Poppy and Ivy

A Happy Whirlwind

This week I did "A Vintage Gathering" without my husband in tow.

Do not ask why I am so proud of that, but I am. 

We had glitches to be certain. The truck battery died before his plane took off for New York. We got that taken care of...whew. 

Friday morning I loaded up with my son & my mom and my husband would have probably CRINGED if he had seen my truck packing job...but it WORKED!

Of course, my good friend the cow was on the other end (Battle Ground, Washington...about 30 minutes away) to ease my anxiety...

My husband is also the King of Tarping and my tarping job was so BEYOND lame even I was bent over with laughter. One good wind and this tarp would be a "roof wig". 

The booths around me looked AMAZING even on Friday night.

I cannot imagine a sweeter bunch of gals than the Vintage Gathering ladies. Friday (set-up day) was fun, but Saturday (the actual sale) we had such a grand old time wandering around and chit-chatting. Not an unfriendly gal in the bunch. 

 
So many great, stong and funny gals....

Voondi, My Shabby Passion, Uncovered Ruby and Junque Soiree....just to name a few....these are some good people to be surrounded by to be certain. 

A few runs back and forth from Portland to Battleground on Friday, more than a few early mornings during the entire week and strategic make-up placement on Saturday morning at 6:00am to make it appear as if my eyes were open...and BOOM...it was sale time! 

A quick set-up....and then the gates opened. I am learning to love that feeling. 

Below is Voondi's 4th of July inspired section of booth space. So lovely and luckily right in my line of vision all day! Inspiring!

I love A Vintage Gathering. It's a very fun place full of women and men who LOVE collecting. They love what they are doing. They love helping other vendors-- whether it is getting a canopy up and running, borrowing change, borrowing bags, tags, or marking pens. I enjoy that immensely. It is how is SHOULD be!

I had a Saturday full of good sales, sun, live music, crazy laughter and vintage community. 

Today was full of brunch with the family, cleaning the garage for a local business owner sale I am holding this week (we are selling displays, wholesale inventory, etc), much untangling of jewelry and repainting of damaged goods from improper packing <deep sigh> and then we meandered down to Willamette Valley Vineyards and took in the view, some Pinot Noir and some good laughs while we played "Words with Friends" from across the table on our phones. 

Tomorrow we're looking at a day of berry picking, then preparing & cleaning for the sale and some craigslist postings. 

It sounds like craziness....but NOW...it's happy craziness! 

Cheers to June! 

Roses, Crawfish and Stuff

I love Portland.

I love Portland in June. Rain or shine....I never stop loving our Rose Festival, Rose Princesses from the local high schools, Junior Rose Festival parade, Portland Rose Gardens...do you see a pattern? Portland loves roses.

But, as of the last two years...our family has another June tradition. We are SO lucky to have made the invite list for a local Crawfish Boil. It's a highlight....

It's really amazing. It's New Orleans, old school neighborly and strong community all mushed together. All my favorite things! 

People drawn around tables of steaming hot, spicy craw fish. Teaching the "newbies" how to crack the tail and suck the head...everybody laughing and nervous giggling-- not sure if they are doing it "right". 

Every time the pile is getting "cold and old"....a new steaming hot pile of craw fish, potatoes and corn comes crashing down onto the table. While we crack open the craw fish, we all talk about schools, politics, introduce ourselves, discover friends in common, talk about popular You Tube videos, local events, summer plans.

Have I mentioned how much I love this event?

There are craw fish races with the younger kids. 

Some crawfish probably WISH they could just be in the freaking steamer and call it good....My daughter actually SAVED this poor guy named "Bob". Some kids are not so humane about the races.

There are Crawfish Boat Races too....

I love Portland in June and for the first time in about 18 years....I get to FULLY enjoy it.

I have worked long and hard for so many years. I cannot remember a summer with the kids that I wasn't working. It's good, but very different. I seem to drive kids around A LOT. I am officially Mom Taxi. 

How is YOUR summer going? Please listen to this old girl and ENJOY your summer! 

 

 

 

The Great Haul of 2011

I love today. Super love. 

I picked up the estate sale wins from a great sale. I am SO thankful that a dear friend called me and lead me to this sale. I MIGHT not need to shop for another 6 months! 

I got home and some of the stuff was even better than I remembered.

And after I picked up my goods, I found tons of vintage tins and SO many pots for the garden. Thank goodness...I might have gone overboard at the nursery yesterday. 

This was the overflow from the backseat. Oh dear. I can never be trusted at a nursery. 

Photos of oil paintings, books, wall art, quilt toppers to follow tomorrow. I love a good haul! 

Cheers to great finds and happy vintage mojo. 

 

Happiness Is....

A green door! Our house could NOT be a more boring color (I like to call it Beige Plus), but it's well painted and I fear this paint WILL last forever!

So, we tried a black door to jazz things up, but it got too much sun and bubbled something FIERCE. 

So, today...we went to green. It's going to be less "BO-INGGGGG" on the eyes with the 3rd and 4th coat, but against all of wisteria, red flowers and pots....it looks PERFECT from the street.

This week, so far... knock on wood...no vet visits, popped tires, calls about relatives who have passed, teenage drama..just painting rooms, fixing the yard and helping the kids prep for finals. 

Happiness is also going to a Bid Only estate sale and my husband URGING me to bid on all the stuff I liked. He even pointed out rooms I missed! The man is OFFICIALLY a Saint because we are at capacity in our garage! He said "We can make room by Wednesday". Umm. Wow. He's got WAY more confidence in our garage's capacity than I do! But that said, if I do "win" all my bids...I have to be prepared to sell my blood and start washing cars on the side! So excited to get the call on Tuesday to see if I "got" any of it!

And we found this litle shoe that made us laugh. We laughed because 100 years ago when I met my husband, he introduced himself and when he said his last name "Hollands", he said "Like the country, Holland, but with an S"

Can you see the little "s" at the bottom...like an afterthought? Love it. 

Yes. That's a nice weekend. 

Giveaways and New Internet Fun

I have some stuff. Lots of stuff. Cute stuff.

I am 3 comments away from 1,000.

So, it only makes since that if you are the 1,000th comment, I send you stuff. For free. Because I have free stuff.

This is what you will get. 

 

And I am tossing in tons of extra funny things. You will laugh and be happy.

And I have some extra time (where did the time go?), but lots of painting to do. And gardening. And driving kids around. And driving my husband to the airport daily. And cooking dinners. And washing those dishes. But...in between...I have Pinterest. It's like building your own little super happy world with pretty pictures and things that make you smile. Comparable to Sims for grown-ups. I allow myself 15 minutes a day because I WILL get LOST in it! 

Come find me! I am under the super, secretive name "Amy Hollands". 

Call me crazy. 

Cheers! 

This week's word is 'surprise!!!"

I have had the goofiest week POSSIBLE. Truly...weird.

If I had a plan, a "surprise!!!!!" call or event took place. 

I was in about 40 minutes from home to run some errands and make a drop to Uncovered Ruby. I suddenly got a call from a guy wanting to see the counter from the shop that I was selling on craigslist.

I raced back to Portland. 

This thing is NOT small and we figured it would takes WEEKS to sell. I was panicked. The shop was still using it in my absence. It ended up not being wide enough for him (whew...I had no back up plan in place!) and he thanked us a million times.

I ran back to Lowe's (my other original destination of the day) to buy new paint for my bathroom & kid's bathroom. I wanted Vintage Map (the color at my old shop that I LOVED...it looks different in every light). Martha Stewart paint is discontinued at Lowe's, they sent me to Home Depot. Home Depot had to rename all the paints and NONE of them looked like my beloved Vintage Map. The employee saw the old, tattered magazine page in my purse and asked to see it...he matched it PERFECTLY! Surprise! I have a half painted bathroom!

Later that SAME day, I let my daughter drive me around in my car. (She's ready for her license...I am NOT ready).

She was parking and I felt the tire rub pretty hard against the curb. I came out an hour later. SURPRISE! Flat tire. I went to Les Schwab tire center. I signed the bill for 4 new tires. SURPRISE!

I knew the kids had plans Saturday night. There was the Portland Starlight Parade, an overnight, husband had poker night around the corner...I had the house to myself. I was SO excited. Hand rubbing, scheming, giggling with the thrill of the very idea excited. I had visions of blasting my music, painting, getting more things ready for my new retail spaces and then suddenly, the backyard was filled with my husband's friends, poker tables, cases of chips..."Surprise!"....the other guy had guests at his house and poker was at MY house in the backyard. 

So, I sat in the basement family room and watched Lifetime movies and marveled, once again, at how similar my life is to many of the subjects the last week. Relatives from the past popping up, bad news over e-mails from people I haven't heard from for 20 years, "Mean Girl" teenage situations, "mid-life" changes & new situations. A funny little reflective night in my family room! Maybe much more needed than a newly painted bathroom? 

Today we had a great day today. The kids and I had a New Orleans lunch, Madeline and I had pedicures and did some serious power shopping for both clothes & farmer's market finds-- we had a BLAST! John's been finishing our front door all weekend so we can paint it a cool cactus green color & I was ready to get the paint when I got the text to come get ALL my displays from my old shop.

I left them so the shop didn't look too empty, too quickly. I guess that wasn't necessary. So, SURPRISE!!! I had about 10 large pieces and 3 boxes FULL of goods sitting in a back alley behind the shop--2 hours before a much reported thunder & lightning storm.

Three truckloads later, I learned that I have some really great friends with really big garages & roomy vehicles. And thankfully they all answered my "surprise!!!!!!" texts & calls. And did I mention my husband is a SAINT as well?

 

Can y'all say SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!! Because I am getting super good at it.

I am hoping next this new week's word is "Boring" or "Expected".  

Cheers to BORING! UNEVENTFUL! and all that dull stuff. 

 

 

Looking Back: In a Good Way

June 2nd of the last few years:

June 2, 2010: Madeline is 15 and making us Braised Chicken Breasts with a Mushroom Gravy out of her Joy of Cooking cookbook. It was amazing. It might be the last thing she cooked for us! For shame!

June 3rd, 2009. I KNEW this wasn't my imagination. In the past, we've had full blooming roses the first week of June. This year...not so much. 

June 4th, 2008...My sweet little shop. Just me and the regular neighbors! Things hadn't gotten TOO bad in the economy yet. Ahhhh.....I loved that sweet space. 

Some of the best days. I turned the key every day and my heart skipped a beat. I was SO proud. 

I miss my lovely windows, sexy front door and my neighbors. Almost all of us have dispersed, but some of the shop gals have been meeting 2 times a month for dinner and I can easily say it is two days of the month that I count down to. I am excited...4 days until we meet! We were a happy bunch and obviously none of us had Dionne Warwick on our side as far as the economy went.

Thanks for visiting me during a trip down memory lane. The past makes us what we are. It can be sad, happy, depressing, thrilling or it can just make you happy that it ever happened.

I am happy that all of this has happened. I have learned many lessons, I have seen many great things and have meet even more great people.

Looking back is a good thing!

Day One: What Should I Do?

After 15 years of retail, more than of those 5 years of those being on "my own"...today was BEYOND strange.

I kept thinking "What should I be doing right now"?

I got more finished by 10:00a.m. than I even knew was possible.

I sold furniture on craigslist, got the whole week meal planned, cleaned, gardened, hit Goodwill, cleaned more....NOW I *get* this poster.....

And that's after living the last 5 days as if I were in a Lifetime T.V movie. And not just ONE, but a couple genres. I have had stalkers, people without boundaries, BEYOND weird family situations...give me the remote. I am ready to go to Comedy Central, the Cooking Channel or even Hallmark. 

Bring on the fries!

Okay....But not literal fries or I will need the exercise channel even MORE than I already do!

Back to cleaning and hoping for more good times tomorrow!

 

 

A Vintage Gathering and Moving Day

Saturday's A Vintage Gathering was perfection! 

Another friend of mine who sold there said "I feel like we just drank the Kool Aid...what just happened?". 

The gals running the show are so lovely, you just automatically feel like a new family member.

Despite clouds, rain, hail, wind & all sorts of funkiness from Mother Nature, we had FUN. 

I see sun in the background! That must have been earlier in the day....

I spy with my little eye....the shadow of a cow with hurt feelings. She didn't like the tarp barrier I put up between us. 

I walked the grounds (again) and cannot get over how perfect the out buildings were. The owner had several, all with specific purposes and ALL holding so many treasures!

This garden tool collage was my backdrop. Lucky me!

The porch on the property (one of two) was like a little home!

That was over my head MOST of the day. The bottom part looks very FULL. (And it was.)

Today I left my big space at Found on Fremont. A little bittersweet, but it felt like the right time between the kids summer, their ages and the shop changes. My kids have spent 5 years of me being "at the shop" and sometimes not available for them. Most of the time for many years....so this felt good and right. We're at a lucky place that I can stay home for now and enjoy them and make the home front run a bit smoother. 

Bring on the Vintage Lovin' Gypsy Mama!!

My son said "Look at that back seat Mom....and this time we're not in a hurry to move to a new place...but just to go home". 

Blink, blink, sniff.