Chicago Renovation (Part 2)

Next up, we take a journey through the original living room. Here I am on moving day, bringing far more stuff into the space than needed. I loved the original built ins, and couldn't wait to fill them with my antique bowl collection, and art books. This was my preview...

Chicago Renovation (Part 1)

It was May of 2005, and I was half thrilled and half terrified. I was buying my first place on my own, and leaving the comforts of living with 4 friends for the past 5 years. I found this amazing spot east of Clark on Deming and Lakeview in the...

How do you Leland gal? (Volume 2)

Meet Sara! Sara is the founder of the Blog, Project Soiree, where "Life is a party, and you're invited". Sara came to my shop last summer and was kind enough to start posting about her favorites. Here Sara is with her dog, Leland. The funny thing is that this blue...

How do you Leland gal? (Volume 1)

Meet Chelsey! She is a fellow creative Michigan girl through and through.  I want to tell you a little bit about this amazing fashion student, and share how she thinks outside of the box with her Ditty Bag for school. I don't know how Chelsey found out about Leland gal...

The Evolution of Entertaining.

Not all moments of entertaining that I've done in my life are Magazine Worthy. As a matter of fact, for probably my first 25 dinner parties, I served the exact same dish. Here I am making it in college for a friend's birthday dinner I hosted, complete with plastic cutlery...

Forcing myself to keep it simple.

Is there anything that can top the magical sparkle of light hitting the water? As a child growing up in East Leland, I would stare at those sparkles by the hour. In a time before cell phones, and where my biggest concern was when I'd catch a boat ride to...

Why I'm not posting weekly in the summer.

For the past month, I have been harping on myself again and again. I've got to get a new blog post up, and work on posting at least once a week. While this is my goal, and I certainly hope to improve on this as the fall and winter approach... ...

Fishtown 5K

July 19th was an awesome turnout for Team Leland gal at the Fishtown 5K! Why did we start the idea of doing teams? To help out our little storefront home of Fishtown. Fishtown is a very special place to anyone who has spent time in Leland, Michigan, and we at...

Chicago Mac Time

Spending your summers in a "safe harbor", means that when you hear the Chicago Mac has started, there will be a buzz around town until all boats arrive in Mackinac Island to the finish line. There will be dudes in Mount Gay Rum hats breezing into town, and you'll know...