Meandering Prose

If you have met the shopgirls, you probably have gotten to know a few things about us, like:

• We're mother and daughter (though many people say we look like sisters)
• We are the cutest girls (seriously ... we have a necklace that says so!)
• We get along ridiculously well (it's creepy, really)
• We must have music in our lives (can you say Pandora addict?)
• We've been known to sing and dance in the shop ... while we have customers.
• We're sarcastic to a fault
• We love to laugh ... at ourselves and each other and at life in general

Which brings me to the real reason for this post. Because we are not so narcissistic to think that you come to our blog to read about us (OK well, maybe a little...). Are you familiar with Erin Smith yet?

You need to be. She's an artist ... and a wife ... and a mother ... and she says all of the things we wish we could say, but don't have the courage to. And then she makes art out of it. And greeting cards. Which we are so proud to have in our shop. Because she makes us laugh so hard that we nearly wet ourselves.

Come in and laugh with us ....

xoxo,

(All images from Erin Smith Art)

Five minutes of fame

Allegra got interviewed on Saturday at the Harvest Festival. It's for a promotional video for company Live Work Learn Play, who has been helping the Marketplace out over the last year.

She felt very glamorous for about five minutes ... and then she went and played with the artist dogs :)

xoxo,

HHF Recap: The Scene

We've got so much to tell ya'll about the Harvest Festival. Basically, it was a huge hit. Very well received, and people commented that they hoped it was an annual event! Before we get into what we did at the fest, I thought I'd share some pictures of the "scenes" of the day.

The Entrance to the Festival

Awesome truck complete with a scarecrow made by Riverview Charter School kids (the scarecrows' permanent home will be at Habersham Farms)

Another awesome scarecrow along with a bunch of those pumpkins Allegra picked up Friday from Lowcountry Produce.

The stage, provided by Hargray, our premier sponsor.

Just a few of the vendors at the event. We only got to venture out right in front of the shop, and those vendors were amazing! I can't imagine all the other fantastic vendors who must have been there!

Allegra with "brothers" Salvadore Dali (Yorkie-Dachsund mix) and Vincent Van Gogh (Chihuahua-Dachsund mix).

The 360-degree bar provided by Maggie's Pub.

The festival was beautiful at night, with fabulous lights draped across Market.

The crowd inside Nancy Beaupre's Storybook Shoppe.

The gang at Earth Fit.

Awesome band, Riptide.

The kids rocking out to the music.

Joli all lit up at night ...

The entire merchant council and volunteers did a fabulous job setting up for the event. It turned out beautifully, and a fantastic time was had by all! Stay tuned for more on the tasting and the flowers!

xoxo,

Pumpkins, pumpkins, and more pumpkins!

In preparation for the big event on Saturday, Allen (my son) and I (Allegra) took a drive up to Lowcountry Produce in Lobeco today. We were there to pick up our order for the tasting and to pick up ohhh ... just a few pumpkins to help decorate the street for the Harvest Fest ...
Allen couldn't wait to see the "punkin patch" and jumped out of the car right away to pick out his pumpkin ... I think he's excited about the Harvest Festival.
Hope ya'll are as excited as we are about Saturday. Can't wait to see you!

xoxo,

Shopgirls featured in Beaufort Gazette

Hey ya'll! Check out this article about how we came to Beaufort. You can pick up a hard copy of it in today's Beaufort Gazette too.

xoxo,

Closing Early Today 8/27

Fall sneak preview

Sorry for the absence here on the blog lately. We've been quite busy. We barely caught our breaths after July Market before merchandise starting arriving, and then we were off to summer vacations (Allegra in Myrtle Beach last week, and Cheryl in Aspen this week).

We're in the final week of our Annual Summer sale, so if you haven't stopped in yet to take advantage of our shop-wide 20% off, please make sure you do before Sunday.

In the meantime, enjoy this photo we shot for a fall ad. It contains some great previews of the great stuff we've got lined up for this Autumn. Starting next week, you'll be able to see all these goodies in the shop.
Have a great week, ya'll. Don't forget to stop in to see Allegra and Allen(our fabulous little salesman) and to take advantage of the last week of our 20% off sale. And make sure you come by M Friday night to celebrate the grand opening of their Habersham Marketplace store!

xoxo,

P.S. If anyone knows how to fold up one of these, please come and help us. We'll give you a Bloomsberry chocolate bar. Seriously!

Big Kiss

We wanted to send out a big kiss to all of you who supported our sidewalk sale this past weekend. It was an amazing success, despite the rain, heat, and humidity. Thank you so very much.

Since we still have some goodies left over, we decided to extend the sidewalk sale until the merchandise is gone. So stop on in when you can to check out all this merchandise ... discounted as much as 75% off original prices.

xoxo,

Sparkly Happy Sidewalk Sale

The Sparkly Happy Sidewalk Sale got off to its official start this morning ... which was neither sparkly nor happy. At least not outside ... But thanks to our our friends "the girls," we were able to get in a fun sparkly mood anyway, and finish getting our sale set up (and thanks to M & J who loaned us the tent and set it up for us)!

Pictured above is Hannah, our official face painter. She will be here tomorrow afternoon to paint faces (or arms). And below is Ale who is our official glitter girl (glittering up Allegra's hair). She'll be here tomorrow afternoon to glitter-up anyone who is interested ...

The final product:

Come out to see all of our awesome sale stuff and to see us all sparkly and pretty. And to get sparkly and pretty yourselves!

Love,

New Product Alert: Bloomsbury & Co. Chocolate

Our order from New Zealand chocolate makers Bloomsbury & Co. just arrived. This was an impulse buy on our part. We got a clever little mailing from them last week, laughed aloud at some of the packaging designs, and decided on the spot to order! Here are the designs we ordered (some milk chocolate, some dark).


And as you can see, Allegra has already gotten her paws on the samples. Boy is it yummy ...
Wait! Why are you laughing? Do I have something on my face?

As those awesome Bloomsberry folks say ... think chocolate!

*Disclaimer: It actually took me about 10 minutes to perfect the chocolate face above. How does my 2 1/2 year old manage to get that much chocolate on his face in less than five seconds?

Where it all began

Welcome to our little blog. We hope you enjoy what you see and read here. With so much going on in all our lives, we thought that the blog might be a fun way for you to get to know us and our shop. To start off, let's give you a little history ....

Cheryl (aka Mom) has always had a knack for decorating and entertaining, but until about 10 years ago, it remained mostly a hobby for her. Once her kids were out of school and fairly self-sufficient, she decided it was time to take her skills to the next level. She enrolled in design school and used the skills she acquired there to start a small retail business in a co-op outside of Philadelphia.

Allegra's (aka the daughter) favorite pastime as a child was to play "store." She'd price all the items in her mom's living room and then help "customers" with their purchases. Her least favorite pastime was washing all the dishes her mom dirtied in putting together her famous soirees. While she hated the dish-washing part, she loved the entertaining aspect, and it stayed with her into adulthood. After planning the ultimate soiree -- her own wedding -- she started a part-time wedding planning business. She found that while planning weddings and other events (she was an event planner for an ad agency in a former life), she was constantly consulting with her mom on decor, food, flowers, and more.

Fast forward a few years to when Cheryl and her husband purchased property in Habersham, a new-urban development in Beaufort, South Carolina. When Cheryl heard about the plans to build a Marketplace there, an idea hatched in her brain ... we'll get Allegra and her husband to move here, and we can open a shop.

Allegra and her husband only had to think about it for about 30 seconds once they saw the beauty of this lovely coastal town and the views around the neighborhood. After a few minor delays (and a kid), we finally made it down here.

Joli was born in October 2007, from the hard work, passion, and dreams of a mother and a daughter. Their tastes are compatible yet different enough to make for an eclectic shop filled with everything from original oil paintings to jewelry made from recycled bottle-caps and dominoes.

In Joli, we've created a shop filled with unique home decor accessories, artwork, furniture, gift items, candles, jewelry, and more. We strive to purchase items that you won't find everywhere and items you can feel good about purchasing (recycled glassware, Fair Trade products, products which donate to children's charities).

We hope you enjoy this blog as much as we enjoy writing it. Here we will be sharing design and entertaining tips; providing you with additional information about our great products; and letting you know about upcoming events. Enjoy!!

The Shopgirls