My 75th Post!

Criminy, do I know how to run my mouth or what??

My first post was August 17th of this year,
and today I'm putting up my

75th POST!

Y'all sick of me yet? (don't answer that!)

I don't have some epic , profound post all saved up for the occasion,
just a bit of this-n-that, but most importantly,
a great big old Texas-sized THANK YOU
to all the wonderful new friends I've made through this blog.

And just so's ya know, we use the word "followers"
a lot here is blogland, but to each and every person who deigns me worthy of following,
I think of you more as a friend not yet met.

And in some cases, (Troy, Sweet T, Effie...leaving someone out, I just know it!)
I've already gotten to meet you and give you a hug!
Looking forward to doing the same with

many more of you, as bloggy friends make the transition
into the flesh-and-blood, hug-your-neck variety.

I had to chuckle a bit when I went back today and looked at my very first post...
~~~~~

Monday, August 17, 2009

Fiona and Twig is Born

Greetings All!

 Welcome to the misadventures of a budding shop
 owner. My fully formed blog space will be awhile in
 coming, but just a little info....

Fiona and Twig were two pretty special calico cats in my life.
This blog as well as my shop are dedicated to them,
although you'd be hard pressed to find any cutesy cat knick knacks among my wares.
Dont get me wrong, I adore my felines,
but my tastes run more to vintage, industrial, retro, architectural salvage,
French ephemera, etc.
I am a Respiratory Therapist by trade,
a frustrated, wannabe writer/vintage shop owner/erstwhile superhero by night.

Welcome to my humble corner of the web.

Pax....

Anne

~~~~~~

I didn't have a single comment on that first post, but did that deter me?
Heck no! I pretty much write for the sheer joy of writing,
it feeds my soul in ways nothing else can. 
I figured at some point someone besides friends and family
might stumble upon me, and until that time
I'd just keep churning out what I love to do best.

And I'll close with a little taste of what's to come later this week...

Y'all remember this super cute rusty iron,
green corner shelf I picked up last month?

It sold pretty fast, and I just recently discovered it in its new home!

 

I met a fellow dealer yesterday who has an absolutely incredible shop 

just down the street from my antique mall...

turns out one of his compadres grabbed this from my booth 

to use for display purposes in his shop. Coolness!

He and his partner have the most amazing little treasure chest of a store. 

I was sure to snap lots of pics yesterday, 

so look for a post this week on my new-found friends.

My beautiful blogging buddy Jane at

Finding Fabulous

was sweet enough to bestow an undeserved award on me. 

Shoot, if Jane wants to find fabulous, all she has to do is look in the mirror!

Another beauty queen blogger! First Kate, now Jane.

Proof positive that blogging is the best beauty treatment going!

I'm an award free blog these days, but thank you SO much, Jane!

You really should go pay her a visit, she's the mastermind behind

Frugalicious Friday, lots of fantastic, frugal fun!

Until then, have a great day, and I love you all!

~Anne

Sale of the Century!

My most excellent friend Troy of the most excellent
Junk Exchange
and his partner Rod are having
THE MOSTEST excellent
Storage Unit/Warehouse Sale
known to man!
Seriously!

This ain't no ordinary storage unit friends,
it's 4800 sq ft of vintage goodness!

And I'm going, yippee skippy!
Don't hate me 'cause you ain't me!

 (all photos Junk Exchange)

 

 

 

"This ain't no party, this ain't no disco,

this ain't no fooling around..."

This is the storage unit from Heaven!

"No time for dancing, or lovey dovey,
I ain't got time for that now...."

gotta get my booty to Waco!
(nod to the Talking Heads above)

Here's a list of some of the junque they'll be peddling...

johnson brothers friendly village,

fostoria water goblets,
blue ridge pottery,
hull art pottery,
roseville art pottery,
villeroy & boch palermo,
turkey platters,
Mexican pottery,
US Zone Germany,
hallmark ornaments,
Fitz & Floyd Christmas items,
floral paintings,

vintage & new Christmas items,
halloween items,
ornate & elegant photo frames,
old paintings,
prints,
mirrors,
quilts,
vintage fabrics,
Vintage floral drapes,
old picture frames,
vintage crosses and rosaries,
vintage ralph lauren shams and pillow cases,

vintage chenille bedspreads,
vintage clothes including western shirts,
gorgeous vintage satin wedding dress,
vintage luggage,
furniture,
vintage italian bedspreads,
old lampshade frames,
Old table Lamps,
Floor lamps,
beautiful tapestry sofa,
pair wing back chairs,
round painted oak dining table,

square painted oak dining table,
vintage metal porch glider,
set four oak straight back chairs - painted,
vintage lamps,
art pottery,
silverplate,
costume jewelry,
vintage toys,
alabaster items,
blue and white dishes,
old painted wood frame french doors,
old wood frame windows,

washer & dryer,
gas stove,
tools, tools, tools,
3- 4'x8' sheet bullet proof panels,
and more, more, more ...

Lawdy, all I know is y'all beter get there before me,
'cuz I'm not above hair-pullin' and leg wrestlin' anyone who tries to grab something I spy first!!!

Sale is November 5, 6 & 7 - Thursday, Friday & Saturday and starts at 7AM on Thursday... it is located at the corner of Victoria St. & Bellmead Drive in Waco, Texas.

You can contact Troy at junkexchange@gmail.com for more details.
 

And if you have any sense whatsoever,
go over and visit my friend Troy's blog and sign up as a follower.

He's just a super great guy!

 Junk Exchange

Tell 'em I sent ya!

Sunday Night Gratuitous Cat Cuteness

I've got this vintage washstand just begging for a re-do,
but in the meantime, it's taking up

valuable real-estate in our kitchen.
It's not hooked up to the plumbing nor is it the least bit useful now,
but I ask you, does Winnie look like she gives two shakes???

 

 

 

Morph into blurry cat 10% complete....

Morph complete!

 Hey, why there no water in this luxe spa?

 

Always, always  close on a dignified note!

Announcing the Big Anthropologie/"The Find" Giveaway Winner....

This was a BIG giveaway,
bigger than I ever imagined.

Meaning that so many of you entered
by way of becoming a follower, leaving supportive comments
or promoting my giveaway on your own blogs.

To each one of you, old and new friends alike,
I want to thank you so very much for the privilege
of getting to know you a bit better, or in some cases, discover you for the very first time!

I am pleased to announce that the winner of my

Most Elegant-Anthropologie-The Find- 300+ Follower Giveaway Is..... 

Kate of Salvage Dior
 
Big congrats, Kate!

Turns out Kate not only won my giveaway,
but is a big winner in the gene pool as well!

Is she not stunning???

Gorgeous, nice, and now a big giveaway winner! 

This is one blessed and lucky gal! I'm goin' to Vegas with Kate, anybody else???

*grin*

Big thanks also to

Stan Williams aka

The Elegant Thrifter

for his kindness, generosity and putting up
with Ambien e-mails from yours truly! Don't ask!!!

Just as soon as I receive Kate's contact info, expect an e-mail from me!
That'll be your cue to send the lovely Dior fan her personalized book plate from you.

I s'pect there will be another giveaway somewhere down the pike,
so please stick around. I'd love to get to know y'all better!

Until then...

~Anne

New and Improved 300 Followers Giveaway...and Booth Envy

Breaking News!

What was intended to be a  

200 FOLLOWERS GIVEAWAY  

has snowballed into a 

300 FOLLOWERS GIVEAWAY!!!

New numbers require new prizes, so in addition to the 

$25 Gift Card to Anthropologie and the personalized copy of Stan Williams great book "The Find"

I will now be tucking in an extra special surprise for the lucky winner!

 To be entered, just sign up as a follower

   

Moving on....

One of the biggest perks of throwing a
Megapalooza Giveaway as I'm doing right now
is that you get the opportunity to discover
so many wonderful new bloggers through their comments.

One such blogger is the insanely talented Polly of

Sassafras Stuff.

 

 

(all photos courtesy of Sassafras Stuff)

Just a few peeks at her Holiday 2009 vignettes.

The gracious and talented Polly agreed to let me 

showcase her and her incredible blog and booth, 

which can be found in The Olde Shoe Factory Antique Mall  

at 301 Forest Rose Ave. Lancaster, OH.

She has dubbed her space The Sassafras Shop. So cute!

Polly calls her style 

" funky. shabby. farm. imperfect. cottage. french. industrial. rusty. cute. junk. repurposed. simple."

Sounds good to me.

So why the title Booth Envy?

Quite simple actually, when I see the sheer artistry at work 

in her sublimely gorgeous space, I see my booth the way I imagine it to be fully realized.

 Yes, I am suffering from 

a baaaaaad case of booth envy here, folks. 

 

 

 

 

And if you think Polly does Christmas beautifully (she does!), 

then sneak a peek at some of her other handiwork, 

all from her stunning space at The Olde Shoe Factory....

 

 

 

One-stop shoppong for all your booth lettering needs! 

Polly, I am forever losing scrabble tile letters for my vignettes, 

I sooooo need a local supplier like you!

 

 

 

Quite honestly, I could spend the rest of the day 

cribbing Polly's gorgeous photos, but hopefully I've whet your appetite enough 

to send y'all scurrying over to her luminous blog to see for yourself!

In  closing, I'd be remiss if I didn't include this not-to-be-believed pic of Polly's loo.....

could.you.not.just.die??????

This is her BATHROOM, folks!

I'm speechless, and readers of this blog know that practically NEVER happens.

Polly, I hope that this shout-out to you translates 

into a plethora of new followers 

which turns into a boon in booth business, 

which in turn results in all your dreams coming true!

Sassafras Stuff Blog

Giveaway winner to be announced on All Hallow's Eve.

BOO!!!

Giveaway Central!

Hi Everyone!

Just a reminder that my fabulous

Anthropologie / The Find Giveaway

is still going strong, and you really, really 
don't want to miss this one!

In appreciation of all my wonderful bloggy friends and followers,
I'm offering an oh-so-spendable

$25 Gift Card to Anthropologie!

AND...

A Personalized Copy of the awesome book:

The Find: The Housing Works Book of Decorating with Thrift Shop Treasures, Flea Market Objects, and Vintage Details
by the Elegant Thrifter himself, Stan Williams.

About "The Find", Barnes and Nobles says....

"Elegantly photographed, filled with practical sidebars about 

refurbishing, styling, and treasure-hunting, 

and replete with the quirky sensibility that has made Housing Works 

one of the most popular destinations for great things, 

The Find is at once a handbook and inspiration for vintage decorating. 

Secondhand does not mean second rate 

when there’s always something special to be found. "

Just sign up as a follower here, or if you're already a follower, you're in!

If you give my giveaway a shout-out on your blog, that's good for three extra chances!

I'll announce the winner October 31.

And I'm hardly the only kid on the block having a fab giveaway this week!

You really owe it to yourself to pop on over to my pal Angélique's great blog

Six in One Hand

for her 100th follower giveaway!

Angélique is offering one lucky blogger a

$50 Visa Gift Card!

Head on over to Six-n-One to grab the details
on how to win this great prize and to congratulate Ms. M on this blogging milestone.

And don't forget that Theresa of Garden Antqs Vintage

is generously offering a

$50 Gift Certificate to either her online blog shop 
or one of her booths at Winnie and Tululas or Heritage Antiques.

Find out how you can be the lucky winner

RIGHT HERE!

A reminder...

I've noticed that a good number of you who have entered my giveaway 

don't have public profiles or any contact info...

when I click on your name, I get this message:

"The Blogger Profile you requested cannot be displayed.
Many Blogger users have not yet elected to publicly share their Profile. 
If you're a Blogger user, we encourage you to enable access to your Profile."

If I draw your name as the lucky winner, I need to be able to contact you,
so while you might be able to find out the good news by checking here regularly,
you also might want to consider enabling public access to your profile.

Just a thought!

Good luck to all and best wishes!

A Most Elegant Giveaway

It's that time again...

As I close in on 200 followers (boggles the mind, mine anyway!),
I'm feeling in a giving mood once again,
and this one's gonna be a doozy.

I just happened to have a spare

 $25 gift card to Anthropologie 

lurking about, so what better use for it 
than to include it in my next giveaway?

But what else?

I wanted to do something special, something....oh, I don't know....

Elegant

So who better to enlist than the most Elegant Thrifter I happen to know,

Stan "The Man" Williams himself!

The most fabulously frugal fella I know
has generously offered to personally autograph a copy of his incredible book

The Find: The Housing Works Book of Decorating with 
Thrift Shop Treasures, Flea Market Objects, and Vintage Details

as a part of my latest giveaway!

Stan is not only elegant, fabulous and frugal, 

turns out he's ingenious, too...he's designed these way cool personalized plates 

that you can place inside your book, and voila! Instant autographed copy!

I just received mine in the mail today, gracias, Mr. Williams!

When I announce you as the winner, I'll send Stan your name, 

and he'll personalize a plate especially for YOU.

If you don't know Stan, shame on you...

(photo courtesy of Garden Antqs Vintage)

From his bio, Stan is a New York based lifestyle journalist
who has written for Maxim, Latina, and American Express Executive Travel,
among other publications.
A native of Independence, Missouri,
and a graduate of the University of Missouri—Columbia Journalism School,
Williams documents his favorite finds on his blog, http://www.theobjectofmydesire.com/.

And not only that, he's fabulous!

Fabulous enough to merit a permanent place of high honor in my booth!

To sum up....

I'm giving away one $25 gift card to the bestest store in my hood,

AND

a personally autographed copy of the must-have book of the year,

How does such an elegant windfall become yours?

Just become a follower and leave a comment here.
If you're already a follower, don't sweat it, you're already entered.
If you shamelessly plug my giveaway on YOUR blog, that'll give you 3 extra chances!

That's all!

Heck, this giveaway's so good, I think I'll enter it myself!!!

I'll draw the name of the lucky winner on All Hallow's Eve!

Best of Luck!