Tracy Porter...

One of THE biggest influences for this upcoming May Event here at our organic farm has been

TRACY PORTER

she sent me these collages she made just for us to see!! 

 A mother of four

A successful entreprenuer

A midwestern girl at heart, but lives sea-side now

A true love for life...family...gardening...nature...and following her instincts

If you are saying "who's Tracy Porter" then

go HERE

and think Macy's.....Bloomingdales......HGTV.....Better Homes and Gardens....E!

and countelss other places

this girl doesn't mess around........she's 100% pure "her"

not conforming to anyone's standards, but rather setting her own

I had the priviledge to interview my new friend....

it seriously has got to be the one of the coolest

things that has happened to me this year....getting inspired by Tracy

her answers are in turquoise:

1) When you moved to S.Barbara, did you bring everything? Or did you edit your items to suit your new home?

a. Our move to Santa Barbara was one filled with many choices, and huge emotion…including a major crazy edit. So crazy that we hired an auction company to sell a lot of our stuff…I am the original magpie. I throw away nothing. Sick, and wonderful. I did not go to the auction, it went on once we moved, I would have been a wreck to watch it….to weird…..I had to really separate, and it was just stuff…..plus we brought what we needed and it was a good edit , and most importantly I was moving across the country with what I treasure more than anything in my world…my family.

2) Where is your favorite place to shop?
a. I love old things so I get pretty amped in vintage shops, flea markets, thrift stores, goodwill anything second hand is good to me….I fill my pockets with sour patch kids, put on a backpack and off I go…I need to be free to touch and smell everything, and the candy helps me just not get too wound up …I am a really excited person when I get around old stuff. Well…I am really excited most of the time anyway.

3) Do you gather the most inspiration from? Nature? Visiting other countries?
a. I gather from anything and everything. I look at stuff non-stop….I am a very curious bird, always wanting to explore. I adore travel…so much. I find it to be really freeing…but I am a girl that can sit on my bed with a glass of wine late at night and a stack of books or magazines and I will write down a notebook full of thoughts in an hour. I don’t have to go across the pond to get inspired I can find it quickly and I think that helps me in my process. I work very quickly, and I move onto to new things fast, which is good based on the range of stuff we get our fingers into.

4) How often do you rearrange your furniture? And when you do this…do you clear out the whole room and start from scratch? Or just ‘edit’?
a. I tend not to do major overhauls, I am more of a vignetter….life gets so busy with kids and our company…but I find it really inspiring and relaxing to move stuff around. Once a week ( maybe twice) for sure I am moving things….in little ways here and there…If I repaint ( which I want to soon) then I really go all out and move stuff. Always after holidays ..big changes too….oddly.

5) What advice can you give, on how to decorate using your passion?
a. I get that decorating can be really intimidating. I always encourage following your gut on choices. Make a list of what you love, what makes you giddy…knuckle biters…why do you love them… tear magazines apart, look through books, or websites and look at what you’ve gathered. You really do know what you love, and what you are passionate about. Find a way to inspire yourself…movies, songs, scents, imagery, something must stir you deep inside…ask yourself questions and you are on your way…little steps, a vignette a powder room…always start small.

6) Do you have a place of your very own in your home that you like to snuggle up to with a good book and a glass of wine?
a. My bed. Always.

7) Your clothing style and your home décor items blend so well together, and I can tell it’s from your heart and soul (that’s one of the reason I like your style)…timeless really…but do you ever feel like going with the trends?
a. I look at everything that’s going on of course in stores, magazines, online, sometimes I am sucked in. Mostly not….I just do what I do….and that’s what feels right to our company, and I am pretty sure to our customers. I want everything to feel really special, very soulful, layered…I want what we create to feel timeless and unique, feel good stuff. I am grateful that we have had the good fortune of people buying our things for nearly 20 years, ….we have done our fair share of learning along the way…skinned knees, etc. You try things, and you look back and cringe, but you have to try things….I mostly look at what we have created with a full heart..that we are still here…. working harder than ever…and for sure more humbled than ever. Being in business can really be superb for perspective….it’s an endurance game…I always compare it to running cross-country back in high school.

8) What’s next for ‘Tracy Porter’…another book perhaps? A TV show??
a. YES!!! Working towards so many things….in this day you really have to keep a lot of irons in the fire, so we do. We don’t take anything for granted, we just keep moving along , moving forward, making new plans, setting new goals…..we are happy to be able to do what we do every day. We will always evolve and try new things, and re-try things…..that’s the interesting piece in all of this..you really have to put yourself out there. So we do!

9) What’s your favorite kind of food? And do you cook?
a. Food is huge in our home. My husband is an amazing cook, and I love to cook as well. We love everything…ethnic especially. ( but we don’t cook a lot of ethnic, that’s more like date-night!) We eat a lot of fresh fish, love Sunday roasts, all veggies…yes, yes…homemade pasta….we like preparing food…we eat late (8pm-ish) which our kids are fine with. The kitchen and dinner table are so important to us and to the way we are raising our four boys. We want them to appreciate how to grow, shop for , make and appreciate good food. I want the smell of food from our home to sit deep in their souls….I am a big believer that the kitchen table is a very healing, healthy and nurturing place for families.

10) What advice do you have for those who have children and that are trying to open up a business? Whether online or brick and mortar?
a. If you are able to work from home, then try it. You may find it easier with children. We used to go into our studio , but since we moved we are trying a work from home situation, and for our family it works really well. Flexibility is key, because owning and running a business never stops . Even though we make it a point to not “talk shop” at night…it can sit on my brain….and I work so hard to be in the moment with my family. Online is great as you may have more options with kids and their oddball schedules. Sometimes you need to try things one way then change them, don’t get too rigid about following a perfectly created plan, as you need to know business is about change and being able to change with it. I have heard far too many people straight out of business school with brand new business’ tell me all about their plan and how it is all going to work as they have it all thought through and then they flip when something didn’t go as perfectly planned. Business is a lot like life, planning, goal setting….but more than anything flexibility will get you through anything.

11) What kind of music do you listen to?
a. I have Pandora on all the time and my mix is all over the board….from Feist, to Bread, to Cat Stevens, Brazilian music, Melody Gardot, Beth Orton, Bebel Gilberto, Seals and Croft…..I am a child of the 70’s so it’s deep inside of me but my French Grand’Mere lived with us…so Edith Piaf was always playing, Billie holiday was as well, Nina Simone …..I still love it all. I have an awful voice ( totally tone deaf, and never remember any words) but I love to sing….so I really crank it in the car and just go for it!


she's goregous inside and out



Thank you so much for your lovely thoughtful questions. Oceans full of kisses to you all!!!

xxx

Tracy

SHOP Tracy Porter HERE

Read Tracy's SO fun blog HERE

She has made numerous videos on everything from decorating advice...fashion....to beauty tips

I literally spent an entire evening in awe...

what an inspiration she is to me and to anyone!  to be true to yourself and follow your heart

If she only lived back in Wisconsin...then she'd be able to attend the events here!

~and come over for a glass of wine and a homemade dinner~

Tracy and I have a HUGE surprise for you soon

HUGE

xo+blessings,

(yes, now I have 3 Tracy's as friends...one with and "i"...one with a "ey" and one that is just "y")

hilarious