A Happy Camper!

Well today I was one happy lil' camper!  Bennett and I hopped in the car with Gammaw Carlos and headed over to Tipp City, in a severe thunderstorm with hail I might add, to check out a new "vintage - antique" store called A Royal Nest.  I picked up a couple of great things for super, unbelievable, cheap prices!!!!  It's great to find something you instantly fall in love with and it's icing on the cake when you don't have to sell an appendage to take those pretties home.  After stopping at A Royal Nest we started driving home and spotted another antique goody shop in what used to be Second Street Deli.  And oh boy!!!  In the past 2 days for less than $100 I have scored the following:  a gorgeous gray-blue dove tail box from Smith's Antiques, a sweet as can be little white bird, a vintage clock, a glass vase that I planted Baby's Tears in, a chippy old white cornace that I'm going to use for a shelf, and an old white painted basket that as of right now doesn't have a purpose, but don't worry, I'll put 'er to work.  On top of all of this, Cory is taking that ugly duckling chair into Vintage Scout Interiors tomorrow.  I went down a couple of days ago, walked in and saw this distressed wood table painted a gray-blue and said "That's what color I'm talking about!"  Then Jean took me upstairs to the hundreds, literally, of upholstery books she had, opened the first book and BAM ... there is was!  A smoky blue, bold, big floral print that screams modern country to me.  So hopefully I can contain myself and not miss her to much while she's gone getting her makeover. 
As for what the weekend will hold, I am looking forward to having the hubby home for 3 days!  We are also super excited that Saturday we get to spend the entire day with Bennett's biological sister, her adoptive mom, and her newly adopted sister from Haiti!!!  This is Bennett's first time meeting his sister's sister, complicated I know, but he is sooooo happy about getting to love on the both of them.  He quite enjoys being the over protective, younger but bigger, brother.  As for us parents, we are just so thankful that God has allowed us to live only 3 hours apart so that the kids bond can flourish and deepen.  We wish we could be together all of the time however we will enjoy every minute of each visit.

I absolutely love this vignette under our kitchen cabinets!  I could stare at it all day!  And let me add that I have never loved a wooden box like I do this one.  She's simply beautiful.  

I've been looking for a clock like this forever.  Good things come to those who wait ... scored this for $7!

Oh how I love Baby Tears!

The gorgeous Thomas Paul fabric for my ugly ducking chair.  The picture doesn't do the smokey blue color justice. 

The white basket for which I have no use for as of yet and the old, white, chippy cornace that I'm going to use as a shelf in my kitchen.  I heart them as well!

Transformation

So as I usually do this time of year, I had my annual Old Fashion Days Garage Sale. And boy am I tired!!!! However after raking in over $800 for myself, my momma, and my mil I got a quick break and headed over to Pyles Flower and Plant Sale sponsored each year by a high school friend, Candy Pyles. Among the tons of well, flowers and plants, she also has unique planters, old doors, salvaged windows, and vintage furniture. I picked up this ugly duckling for $8.00! I am sending her off to Vintage Scout Interiors in Centerville where they are going to paint her and give her a new upholstery job. Can't wait to see what ideas they come up with. I am thinking a gray-blue for the wood and some vintage, mod, modern country fabric for the seat. I'll post pics once this ugly duckling transforms into a beautiful swan.

Good Deals = Delighted!

So over the past couple of weeks I've scored a few oh-so-wonderful (at least I think) peices!  I literally got such great deals I wanted to shout it from the rooftops!!!  I love stumbling upon things and bringing them home to see the look on my husbands face ... which strangely enough isn't always as excited as mine.  I don't think it's because he "dislikes" the things I've drug home.  He just knows he's going to hear "Honey could you ...?"  Also because we are busting out of the walls here in our current home there isn't much extra storage space for my "we'll use it in the farmhouse" finds.  Either way, I bring these looked over treasures home every chance I get.  He appeases me and crams them in different nooks here and there about the garage, attic, and sometimes even in the back of his truck.  Bless his heart.  I tell him that he married me and my addicitions.

So here they are!  The cast iron sink is a real beaut ... missing faucet and all!  I am currently looking for a company that will re-enamel it for me and then I'll get new hardware.  Eventually I would love to see this in a mudroom or guest bathroom with a lovely fabric skirt underneath.  Something Amy Butler-esque.  The scale I stumbled upon at a "moving sale" in Phillipsburg as my mom and I were driving home from our Mother's Day dinner out.  The lady said "$5" and I broke out in a sweat!!  This weekend Bennett and I went to the Springfield Antique Market Extravaganza and I eyed some of these babies ranging from $35-$90.  One that was white and had the same name on it as mine was marked $90 ... I mean how lucky am I????  Last but definently not least is my new-vintage 1930's mailbox.  The lady at the flea market said it would be cute all painted up but I kind of like the petina it has now.  I am revamping my porch and this is exactly what I was looking for. 

Needless to say I'm pretty happy about my new finds.  It's the simple things.  I'll tell ya ... good deals make me delighted!

Rainy Days are A - O - K!

So today was all of the above; cold, dreary, and rainy.  It was the kind of day that a nap is the first thing you think about the second your feet hit the floor from waking up.  It was a stay in your pj's, wrap yourself in a blanket, veg out kind of day.  For us it was also a fun filled day at, as my friend's son calls it, "The King Burger"!  After picking up Bennett from preschool, along with his best girl Miss Mollie, we grabbed our umbrellas and trucked it on up to Burger King where we met up with my friend Lyndie and her little Guatemalan beauty, Yosi.  The kids ate, played, bickered as kids do, then hugged and were sad about going home.  Ah, to be a kid again!  It was so fun just watching them interact even though every 10 minutes Bennett was telling on someone for something.  I see some kind of "patrol" in his future although he keeps telling his preschool teacher that he wants to be the red Power Ranger when he grows up!  You go son!!!  I'm proud of you no matter what!
I love getting to do playdates and I especially love when Bennett gets the chance to connect and bond with other adopted children no matter where they are from.  However I will say, and I may be biased, but Yosi and Bennett are 2 of the cutest Guatemalan lovelies I've ever seen!! 

This rainy day turned out to be A -O - K!

"I Keep on Loving You"

"Love is ..."

This past weekend my husband and I were blessed with a short but wonderful getaway!  We will be celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary this Friday and let's face it, nowdays 11 years is a lot!!!  We are lucky to have parents who are still together after 30 plus years of marriage.  I am realizing that this is rare which makes me appreciate what we have even more.  I pray that God gives us 50 more years of wedded bliss, at least!!!  This is not to say that things have always been "easy" because after losing a child to miscarriage, 4 years of infertility, the roller coaster that is adoption, and just "life" in general, we've had our fair share of less than blissful days.  But our new promise to each other .. "I keep on loving you"! 

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 says:
Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

I hope that we can always remember these things .. even when it's hard.  Just walking hand in hand this weekend and stealing secret looks at each other reminded me of the kids we used to be when we started dating at 15.  Needless to say, we aren't those same kids anymore but who we are is exactly who God intended us to be!  I thank him everyday for sending me the God fearing, Christ loving, hard working, best friend, best father for our children, man that He did!  A man who would give you the shirt off his back, is determined to succeed in all he does, who opened his heart to the idea of adoption when some husbands wouldn't, who fell head over heels in love with our son the minute his toes popped up on the computer screen referal picture, who loves me when I don't love myself, and who prays with our son each night and shows him that a true man can have a tender spirit.  And now that I'm done being sappy, I will add that on top of all of this, he loves antiquing with me and finding great vintage things for our dream farmhouse!  Why would I ask for more?

So here are a few of our favorite things from our weekend getaway to Columbus, Ohio.  We visited Short North and The German Village.  I fell in love with them both equally but for different reasons.   

A great little shop called SoBo Style!  I scored those vintage chairs on the right as my anniversary gift.  They rock!!!  Literally they rock!

More SoBo Style

I abso love that chandelier!  Some would say I have an obsession? 

Check out that pie safe ... I loved it!!!

Love this shutter idea and all of the mercury glass trinkets were beautiful!  I'm laughing because Cory thought I was crazy for trying to get a picture of myself in the mirror.  Maybe I was?

This was taken at a shop called "Collier West".  I would nearly give an arm for that chandelier and antique plate rack.  Everything there was stunning!!! 

"Loot" was another amazing place!  I am really loving the pheasant and peacock decor!

The German Village was filled with beautifully landscaped homes on cobblestone streets.

They also love their wrought iron there ...

... and more antiques!

Can someone stop me?

Ok, so I'm back from my pre-annivesary weekend trip w/ my husband (pictures to be posted later) and I've decided to try a 14 day ... wait for it ... herbal "detox" program.  And by "detox" program I mean, let's just say that's all I'm gonna say!  So I'm looking for any advice, suggestions, warnings, or not-too-descriptive testimonials that someone can give me.  All I know right now is that 12 vitamins in the morning and 12 more at night are not easy to swallow and putting them in your yogurt tastes DISGUSTING!  I am hoping to feel less sluggish and free my body of the "toxins" everyone says we store.  I almost wonder if just fasting w/ water only could do the same thing???  Too late now I guess unless someone can stop me!