8 3/4 months, 15 hours, and 21 years...

Happy Birthday Justin!!!!! This is Justin today, literally. I had to hide his car keys from him until he'd let me take his picture (little grouchy in the morning especially when being held hostage). We are tickled pink to have him turn 21, now he can finally chill with his buddies, have a beer and smoke a cigar on the front porch with no worries. We thought we'd get here under the radar until THE PHOENIX NASCAR DEBACLE OF LATE 2006 (4 months before his birthday~don't even get me started on the whole "he coulda gone to war or gotten married but" thing...). We couldn't help it though, busted at a Lynard Skynard concert made momma and daddy so proud, it's just the Texun in us. Below is how momma still sees Justin. And let me tell you, that's still him inside. The guy's got a heart of gold. Buddy, since it's your birthday, I get to embarrass you. I could be doing the whole birth re-enactment right now, so be happy. He works hard and plays hard. His best buddies are still the ones from elementary school but he's also made other good friends along the way. He's loyal, honest, responsible, good with money, but best of all he'll still give Mom a hug and kiss no matter who's around.

Justin, you are a wonderful son and person. Be good, be careful, I love you so, Mom

The Paris Flea Market Rides Again!!!!!

As Nene would say, "Oh boy, Oh boy"!!!! It's that time of the year again and the Paris Flea Market is coming up next month. And next month is coming up real soon. There are too many elements of fun in this event to mention here but I'll try my best with highlights. First there's the cottage itself. I know that I overuse "fab" but since I haven't found a better term let's just use it here knowing it's an understatement in this case. The building is fab, the interior is fab, and the back yard where the market occurs, also fab. The items that they offer for sale are stunning and oh~so special. This shop is for those who purchase for the soul not the show. As I told them last year, it's like an amusment park for adults. And, being the kid that I am, the only reason I left without throwing a huge temper tantrum was because I had so many new treats in my car to take home and play with! Then there are Ann, Linda, and Amy. Ann and Linda are the owners and Amy (of Inspire Company fame) shares the shop with her own special area. These gals are off-the-charts fun. Last year was like a two day laugh fest. It's soooooo uplifting to be around them, it's all smiles and giggles. The talent and creativity is awe-inspiring. We (us vendors) spent the first couple of hours ooooing and ahhhing over not only the things for sale but the way in which they are displayed. We all agreed that we wanted to move in and stay. Anyway, they are three sweet, fun, smart, creative, beautiful women and getting some of their essence is invigorating. Okay, lest I spoil your trip by giving away too many details, I'll finish for now by saying that the Paris Flea Market weekend part is an extra cherry on top. The yummy fresh bakery goods~mmmmmm~the fresh yummy pots o' flowers~whew~the vendors with their wonderful, unique offerings and fun comradery~oh boy~and the live music enjoyed by sitting in the grass under a canopy of beautiful old trees~priceless. So, I'm assuming, we'll see you there...oh, oh, I almost forgot to mention the drive~yikes~my experience was driving back and forth on route 15 from Ellicott City~breath~taking. I'm so trying not to be a drama queen here but I guess being a very visual person I might appreciate some things more than other folks. Plus my daddy taught me how to stop and see the roses every day. I had to pull over and take in the views on one of the legs of my trips. It was evening, the sun was just going down behind the lush green hills and dales (of course there were cows and horses to complete God's decoration) and what came to mind was simply, "purple mountains majesty". I had never seen such a site. The lush green, a thin layer of fog, then topped with the purple of the sunset...I shan't say more...for now. P.S. Before editing this post I had left out some tiny, microscopic really, details. the cottage is located at 219 West Market Street in Historic Leesburg, Virginia (totally cool area). And in case you can't see the dates on the advert above they are are Friday, April 27th and Saturday, April 28th. The link to their website is listed to the right here for more details.

Why? What do YOU do in your spare time?

I keep trying to tell my husband that taxes are for sissies that can't handle a little trip to the pokey. Why, I ask you, would anyone go to those black hole hiding places of tax information when they can spend just under four hours making the perfect tassel for a $2 cheesy vinyl Wal~Mart bathroom roll~up shade? THIS, my good man, is what keeps me off the i.v. of Mai Tais. This is what gets me out of bed. Would I ever rise if I had to face just tax preparation? We all know that answer. This was a particularly challenging week for me (and therefore others) in the department of relationships. Some had to do with good friends, some had to do with therapy, some with auctions, some with...hmmm...I can't say. But I can say that I came unhinged more than a couple of times this week. But here's my recipe for a quick fix: 1 cheesy, vinyl roll up shade (Wally World~for shame) 1 perfectly perky on it's own tassel from Pink Cabbage 1 cutie patootie button/face pin from that lady at the DC Big Flea 1 pink chipboard clock (Recollections) 1 yard of pink raw silk ribbon 1 naturally sepia toned page of your daddy's trumphet music Directions: Turn on Grey's Anatomy and just assemble the pieces. Make sure to allow two days for tweeking and three hours for acquiring the perfect digital picture, then 84 minutes to gaze at your glory and 1 hour to post your wonderful new "who gives a shit" ideas for veiwing by your virtual (and by virtual I mean imaginary) friends. Optional Additions: 3 liter bottle of Coke 1 package of Oreos plus bowl of milk for soaking 1 box o' fine wine Please feel free to post the results of your projects on this blog for all of us to share. Buenos suerte!!!!!

Meet Melissa (The Face) Lobdell~Little Melfie's Studio~Mellie

I'm well aware that Mellie is gonna kill me. That's where the term "The Face" comes from. Whenever Mellie is given a compliment she makes this funny scrunchy face like she's smelled something bad (she made it as soon as she saw this). It's funny but "we" work on it. She's so dang humble. If you're gonna be sweet, smart, fun and funny, creative, and beautiful, to say the least, you're gonna have to learn to accept compliments. Am I right (that's ALWAYS a yes)? You fans and friends already know how sweet and beautiful she is on the inside. I just wanted y'all to be able to put a face with her name and art. I know this will open that whole can of paparazzi problems at the grocery store but it had to be done (notice how I was thoughtful enough to not mention that you grocery shop at the Safeway at Long Gate-you're welcome!) She's smart, sassy, wonderfully creative~her sweetness comes out in her art~, and a great mother, wife, and a fab blessing of a friend. I'm so sorry that I had to pick on you first in my series of highlighting the important people in my life, Mellie, but I thought this was just a great picture of you and so I had to use it. And I showed a lot of restraint, you know how I can, on rare occasions, go on and on and so I'll stop here just short of alienation.

PJ's and Pink Cabbage

I can't believe it's been a week since I've blogged. I've been busy eBaying and cleaning and organizing my tiny studio room. That will be my next posting, party pics of a very temporary situation which I will want to well document for posterity. I'm a naturally organized person but when it comes to the creative/artistic side I've had a bad mix with staying organized and "collecting" to put it nicely. I've got way too much stuff for that tiny room. I purge frequently and repremand myself when I do but then here comes Foo-fa-la and Basic Grey with their pretty new papers and snap goes my rational thin thread. Anyhoooo, until that task is complete (I've spent at least 10 hours on it just this week~I mean it was BAD) this is what inspired my to blog. PJ's and Pink Cabbage.

No, it's not a sleep~over for pink bunnies. PJ's is the antiques shop that fab friends, Paul and Julie own (hence the P and J)~near the corner of St. John's Lane and Frederick Road in Ellicott City. And the Pink Cabbage is another great shop that Julie is part of as well as a few of the Historic Oella Mill alumni which is located on Route 144 (Frederick Road), west of Ellicott City~I guess technically it's West Friendship?

The painting at the top is from Jodie of From the Heart and ring~leader of the Pink Cabbage. The studdly dude lamp is from Jodie's cousin's(sorry, I keep forgetting her name) collection also at the PC. The sweet doggie planter above is from Brenda of Appaloosa, yep, also PC.

Victor con Torro, another studdly lamp, came from PJ's. It's typical of the surprising, unique, fun things you can find there.

Above and below are also from PJ's. I just got them this week and I think that's where my inspiration started with wanting to do a shout-out post for them. Is this not the PERFECT furniture for my front porch? And lest I forget to mention this important tidbit, their prices are rediculously low~cherry turnover is their middle name. They get a lot of "you snooze, you loose", non-buyer regretters there. It's where a lot of us dealers shop.

Below is a wonderful antique plant stand I got at, yes, PJ's~and the fab fireplace mantel is from there also.

Seriously, they should be paying me but they're not. Below is one of many great cabinets that I've gotten from them and have loved having for my collectibles. Here you can see that I have loaded this one with faves like one of Janine/Nene/No.5's book birdhouses and one of Amy Powers/Inspire Company's manequins, and, if you look at the middle shelf on the left there is a little red wooden heart framed in a little grapevine wreath that my great friend, Julia, from since junior high made for me over 20 years ago. Like I said, lots o' faves.

Below left is an antique window I got from PJ's a few years ago. I've got a photo of my dad as a child on his horse taped to the back side to use as a frame. The frame is chocked full of character and memories.

And, last but not least, my most recent aquisition, the flower ball and beaded tassel from the Pink Cabbage. Don't forget that if you find these fab items but you're not sure how to make them look fab in your home you can call Nene and I and we can pull it all together for you in a couple of cheap hours!

Here's one of my latest and funnest piece I've done in a while. It started out as a red antique Welsh clock case. I added one of the little dolls, Molly, I like to put together and she's taking a ride on a wonderful Boston Terrier. Molly's ready for anything with her umbrella and package of flowers for her good friend, Lolly, who's been a little under the weather lately. Up top is a framed piece of one of Basic Grey's fab new papers with a little 3-D flowers and antiuqe photo. Topped off is a silk ribbon and a tag that came on one of my recent prizes from Character Constructions. It wasn't even an official prize, it was the tag on one of the rolls of paper I purchased. Bonus!!

Some new party pics from our Frederick location at Emporium Antiques. After quite a dry spell of us neglecting the space we have averaging a couple of trips a week there to spiff things up and keep it fresh and exciting~and boy is it! I highly recommend checking it out in person. Frederick is a very cool town with no shortage of fab places to shop and eat. It's a great girlfriends' field trip.

Waxing Poetic...

Here's my youngest son, Matt, who just recently turned 10, acting as Steve Irwin at the wax museum exhibit at school today. He's got total control over this bad croc-Crikey mate!

Okay, here's the ring leader, Ms. Jones, total spitfire, teacher extrodinaire and Matt's favorite. His math teacher, Ms. Ritchie is a real close tie. Anyway, Ms. Jones pulls no punches and takes no prisoners but makes learning fun. She's every bit energitic enough to keep so many fourth graders enjoying staying in line.

So the scenario for today's event at school was that the wax museum was coming for an exhibit for the school. There was a heat wave and all the wax figures melted. The fourth graders had to step in and work in their stead. It was a great event. Parent were welcome and each of the other grades had a chance to visit the library to observe the statures. Each statue was outfitted with a button to push so as to hear the "recorded" historical information for each character. It was pretty darn cool.

Malcom X

Madam CJ Walker

Dr. Ben Carson Tony Hawk

Princess Diana

It's Good To Be Mean~Ooops, I Mean Queen...

I'm bad. I had promised Nene and Heidi I would help stage a new listing of Heidi's with them today in Pasadena. Then the snow. Remember the previous entry, "If God wanted Texans to ski...", ya', I don't "do" snow. To the corner, maybe~but Pasadena~I'll pass, Dena (oh that's just too easy). So when Nene let me off the hook it was time to re-group so I started out taking photos of myself (it is not casual Friday), above, standing next to my giant book and flowering tree. Then I decided it would be an eBay day. So, left here is one of my many auctions I put up today. Mostly antique dog figurines but these Boston Terrier salt and pepper shakers are da bomb (do you think salt is gonna go for what pepper has in mind?). I don't think my click link works to get you to my auctions but, again, you can go to advance search and search by seller and type in doojies. There's lot to see. I spent, literally, the whole day listing. It takes a while but I've really gotten into the photography and text. Then I get a little carried away and get a little scary and start seeing dog figurines that look like Spencer Tracy (he really does, though)! Even after spending all day on the computer yesterday hence, see the red border, title, etc. Who knew that the computer would be sooooooo creative? Not me but Hope and Mellie did...

Lay down, close eyes, finish cross word, better go...have a blessed, creative day.

It's Good To Be From Texas

I got a comment the other day on one of my posts from a woman from Texas. She lives in Maryland now too but she said she's from Brehnam~ooooooooooooooooo! Brehnam is soooooo beautiful and, if I'm too far off, I believe it's near mecca~Round Top. And Brehnam is a mecca in it's own right being beautiful but also because it is home to the Best Little Creamery In Texas~~~~ Blue Bell Ice Cream!!!!!!!!!!! Ohmygosh. Now my husband is from NYC as I have mentioned so growing up he never had homemade ice cream. However, I did. And Blue Bell Ice Cream is as good as the best homemade I ever ate. It's fabulous. How much of this do you want to hear? Sorry, I didn't get that... Pictured to the left is one of the buckets of BB~my fave Dutch Chocolate~I ate the last time I went to visit my dad. Oh, he loved it, too. One of the things he missed when he and my mom lived in California. Of course I had to bring it home and "doojie" it by planting silk flowers and moss in it and placing it on our bookcase in the family room. What, did you think I would (shudder to think) put it in a closet, a drawer, not the... trash? See, this is why I'm such a happy, perky, peppy #*&%$###**@#$ because I receive such pleasure from gazing at these special things and thinking back to...and they bring me comfort. Thank you, Shelleyo.

Please remember to decorate your world with the simple things that can give you these kinds of warm fuzzies. If something has meaning to you pull it out of the drawer and call Doojies @ No.5 Interiors and for a small fee we will run over and place it in such a way that you can enjoy it and give that memory-filled item the attention it deserves. This ad was paid for by the non-profit Anna Nicole Foundation for the Decoratively Insane. No penises were cut off in the making of this ad.

And speaking of Texas, I got this photo the other day from my friend-since-junior-high, Julia who lives on the planet Houston. She's been creative all her life. The notes she passed in class were live-long keepsakes soooo...Are these not the cutest clip boards you've ever seen? She says they are all the rage down there. They still have neat areas of town where there are blocks and blocks of totally cool shops where people shop without flatbed carts. Okay, let's pack out moving vans and go... Can you just see yourself keeping up with the batting line up at your son's baseball game? You would so be the envy of all the other moms!

The Great Old Days

Last Tuesday I spent six hours with my and my dad's favorite cousin, Carol, in Westminster going through family photos, scrapbooks, and memorablilia. What fun we had! My head was swimming on the way home. So many great stories and photos to go with them. This photo is one of many from my dad and Carol's Aunt Sidney who was in the theater and started out at Texas Tech. She took groups to theaters for many years and this is one of those groups ready to go get cultured. I would have loved this picture even if I didn't know who any of these folks were. These are the kind of photos I've been adopting for years. But how cool is it to have one like this and it has personal, sentimental meaning? Very. I love looking at these pictures and imagining how their lives were simpler, cleaner, more decent, innocent in a relative way. And, to me, they are like the butterfly flapping its wings in the Rain Forest~Aunt Sidney could not have imagined that some ditz three generations away would get such a thrill out of having this piece of her history. But thrilled I am! As inspired by our Hope Wallace at lunch last week, I came home and immediately made this my computer screen wallpaper. Not quite as cool as hers with the great border and such but I'm getting there. Stop and take some time to look at some old pictures today.