Outstanding in the Field

July 21, 2014 mithra ballesteros

The food caravan is coming to town, folks. Step right up for your tickets to a dinner worthy of anyone's bucket list. A few upcoming events in the Midwest still have seats available. But not for long. (The Bailey's Harbor, WI dinner sold out just a minute ago.)

I'm talking about Outstanding in the Field, the organization that stages farm-to-table dinners in idyllic outdoor settings often connected to the meal. They travel the country, collaborating with local chefs and farmers to create an evening that is like a red wine reduction sauce -- a sensory experience made richer by what is taken out, not what is put in. They remove the barriers between farmer, grocer, restaurateur, chef, and diner. And by the end of this season, they will have set the table in all fifty states and many countries as well.

Expectant Motherhood, My Eye

July 17, 2014 mithra ballesteros

I came across this tome of wisdom recently and couldn't resist purchasing it. Written by Nicholson J. Eastman, M.D., in 1940, this fourth edition was published in 1963, the year after I was born. So I wanted to know what kind of advice my mother received from the medical community. Lousy advice, that's what she received. Poor woman!

Count Time by Heart Throbs

July 10, 2014 mithra ballesteros

This Sunday, I say good-bye to a dear friend whose too-short life is being celebrated at a memorial service. She lived up the street from me and though our children attended different schools, we became instant friends in our exercise class. I loved her sense of humor, her quiet but unshakeable convictions, and her grit, which was evident in our workouts but grew to gargantuan levels in her short but intense fight with that evil of all evils, cancer.

When I launched my shop, my first order came from her. She placed it from her hospital bed. Not just because she loved the plates I was selling, but because she loved me. She believed in my idea. And for that, there are no words.

It is Okay to Be a Beginner: Lessons Learned at Alt Summit

July 5, 2014 mithra ballesteros

Me, rushing to learn. Photo by Justin Hackworth. — Me, rushing to learn. Photo by *Justin Hackworth.*

This post is about Alt Summit and I'm filing it under 'Mistakes' because I made another big one. I am not comfortable in the role of beginner and before launching my shop, I believed that with enough preparation and education, I could skip beginner status altogether.

However, I'm three months in and there is minimal traffic to the store, my Google page rank is zero, Photoshop kicks my butt no matter how many tutorials I do, and each day ends with a longer list of things I need to learn. I cannot skip to the next grade.

The Flowers at Alt Summit

June 25, 2014 mithra ballesteros

Photo of Martha Stewart by Justin Hackworth.

I just returned from Alt Summit, a business conference for pioneering and rookie bloggers held last week in Salt Lake City. It was unlike any conference I've attended and I look forward to sharing some of the good stuff in my next post. But for now, indulge me for a moment to gush about one aspect of this conference that really stood out. The flowers! They were everywhere, used to creative effect in unexpected places and generally lending a dreamy and luscious quality to the whole event. All of the young lovelies in attendance adorned themselves with flowers and I felt like I was at a midsummer festival in Scandinavia. It was girly and wonderful.

Sugar Cookies for Baba

June 15, 2014 mithra ballesteros

This Father's Day, I baked a batch of rollout cookies for my dad. I cut them into the shape of letters that spelled B-A-B-A, which is Persian for 'dad'. Not only do his children call him 'Baba' but so do his grandkids, and even some friends and in-laws. I wonder how long it took before he stopped hearing 'dad' and starting hearing 'Baba' as a name of its own.

My dad prefers sweets made with honey and pistachios, but in the fashion that he has followed since emigrating to this country nearly fifty years ago, he gamely smiled and ate a yellow frosted 'B'.

A Parisian Cowgirl's Dream Kitchen

June 4, 2014 mithra ballesteros

This is Jane Moore's kitchen, photographed by Peter Vitale for Veranda Magazine. I have been smitten with this kitchen for the past couple of years -- the raw wood, the industrial stools, the European artifacts. In fact, I buy things for Finder Not Keeper that I think will look good in this kitchen or a kitchen like it.

Nuke the Newbie or How to Outsmart Others at an Estate Sale

May 26, 2014 mithra ballesteros

Collage by Nicholas Ballesteros — *Collage by* *Nicholas Ballesteros*

If you are a resale junkie, this is that magical time of year when estate sales abound. I am a woman whose business is the hunt and I promise you that finding great stuff is not as simple as being at the right place at the right time. There is skill involved too once you get there. Here are eleven ways to outsmart the competition at estate sales.

No. 1 - Bow Down to the Estate Sale Boss

Behind every estate sale is a boss. They are a tough lot. And for good reason. Can you imagine coming into a house with a lifetime's worth of accumulation and sorting it, researching it, pricing it, and selling it to bargain hunters within a very short period of time? They are the opposite of hoarders. They are purgers. They don't tolerate sentimentality so don't even try. The best of them have precise systems in place to speed up the process. Just find out what they require and do that.

Why Martha Stewart Kicks A*&

May 17, 2014 mithra ballesteros

I am attending a conference for bloggers called Alt Summit, and the organizers just announced that Martha Stewart will give the keynote address. Is there anyone more fascinating than M Diddy, The Queen of Clean, or Pumpkin, as Jennifer Garner dubbed her? Here are a few reasons why I plan to sit in the front row of that auditorium.

Sentimental Mom

May 9, 2014 mithra ballesteros

In her beautiful essay "On Being Mom", Anna Quindlen writes, "If not for the photographs, I might have a hard time believing they ever existed."

After my second son left for college and with the third son not far behind, I found myself redoing this corner of the kitchen with old black & white photos, a school desk only I can fit into, and "The Rules to Always Being a Gentleman".

Owl Gif Proves Old People and Photoshop Not Always Incompatible

April 29, 2014 mithra ballesteros

It is nothing short of miraculous that I created the gif below. I did it in Photoshop, which is now in its 13th incarnation. As I'm in my 50th incarnation, Photoshop and I don't really get each other. All of the young whippersnappers out there who grew up with the internets have no idea how strained our relationship can be.

That all changed this weekend. Thanks to the lovely Angela Kohler and Bri Emery at Blogshop, Photoshop and I hung out together and got to know each other and only once did I call it a prepubescent idiot and shortly after, it crashed on me. Typical high-strung teenager.

Elizabeth Gilbert Lets Go of a Dream House

April 22, 2014 mithra ballesteros

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of "Eat, Pray, Love", is once again, walking away from what seems to be a really good thing. In her blockbuster hit of a memoir, she describes leaving a marriage, a house in the country, and a near perfect job. This time, she is leaving her dream house, which she and her husband Jose Nunes, aka Philipe, spent six years making their own.

When you see the inside of the house, you'll know why I had to post about this.

Cassandra Smith, Warrior Artist

April 13, 2014 mithra ballesteros

You know when you get a crush on someone on the internet, and it is all abstract and detached until you find out that OMG! she lives in your backyard and then you can't help but inbox her? Luckily, because your backyard is Milwaukee where everyone is decent and well-mannered, your crush actually inboxes back and agrees to talk with you.

(That really is how it works in Wisconsin. Really, the only drawback is on the highway, where people don't wish to hurt the feelings of other drivers by passing them.)

My crush is on Cassandra Smith.

Two Reasons Why You're Dumb Not to Shop Where the Smartypants Live

April 6, 2014 mithra ballesteros

An example of the great 'shizzle' found on a college visit.

Since launching this site, a number of people have asked where I shop. Where don't I?!

I shop resale stores, antique shops, live auctions, Craigslist, barn sales, estate sales, online auctions, and Ebay. I shop these markets in the U.S. and overseas.

I have the best luck at estate sales and live auctions, and the worst luck on Ebay, where I have been burned more than once.

But today's post is about another favorite source -- college towns. You would be an idiot not to shop them.

The First (Hopefully Not Last) April Fools Edition at Finder Not Keeper.

March 31, 2014 mithra ballesteros

One of the perks of being the boss lady is that I can play an April Fools joke on my site if I want to. Sure, my shop might never be taken seriously as a business. Also, I might offend potential customers. In the end, certain consequences may mean that the joke is on me.

Na-na-na-boo-boo.

Six April Fool's Kits for Last Minute Amateurs

March 25, 2014 mithra ballesteros

April Fool's Day is in exactly one week. It's a sacred holiday in our home. Who knows how these family traditions get started but it has now reached the point that the damn kids expect something spectacular. And I'm really tired.

So instead, I'm passing along six solid ideas to you lowly amateurs who believe yourselves clever when you switch the sugar and the salt. These pranks are presented as 'kits', since that's what I do, though they are not for sale on Finder Not Keeper. Yet.

Craigs Listing with Political Strings Attached

March 21, 2014 mithra ballesteros

I am writing about this adorable collection of brass miniatures because tomorrow I am going to list it on the fabulous new website Hunters Alley as an experiment. I want to see if adding a secondary marketplace increases traffic to the new shop. I'll let you know how that works out.

But before it gets snatched up by someone like me who finds it irresistible, I thought I should mention that it was the very first purchase I made off of Craigslist. And this post will fall under the category of 'Mistakes' because I made a big one that day. I went alone, into a seller's house.

Bonafide!

March 17, 2014 mithra ballesteros

Nothing like a box of business cards to make it feel official. Mine arrived last week and I love them. They were designed by the very talented Catherine Brautigam of Lone Shoe Graphics here in Milwaukee. She designed Finder Not Keeper's logo as well. (Talk about a kick ass mark, hers just rocks.)

The typeface on my card is Whitney. It is a sans serif font, which means that the letters don't have little feet and hands on the ends of them. It was originally designed for the Whitney Museum in New York and is clear and compact.

Embrace the Fear

March 9, 2014 mithra ballesteros

One of my sons, leaping into icy waters in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Photo by Atticus Ballesteros. — One of my sons, leaping into icy waters in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. *Photo by Atticus Ballesteros.*

Yesterday, Finder Not Keeper officially opened. The image above captures my feelings exactly. Exhilaration. Elation. Excitement.

But also fear.

Let's talk about fear. I'm from the school of worse-case-scenarios. I sit in a movie theater and count the rows to the exit. When my sons were in driver's ed, I made posters with news clippings of fatal car accidents. I am a defensive driver, a defensive skier, a defensive sunbather.

It stems from my own childhood, of course.

More Domain Name Mistakes

March 6, 2014 mithra ballesteros

Three versions of an identity mark for a domain name I should not have purchased. The designer described this as chaotic and beautiful, where every letterform is interacting with another and no letter is exactly the same. I think it seems very Frenc… — Three versions of an identity mark for a domain name I should not have purchased. The designer described this as chaotic and beautiful, where every letterform is interacting with another and no letter is exactly the same. I think it seems very French, very Art Nouveau, very chic.

Oh the pitfalls of domain names. It is a tricky business, thinking up a clever name, getting all excited about it, then plugging it into Go Daddy and BLAM! It's not available. It happened over and over again with fabulous names like:

Red Truck Round-Up
Milwaukee Pickers
Turnkey Charm
Bricolage Collage
Brave with a Little 'b'
The Commoner and Her Things
Sweaty Betty's Man Things
Mit Kit
My Sister the Shopper
Those Wanton Ways
Frogtown, Ltd.
Group Therapy
Vagabond, Ltd.
The Foundry
Me, My Shelf, and I

Welcome! I'm Mithra (pronounced Mee-thra). I'm an interior stylist and a writer. I'm also a vintage and antiques lover. I have an online shop, Finder Not Keeper, where I sell my best finds. (That's a white lie. I keep the best finds.) Read more about me and the blog here.

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A few days back in the ‘Quon. All of February is the price I’m willing to fork over for one week in September.

Latest blog post about our new outdoor shower and the differences of opinion between this guy and his mother (me) on how it should be used. #linkinbio

Brainy, brave, kind, genuine, indefatigable, funny, patriotic, fair, hard working, gentle, strong, iconic.

Those aren’t my hands forming baguettes. But I took the pic. @heat_her_all_a_man has it down and I’m ready with my salted butter and honey. What do you eat with baguettes?

Surveying the herb garden after a good weeding session. Basil took a hit the last couple weeks but everything else is flourishing like summer lasts forever.

First restaurant account for @littlelaurentide! Also first time eating out since the snow was flying. Really really fun night. (Not to mention that building’s white with black trim paint color scheme is 💯)

Surprise lilies, also known as naked ladies, fit in well here at the farm for reasons we will let you ponder.

This is son #2, the farmer. Walter is working hard to turn this place into a sustainable organic farm. Follow us @littlelaurentide for the latest on how mother and son align, clash, argue, hug.

On the blog today, the newest bachelor at Little Laurentide. Will he draw viewers or is he a train wreck along the lines of Juan Pablo Galavis? Read the latest blog post to find out! Link in bio.

On the blog today: a tour of the best places on the farm to sit for a spell. And I write a bit about what it’s like to cohabit with a son who used to give me every kind of gray hair. He could teach a polar bear how to be grumpy and I could teach a grizzly bear how to be grumpy. It’s a new world for the two of us, farming together, and can you guess how it’s going??

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