Sally's Here

Most of you who frequent our store knew we headed for a fabulous art making trip in October. We headed as far east as we could to still be a part of the good old USA in Portland, Oregon. There we took workshops from several artists,Sally Jean being our favorite! We learned to create fun collages that you place between little pieces of glass and then soulder to make perfect little gems for you to wear. We returned from our trip ready to go. We were going to make, make, make. And we tried, tried, tried, and just can't seem to get the souldering thing down like she can. So, come on by the store and check out our faaaabulous new line of Sally Jean charms, made by the queen of Pretty Little Things. We've got a fairy for everyone, from the Real Estate Fairy to the Pop Tart Fairy, I am sure there is one just for you!

You Silly Girls!

So this time, we tried out the "play" part at my son William's 7th birthday. We had a Spy themed party complete with fake mustaches and these way cool glasses! Okay, so we maybe don't have such a hard time with the play part of our day! We Flea Chicks work very hard, but we also know how to have a fun time with family and friends. If you stop by the store to find both of us there we are usually pretty silly and easy going. We have the best life, we love our job, are best buddies and have families that still love us despite our hours of work!

All Work and No Play....

You all know the cliche, "All work and no play makes for a very boring day". Or at least something like that. Well, here we are at Valerie's daughter Olivia's 8th birthday having a bit of play! I was a jumping fool at Pump It Up! that night. Valerie said one parent came in and asked, "Who is that adult in the jumping ring?" If you haven't tried it yet, next time your child has a party at one of these big blow up slide and jump houses, TRY IT! Kick off your shoes and jump right in. Be the cool Mom and have a little fun. We sure did! Needless to say I slept very well that Friday night!

PS Watch out for bum burn on the slide, I'd use a mat!

Ultimate Shell Collage

If you've been by the store lately you will notice a front window full of the most gorgeous shells the ocean can produce. Valerie decided about a year ago that this would be a cool thing for us to sell. I have my own shell collection from diving and beach combing over the years, so the thought of buying a shell seemed a bit silly and not as meaningful. Well, low and behold shells are now the decorating item in all the magazines. I can't flip though a magazine now without seeing some sort of starfish or shell featured! So the shells are a permanent fixture of our fun store now. Not to mention they really make a nice display. I might actually buy my first one, a 23 legged starfish.

The photo you see here was taken in Orlando at this dive of a shell shack cleverly called "Shell World". The artist who glued every shell onto this Volkswagon bug also attacked a golf cart and golf clubs. I thought it was so cool looking! Look for some big shots of these when you come into the flea. I don't think this will be a Ladies Night out project anytime soon, but those of you with a glue gun and too much time on your hands go for it!

Holiday Traditons

If you haven't been by the Flea lately, then you probably don't know how into the Spirit of Christmas we are! From Cody Foster collectable vintage inspired glitter houses, Wendy Addison's glittery star collection, chenille snowmen and santas, and of course a Christmas scent or two, we have anything you could imagine to help inspire your holiday decorating! If you've read my previous Blog, then you know how we like to nest at the Flea. Getting ready for this holiday season has been a huge nesting extravaganza for us! Nothing is where it was. Have you seen the hammer by the way..................... ??

With each year that passes I always wish for the season to slow down so I can enjoy it more. I love this time of year with the crisp air, the warm hearts and the hustle of customers in the store. Please don't forget to come by and share our Christmas nest. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

An Ode to Lakewood

When I taught public middle school art, I made my students listen to my favorite singer of all times, Frank Sinatra, all the time. I know they would have rather listened to other inspirational songs while creating masterpieces, but I was the teacher after all. On the day Frank died, so many of my students came running into the class asking if I was sad, was I okay, I even had one sweet teen give me a sympathy card! Okay, so we really did listen to his albums a lot.

Valerie have recently had this same experience with our customers with the passing of Lakewood. Customers coming in asking if we are okay, will we miss Lakewood, what will we do? Over the past three years of our business and friendship I bet we've missed only five fingers of Lakewood weekends. Even our children enjoy the place! Valerie and I have spent countless hours walking the grounds searching for that perfect display stand, item for our own homes, "Mailey's room", and of course items to sell to you our customer.

We had a routine, going on Wednesday am during set-up, hoping to get a sneak peek at the newest treasures. We'd pack up the truck or suburban with carts, cameras, cash and a check book ready to spend a day with our vendor friends and lots of money. We always started at the entrance searching the tents and the guy with the van he slept in. Then we'd walk up the hill turn right and hit the doughnut man . Powdered for Valerie, cinnamon for me. Then we'd go see Ben in the building next to the pavilion, Robert in the pavilion and the other guys and gals in the pavilion. Most of our junk, I mean treasures, came from under that lean-to! Then we'd run over to building 2 where our girl Past Times and Robert from N.Carolina always had beautiful finds. By then it was lunch time so we'd run get a corndog for Jenni and a steak sandwich for Valerie. Of course to wash down our fabulous fair food, we'd hit the Firehouse for a refreshing margarita. We never sat and ate, just kept on walking, for fear of missing that great find! When it was finally time to go, usually we were under the gun time-wise to get our children.