Bringing Love Home {Part 2}

Continuing our journey....

I drove a very different way home that avoided $45.00 worth of tolls (true horror story) and was so much prettier....{West Virginia, we are officially in love}...and with under two hours of sleep apiece, we programmed the GPS on a course to America's largest antique mall, Heart of Ohio Antiques. We made it there with only two hours to look around. SO NOT ENOUGH. The first picture is one side of the first hallway. Basically, take this picture, times ten, and you get the idea of the size and scope of this mall.

You can't even see the end of the hallway...it's that long!

Now, we maybe stopped at only a handful of booths in the mall. There just wasn't enough time. It was quite busy, and we also had a more than a few people stop and thank the sweet hubby for his service (which, by the way, is so incredibly cute and sweet every time it happens), so we just kind of breezed our way through it. I tried to take a few pic of the booths that did catch my eye.

I LOVED the way this dealer made her a booth a rainbow experience!

We did find a couple of resale items, most notably this great set of cuddlecloth barkcloth drapes!

And, before we exited, we stopped for a sweet photo (not so sweet of me). This is what less than two hours of sleep and a fifteen+ hour car ride will do to homegirl....

 

Hubby {looks great}...... Wife {not so much}..... We pulled into our driveway at 12:30 am. We left Virginia at 6:10 am. LONG day. LONG drive. BIG antique mall. LOTS of love.

Bringing Love Home {Part 1}

On the 17th I drove my soldier home for Christmas! What a ride....seven states we visited on the fifteen hour car ride. We saw some of the most scenic beauty this country has on the east coast. Our mountain ride started in Virginia with this spectacular scene:

And as we drove through Virginia it just kept getting more spectacular. We took a bit of a detour through a little mountain town named Longdale, VA, and happened on a beautiful bed & breakfast home called the Firmstone Manor.

The sweet hubby was in full soldier gear when he knocked on the door for directions, and I think the lady of the house was a little surprised to see a soldier on her porch. But she was so nice and pointed us in the direction of the nearest gas station, and then kindly invited us inside for a look around the manor. The house is to-die-for inside. I didn't even think to take some photos of the inside, but here are a couple borrowed from their website.

 

The mansion is huge! And decorated to the hilt in period furniture and decor. We were amazed!

If you would like to visit a B&B in Virginia I highly recommend this lovely home.

http://www.firmstonemanor.com

 

Just a Little Vintage Christmas

It was delightful to be able to display all of our vintage Christmas finds this year! Most of these items were acquired years ago...and have been stored away since.

It's really just a hodge-podge of holiday goodness. And, I started this new PUTZ collection, so next year it will be even better. Hopefully it will fill the whole shelf within a couple of years.

I love this little flocked snowman....he will become part of one of next years ornament wreaths.

Painting & Present Snob

I just finished painting our foyer/stairway. To use the term "finished" would be loosely... Mr. V will still have to put a second coat on the cathedral ceiling portion. But it looks good, and I am pleased with the color. Being pleased with the color is a big bonus....I intended it to be gray, but the actual color turned out to be a grayish-blue, and is quite pretty. If you are interested, it is called "Samovar Silver" by Sherwin Williams.

I purchased a new curtain for the window, painted all the trim/stairs and attempted to do a kick-board stencil. That didn't turn out very nicely, so after 6 days of late night painting, I threw in the towel and put all the paint and supplies away.

I haven't done much Christmas shopping this year. I was waiting on Mr. V to come home to do it with me. Most of my life lately has been in a holding pattern, and Christmas shopping is no exception. I was surprised that I actually went out and bought the tree myself. I am used to putting it up and decorating it myself, but the choosing part by myself was new.

This brings me to the actual gift wrapping. I consider myself a bit of a present snob. I LOVE to find the perfect gift, no matter what the occasion. I pride myself on the perfect purchase. And in the last few years, that has extended into the actual gift wrap. Last year I was a red/white damask/polka dot look. This year I went for the trendy aqua/mustard/tan look.

I went to Hobby Lobby and chose about 8 different cute ribbon spools. I just love the look. It will come together a little nicer when I actually have more gifts....but you get the idea.

I'm sure the sweet lady that receives this gift will know right away who it's for when she reads this blog....

What are your Christmas traditions? The older I get, the more I start getting my own Christmas style.

Just Putzin' Along

It's not often you walk by an antique store window and see a cute little putz village....

With 12 houses, two trees and a reindeer.....

And then you see this sign......

And so you almost trip over your own feet running in the door to snatch up the deal of the season....

And you feel like you just won the putz-house lottery, so you buy the creepy Santa too....

I think it's the eyes....

What I've Been Up To

This is what I've been up to for the last three months.....

Hoarding. Yep. Mantique and vintage ornament hoarding.

I've turned our basement bathroom into storage. Sista calls it the "creepy haunted bathroom." It does remind you of an institutional bathroom with 1950's tiled floor, single sink, toilet and old mirror. A place for a shower, but no shower. And...it's located right next to a room that locks FROM THE OUTSIDE. Like you could lock someone in there and then let them out to use the creepy bathroom next door.

At least that's the story we've made up in our heads....

1970's Owl Tiki Lanterns...SCORE!

Some of the boxes don't look old, but the ornaments inside are surely old!

In other thrifting news....homegirl (me) found a awesome FIESTA vase (12" tall!) yesterday. And it has already sold on ebay!

Honored

I was honored to attend the graduation of Charlie Co. 3/47 at Fort Benning. Let me tell you, it was ICY and slick in the stadium and on the field. When I got to the field the temperature was 31 degrees, and for Georgia, that's pretty low. I had to wipe the ice off the bleacher before sitting down. Luckily, I had gone to K-Mart and gotten a scarf and some gloves beforehand.

Gloves and The Help...great for sitting in 30 degree weather for an hour waiting for the start!

I wore my 1940's sterling heart charm bracelet to honor all that have served before us. It has charms from all the services on it...if you look closely you can see the Army and Navy charms.

The hubby's platoon was on the far right side.

The hubby's platoon marching past.

Proud Army Wife with the sweet Hubby outside the Infantry Museum.

I had a very nice time. It was so great to spend time with Mr. V. before he left for the next phase of training. In 12 days I will be driving to pick him up for Christmas break!!!

Oh, and btw, The Help is GREAT! I can't wait to see the movie!