My Texas Trip

Well, I've been back less than a week from Texas and am already knee deep in reality.  Yup - laundry, chores, errands, schooling, and more are keeping me busy!!  This is my first chance to sit down and share some of the highlights of my special trip with y'all.  That's right, spend a week in Texas and you have to say "y'all".  (Actually it has always popped up in my vocabulary now and then - but it's even better to use now!)  Anyhow...my friend, Amy and I, had a great time, despite the extreme heat which I was not expecting.  Right up till our departure the reports were telling us the temps would be in the low 90's (and even that is too hot) but what we got was 105 each day!!  And humid!!  I have never been that hot in my life.  It definitely slowed us down a little, but we accommodated and still had lots of fun and managed to bring back all sorts of happy goodies.  The hardest part was all that we had to pass up - you just can't bring the big stuff home!  We filled our suitcases to the brim though and have no regrets about what was left behind.  And let me just say - this place is HUGE!!  We spent half a day there Thursday, all day Friday and a good chunk of Saturday and probably only saw about 1% of what was there.  But what we saw was great and fit the bill for what we were looking for and there was plenty we weren't expecting to see that was fun (or funny) too.  Here are some photos for you.

 READY TO GO!!

We were told to go to the Civic Center area to find the best vintage bootie.  This was where we went each of the three days we went poking.

Fortunately,  this building was air conditioned so we came back here often to cool off and rejuvenate.

We spent almost 2 hours at this one booth!!  The woman who runs it had a huge space with these enormous industrial laundry carts chock full of vintage linens of every sort imaginable.  I bought a bunch of aprons, handkerchieves, bark cloth, crocheted pot holders and Amy and I shared in the purchase of an awesome cream and green chenille spread for making into pillows and such.

I could have easily spent 2 more hours digging.

This was probably one of our favorite booths.  Vintage typewriter key jewelry.  Loved her display and the jewelry was fantastic!!  We visited with her for over an hour.  The people in Texas are very friendly.

One of the nice things about her display was that it incorporated so many vintage office and typewriter props.  Very inviting to the eye for the vintage lover!

Most bracelets were $50 and well worth it.  We were fortunate enough to find these two matching bracelets in her overstock bin at 2 for $50.  And the little rings were a happy little bonus.

This is  second bracelet I purchased.  This one was made by a different artist using vintage watches.  I love how unique it is!

The outdoor area spread out all over the place and had SO much to dig through!

Someone else had done the digging on this one - yup that's a 200 year old coffin.  Don't know why you'd want to dig it up or sell it for that matter, but there were all sorts of out of the ordinary things here.    So of course we had to take our picture with it!!  And yes, that is a gun holster on Amy's hip - a gift for her husband, but it seemed fitting to wear in the photo of a coffin in Texas.

This guy was so nice.  We probably spent an hour at his booth as well, talking and sorting through all his fun license plate items.  The highlight was that he cuts up the old plates and you can buy the letters and numbers individually to make into signs and such.  Amy made her son's name.  I purchased letters to make my own sign another time and this cool Texas state cutout from vintage trailer plates.  I will be putting it on my vintage trailer here as decoration and a reminder of this great trip.

Like I said - there were some oddities here.  You want a fake cowboy for your front porch - you can get one of those here.  Dream of a dear in camouflage on your porch??  Well - that's here too!

Lots of little things to dig through too.

Would have liked to be able to bring this home with me.

Here is the bootie!  Lots of good stuff!!

Just gonna leave it to you to scrutinize the photos as best you can to see what we all got.  Way too much to list.  I'll try to post some individual photos in the coming week as I clean stuff up.

We ate yummy, but not so good for you food while we were in Texas.  Here, I was introduced to a fair favorite - a baked potato topped with butter, sour cream, cheese and brisket.  Man, was it good.  And there was plenty of sweet tea to drink.

And let me tell you, everything is bigger in Texas.  Just look at the size of this piece of cake.  Three of us shared it and still one took some home!!

And now for a couple scenery photos.  This one just because it made me laugh.  The sign says "General Store"  but then you see it's generally all about guns.  Guess that's a "general" store out there.

And then a few side of the road photos of things that caught my eye.

We stayed with some of Amy's family for part of our time there and did some good visiting.  Her uncle documented our stay by his Texas sign after church on Sunday morning.

And then Monday, it was back on the plane headed home.  Great trip, great people, great finds, great flights - all in all, a great time with a great friend!!  

Thanks for stopping by.  

A happy, busy summer

So it has been a busy bee kind of summer!!!  Busy, but good.  As you may recall from my last post (oh so long ago!) we took a family trip to Europe.  My summer has been full of lots of other activities, too.  So here are a few pictures of some of the notables to catch you up to speed.

This is Bob.  Bob is a woodchuck as you can see.  Bob was also incarcerated due to his penchant for destroying my garden.  Bob no longer lives at our house and my garden is much happier!

My best bud and I tackled some building projects this summer.  Girls with power tools!  Sweet!!

One of our projects was building new shelving for her craft closet.  We made the brackets and everything and though you can't see it from the photo, the shelves have some nice routing details on the edges.

Another project we tackled was taking an old table, and old drawer and miscelaneous pieces of wood and such and created a one of a kind garden hutch. 

We are just too cool!

The hutch turned out so nice.  More decorating to happen to it, but a good start.

A smaller project entailed taking old picket fencing and a variety of old knobs and creating this system of necklace storage.  And it is art to boot!!

The sumer included plenty of chocolate eating...

...especially my FAVORITE, chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  Finally ended my search for the perfect recipe for both this summer and we all agree, hands down, that it is the best ever!!  And I am happy to report that although I ate my cake and enjoyed it too, I am not wearing it on my hips or backside.  I ate in moderation - but ate it often!!

There were also opportunities to just stop and appreciate some of the wonders of God's creation, even the tiny ones.  Look at the perfection in these tiny flowers.  AMAZING!!  God's work never ceases to astound me.

After woes a-plenty that I will not go in to, we finally got new floors.  They are beautiful!!  Now I have lots of painting to do, but that will have to wait till the weather turns cold again.

Heidi and I took quick trip to an inn in Vermont and enjoyed a little girl time.

There has been time for porch sitting too!

This past Tuesday, we delivered Kayleigh to her RPI college campus where a new journey in life begins for her.  She is settling in well and starts classes tomorrow.  Boy my house sure seems empty without her.  It's a new journey for us as well.  

We made it up to the cottage and enjoyed some time out in the canoe.  And I did not fall in!!  A grand feat to be sure!!

Spent a lot of time hanging out with some great friends.  (Some more goofy than others!)

And finally, I will close my summer with a grand adventure, and I can't wait!!!!  I have always wanted to go to one of the really big flea markets you read about in the magazines.  Well.....Canton's First Monday Trade Days is the largest and oldest one in the country and this girl is headed that way!  Come mid week, a friend and I are boarding an airplane bound for Texas where we will spend five days going to the flea market, visiting family and just plain old having fun!  We both have early September birthdays, so what better way to celebrate than a small vacation doing something we love with a great friend!!  The only challenge will be spending my money slowly and only on small things.  Oh boy!!  I will try to get back to blogging and post a report of our adventure when we get back.  

Well, that's about it for now.  Think we are pretty much caught up to speed with a few highlights of what has been going on.  Hope your summer has been full of delight as well!  Thanks for stopping by.