Greetings to all... I hope you are enjoying our beautiful January. I had a pretty busy week last week. The trade show was in Seattle and it is always so much fun...I made a couple of orders for "new " stuff that I am really excited about. I have picked up the Aidan Gray line. It is very high end for me, but it's great stuff. My first order will be arriving in March and April , and I will have a catalog for special orders. I have some great new jewelry that is really fun. It's big and chunky with lots of bling. Good things coming in.
I am finally going on a little vacation in February. We are taking our sons and their wife/girlfriend to Las Vegas. This was their Christmas gift. We are staying at the Encore and I can hardly wait....We will be gone for 3 days, which is plenty of time is Sin City. I am not a gambler, but I do enjoy the cabaret shows , people watching and going out for meals...We'll be home a few weeks and then on the road to Palm Springs. (I hope!) That will be in mid March and we'll be gone for about 2 weeks. I plan on doing some junking on the way down. Hopefully I will hit a couple of the great antique shows that are in southern California. This is all going to happen, as long as my husband agrees to stop..
Vintage wicker/bamboo bar stools.

Mary found these great old fans. They were placed either in a bouquet of flowers or a potted plant.

These are folk art pieces from around the 1930's and 40's. I collected them for years and called them my little men .

You can never have enough pearls...

The industrial section in the front of the store has been very popular. The pics aren't great, but the stuff is. I have lots of metal cabinets, tables, some great industrial lighting that I didn't get a picture of. I'll add that to the next post.

No, wait, here's one of the fixtures. It hangs down about 3 feet on a metal pole. It's from an elementary school in Everett.

Hope you enjoy the pictures. Back to work!!!

Be Good.

Annie

Starting Now!!

Ok, I said once a month... and in fact, I am a little early. How bout that??? I hope everyone had a great Holiday season...It was very busy at the store and I am grateful for such a good year after the doom and gloom of last year!! People were out shopping and enjoying themselves, it felt great.
This was my family's first holiday season without our mom...(my mother in law) I think Thanksgiving was the hardest because it was her favorite holiday. I had dinner at my house and to remember her, I set my table with some dinner ware that she and her mother have collected for years. Everyone thought it looked great and we could almost see her at the head of the table...
I finally got the store put back together with the help of Mary. We have some new inventory, but wow!!! did we sell a lot of stuff... I have a new industrial section in one of the windows and it has been pretty popular. It's a different look, but fun...metal, steel, rusty crap, shutters, fun, fun, fun...
I resumed painting my house...started in September, and hope to have it done by summer. No pressure on myself this year, it doesn't work anyway.. I would like to have it done though.
I am hosting a swap party in February for a few of my friends . If you haven't heard of these ,it is great fun.. Timi hosted the first one, Dani the second. The whole idea of the party is to exchange stuff.. something you have that you don't need or want anymore. It doesn't mean junk or stuff in the "I was just ready to give it to Goodwill" stuff, it should be good stuff!! Your party could be any theme though..a dollar store party or cooking or sewing, whatever you and your friends are into..(in Shell's case, it would be glitter!!) I am looking forward to just getting together with the gals, it really is fun.
I will take some pictures this week and post them the next time around..The store is still not looking up to snuff...
Whew!!!First month under my belt.... how proud am I!!
Be good!
Annie

One more Try!

I have re-considered giving up on my blogging, due to the over -whelming response I have received. (3 out of 4 ! ) Anyway, many friends and customers have come by and said they enjoy reading my periodicals....I will try to do it a least once a month. Patty....you must keep up with me... It is fun to check out and see if anyone has written and I do really appreciate the comments. In the mean time, everything has been good...my store has done the best business ever and I thank all my friends and customers for that...I am looking forward to some shopping trips out of town and getting the store ready for the spring season. I wish you all health and happiness and friendship in 2010...
Be Good
Annie

I've Been Bad...

For those of you who still look me up on occasion, I have decided to give up blogging for now. I have found that it takes more time than I am willing to give. I will continue to check out all the great sites I have discovered and maybe start up again at some point.
Be Good...
Annie

Junk Bus to Fun!!

What a fun day we had. Timi from http://comejunkwithus.blogspot really out-did herself. We were all treated like special guests. Timi does have a way with making you feel good. Everything was just done well, from the crown name tags, to the lunch, to all the give-aways and prizes to the bus ride home.
The Funky Junk show was good. There were many familiar faces and some very wonderful booths. I did manage to spend a little cash and truly enjoyed a leisurely shopping adventure. Usually when Mary and I go shopping, we are on a mission!!! We see, we buy, we move on to the next location...so Saturday was more laid back than I am use to. We arrived in Sumner at about 12:30 and it was just a glorious sunny day. It was fun to wander through all the stores and enjoy that one in a million fall days...Most of the stores in Sumner had some kind of special for the junk bus ladies. I did manage to find a couple of Christmas gifts...yeah!!!!
Shelley from Snohomish, http://shellinsnohomishblogspot, survived her virgin junking adventure. Can you believe it? She has never gone to a show like Funky Junk . Her life is now nearly complete. It was very fun to see how excited she was. My friend Cathy had a good time, but she didn't travel well on the bus in the morning. She also got some Christmas gifts and a couple things for herself...Mary was there, Dani, Amber from http://tresbirdsblogspot was there with her camera, (great pics Amber) and many more gals I've met through Timi and my shop. It really was a fun day and I am glad that I went.
If any of you out there want to try something like this, check out Timi's next trip, which is planned for Dec. 5th to County Village, Cranberry Cottage, Mill Creek Town Center and ending up in Snohomish. Other trips are planned for next summer to Farm Chicks in Spokane and probably the Barn House show.. Call your girlfriends, it's fun.
If you are looking for pictures, check Shelley's, Timi's and Amber's. I didn't bring my camera...again
Be Good
Annie

Too Wet to Pooh!

Wow! I thought I was going to have to launch a boat this morning! We all new it was coming, but its hard to give up the weather that we've enjoyed for months. October is one of my favorite months. I love the feeling of getting the house all cozy and buckled up for the winter. I can't wait to light a fire in the fireplace and get all my winter blankets out. I just wish that we could have October with rain only on Mondays and maybe Tuesdays. No one does anything on those days anyway.. The worst part about all this rain is HAIR! I have really bad hair in this weather and I look even worse in a hat. This morning was a pretty good hair day so I refused to take Eddie out for his a.m. duty.. He didn't want to go out either, can you blame him!! I made Vern stand out in our back patio (with umbrella) and I stood in the doorway and commanded Eddie to poop! He refused... he didn't want anything to do with going pottie and no one was going to make him..He dashed back inside as happy as a clam... He was soaking wet and smelled like dog, funny how that works.. The End :)

Here's a great vintage bird condo. I found this at a flea market this last summer..Speaking of condos, my husband and I are still thinking of going to Palm Springs in March and are on the look-out for condo rentals. If anyone has any info, please let me know. We weren't able to go anywhere this year, so I am planning on getting out of Dodge for the whole month of March...

I have been practicing with my camera. All these pictures are from the store. It's is nice and full thanks to Mary and me cleaning out my back room and my garage at home. I was able to get to a shelf in the garage and I found some really great stuff on it. We tend to hoard during the summer months but my hoarding has turned into a few years and it has to get out and on the shelves. There is a great selection of unusual items.

Potpourri under glass

My oldest son and his girlfriend just got back from Paris. They thought that if they rented a car, they would get around easier. They were wrong.. It was very stressful driving in a foreign country and he said they would never rent another car in Europe. Train travel is the way to go.

My friend Cathy and I are starting to plan a trip to Paris for next August. She just had a heart attack 3 weeks ago that was brought on by stress. She is doing ok and will have some tests done next week. It sure makes me realize how special friends are and how we have to appreciate our health and take better care or ourselves.

This is an small old suitcase filled with more stuff.

This picture may make you think that I am a professional photographer..what do you think Kim? (www.mimicharmante.com) The statue is behind this very large, old birdcage.

Welsh cupboard from the 1850's to 1880's. I would have liked to put this in my dining room but it is too big.

New clock in the Swedish white wash paint. Battery operated.

Old bottles with old pearls and paper.

I love this rat. It is made by a Ballard artist and its poured cement.

Beautiful new wood panels. These are fabulous! They really do look vintage and would make great headboards.

OK...it's 4:20 and I started this post at 10:00.. Busy day. I am going home for leftover spaghetti and bread...There's not much that's better than that.

Be Good

Annie
Hope to see you on the junkbus trip to Puyallup (www.comejunkwithus.com)

Never made it to Minnesota ):

Well, we didn't get to go on our road trip to Minnesota. My husband has been having some inner

ear problems and he just didn't feel like being in the car for that many days. I was very disappointed, but it would not have been a very pleasant trip. We are still planning on going to Palm Springs in March, so I have that to look forward to.

Let me apologize for the jumble of pictures. I don't know what happened, but I'm not redoing it.
A lot has been going on in the mean time...My kitchen is almost complete...just a few more details and voila! I'm out of the 80's.. More pictures when complete..
I've been trying to read other blogs and trying to keep up with all the goings on. I heard that Timi's bus trip to The Barn House was a blast. Her next adventure is to Puyallup and the Funky Junk Sisters show. They will also be stopping in Sumner where by the way, is the cutest little stamping shop. It's on the corner and I can't think of the name but I could have spent a couple hours there. Cute, Cute, Cute... Back to Timi, crazy Timi..check out all the details at http://comejunkwithus.blog. Also, Timi called to let me know that Rene' from Mary Jane's Farm, wrote a wonderful article on the website. It was very, very nice and made me want to go to Snohomish to shop!!!! To read her article go to http://maryjanesfarm.org and click the Rural Farm girl tab...
Ok, It's Wednesday night, I have been working on this really bad post since Monday, and it's almost bed time for this 50 something shop keeper. How sad is that...but I really do need to stop at 9:00. My mind and body say stop, so I stop, now see, I'm rambling.... Next week my goal is to post a nice, orderly update. (Fingers Crossed)
Be Good,
Annie

Here's a couple more shots of the kitchen, with Vern and our friend Dan placing the first tiles..
They are actually trying to see if they can cheat by not having to cut the tiles....instead they want to put a piece of molding to cover the gap...Nope, we are going to do it the right way... After all was done, it turned out very nice. Vern is not doing any more home projects for now. I got all I could out of him..:)
I'll post other pictures when I get completely done.







The new collection of the Sid Dickens tiles are in...and out and in... They are gorgeous. The next shipment will be here by the first week of October. The beautiful candle is a new line of battery operated candles created by Debbie from Queen Bee. I have a great selection in the store and they are priced at 49.95 each. These candles are all made here in Snohomish along with some lovely plaques with a variety of French inspired designs. This Sid Dickens tile is titled, Purity.


These are some of the Sid Dickens tiles on display.
Cecilia is one of the new tiles from the Enchantment collection.

Nothing says fall like your own stuffed duck. He is very cool. I see a lot of pheasants, quail, etc..but not too many ducks. A Pheasant sits just above him and is equally handsome.
The dining room set is a vintage piece that has been beautifully painted by Mary and Craig with an oil base paint. It has a great finish. Mary also upholstered the seat cushions.

This is a window screen from Peacock Park Designs.