NumberNineteen

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like....

....You Know What!!!!  Indeed, Christmas has come to the Fleming home.  I spent most of last weekend & a few evenings this week, fluffing up the house to its holiday glory.  The tree is up as are most of our decorations.  Here's a little corner of it, in our living room.

The stairs leading to the second floor are right beside the living room, so the garland fits right into the rest of the decorations.  I pulled together greenery, white lights, red wired ribbon & sparkle-ly beaded fruits to make up the look. 

One of my favorite decorations is this quote:

It is from the wonderful Nittany Quill in my hometown of State College, PA.  The Nittany Quill is one of my favorite stores in the world.  Its chock full of gorgeous stationery, gifts & their calligraphy items.  Their calligraphy is now also available in gift shops around the country.

We are busy elves around here, getting ready for our annual Christmas party (we didn't have it last year--can we still call it annual??).  As I mentioned, the decorating it mostly done, but I'm baking up a storm of cookies and Glenn is scurrying to get the kitchen cabinets painted before the guests arrive.  Nothing like a deadline to get you moving!  I'm super pleased with a little decoration/party gift idea that I thought up for this year's party---I'll share it with you in the next post. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, my blogging friends!  We are here at home, with Glenn's mother & her husband as our guests.  We had our enormous traditional meal earlier today & now everyone is ready for naps!  Hope is in her normal state of bliss that is associated with a grandparent visit....non-stop attention all day/all night!

I want to stop for a moment & think about what I'm thankful for this year....

My family...Glenn, Hope, my parents & my sister & brother in law.
Health & the good doctors & nurses that let me & my family live good, healthy lives.
Good jobs that allow us to have food to eat, a place to live and the ability to do the things that we enjoy. 
Opportunities....for various reasons, I recognize that we have been blessed with opportunities throughout our lives.
Freedom from fear....we live in a country, that while not as safe as it once was, is free from the daily fear of fighting, suicide bombers and much more that so many people around the world must accept as part of their daily lives.  I pray that we never have to come to live with that & that those people are freed from it as well.
Friends....both my friends here in the DC area & my blogging friends around the world.

I hope that every one of you is having a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Just Can't Wait!

I know, its not quite time to start decorating for Christmas (I will control myself until after Thanksgiving, but not one moment longer!!), but I want to share this adorable guy that arrived in my mail this week.  I have a small collection of Santas to which I add one each year. I have to find just the right Santa, one that looks like my childhood vision of Santa -- jolly & round-cheeked, with a full beard & a bright red suit.  Some years, its hard to find one that I love enough to bring home.  This year, I had to choose between several!  Its all because of my discovery of Bayberry Cove's  holiday collection.  Vintage-loving-Christmas-decorating ladies, get ye to Bayberry Cove! 

My final decision was the Santa pictured above.  He is made of paper mache & is based upon a vintage figurine.  His "bag" has an opening where you can put greenery, candy canes or whatever little pressies that you can think of. 

Here is what I love the best...his face...isn't that the kindest Santa face?  You know that is the kind of man who would deliver presents to children around the world.

The Happiest Five Years

Five years ago tomorrow, November 16th, Glenn & I were married.  To say that they have been the happiest five years of my life is not quite true -- its actually been the happiest seven years of my life, since the moment I met Glenn.  I really did not know that I could be this happy.  I did not know that someone could truly love me for just who I am.  Not despite who I am, but because of who I am.  I didn't know that I could have this much fun every day.  I didn't know that people came as truly good as Glenn is. 

Glenn, you are my love, my best friend, my confidante, and my dream come true. Thank you for being you. I love you so much! 

Saturday Stuff

This morning, I went to Sue & Liz's (of Vintage Rescue Squad ) sale this morning & it did not disappoint!  Pictured above are some of the offerings from outside the sale...and here are some more....

Sue & Liz did the sale with some gals who own a business called "Back Porch Vintage"  (Akkkk...I just edited this to read the correct name of their business which is "Back Porch Vintage"...I looked up "Back Door Vintage" it isn't a shabby chic seller....!!) & they all had *great* stuff.  Reasonable prices, too.  Here is what you found when you went inside....

(Excuse the blurriness of that pic)


I just picked up one thing, but its just the thing that I've been wanting for my guest room:

It came with a cute red ribbon, but red doesn't go with my guest room (which is sort of terra cotta/deep rose with black & cream toile), so I changed it out for the gingham.

While chatting with Sue, she told me of an estate sale that I HAD to go to...so, of course, I hot-footed it on over & found these two goodies...

I'm going to have quite a nice display of plaid thermoses when I finally get around to having a booth again.  And, check out those metal clothes pins...I haven't seen anything like them before....

Has anyone seen these before?  How old do you think that they are? 1950s?

The rest of the weekend we are going to spend around the house for the most part.  Painting (the kitchen cabinets & furniture for my booth), laundry (of course!), having a fire tonight & making some cookie dough to freeze for the holidays.  We are also going to go on a hike in the national park that we visited over Memorial Day.  I hope that you are having a great weekend!

The November Edition of "Big Flea Finds"

Here is the latest installment of "Kim's Big Flea Finds: November Edition!".....I didn't come home with much this time, which is not to say that there wasn't lots & lots of good stuff.  But, its all got to come together....the item, price, do I have a place for it, is my companion being a good enabler.....you see, I'm sure. 

The round flower frog is the newest companion to my oval one, also shown above.  I'll search through my family photos for an appropriate pic to display.

I found these metal doo-dads (for lack of a better term) & thought that they would be perfect for the re-do of some yard sale finds that I've come across.  I've been thinking of giving them the Tracey  treatment, a la her mail cubby .  Isn't that adorable?  I have a little wall hanging mail center that I think will look so cute when I'm done with it.  I'll share pics, of course.

Last, but not least, is this wonderful 1929 calendar/cottage print:

I'm going to have this framed &  put it up in the kitchen with my other cottage prints. Whenever we get the kitchen finished, that is.

The *Really* fabulous thing that happened at the Big Flea was meeting Sue of The Vintage Rescue Squad and her partner, Liz.  Sue is so much fun & we yakked away, probably driving my friend (I have a friend that always joins me a the BF) crazy.  Sue & Liz have a great booth & are also going to have a small sale with a few other dealers next weekend.  You know that I'll be there!  As a buyer this time, because I don't have my act together enough to get ready by next weekend.  But, they have very much inspired me to get things back in gear with my business.  My garage will once again be filled with white painted furniture.....

Fruits of the Estate Sale

I've been back out on the estate sale loop & found some pretties!  The latest sale was at the home of a very interesting couple who had traveled the world in the 1950s & 1960s.  There was a lot of cool travel memorabilia from that time as well as scrapbooks, but I passed them by since I'm not sure that they would sell well.  I also found a scrapbook of the woman's debutante coming out season, which was wonderful!  It included newspaper clippings, invitations, guest lists, and seating charts.  I passed up that reluctantly since it was a bit pricey, but it was great fun to look through. 

What I *did* take home was several pretty little pieces...the great 1950s pink hamper shown above came home with me, along with a set of floral bookends....here is a close up of one of the book ends.....

These sweet hand towels.....

And these 1940s/1950s children's records...look at those labels--aren't they adorable???

I will soon have more goodies to share since I'm going to the Big Flea tomorrow!  I can't wait!  I got a teeny little bonus at work recently which is just burning a hole in my purse, waiting for the Big Flea. :)  Also, I am hoping to meet Sue, from The Vintage Rescue Squad , who recently connected with me over email.  Her booth always looks amazing & is very in tune with the type of thing that I do, so I'm very excited to meet her.

*****************
In other random, catch-up news, Hope is feeling much better & is recovering from  strep throat.  She has still not recovered from my mother's departure, but we are working on that :)

Also, I have taken my time in perusing the new Victoria & I can say that it lives up to the original that we know & love.  In fact, in some ways, I might prefer it.  The format is exactly the same (perfect), and the feel is the same, but thus far, it has not wandered into that sort of "fantasy world" that the old Victoria could go to sometimes.  I think that the new version thus far is the best of the old.  I'd love to hear more of what you all think.

OK, I've got to sign off since we are taking Hope to her first swimming lesson! 

If you are visiting here for the first time after seeing me on the Typepad featured blog, welcome!!!  I love to have new readers!!!

News of the Week

Happy Halloween Week!  I know, I missed the actual day, but I still wanted to share these photos of our little clown, taken before a party on Sunday. 

She looked SOOOOO cute in her costume! And, she looks like such a big girl. Unfortunately, the very next day she came down with strep throat, so we've been taking turns staying at home with her.  My wonderful mom & dad came down for a few days to help out as well so that we wouldn't miss too much work.  They are the greatest & Hope ADORES them.  When she realized that my mom was gone tonight, she cried for 45 minutes.

Other exciting news is that I got my hands on the new Victoria Magazine .  I didn't subscribe right away, because I wanted to see what the new publisher would do with the magazine.  A quick glance in the grocery store at the contents makes me think that they have stayed true to the Victoria that we loved so well.  I'm particularly looking forward to reading an article on Woolworth's Christmas ornaments.....  What do you all think of the new Victoria?

I got a few goodies at a fun estate sale last week, so I'll post those tomorrow or Saturday!

***********
And, Finally, I can tell you the exciting news that I mentioned a few weeks ago!  My little 'ole blog, Vintage Pretties, will be one of the featured blogs on Typepad on Saturday!  I was SOOOO thrilled to get the email from the people at Typepad.  Featured blogs in the past have been the most gorgeous, lovely blogs out there in the vintage-y Blog world--Daisy Cottage, Cherry Hill Cottage and many others.  To be mentioned in the same place as those blogs....well, I am honored!  So, check in Saturday--I'll be sure to feature some Vintage Pretties!