Window Shopping

Lily and Loo, Hudson, NY

Yesterday was my friend Kelly's birthday, and our plan was to head to Coxsackie to our friend Donna's little shop (The Tin Angel) in the back room of Heartland Realty (open every Sunday for the rest of Nov. and Dec.), and then head south to Kingston to check out Home Goods and some other fun shopping spots. Instead, because Kelly wasn't feeling well, we hit Donna's shop, but then headed home to work on a craft project (which I'll tell you about later).

So....when I got home, I did a little internet window shopping at one of my favorite stores in Hudson, NY, called Lili and Loo. This store is chock full of unique accessories and home furnishings, jewelry, and glassware. You never know what you're going to find there. The woman who designed the shop did a wonderful job, and really has an eye for display. I especially like the fact that most all of the pictures of her items on the website were taken in situ, instead of just blandly on a white background. I encourage you to go check it out. I'm especially taken withe the porcupine quills, and as soon as I figure out what I'd do with them, they're coming home with me! :) Aren't they cool?

Ok, the craft project was pretty hilarious. I wish I had taken pictures of what we accomplished, but you'd probably bust a gut laughing, just like I did. They ended up looking like a third grade craft project gone wrong. Terribly wrong. lol. The idea was to make rock candy topiaries with styrofoam cones, royal icing, and rock candy crystals. So....it went ok....I mean, I slathered my royal icing on my cone, and then proceeded to press small rock candy crystals onto the icing. It looked pretty good--until I put it down, and gravity started to take over. The icing wasn't hardening up quickly enough, and everything sort of started to slump toward the bottom. Then when I was trying to put the larger crystals in and about the cone (because they were sparkly!), they kept falling off because of their size. Hey, it was a good idea gone awry, is all I'm sayin'. They came out OK, and if my friend Jennifer uses them on her mantel this year (heaven forbid), I'll take a pic, and y'all can have your laugh.