Am I doing it right, White Wednesday?

I took some pictures around the house for my first time participating in Kathleen's White Wednesday over at Faded Charms.  Got some dusting done too, so it wasn't all play.  Plus, I got some silver trays up on my empty kitchen soffit that I've been meaning to do for awhile now.  Pictures taken, just need to be on the ball when Silver Sunday rolls around.

This is the table next to my nest, as my Mr. Wonderful calls it.  What you don't see is the dirty coffee cup, notes to myself, laptop, carmex, and overflowing stack of books and magazines!

I love this old picture of my Dad before he married my Mom.  

That's the Big 3, the Nadeau gang, don't cha know, Lloyd, John, and Ted, my dad.

 These candle pillars I made from an old stair newel post.  I love the paint layers.

Crossing my fingers that I get this linked up right with the rest of the White Wednesday Women!

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

Well, here in Texas the answer is 

"To prove to the armadillo that it could be done."

But this is about a different chick trip.  When I read Joan's post about her love for a chicken lamp on her blog Anything Goes Here, I was prompted to reminisce about how I came to own my beloved chicken, actually I think they are rooster, lamps.  

We've been in Texas almost 10 years now but before this we lived in Minnesota for 11 years.  The first fall we lived here, I made a trip back to visit my girlfriends for a long weekend.  My first trip by myself, no husband, no kids, no dog, in like 15 years.  Ya, I think I was due.  On a side note, when you travel alone, amazingly enough, you always find hotel rooms that are very spacious, neat, and clean.  Hum? 

I had a fun filled weekend visiting my girlfriends and some of my old stomping grounds.  At one of my favorite antique shops I came upon this pair of vintage rooster lamps.  At the time I had a chicken theme in my kitchen and these would go great in the attached dining area.  I loved the old dirty gold color, they were perfect!  But.....how could I get them home, they were fairly big and made of some kind of plaster.  Fragile!  And I'd already spent a lot of money on my trip, besides the airfare, hotel, and rental car.  Yadda, yadda, yadda,  I decided I'd have to pass.  

My last night was spent tossing and turning, dreaming about those lamps.   

I had to have those lamps!  

My flight home was at noon, would I have time to run back to the shop when it opens at 10am and still get to the airport in time?  Heck ya!  So I jump in my trusty red rental car high tail it to the shop.  Now this is Minnesota in November, so I didn't have to worry about the weather.  Ha!  All the way there and back I'm white knuckling  the wheel, thinking if I go in the ditch I'll miss my flight and everyone (read my Mr. Wonderful, everyone else would say, well ya, I'd have chanced it too) would find out I was running around on these back roads like a crazy woman in a snow storm after a pair of lamps!?  Short story, long.  I wrapped these babies up in my dirty clothes whilst at the airport, prayed they were padded well enough, and checked my bag.  And so you see, here they are safe and sound.

I've since moved from the house with the kitchen dining area.  At this new house, my beloved lamps are now in the living room where they get turned on and they turn me on every day.

Have you seen this?

Have you seen the latest issue of Architectural Digest?!  

I don't usually pick up this magazine but when I saw the cover, my interest was piqued.  Why yes, I would like to see what Gerard Butler's New York loft looks like, now that you ask.

Now I'm thinking, New York loft cool, contemporary, minimal.  Wow!  Not at all what I expected.  Yummy fabrics and trims, rustic textures and furnishings, rich deep color, and crystal chandeliers!  Would he notice if I just moved in?  He's probably not there alot.  I'll try not to get in the way of any pesky girlfriend.  Wonder if he's in need of a live in maid.   

Can this guy get any sexier?! 

I'd be content just to watch from one of his gorgeous chairs.

Happy Easter!

Round Top

One of my sestas usually comes down for Round Top but she wasn't able to get the vacation to come. So I crashed the party of some friends and went with them. They stayed over one night, which I have never done so it was nice to get to shop two days without the extra day of driving. If my sesta comes in October we'll have to check into finding someplace to stay as well.

Anyways, lots of fun was had by all! Although, I didn't find what I was looking for, something really long and cool, (and cheap) to hang above my 10' kitchen island and a pair of twin size headboards for my son's room. I did find a few treasures to take home. I took a few pictures to share.

The first pictures are possibly the two coolest pieces of furniture I saw. This one was massive, at least 8 feet wide, 7 feet tall, and 2+ feet deep. One side was a bench (where the mirror and pillows are) and the other was a storage cabinet. How cool would this be as a room divider in a large LR/DR area or a back door that enters directly into a family room. Mud room on one side and storage in the FR on the other. So so cool. This was at Leftovers. Check them out here .

 

This other piece, also at Leftovers, is the coolest banquet.  I don't know it was part of an old inglenook or what but feast your eyes on this.

Imagine this in a cozy corner of a romantic restaurant.....oh, I want to be there.  We grew up with a banquet in our kitchen, while it was no where near this opulent, I have always had a soft spot in my heart for them.

Here's a fantastic composition to have hanging above and island but unfortunately I know my Mister Wonderful would never go for this.  

It was in the Big Red Barn and was the brain child of George Brownlee of Waco, who does antiques sales and staging.  That's player piano music rolls draped like big ol' ribbons on an old box spring!  

I wish I had that imagination!

Here's a picture of a grouping of mirrors, also from Leftovers.  Sorry,  I didn't take my camera out at a wider variety of places but we were there a while drinking wine and eating cheese, don't cha know!  

In my last house I had mirror groupings in the dining room and the guest bath.  I've been wanting to create one at this new house for a while.  I recently found a dresser for our master bedroom and that wall would be the perfect place.  Most of my mirrors are gold framed and my walls are chocolate brown so I'm deciding if I need to paint them or find more white ones.  Which sounds like more fun to you?!

My friends had to leave early the second day but since I drove separately, just in case I found that perfect long, cool, cheap thing for above my island and needed my big truck to bring it home, (I judge cars on towing capacity but that's another story) I left the pay per view places like Marberger and the Big Red Barn and spent the 2nd part of the day in and around Warrington.  This is my sesta's and my stomping ground, where while the offerings are not as spectacular, at least we find more that we can afford to buy.  Not as much fun thought stomping around by myself with no one to kibitz with. 

When I complained to my sister that I wasn't finding my way around Warrington very well she said she always relied on me to keep the direction, so apparently it takes the both of us together to navigate!  Somehow, I did manage to  find a couple treasures, also saw some ladies dressed for the Prom later that night, and a toothless guy selling beer and giving away free kisses, I bought the beer, left the kiss!  

I also came across some people who blog and have shops on etsy.  One booth I recognized from her blog, Willow Nest Farm, peruse at her blog with cool videos here.  And a pair of sisters I meet because I complimented them on their necklaces.  Check out Sue's blog, Vintage Rescue Squad here, I love that "vintage rescue"!  Her sister Michelle is due to list her jewelry in Sue's etsy shop soon.   Sue gave me one of her new mini Moo cards, I'd just gotten a trial batch from them myself.  Argh!  So bummed that I forgot to put some in my stream lined shopping purse!  Check out the fun Moo business cards here.

But, I only spent a third of what I thought I would so, before it disappears into lunches and gas money for the boy, I better go shopping!  On with the hunt.....