enjoy!

source - tinywhitedaisies
Enjoy your weekend! Take time to slow down and smell the flowers, Spread smiles everywhere you go, and practice random acts of kindness every chance you get. Enjoy!

Thorsten Taylor, Happy Birthday tomorrow! You are my favorite; my source of laughter,inspiration, and love. You make my memories priceless and future(travels!) intriguing . I hope your day is filled with happiness and smiles. I love you, Alice

we are home!

Back from the auction and starting to unload. Here is a chest straight from Mr. Yoder!

Does anyone know the Schucker's? I think this would be great at the beach near the oyster roast table.

Looks like it will be a late night to get the store ready for tomorrow. It is 5 pm and we are just opening the trailer doors. So is the life of 2 clueless shopkeepers who are also really crummy time managers.....

Amish auction, Pearls and Pops

This has been one of my most frustrating posts! I couldn't get my pictures to load, they would suddenly disappear....ugh! Anyway, check out my superstar Daddy on the new Magnolia Pearl blog. She is the kindest spirit I have ever met and she always is sure to come around and "love" on my Dad while we are out in Texas at Marburger. As my "one fine dog" would say, "you da best, Pearl! Sidenote-since my children have gone off to college, it is amazing how much my one fine dog named Duncan, talks. I have always loved animals and dogs but I seem to have taken this to a new level. Will I end up as one of those elderly ladies at the flea market that strolls their dog around in a stroller???

Back to junkin'. We spent the day at the Amish auction today and finished loading our trailer. There were lots(really just one) of things that we wanted but sadly, didn't get. It is always difficult to get everything you want at an auction but this one is particularly hard. There are 9 auctioneers auctioning simultaneously. You have to run from spot to spot and try to catch what you were looking for. It is loads of fun but quite hectic. I did get....a large lot of vintage rosaries...

a galvanized tub full of fun...

4 awesome Amish buggy wheels(these may be my favorite)...

several industrial work tables, some cute pieces of furniture, a great red trunk...

vintage red outdoor chairs, and lots more. The one thing we really wanted but didn't get... an antique wooden boat from the 1920's. It was incredible but a little too big for our trailer. Maybe next time. We are on our way back home and have a couple more stops before we have to unload and get the store ready for Saturday. As it gets close to 1 am on the road, all I have to say is, "Hampton Inn, I LOVE you!"

shopping is fun!

we shopped and shopped and then shopped some more today.

I can't decide whether to leave these as columns or make lamps?

I have enough antique iron to fence the whole town of Sasser.

love these column bases

Antique chinese balusters. We shopped till we dropped, loaded our trailer and will be at the Amish auction first thing in the morning to finish filling our trailer! We have driven 800 miles in 2 days. We bought a new truck about a month ago and already have almost 8000 miles on it!! We SURE do wish the gas prices would go down. See you all tomorrow. Happy Birthday to my sweet baby! I love you.

road trip!

We are about to put the pedal to the metal and head out on a shopping road trip! The weather is supposed to be rainy but I am going to try and take pictures along the way. Tonight's destination is Bowling Green, Kentucky. See you there.

thanks Easter bunny!

The nests were made....

and the Easter bunny came!

easter dinner

What is your Easter table going to look like?

Mine is pink and polka dotted and full of roses

along with lots of pastel dyed eggs. Those nests I talked about yesterday.... I think that maybe I was more excited about bunnies and nests and Easter than my 2 children! I can't get them to get started on those nests!

a pastel chocolate covered Easter wish for you!

I can't seem to get past the bird egg blue thing. I found these perfect pale blue chairs and put them with the picnic table without the scalloped edge.

I love the way it makes the same basic table from yesterday look completely different. I still think the background (rolling hills, etc...) needs to be the same but maybe with a "french" style picnic lunch! PS Sorry about my photography, I usually have about 5 minutes to try and take pictures and there is always something or someone in the background!!Ugh.

On to Easter. My children are coming home for the weekend and I am so excited! When I was a little girl, we always made nests for the Easter bunny to leave us a chocolate goodie. The nest were usually made from pine straw and grass and shaped into a LARGE nest which we usually liked to place in the center of a big clump of liriope. Once we had the nest fashioned just so(nests are really hard to make if you have never tried it! You will have a new respect for our thumb-less bird friends if you ever try to build one) then the fun begins. We would gather as many flowers as we could find and decorate the edges of our nest with a floral fantasy. I still have the most fantastic images of these nests in my head. I thought they were splendiferous! I passed this tradition on to my children. We have had many wonderful nests in the last 23 years, one year we spent Easter at the beach and used shells and beach moss! Tomorrow, even though they are 23 and 20, we are going to build Easter nests to see if the Easter bunny will pass our way. Another side note-one year when I guess I was too old for the bunny, I made a secret nest...guess what... no chocolate! I was devastated. Maybe that is why I still have baskets for my grown children :) Anyhoo, I am SO excited about having my girls at home and I can't wait to see how our nests turn out and what that good ol' Easter bunny fills them with!
We, at Alice and Jay, wish you the most blessed and pastel colored chocolate filled Easter ever! We will be traveling to Michigan next week to buy for the store. I will blog along the way so I hope can follow along with us.

bird egg blue

since I had a word for the week, I decided to have a color for the week. Looks like everything is coming up what I am going to call "bird egg blue". I love the arbor over the picnic table with the chandelier all sparkly and pretty(Jay didn't love me so much when I ask him to hide that cord through the ceiling tee hee). All that needs is a backdrop of rolling green hills with a giant oak tree to plop it under, a few vines of sweet honeysuckle growing in the tree to scent the air, and a lovely picnic dinner with candlelight.....ah...perfect!

sacrifices

For the past 2 years in the month of April, I have been blessed to spend a few glorious weeks in Italy. The city of Rome is so full of history I do not think you could ever take it all in(although I would love to try). During this week my mind has drifted back to Rome and back to the Appian Way. My best traveling buddies and I were able to walk along cobblestone roadway that was the first paved road of humanity.

Along this roadway is the site where St. Peter had a vision of Jesus and asked him, "Domine, qou vadis? Lord, where shall I go?" The apostle Paul walked the giant stones on his way to the Rome. Thousands were crucified along this path. It's history is almost overwhelming as you stand upon its stones. The depth of what I felt-there are no words.

The depth of our history, the depth of what has come before us to pave the way to our own Eternal City.

I hope that every one of you has a blessed Easter week and the depth of a single sacrifice seeps deep into your soul and gives you a joy for which there are no words.

smile

Word of the day
Intaxication - Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was
your money to start with.

word of the day from Urban Dictionary and photo from pinterest

perfectly imperfect

It has been far too long, hasn't it! Every day I sit down to blog and no words or thoughts would come. I guess that means I needed a rest. Time to find a good book and cuddle up for a while.

"After Laura and Mary had washed and wiped the dishes, swept the floor, made their bed, and dusted they settled down with their books. But the house was so cozy and pretty that Laura kept looking up at it." Laura Ingalls Wilder

Did everyone love reading those books as much as I did? I thought it must have been the most delightful place to grow up. I could just imagine their cozy little home. Don't you just love it when a house is perfectly imperfect.

photos from tiny white daisies
A fluffy sofa with thick cushions and a cat and a dog just waiting to have a nap with you. Lots of books hanging around in easy to reach places. A good window to sit and daydream from. A cookie jar sitting on the kitchen counter full of homemade goodies. A back screen door that is always unlocked and eagerly anticipating the next friend to stop in for a visit. A practically perfect delightfully imperfect home!

why is this so hard?

Why is this so hard to remember?

finally!

weheartit.com
We are back in Georgia and I finally found a moment to get on the computer. We had a super trip and are thankful for a safe trip home. The memories are gently tucked away so that we can pull them out and enjoy them anytime we need a smile. We are going to be busy for the next couple of days getting the store cleaned and re-filled for Saturday. Please forgive our absence, we hope to be back in full swing next week! In the meantime, take some time to paint your world just the way you like it! Life is short.