GROWop Video Tour

Last week I made this silly little video while playing with my new Iphone. I used the 8mm app- which is super duper fun and you should totally get it if you don't already have it. Take a looksy.




XXOO,
Ashley


Wanna help us survive the blazing Arizona summer? Go here to read more about our fundraising efforts!

Facts About Arizona Summers [[Help Us Stay in Business]]

Fact: Arizona is hot as hell in the Summer.

It's so hot in Arizona in the Summer, you start sweating when you walk out the door first thing (like, before 7) in the morning, regularly burn yourself on the seatbelt clicker, get sunburned driving in your car, and can cook eggs on the street (not really- we tried it one time to no avail).

Angelina Rose Photography

Fact: It's way hot for at least 5 months out of the year.

May's Average High Temperature: 93

June's Average High Temperature: 103

July's Average High Temperature: 105

August's Average High Temperature: 103

September's Average High Temperature: 99

info source

Fact: The average summer high temperature is the hottest of any area in the United States after Death Valley, which is the hottest of any major city in the United States, and approaches those of cities such as Riyadh and Baghdad. The temperature reaches or exceeds 100°F(38°) on an average of 110 days during the year, including most days from late May through early September, and highs top 110 °F (43 °C) an average of 18 days during the year. On June 26, 1990, the temperature reached an all-time recorded high of 122 °F (50 °C). Thank you Wikipedia.

Fact: The GROWop has no air conditioning.

Fact: Without AC, we will be out of business until the weather cools down : (

Fact: A super special, amazing person donated a four ton AC unit! Now we need to raise money to get this little (big) baby installed! Anything will help! Got an extra nickle layin around? That's more than we had yesterday! Anything, I mean ANYTHING, would be such an amazing help. 

Fact: We are having a fundraiser. If you're local please stop by. It'll be fun, with local music, live painting, a dance floor, bonfire and more. Pretty please help us spread the word about this important event!

Best Weekend

Hey all. How was your Superbowl weekend? I actually had like, probably the best weekend in a loooong long time. Friday was the First Fridays Art Walk in dowtown Phoenix. I walked into the GROWop to man the post and what do I see?

Sorry for the bad bad picture.

The ah-mazing cash wrap!! We had been talking and designing and figuring things out for some time. But our suuuuper talented friend finally finished it and delivered it just in time for First Fridays. He made it from a pile of scrap wood. Can you even believe it? It's more than perfect. 

Then I went out to Mesa to see my buddy Jesse's band Red Son play at the Nile's one year anniversary.  Even though their music is intense, they are pretty much the nicest people in the whole planet and it was way fun to be able to see my buds killin it. Afterwards, Andrea-

Yeah, bad pictures again.

 the cutest little lady in the whole world- and I went dancin and met up with a giant gaggle of friends. It was super fun and I was happy the two groups could hang a bit and mingle.

Saturday was nice and relaxing. I got to spend some time hanging with the ladies of The Roose and my momma, while AJ put the magic touch on mom's hairs. She left lookin like a million bucks, but AJ wouldn't have it any other way. Then we went for lunch at one of my favorite downtown restaurants, Carly's Bistro.

Saturday night I got to hang with my buddy Dasi. We went to Josh's birthday party, my adorable business partner at the GROWop.

Kenny and Josh- I stole this off someone's facebook.

Poor guy got hit hard with the awful sickness that's been goin around. But he bucked up for his bowling party Saturday night.

Afterwards, Dasi and I went to Lost Leaf, had some girl time, and met up with our other friends.

(Funny side note: This guy came up to talk to Dasi and I and proceeded to tell us how no one at that bar likes blondes, hahaha. Don't really know what he was talking about or what that meant but... People are weird.)

Sunday I slept in nice and late. All last week I was suuuper sick and so it was nice to have a little time to rest up and fight this thing off for good. I cleaned my house all nice-like and headed over to my parents for super bowl festivities. (I mostly just napped in my sister's bed while watching SVU though). But then my favorite little boy in the whole world came over and we played games and ran around the back yard with little Humphrey.

Riley

Humphrey

Then I went over to my friends to watch the end of the Superbowl game. I'm not gonna lie though, I don't really like sports or the infamous commercials- which, am I right?, seemed to be severely lacking. I mean I only saw a few but the ones I saw were way lame. Anyways, it was super fun to be able to mingle with all my buds all weekend long. I love them all so much and I am so lucky to finally have some totally sincere, totally rad, and totally hilarious folks to call my friends. Lucky me : )

What did you do this weekend?? Did you eat lots of bad, yummy foods while watching the game? Did your team win??

Three reasons why I'm super excited

I am so excited. For several reasons.

Here are three.

One
I ordered new glasses!! They are super rad and adorable. Check em out.  (Don't mind that awful face I'm making ok?)

Two
I got a verizon Iphone. Woot Woo! Ordered it up first thing this morning (well, because I'm sick my mom woke up bright and early to order it for me- she's the best).

(hello!)

Three
The amazingly talented Katy Verga is the newest consigner here at the GROWop!! I met Katy at the Crafeteria, a local indie craft fair. I instantly fell in love with her dolls and wanted to be best friends. 

 Each little doll comes with a name and a story and kinds of cute little touches- see the glasses and scarf?

This is Teddy and Samson. Here's Samson's story : )
"Samson most enjoys bird watching. He can preform any bird call you request from him, from the Blue Jay to the House Finch, to the Mockingbird song. He has recently taken an interest in carpentry."

Suuper adorable- I love them so much!

Since I am sick and it's cold (we are lacking any sort of temperature control here at the shop), I'm gonna bundle up, eat some thai food and watch the Danielson Famile movie on my sister's Netflix <3

GROWop Photo Tour Part 2

Kenny, Josh and I run the GROWop, a small co-op in downtown Phoenix (902 N. 6th Street) . Our goal is to help small, independant businesses grow and flourish in the community. There are so many talented folks out there, some who already have Etsy shops or consign in local boutiques who are trying to expand their efforts and spread their talent and we wanna be the ones to help. Right now we have about seven consigners and are working hard to reach out to some more. We have big goals and are searching for likeminded people to join our consignment team. If you make quality handmade items and would like to inquire about consigning at the GROWop please email us with some photos of the things you make and a little snippet about yourself at merrymayhandmade@gmail.com or growopboutique@gmail.com.

This might be my favorite thing in the whole shop. Kenny made this book shelf (get it?) out of a whole buncha hard cover books. I love it. It's real heavy.

I really want to work on creating a big and adorable children's section.

These hand bound sketch books are super awesome and each cover is handpainted.

In the back we have this great little work space. Things are coming together slowly but surely. It's going to be suuuuuper awesome.

I hope you enjoyed the tour. If you're local pop in and visit : )

GROWop Photo Tour Part 1

Today is the day! It's time for a photo tour of the GROWop, the co-op I run with my buddies Josh and Kenny. Stop back tomorrow for part two!

XXOO 
Hope you had a great weekend : )

Collaborative Consumption

First off- I'm so excited! I had been wanting to tell y'all all about the little co-op I run with my friends, the GROWop but somehow forces were against me. I wanted to share pictures, do interviews, a street tour and more. However, the first time I forgot my camera. The second time I brought my camera, only to realize the batteries were super dead. But yesterday was my day- I was so on- and finally, I got a bunch of photos. YES! This is happening. Expect a post or two in the coming week : )

Second- I found this super interesting video the other day. It's all about this new book, What's Mine is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption, by Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers; "Collaborative Consumption describes the rapid explosion in traditional sharing, bartering, lending, trading, renting, gifting, and swapping redefined through technology and peer communities". Yes please! So interesting!



I hope you all have wonderful, wonderful Fridays! XXOO


P.S. Thankful Thursday's will be back in full force next week. Sorry for slacking my loves!

I miiiiissssed yooouuu!

I'm back! I had a super fun time in Nashville and met loads of cool folks (with super cute accents). I was really bummed to discover that the camera I brought was missing a memory card : ( Boo. So no pictures. But trust that it was super lovely. It snowed while I was there and we ate cookies and drank cocoa and everyone went sledding (on cookie sheets!I didn't go sledding, though. Of course, this silly ol Phoenix girl was ill-prepared for cold weather).

I got back last week but tried to avoid technology for a bit. It was bittersweet. It was kinda nice to be disconnected for a bit. But I missed you all a whole bunch!!

Belle and Boo

***

On a different note- I have spent a while thinking about everything. I have decided to put my Etsy on hold for a bit. I really want to spend more time working on the GROWop and on this blog! If you haven't already noticed, I tend to spread myself a little thin. Aaaand I also tend to be a little all over the place, haha. I think it would be really beneficial for me to refine my goals, hobbies, and style. So I was wondering if you might help me? What do you like about this blog? What would you like to see more or less of?

• How-tos
• Fashion/style
• Vintage
• Guest posts
• Art
• Inspiration
• Featured bloggers
• GROWop
• Series
• Anything else?

 I really love being able to "spend time" with you folks and would so appreciate your input!

Hugs!!

This weekend!

This weekend the GROWop will be having a booth at the Basement Boutique! We are so excited to be able to be a part of this, with suck esteemed companies as Flour Vintage, which offers some of the best vintage around, and Seesaw Designs, which has letterpress cards, calenders, and more. Stop by if you're around!! It's gonna be good.

Find out more here.

Shop and Share

This weekend is the Shop and Share!   Spending your money at local businesses is an amazing gift to the businesses, community, and even to yourself! And it gets even better because participating businesses will donate 10% of their day's sales to Valley Leadership's Valley Teen Leadership Program.

Many of the shops on Roosevelt Row are participating in this great event (all of sixth street- woo!). Take a stroll, get some grub, and get all your Christmas shopping finished.

Thankful Thursdays v12

This Thursday I am thankful for.....

The GROWop!!!

The GROWop in the little artist co-op I kinda run with my friends, Josh and Kenny.

Aren't they so cute?

So here's how it all began. There's this pretty urban garden (that Kenny runs) in downtown Phoenix called the Growhouse. Josh and Kenny had been trying to get their little boutique, inside the house on the property, up and running for quite some time. So I went to Kenny and asked if maybe I could be a part of it. Both the boys seemed really excited and we got it up and running soon after.

The GROWop is filled with lots of handmade and found items from our wonderful and talented consigners. It's jam packed with tons of amazing finds- whenever I'm there I just want to buy everything! I am so excited that Kenny, Josh and I have very similar tastes and visions. I love that we can talk and share ideas and that we get to hang out so much. These boys are seriously amazing and inspiring and I am so so thankful that I get to work with them.

The GROWop has only been open for a short while but things are looking good. Each day I get more and more excited about what we are doing and where we might go. Things are slowing down around here- I completed my sewing class (woo!), the Crafeteria, and am transitioning into my new position at work. I can't wait to have a ton of extra time to spend investing in our little dream. I'm so so happy and so thankful for the GROWop and Josh and Kenny. 

If you're local, stop by the GROWop (902 N. 6th street in downtown Phoenix)! We are open Friday and Saturday from 11 to 7 and Sunday from 11 to 5. Questions? Interested in consigning? Just wanna say hi?Contact us at growopboutique@gmail.com.

Frances Crafeteria/Urban Beans

This weekend was so fun. First off I started by participating the 5th annual Crafeteria at Frances, Phoenix's best indie craft fair. It was so fun and I met so many cool people! I even had a few folks come up to my booth and tell me they read my blog!! (Hello Ladies!!) It was so so exciting!

I did not exactly have time to get some really good pictures, which is a total bummer cause there was some seriously cute stuff I know y'all would love. I sold upcycled/repurposed grandpy sweaters and fur collars, and doily bowls filled with vintage ornaments. I was honored to display some things Etsy sent us on my booth. It was fun being able to talk to people about Etsy and the handmade movement.

On Sunday we had a booth at Urban Beans, a really good coffee shop here is Phoenix (7th st just North of Osborn. My friends Andrea and Rebecca work there so be sure to say hello!) It was really fun to spend the day surrounded my all the pretty things in our shop, relaxing after a busy weekend. 

Kenny, one of my partners in the GROWop also runs the urban garden that surrounds our shop (I know, I know I seriously need to tell you all about the GROWop and show you pictures). He brought some veggies for us to package and sell. It was so good to be able to just hang out with Kenny and I am so so excited for where the GROWop is going. I think we've got a pretty special team and I am so thankful for my boys : )

How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun? Anyone celebrate Hanukkah (is that spelled right?)?