3 porch farm's annual plant sale!

this saturday, march 29, 3 porch farm will host their second annual plant sale at their farm outside of comer, georgia...it is sure to be a fun time! with activities and food from athens friends such as home.made, treehouse kid&craft, double dutch press and live music, it will be a fun day in the country! click here for directions and more info.

first day of spring

happy spring! enjoy it…whether you are surrounded by sunshine and flowers or still in snow…know the flowers will soon come!

words and photographs by rinne allen

mariska karasz

i was updating my website this week and i added a few pieces that i wrote and photographed (with my sister) for selvedge magazine...one of them was about the artist mariska karasz, and i thought i would share her work today. i was introduced to her work through the scholar ashley callahan, a former curator at the georgia museum of art here in athens. ashley wrote a book about mariska's life and work in conjunction with an exhibit at the museum a few years ago. mariska's work is so inspiring- her stitches, her colors...but, what i especially love is that she took so much inspiration from her daughters...she made things just for them, like the alphabet embroidery excerpted below (which i adore) and, through sewing with her daughters, she eventually penned her "see & sew" book. one thing we talk about alot here at beauty everyday is the fact that we are all three mothers and how that influences/confluences with our creative lives...it is a long topic that will never end...you may read more about mariska here.

photograph by rinne allen

today, i just walked

yesterday i went to the botanical gardens.  it was the most beautiful day with sun on my shoulder and not a single cloud in the sky.  i grabbed my camera and hiked around as I normally do.  over the years I have developed a habit of bringing my camera everywhere i go.  this way i can never say, oh i wish i had my camera.  well walking through the gardens i took my first picture of some lovely magnolia blooms.  NO MEMORY CARD!  at first i was pretty bummed that i forgot it and then thought.... i could just walk.  it was one of those things that felt so different to me.  i realized that we live in an age where we always have technology to capture every moment.  taking the time to just open all of my senses to nature was eye opening and liberating.  while i will never say that developing a habit of taking your camera nearly everywhere you go is a bad thing, sometimes it is nice to just walk.

red clay paint

our friends cassie and david redid their house and their living room is now a deep red clay color. they actually used red clay from their yard, mixed it with a little water, and spread it across their walls…how great and how southern. plus, we love how the colorful art from lou kregel and terry rowlett looks against it too.

photos and words by rinne allen

ryan hidinger & the giving kitchen

it saddens us to hear that atlanta-based chef ryan hidinger passed away yesterday. please take a moment to read about the non-profit that grew out of his experience, the giving kitchen & consider supporting their cause.

see-through fireplace

my friend, john malone, restored a few old log houses on his property. in one of them, he said it was just too dark, so he decided to replace the fireplace and chimney with glass,and just build the framework out of strips of wood!

words & photographs by rebecca wood

a little gift basket

the other day we were asked to create a gift guide for a friend's blog, arrowhead vintage.  it was a fun task....and hard to narrow down.

1.  Autumn Print by Hope Hilton available at

Double Dutch Press

2. Arrow Print by Megan Fowler available at

Arrow

3.  Cine gift card available at

Cine

4.  3 Porch Farm goodies  available at the farmers market and at

3 Porch Farm

5.  Our Book Beauty Everyday by Rinne Allen, Kristen Bach, and Rebecca Wood available at Avid,

R.Wood Studio

, and

TREEHOUSE kid and craft

6.  Take Root Calendar by Brown Parcel Press available at

TREEHOUSE kid and craft

7.  Homemade Catering gift card  available at

Homemade 

8.  Red Mule grits available at

Red Mule Grits

and the farmers market

The coast in December

Rebecca and I are heading to charleston this weekend for the garden & gun jubilee...

But, we stopped off for the night to stay in a cabin on edisto and woke up to this view. Beautiful.

Words & photograph by rinne allen

love local, buy local

last weekend we made a road trip up to asheville to our new favorite shop,

villagers

. we had a nice drive and were able to catch up and visit. we talked almost the whole ride about athens and what makes it so great. really, it is the people we have here, and all that they bring to our community. we are very lucky to have such committed citizens in our town.

most everyone we know is working to make athens better, in one way or another...whether in the big picture or the little picture. one of the best ways to help our community stay great, and grow stronger, is to BUY LOCAL. at this time of year, especially, it is important to keep your hard earned dollars in our community. this simple step keeps the cycle going. our small shops and businesses may not have the

individual

impact of a big box store, but, combined, they contribute econmically AND culturally. they help create a community that makes people want to stay here and live and raise their families, and also a place to come visit. that, in turn, yields an economic impact that is hard to measure, but one that certainly could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with that of a larger chain store.

also, it should be noted, that even buying from a chain store locally, is better than buying online, in that a portion of the dollars spent stay in our community, but tomorrow is Small Business Saturday, so please try to buy local (and SMALL) this holiday season, wherever you may live- there is so much to discover! xoxo, Athens