Today is, oddly, my 10th anniversary of blogging. Luckily most of it is tucked away private on LiveJournal, because whew! when I read back, it makes me want to just tuck my smaller self into a little nest. Anyway!

I am here to tell you that my fancier half has started his own blog – Leaf & Arrow. The name comes from combining our last names – Lee-Ferro, Leaf Arrow. I’m excited to see what he blogs about. He ALSO had a secret blog when we met, and I’ve never seen it. Hmmm, what will the inner workings reveal???

While in SF she studied tailoring, and now has one of the most unique Etsy shops around. Custom denim is few and far between, and her designs are absolute perfection. Custom denim!!! To your measurements!! Seriously!!!! She designs and hand makes every single aspect of each piece – from pattern making to grading to sewing. So rare these days! Exclamation points!!!

& a wee studio peek – I love those windows. Ok, these posts have convinced me that a trip to Asheville is needed immediately.

I was planning on a double power “the ones you know” Asheville based post about 2 of my favorite ladies on this planet, Anna & Karie, but there’s just too much goodness for a single post!

So I’ll start with Karie – I met Karie in SF & within minutes of meeting I was curled up on her sofa chatting like I’d known her for life. She later moved to Vermont & I was hoping she’d stay until I moved back, but she headed onward to Asheville. She met Anna at my wedding & they are both amazing magic-makers, and soon to head out to the Brooklyn Renegade Craft Fair together.

from my wedding, by emily ferro

Also, she has gap teeth. Commence mad jealousy now.

In her words: I was born in late June and love warm weather. I like blueberry picking, jumping in clear rivers, and watching sunsets with good buddies. I’m originally from southern California, but have lived in Washington DC, Brooklyn NY, Big Sur as well as San Francisco CA, Warren, Vermont, and just recently moved to Asheville, NC with my partner Rob. I’m excited to stay in one place for a while! My mother, Marcie, is a crafter, and when I was little I would travel to different craft fairs with her. That being said, I didn’t really start sewing until I was in high school. My best friend Valerie and I would come to my house after school and take apart clothing to see how it was made and then put in back together again. Since then I’ve been evolving my work in all sorts of ways – most recently focusing on handbags. I really love simple, durable materials like leather and canvas, but always with bright colors. I like to make things that are representative of how I try to live my life: gently, artfully and with a focus on quality, not quantity.

By the way, I have Valerie to thank for introducing us. Another amazing lady!! Thanks, mama!

Karie’s recently opened Etsy shop is TEARING IT UP. I love these satchels and tool wraps. So good! She’s also posting more on her blog, Shelter. In Vermont, she worked at Yestermorrow & Shelter continues to track her building inspiration & sewing projects. Check it out for gorgeous handmade houses and lots of original content. She also made the archery targets at our wedding, and started moss graffiti wedding direction signs – they unfortunately didn’t grow enough before the wedding, but the idea was amazing. She rules!

Take a look at her studio space & some wonderful things from her shop.

All images courtesy Shelter. Do not use without credit.

What I allowed to be a short rest and recovery after the wedding is fast becoming stagnation. I have plans! Things to tackle!! Time to get up and go! Rest is well & good, but sometimes we need to recharge like a car battery – in motion. I’ve allowed myself to rest long enough – now it’s time to claw my way through the fog and begin accomplishing all I know I need to in the new year.

Ideally I’d spend New Year’s in Lone Grove or Big Sur, sloughing off the past year and drinking in goodness like a greedy child, but this year we are home bound so I need to make my own tiny sanctuary.

Step one = bath + candles + book + glass of wine + clove cigarette. The whole room time travels, space travels, and the steam and smoke and wine and candlelight create a  nowhere-ness, giving me the space and perspective and moment I need to step back and let things fall into place. It’s not the most physically cleansing of meditations, but it works for me, always. The tiniest of rituals.

Clean Slate from Apothekerri is my ideal soak for this – it’s a tea bag of herbs + a fizzy – she’s not messing around here. Soak 2010 down the drain and start 2011 fresh and clean. I’m sloughing off old patterns, all the negative energies and sadness I’ve carried with me through this hard, hard year, to let my magic emerge scrubbed sparkling and ready for the new year.

I’ve been harassing Kerri from Apothekerri about doing a giveaway/interview for some time, but she’s been busy brewing up new products for the new year & I’m always doing something, so the interview will have to wait! I know I never do this sort of thing, but I’ve been using her bath fizzies and melts for something like TEN YEARS now and they’re the only ones that don’t make me itchy and sad. I love love love them, and she is an amazing lady and a perfectionist about these products. All natural, handmade, super magical. I want to share them with the world!! It’s crazy that I’ve been using them for almost as long as I’ve been living in San Francisco (15 years on January 16, crazy!) but most of the world knows nothing about them!

So a Clean Slate bath treat + some other Apothekerri treats will go to a commenter a week from now- except it’s a trade! You have to tell me your clean slate secrets for the new year – how do you reboot & recharge?

(P.S. Paxton Gate, Scarlet Sage, and Dark Garden carry her bath products in the Bay Area.)

She has a wonderful Etsy shop called Under the Pyramids & recently changed both her shop and blog name from Encore Petite to Under the Pyramids. I love the new name, it conjures up the most divine vignettes of Edwardian boats down the Nile, straw and leather luggage piled high, mystery and tombs, glittering gold and cool stone. Mathyld’s aesthetic is one that really resonates with me – taking the twee edge off florals and teacups with a nod to the occult hidden underneath. Shhhh.

These photos were taken in the very early morning with most of the shutters closed to keep her sprawling Parisian apartment cool, so forgive the light. It’s one of the prettiest flats I’ve ever seen, with teapots and old books tumbling from every surface, huge French windows, tiny balconies, and stained glass. The whole place is so magical, and I only managed to snap a few shots, but here’s a tiny peek.

Fireplace reflected in a fireplace. Fancy! I was so inspired for my own house, I wanted to come home and pull the teacups out of the china closet and put them throughout the house! I would also like marble mantelpieces and giant pink mirrors, ok? Her apartment building is actually listed in Art Nouveau books! She’s been here for 8 years, so the house has accumulated that perfect lived in feeling.

This fabric tree is totally amazing. She told me who made it, but I forget!! I’m coveting it like crazy, along with those teacups with golden tea-leaf divination printed on them. Sigh!

A dream life, no? The perfect Parisian apartment!

Blurry and tired-faced! I love her pompon headbands. Flapper + cirque!

The lady herself, partaking in her evening ritual of tea and tarot by the canal. A perfect way to end a Paris evening. I cannot even say how indebted I am for her turning this trip around into a series of 3 dream days, after the madness of working. For my next trip, I want to go to the south of France, where her mum has a tea-salon that promises to be as lovely as Mathyld’s flat!

& up next in the travelogues – a picnic in the Parc des Buttes Chaumont, and the dreamiest Paris day yet!