amazon, all are 5-star reviews. And the book made The Wall Street Journal's top 10 best-seller list for home and garden books two weeks running after its release in April.

Naturally, when a few Romantic Prairie Style giveaways were held on blogs I read, I entered, hoping I'd win even though the giveaways had lots and lots of entries. Like the-odds-are-completely-against-you numbers of entries. The giveaway at The Old Painted Cottage was no different, but I entered anyway because I'm an eternal optimist.

Fast forward to a  few weeks later. We're on our way home from our anniversary trip to the mountains--sans laptop--and we stop at Nest's Sunday Vintage Market on our way home.  My friend Heather is a reader of The Old Painted Cottage and when she sees me, she congratulates me on winning Jennifer's giveaway.

Say what?!

You see, I don't ever win anything.

(Except for one time when I won a basket of Merle Norman skin care products from a salon that my sister worked at. She later told me that she rigged the drawing in my favor--probably because I looked like hell from the months and months of sleep deprivation courtesy of my infant son!)

But I completely lucked out this time and legitimately won my very own copy of Romantic Prairie Style!

If I never win anything again, I will be completely happy having won this giveaway.

The book arrived from Fifi on Friday. Oh. My. What a book it is.  I was very nearly hyperventilating as my eyes met page after page of gasp-inducing, beautiful homes and properties.

Now, I don't want to get in trouble with Fifi, photographer Mark Lohman or the publisher, but here are a few peeks of the book:

Amazing, is it not?

Romantic Prairie Style has now supplanted Comfortable Country by Enrica Stabile as my favorite book on country homes and decorating.

If you appreciate the contrast of vintage patinas against soft furnishings, glimpses into farm and country life, and miss Country Home magazine something fierce, you will love this book.  Fifi has created a sublime treasure in Romantic Prairie Style and it's one I will cherish.

Thank you, Jennifer and Fifi, for giving away a copy of this book!  Your generosity is most appreciated!

-Erin