I'm Having a Sale!!!

Well...not right away, anyway.

But I thought you'd like a peek at some of what you can expect

when I have the Mutha of All Garage Sales

this Summer...

This is one of our barns, currently being used as

The Mutha of All Storage Units.

You remember what it looked like before we did

a massive cleaning of it, right?

 Lots of potential underneath all the yuck and grime.

Well, we came, we saw, we got it all cleaned up!

And now it's filled to the rafters with 

a plethora of my vintage goodies

acquired at some of the most fabulous

spots in the state of Texas and beyond!

And most of what you see here will be sold!

Not sure about the dress forms...struggling with the idea of letting those go.

Anyhoo...

 Oh yeah, lots more room to fill.

And believe me, I've got TONS more crap treasures!

So the message to be gleaned from this post would be....

  

WATCH THIS SPACE!

Sale to be announced sometime this Summer.

And if you are semi-local and would be 

interested in participating in an 

occasional sale / MOAGS (Mutha of All Garage Sales)

let me know!

Everything is still in the planning stages,

but once I get this barn cleaned up and decked out,

it's going to be AMAZING.

You'll see.  :-)

I'm patterning it after my beautiful friend Theresa's space at Zapp Hall...

I can only DREAM of having my sale look this good!

But it's nice to have an incredible fairy blogmama like Sweet T

to model myself after.

Off for now, I hope you have a beautiful week ahead!

{ disclaimer: absolutely no pre-sales of any items seen here before sale is announced }

Linking with Debra for
Vintage Inspiration Friday

Grace

In every life, there are

places

places of joy and of happiness and peace

places where one can go to escape, to rest, to pray....to dream

places of plenty

and places of 

grace

mine is found in a lovely old 

Gothic church in my new hometown.

It's a place where I feel a peace and a stillness,

where my heart and spirit can escape this world and contemplate the next.

Where is your  place?

Have a blessed second Sunday of Lent!

A Lighter Heart

It's felt like
Spring
for quite some time here

in the Texas Hill Country

but in my heart...

not so much.

The heaviness and bitter cold of
Winter
paralleled much of what was going on in my
heart and spirit.

and then this week,

a series of events

changed everything...

in a GOOD way.

God was faithful.

Just as He always is.

Right on time.

This week,

in my heart

in my spirit

through my eyes

and through my lens

Spring arrived!

And with it,
so did

hope

joy

and

peace.

Our beautiful backyard peach tree,

adorned with the lovely peach blossoms you see here.

Happy Thursday,

Happy Spring!

Linking with Tricia at
A Rosy Note for Photo Feature Friday

Thank you, Fifi!

{from my recent photo shoot}

Hello sweet friends!

I just wanted to pop in, as I am finally  able to share with you

a bit of news about my big photo shoot this past January.

It was a project for the fabulous Fifi O'Neill 

and Romantic Country Magazine!

I just received word from sweet Fifi that the story on 

Linda and Ludmil Marcov of

Willow Nest

will be in the next issue, so please, pick up a copy once it hits the stands...soon!

Fifi tells me they will be using 11 of my photos,

and I will be getting a credit in the story which reads...

Photography and Styling by Anne Lorys

Wow!

Thank you so much Fifi, for your support and belief in me,

and thank you Linda and Ludmil Marcov for your hospitality.

Lastly, thank you to my sweet friend Carol Spinski

for your friendship and tireless mentoring.

I'll be able to post more about this once the issue hits the stands.

Be sure to pay Fifi a visit, too...her latest post features info on the next issue

of Romantic Country.

And don't forget to grab a copy of her fabulous new book,

Romantic Prairie Style 

   

Finally, thanks to all of YOU from the bottom of my heart for the outpouring

of support and love you've shown me following my last post.

I love y'all, you know.

:-)

Have a wonderful Sunday and week ahead!

What's Been Going On

I am....

all or nothing

no in-between

0 or 60

my speedometer doesn't do 30

Mount Everest or the ocean depths

level ground? what is that?

a blinding light or pitch darkness

no shadows here

So when I

burn out

I tend to go down in flames.

As far as I know, I'm not manic depressive or bipolar,
but I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest
if I found out that I was.

I am a woman of extremes.
Maddening, frustrating, oft-times debilitating
extremes.

And lately?
The extremes have taken a hard toll.

I've tried to blame it on blogging,
but blogging is hardly to blame...
the fault lies with the woman composing this post.

I flamed out, pure and simple.
Hit the proverbial wall.

The past year, I have dropped the ball on many things of great importance.

My family.
My faith.
Responsibilities
and
commitments.

And all because I couldn't find
balance
peace
and
harmony.

I felt as though I had to do it all,
and that I had to do it perfectly.

I have failed myself,
my family,
my God,
and in some ways,
many of you.

I've contemplated deleting this blog...
just going
poof 
and disappearing from your blog rolls
without warning..

But isn't that just like me?
Little Miss All-or-Nothing?

Instead of scaling back,
taking a breather
and actually learning how to bring
order and balance
to my life,
I opt for the dramatic choice.

And in some ways, the easy choice.

It's always easier to curl up in a ball in the corner
rather than
facing and conquering your demons head-on.
Easier, but ultimately it's a choice which leads to a sort of death....
maybe not a literal death, but one where your spirit
withers and dies.

Not  a choice I want to make.
Not now.
Not ever.

The problems and demons I've been dealing with
are not ones I wish to share.
They are deeply personal,
and some are pretty big...
but they are not too big for God to handle,
if I will just let Him in again.

It's a time of re-building...
my relationships with my family,
my God,
and even with myself.

Re-learning how to love myself,
when I haven't really felt very lovable at all.

I'm tippy-toe-ing back into the blogging world.
With a humble and grateful heart,
and with a healthy dose of fear, too...

Fear that I won't find that balance,
and will flame out once again.

But I love the relationships I've formed in this blogging world
so very, very much...

y'all are my heart, and I miss you.

And you are worth the effort.

Love,

Guest Post...Privet and Holly

Hello!  

What an honor to be guest posting

for my dear friend Anne, one of the kindest
and most inspiring bloggers I've had the
pleasure of knowing since I first stumbled
through this blogging door.

One of the greatest gifts that I have received
from blogging is the recognition that no
matter our age, stage or geography, we are
all connected.  I have either walked in your

shoes, will walk in your shoes or want to
walk in your shoes!

I wrote this post at the very beginning of
my blogging journey and I invite you to
walk it with me, once again, as our sweet

Anne takes a much-needed blogging respite.

Anne, I often see myself, in you....

Suzanne

Privet & Holly

Visit me at www.privetandholly.com

My niece ~ loving what she sees!

You, yourself, as much as anybody
 in the entire universe, 
deserve your love and affection.  ~ Buddha

I saw

myself

today

As I drove around

suburbia

I saw myself

in the woman

coming out of the bank

and the mall

and the library

I saw myself today

in the woman

walking with her little son

in the park

Then I saw myself
again

in the young woman

wearing business clothes

high heels click-clicking

down the aisles 

on her lunch break

at Target

I saw myself today

The little girl skipping 

out into the school yard

sunshine on her face

back pack and a smile
that
was
me

I saw myself

in her grandmother

arms open wide as she 

greeted her in

the car pick up line
that
was
me
too

I saw myself today

in the college-age baristas

the laughs and banter

behind the counter
at my favorite coffee shop

I saw myself
as well
in the couple

waiting in the
pharmacy at Walgreens 

my husband's aged hand

clasping my own

Everywhere I looked

 today
I recognized myself

now


 the past


the future


And I whispered
a blessing
of love and
affection
to
each one.

Have a wonderful
week ahead!
I hope to
see you
soon.

images:  click on each for attribution

*****

Dearest Suzanne...thank you SO very much for providing me with this wonderful
post. Your voice is one of reason and wisdom, and I am so very thankful to count you
among my friends.

Life plods along here on this end, hoping to return soon.
Miss you all.

Love,

P.S.

Wishing you all a very blessed and fruitful Lent

An Odd Little Thing...

Re-posted from January 2010.

I'll be away for a bit longer, please enjoy some old posts

I'll be pulling up from the F&T archives.

*****

I've always been a little "off".

Those who know me best will attest to this fact,
and for those who do not, well....strap yourself in, the funhouse ride is about to start!

Is weirdness learned behavior?
Is it by nature or nurture, or a combination of both?

Whatever the answer, I am in possession of more than my fair share of
idiosyncratic behavior, some of which dates back to my childhood.

That's me and my mom.

We both look normal enough, but those are the ones you gotta watch out for, 

everybody knows that.

Ever since I was a tiny little thing, I've had to raise my feet up every time 

I go over railroad tracks. I'm not sure why, 

but I'm fairly certain that some heinous tragedy will befall me if I do not.

Same for those Emergency Broadcasting System tests. 

As soon as they announce it, I have to run to the nearest bed, chair or sofa and 

make sure my feet aren't touching the ground until the test is over. 

I'm fairly sure I've saved y'all from a national nuclear catastrophe 

more than once with this particular move.

Awwwww, ain't I cute?

You'd never suspect what oddness lies just beneath the surface!

Here's another.

Somewhere along the way during my childhood, it became a matter
of grave importance that the phrase

"Hot diggity dog"  MUST be followed by the words "it's a junkyard."

Hey, waaaaaait a minute....that one's not so crazy after all! ;-)

Definitely prophetic, wouldn't ya agree?

Oh, yeah.
That's me. Sad to say.

I'm not sure what's more pathetic, my ensemble or my rockin' curly hairstyle.

You're probably asking yourself, just how does one attain such perfect ringlets?
Look closer, I'm wearing pink, spongy curlers. The SHAME!

Not enough for ya?
Behold, child abuse in action....

Not sure if you can make it all out clearly, but that's me.

Wielding a sword.

In curlers.

And a hair net.

Out in public!

And all documented for posterity by my clearly sadistic mother.

And she looked so sweet in that first picture, didn't she?

My weirdness extends to my pets.

Havok

Belle

Winnie

I've always given my animals middle names, 

as well as the baker's dozen assortment of quirky nicknames, too.

Let's just do the middle names today, shall we?

Winnie came to us as a Winnie. She already had her name, as she was a shelter kitty.

For some reason, she promptly became Winnie Bagel, 

I'm guessing because it sounds so much like Winnebago. Not so weird.

Then there's Belle.

My husband already had Belle when we met, but she too came with the name.

Very princess-y, and a name seriously devoid of personality.

I'm a big fan of Indian food, and there's a great South Indian dish known as Bhel Puri.

So, no brainer! She will henceforth and always carry Puri as her middle name!

And lastly, we have Havok.

Whenever I call the dogs, because we live on over 4 acres, I tend to summon them as a unit...

"Havok and Belle! Come, Havok and Belle!"

Ooooo, you guys are gettin' good, you already guessed it!

Havok's middle name is "AndBelle" !

And yes, my husband does look at me 

with the same askance, bemused sense of "whaaaaa?" you guys 

have plastered across your faces this very moment.

I've got enough weird to fill another post or three, so don't worry, 

I'll follow this one up with some of the better stuff in the days ahead. 

This was just a whet-your-appetite sorta deal here.

In the meantime, what's your particular brand of weird?

I, for one, would LOVE to know! ;-)

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