Pink Roses

show & tell...

Where do I begin?  2 days at the Nashville Flea Market, and ME, who will apparently buy ANYTHING that is marked $1.00.  No self control for cheap junk.  The above items are a perfect example...

This little velvet heart is a pin holder, and the hair pins below are called "Scoldy Lox"...{sigh}... I love little things...

I bought a pile of quilt pieces for $2.00...great old fabric...

and I can't resist religious medals and images...

I found doll dresses...

and old photographs...

postcards with roses, and 3 old hats with roses too...

the perfect purse covered in millinery flowers...

...sheet music, vintage satin bed jackets, jewelry boxes, and so much more for another day! 

I just wanted you to know that I will be gone from the blog for the next 2 weeks.  I have 4 trips to take in the next 10 days and I am exhausted just thinking about it.  First up is a wedding in South Bend, Indiana (my daughters best friend is getting married in the Cathedral at Notre Dame where she is a student-my daughter is a bridesmaid!).  A trip to Nashville to move her home from college, and a trip to Alabama to move him home from college.  My parents are coming for a week visit, and we will be going (again) to Nashville for my daughters COLLEGE GRADUATION!  Don't get me started on how FAST they grow up.  Apparently time DOES fly!

It seems like yesterday that I was writing about them leaving for school, and now the school year is ending.  Things will be different around here...my few months of living alone are coming to a grinding halt.  I have mixed feelings.  I have enjoyed the quiet.

I'll check in when I can, but just wanted you to know that all is well, just super busy!  I'll be back in 2 weeks...

Take Care...

yum...

If I were to write a book on "How Blogging Changed my Life", it would include a chapter on how I feel the need to photograph beautiful food before I eat it.  Like the gorgeous box of yummy treats a friend brought me yesterday from a bakery in Atlanta. 

Photograph. Eat. Blog. Save the wrapper.

Obsessed.

Delicious!

treasures...

I am working on taking pictures of my flea market treasures from this past weekend in Nashville...here's a bit of vintage goodness...more tomorrow!

women in my life...

I've been thinking about the women in my life a lot this week.  My mother's birthday was Monday, my daughter's is tomorrow.  My life is sandwiched in between these two amazing women.  One makes me want to be a better mother, the other a better daughter.  I am so lucky to learn from them. 

The picture above is me, at age two, with my grandmother-my mother's mother.  She was strong and beautiful and kind.  She made the best biscuits.  She was a great mother, and grandmother, and great grandmother.  My son was born on her 75th birthday.  He was HER baby.

I made this tag for 52Q a few weeks ago, the question was: What was your best or worst hairstyle?  I once made my grandmother give me a perm for hard to curl hair (my hair is not hard to curl), and it was HORRIBLE.  The next day I made her put in another perm and comb it completely straight.  My hair was ruined.  She had to cut off 6 inches.  My fault not hers. I was 19 and stubborn.

I made this tag with a copy of a picture of us, and sewed one of her perm rods to the end of the tag.  When she died a few years ago, I went into her closet and took her bag of perm rods.  No one understood why I wanted them.  I spent hours sorting them when I was a little girl.  They meant more to me than the china and crystal and paintings.  They were a part of her.

Tomorrow my daughter turns 22.  I've been a mom for 22 years...best job I ever had!  I wrote about it last year, and don't think I could say it any better today...                

SLOW MOTION

I'm headed to Nashville tomorrow to spend the night with my girl, and go junking at the Nashville Flea Market.  I'll show-and-tell when I get back!

April showers...

Dear April Showers,

I am sorry for complaining about you lately.  I apologize for all that "rain, rain, go away" stuff.  I went into the back garden today and saw what you have done.  I saw the big fat buds on the pink rose bush.  I saw all the new growth on the Hydrangeas.  It made me really happy! 

So, sorry for moping around on rainy days, while you're working so hard.  Keep up the good work.

with love,

Suzanne

P.S. the Azaleas have never looked better!

musical chairs...

OK...I know I said no pink, but let's be real...this is me.  Pink always has a way of creeping back in!

SO...I have been playing musical chairs with the furniture, and it will be a while before its all right and in place.  Green chair to my bedroom, yellow chair to a friend, sofa to the studio, switching living room and sunroom coffee tables, etc...

The sectional arrived, and much to my surprise, it had me at "hello".  It's HUGE, but perfect for the room I think.  Thanks to everyone for your words of support and encouragement...I don't know why I can't just trust myself and my opinions sometime.  Forgot to do a before, but here's one from Christmas...

You see all those patterns?  After 12 years like that, I just needed a change.  I still have all that furniture...it's just cheering up other rooms now!                                     I still need to accessorize a bit, but just wanted you to see the work in progress!  Have a great day!!

extreme makeover...

This could be a huge mistake.  I'm getting ready to redecorate my sunroom.  I am getting rid of the floral's, the patterns, the English country garden, the PINK.  This is my new color palette...

Still feminine, still romantic, but without all the obvious flowers.  A bit rustic, much more neutral, and with a vintage patina.

I gathered a few items to give you (and me) an idea of the look I am going for. Calming, restful...a neutral backdrop for all of my collections.

I am moving my traditional sofa (covered in gorgeous pink cabbage roses), to my already crowded studio, and replacing it with a neutral colored ultrasuede sectional which is being delivered tomorrow.  I have never been more nervous about a decorating decision in my life.  I hope this isn't a mistake.  If it is, Christopher has a sofa for his first apartment!  I'll let you know...

Silver Bella '09...

Registration has started...you can find the details here:  SILVER BELLA .

I signed up to go, will I see you there?

flea finds...

After a day at the flea market I like to take a picture of my purchases all together, as sort of a time capsule of the day.  I usually find that everything sort of coordinates or has a theme...one day buttons might catch my eye,  another  day it might be postcards.  Here are a few of my finds from Friday...this metal muzzle for a mule...

I thought this could hang on the wall filled with stuff in my studio, or go outside and I could line it with peat moss and put a blooming, trailing flower in it.  That would look nice on the deck or patio ($5.00). Vintage postcards with roses, 50 cents.  This Pilot Log Book from 1947 was $2.00...

The pearls were $1.00, and the rhinestone buckles 50 cents.  Door hardware $2.00 each...

I found this box from Kirven's Department store, and paid $2.00, only because it was my grandmothers favorite store (and she worked there in the 1950's), and I never see anything with Kirvens on it....pink plastic thimble 25 cents.

I also got this architectural piece, and this metal industrial light cover (which I will use as a cloche), and 4 different styles of the letter "S".

Those are my deals of the day...raw materials...stuff to make other stuff with...that's always my theme!

Happy Easter!