Our Story
Hello! We’re Penny + Erich!
Our life is rooted in community - filled to the brim with five kids (ages 6-18), two adorable pups (Ralph & Archie), Homeschooling & now college for one. We rescued 200 E. Michigan Ave. in beautiful downtown Grayling. This building was special to both of us personally as it was where Erich worked for many years as a bicycle mechanic and was once the home of a restaurant that was owned and operated by Penny’s Ancestors. As special as the building is, it was falling apart and we have been pouring all sorts of love into it. Have you ever seen someone lay 5,000 subway tiles?…Erich loved it, don’t let him fool you!
Within his position at the city of Grayling, as The City Manager, Erich recognized there was a lack of retail in the community - and in Chip and Joanna Gaines fashion, Penny had the creative vision to lead the design & restoration and Erich was ready to execute (he loves demo day too). The mission of The Curator is to provide a place our community can come and get many of the things we didn’t have available before. “Curated” if you will. A place to show your friends, a shop that makes you feel proud of where you’re from, a building that makes you feel happy just to be inside it’s walls, and when you receive a gift in that cute, white bag with The Curator logo on it, you know it is going to be something great!
We love sharing this place with you all! We can hardly believe it has been THREE YEARS!!
You know what they say, '“time flies when you’re having fun!'“
Penny, Erich & their family (not pictured 2 “Bernedoodles”). Definitely need some new family photos, whoops!
We have 5 kids - 2 biological and 3 adopted through the foster system, something we are passionate about. Penny blogs about our crazy life when she has time (which isn’t often these days).
A little bit about the kiddos (Left to right):
Logan, is the luckiest kid EVER - he has found more than 100 four-leaf clovers. Logan is attending Northern Michigan University, in Marquette, MI, where he has a double major in Psychology and History!
Ariya & Nadia (not twins!) - Ariya is the coloring queen and loves to help, while Nadia is an animal loving DIVA that cartwheels more than she walks!
Tobin is monster obsessed and creative as they come, with hair so curly & cute that he makes the ladies melt.
Bowen is probably a genius but we won’t tell him yet, witty and weird are his specialties. Just try to be around him without laughing, impossible!