My Coming Out Party

The Chamber of Commerce Mixer at my antique mall
seemed to be a smashing success on many levels....
good turnout, lots of schmoozing and beneficial connections made.
I was interviewed for a local radio station and had my pic snapped
for publicity purposes. That's pretty cool.

I met many of the other dealers in the mall,
and friendships were struck up.

I discovered a secret, heretofore unearthed treasure trove
of lethally awesome ephemera that I managed to score
for the ridiculously rock-bottom price of $20.
We're talking a yearbook from 1922, a teen's scrapbook from 1923,
a phone book from the 40s, and a whole host of instant ancestors.

I eavesdropped on overheard many ladies comment
on how lovely they thought my booth looked. Yay!

But did it translate into sales? I'm not entirely sure.
The big crowds were mostly downstairs, as expected.
That left 35 dealer booths upstairs, Fiona and Twig included,
with less than ideal foot traffic.After a cursory walkthrough about two hours in,
I only noticed a few smalls missing.
One of my mall neighbors who has an absolutely killer booth
with quality vintage furniture and whimsical mixed media pieces...
I thought for sure hers would be cleaned out in record time.
No dice. 
People were buying things, but they were all smalls,
and there was a randomness to it. I couldn't get a read on what was hot and not.

We are only 20 short miles away from Fredericksburg,
the home of cutting-edge awesomeness
on the level of the very best of Warrenton or Round Top.....
and yet still so very far away.

My memory card filled up quickly, so I only managed to snap pics
of my booth for the most part. I have lots of the killer ephemera,
which I'll post tomorrow. But for now, here's how my booth
was all decked out for her first  soirée!

Before all the action started.

That is not my crazy quilt in the upper left!

Look y'all, it's my sign! It's almost like I'm legit now!

 This was looking a little sparse here.
I filled it up with quite a bit more later.

I loooove my crib vignette. I'll be sad to see it go.

 

 

 

So yeah, right now my booth is way more girlish and pink
than I evah planned on. Hang in there folks, if I ever unload some of this stuff,
I'll be switching over to a much more neutral, Jeanne d'Arc toned palette.

So that's my night in a nutshell. I've only been at this two weeks,
so I'm plenty of willing to give it time.
Heck, my husband said I should give it three years to turn a profit! My kind of man!

Have a great Friday, and hit those garage sales for me~
I'm working on my b-day weekend, boo!

I just linked with The Shabby Nest

for their Frugal Friday party.

Since most of my booth treasures are of the very frugal variety, 

I'm eager to see what other thrifty ideas can be found there!

Go pay them a visit!

Big Whoop on the Horizon

Our local Chamber of Commerce
is throwing an after hours shopping/mixer/benefit tomorrow night
at my antique mall, and it's rumored that close to 400 WOMEN will descend upon the mall for what could turn into the Lollopalooza of antique shopping. Let's hope!

As expected, there's been a flurry of dealer activity this week,
what with all of us foofing our boof (© VRS Sue) in anticipation of fab vintage junk
flying out the doors left and right.

The dealers are invited to attend, but the idea isn't to man your booth.
It's more a show of support for the worthy cause at hand,
and I think it'll also be excellent PR.
Captain Obvious, at your service.

 

I'm running this baby over to my booth tomorrow morning. 

Such a beauty. I used a wee bit of paint stripper 

just to get the thicker areas of black paint off. Don't worry, it still has a killer patina.

I picked up TWO of these sweet little tables
for $2 each at Stop #1 of Epic Garage Sale Saturday last week...

Seriously awesome, right?

And if that weren't enough, I nabbed the table below 

at the same sale for only a buck. A BUCK!!

FYI, that's paint, not bird poop.

Off to the booth with both of them.

Today I made a few last minute runs to my usual handful
of thrift stores and stocked up on top-notch tchotchkes
that'll complement my booth theme. Which is......

My booth is having an identity crisis, methinks.

Somewhere along the way, it's turned into your one stop shopping
for all things white, pink and cottage-y.

NOT my original vision, but I'm going to have ease this sleepy little hamlet
into appreciating the Ugly Baby Thing (© Fiona and Twig)
the way you forward-thinking peeps do.

Soooooo......wish me luck!
Send me loads of good junkin' juju for a blockbuster night!

XOXO,

Anne

The good news and the....edited news

You see this gorgeous silver serving piece
full of the most divine smelling homemade gardenia soap?

I was lucky enough to win Jana's fabulous 

first giveaway over at Collected Treasures!

It's an entire loaf(!) of the most incredible smelling, 

all-natural gardenia soap ever.

Silly girl, she said on the enclosed note 

that if I didn't like the scent I could sell it in my booth.

Yeah, as if!!!

My splendid loaf o' soap was sitting prettily 

in this elegant vintage silver serving piece!

I think I actually squeeed when I saw it!

Jana, you are simply the best, I love it all!

Visit Jana's highly addictive online store to see all her goods, 

she has some truly amazing finds.

Breaking News! Edited to add that I just found out 

more loot and swag is headed my direction...

the talented Cori of Starview Sonnet just announced 

that I was the winner of her 100th post giveaway!

Direct from Cori's terrific etsy shop...

Is that not fab? And it's BIG, too! Measures 42" by 11".

Thanks so much Cori, I can't wait to get it!

More good news, I've racked up about a half dozen sales this week, 

and someone even wanted to buy Helga, my Booth Hussy.

I sort of want to hold on to her until at least Halloween, 

but a sale's a sale, right?

Frequent readers of my blog will recognize
that I've edited out the second part of this post, the "bad news" section, as well as any comments.
I apologize if yours were the ones deleted, please read on for my mea culpa.

It's common knowledge that I have a blog in the town where I live,
heck, it's even printed on the business cards in my booth!

I've had conscience pangs all day long that the rest of this post,
while snarky and entertaining, wasn't very nice.
And I want to play nice as the new kid in the sandbox.

'Nuff said.

XOXO

Rate My Junk, October Edition

I have a backlog of stuff waiting to be placed for sale in the booth,
but I think I sorta need to have another installment
of "Rate My Junk" here.

This picture was snapped in the store before we brought it home. 

Once again, I'm torn about selling it (big surprise there, right?). 

It's been at the foot of our bed for over a month now, 

it's the *perfect* shade of green and I really do sort of heart 

those way cool metal handles on either end.

So.....rate it!

Sell it, keep it, seek therapy for my unhealthy attachment to second-hand furniture?

Super cute little white kitchen cart.

 It has just the right amount of patina on top and functions equally well 

as a utilitarian piece or as something more decorative.  

These seemed to be a dime a dozen in Warrenton, 

but this one is in much better shape than many I saw.

Moving along...

Purchased at church rummage sale for $4.

Not cleaned up a bit yet, 

just bare bones retro beauty shining through here.

The best part is the chunky removable top 

which is made of some sort of heavy ceramic tile...

 As I was heading up to pay for it, 

I overheard one church lady say to another 

"You see Martha, I told you that somebody would want that!!" Too funny.

My next purchase is going to require a bit more audience participation.

Please, gentle readers, settle a bet for me here...

Is it garage saling, saleing, sale-ing, or sailing?

I've seen all of the above used, and even though most folk 

seem to choose the "sailing" version, 

I have a hard time wrapping my head around that one. 

I don't know about you, but there's no large bodies of water 

where I'm shoppin', nor is a life-jacket de rigueur. But I'm open. Edumacate me.

A quarter!

Scored while garage sal....sail....sale-....errr, while shopping in someone's garage.

 

This is now sitting pretty behind the chippy green 

piano music stand in my booth. Re-framed, of course.

And speaking of frames...

Big score with the two more ornate looking ones on the right. Right?

I had an epic day Saturday, with tons more rummage 

and garage sale finds, now to just get them photographed 

for your perusal and cleaned up to sell!

Off to work I go. Have a super fab Tuesday!

And The Anthropologie Giveaway Winner Is....

I am pleased and honored to announce
the lucky winner of my very first giveaway!

Giveaways are about milestones, and mine in particular was to celebrate

the opening of my very first Antique Mall space. 
Fiona and Twig was born!

I dreamed it, I blogged it, I did it!

And couldn't that truly be the motto
of so many of the beautiful and creative folk here?

So while I'm definitely celebrating my shop space opening,
this giveaway was also to honor all the gentle, generous,
altogether wonderful souls who have enriched my life
by virtue of their genius and just plain selflessness. 

So enough lollygagging, as my sweet grandmother would have said!

The winner is:

Cathy of Mille Fleur
 

If you will be kind enough to mail me with your contact info, I will be delighted to pack this loot up and ship it to you jiffy pronto.

Again, thanks so much to all who entered. I do hope you'll stick around, there will be another giveaway coming up for my 75th post. Details to follow in the days ahead!

Have a blessed Sunday,

~ Anne

What's in your bucket?

I confess, I never saw the movie "The Bucket List" .

It's about two terminally ill gents,
played by Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman,
who take off on a road trip together armed with a list
of all the things they want to do before they kick the proverbial bucket.

I quite like the idea of this, and as of late, 

have felt compelled to slowly but surely empty my own  bucket after years of relative complacency.

So....what's in my bucket?

Since first seeing the magnificent Broadway musical 

Les Miserables almost 20 years ago, and having seen it 16 times since, 

I have always wanted to sing the role of Fantine on stage.

Something visceral stirred deep within me the very first time 

I heard the opening strains of I Dreamed a Dream.

Odds of accomplishing this: slim to none, 

but I can still sing the libretto joyfully while driving, cleaning, painting....

Next on my list?

To become more proficient and polished 

at the whimsical world of mixed media/altered image art.

I see a great opportunity now to produce and sell 

mixed-media creations in my booth, and eventually, in my own shop. 

Sweet and uber talented friends such as Dawn at The Feathered Nest 

have been encouraging and so very inspiring in this quest, 

so I hope to have some pretties to display soon.

Odds of accomplishing this: Pretty darn good *fingers crossed*!

Next item...

Go to Angkor Wat.

Angkor Wat is one of more than a dozen magnificent temples 

in the vast metropolis of Angkor, the capital of the Khmer Empire 

from the 9th to the 15th centuries. 

Located in Cambodia, it is listed in Smithsonian Magazine 

as one of 25 places you must see before you die. 

I have to concur with the good folk at Smithsonian here. Breathtaking.

Next up...

Rest.

Breathe.

SLOW. DOWN.

That's probably the thing I most need to accomplish right now.

I've been firing on all cylinders for weeks now,
and truth be told, my tank's a bit depleted.

We sometimes forget to stop, take a breath, look around,
and actually congratulate ouselves on what we have accomplished.

Instead, all we tend to see are the dreams unfulfilled, the expectations not yet met.

My day job is as a respiratory therapist
and I often work in critical care settings.
In other words, real life or death stuff.
It really does serve to put things in perspective
when one is wont to reevalute their life.

So while my "bucket" might still be full of things not yet achieved,
my heart is actually quite full of all that I have.

And you?

How does your list look?

Don't forget, you have until

Saturday, October 10th, 11:59pm CST

to enter my

Rockin' Anthropologie Giveaway

Just sign up as a follower and/or leave a comment.

Have a great weekend!

This post was edited to remove
any photos not taken by myself, Anne Lorys.

Anthropologie Giveaway , Last Call

I had originally set the deadline to enter my celebratory 

Antique Mall Booth Opening

for earlier this week...but I've noticed that entries keep trickling in, 

with the majority of them saying they learned about 

it via the rockin' Dawn at The Feathered Nest.

Check's in the mail, Dawn! ;-)

Seriously, I want to thank everyone who has left me 

such kind and supportive comments, and for sharing in this happy occasion.

The drawing for the winner of this giveaway 

is still set for Sunday, October 11th, but you now have until 

Saturday, October 10th, 11:59pm CST to enter.

Here's a reminder of the loot and swag being raffled here:

$25 gift card to Anthropologie 

and

a lovely Anthropologie cloche

 

Plus a couple of surprises, too!

To enter, simply  

become a follower and leave a comment.

That's it.

Many thanks to all who have embraced me with their generosity and kindness.

May your kindness be returned to you hundredfold!

Blessings,

Anne