Bob and I went shopping down Del Mar Street today in San Clemente. While there, I always have to visit one of my favorite shops, Erba. You know my obsession with soaps and paper so if you could see this store you would know why I am inexorably drawn to it. Today though, I was on a mission. You see, K, is coming to visit next week and it just so happens that she will be here on her birthday! Well of course we must make sure this will be a grand occasion for her. That being said, I wanted to find the perfect gift (which I did!).

So trying to keep that in mind and think "K" not "me" I began to shop and Lord help me, I almost bought two new absolutely beautiful boxes of stationery! For me! As I was lovingly caressing them, Bob, the ever logical one says, "You're kidding right?".

"What!!?? Honey, look at these! I need them for my birthday thank yous!" I answered. Yes, I did just admit out loud that I have yet to write them. And yes, my birthday WAS in June! Please keep in mind that immediately after my birthday I had a MAJOR life change and July was a very stressful month.

"Do you know how many boxes of stationery we have in our garage??!!!" He implored.

"Uggghhhh..... okay FINE!" I just had to give in. He was right after all! So I begrudgingly put them back and I swear I feel like I left a piece of me behind in that store! A girl can NEVER have too much stationery. You never know what situation might come up that you need the perfect card for! And it had glitter on it too! :( Oh well, my little beauties, I might be back for you someday....

-M.

Photos compliments of someone who DOES have a cord for her camera! I really must rectify this situation.

Oh what the heck. I have been hesitant to post since I don't have a cable to transfer photos from my camera and therefore am at the mercy of the camera on my phone. So I apologize in advance for the quality of the photos I will be posting in the next couple of weeks. Unless by some miracle I find a place around here that has the crazy connector that this camera requires. No simple USB cables for me!

It is now day 3 of my 3 weeks of pure happiness in Dana Point. Truly my sister has made a home here that is serenity embodied! You cannot be in her house and not find peace. You never want to leave!

I have been spending my days cooking and baking. The very things I planned on doing. Monday I endeavoured to make a caramelized leek-and-celery tart. It turned out pretty good if you don't count the fact that I made my own version of the dough recipe since I didn't want to use vegetable shortening and therefore my crust was a little too dry. That and the fact that I forgot to put in an essential spice for flavor! Honestly! My husband just rolled his eyes when I told him. He knows all too well that this is unfortunately something I do on a regular basis. Like the time when I made lemon bars and forgot to add the lemon juice. Or the time I baked banana bread and realized I forgot to add the eggs to the dough 5 minutes after I put it in the oven!

Well every day brings another culinary adventure! Bob says not to give up on the tarts since he knows I love them so much and have had several successes in the past. It's just sort of a large bummer when you spend the entire day making the darn thing and it doesn't turn out exactly as you hoped.

All I can say is wow how my life has changed when the only bummer in my day is how my baking turns out!

-M.

p.s. yah, the beautiful photo above is from tipnut. Not my camera!

Well, I'm off. To California that is. Remember my grand sister that has a beach house in the Dana Point area? Well she is just so wonderful as to let Bob and I go there whenever we like, so we are leaving tomorrow for 3 weeks! Yes people, 3 weeks! I really don't know what I am going to do with all of this 'downtime' on my hands. But it's a good thing. I planned this as soon as I knew I was going to close M & Co. I knew I would need some time to get my head together.

The only thing I know for sure about my life right now is that I am going to cook and bake like a crazy woman and that I am going to continue the blog. Since I am computer challenged I won't get the new blog up and running until I get home in September. I am hoping to recruit my neighbor Courtney to help me. :) Hi Court! In the meantime, I will be posting from California on the current M & Co. blog.

Have a wonderful weekend!

-M.

Picture from Craig Wolf Photography. His photos are amazing!

Life Post M & Co.

Hmmmm..... life post M & Co..... MAJOR ADJUSTMENT!!! I would like to say that the last week (my first week of freedom) was filled with bon bons and lunches with friends. The sad truth is that I was so depressed last week I didn't do anything! This is going to take some time to get used to. I mean, M & Co. was my constant companion for 10 years! I don't know what it means to not have to go to work or check in constantly (even while on vacation), or have a solid nights' sleep, and just chill.

But I am working really hard on relaxing! That's my new job right now. Well, that and housework but I'll get to that later. When mid week rolled around and I was starting to feel better mentally, I realized that physically I needed to let go as well. I have carried so much tension in my body all of these years that I literally don't know how to let it go. So, I got a massage last Thursday. The gal tried to beat me into submission and did a pretty good job of softening my muscles, but we both agreed it is going to take several times to get me loosened up. She even told me I had tension in my face! She said maybe from clenching my jaws? Who me, be tense while sleeping? I look back now on the previous massages I've had and remember concentrating so hard on trying to relax and feeling my body rigid even while they were massaging. I couldn't wait to get off the table because an hour of "down time" gave me a lot of time to think of all the things I had to get done at the store. What kind of life is that?! Don't answer that. I already know.

Every day I am feeling better and am trying to figure out some kind of organization for my life.

I can't wait to see what each new day brings!

-M.

So long M & Co. So sad to see you go!

Well, it's officially over. This is what is left of M & Co. Our beautiful cash wrap! (Does anyone want to buy it?) The last few days of the sale were a complete frenzy. Thank you to all of you who came out and helped me unload some inventory.

Since the above picture is so entirely sad, I have decided to add some photos of the store in the Glory days. Boy, did we have fun and have great product to sell! I hope you enjoy these and the memories!

-M.

The final countdown!

This is the final week of M & Co. Papery and we are CLEARING everything out! The entire store is 60% right now, with some items marked down more than 75% off. Be sure to come in on Thursday and Friday when I will be marking things down to beyond low!

I am so sad to see the end of M & Co. It has been so much fun! And I certainly loved shopping for all of those specialty items. And even though I am looking forward to a lot of time off, this is one of the hardest things I have ever done!

Domestic Bliss and I are having a Final Farewell party for M & Co. this Thursday night at M & Co. from 6 until 10 p.m. I really hope you all can make it. It will be a bittersweet ending to what has been an incredible time in my life!

-M.

(click to enlarge)

P.S. A special thank you to the girls at Zuzu's Petals (the incredible flower shop around the corner from M & Co.). They have been so kind as to send me not one but two of the most beautiful floral arrangements! One for each of the last two weeks. I have tried to photograph them to show you but my pics are not doing them justice. Thank you so much girls! Your flowers give me something to smile about.

Renovations!

These are just a few pictures of the renovations that were made to the current M & Co. location. As mentioned, this was all done in July with no air conditioning! So thanks again to my family and friends who helped me out with all of the free labor even though it was so terribly hot.


I will never forget borrowing my friend Paul's turbo fan to use while painting the walls only to discover that it was completely pink from over spray when we were done! Or getting decked out with gas masks (OK maybe they were only those flimsy white kind) to spray the moldy wall with bleach! Or the hours upon hours of muscle aching, painstaking, scraping of the front windows with my niece Jessica.


I wouldn't trade these memories for the world! The store was the realization of a dream!


-M.