Archive for April, 2010

Celebrate EARTH WEEK with Laura’s!
Shop with us Monday April 19 thru Sunday April 26
Bring your own bag and you’ll be entered
for a chance to win a reusable Laura’s shopping tote!

And we’re goingto need your help!

At Laura’s Emporium, we know our customers are the most important part of the business.  The interactions we have with shoppers have taught us that not only are you the foundation for our success, but that you’re fun and friendly people.  That’s why we’d like to take the time to get to know you better.

Many times a customer has left the Emporium with a special item that has earned a spot in our hearts, and we often wonder where those items end up.  Since we believe that our clients are talented and creative, we decided to learn more about both you and those wonderful items you bought in one fell swoop.

So we’re inviting you to show off your creativity.  When you took home an item from Laura’s Emporium – what did you do with it?  Did it earn a place in your interior decor?  Is it a new garden feature?  Have you added it to an existing collection?

If you’ve created a great display for your collectibles, or used an item in an imaginative way ~ we’d like to not only see it, but to share it with visitors to our website.  We want everyone to know what we already do – how amazing our customers are.  So take a few minutes to show off what you’ve created and inspire others!

Its easy to participate- simply compose an email with the subject:  SHOW OFF.  Write a description of the item you purchased, how you’ve used it and don’t forget to add a little bit about yourself.  Attach a photo or two and send to newsletter@lauras-emporium.com.

We’d like to remind you that no matter what information you put in your email, we would NEVER make public your last name, email or mailing address, or phone number.  Your information is safe with us!

[ed. note:  Norma's has Booth #73.  You'll recognize her friendly face, she minds the store one day a week, and we so appreciate her!]

Looks like i’m the “chosen one” for this month, so let me bore you!

I was born Norma Ellen in Hartford, CT on Dec. 3rd, 1941, the middle of three girls (which explains a lot!).  My dad, who was lousy at remembering birthdays, etc., could always remember mine, give or take a few days, thanks to Pearl Harbor.

We lived in Wethersfield, then moved to Somers when my dad was offered a job at Southern New England Telephone Co. which he held until his retirement.  One of the 36 members of the first graduating class of the newly built high school, I continued my education at Junior College in Bronxville, NY, taking business and secretarial courses.  Among my teenage jobs was car hop (yep, on rollerskates), department store clerk and working on tobacco farms.

Back in Conneticut, as a secretary at Hamilton Standard, I met my co-worker and husband-to-be.  I’m very proud of our three children – great kids, all college grads, and all doing well.  Gary, a financial analyst, and wife Donna live in CT with Jake (almost 10) and 6-year-old Morgan.  Glenn is an expense group analyst and lives in GA with wife Susan and Ryan (8) and two golden retrievers Dixie and Ozzie.  Daughter Wendy and hubby Matt live in Jacksonville with their beloved pooches Dallas and Marco.  She’s a senior human resources manager with a Swiss-owned staffing company.

After 25 years of marriage I was divorced and started working in small local shops.  When an old friend hired me to work in her Antiques and Folk Art Shoppe, I gladly took the job and that, my friends, was the beginning of my ‘addiction’!  Almost 25 years later, I’m still at it.  I still enjoy it all – the search, the clean up, the sale. I’ve been at Laura’s since the day it opened and love it here.  Such a good, fun, polite, and helpful bunch!

I also enjoy reading, cruising, Las Vegas, movies, tending my flowers and the area penny arcades – such fun!

See you at the store! ~ Norma

“Yes, please,” I respond to the waiter holding a gargantuan pepper mill.  Like a rite of passage, everyone at the table stops momentarily to watch this pungent spice make its way to my ceasar salad.  While dried ground pepper has been around since antiquity, the peppermill we’re familiar with was created in 1842 by Peugeot of France.  Available now as manual or electric, made of ceramic, wood, acrylic, metal, etc. they all have the same basic inner workings.

Wood peppermills, specifically those designed by Jens Harald Quistgaard and made by Dansk Designs is the focus of Todd Pederzani’s website (http://www.tpederzani.com/pepper/Main_Page), although some other companies are covered.  The 1997 movie Peppermills starred Kate Walsh as a compulsive thief – but only of peppermills.  After viewing Todd’s site, can’t say as I blame her.

One would think a piece of wood made into a peppermill would have limitations, but the endless variety of unique and stunning designs defies that theory.  A separate section for variations of the grinding mechanisms and pepper fills is included.  Each mill shown has a load of information: description, maker, designer, mechanism, material, pepper fill, production dates, dimensions, and type.

More photos can be seen at GargoyleMT’s Flickr Set ‘Peppermills’.  There’s several salt and pepper shaker collector organizations, but none solely for peppermill collectors, that I could find.  Perhaps it’s time for these wood beauties to have their own cheerleading squad.

Sit a spell at La Petite Cafe and enjoy our many offerings.  Fresh brewed coffee is always available for our customers at no charge.  We also have flavored coffees, specialty teas, sodas, gourmet crackers from Food Should Taste Good, homemade jams and Amish peanut butter from Shipshawanna, Indiana, and Harvest Thyme Herbs dip mixes.  Enjoy them in our cafe or take home to share.