the bones of her hands

I'm still reeling from the madness that was yesterday and the craziness that is today. I felt calm and at ease, though, despite the steady traffic that made its way into the downtown area. I am truly grateful. I took a break and did a bit of shopping at the farmers market, the small, temporary shop that the Collar City Clay Guild set up for the holiday season, and a craft fair, all within a two minute walk from my shop. Amazing. I bought some really great garlic and cheese bread at the market and a beautiful stoneware bowl from the Guild. Good stuff.

The holidays are indeed upon us and people are out shoppin'! In fact, it seems like our little push to encourage people to skip the big box stores and buy handmade (and local!) this holiday season is really paying off. I've had the chance to talk with some of the other business owners in the area today and we all share the same story: yesterday's sales were insane, and today's aren't too shabby either! Thank god! Even one of the local newspapers wrote about it today. This is wonderful news.

So after closing up shop, I decided to stop in to check out two new stores I had heard rave reviews about but never visited. If you live in the Troy area, you must visit The Spinning Seed! I finally made it there and the store is amazing! I met the owner a while back and knew that someone that charming must have an incredible shop to show off. I was right. You can buy eco-friendly products for your children, your pets, your friends, your kids, and most importantly, yourself! I saw many things there that I'd love to have, and there are a few items that I recognize from Etsy, too. The shop itself is so pretty and warm and I wandered through several times just taking everything in. Very sweet...I was so glad to hear that business has been good there because I really want this shop to stick around!

After leaving The Spinning Seed, I headed back onto River Street and into the antiques district to check out Vintage Chic Furniture. I'd be lying if I said I knew about this shop before reading about it on one of my new favorite blogs. I love the antiques district and I can spend hours upon hours poking around in the shops at that end of the street...any new stores there are welcome in my opinion. Anyway, this shop is so sweet and I think I left little trails of drool around all of the gorgeous furniture I could only wish for. So nice.

Anyway, I'll stop raving about Troy now because I feel like I'm doing an awful lot of that lately. I can't help it though...this city is really starting to pull itself back up after being down for so, so long and I'm honestly honored to be a part of it.