Monthly Archive for June, 2010

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They Grow Up So Fast

Published on June 11, 2010 in HAYNEEDLE and PATIO & GARDEN. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

I started writing for Hayneedle over 5 years ago, well before we changed our name from “NetShops” and launched the Hayneedle brand. In fact, we weren’t even yet NetShops during my first months on the job. We were just a modest but ambitious handful of outdoor specialty stores, like PorchSwings.com, PatioUmbrellas.com, and Hammocks.com.

Hammocks.com on my first day… like the perm I had in college- pretty bad even at the time:

Hammocks.com today… more of an oh-so-pretty Justin Bieber flop:

When I see what Hayneedle has become, and the attention we’ve received over the past few months, I allow myself to indulge in a few morsels of pride. Here’s what I’m talking about:

  • Kathy Lee Gifford has partnered with us to raise funds for Childhelp, a leading national non-profit dedicated to the prevention and treatment of child abuse. When you buy a hammock from Hayneedle, a portion of your purchase goes directly to Childhelp. And the timing is nothing short of perfect- is there anything that says summer (or Happy Father’s Day) better than a hammock? That it’s for a good cause makes it even easier to relax.
  • You may have seen Eduardo Xol’s outdoor design posts here on HayneedleBlog. As part of our summer campaign, Eduardo is taking timeout from ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition to help Hayneedle customers create their own backyard paradise. The Backyard at Hayneedle is the place to start.
  • Hayneedle was recently featured on The Ellen Show in what turned out to be a, well, let’s just say “memorable” version of Blindfolded Musical Haystacks.
  • More and more people are doing the Hayneedle Hustle for their chance to win a $15,000 shopping spree. Radio and TV stations across the country are talking about how Hayneedle is bringing variety to America, one backyard at a time.

Heady stuff aside, one of the most satisfying aspects of all of all this is when I get to answer those unavoidable so-what-do-you-do questions at gatherings this summer. Instead of the “What’s that?” response I heard for 4+ years, it feels pretty good to finally hear, “Oh, yeah! Love your stuff.”

Excuse me while I grab one more taste of pride before going back to work. Gotta look good for next year’s pictures.

Outdoor Living Rooms- by Eduardo Xol

Published on June 9, 2010 in HAYNEEDLE and PATIO & GARDEN. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

My Memorial Day weekend was really nice.  I guess someone told Mother Nature to help us kick the summer off right because the weather in Southern California could not have been better.  I spent Saturday in my with friends.  We cooked out, ate, drank and caught up on life.  I try to do a bigger party about two to three times per year, usually during the summer months.  Memorial Day usually marks the first one.  Around thirty people from different points in my life showed up to say hello.  Here is a picture of my friends Dinah and Rob enjoying the holiday with me:

Everyone loved my outdoor furniture, but I did run out of seating.  If you’re planning a large party, a simple solution to this problem is to have extra pillows on hand in case you run out of chairs!

I hope that by now you have all seen the webisodes I’ve been working on.  If not, you can catch up here.  Planning and production has kept my team and me very busy.  Since the webisodes are about outdoor living, we have our production meetings outside in the area where we are going to shoot.  Here I am with my executive producer, Andy McEntee and the crew discussing the second webisode we produced in my backyard:

And here is the same area staged for the shoot.  Shown is the Cabos Collection conversation set.  It’s one of my favorites and apparently my dog, Hazel, likes it as well!

Combine colors to create your custom designed outdoor area.  That’s what I did by mixing the khaki upholstery that comes with the Cabos set and the accent pillows in sienna.  I completed the look by coordinating the colors of the flowers in the vase to match the colors in the furniture.

This outdoor room inspired me to create a drink I call the Cabos Cocktail using the same color scheme! I’m pleased to say it was good enough to share the recipe:

Eduardo’s Cabos Cocktail

  • 1 oz. vodka or tequila (spirits optional)
  • 2 parts of your favorite Bloody Mary Mix
  • 1 part fresh limejuice
  • 5 drops Worcestershire sauce
  • 3-5 drops habanero hot sauce
  • Sprinkle salt and fresh black pepper to taste
  • Serve in a martini glass with a salted rim
  • Garnish with an olive, pepper and onion
  • Enjoy the summer!

Escape! The Next Chapter in “The Green Experience”

Published on June 3, 2010 in HAYNEEDLE. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Wow! Well, now I have a worm composter. Great, but what to do next? I found out the answer the first time I went down to the basement to check on my little worms to discover… I have ESCAPEES! I retreated upstairs until I felt brave enough (I may have had a glass of wine) to go back down to the basement and clean the worms.

I called the vendor first thing the next day to explain the situation. It’s not that unusual he told me, especially if you’re starting out with as many as 5,000 worms. He then asked if I’d turned a light on for them. I had not left a light on for the little worms. (Instructions are important ;-) ) Easy fix. I will turn the light on. But what to do with these fugitive worms?

Luckily I knew Bruce, one of my coworkers at Hayneedle, liked to fish. I asked him if he was interested in about 2,500 worms, and lucky for me (and him?), he was. So I made a temporary bed for his worms and brought them in for him.

Now I was starting to feel extremely confident that this is going to work well. I did not overfeed the worms, they were starting to eat the lettuce, and things were really looking up. We had about 3 weeks of smooth sailing, until one night I went down to check if my worms were ready for more food, and I bet you can guess what I found: more ESCAPEES!

Again, I call the vendor first thing in the morning, and at this point he is just laughing. “You still have worms jumping out?” he asked.

Yes. Yes, I do.

Basically ,when worms keep jumping out of a compost bin, it means there’s something they don’t like about their new home. The vendor advised me to make a fruit cocktail for the worms. “They will love it,” he assured me.

So last night I prepared a fruit cocktail for the worms: a blended apple…yum. Let’s see how it goes. I’m really starting to get used to these worms.

About “The Green Experience”

Think of “The Green Experience” as a little slice of reality Internet, where anyone can follow one of Hayneedle’s own, Cayden, as she chronicles her transition to a greener lifetstyle on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. Her endeavor began with a compost bin and 5,000 worms in her formerly worm-free living space. Follow the “HayneedleGreen” handle on Twitter and check back here for her blog posts.  It’s bound to be messy for her, but ultimately a planet that’s a little cleaner for the rest of us.

My Summer Pledge!

Published on June 1, 2010 in BABY & KIDS and HAYNEEDLE. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , .

My summer pledge: I pledge to stop making so many “Contingency Comments!”  A contingency comment is saying “As soon as….’blank’ happens, I will ‘blank’”.  For instance, “As soon as I have a vegetable garden planted, I will plant pumpkins.”  Seriously?  I’m pledging to you right now, People, that I AM GOING TO PLANT PUMPKINS THIS YEAR – even if it is in my landscaping!

How about this one, “As soon as we have enough saved, we’ll go on vacation.”  Over spring break DW and I took the week off to hang with the kids.  As there wasn’t enough saved to go on a big vacation, we decided to make spring break into a “Staycation” instead.  We let each of the kids have a day where they picked an activity (we gave them a list – go to the zoo, go bowling, go to a movie, go to the museum…) and a place to go out to eat.  We had a blast!  We had wanted to go to some of the places featured on Travel Channel’s Man vs. Food – because DW and the kids are BIG fans – but decided to make our own “BIG FOOD” at home.  You’ll be able to read more about this soon – when I post “Boy vs. Food” on my blog.

Sometimes our contingency comments are smaller… like, “As soon as I finish checking my email, updating my facebook, tweeting my tweeps – I will get down on the floor and play cars with you.”  “Honey, if I finish this laundry I will sit next to you and hold your hand.”  “Wait until I’m done brushing my teeth – then I’ll give you a hug.”  So what if you get toothpaste on them by hugging while still brushing?  How many times have you headed out the door with toothpaste or Cheetos or peanut butter smeared somewhere on your person?  Was it catastrophic?  Was the hug worth it? ABSOLUTELY!

How do I plan to wage this battle against “Contingency Comments”?  I’m going to start (you probably saw this one coming) by buying the pumpkin plants I have drooled over for years and planting them in my flower garden.  I love pumpkins in the fall and spend a stupid amount of money every year because I have rarely met a pumpkin I didn’t think was adorable and Must. Have. On. My. Porch.  NOW.  Imagine how much money I’ll save and even better the warm, fuzzy, happy, strawberry cupcake feeling I’ll have inside watching my own pumpkins growing.  (Let’s all assume for now that I won’t kill them.)

Next I’m going to make a schedule of time I’ll spend on the computer.  And that schedule is going to take into account that when my family is awake and around – they generally want and need and enjoy my attention.  (not when I’m on a cleaning rampage – then they wish I’d try to figure out WordPress.org for 8 hours again).   And here’s a concept – I’m going to try to stick with that schedule.  I believe it was Stephen Covey who said in his book, “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, “Making and keeping promises to ourselves precedes making and keeping promises to others.”  That is HUGE.

Finally, I am going to make a determined effort to engage with my kids.  There are so many distractions out there – for kids and adults – that we can easily go days or even weeks without really engaging with each other in ways that don’t involve duty instructions or editorials on wardrobe.  DW and I were talking the other night about how easy it is to give all of yourself to folks at work and folks you are connected with on the computer and friends and to forget to give all of yourself to your spouse and kids.  (and dogs – sorry, Cooper and Catie!)

You are going to see evidence of the fruits of My Summer Pledge on my blog – where I will be working with the kids on their own posts and photographing the things we do together.  I challenge you to make your own “Summer Pledge”!  I’d love to hear about it!

A team member at Hayneedle and contributor to the Hayneedle Blog, Cate is the author of the Real Life with Kids blog – www.reallifewithkids.com – and would love to have you stop by for a visit!