Note to Self. April 23 2019

It's been some time, during which so much life has happened. Catch up with me at mammothandminnow.com and on Instagram @mammothandminnow.

I'm returning to this space to take some notes to self. Here are two links that have caught my eye recently.

One.
A tour of Caitlin Mociun's Brooklyn home. It's 917 square feet, about the size of our place in Queens! I'm loving all of the quirky touches and custom work, particularly that Max Lamb marmoreal countertop.

Two.

Paris. We've booked a week in the City of Lights for September and have already begun to do extensive research. One of our favorite tools is look through Paris travel blogs. We found the Local Milk guide especially helpful. 

Mammoth & Minnow launch!

Excited to share that I've set up my online shop! I've wanted to go in this direction for a while as a way to further lean into my little shop. I'll continue to keep operating my Etsy shop since participating in an online marketplace where many customers go is a smart move. 

In addition to that, I wanted a separate space where I could showcase my work, refine my brand and line, and share a bit more of myself than I'm able to through Etsy. 

I spent the latter half of August setting up my site using the Wix platform which has so far been very user friendly. Since publishing the site at the end of August, I've been working on blog posts for the site's blog, In Between. 

There, I'll share behind the scenes updates and new items and collections as well as feature travel, beauty, living, wellness - anything and everything I'm interested in that aligns with Mammoth and Minnow's mission of celebrating the beauty in small things and inhabiting and enriching all aspects of the bigger picture of your life. 

Light Lab continues on as my personal blog. Posts such as my Sunday Thoughts and monthly to do lists are a bit personal for In Between. This site has long functioned as a open journal and goal setting space and has chronicled so much of my growth personally and professionally. 

I'm happy to be able to evolve the shop and the content of M&m while still having this place to retreat to and share my hopes and fears. 

The August list

Another (mostly) recap month rather than a to-do list. So much has happened.. we're in the depths of summer and this year, now that we're married, I think back to the days when early August made me increasingly sad. It signaled the end of summer which meant that Kev and I would have to part for our respective college towns. 

How different it is now, to be barely paying attention to this coming change in the seasons.

One. Use or lose some beauty products. I want to make room in the apartment as well as make way for better skincare products, including DIY ones.

Two. Start building inventory up for an online store. Kev helped me purchase the mammothandminnow domain, and while I haven't yet set up my online shop, I'm in planning mode about what items I want to start out with.

Three. Clean, cook, repeat.

Four. Restart a subscription to the New Yorker and plug back in. I absolutely love the writing in the New Yorker and marvel at how I can be drawn into long form articles on topics that do not interest me at all. I learn so much from being a reader of this magazine.

Five. For Kevin's 30th birthday, my main "present" to him is to take the time to look ahead and plan out our goals and next steps. One of the small things in this vein is to make our space a happy place. To that end, I bought three large underbid storage drawers from the Container Store to allow us to clear the clutter that so easily develops in our home. This month, I want to utilize them, fill them up, and make space to breathe.

Six. Get back to Pinterest. Lately I've felt a thirst for visual inspiration and want to use the great wide world of Pinterest to help focus my current mood/style/tastes.

Updates on my July list

One. Fitz training. We have a lot of time to make up for with this little guy. He's got Sit down, and is doing really well on Stay. Update: He's getting there! He can stay without us being the same room, but he still has room for improvement. Hux is at a point where he'll wait for 30 minutes or more. Fitz is still just under a minute.. that cute, excited boy.

Two. Try new clay. Update: I'm doing it! I'm currently working with both speckle brown clay on the wheel and hand building as well as porcelain hand building. I'm starting to be able to tell the difference in texture between the clays. 

Three. Prepare for Big Sky Pond. Update: Big Sky Pond was a blast. It was summer, concentrated. I only wish we'd been there a little longer! 

Four. Dabble in DIY beauty. Annie is super into this idea too and I'm already dreaming of all of the different things we'll make in my little kitchen using baking tools and random jars. Update: We made activated charcoal and tee tree oil soap together that I've been using as my makeup remover and I really like it. I bought her a DIY beauty book for her birthday and we're both looking forward to our next projects.

Five. Spend time building my Mammoth & Minnow Instagram account. Update: Check it out! I'm keeping at it! 

Six. Sew something. Anything! Update: I'm not done, but I've started to sew together the pieces of a cardigan I knit earlier in the year. That counts, right?