i have spent the last 48 hours basking in our unseasonable spring weather, and in the enthusiastic drip drip drip of news from the rollout of STILL by mary jo hoffman at target and west elm. with above freezing temps forecast this week, and some STILL blog features coming up in some of my favorite places (Mpls. Star Tribune, Victoria Smith’s addictive SFGirlByBay blog, and Kate Arends’ flawless blog Wit & Delight), i am gleefully anticipating that drip drip drip might melt into something like a flood.

wild grapevine tendril

rice creek regional trail, saint paul, minnesota

for those of you who went searching for the complete mary jo collection at target today, sorry you weren’t able to see everything quite yet. it’s early in the rollout, and some wrinkles will need ironing. i could stress about it, or i could take a walk down to the lake with jack, and come upon these rain-glazed shoreline willow saplings. i chose the latter. have a peaceful weekend. namaste.

twigs poking out of lake ice

turtle lake, saint paul, minnesota

this is a day i never could have imagined four years ago, when i started placing nature on white paper and taking its picture. it’s a day that, even when it started feeling more or less inevitable last year, still felt mostly unreal. quirky nature blogs, full of feathers, twigs, nests, bugs, and dead birds, don’t lead to lines of bedding and wall hangings at major national retailers. taking a walk once a day with a neurotic, ill-behaved puggle doesn’t lead to the fulfillment of dreams. but maybe the idea of taking a moment each day to look at one single beautiful thing is something that more people want than i originally imagined. i guess we will find out soon. many of you will get an email from me today announcing the launch of two STILL by Mary Jo Hoffman product lines at Target and West Elm. i am proud and still a little disbelieving. but mostly i am grateful, and what i am most grateful for, after a couple of kids, a pretty decent husband, and that neurotic puggle, is you. my beauty lovers, stillness seekers, minimalists, makers, artists, nature geeks, and friends. Target and West Elm will be in my life for a little while, and i am very excited about it. but you have been here from the start, and you are what will keep me doing this, or something like it, for, i hope, a long time to come. thank you.

now, enough sappiness. go spend some money.

red leaves for target.com

apparently i was thinking about straight lines and forked paths when i laid out this pattern. i thought i was thinking about winter browns. i don’t know my own mind.

a collection of brown bits

 last year two major national retailers contacted me about using STILL images on new product lines. they contacted me independently, three months apart, but serendipity has resulted in both product launches occurring in the same week. as in–this week! today, West Elm launched this collection of wall hangings featuring STILL images. there are 36 total images to choose from, in three different sizes. when they initially told me the images would be printed on acrylic in matte gold frames, i had no idea what to expect. but i have to say, now that the samples have arrived,  i am simply over the moon about them.  The acrylic is perfect for STILL.  it makes each image feel like a shadow box. the images come alive on the clear surface, and the shadows they cast on the wall add to the effect, and enhance the beauty of the images. please see for yourself in the link below. and thanks to all of you who have walked next to me over four years of STILL blog, meandering through minnesota woods and prairies, along florida beaches, and into the french mediterranean garrigue. i’m guessing you didn’t always know where this was headed. neither did i. but for now, this is a heart-swellingly rewarding destination. enhanced beyond words by your continued presence here with me.

STILL for West Elm

36 wall hangings of STILL images printed on clear acrylic and framed in a matte gold metal frame