A few of my favorite things....

 Vive la' Veuve!

A very special 'housewarming' gift from two very special guys
who shared their vibrant spirits with us this weekend.
(Come to think of it, THEY are a LOT like champagne!)

Some of the nicest 'Hostess' gifts I've ever seen!

From our Retreat Vintage Market vendors 
Teresa, Debi, Julie,Patty & John, Tammy,
Anne, Kim, & KellyAnne, Tamila, Janet, and Liz. 

THANK YOU, sweet friends!

Finally.... a bloomer!

And this guy... who just loves me, 

no matter how freakin' tired, exhausted, 

mad, frustrated, crazy, goofy, or sick I am. <3

Thanks, babe...

Calgon.....

...take me away....

There's no bubble bath involved, but I spent some time

just sitting in our show booth today, resting.

I enjoyed having a quiet, warm, summery setting to just reflect and relax in.

No pressure to pack it up and tear it down just yet, 

as it's sitting out in our field in front of the house.

I really like the way it turned out this time!

However, today it didn't look like this photo anymore 

because a lot of products SOLD at yesterday's show ;0)

What a marvelous time we all had at our Retreat Vintage Market yesterday!

Many thanks to the amazing vendors and wonderful customers who joined us...

you made it a very special day!

And yes, I AM already scheming and planning

and gathering props for the photo shoot

for our NEXT show's marketing campaign!

Summertime....

 Yesterday was perfect...
especially for the first day of summer.

The first roses blooming

 A rosy golden sunset under perfect blue skies

and standing on the beach to watch it with my love

at the end of a long, busy, rewarding day.

If this is what the whole summer is gonna' be like, bring it ON!

Coming Attractions...

 I'm going to be AWOL from the blog world this week, friends...

we're busy as bees transforming our field up above 

into our showgrounds for THIS:

Yes, that DOES say BARN HOUSE!

The Boys are comin', bringing their own stellar brand of magic

right here to Camano Island, North of Seattle!

I can't even begin to tell you how honored we are

to have them join us and support us so whole-heartedly.

There are some really good people in this world -

and the 24 vendors we have lined up for this show

are all so wonderful, creative, and supportive.

They are all helping us build our dream...

How amazing is that?!

For more information about our Vintage Show,

including map & driving directions from Seattle and Vancouver, BC,

please visit our web site:  

www.RetreatVintageMarket.com

HUGE NEWS!

This Thursday, June 23rd, 

at 7 PM on KING 5 Seattle,

Evening Magazine will air footage shot at Farm Chicks earlier this month.

They will ALSO be promoting OUR SHOW on air!!!!!

Thanks, Evening Magazine!

I'll be back on Monday with photos of our soiree' - 

but if you can get here in person, don't miss it!

Father's Day

In our family, there is some very important 'Man Stuff'

that the guys all pass along to their sons (and grandsons).

It's all about the skills.
Stuff guys NEED to know. 

Like, how to spend HOURS throwing rocks into the ocean.

How to eat. 

This is probably the number one-ranked skill in our family. 

Number two is how to DRINK. {We are IRISH, after all.}
Number three is how to GRILL the food. (BIG fire. 'nuf said)

How to eat GOURMET FOOD. A variation of skill #1.

How to have pets. Usually LARGE ones. 

I knew this was coming with Bob.

Our Joel grew up learning it.

But poor Joel S., Jay and Brandon had no IDEA 

how this 'stuff' would affect THEM when they married our daughters!

How to play in the mud and get really dirty.

SO dirty that mom just hoses you off outside.

How to play computer games.

(And clearly, one can never start too early....)

There's one more thing that is a very important skill 

that the men in our family pass along:

 Developing an appreciation FOR and knowledge OF Star Wars.

Inescapable with this bunch....

(That would be daughter number one's WEDDING, folks)

I want to wish a Happy Father's Day to our sons,

who are doing a pretty terrific job of raising some great little boys:

Jay, with Hope & Troy

(Her mommy took her to Texas two years ago.

Her daddy hasn't seen her since.)

Our Son Joel, with Jameson

Brandon, with Michael

and Joel S, with our 'grandpuppy' Lily ;0)

and Happy Father's Day to my hubby, Bob, 

for being the ringleader of this whole circus

for 31 years!

Working Woman Ahead

 So today, I had a fleeting moment of envy.

I was out in our pastures, working with hubby to get everything prepared 

for our vintage show coming up in just TWELVE DAYS.

.

.

.

.

Sorry, that's just me picking myself back up off the floor.

Too much to do and too little time to do it all.

Anyway

We were mowing and moving some wire fencing and some big fenceposts around. At one point, we had to dig some gnarly trenches to add support to the driveways. I was digging in dirt and gravel, all hot and sweaty and tired and sore, and feeling decidedly not strong enough, and those miserable thoughts started swirling around my head...

Why do I have to be one of these strong, 'sturdy' women, anyway?

Why can't I be a princess who never has to do physical work? 

One of those girls who gets to watch from the sidelines and 'direct' while dressed in pretty dresses and cute sandals, sporting a stylish hairdo, perfect pedi and manicured nails. (As opposed to my dirty jeans, hair in a ponytail, broken nails, and soggy tennis shoes....) I see those girls all over the place, at shows and events and stores, just waving a hand while their minions happily do all the heavy lifting.

Yeah, where exactly have I gone wrong here - and where do I sign up for THAT life?

That was exactly what was running through my mind. For all of fifteen seconds. 

And then, I looked up. 

I saw my husband standing next to me, wielding a shovel and working even harder than I. I watched him pick up huge rocks and big logs, and wrestle them into place. As I gazed at him, I remembered the days and weeks that he laid in a hospital bed with a raging fever and a damaged leg, nearly unconscious from the pain and drugs, hearing every day that he MIGHT get to keep his leg if the infection got under control. But even so, he might never walk again. And now, here he is, working alongside me just as if that whole horrible period of our lives never happened last fall.

And I realized that this life we have, of working together toward our dreams and goals, working on our home and property and business, working side by side every day, is worth far more than looking pretty or not getting dirty and sweaty. It's worth more than feeling like 'one of the girls' who gets to go to those girlfriends retreat weekends or crafty gatherings, or even gets to be photographed with other girls wearing fancy schmancy dresses at shows and events. I'd love to do all that, I really would.... but being beside the love of my life in dirty jeans is where my life has brought me, and I am more than blessed to be here. I wouldn't trade it for a bevy of minions. 

I've walked my path in tennis shoes instead of sparkly stilettos... 

and I'm OK with that now. And damn, I AM a strong woman!

Sweet As Can Be

 Serena Thompson, THE Farm Chick, always comes up with
the cutest themes for the Farm Chicks Antique Show every year...

This year the theme was 'Treat Yourself' and featured 
the pinwheel lollipop graphic shown above.

When I discovered a snippet of vintage red & white trim one day,

I got inspired to make her a lil' thank you gift:

 Replicating her logo's pinwheel lollipop was easy: 

I simply twisted the red & white cording into a circle 

(like all of those blog tutorials tell us to do with bias tape!)

and glued it to a burlap backing. Added a pin. EEEEEEasy.

Next, a kebab skewer was cut off at about one inch,

and glued to the bottom of the circle.

 Then I tied a little bitty bow with vintage red satin ribbon onto the stick. 

It looked exactly like her graphic!

The words came from an old sheet of music... 

it actually said 'Sweet Serenade' - I cut off the 'de' at the end

so it would say 'Sweet Serena' ;0)

I foofed up a little box with some matching red & tan details

and used another vintage music title to make the name tag.

When I gave the little box to Serena at Farm Chicks, 

she touched the name and smiled.

(I think her name fits her SO PERFECTLY.... Don't you?!)

Then she opened the box,

and REALLY smiled when she saw the lollipop pins. 

And then she made a crack about how she felt like she needed to 

remove the word 'sweet' next to her name

because she didn't want anyone to think that SHE thought she was sweet!

 Silly Girl. Everyone already knows that she really, really IS!

Thank you for making the show so wonderful for everyone,

SWEET Serena! ;0)

Our Farm Chicks Foofery!

Some days, a girl just doesn't know WHAT to put on...

so she digs out her old WEDDING DRESS 

(Gunne Sax, circa 1980)

and foofs it up with even more lace and ribbon. ;0)

Don't worry, I only do this at shows!

My mom came all the way from SoCal to Spokane

to experience the Farm Chicks Show

(and our craziness and mayhem) in person!

I saw her for exactly ten minutes on Saturday morning. 

:0/

Our Retreat booth just inside Bay 1 was so busy!

Mostly because of THIS DUDE....

What AM I gonna' DO with him?

He was THE most photographed thing in our booth

at the show!!!

I think I'll keep on lovin' him... 
Just like I've done since 1979 ;0)


PS: We did not have any photos taken of the
two of us TOGETHER on our camera...
but LOTS of other people did!
if you have one of those, please send it to me!!!
I'll credit you!!!!

Thank you to Patricia MacKey for this photo!