New things, happy things.

It's taken me quite a bit longer to get myself on track after my fabulous vacation to Punta Cana with my husband. 

 We had an incredible time and did some things there I never thought I'd get to do - such as zip lining over a jungle canopy, parasailing, and gambling!  HA HA!  It may seem weird to some, but I've never done it before - any of them.  So it was a big deal to me to be able to have the freedom to do those things and not suffer greatly for it upon our return home. 
 
Our resort was beautiful!  Two huge pools with a swim-up bar, white sand beach, all the watersports and activities right at our resort....

 

 

No, that isn't me parasailing!  That's the exact spot we did it in.  And I say "we" because I was too chicken to do it by myself.  Nope!  My husband was glued to my side.  It was fabulous, beautiful and terrifying!  I'm no wimp either.  I loved the zip-lining over the canopy, but the height and the fact that I could see the water and imagine the sharks I could potentially plunge into, scared me to death!  However, I did it - survived it, and had many pina coladas to calm me after.  It was paradise.

 

 

We arrived home to our children very happy to see us, and us them - and in the following week, my daughter and I both got a stomach bug that kept us in bed for three days.  Yes, 3.  It was not a fun time.  My mind spun with all the things I wasn't getting done.  About a week after that recovery, I came down with a sinus infection and that was just about as much fun as the stomach virus.  Then it was Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, and here we are - February 1st in the morning. 

 

Most of the month of January was spent contemplating my next move. I decided to take a look around our area and see what was out there.  I needed a second venue, and I found one!  For the last few weeks, I've been settling myself into a large loft space at a great new place called Designs by Pablo in Hampton Falls, NH right on Route 1.  The owner is a great guy who loves to repurpose and redesign things, and it so happened that he was looking for somebody to do just what I do. 

 

 

The space is great.  It's so much bigger than what I'm used to filling, that I've got to do some catching up on painting some of the furniture I have.  But I love every minute of it.  We've already collaborated on a piece of furniture that he had in the shop.  A customer bought his piece of furniture and I got the custom paint job.  And that seems to be what I'm doing a lot more of lately. Custom paint jobs.  Why buy a very expensive a new piece of furniture that is made with particle board which will fall apart in a matter of a few years when you can get an older quality piece of real wood and paint it to be something new and beautiful? 

 

More to come - enjoy your weekend!

 



Happy Weekend!

It's the weekend!  Wait.  It's THE weekend.  Yes.  That's it.  It's the weekend that my husband and I have been planning for over a year.  We are finally taking a trip, by ourselves without the kids, to Punta Cana!  YAY!  We celebrated 10 years this June and decided it would be best to wait until the fall to go away, when my Mother-in-law (God bless her) could come and watch the kids.   So this is it!  We leave tomorrow. 

And of course, I got a call yesterday from Olde Towne Hall Antiques to let me know I sold a huge desk, one that really holds a lot of smaller items (aka smalls).  What that means is that I have to find time in my day today, aside from putting up the Halloween decorations at my home, doing my laundry, making lists for Mum and packing to get to the store and replace a large item which will be picked up tomorrow and fix the booth up.  If this sounds like a complaint, it's not.  LOL!  I really am happy that I sold that desk and I don't think there is anything that can spoil my mood today!  It's all good! 

Did you get stuck on "putting up the Halloween decorations?"  Yah, I know, it's a bit early.  However, I know that when I get back I'm going to be slammed playing catch up and decorations will not be on my priority list.  And since Fall is my favorite season and I have just as many Halloween decorations as Christmas, I like to see them out for at least a month.  I don't get back until the 6th.  It makes perfect sense to me....  

 

 

Well, y'all have a great weekend, now - y'hear?   ;)

The Vintage Bazaar at Pettengill Farm

Wow!!  What a weekend!  For me, the weekend started a few weeks ago, when I began serious preparation for The Vintage Bazaar at Pettengill Farm.  I've never done anything like this before and it was quite an experience.  It is an upscale, outdoor, bazaar of multiple dealers, artists and food vendors which runs twice a year - in June and in September.  Oh what fun!

 First of all, I was extremely blessed to be able to pair up with a veteran of the bazaar, Kim Wilson of Vintage Chic Boutique.  If you haven't been to her shop in downtown Newburyport, you must get there.  It is, in my opinion, the most beautiful shop in Newburyport, MA.  Kim specializes in painted furniture and has so many unique and beautiful items of furniture, gifts and home décor in her shop, you'll want to live there!  At least I do.  Which is how I ended up meeting this wonderful person.  If you know me, you know I'm a "people person."  I love to talk.  To everyone.  And Kim found this out every time I stepped into her store. And the rest is history.

The Bazaar began on Saturday morning, with our furniture items being soaked with morning dew, even though we had covered it the night before.  Soon the early birds were peeking around and deciding which of the 130 dealers were going to win their business.  And shortly after that the early birds turned into hundreds and hundreds of people slowly making their way around the entire beautiful tent filled bazaar on a lovely flower farm near the water with sun and clouds intermittently warming and cooling us. 
 
Sunday morning began too soon with rain, rain, rain!  But guess what?  It didn't stop the shoppers!  There were some true die hards out there.  We got a late start on Sunday after wrongly assuming that the rain would keep people away for a bit.  But it all worked out well.  We were so busy that neither of us remembered to get pictures!  What a BUMMER!!  I do, however, have some pictures of a few items that I had there:



Before

 

After



 

 

 

 

 









 



Gentlemen's Chest Before
 



Gentlemen's Chest After
 

Ok, I can not get these pictures to line up the way I want to for the life of me.  Sorry for the mess!


Tea Cart Before



Tea Cart After
 

I'm afraid of adding more pictures, because it took me about 3 hours to do this much!  I don't know why - but I've had problems with this program today.  I'm sure it's something I'm doing but I can't figure it out, so I'll quit while I'm ahead!  More later!!