friends – Page 3 – Karla's Cottage

Kick starting the season

By Karla Nathan / December 5, 2023

My favorite season is here and I’m taking advantage of every fun offering available, to soak up as much holiday joy as I can.

One annual tradition is to view the Holiday Home Tour with friends.

This year had a banner crop of festive flair to walk through. Every house I got to see was a winner. But I didn’t get a complete tour, I’d over booked myself (I just can’t say no to any holiday event- if there is Christmas fun going on, I’m in the middle of it!)

Sunday was no exception to my seasonal excess, we started the day with a coffee date with friends, then the home tour, next A Christmas Story musical with Sugarwings, and finishing the night with a holiday movie with the kiddo.

Was it too much for one day? Welllll….. probably, but worth it.

A couple days before, friends invited us to Snow Globe for dinner, and even though I was already swamped, we said yes.

Ounce again, worth stretching out my time to add some extra fun. It was a great night out.

Plus, I’ve had First Friday weekend at Good Juju which was two long days of excitement that felt like a party itself.

We’re barely into December and I’ve been blessed with so many glittery get togethers, that I’d consider myself lucky and fulfilled if these were all the festivities that I got to experience.

But lucky me- I’ve got a craft date with friends this week, our Book Club dinner and gift exchange coming up, and I’m trying to find a good time to have some friends over. Not to mention my cocoa parties in front of the tree with my grand fairy, and the way that sprite makes every day feel like it’s special.

Yep, beyond blessed.

And maybe a tiny bit tired.

A visit with Peeps

friends, studio tour

By Karla Nathan / October 26, 2023

My friend, Maggie, was visiting from the west coast, so I hosted a craft day with local peeps in her honor.

Everyone brought their own crafts and a side for lunch, I made a meatloaf and bread.

Angie made this lovely trifle with fresh whipped cream, which tasted even better than it looked.

Over the years, I have discovered that sheets of white poster board work best on my craft tables to cover up all of the stains and wear.

Previously, I’d either taped down craft paper, or used throw away table cloths.

To dress up the plain white, I make placemats of scrapbook paper with names.

And some quick little doodles.

Of course, once we get to making things, you don’t even see the table. If you’re doing it right, that is!

I was working on Xmas goodies. My booth is all set up, ready for the November First Friday weekend, so now I’m making stuff to refill it for December.
It was exhausting to redo the space immediately after the October sale, but there is no way I could comfortably leave on vacation without having it complete before taking off.

After getting my billions of buckets of holiday inventory tagged and arranged, I was finally able to relax and enjoy a sweet day with friends. I was sure ready to sit back, snip and glue while chatting. Just perfect!

And thank you, Angie for the white roses, all wrapped up so special.

Pony Creek Market

antiques/junking, friends

By Karla Nathan / October 11, 2023

One of my friends hosted an antique market, and boy, did she do a good job!

She had invited me to participate and at first I said yes. Then I realized that with Rich’s variable schedule with his consulting type thing he is doing, his truck might not be around when time came to haul stuff. So I had to say no, after all.

It is lucky that I did, because yep, he is working in Nebraska part time. And the show was an hour away, that’s a lot of trips hauling my junk in a RAV4.

I’d have loved to have been a part of it with my buddy, Angie who had a space there. She said it was a good show to set up at. I could tell, the parking lot had plenty of cars, there were happy people milling about with shopping bags, food trucks with lines, and vendors everywhere. All in a beautiful, country setting.

Beth and I shared a ride to go visit and had a delightful day.

Celebrating a friend’s accomplishment

Books, friends, Travel

By Karla Nathan / June 28, 2023

One of my book club buds, Dr. Margie Carr, has spent the last ten years researching a couple block stretch of a neighborhood in Kansas City that housed many successful and influential people over a 100 year period. And now, the book is complete. A bunch of us from the group went to the KC library to hear her first (of many, I hope) talk about her story.

Local residents mentioned inside the covers attended, including this woman who is one of the girls featured on the outside of the cover.

I had not preordered my copy, but was able to pick one up that night. Just in time for a signature from the author!

Not only was it impressive to hear a friend speak about the Kansas City history she’d written about in her book, it was lovely to experience a part of the city I’d never been to. Funny, I travel to other parts of the country to explore them, but rarely get out and look into what my own area has to offer.

This is a parking garage?! Yep.

Where I live in Lawrence isn’t far from KC. And heck, I’m in town all the time to shop, eat, see shows, or work at Good Juju. What I need to is act like a tourist and see some of what I’ve missed.

There is a lot to be seen.

Once again, that was wine in the teacups

celebrations, cottage, flowers, Food and Drink, friends, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / June 15, 2023

To celebrate Angie and Beth’s birthdays, we made plans for a day out, and I offered to make brunch first. But then, Angie picked up an estate sale to do, and between that and all of her other obligations, her time off for a whole day disappeared. Our date switched to lunch and I decided to serve it in the gazebo to make it special.

Hmm, not the best picture of us, but you get the idea.

We had wine in our teacups, and drank it with our pinky fingers crooked while wearing floral garden hats and speaking in a British accent, of course.

I draped a little, round table in layers of clothes, and brought out the floral china.

The weather cooperated with perfection, but just in case, I added a fan and extra sun umbrellas to the space.

Teapots were filled with $1 flower bundles (our local Kroger always marks them down after the weekend) and I made place cards with “Angela” and “Elizabeth” instead of Angie and Beth to be extra fancy.

But “Karla” doesn’t come with a fancy option.

So I used the name my dad, Hubert, had written on my original birth certificate.

“Huberta”

As in Huberta Josephine Downey.

Yep, that was my name. My mom changed it to Karla Jo. Not nearly as much to roll off the tongue. I think I could’ve grown up as a Bertie, or Birdy? Instead I was always Karkie Jo.

The silk flower umbrellas from my April Showers Bring May Flowers theme at Good Juju got another go round as garden party decor. I’ve left them up outside a while, they somewhat survived a 24 hour deluge. I’m not sure how many more uses I’ll get out of them, but I have enjoyed every bit of our time together so far.

We had dipped strawberries and lavender honey dark chocolate for dessert.

I fixed honey butter toasted croissants, individual quiches, and fruit salad.
Even though it was their birthdays, Angie brought sparkling soda and Beth brought a salad.

Happy Birthday to two of the funnest people around!

There was wine in the teacups

celebrations, cottage, Food and Drink, friends, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / May 21, 2023

Last Tuesday evening, I hosted a Mother’s Day tea party. A friend recently lost her MIL, then right before the holiday, her own mom passed unexpectedly. As I planned a get together for her I realized that none of the guests’ moms were still alive.

I thought we should honor all of the lost mothers and asked for photos of the ladies.

Then I picked some flowers from my yard to tuck into tussie mussies.

The plan was to sit outside by the fire and order pizza.

But I wanted a real tea party style gathering, so I made food instead and set it out on the table with the pretty dishes.

This tiered stand from Hobby Lobby, years ago (they still have them) always comes in handy. On a daily basis, it holds fruit, but when company comes, the fruit goes in a bowl and this is used for serving food.

Earlier this month, I found a metal lamp base on a flea market dollar table. It made an ideal holder for a stack of salad plates.

My table is oak, and not the look I wanted for a spring, flowery party. But it’s also huge, and I don’t have tablecloths to fit it. So, I covered it in a painter’s drop cloth and layered these rosey placemats (50 cents from a garage sale this week) on top.

Focaccia bread isn’t exactly a tea party staple, but I baked it to look like a flower garden.

And how lucky were we to get a perfect spring evening? Just cool enough for a fire, but not so chilly that we’re had to be close to the fire for warmth. It was more for atmosphere.

The table was a generous and exceptional hand me down from my sis, Terry. And oh my. It is a dragon mosaic made from genuine stones and can feature either a fire or umbrella in the center.

We just love it. I call it my fire breathing dragon table.

And I love my friends. I’m glad we had a night together to honor our moms and to sip wine from teacups.
I think I’ll make this a tradition. You are never too old to miss your mommy.

A buddy day

friends, holiday decor, paintings

By Karla Nathan / January 15, 2023

A dear and talented friend has art hanging at the Sabatini Gallery in Topeka, so we planned a day out to go see it.

Between my husband traveling for business, missing our annual RV/dog adventure to the beach, and plain old having a case of the I Hate Januaries, I was ready for fixing up and getting out! I even polished my nails - all of them! Including the ones buried in wool socks inside Ugg boots. (Except they aren’t really Ugg boots, Costco has their own version for a fraction of the cost that I like even better than the high dollar ones)

Our first stop was meeting at Jen’s. She still had her Christmas goodies up and we hadn’t seen them. She wanted to show us her friend and family display.

There were handmade ornies from her artist friends, things she or her daughter made, and pieces created at our holiday craft days over the decades.

This is one I’d painted of her dog, Cage, after he passed.

And one from the year I was a featured artist at the Festival of Trees. It was special to see decorations I’d made so long ago, lots of happy memories were tied up in them.

I should’ve gotten a photo of the whole display. She has them tied to a lit garland above a window seat.

Our friend, Shan, whose work we were going to Topeka to see, also hosts craft days in her studio. Every Thursday she invites us to do mosaics with her. This is a little house Jen made at one of those get togethers.

The gallery show was impressive, and I thought Shanna’s piece was just plain old delightful. Not only was I proud to see a good friend’s work hanging in a show that was filled with glass artists from all over the country (including Dale Chihuly!) I thought her piece really stood out in its dual design, the glass itself and the wall behind it.

Our day in Topeka included more than just Art. We went for a drive in the country to see the old farmstead where Jen spent her childhood, went out for lunch, and did some junking. Even with the bleak, washed out, Kansas in January scenes around us, it was a warm and colorful day.

I love my friends and the years we have had together!

Glass ornaments as mini carafes

celebrations, cottage, Food and Drink, friends, holiday decor, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / December 20, 2022

We had our annual holiday bookclub dinner at the cottage last week.

As I usually do, I set the table with a hodge podge of mismatched pieces, but with kind of a theme. And I tried a cute trick I’d seen at another party, using a clear glass ball as a mini carafe.

The way I’d seen it done was at a wine tasting and they used small, plastic ornaments. I really don’t know if those are food safe. So, I bought the big glass ones (at Hobby Lobby on clearance for 60% off), washed them well, and glued on roses that I’d painted onto old sheet music.

At our party, I make the food and friends bring the wine, so I couldn’t pre-fill the balls with wine like the previous way I’d seen them used. So I decided to use them for water, sitting on a glass of ice.

Before everyone arrived, I poured one into a cup, to see if it really was a good idea or was just messy.

Well, so so.

I had over filled the balls, and when pouring the water over the ice I realized that there was just too much in them. And no where to set the balls down except right back on top of the glass, or they would roll away and flood the table.

Oops!

I quickly poured some water out of each ball, leaving just the right amount for the glass. Ha, I’m glad I checked!

After dinner, the ornaments were party favors to take home.

I should’ve made everyone take food home too, I made way, way too much. As usual. I ended up putting this pie in the freezer for when the family comes home for Christmas. And I served some of the cupcakes at another party. Oh, and I did manage to take care of the rest of the extra cupcakes.

Somebody had to, right?

A few days after the book club bash, I was hosting a craft day get together. And the day after that, Sugarwings was supposed to have a cocoa party, but it was cancelled due to an ear infection, poor kid.

Typically, I like to have all of my parties in the same week, so I only have to clean the house once. And as I take plates out of the dishwasher, I reset the table so it’s ready to go for the next event. The cottage has a festive feel all week when it is party time.

For the craft day party, I did use wine in the Christmas balls.

Which, come to think of it, probably makes them harder to rinse out if they are meant to be keepsakes. I am not sure if I’ll do this party trick again or not. I enjoyed it, and thought it made the table festive. I hope the guests enjoyed it too.

Bad Girls Christmas

family, friends, holiday decor, jewelry, Ryan

By Karla Nathan / December 14, 2022

Our annual Bad Girls’ Christmas was again hosted by Angie, in her serene palace in the sky. It’s on the 8th floor and overlooks the KC Plaza, a wonderful view.

She is a caring hostess with attention to every detail. Everything there is always just perfect there. Well, everything but my blurry photos.

This one was a bit blurry too, but you can still see the fun!

She lives near Kaufman Gardens so we walk over to see the holiday displays. It feels good to be surrounded by blooms on a chilly, winter day.

I brought gifts, Beth loves buttons.

Angie always picks up autumn leaves.

She went all Julia Childs on us and served Beef Bourgignon, and oh man, it was good. But I’m afraid everyone had to listen to me do my (very poor) Julia imitation too many times.

I am blessed with the friends I have. And I know how lucky I am. When Rich and I were first married, his job uprooted us a lot. And I had two small boys, one who struggled pretty severely with some disabilities. Those guys both kept me busy, and between always being new in town, and needing to be with the kids, I didn’t meet many people.

Ryan grew into a delightful, caring, witty man, but his childhood was not easy for him. I think that his little body could not keep up with his mind, and his frustration about making himself understood, or to do what he wanted caused a lot of turmoil.

Speaking of Ryan, I felt like I had a surprise visit from him! An article I was reading mentioned street view on Google maps, and I’d never looked at our home there. So I pulled it up, and there he was- mowing the field and getting some sunshine.

At first it was shock to see him, but after a moment, I felt a warmth of happiness, almost as if I’d looked out the window and caught a glimpse of him.

After finishing a scrapbook of my pictures of Ryan, I came across something I wanted to add to it with another photo on it. Then it hit me.

I would never take another picture of my boy.

So finding this one online was a Christmas gift!

He is always with me, and in my heart. But I sure miss seeing him on that mower. Or walking down the sidewalk. Or gleefully throwing his head back in laughter.

Losing a loved one, plus having had those early years of struggle, and loneliness without close friends, makes me even more appreciative of having good friends now.

I treasure our times together.

At Marilyn’s Beauty Filled House

antiques/junking, friends

By Karla Nathan / November 15, 2022

Recently, I met a new friend.

She invited some of us over to her home for lunch and to see her collections.

And oh my, what collections she has!

Her home left me speechless. Which is good, because I am still having glitches with my blog hosting site. So I will just stop talking and show you photos of her lovelies.

Enjoy!