Open House. . . . . . . . . . .

The Vintage Village and SuzAnna's Antiques held their annual Christmas Open House

Thursday night - and what fun it was!

On a perfect evening - a calm and comfortable 55F - Santa arrived as costumed 

singers and musicians played old country and modern carols. Lights glittered and

 glimmered as we raised a glass and nibbled on delicious cheesy and sugary morsels.

The mood was jolly and bright and the crowd shopped and mingled.

My granddaughter Jasmin was the official photographer for the evening - however

 these are my photos, taken with my new iPhone 7Plus. . . . . . . . I'm surprised, 

and very pleased, with how they turned out in somewhat odd lighting situations.

SuzAnna's ladies and treasures. . . . . .

I did get to SuzAnna's Antiques at the Vintage Village Saturday afternoon.  

I did not get a lot of pics to share as I spent too much time chatting!  
The girls working included blonde owner Susie, Courtney - now more red-haired 
than me, and my dark-haired granddaughter Jasmin. . . . . . making the tiny 
office/check-out area chock-full of beautiful women! I should have just taken 
a photo of them but forgot.

Also, Bob tagged along with me and, for once, actually picked up pieces of china, 

turned them over and read the marks to me. . . . . ."Mary, look at this one, do you like it, 

it was made in England". . . . . handing me a very pretty pink Mason's transferware bowl.

Yes I liked it, but since I no longer collect pink I made him put it down. Now, if blue or 
grey, I would have grabbed it from him, pulled out my cash, and it would be here on a 

shelf all freshly washed and shining, and being photographed to show you. 
Someone else will definitely love it and give it a new home I'm sure.

The entire weekend we enjoyed much better weather at long last, and 

it's continuing with temperatures reaching the low 70's each day. 

Shopping and treasure hunting is definitely on the upswing 

in these parts!

Friendship at Christmas. . . . . .

I've certainly been extra busy the past week - but had such a great time with 

family, and many wonderful friends, as we all prepare for Christmas. 

Mary and Paula - Two Old Birds

via Rob Pheil

This week, fabulous friend Paula came all the way to North Carolina 

from San Francisco -  accompanied by great friends Kim and Rob - for a fun three day 

pre-Christmas visit, where we shopped and ate and shopped some more--------and to 

attend my granddaughter Jasmin's special Christmas choral concert.  

The day this pic was taken in front of the most appropriate shop sign at 

the Vintage Village, 'Two Old Birds', was the anniversary of the day the 

two of us first met 52 years ago in Washington, DC. If you aren't familiar with 

our awesome longtime friendship, go HERE to see where Paula took me in 

2013 to celebrate 50 years as BFF's.

Whoever knew that two adventurous 'young chicks' from the same town in England, 

would meet here, in the nation's capital, and form a bond which has lasted over 

half a century!

Paula, Kim and Rob, thanks so much for coming to see us--------

and have a fabulous Christmas in California.

Christmas treasures found. . . . . .

SuzAnna's Antiques - Emily's Signs

On a recent visit to SuzAnna's Antiques  - go here to see what's still on offer 

for Christmas - and the surrounding wonderful Vintage Village shops, I did find a 

few things so pretty I just had to bring them home for the holidays!

If you know my taste in home decor and Christmas decorating, you will most 

likely be able to guess which ones they are in these three pics.

SuzAnna's Antiques - at the Vintage Village, Raleigh, NC

Two Old Birds - Vintage Village, Raleigh, NC

This 'special tree' on the porch of the 'Two Old Birds'  fabulous shop in the 

village grabbed my attention. Difficult to capture in a photo at night, and 

SO beautiful, I have to share it with you because it's an idea I'm keeping 

in mind for Christmas 2015. 

They left a tree outside all year, allowing it to drop its needles and dry out, then 

this season gently sprayed it unevenly with artificial snow and added just a 

few bright red feathered cardinals - all the decoration required to make it so 

natural looking and eye catching thanks to owner Susan's former career as a 

very creative florist.

 I completely fell in love with this look and will try to replicate it for an outdoor 

tree on my front porch next year - go ahead, call me a copycat! 

(I think it might be a fire hazard for indoor use so wouldn't advise that). 

I'll be looking for a pre-loved tree soon, perhaps even pick up a discarded 

one up at the curb, and will set it in the back garden where it will await  

transformation at this time next year.

Are you finding that Christmas decorating ideas this year are quite amazing?

Of course the online offerings from around the world are awesome, but 

personally I'm finding wonderful ideas right here in my local shops, garden 

centers, even the big box stores.

Happy Christmas decorating.

Oh, did you guess which pretties came home with me?

Emily's painted Christmas Tree door

The two little silver handbags

The two crusty painted pots/saucers

"Good Day Sunshine"

Immortalized in the well known Beatles song, 

the lyrics stated, "good day sunshine". . .  

. . . .and that's what we enjoyed on Saturday for the 

Fall Festival at SuzAnna's Antiques and the 

Vintage Village here in town.

Hand painted signs are really popular again and there 

are some fabulous ones made by dealers at SuzAnna's.

For those of you perhaps waaaay up north, or living abroad, 

and not familiar with southern expressions, "HEY, Y'ALL" 

means Hello/Hi all of you! Yes, there is a different 

language spoken here in the south, and it took me awhile 

to get it. . . and even after 37 years here I still 

sometimes have difficulty when I hear a true southern 

accent rife with southern colloquialisms.

My personal pretty purchase for the day - the English 

(made in Staffordshire) tea pot naturally. 

Never have enough - although I did cull my collection 

some time back so this makes just three. At just $9.00

I couldn't pass it up.

The lovely girls - granddaughters Cassie, Jasmin 

(who works weekends at SuzAnna's), 

my fabulous friend Vanessa who now lives several 

hours away but came to see us, and Susie, co-owner 

of the shop with her daughter Jenny. Sorry Jenny we 

didn't snap you in this one, you were working so 

diligently with your many customers!

This lovely sign said it all. 

As always, we had fun here, then Cassie, Vanessa and I 

headed to Anthropologie for more eye candy browsing - and 

a little buying (show you later), then met up with my Bob 

for some thirst quenching iced coffee at Starbucks.

A perfect day in every way.

Hello Autumn . . . . .

The Autumnal Equinox brings the 

fall season to the Northern hemisphere 

at 10:29 PM today.

Are you ready to celebrate this

beautiful season of the year?

The weekend was busy. After the visit to the pumpkin farm on Friday, see my previous post, I also visited the Vintage Village and SuzAnna's Antiques on Saturday. The lovely Jenny was on TV last week as part of the 'Garage Gold' show on the DIY network, and she'll be in more episodes later. You may want to watch out for this show.

Sharing pics of a few treasures from SuzAnna's for those of 

you who love 'the hunt' for antiques, vintage and more.

I especially enjoyed photographing a few rusty finds - the 

color for Autumn, and definitely great with bright blue,

such as the azure Carolina skies of the perfect 

'Indian Summer' weather we're having. 

SuzAnna's Autumn 'flower' made from rusty saws 

is a hit this season.

Next weekend will be another busy one at The Vintage Village 

when Saturday's Fall Festival celebration will take place. 

Fingers crossed the great weather continues.

Saturday evening Bob and I also stopped by the early 

Oktoberfest celebration at nearby Lafayette Village 

shopping venue.

While there I discovered another really great shop for home 

and garden decor - I'll soon be sharing the lovely things

I found there with you soon.

Autumn, the year's last, loveliest smile.

 - William Cullen Bryant