A thirst quenched....

An eruption of color lit up the late afternoon sky
after a steady rain this afternoon. Driving home from work,
I phoned my husband and said "Get the camera. Now.
There's a rainbow outside like you would not believe!"
One of these days, I'll learn to take my camera with me,
but after seeing these images he captured,
I'm thankful he was the one behind the lens.

Wow.

It's been a brutal Summer here in the Texas Hill Country;
the water supply has been substantially depleted as a result
of the extended drought. It's also gone down as one of the
hottest Summer's on record, with temperatures lingering
well over 100 degrees for weeks on end.
Crops and gardens dying. Wells drying up.

And then as if by divine providence.....

Prayers answered.

We've received a good soaking this past week,
and the parched earth audibly heaves a grateful sigh.

Just beyond a grove of trees 

across from our property.

There are no words, except "thank you, Father...."

On second thought.....

Ever go back sometimes and re-read your blog entries?
And what sounded wry and ironic and erudite at 3am
suddenly sounds puerile and petulant by the light of day?
Welcome to my world.

Kindly consider this posting an apology
for my for carnival-themed entry yesterday.
Upon re-reading it, it feels jumbled and a bit peevish,
neither of which I want to convey to anyone gracious enough
to read what I have to say.

Mea Culpa.

Unrelated to that, I'm sort of obsessing about
how to decorate my booth. Anybody know a good source
of either canvas or muslin backdrops? And by good, I of course mean cheap. 
In particular, I'm looking for something to cover up the fugly pegboard.
I'm not the least bit crafty and I can't sew a stitch, so easy is the name of the game.

Ideas?

Have a blessed Sunday....

~ Anne

This post was edited to remove

any photos not taken by myself, Anne Lorys.

Musings from the Midway....

"Yessir, folks, step right up and see Lola,
the slippery, slithery Cobra Girl: She walks, she talks,
she crawls on her belly like a reptile, a leapin', screamin',
creepin', crawlin' mawnster! She's eleven feet lawng and she's ALIVE!"

"Now move along, move along...just follow us this way
and peek behind the curtain, if you dare.......

She's perplexed, she's bamboozled,
she's LIT-ER-ALLY flyin, without a net: She's......

Annie, the Clueless Shop Dealer! "

How the heck-fire do you guys do it?
I have a newfound respect for all of you shop dealers, believe-you-me.
The sheer amount of time invested in research,
acquiring inventory, cleaning, refinishing, pricing, booth set-up, travel time....
if I didn't love what lies ahead of me so darn much,
I'd likely feel pretty overwhelmed right about now.

Pricing is proving to be a prickly point (too much alliteration, I know).

After signing my lease for my first booth space at the local antique mall,
I took a leisurely tour of every booth there (well over 50)
and jotted down how each dealer had priced their wares.
To say they were all over the map would be a gross understatement.
One dealer had vintage suitcases priced at $15,
another had almost exactly the same thing going for $55.
To be fair, the mall I'm going to be in is one of the better ones in the area.
In my research of other malls, I've come across lots of dealers
who didn't know Milk Glass from Milk Duds....
venues where the descriptors "rare" and "antique" were tossed about
rather freely, as many items designated as such were clearly neither.

Methinks I'm going to stick to just calling everything I sell
"vintage" as a sort of pre-emptive CYA move.

See how I feverishly whip around that muslin and cheesecloth
in a booth decorating frenzy?

Trust me though when I assure you that I'm not complaining,
not by a longshot. I'm loving every minute of this,
addled and discombobulated though I might often feel.
Just sharing thoughts here....keepin' it real, like I've promised you
I will always, always do. I just feel a little out of my league,
especially when I compare myself to the likes of you pros.
Here you guys are gearing up for Warrenton, the Mother of All Shows,
and I'm having a minor wigout over how to price some twee tchotchkes. Sheesh.

Hmmm, maybe being a midway denizen isn't so bad after all....

The way I see it,the chief role of the carnival barker
is to charm and to sell, correct?
And rather than luring them in to gawk at poor old hapless
Lola the Cobra Gal, my aim is to weave a fanciful world
within the walls of my booth. Isn't that what we all try to do?
To create beauty, to expose the unusual,
to sell our customers on the possibilities
of (warning:overused cliché alert) thinking outside the box, stylistically speaking?
To lure them in with the unexpected and to
present a challenge to view the world through fresh eyes?

Rewrite in progress: " Yessir, folks, step right up and see the Amazing Annie,
proprietoress ex-tra-or-din-aire!
Right this way ladies and gents, into the world of Fiona & Twig,
a world of whimsy and wonder and just a whiff of danger....."

I think I like the sound of that.

Wonder if I can hire him for my grand opening....

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

9/11/2009

God Bless America

I rented my very first booth today!!!!!!!

 This is the banner I'll be hanging in my booth!

Do you think that was enough exclamation marks in the title?

Naaaah, I think not. Here's a few more...  !!!!!!!!!!!

Can ya tell I'm just a wee bit excited?

Doin' the happy dance here,
I cannot believe that it's FINALLY a reality!

Here's the scoop:

This is where I'll be located.

It's a well established antique mall with tons of foot traffic.
It's a gorgeous, two-story, turn of the century building
complete with creaky wooden floors and a tin ceiling.
It houses over 20,000 sq ft of antique bliss! Here's a few interior pics...

Lots of nifty retro signage above the front entrance.

Didn't I tell ya the tin ceiling was pretty rad?

Mmmm, hmmm, thought so.

Hey looky, we're headed up the stairs
to where my booth space is located!

I even love the stairs here!! Get a load of that patina.
Errr, maybe I oughta turn the gush factor down just a tad, ya think?

Okay now, kindly disregard the not so cool crap other dealer's stuff
in the space right now and picture all my rusty, chippy, industrial,
dreamy treasures instead. Got that image locked in? Okay, here's my spot...

Angle #1....I'm just off the stairs,
so I'll be getting loads of traffic!

Thankfully, the cruddy looking carpet is going,
leaving me with the glorious, original hardwood floors beneath.
Yippee Skippy!

Angle #2:

Angle #3:

That black bookcase might be staying, not sure yet.
It doesn't exactly rock my world, but I guess I could make it work for me.

More views...

So whaddaya think? It's not my dream space, but it's a start!

Here's a review of the mall that I cribbed from the web:

★★★★★ by Yahoo User
This is great fun! You can spend a couple of hours here poking around the many different dealer's areas. You'll find antique dolls toys vintage clothing coca cola memorabilia books china furniture and all the stuff you can remember from either your life your parents' life or your grandparents' life. The prices are great and the building itself is vast. The wooden floors and high ceilings sets you in the mood for years gone by. Poke around at your heart's content and find a few treasures to take home. Also because it is right in downtown Kerrville take some time to walk through some of the art galleries museums and shops all within walking distance. And...stop and have lunch at one of the good eateries right in downtown - lots of choices!

Here's two of the owners. Nice, nice ladies!
They even posed for this pic for me!

I head downtown bright and early to pay my deposit.
I don't think I'll actually taking possession until after Warrenton,
so that's good news for all you dealer buddies
who'll be selling there....you hear that Theresa? Mindy? Troy?
That means I'll be making one last hurrah
to stock up on inventory. Bring your good junk, k? ;-)

Big hugs to everyone who has walked this walk with me thus far!

XOXO,

Anne

Wonderfully White Wednesday!

'Tis my privilege to add my contribution to our celebration
of all things white. Many thanks to the lovely Kathleen
of Faded Charm , our gracious hostess.

I find myself in a domestically white frame of mind this week....

My sugar server perched atop a vintage table...

On a whim I turned this finger vase on its side~
doesn't it now resemble a row of hungry fish?!

Milk glass all packed up and headed to its new home....

I finally found the perfect chippy white kitchen scale I'd long been seeking!

So much beauty to be found within, in the ordinary and utilitarian.

But let's never forget the beauty which lies just beyond the kitchen door....

Happy White Wednesday!

~ Anne

Pass the cigars, it's a GIRL!

Ain't she purty?

Her name's Fantine.

Me and my gotta-have-it-right-now, impatient self
has been seriously jonesing for a dress form for what seems like forever.
My junking budget has taken a serious hit this past month or so
as I try to stock up on merch and props and such for my upcoming booth.
So a real live, busty, beautiful broad in the form of a female dress form was gonna have to wait.

In the meantime, I stumbled upon Jules, who I introduced you to last week.

Meh. He'll still come in handy, but he wasn't what I was truly looking for. 

Yes, I admit it....I was just using him until something better came along. 

Lookin' for the Junk BBD, no shame in that, right? 

So why do I feel like such a hussy, then?  ;-)

After Mass on Sunday, I set off just down the road
for some window shopping in the fab little town of Fredericksburg. You know, home of Red and the legendary Homestead stores, yada, yada.
Oh, and to grab a bite at the yummy well-known eatery, Rather Sweet ....
OMG, if you haven't eaten there, you simply must!
This chick is one seriously talented chef,
and she's been mentioned in scads of national mags
and been on the Food Network. Just go. Get the berry tart bar. Prepare to swoon.

Anyhoo....just window shopping. Yep, that's all I  planned on doing, yessirree. 

Was doing great until we hit the city limits 

and I saw a flashing "Antiques" sign I had never noticed before. 

"STOP THE CAR"  I screamed at my junking buddy 

who was driving. Turns out it's a brand spanking new Antique Mall 

which just opened a little over a month ago. 

They seem to have terrific stuff and mostly great prices. 

And that's where I found her....

She was nestled away in a corner behind a bunch of
Pepto Bismol pink frou frou. Almost passed her by,
and would have had she not whispered to me in French
"C'est un plaisir de vous rencontrer".

And with that, my resolve melted like a puddle of sorbet.

She isn't vintage, but that's aiight, I have plans to tea stain her soon.
And she comes on a really sturdy, solid rolling stand.
The best part? I was able to get her for a song,
and nope, it wasn't La Vie En Rose, either.

I picked up a few more treasures at my newfound junk source, 

as well as got my name on the waiting list for when a booth opens up. Score!

Here's another nifty little find which caught my eye the minute I walked in the front door:

It's an egg carrier-sorter thingamabob! A little too pricey for me,
but representative of some of the unusual things they have there.

Next installment, I'll give ya's a peek at the darling scales
I practically stole from them they were so cheap!

Have a fab Monday!

~ Anne