TOY SOLDIERS...

Hellooo I am back! Well I have been back from Brimfield a couple of weeks now, but after a yucky head cold, straight back into work at the Vintage shed and lots of family things happening its only now that I seem to have the energy to blog again, so here I am!

We shipped all our Brimfield purchases but somehow these toy soldiers managed to find a way into my suitcase! I love everything about them- the greeny gray colour on the base I think is heaven, the little hand painted faces, the way they look all lined up together.. I could go on ! I will admire them for a little longer but very soon they will make their way down to the vintage shed.. Speaking of which we are heading down this week for a major overhaul at our stall and to add the fab industrial lights and other bits and pieces we picked up last week.. photos to come tomorrow.

That's it for now, we will wait patiently for our treasures to arrive and I can only imagine it will be like Christmas when we start unpacking , so stay tuned!

Simone xx

Random trip pictures

Good evening friends,

Before I start, I want to share a couple more pics of our trip I have come across- they are just too good not to share. I took Simone back to Anthropologie on our last day and we bought a few things each. And I took some more photos, because there were just so many beautiful displays to make your heart sing.... here are some of them and some other pics from our trip......

Back at Anthropologie

Best cupcake I have ever eaten. or should I say...cupcakes-there was more than one involved here.

Simone- with our Magnolia Bakery "stash"

Well, we have been back from our adventure for just over a week now, and tonight is the first night I haven't bombed out at 8.30pm. Seriously, I must be getting old, taking a week to recover from a trip.

It was so nice to get home. My baby boy Samuel lept into my arms when I picked him up from school last Wednesday- such an indescribable feeling to know that someone loves you THAT much!

All my boys missed me in their own way. William was cool and calm about the reunion, but didn't stray far from my side for the rest of the day, and curled up on the couch with me when I bombed out that first night.

My lovely lover boy left no signs of me being missed...the house was spotless, not a dish out of place....or so I thought. It wasn't until I had been home a couple of hours that I noticed the flowers were fresh and there was a card propped against them.... "Welcome home- I have really missed you my friend. Looking forward to seeing you tonight...all my love xx" .

Yes- these are the kinds of things that make you realise that sometimes you need to go away so everyone can remember to appreciate each other a little more.
And I too, missed each and everyone of them....there really is nothing more important in the world than family.

I didn't stray far from home for a few days, thriving on the simple things...cooking a lovely meal- I really missed cooking. Playing with the kids, catching up on my magazines, papers etc....but as you know, I am a restless person, so by Monday I was back into it, and by Thursday,  Simone was dragging me away from my tidying at The Shed to take me to a factory where we had been invited to have a first look before a garge sale this weekend. Well worth the trip down the freeway I think.....

Anyway, the stall is tidy and neat again...it was in a bit of a state of neglect, but now it's all good again. We picked up a few mannequins from this factory also which are already at the shed, and these lights will all be in by open on Thursday, along with the  assorted metal vegetable storers pictured below....

I will end with a couple of shout outs tonight- something we do not often do, but are going to do more of because we love The Vintage Shed and we love our loyal fellow stall holders and we are going to do our utmost to help each other promote our little businesses....

If you are not already familiar with Squiggly Rainbow..go ahead and take a browse thru the link below. Rachel is stall C5 at The Vintage Shed. She makes beautiful whimsical childrens clothes, lovely terrariums and a bevvy of other clever crafty items. She is a busy bee and always has something new on offer.

Check her out here http://squigglyrainbow.blogspot.com

or here
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Squiggly-Rainbow/349843415750

We also want to give a shout out to Jo and Julie who are Retrobabes stall C11 at The Vintage Shed.
Retrobabes cover everything from gorgeous vintage clothing to shabby chic furniture to records/lp's and more....a store well worth a visit next time you are down.

You can follow retrobabes here http://retrobabesvintage.blogspot.com
or here
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Retrobabes-Vintage-and-Costumes/127269310640544


Ok, now I AM about to bomb so good night all. Have a fabulous weekend.

Bec

Farewell and heading home

Well, today is our last day in the U.S.

It has been such a wonderful experience. We have learnt so manys do's and sooooooo many dont's for the next trip. We have never worked harder in our lives - it has been insanely hard work, but then, all things worthwhile are aren't they?

We won't see our purchases for another 6 weeks (if we ever see them again) haha. At this point I don't think I would care if I never saw another vintage anything again, but I guess once we settle back into home that will wear off.

In all seriousness, if all goes well and our shipment actually arrives, we have some really great things that alot of you guys will be interested in, so we will keep you posted on arrival and viewing.

I have learnt one very important thing from this trip- in the words of the immortal Judy Garland-

There is no place like home.........

Visual Heavan...

Sunday in New York and it was nowhere near as hectic as yesterday. I don't know if that is because it is Sunday or because it is Mother's Day (happy Mothers day everyone), but it was nice to have a wander in a more relaxed environment.

Some of the stores here are amazing. So cheap and the summer clothes in store are all bright, lots of pattern- floral, paisley, stripes, eyecat, chevron , it's all there in every colour.

The 2 stores I am going to show you were my favourite though and one is The Lego store. I am featuring this because visually it was outstanding and because my beatiful boy William, who is folllowing the blog from home will be very interested in seeing this. (Hi Wilbur- miss you xx)

The amazing wall of lego.



this dragon went all the way around the store with its tail popping in and out of parts of the walls....

The lego model of Rockafella plaza.

Onto the next store and possibly the loveliest store I have ever entered....Anthropologie.

store windows all in nautical theme.

beautiful and sweet aprons in every imaginable fabric....so cutre for over a dress.

dishcloths you wouldn't dare wipe a dish with....too lovely

colourblocked homewares



Door knobs and hooks galore.

paper buntings and ribbons...

Hopefully we can do one more blog before we leave tomorrow but just not sure yet. Not sure what our plans tomorrow are other than getting a flight out of here tommorow evening.

I admit, I have had enough. I need some vegetables...not easy to find take out here with veggies involved and if I have to look at another hotdog/burger/cazone/fatty cheesy concoction I may never eat again.

In fact I think I may have lost some weight here with all the walking we have done and not being able to find anything I want to eat, mostly I have gone hungry instead. I found some blueberries today and was so excited.

Time for bed- goodnight blog friends.

Bec (and Simone) xx



Friday- D Day

The "D" was supposed to stand for deadline....what it ended up standing for was distaster.

The day started at 5am with packing- we had to be out of the hotel  by noon and we only just made it. I don't think we could have fit another thing into that van. So we farewelled Sturbridge Hotel (and pretty sure they were glad to see the back of us and our trolley loads coming and going thru the foyer).

We hit the road headed back to Boston and that's where it all started to unravel. It was a comedy of errors really. A mix of exhaustion, emotion, and just plain supidity on our part.

I won't go into detail, although you would probably find it all funny, it is still too raw for us-  &**#$# it was a hard day, and one we would truly rather forget. We did (eventually) get our stock dropped off, U-haul handed back and got ourselves onto a train.

The day ended for us at 4am Saturday morning when we finally arrived in New York.....we checked in and collapsed.

We slept until lunch time today and went our seperate ways this afternoon to roam the city and do a little shopping. I have never been to New York and it is truly overwhelming. Although we would love to be hitting the town tonight we are both still very tired and pizza and an inhouse movie are on the cards.

Some of my pics from this afternoon.....

Times Square

Beautiful old wooden escalator in Macys

Ok, we are up to date now. Tomorrow we are going to take a tour, and go and check out some store designs and displays. Nigh night.

Bec and Simone. xx

Last Day at Brimfield- Thursday

Hello All,

Apologies for the delay in posting. It has been a couple of very busy days.

Simone and I are in New York now, but to catch you up, I am going to do a couple of seperate posts.
This one is going back to our last day at the fair.

We weren't supposed to go...but we had been up since 5am packing boxes and needed a break. We had so much packing to do, but hey, we came all this way, one more look wouldn't hurt. The quick look turned into a good few hours and a good couple of thousand dollars and a whole lot more to pack, but I have to say, some of our best finds were unearthed on this last venture.

Back to more packing, then a quick and very pleasant break to have a drink with a friend/supplier I have dealt with for a couple of years and was so lovely to finally meet in person!

We packed until 10pm and fell into bed.

Simone posted her pics already of this day.....here are mine....

 The lake by our hotel

Simone in the VIP Brimfield tweet up tent

One of my favourite purchases.

Ok, thats the end of Thursday.....Friday's blog coming right up!



BRIMFIELD DAY 3..

BRIMFIELD DAY 2 PART 2