Mary Kay Andrews

Sunday, January 24, 2010

A Week At The Beach...Kinda

My favorite hideaway, The Breeze Inn

I came down to Tybee Island and our cottage here, The Breeze Inn, to write for a few days. I do that whenever I can sneak away from home and hide out. It's not that I can't write at home. I can. I do. But it's different at Tybee. No housekeeping. I make my bed in the morning and rinse out my cereal bowl and spoon and the house is done. No laundry. I wear faded black yoga pants and sweats. Nobody wants to know what's for dinner. 'Cuz it's just me. And I do what I want. And that's how I roll down here. Mostly it's either a rotisserie chicken picked up at the Publix on nearby Wilmington Island, or spaghetti. Why spaghetti? Because when I first started running away to write down here, I usually stayed at the sweet little Garner cottage owned by our friends Ron and Leuveda.

Garner Cottage--my favorite cottage other than The Breeze Inn

And the tiny apartment-sized stove there only has two burners. So. One burner for the pasta, and one burner for the marinara sauce. Sometimes I go all la-de-damn-da and throw some sauteed Italian sausage or some rotisserie chicken into my (right out of the jar) marinara sauce. Sometimes I add a healthy splash of whatever wine I happen to be sipping. Mostly I sip cheap chardonnay. I have a new favorite cheap wine as of this weekend. It's called SKN--which stands for Screw Kappa Napa. I spotted the bottle on the shelf because SK are my agent's initials. The typeface on the label even looks like the typeface on his letterhead. The wine, (not Stuart, he's way pricier) goes for twelve bucks and some change at Publix, and the chardonnay and the cabernet are surprisingly good. Even Mr. Mary Kay who is somewhat of a wine snob likes the SK cab.

Screw Kappa Napa--the new Official House Wine at Breeze Inn Cottage

I got down here Tuesday and I fixed my spaghetti and chicken, and whirled up some smoothies in the blender for breakfast. And I managed to work out some twists in the manuscript of the new book, which I'm calling SUMMER RENTAL. My editor is calling it something else, but we'll work that out later. I even managed to write a couple of new chapters. We had a little snafu with the printer, but after I called Mermaid Cottage's IT guy, he came over and fiddled around and we got it fixed. On Friday Mr. Mary Kay flew in for a conjugal visit. Okay, maybe he also wanted to take his boat out, but that's what I'm calling it. Friday night we went to dinner at our favorite spot on Tybee, The Sundae Cafe. Yummy as always. On Saturday, after dropping MMK at the marina, I met my friend Tacky Jacky for some junking. Jacky and I have been junking together for more than 30 years, and she sewed all the slipcovers and even the master bedroom curtains for The Breeze Inn. We've had some capers together, including the infamous incident where we ended up sleeping at the Metter Jail after a late-night car breakdown. But Saturday we just went gallivanting. Don't you love that word? We hit a yard sale and I picked up some books for a quarter apiece for our little beach house library, and Jacky got a countertop rotisserie. Then we found ourselves an estate sale, and I bought a great looking console table for $75 that will work perfectly as a writing table/dressing table for the downstairs guest bedroom I've been re-doing. Then it was home to check off some items on our honey-do list. Because we rent out the house through Mermaid Cottages, we try to do maintenance stuff in the slower winter months. Tom cleaned out the owner's closet and added shelves, while I put a couple coats of clear polyurethane on the master bathroom vanity, which is actually an antique dresser I picked up at Brimfield. I also gave our dining room table a coat of tung oil because it was looking kind of tired out. That night, we invited Jacky and her friend Martin, and our friends Jimmy and Susan for dinner. Susan is the madam at Seaside Sisters, where I have my little antique booth, and Jimmy is the owner of Seaside Sweets, the great candy store/gelato shop on Tybrisa. We always like to invite Jimmy to dinner because he brings us whatever new gelato flavor he's experimenting with. For dinner, I decided to try a recipe from a new cookbook called PIONEER WOMAN COOKS. If you haven't read Ree Drummond's blog, PioneerWoman, you must. It's an account of her transformation from stiletto heel-wearing big city chick to Oklahoma ranch wife--raising four children, cooking for her hunky hubby, whom she calls The Marlboro Man, and all things cattle ranch. The blog features her amazing photography, as does the cookbook, which is a real keeper. Saturday night we made her Penne ala Betsy, which is a shrimp in tomato cream sauce with penne pasta.

Pioneer Woman's Shrimp Penne Pasta

And by we, I mean MMK. Of course, he had to kick it up a few notches by adding a can of of Rotel tomatoes with chiles, but it was a genius touch. While Tom cooked, I fluffed the house, including setting the table. We almost always invite friends to dinner when we're at the beach, and I love to surprise our guests by not going with paper plates, but instead using china, pretty glasses and linen napkins, which I pick up on the cheap at estate sales, Homegoods, Tuesday Morning, ect.

Our dinner table setting

Jacky brought along her famous garlic-cheese spread and some good Italian bread, and Susan made an awesome salad. And Jimmy? He brought an amazing mascarpone gelato which we dolloped on top of my brownies and topped with hot fudge sauce. Aunt Bea! That was some good grub. Sunday morning, the weather finally cleared long enough for us to take a spin around the island on the two new/used beach cruisers we just bought from our friend Tim O'Neill at Tim's Bikes. And then we headed home to Atlanta--in time for monsoon rains. Oh well, we'll always have Tybee.

Monday, January 18, 2010

So Many Books, So Many Authors

Those fun-loving Pulpwood Queens--with MKA in the middle

I have been to some parties in my time. I was at the Sweet Potato Queen St. Patrick's Day extravaganza in Jackson, Miss. one time. I've done St. Patrick's Day in Savannah, Pirate Fest on Tybee Island, Ga., and my own Savannah Breeze weekends. Twice. But boy, howdy, Kathy Patrick sure knows how to put on a throw-down of her own. This past weekend I joined some thirty-some other authors at Kathy's Pulpwood Queens Girlfriends Weekend in Jefferson, Texas for their 10th Anniversary clambake. Kathy owns what is probably the world's only bookstore/beauty shop combination, Beauty and The Book, in Jefferson, and she is a world-class promoter of book clubs and all things bookish. And what a time we all had. Jefferson is an adorable small east Texas town--with 35 inns and B&Bs. My new friend, author Jenny Gardiner and I stayed at The Hale House Inn, where our hosts Timm and Karen Jackson treated us like royalty and fattened us up with lavish breakfasts. We started off Thursday night with a dinner party at Jefferson's Excelsior Hotel, where author Janis Owens, of The Cracker Kitchen cookbook, along with some other great cooks, prepared a true Southern dinner of baked ham, gumbo, corn casserole, rolls and yummy desserts.

Hangin' with my peeps Pat Conroy, Melissa Conroy & Judy Christie at opening party

To show our appreciation for all those book-loving Pulpwood queens, the authors donned aprons and served dinner and bussed dishes. Since I never worked as a waitress, it was a first for me, and I nearly had a gumbo-catastrophe while clowning around with a tray of dirty dishes. On Friday, the parade of author panels began. I was on a panel with Janis Owens and Lauretta Hannon, who has written the funny/tragic MEMOIRS OF A CRACKER QUEEN.

Cracker-jack authors Janis Owens, Lauretta Hannon & MKA

Friday night we were all asked to come up with a fitting costume for The Barbie Ball. For once, my imagination nearly failed me, but at the last minute before leaving for the Atlanta airport, I grabbed a vintage leopard-print coat, a feather boa, and a leopard-print, befeathered pocketbook from my costume closet. Voila! Bitter First Wife Barbie was born, accessorized with a vicious divorce attorney, hefty alimony check and estrogen patch.

My author buddies Patti Callahan Henry, left, and Kerry Madden, right

The Barbie ball-goers were much more imaginative than me, however, coming up with such novel identities as Cougar Barbie, Three-Way Barbie (triplets!), Hippie Barbie, aka my BFF author Patti Callahan Henry, and Original Barbie--who turned out to be a young (very svelte) hairdresser who arrived in Barbie's original 1959-era black and white striped knit bathing suit, before changing into a floor-length black strapless sheath just like the one my original Barbie owned.

Here I am with the Three-Way Barbies

On Saturday, there were more panels, a ticketed luncheon with Pat Conroy, and that night, the party of all parties, The Hair Ball. This year's theme was The Wizard of Oz, and Kathy and company outdid themselves. Book clubs competed for the prize of best themed table decorations and best girl
groups.

Good Witches Complete with Mojito Fountain and Light-up shot-glasses

The Good Witches came swathed in white tulle, with Glinda the Good Witch crowns made from glitzed-up trash baskets and decked out their table as a heavenly cloud--complete with a working Mojito Fountain and LED-light-up shot glasses. Another group dosed themselves and their table with a pink theme. They floated a helium balloon above their pink-draped table which even had a working crystal ball with Dorothy's picture in the middle. Each one of the group was in a different Wizard of Oz costume--but in pink. Still another group made themselves into The Emerald City. I tell ya, it was inspired. The authors did themselves proud too. Our buddy Ad Hudler, author of MAN OF THE HOUSE, dressed himself in black, painted his face and bald head green, and donned a headpiece made to look like a stage with drawn-back green curtains--transforming himself into The Great And Powerful Oz.

Pulpwood Queen Kathy Patrick as Texas Tornado and author Ad Hudler as Great and Powerful Oz

Jenny Gardiner, who has a sick streak like me, came as Judy Garland--the last years, complete with cigarette holder and necklace of prescription pill bottles. Since I didn't have a real costume, I just treated myself to a makeover from one of Kathy's artists--complete with Texas-tornado styled big hair, glitter hairspray and thick, spidery fake eyelashes. There were so many more clever, gorgeous costumes I couldn't quite take it all in.

Mother-daughter team of Lollipop Kids took home Best Costume award

There was a band, and lots of dancing, and laughing and general merriment. And when the weekend was over, we'd all met lots of new friends--women who came to party and celebrate a shared love of books, and authors, people like Kerry Madden, who has a great new children's biography of Harper Lee, and Jamie Ford, whose New York Times bestselling debut novel, HOTEL AT THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET garnered rave reviews last year, and children's book author Melissa Conroy, who's written an adorable picture book called POPPY'S PANTS, and who was accompanied by her famous daddy, Pat Conroy, who wrote a little thing called SOUTH OF BROAD. When I got home Sunday night, I discovered that my sparkle, literally, had worn slap off. The fake eyelashes were MIA, and my feather boa looked like it had been through the wringer what with all that dancing and shimmying. I'm back to plain ol' unglitzy me again. But next year? Watch out Jefferson!

Monday, January 11, 2010

THE FIXER UPPER GAME

I'll admit it--six months ago I thought a casual game was like a pick-up poker game. Since then I've learned that casual computer games are one of the hottest trends sweeping the nation. And they're especially popular with people like you--my readers. That's why I was so excited when the folks at Digironin in North Carolina wanted to create a game based on THE FIXER UPPER. Our game features Dempsey Killebrew and the other characters from THE FIXER UPPER, playing a series of fun, brain-teasing hidden object games based on the plot of the book,--kind of like a scavenger hunt on the computer. And I'm even more excited today, because it's my launch day! Whoo-hoo! Bring out the champagne and laptops! You can go here and take a free trial run today only. There are other sites where the game will be available too, and it will work for both PCs and Macs. Check it out and let me know if you're hooked. Oh, and, be sure to spread the word.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Back from Christmas Break

Did you miss me over the holidays? Right now, Christmas and New Year's seem like a blur. We had family in town for New Year's--my lil' sis Patti, her husband and their friends. We did a little partying in the hood, then took off for Tybee on New Year's Day.

Me and my lil' sis Patti

Once we got back to Atlanta, it was time to get ready for Scott's Antique Market, and a jaunt with two of my favorite antique experts--junk buddy Beth from KnickKnackPaddywack Antiques in Raleigh, and uber-designer Eddie Ross. I had a list of items I was hunting for at Scott's this month, all of it stuff for my project-in-progress, our downstairs guest bedroom. Up until the past year, this had been the lair of Boomerang Boy. I'd decorated it in early hunting lodge motif--with a stuffed deer head, high-backed antique oak bed, and dozens of rustic lake and river-scapes. But now that BB has de-camped for Charlotte, NC, that guest room was looking a little tired. Not to mention the fact that the bed was a double--hardly comfy for the couples who stay with us--and the fact that the bed rails, sadly, were being held up by concrete blocks. Classy, huh? I started the project in the fall, having the walls painted a dreamy pale aqua, and the ceiling painted the same color, cut in half with white. I've picked out a creamy linen for drapes, and a cream and aqua check silk for a bedskirt, and an aqua, green and coral linen floral for a comforter cover and pillow shams, but it's all being made right now. My designer friend Clay and I found a gorgeous antique Italian bench at an estate sale in Buckhead back in October, and the mottled green paint and orangey-coral velvet upholstery were the perfect match for the fabrics I'd picked out. In the meantime, I was trying to wrap my head around paying huge bucks for a custom upholstered rafia headboard that would have been a copy of a Mrs. Howard headboard I spotted last year in HOUSE BEAUTIFUL.

Mrs. Howard's Pricey Bed

Mrs. Howard's bed retails for $4,125, and the copy I was studying would have been around $1,800. But I just couldn't make my hand write that check. Not to mention Mr. Mary Kay would have spit nails if he'd seen said check. Instead, I hunted around, until I found a pretty substitute at Ballard's Backroom here in Atlanta. It's the low-profile Louis bed, and it usually sells for $799. I found it just before Christmas on a day when everything in the store was 20 percent off. But my bed was missing the side-rails, so it had been marked down. A stock clerk managed to find a set of rails, but one of the middle support legs was in a different finish, and one of the bed slats was cracked, so the store manager knocked another 25 percent off, and I ended up paying about $350, which made me much happier.

Louis low-profile Bed

Now all I needed was--nightstands, lamps, a dresser, a rug and art. Nightstands were a bit of a problem. I like big, non-rickety nightstands that can hold a reading lamp, books, magazines, a glass of water, ect. And with these modern pillow-top mattresses, I needed something at least 32 inches tall. I also wanted something big and chunky to fill the wall above the headboard, which sits between two narrow windows. I had a starburst mirror in mind, but these can also be pretty pricey--especially if you're looking for one with some size to it. And I wanted to start looking for art to fill the blank wall opposite the bed. Fortunately, junk buddy Beth came into town Wednesday night so that we could get an early start for set-up day at Scott's. Beth is my Raleigh friend, and the owner of KnickKnackPaddywhack Antiques. We make a perfect junking team because we both love to travel to Europe, love theatre and love antiques. But Beth buys and sells the really good English and French stuff, while I, mostly buy, good junky stuff. Usually Beth would be shopping at the antique fairs in England this time of year, but wisely, this time around she decided to scoot down to Atlanta to shop with me. Wouldn't you know it, Thursday morning, we walked in the building and the first dealer we saw had a pair of killer tole lamps that Beth fell for. And a few feet down that same row I found a mirror. It's big, it's sunburst, and it apparently fell off a truck at some point. It formerly had a row of mirrored tiles surrounding the mirror, but they were all missing. Which is why I got it for $50. I found a dealer who could restore it, but when I thought about what that might cost, I think I've persuaded myself that I actually like it in its current shabby state.
Fifty-Buck Starburst Mirror from Scott's

Thursday night, the weather people were forecasting snow and nasty weather, but that didn't stop me from attending a blogger dinner with Eddie Ross, sponsored by the nice folks at Larson-Juhl Frames. The dinner was at the hip n' happenin' JCT Kitchen, in Atlanta's Westside Design District. I met lots of other local bloggers, like Jennifer Boles of Peak of Chic, Rhoda of Southern Hospitality, and the hilarious Tami of Talking With Tami. Eddie and Jaithan were as cute and charming as always, and full of news about plans for upcoming projects. By the way, if you're in the design district--where Forsyth Fabrics, Lewis & Shearon Fabrics, Ballard's, and Lamp Art are all located, you totally should check out JCT. Awesome southern food. By the time dinner was over, the snow was really coming down. But a little snow never slowed down this junk posse. All the local schools were cancelled, but Beth and I hit the road for Scott's anyway. We strolled the aisles, ate our customary Greek food, and then, I spotted 'em. A pair of substantial nightstands. They are three-drawer chests, probably from the '50s or '60s, repro French Provincial, which the dealers had painted just the right shade of gray-green., with a wax finish and new hardware. Beth liked 'em too, and urged me to buy them. But I had to stroll around for another hour before I went back, did a little bargaining, and sealed the deal. They were not as inexpensive as I'd hoped, but these are sturdy, all-hardwood, and the perfect size, color and condition, and the price was fair, if not a steal.

The Ballard's Bed with Scott's Nightstands

By the time we finished shopping that day, we'd filled up my car, plus Beth's, not to mention all the stuff Beth bought the previous day. Saturday morning, Mr. Mary Kay packed up Beth's car and then loaded up our cartop carrier with all the stuff that wouldn't fit inside her car. Beth headed up 85, home to Raleigh, and I headed up 85, to Larson-Juhl's offices, where Eddie and Jaithan hosted a really lovely tea and framing demonstration.

Eddie Ross and His Blogging Posse

All the tables were filled with gorgeous flower arrangements made by Eddie. The framing demonstration was really interesting and informative, with Eddie using prints, Wedgewood plates, and moulding and mat samples to illustrate all the choices available when framing. At Eddie's suggestion, I came away with a scheme to shadow-box frame the souvenir spoons my mother collected in Europe on her honeymoon. And then today, Sunday, I just had to head back to Scott's one last time. I'd seen Brooke at Velvet and Linen's blogpost about Love Train Antiques, but had never shopped there before. Love Train is in a separate building in the parking lot at the South Expo. The dealers have tons of European antiques and cool vintage industrial salvage stuff. I scored seven antique French architectural illustrations for the bargain price of five bucks apiece!

French Architectural Prints

Now, I guess I'd better get back to working on my new book so I can afford all that framing I'm dreaming up, not to mention curtains and duvet covers.

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