A Paris Thanksgiving...or not!

In planning a day trip to Bruges, as a family we decided that Thanksgiving day just might be the perfect day. American Thanksgiving is not a celebrated holiday in France. We thought it would be a memorable day to count in our treasury of Thanksgivings.

Bruges is a quaint, historic village in the uppermost northern point of Belgium. The high speed train ride and consequent transfers took us through rural France and was picturesque. While the thought had crossed our minds of the possibility of cloudy, cool weather, we had not anticipated steady rain with periods of downright downfall!

It was indeed, a memorable Thanksgiving Day!

Upon arriving in the city, this was the first sign that greeted us. You might have well asked me to perform brain surgery as to interpret this! It was basically Greek to us all.


Flemish is the language spoken and the natives don't take nicely to French! They do respond, however, to English.

Being so near the Scandanavian culture, bicycling is a main mode of transportation. I even saw an entire parking garage underground that was only for bicycles! This mass of cycles was quite a sight.

Likewise, many signs throughout the city were specific for the cyclists.

An early stop in the day, partially to duck out of the rain and at the request of my grandson, Lucas...Belgium style fries with toppings and beignets (a bit like our doughnut holes, only finer!).

This is a small taste o the colorful and beautiful architecture to be found all about the city.

More to come later on this.

No trip to Bruges would be complete without sampling the native waffles and hot chocolate. By this time it was pouring down rain, my granddaughter, Eva, was soaked from head to toe (and still in fine spirits! I'm afraid I can't say the same for me.)

Just look at these colorful cups of hot chocolate!

Good thing we got our self portrait before the deluge of rain.

After a long train ride home including 3 transfers and a two-stop metro adventure, we made it back to the apartment only to put the finishing touches on a good soaking all the way to the bone on the way home from the metro station.

This picture outside the Bruges train station says it all!

The Contest Begins!

Several weeks ago, we had a contest/drawing at Black-eyed Susan for a bedroom makeover!We had such a good response that we awarded one grand prize winner and three runners-up.

The grand prize includes Susan's complimentary design fees, along with that of a project manager. The winner was instructed to set the budget, and that budget could by any amount. You would be amazed at what we can make happen with a little magic from creative thinking and manpower. Oh, did I mention that Sneelock was also included in the package as our master painter...

Our winner is a regular blog follower and BES friend, Suzanne!



We will be following the progress of the project and you can also expect the attention of one of the local papers to document the make-over!

Here is a photo of the bedroom as it stands currently:

After several brainstorming sessions together, I'm pretty sure we have nailed now the pallet and we'll be working on the overall plan. Keep watching for progress reports and photo documentation along the way! Oh so exciting!

The Madness begins!

Wow! I'm behind on the documentation of the 2008 Christmas setup for Black-eyed Susan. Probably, because Linda and I have been working most nights until our legs couldn't climb another step of the ladder or make one more trip to the inventory housed in the basement of the retail store.

It always amazes me that when the time come for this extremely intense week, I am always ready for the creative venture of setting up the store with the stories and themes that were planned last January. The week is even more anticipated by the arrival of my dear friend and partner in crime (also the CFO of my small company) Linda Giler, who comes in from Charlotte, N.C. for the "party". Each night as we drive the 20 minutes to my home in New Hope, we recount the days events and progress while making task lists for the next day. When the alarm goes off the next morning at 6:15am it all begins again. This goes on for about 7-8 days. At the end of this phase of the set-up, most of the work is completed and ready for the special events to begin. (You can email me at Susan@besusan.com to ask for a copy of the event list---really fun!)

There is much that goes into the preparation for the setup. Teams of staff pricing furiously, last minute deliveries being tracked, frantic orders are placed for ribbons, and the hunt begins for the close-out ornament hooks that were purchased last year for this years work. Inventory is lined up and sorted by department and/or color so the work can begin.

All in all, it's an exhausting week full of creative satisfaction punctuated with good times and laughter! Our windows say; "We're working on it.......Come see the magic!"

Boxes of recently received inventory waiting for price tags.......

One of our most realistic trees (artificial!) This tree is primarily made of injection molded plastic with some poly bristles for fullness on the very inside of the branches. The trees (3 large ones this year, and 3 small fixture trees) are set up and lighted the week before the setup. Hours of rearranging the current furniture and fixtures go in to preparing the space for the trees. Sneelock and my son, Ryan helped this year. Jeff set up the trees, primped, shaped, plugged and prep-ed them, while I readied the rest of the store for new visuals relating to the trees. It is a huge team effort to prepare for the work to come. Whew! I just have to say that these trees are fabulous! Every year, they get better, more realistic and more unbelievable! We even have a diffuser that makes the whole house smell like fresh juniper! (More to come on that later)!

Here's a closeup of one of my favorite color stories this year--chartreuse green and burgundy. These ornaments are "shatterproof". They come in all sizes and finishes--matte, shiny, pearl, the whole works! Great for outdoors as well as indoors. We love these!

Tulips, churches, tiny holly place-markers, long needled pine, tinsel trees---ready for the taking!

Row and rows of snow queens saluting, snowmen galore and santas wait to be placed.

Me peering into a box of unique glass bird ornaments in the most delicious colors.......

Inventory that has been transferred to the store for the beginning of the big set-up. Sharman has directed the crew on where to place the different color stories and themes. It's almost time!

The set-up is under way and we are open again for you to come in! It's a bit of a work in progress, but generally exciting to see the transformation. Don't worry, we still have some great fall decor, centerpieces and inspired looks that are not Christmas.

Watch for more updates and progress, my personal favorites, entertaining stories and more!

Come see the magic.