Shopping, Wildlife, and Being "Green"

I'm not a lover of shopping, but the great stores in this area make me excited about shopping. Granted, a lot of them are pretty expensive, but in most cases you are paying for quality and helping out local small businesses.

There are several fair trade stores. Here's one that I love. Check to see if there are Ten Thousand Villages stores or festivals in your area. Another place I adore is Twig, an eco-friendly store in Chapel Hill. Kitchenworks, also in Chapel Hill, is the store that I mentioned in a previous post. They have the greatest collection of metal cookie cutters ever! There are several yarn stores, but I think Hillsborough Yarn Shop is my favorite. The owner is super nice, helpful, and appreciative that you even stepped foot inside. Whimzee, also in Hillsborough, sells handmade items from all types of local artists and crafters. One of the owners asked me to sell some items there, but I have no idea when I'll get time to make any! I am so fond of the Japanese market Toyo Shokuhin that I haven't really checked out most of the others around. Hmmm... I'm sure there are more, but I need to move along. I could post about several locally owned restaurants too!

You might be wondering about the "wildlife" portion of my post title. Well, Seedlings, the home preschool that Enid attends in Hillsborough twice a week, is in a pretty rural area. Almost every trip to or from, we see deer, bunnies, groundhogs, or something more common like squirrels (and there are 2 pet bunnies and 5 chickens at the school itself). One day while we were pulling out of the driveway at Seedlings, we spotted 5 deer eating bushes across the street. I tried taking pictures, but they ran away. Here's my best shot.



Recently, I emailed several of you that I knew would be interested in this great shop, WasteNot Saks, on Etsy. If you've never taken a peek at that site, let me say that it is addictive, even if you are just window shopping, and you could easily spend an entire afternoon (or more) browsing there. I've purchased several things from different people over the past few years, and I've never been disappointed.

***ETA*** I forgot to post the photo of our WasteNot Saks (owls, mushrooms, leaves, & Converse)!


I've been updating my art blog from time to time and always posting videos on Wednesdays, so keep checking that out. I'll have more posted on here within the next couple of days. We had an exciting encounter today with a famous author, so you'll hear more soon!