The Latest
Greetings from the week after Labor Day, AKA the technical end to summer!
Labor Day weekend is meaningful in many ways. It is the weekend I met Tommy and also the weekend we got married exactly a year ago. For all of us, it ushers in a new season: back to school, fall festivals, preparations for holidays to come, and a sense of going back to reality. Living at the shore now, I am so grateful that summer doesn’t *quite* feel over yet since the beach is at our fingertips, but this year is funny because it took all the way up until September for us to actually relax and enjoy our new digs. I wish I had a reset button were we could start the summer over and could enjoy the season in its entirety from our new home. However, I also know that we have plenty of more summers to spend here so I’ll just have to be patient! We are very excited for what the fall will bring too. Being in a beautiful setting where we get to see the leaves change in our backyard will be refreshing after being surrounded by concrete for so many years.
One of our many morning walks with Weej - we have to pinch ourselves!
Entering Cox Hall Creek Wildlife Management Area, a nearby park with walking trails
THE HOUSE
In terms of house projects, painting took about 2 full weeks due to the intense spackling that had to take place before paint could even touch the walls. It was pretty tough living in boxes for that long, but it was well worth the sacrifice because with new floors and paint, the house feels completely different. Beyond that, we’ve been gradually decorating and as many of you saw, Facebook marketplace has become my new best friend! In addition, we have frequented West End Garage, ReStore CM, The Arc of Cape May, and a teeny bit of Home Goods to round out our furnishings. Tommy’s buddy who helped us with our floors made more magic happen by converting our old pantry closet into an open “coffee bar” concept with cabinets, floating shelves, and shiplap walls. I love it so much. Our bathrooms, kitchen, and light fixtures still need updating, and our bedrooms still have the old carpet in them which drives me crazy, but again I realize that we have to be patient by prioritizing our projects (and budget).
I also have a love-hate relationship with the backyard. Gardening, which I can’t really take any credit for because everything came from the prior owner, has made me so happy. We have rosemary, sage, tomatoes, peppers, asparagus, and figs galore. The disdain is because I have no idea how to actually maintain a yard and do real landscaping. We paid considerable money to have landscapers tear out pre-existing overgrowth, but we are a little bewildered with what to do now, especially going into fall and winter. If anyone is good with landscaping, I would love to pick your brain because we could definitely use pointers.
The coffee table and accent table were FB finds. The little blue vase was picked off the street for free in South Philly!
We painted mostly white, which was a tough choice but allows us the most flexibility with decorating. Luigi is my muse if you couldn’t already tell!
THE NEIGHBORHOOD
We have bopped around to a few more places since my last post in August. We took Luigi to the dog park in Wildwood to socialize a few times. We grabbed some delicious “skinny” orange crushes with friends at Exit Zero’s Ferry Park location (by the CM x Lewes Ferry station). The insider tip I learned is to order them skinny if you want to cut some of the sweetness, which I was a big fan of! We had dinner at a BYO in our neighborhood, The Olive Branch, which was yummy. Coming from Philly, we love an easy BYO situation. Fleck’s Ice Cream was indeed the most classic of ice cream parlors. We were laughing at how people just love to line up for ice cream, rain or shine! Then of course, we made return trips to some spots I mentioned in prior posts like Bravado Coffee Cafe and Duckie’s Farm Market. Candidly, we haven’t really gone out much since we are trying to be cost conscious with all the spending we are doing with the house. Thanks to our wonderful realtor, we have a gift card to Primal that we look forward to using once we feel a little more settled. I will definitely share about that when the time comes! Any other tips on cool places to peruse (especially going into the fall/winter), please let me know!
Elaine’s in Cape May - the hydrangeas and string lights begged for a photo!
Should I become a hand model? Skinny orange crush with nice views at Exit Zero, Ferry Park.
THE JOB
Saving the “best” for last again - my job! A lot has actually happened in this area of life since last month. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to attend NY Now with one of my relatives who is acting as a professional mentor, and it was really impactful. NY Now takes place in the Javitz Center in New York City and is one of the country’s largest retail trade shows that specializes in gifts. Being back in Manhattan in a retail setting was a huge breath of fresh air. That’s how my career started and I have gotten quite far from those roots with what I do today. It was amazing to be surrounded by like-minded people who share the same passions as me.
Walking into NY Now - hard to tell from this angle, but it was a massive show.
Repping Jinxed from Philly - felt cool but I think I should stick to hand modeling only! ;)
I harnessed the positive energy from NY Now and started to take action with my own retail business. I know that if I want to hit the ground running as I transition away from my full time job in a few months, I need to start preparing now. I took the leap and formulated an LLC (hello, Spruce Lane Shoppe!), started on some graphic design projects, and am working on building my first assortment of inventory to sell online. My hope is that having a clear representation of what I intend to sell will help propel me towards appearing at local pop-ups and possibly getting a space within a local co-op shop. This all is so exciting but as I have said before, it is still really daunting. The realer it gets, the higher the stakes feel. When people ask me what I plan to sell, I kind of fumble over my words because I’m figuring it out. I have a general “aesthetic” in mind, but turning ideas into a tangible reality can be a bit touch and go. It’s scary to think that I am going to put something out there and there will be people who are not going to like it or want to buy from me. As a business owner, I have to have a level of comfort with rejection and be persistent. On the flip, when I do actually get things off the ground, I know I will feel so energized by the first sales that I make. It’s all just a big learning process and I’m here for it - good or bad.
With all that said, you probably are wondering what Spruce Lane Shoppe actually is going to materialize into. I would like to think it is the years I have spent as a passionate retail blogger and IG’er materializing into my own curation of locally made goods for you to shop. My goal is to get my website in a much better place by October, so let’s chat again soon and I’ll let you know where I’m at ! In the meantime, all the support and encouragement means the world so thank you to those who have reached out as a result of these blog posts. I love that you are reading and feel inspired in your own ways. I have always enjoyed hearing personal success stories and seeing people follow their passions. If you want to chat about that or really anything, please don’t hesitate to reach out!
I wish you all a fantastic kickoff to fall and look forward to staying connected in the weeks ahead!