Our first Saturday Night of the Season

"The boardwalk was where all of New Jersey came together; Where New Jersey for better or worse, met itself."  

- Junot Diaz, Pulitzer Prize winner, NJ native

We kinda didn't even realize it before the very moment that we left the house this past Saturday night, but we had been dying for a night like this. It wasn't some amazing life changing transcendent experience. But wow it felt good to be able to walk down to the shore on a perfect jacket-optional evening. The winter had stretched on forever, and we spent so so much time working at home huddled in front of a space heater. This little spring break for an al fresco slice of pizza felt well earned.

And jeez, if you've got a place like this within walking distance you'd be crazy not visit whenever the opportunity presented itself. The carousel in the old carousel building is gorgeous. It sits dead center in a ballroom shaped hall beneath a nearly forty foot high gabled ceiling. What is it about marquee lights? Why are they so magical?

But really, our main goal that night was to get our first slice of the year from Pizza V. When Aaron was young he actually worked here for a brief stretch, but back then it was called Pizza Villa. I believe he was paid either 1.00 or 1.25 an hour. ha! Rolling in the dough…both literally and figuratively (rolling dough balls was one of his chief duties) He mainly worked there so he could spend his summer days alongside his best friend who also worked there.

So now, it's got a new name, it's in a new building (since the original one was swept away by Hurricane Sandy), but the pizza is exactly the same. The recipe has not changed one bit. 

As a rule, all up and down the Jersey Shore, boardwalk slices are substantially larger than most pizza parlor slices

And they're always thicker, they fold great, and never flop. Perfectly designed to be eaten while standing or walking while also trying to keep an eye your clan of kiddies. 

Yeah, did I mention that I love marquee lights?

There are a handful of adult sized rides but the park in general leans toward a kiddie audience. I actually worked in this section of the park when I was a teen. My job was at the top of the Super Slide putting little kids in burlap sacks and sending them down the slide. Among my coworkers the ride you see above and below was only called the Mini Himi.

I love that each cart is adorned with a mini winter scene.

This ride, The Crazy Caterpillar, dates back to before me and Aaron were even born I believe. Of course it's been repainted a million times over though.

And yeah, one must get something fried and absurd when one visits a boardwalk. I think Confucius said that.

At the very last boardwalk stand they've got Funnel Cakes and Fried Oreos, pictured above is the latter.  I swear, what a strategically placed business. It's almost an afterthought…like, oh before we go home let me get one last bite of absurdity. Also, it's a perfect last minute treat-stop because the night is over, and who cares anymore about getting a third cup of powdered sugar all down your front.

What a perfect way to spend our first Saturday night out of the season. 

We hope to bring you guys many more Jersey Shore sights and experiences this summer!

xo, Jenny & Aaron

It's beginning to look a lot like...

There are two kinds of people in this world. There are those who get utterly psyched when they see an all out blitz of Holiday stuff in the first week of November. And there are the other ones who just want to scream: "TOO SOON!" 

And If you read this blog, we'd guess you are most likely one of the psyched individuals. I've been looking back through my Instagram feed at all the pics from last Holiday season. It was months of non-stop production line style work over here. Ornaments galore! Cutting and sanding, and glittering, and packing. Some of the longest days ever. Sure, it was exhausting, and the whole season was pretty much a whirlwind…but we loved it, and it seemed like it was over in the blink of an eye. So now all of the sudden it is that time of year again! We are trying to get a jump on things. We spent the last few days splitting our time between working on current orders, and finishing up the prototypes of our ornament offerings for this year. We are so excited about all the new designs! And of course some of our best selling classics are back! 

We've got Pizza slices! plain or pepperoni. And if you are vegan...we'll send you a daiya cheese, and veg pepperoni version! (wink wink)

A trio of macarons! 

Of course we have donuts! 

Yep...Pancakes! Who wouldn't want these on the tree?! They bring to mind cozy Sunday mornings with the family. Perfect for the holiday season.

Kitty cats! We just launched these 24 hours ago, and already we are blown away by the response! Lots and lots of Kitties will be on their way to new homes.

Our classic vintage inspired "cardboard" houses. (with glittery accents…which you can't see in the photo…but the glitter makes them magical.)

And another classic ornie…our cherry topped cupcakes! These come as a set of 4 just like the houses.

We have a bunch more coming over the next few days, and we are bringing back our Starlets as well! We are so excited! Can't wait to share them with you guys!

We've also been working on lots of diecuts around here! The most popular right now are the Donuts. 

And apparently the cold weather has been the cause of lots of pizza cravings. We're shipping a bunch of these!

It never gets old to us seeing stacks of pizza boxes and bakery boxes.

We are really looking forward to the holiday hustle. We just ordered a bunch of supplies and made lots of lists. And from what I've been seeing online…most of our maker/crafter friends are feeling the holiday buzz! I'm loving all of the fun previews of whats to come in the handmade world this season! I look forward to buying lots of handmade gifts this year! 

Are you working on any holiday designs? Getting supplies together for December Daily albums? Planning cookie baking recipes? 

I'd love to hear about what you've been doing in preparation of the holidays. 

Thanks for popping in!!

xo Jenny…and Aaron says hi!

Around here

We had been locked into a pretty tight schedule for the past week and really couldn't find the time to run our usual errands. So this morning we decided to take a trip to Target, which is a great store to hit if you want to do all of your shopping under one roof. Aaron got some tshirts, we got some dog stuff for Carlos, make-up, and a whole bunch of groceries. 

Before we left I realized that I had not yet posted a pic since touching up my hair color. I shared a pic on Instagram the other day showing my hair dye boxes...one pink, one lavender. I figured I could mix the colors to get the exact shade of pink I was looking for.

 Right before me and Aaron left for Target I snapped this Ussie. I definitely like the new shade. It's not a drastic change but I can see it.

I've had pink hair for years. I've tried many many brands and shades. I was platinum blonde forever before going pink, so I was already used to bleaching. I like my pink to be very pale, but there aren't any great straight from the bottle pale pink dyes. So I often will mix a magenta type pink with conditioner to dilute the color. 

I was very happy to find this new dye color at Sally Beauty Supply. The shade is Rose, and the brand is Ion (Color Brilliance). I had used it last month as well, but this month I decided to pick up a tube of Lavender to mix with the Rose. It was exactly like mixing paint. I got the tone I was looking for...making sure to go with a cooler shade, that way the finished product wouldn't have any peachy tones.  

Well, I'm very happy with the outcome you see in the above pic.

I know that in my last post I mentioned that we were having a 20% off sale in our shop...and that the sale code was PIZZAPARTY. But I forgot to actually share our brand new pizza slice diecuts. I had shared them on Instagram and Facebook, and totally thought I shared them here on the blog as well. We've been super busy working on brand new die cuts. We now have macarons, pizza, doughnuts, bunny babies, and a couple new signs as well. The warm weather always gets our inspiration up.

 We offer the slices in plain and pepperoni! And Vegan options as well! (wink wink)

And ready for this... they come in real pizza parlor boxes! So fun right? 

And there is nothing more rewarding to an artist than when other people "get it". And when we went through our latest invoices we realized that tons of people "got it"! So many orders for our brand new designs. Above is just a portion of the die cuts we had to trace and cut out on the scroll saw.

Again, the weather was gorgeous, so Aaron did all of the wood cutting out on our sunny deck. It really was about two days straight of cutting and sanding. As you can see from the above pic...Aar was exhausted.

And today after we put away our groceries and stuff that we got at Target, we decided that it would be an absolute crime not to go out and enjoy the weather. If not for our own good...then at least for the sake of our little old man Carlos. He's been craving a trip up to the beach. 

It was PERFECT weather. There were people swimming all up and down the shore.

I put my feet in the water and it was CHILLY!

Carlos also cooled his heels a few times in the waves. It was great...he'd stand there facing away from the water, and then a wave would sneak up on him and he'd scurry away.

He really loves it up on the beach. I feel like he's so distracted when we walk the neighborhood with sniffing every tree and bush in sight. On the beach he just hangs out.

Ok, just wanted to check in. Tonight True Blood returns for it's final season. We've got some organizing to do before then. And tomorrow it's back to our orders. We hope all of you guys are having a wonderful Sunday!

xo, Jenny & Aaron