August 2015 – Page 2 – Karla's Cottage

Creating Vintage Charm

By Karla Nathan / August 8, 2015

One of the highlights of going to Karen's delightful retreat hosted by Stacy at Whitworth Ranch Retreat, was renewing my friendship with Sonia Cruz. She and I had met a few years back at Jenn Hayslip's fairy tale getaway in North Carolina.

Sonia publishes a pretty magazine, available digitally or printed through magcloud.

In the latest issue, she features not only the fun time we had at the Texas elegant hoe-down, she also shows off my Fabulous friend, Karen's pretty in pink studio. I've been to Mt. Dora, FL and visited this work room and the pics Karen took of it are as fab as she is. And she is pretty durn FAB. Lovely pictures of a lovely space, taken by a lovely lady.

And looky here! I'm a magazine model. Ha! Here I am with Karen and Sonia at the Texas party, we are all decked out in our Downton duds.

Over the years, I've been lucky enough to have my artwork, projects, home, studio, or styling featured in some publications. Once, a photo I had taken of Sugarwings was used in Where Women Create, too. But it seems odd to see myself in a picture…

And now this is the second time I've been in Sonia's Creating Vintage Charm.

Hmmm…. I saw on the new season of "America's Next Top Model" that Tyra has taken out the height requirements, I wonder how she feels about age limits? She should do a season with "America's Next Top Short, Round, Grammie Models" and I'd sign up.

Because of course, now I have a portfolio to show for my audition.

Uhm, did I honestly just admit to watching ANTM? Ooops. Well, I do like my trashy TV shows. Although, that one has become too argumentative for me, I used to like it much better. Now, I fast forward through all the ridiculous flirting and silly, pouting, fights and just watch the makeovers and photography. I'll bet that if Tyra would feature grammies that would cut down on the bickering and boozing.

At least on the bickering. At our age, we are thrilled to get out and have fun on a getaway. Which is why I love going to art events like Jenn's, Karen's, and Stacy's. It's wonderful to be with friends, creating and sharing.

I've met some very nice people when going to or hosting events. And it made me happy to see one of them, my buddy, Linda, had one of her creations shown on a full page of Sonia's magazine. Linda had made one of these colorful, candy filled confections for each of the guests at the ranch. She is a generous soul and I was thrilled to see this in the pages of the story.

If you want to attend a (mini) arty getaway, and meet some nice people, maybe I'll see you in October at the cottage? Details in the next blog post, or email me at:

karlanathan@sbcglobal.net

A Cabin visit in Crested Butte with the Billings

friends, Travel

By Karla Nathan / August 6, 2015

Long time best buds of ours have taken a place in CO. They go back and forth from there and Lawrence, but recently, they have been in the mountains more than the plains and we have been missing them.

Oh, and did I mention that David is a GREAT cook, and these two are some of the best hosts you could ever visit? Crested Butte is such a funky, interesting town, with unique restaurants, that we just had to explore some local dining, but the best meal in town was David's special chicken tortilla soup served with a view on the porch.

The view from the hot tub wasn't bad either. A soak with a glass of wine is just what I needed after white water rafting, too.

We were there for the blue moon, and had some peek-a-boo cloud formations to watch the moon rise through. I found that in CO the weather changes from one extreme to another during the course of a day, but I managed to get a lot of deck time in, chilly, damp, sunny, or whatever temps were thrown my way.

And I agreed with my pal, Dixie, that the view from the easy chair by the window wasn't bad when we couldn't be outside. I spent a lot of time there, watching the hummingbirds flit about. And trying to snap a photo of all of that high speed flitting. I ended up with thirty pictures of a flower, not a single one of the little hummer hovering above it. Those guys are too quick for me.

But then again, unless I'm trying to get a photo of a creature that I can say "stay" to, I don't have much luck. There were mountain bluebirds galore, and I was never quick enough to get a snapshop of one of those beauties either, even though they aren't a fraction as fast as the 4 or 5 hummingbirds hanging out on the patio.

These guys were much more cooperative than the birds.

Dave and Judy have little bears in every room of their home. It's a whimsical touch, and every time I came across one of the stuffed bears about the house, I could imagine how much fun David had as he was tucking them in here and there for his guests to find.

Hand carved bears….

A giant bear looking over the railing to greet guests…

And of course, a cuddly bear on each bed.

The cabin sleeps twelve, I don't know what you call a bunch of bears. Not a pack, or a herd, definitely not a flock. But it is a LOT of cute little bears.

There is plenty of attention to detail, and the place is true to its Colorado vibe from the antler lamps and log tables to the wall hangings above them. (made by David)

They have added a mural to the dining room to go with the antler chandelier and wooden candle holder in there.

The kitchen has all been updated with natural stone counter tops, new appliances, and cabinets. When they aren't here, they rent the place out, (minimum three night stay) and they are generous with the kitchen goods. I've rented places that lack a can opener, and supply barely enough plates to serve a meal. But this kitchen is better equipped than my own at home. Right down to the pasta maker.

David is a gourmet cook and didn't skimp on the necessities.

My room was upstairs and I didn't get pics of it because I had too much strewn about. And I didn't go in the master suite at all. There is also a den, laundry room, three garages, and 4 bathrooms. All in the same western lodge motif.

There are big screens available, but why turn on a TV when you have that window to look out of, or that deck to relax on?

It really can't be easy to furnish a house both for yourself and for vacationers. They have done an excellent job of adding personal touches, but still leaving open spaces for guests to relax and spread out their own things in.

I highly recommend the place if you need a vacation rental in CO. Most of it was revamped when they bought it, with the kitchen gutted. It has nice showers, new carpets, comfy beds, a hot tub, it is clean, well equipped, and….

THAT VIEW!!!!!!!!!!

A visit to see Snow White and the dinosaurs, just a regular day with the Nathans

Dew Drop, dogs, family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / August 3, 2015

We are all infatuated with Honey. Playing with her has been our favorite activity.

We have had to tear ourselves away to do other things. Last week, we visited the Prairie Fire Natural History Museum to see the dinos.

There is an interactive screen where you can build your own dinosaur. Or dragon. That confused me… Dragons at the museum? You find a fossil in the wild, and work through what you think the live animal would have looked like, guessing coloring and skin textures.

Wait a minute, dragon fossils? Yes, that confuses me a little.

We didn't realize that the creatures you built showed up on the screen in the lobby. We were enjoying the giant TV screen with animals projected over the video feed from the room, and didn't know the two things were connected.

We were just having fun taking our pictures with the dinos.

And pretending they were coming for us.

Then we noticed that the dragons and other monsters had names. And some of the names matched the ones we had made ourselves.

Fun, huh? And totally free. We played with these and hung out in the lobby for an hour or so before we bought tickets for a session in the children's discovery room.

Where I had another surprise. Tea party stuff? At a natural history museum? Dewdrop was thrilled. Of course, there were tons of other things too, animals to look at, rocks and crystals to examine, things to look at under microscopes, a fossil scavenger hunt in the bricks of the balcony, and much more.

But I really didn't get the whole section of different style tea services. Maybe it was supposed to be about different cultures?

While in the neighborhood, we stopped by and visited Snow White.

At last year's Halloween party at Lions Gate Club, one of the coworkers was dressed as Snow White. She not only looked the part, she was so kind and sweet to Dewdrop, and spent so much time with her, that this little girl still talks about her on a regular basis. Snow is her favorite princess and none of the Disneyworld princesses quite measured up.

So, we polished some apples and wrapped them up pretty with nice notes, and filled a basket for Dewdrop to take to her. Before going in, I told her that Snow White probably wouldn't have her party dress on, she'd be wearing work clothes.

And Dewdrop got very shy when seeing her buddy again. She was tongue tied, and star struck. But she did get brave enough to give her a hug and as we left, called out, "I love you, Snow White!"

Yep, a very nice day.