It’s A Small World

So, on average, my daily activities are nothing to get excited about. I do laundry, run errands, think about working out, grocery shop, and pretend I am actually making progress in the never ending task of organizing my house. It’s just an ordinary life. But then…..

The last stop on my list of errands yesterday was the grocery store. I was able to snag a shopping cart that didn’t squeak, or have that one wheel in constant in spaz mode. Oh, and it didn’t dog-track either. So far, so good. I started for the shampoo isle, but on a whim, wheeled the cart into the magazine section. Why not browse? I wasn’t needing anything, but sometimes you just want to see what’s there. I picked up a few magazines that interested me, but the red lettering of this publication, tucked in with all the others, caught my eye.

I lifted out a copy and began to casually thumb through the pretty pictures of perfectly staged homes. They are staged you know. I mean who really lives like that? So anyway, I’m about two thirds into this magazine when I land on a picture of something familiar. I stared at it for a second before I realized that the full-page photo of this kitchen belonged to someone I knew! In fact, I had just been in that kitchen not more than a week ago!!!

Maybe you remember a post I made back in 2011 about my friend TERESA RIDLON. I’ve known her and worked with her for years. Anyway, she’s the one who assisted me and my husband in picking out the interior finishes for our new house; AND it was her youngest daughter that just had the baby shower, where I helped with a few details. Well, earlier this year I happened to be at her house the day the UPS driver delivered the book in which her personal home had been published. The two of us squealed like school girls when we found the first photo of her house in the book. Every time we saw another page containing a photo, one of use would yell…“OHMIGOD! There’s another one!” So suffice it to say I knew her house had been photographed, I knew photos of it had been published, and I knew what book they were in. BUT! What I didn’t know, and what Teresa didn’t even know, was that one of those photos was going to wind up in a national magazine publication! Let me tell you, I couldn’t get my cell phone out fast enough to call her and tell her that I was looking at a full page, color image, of her kitchen in a magazine!

Needless to say, she was just as surprised as I was. The only downside to this, was that she wasn’t specifically mentioned. Oh, and the text that accompanied the image? Well, it talked about re-purposing an old shoe rack as a pantry. UGH! Does it really look like a shoe rack???

Okay, so yesterday had a little surprise to it. It was a neat surprise though. It’s not every day you can point to a picture in a magazine and tell the check-out gal you are friends with the person who owns the kitchen in that photo. I am so proud of you Teresa! I am so happy your talents are not going unnoticed.

Oh, and just in case anyone is interested… The book that contains several additional photos of her home is called, Salvage Secrets Design & Decor.

So, I don’t know if I’ll ever get another surprise like this one again. But it definitely made my day of running errands worth braving the heat!